What was Lost and Found in the Fire

Ch. 32 Phantom Pulsing and Power Plays

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Sang's POV

Location: Bureau of Investigation, Sacramento

Date: November 1st, Morning

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The minute we got to the station, I knew something was wrong.

It was in the aggressive way the officers treated Leninora and I, grasping at us with tight grips and moving us with sharp jerking motions. In the way they paraded us in front of the press and made us wait until the vicious and unrelenting reporters were appeased with their pictures.

It was in the way we were told to strip as we got into the holding area and were given cavity searches, with little delicateness and only the harshest of touches. I had to hold my tears as hands touched me and it was little consultation that it was a woman giving the invasive exam. I was given my dress back to wear, but they kept my shoes and I wasn't told where my MHQ and backpack went.

It was in the way Leninora and I were torn apart without a single word on what was actually going on. Our rights were never read to us, though I'd heard once that the reading of rights was something done religiously on the t.v., and yet was much less important in reality. We weren't given a phone call or the chance to ask for a lawyer.

The tiny cell they put me in smells like pee and the metal chairs are uncomfortable. My hands are bound by handcuffs to the table.

The first hour flows into two. Two hours becomes three hours.

During the fourth hour I'm just about dozing off when the door bangs open. A thin woman in a uniform and a dark red bob haircut asks if I'd like a bottle of water, and when I say yes she nods and leaves.

Another hour passes before the woman comes back with a small plastic cup of water. It's warm, the water, and the cup is barely half full.

That's when it really sinks in... Something is very wrong. They're trying to wear me down like I'm a criminal.

With that realization, I steel myself against outward signs of exhaustion. I take small sips of the water, not enough to wet my tongue but enough to appear like I'm not avoiding drinking it. Not to mention, I don't know when they'll let me use the bathroom next.

I don't try to nap again. I realize now that they won't allow me a chance to pass the time or get any rest. They'll just keep interrupting me if I try.

My mind races. I go over what could be wrong, and what they could be angry about. My mind continuously goes back to the Mav Kidnappings. They're going to pin me as Dontavion's accomplice. I just know it.

I wait for hours. The water eventually runs out.

A change in my perception happens slowly over that time. The walls start to close in on me. I have to close my eyes to ignore the feeling of being closed in. My mind wanders. I imagine myself along the ocean, with my feet in the sand and my hair undulating in the breeze.

That brings images of the man, the one from the kidnapping hours ago, to mind. His warmth and heady scent, mixed with the warmth of the other man with the manly musky scent. Something about the thought of the two of them makes me feel calmer. The walls recede back to their original place. I feel like I can breath again.

Steel eyes flash against my eyelids. Strength is dragged from the depths of my core at the thought of those perfect eyes in that perfect face. I take a deep breath and steel my spine.

Warm green eyes with a tinge of craziness lurking around the edges flashes at me like a wink in my mind's eye. I smile at the image of that little lopsided grin that had spread across his face, right before I'd taken that door and smashed the living breath right out of Rodney Mav's body....