Chapter 23

The room was spacious and generously furnished with office furniture. There were desks, comfortable high-back chairs, small sofas, and coffee tables with glass tops. At any one time, there could have been as many as thirty, maybe forty people working, but by late afternoon the building was completely empty. The security shutters on the large windows were down.

Margaret and Megan were tied tightly to the chairs and sat next to each other. Their wrists were uncomfortably sore from where the rough rope rubbed harshly against the skin. The armed men, of whom there were plenty, stood quietly in various parts of the room and paid no attention to them. But Margaret knew that they were being watched closely and that if they tried to do anything, they would be subjected to ill-treatment by one of the indifferent-looking guards. The man she thought was the boss had been on the phone in the adjoining office for a long time.

Margaret turned to a frightened Megan.

“Don't be afraid. Everything w