Did the Army think she’d gone AWOL or been killed in the explosion? Would anyone even know to come looking for her?
A stray tear ran down her cheek, and she squeezed her eyes shut again. Crying alone in the cave wouldn’t help her. She needed to hold on. To stay strong. Maybe someone was looking for her. Maybe they’d find her any day now.
Kim took a shaky breath, willing herself to calm down. She’d count backwards from one hundred to slow her breathing. To lull herself back to sleep. To keep her mind on anything else.
Later that morning, the sound of voices woke her. She squinted at the opening of the cave, listening to two men talk. They were nothing but dark silhouettes against the bright sun, and she wondered how late in the morning it was. Although they’d woken her early yesterday to walk all day, this morning they appeared to be in no rush to leave.
Kim only understood a few words in Farsi, but judging from the man holding the cell phone, she wondered if they were planning to take a video of her again. She hadn’t spoken a word last time. They’d filmed her sitting on the ground, staring blankly at the camera.
The irony.
They hadn’t filmed her after they’d beaten her weeks ago—the one time she’d tried to escape. Her shoulder still ached a little, but her bruises had long since faded. Kim knew she was mal-nourished though. She hadn’t been eating enough for regular day-to-day activities, let alone for the day-long walks as they’d moved through the desert and mountains.
She was conserving her strength and biding her time. If she ever had the chance again—when she was certain she wouldn’t be caught—she’d run.
One of the Afghani men began walking toward her, hand outstretched. “Come!” he demanded.
“What, no breakfast in bed?” she asked sarcastically as she stood.
He evidently didn’t understand her snarky comment. “Breakfast later. Now come.”
Eyeing him warily, she took a step forward. She’d gotten used to the man who usually guarded her, but she hadn’t seen him this morning. This guy was younger, with a slightly crooked nose and thin lips. Most of their faces blurred together after a while, but she remembered a few.
The men preferred tormenting the blonde and mostly left Kim alone. It was awful to listen to, but Kim couldn’t help her. She couldn’t fight off a group of armed men. And as horrible as it was, a part of her felt relieved it wasn’t her. She’d feel guilty for the rest of her life about that, but both women had been put in a horrible situation.
She’d never forget the man who had raped her the very first night. A part of her had blocked out the actual attack—like she’d witnessed it happening to someone else. She couldn’t forget the smell of his sweat though or the evil look in his eyes. He’d been missing part of his ear, a distinguishing feature she’d immediately recognized and loathed. As much as the other men blended together, she’d made sure to stay clear of him.
Every day Kim lived in fear that the men would harm her, that the evil man who’d attacked her would do it again. But she knew they wanted to get a rise out of her. To hear her cries and screams. She didn’t respond to their taunts, and they’d left her alone—aside from beating her the one night when she’d tried to run.
Her stomach roiled.
This wasn’t the time or place to show weakness. The guy with the crooked nose might have been younger, but that didn’t mean he was any less ruthless. He could hurt her just as easily as the others.
“We take new video. Too dark in here. Now move, filthy American!”
Their verbal jabs meant little. They were nothing but trash themselves—terrorists who set out to attack Americans and other westerners. She’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they’d kidnapped her. No doubt these men were part of the group who’d bombed Bagram.
Clenching her jaw, she followed him out into the sunlight.
There were only a few other men around, and she saw no trace of the blonde woman. Crooked Nose grabbed her forearm, pulling her along when she didn’t move fast enough. A group of three men sitting together eating watched with interest but continued on with their breakfast when she willingly went with the man. It wasn’t too interesting to watch an acquiescent prisoner, she supposed.