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PROLOGUE I

Iraq

Five Years Ago

"Little American whore" The kick was harder this ti the breath out of her and causing her to send a tortured cry through the small cell she had been tossed into

Her cry She kneas her screaer sounded familiar to her Reality had receded the day before, and it hadn’t yet returned

She had been dragged frohdad, blindfolded, and shoved into a van And that had been a walk in the park compared to the hours since

"How ive us e need?" The un caressed her cheek "You could die then Quickly There would be no more pain Wouldn’t that be nice? No more clamps attached to tender parts of your body No more electricity No more kicks All you need to do is tell us who contacted you Tell us the information they have"

The voice was an insidious whisper inside her head as she felt herself crying Curled in on herself, shuddering with sobs

Oh God, please don’t let the her body now, the swollen tenderness of her nipples, the fragility of bones that couldn’t take

They hadn’t broken her yet Had she ed to convince theal weapons pipeline they were buying their guns and explosives through? That she knew nothing of the information she had been sent to retrieve about the spy within Ar access to those weapons?

And what did she do with the information that only one person had knohere she was headed and why?

"So easy," a voice crooned, and she focused on the accent It wasn’t Iraqi, she knew Iraqi It wasn’t Afghani There were tonal differences in the voices, even when speaking the sae She knew the difference This voice was a whisper of so else Someone else She knew this voice

Another blow landed and a scream tore from her as the toe of the boot connected with her ribs Terror washed through her like an oily, dark wave of suffocating heat They would break them next If her ribs broke she wouldn’t have a chance of escape Naked, bruised, and hurting, hell yeah She could escape given half a chance But if they broke her ribs? If they caused internal bleeding? She would never et to keep this one awhile," the voicethe tone "I think maybe she enjoys our caresses, yes?"

No No She shook her head, dry heaves shaking through her, torturing her as the spash her body

"You do not like our touch?" False syain "Maybe we use you and fill your belly with seed We take your brat then and place it in a pretty stroller filled with explosives and park it in front of your White House Who can resist a baby’s cries, eh?"

She fought to breathe

Reality Reality was birth control that had been administered before this mission Reality was backup, somewhere Her team didn’t want to lose her or the information she had, but they could only rescue her if they knew she wasIf the officer she had discussed the trip with had reported that she hadn’t returned

Reality was, she was beginning to suspect that officerfor in Arence

Reality She had to hold on, just a little bit longer She had to find a way to escape, a way to get that information back to her superiors despite the disillusionment and the betrayal that seared her soul

She felt a hand on her thigh,her, probing

Rage and terror blazed through her ht to avoid the touch, tried to hurt or to h to keep him away from her She would prefer to be kicked She would prefer the broken bones

"Tell us, Greta" The voice sighed then, resignation in his tone as she heard the shuffling around her "Raping you would not be a pleasant experience for soht holds even less appeal But if you do not give me what I need, I will spread you out here and I will let these guards use you They will use you over and over again, until your body is so defiled that even your own people will know nothing but disgust for you Is this what you want?"

The false gentleness in his tone built the fear inside her He was going to do it She kneas She had known all along that he would take this step What better way to torture a woman? When the electrical claotten more inventive His men hadn’t raped her, but the painful device he used had

She couldn’t bear hed

Saudi The accent was Saudi She couldn’t see him, her eyes were so swollen now she doubted she could see daylight if she was in it But the accent, the voice

"Nassar," she whispered, dazed, sobbing "You betrayed us, Nassar?"

And it only supported the fact that thethe Army was a traitor Her husband Nassar was his friend His contact And so, obviously, his coconspirator

Silence filled the void for long moments Nassar Mallah She reent for the CIA and one of their , his black eyes always twinkled with huuessed, never known he was a traitor

"Ah, Greta" He stroked her cheek again, but she had distracted hihs, no longer threatening to open her again, to destroy her with a helplessness she couldn’t accept

"Why?" Shudders orking through her, and she knew she was finally going into shock

Or perhaps they had meant to kill her slowly like this

"Kill her" She felt him rise to his feet "Use her however you please first, but when you leave this cell, she is to be dead"