The Cardinal Bird (1 of Cardinal Series)

Chapter 21

A/N: Just finished writing the ending for this.  It caps out at just over 100k words and 65 chapters.  Make sure to follow if you want to get sneak peeks of the new chapters before I post them.

The food helped a lot, and afterwards Nathan checked my redressed wounds to make sure Karl had done a good job. That was about all there was that he could do. Actually, that was all he was willing to do. I suggested cauterizing them again so the bleeding would stop, but he was strongly against that. He thought that it might have to be scrubbed open anyway when we got back to the US, so it would be pointlessly painful.

Karl came back some moments later to let us know that Corey had the surveillance up and running so that we could hole up for the night. Karl also suggested that I needed to pick someone to stay in the room with me. My immediate thought was Corey since I'd technically known him the longest. The more time I spent around him, the more I recognized the personality that I had talked to so many times on the computer. It was easy to remember why I had reached out to him in the first place.

Karl didn't want me to just be with Corey for some reason, so I asked for Brandon to also stay in the room. Maybe it was because I felt like I knew him via his brother.

Either way, the night passed quickly, and I didn't remember any of it. I thought that I would be up, tossing and turning, wondering if Nikolai would pop in at any moment to finish what he had intended.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. The food must have been just what my body needed because I remembered Corey and I sitting together on one of the bottom bunks. Corey was talking to me about a computer program that he was working on. The next thing I knew, it was dark in the room, and I was being shaken awake.

I looked around, disoriented. It hurt to move, but that was okay. The pain let me know that I was alive. What worried me was that I was freezing cold.

I put that thought aside and glanced around the room. There were two bunk beds including mine, two doors, and a window. Some sort of cabinet with places for padlocks on each door was pushed haphazardly against the wall.

It looked nothing like my sleeping area at the compound.

Were Dell and I on a mission?

"Sang," a deep voice said. It was most definitely not Dell's voice.

Dell had a pronounced Yorkshire accent that I wasn't entirely sure was real or not. He was a private person, and I wouldn't put it past him to have a fake, specific British accent to throw people off.

The person that was speaking to me in this room was definitely American. Probably southern.

I sat up quickly, nearly banging my head on the bunk above me. My body protested, vigorously. It felt like I had been dragged behind a goat up a rocky mountain and then trampled on by rams just to top it off.

"Whoa," the voice said. "Calm down, Sang."

The person knew my name and wasn't trying to hurt me. That probably meant that I was safe. I needed to focus. I took a deep breath, counting.

One. I am a math whiz.

I was able to calm down enough to take a deep breath. I smelled synthetic cherries and hot metal... I kept going.

Two. I am a hostage.

That sounded odd...wrong. My brain hurt. It felt like fuzzy cotton had been stuffed inside it, abrading and searingly painful.

Three. I am survivor.

At least, I thought so. Was I survivor? Why was I having such a hard time remembering?