Wicked Games
Chapter 5
Brilliant white light burned through her closed eyelids bringing her awareness to her surroundings closer to the edges of consciousness. McKinsey sensed a presence that hovered close by. Unable to tolerate the painful glare of the lights, she tried to cover them with her arm, but found she couldn't move it. Experimenting, she wiggled her wrist and found it restrained. It was the same with the other wrist as well. Taking stock of her situation, she started to inventory the rest of her body as her trainer had taught her to do.
Her legs were free so she flexed her feet, the ankles and finally the muscles in her legs. No problem there, everything appeared in working order, just stiff from lying in the bed. She felt some pain below her ribs on the right, but nothing she couldn't tolerate. Her stomach growled nothing unusual though she thought with a mental grin. Her guardian, Duncan was always amused at her appetite and how she put away food like there was no tomorrow. Her worst problem seemed to be her dry mouth and throat. She felt she could kill for a glass of cool water right now.
She tried to swallow, but it was like her throat had forgotten how to follow her brain’s directions. After a couple of pitiful attempts, she squinted her eyes a tiny crack and croaked out a request for water. She heard someone pouring the precious, liquid into a cup and then a straw was pushed between her dry, cracked lips. She sucked a small mouthful of cool liquid in. Swishing the water around her parched mouth first trying to ease some of the discomfort from the dryness, she then allowed it to trickle down her throat before swallowing. Relieved by the success of her endeavor she eagerly indicated her desire for more. After finishing half the cup she dropped her head back on the pillow breathlessly whispering thanks.
Madeline stood by McKinsey's bed for a minute accessing her for signs of distress or fear. All she could see reflected in the young woman's face was a calm demeanor. Finally, she cleared her throat hoping to elicit some response before saying "Goo d Morning." Slowly, almond shaped eyes opened and Madeline was startled to see the most beautiful violet eyes with thin black rims starring back at her. For a second she felt stripped to her very core as McKinsey's eyes bore into her own.
“Who are you?” A soft, lilting, accented voice asked.
"My name is Madeline and who are you?" Madeline asked with a gentle smile that didn't quite touch her brown eyes.
"I'm McKinsey MacIntyre. Why am I tied down?"
"The doctors felt it was necessary, apparently you became a little agitated and tried to pull out your IV's after surgery." Madeline replied, "Dr. Kovack thought that you were having a reaction to the anesthesia."
McKinsey briefly closed her eyes then asked, "Can you take them off....please?"
Without a word Madeline bent and released McKinsey's wrists, gently massaging the red, irritated skin.
“Don’t!” McKinsey choked out, "please don't touch me," drawing back as far as she could in the hospital bed.
Madeline watched puzzled for a minute as McKinsey gaze became slightly unfocused and she starred at a point above Madeline's shoulder before shuddering, then she haltingly spoke,
"He tied wrists above my head at first, and hung me from a chain in his ceiling. I remember hanging there, slowly spinning around while he touched me everywhere."
"Who did this to you?" Madeline quietly asked.
McKinsey refocusing looked Madeline directly in the eye and said, "Suba, after he caught me in the computer room. The bastard was too late though; I stole his computer files and erased his system. I was so close to getting away but I tripped an alarm."
Madeline digesting this news, decided to press for more Intel. "How were you wounded?"
McKinsey with a flicker of emotional pain closed her eyes and when she reopened them, Madeline noticed that the violet had deepened to almost black. "I challenged him."
Puzzled, Madeline queried, "I don't understand."
This time, staring at her hands, McKinsey continued her story, "he had two of his men force my legs apart after pulling my pants down. He was telling me all the things he was going to do to me, but it wasn't until he...oh, goddess, I don't know how to say this....I'm sorry, I can't...all I can tell you is that I challenged him to a duel. If I won, I went free, if he won, he could have me."
Clearly distraught, McKinsey let out a shaky breath, closing her eyes letting Madeline know that at least for now the 'interview' was over.
"McKinsey, I do have one more question for you and then I'll let you rest....how did you come to be in Suba‘s home?"
McKinsey softly dropped the bombshell that Madeline never knew was coming...."my fiancée, Amir introduced us."
Madeline was turning to leave the room after McKinsey had dropped her bombshell, but the young woman had not finished. She reached out towards Madelines’s arm in a feeble attempt at stopping her. She had to ask this stranger for her help, and she prayed she was making the right decision.
"Wait…there is something you can do for me...please, it's really important." McKinsey said while she looked intensely at Madeline.
As she looked down at the woman Madeline replied, "I will if I can."
McKinsey sighed deeply, her exhaustion obvious, "I don't know if I can trust you or not, but right now I have no choice. In my pants is a disk, I need you to contact my god-father Lynn Hughes with the anti-terrorist office of the CIA. He needs to get it as soon as possible. He's the only one besides my guardian and myself with the code to break the encryption.”
Her strength waning as the words spilled from her lips, McKinsey’s head dropped down on the pillows before she continued. “There is less than 3 weeks before Suba and Bin Laden strike again."
Madeline‘s mind began to race as McKinsey’s intel sent her spinning off into another direction altogether. She gently touched McKinsey on the shoulder and with a smile assured her that she would immediately notify both her guardian and her god-father of her whereabouts. She would also make sure that the disk got to her god-father.
As she left the room she began the profile for the mission to bring both of these men into Section. A self-satisfied smile on her face, this one reaching her eyes making them sparkle, she headed to the Perch to inform Operations of her findings.