ollow, silent purgatory spent staring at the cryogenic pod, her prison and the

g presence in the dark. The same scent of whiskey

as a ghost in her own life, a body without a so

stant concept when the great stone doors of t

ded the chamber. Amelie fl

ressed in a suit that probably cost more than her father's last car

clippings she'd been forced to

w they buried with my dead uncle?"

e pushed herself up from the bed, her back straight

the distance between them in three long strides, his hand s

ve me orders," he sneered, his eyes raking over her body with a greedy, possessive light

gling against his grip. He was stronger than he looked. He laughed, a low

e only seemed

enic pod in the center of the room. A

ering toward the pod's control panel. His fingers ghosted over the emergency flush controls. "One litt

e man in that pod, the man whose name belonged to her

at," she said,

etting attached already?" He shoved her hard,

o the panel, his knuckles rapp

gone, shall we?" he taunted, his eyes gleaming with a vic

d to her feet, her eyes landing on the breakfast tray from tha

him. "Get out. O

t up with a perverse excitement.

aside. It clattered uselessly on the stone floor. In the next moment, he had he

tearing at the simple

ou scream for m

too strong. Her back was pressed tight against the pod, the cold seeping

Trapped. Vi

somethin

ft c

she felt it more than heard it, a faint

"What was that?" he mu

he pod, usually steady, began to

lear, mechanical hiss, like th

oze, their eyes locked

omb, under their disbelieving stare