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You had to admit, thought Mei, that it was a nice room. There were, admittedly, some small details that would have needed to be changed in orderfor her to feel comfortable - like removing the bars from the windows,putting a mattress on the bed, or maybe just untying her hands. But it wasnice - easily the cleanest and newest cell she'd seen. She hadn't been inmany - she was still only twenty-three, and she was more often standingoutside than in.
Lying on the floor by the mattress-less bed, her dark hair fell across mostof her face - normally she'd wear it up. The face it covered contained apair of dark, piercing eyes that darted around the room - quite in contrastto the stillness of the rest of her body. She was wearing a jumpsuit -black, no insignia - but her feet were bare, although not tied up like herupper torso. At least, she conceded, she'd be able to move.
Straining to grab hold of the edge of the bed with her fingertips, shepulled herself upright into a sitting position. Almost immediately, a wave ofnausea swept over her and she had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up.Shit - drugs, she thought, who the fuck had drugged her? Presumably thesame people who had thrown her into this room and tied her up. If only herhead would clear up she might be able to remember. Still - that should beeasy enough to remedy.
Pushing against her back teeth with the tip of her tongue, Mei felt theslight give as one of her hollow teeth popped open and released itscontents. She swallowed again - this time closing her eyes and shuddering asthe stimulant got to work clearing out her system. It felt exactly like abad hangover, with the difference that it was over and done with in thirtyseconds. Closing the tooth again, she lay back and tried to concentrate.
The grey fuzz that filled her memory reluctantly moved aside and revealed afew scant details of recent events. She remembered landing in London, andgetting into the taxi. She remembered a hotel room, and a knock at the door.After that, everything was still blurred - apart from a few images. Sheremembered someone hitting her - the bruises on her arm were still fresh enough for this to have been within the last 24 hours. She suspected very strongly she'd killed at least one of them - but they'd... shot her? Dartgun probably - she doubted they'd have missed at that kind of range and it explained how she had been feeling. The last thing she remembered was the faceof some slick blonde bastard with a nervous smile.
Clicking her mind back to the present and walking across the floor, she stoodon tiptoes and tried to peer out the window. There seemed to be a fine metalgrill on the other side of the bars that stopped her from seeing out. So noclues there then - except a slight breeze that probably meant she was aboveground - either that or the air conditioner had been put on the "pollution"fragrance setting. She paced across the room and back - trying to remain objective, but mostly just trying not to panic.
This wasn't helped by the footsteps that were approaching along the corridor- especially when they stopped outside her door. Schooling her face andstanding upright, she heard the sound of an electronic lock being activated,and watched as the door slowly opened, and a man stepped in.
Stewart Cowan, 3/10/00
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