Getting rid of a gag with her hands tied to her body was no easy task and the leather straps dug deep against the corners of her mouth. Worse, the ball made breathing difficult and when she pulled her tongue back, the ball went with it, triggering her gag reflex. Stuck in complete darkness, with no one to help, the possibility of dying, alone, asphyxiated by her own escape attempts, made her pause. The air mask respirator covering her face was her only source of oxygen.

  What if she caused a leak trying to remove the gag?

  She stilled, thinking. She had time. Plenty of time. From the little she could perceive, she guessed her crate was on the back of a truck. Sounds were muffled, but the road wasn’t perfectly smooth and potholes occasionally caused the crate to bounce slightly. Now that she was thinking about it, it made sense: they didn’t fly out of Phuket International Airport, which was the closest to where she had been kidnapped, so they had to move her to a different airfield. Probably one with less security, or one where they controlled the personnel through bribes.

  Ma?l might have a point about the system of bribes used in Thailand, but it also enabled all kinds of crimes, for those who could afford it.

  Ma?l!!! Her heart sank as she realized he was still sick with fever, waiting for antibiotics that wouldn’t arrive. And that’s assuming they didn’t just kill him outright. If they could snatch her near the pharmacy, they knew exactly where Ma?l was. Oroshi was nothing but meticulous. Would he let him live, now that he had her?

  Tears began to roll on her cheeks at the thought formed. No, of course not. Ma?l had saved her once already. He was the only reason she made it this far and he knew too much. He’d come for her. Oroshi was no idiot, he would certainly have ordered his men to kill him and Ma?l was so weak right now—he could barely stand. Fighting contract killers in that state?

  Ma?l was dead or dying and she was buried in a crate that might well become her coffin. She trembled with rage, but there was nothing she could do and no amount of shaking or bucking could change anything. The coffee beans barely moved around her. All her training, her hopes, her dreams, her successes... in the end, it made no difference when it mattered. Tears pooled to the edge of the respirator, her sobs muffled by the gag. She was about to die or worse, and she no longer cared. Ma?l was dead. He was beyond her reach, he wouldn’t come rescue her, and she... what could she do? There was nothing to do but wait to be delivered like a doll wrapped in a box. A doll. That’s all she ever was.

  Exhausted, she lay still, waiting for oblivion. The sensory deprivation was near absolute and deepened her sense of powerlessness. Hours passed in silence as she lay listless, unthinking, her grief running out as her strength did. She was a thing, a life-sized doll packed in a crate and being shipped to a hateful buyer.

  A sudden jolt brought her out of her torpor, metal scraping metal. Her crate was being moved again, none too gently, and she heard someone screaming a stream of what could only be profanity. It sounded like Thai.

  I was right, this is still Thailand, she thought. Being right restored a tiny amount of agency. She couldn’t move, but she could still think and anger welled up inside her against the man who destroyed her life. Oroshi. He wanted her alive? She would make him pay for that mistake. She had to escape, no matter the risks, and her best chances would be when she arrived in Japan. Once out, her father could help. She'd been so stupid for not contacting him immediately. Everything could have been avoided with a simple phone call, had she dared to call him and face the press instead of running away with a handsome foreigner. Or maybe just going to the police. Heck, she could have walked into a provincial police station and gotten protection—there was no way Oroshi controlled the entire police force of the country. Ma?l would still be alive if she had done that. But noooo! Not her! She had to run away to play spy games with her... Ma?l. It was all her fault—

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  No! It was Oroshi. Don’t get this wrong, girl! It was all Oroshi and I am going to destroy him no matter what.

  She never liked her celebrity status, and avoided the media as much as possible, but if there was one thing the media could be relied on, it was ruining people’s lives. Given the slightest opportunity, they’d shred him and feast on his rotten carcass. A single appearance on a TV show, and she could destroy Oroshi, as thoroughly as he did her. His wealth and covert connections, his shady influence, none of that would save him if she came out and accused him. She’d make him wish he was never born!

  But first, she had to escape. If she could scream as the crate cleared customs, immigration officials would rescue her. She heard outside sounds. They were muffled but she could hear them. Not soundproof. Her screams would be heard. She'd have only one shot at it, and it would come shortly after the plane landed. All she had to do was get rid of that stupid gag and wait for the right time.

  Think girl! Think! She visualized the gag. Such a simple device, yet so brutally effective. The large ball kept her mouth wide open and a single strap held it tight around the back of her head. Taking it out with her hands would have been a simple matter, but there was no way for her to free her hands. The straitjacket would have been hard enough to remove on its own, but buried as she was, her movements were so restricted an escape was all but impossible.

  Her face however was covered by the respirator, and that gave her some space to work with. Enough to remove the gag? She needed to create some slack, but how? She pulled her tongue all the way back and the ball came in deeper in her mouth, nearly choking her. She forced herself to remain calm, relaxing her jaw muscles. She could still breathe through her nose. With the ball resting deeper into her mouth, the leather straps no longer dug into the corner of her lips. She tried pushing the ball out with her tongue. It didn’t work, as expected, but now, she could try and move her jaw without dragging the ball with it. Going from side to side and backward, she gained precious fractions of an inch until her lower teeth cleared the middle of ball. Pressure was atrocious and she felt like her jaw was about to dislocate.

  She couldn’t breathe and she fought against the urge to release the tension. All she had to do was to let the ball back into her mouth and the pain would stop. Instead, she pushed harder, rolling the ball with her upper teeth over her lower lip. The ball dug a divot in her chin and she felt her jawbone bend dangerously. Was it going to break? Fuck it. What if it did? She would still scream. She pushed harder, struggling against the thick leather straps.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the ball cleared her chin, falling off her mouth completly. A sense of relief and accomplishment rose within her. She'd done it! She moved her jaw, enjoying the comfort in this simple action. It was a small win, but it changed everything. Now, she only had to wait for the right time and scream her lungs out.

  She was a singer too, her voice would be heard!

  She allowed herself a dark smile. She would be free, and Oroshi would pay!