Chapter Fourteen
Nancy
“When the cable over my head slackened at last, I was unable to stand without its support and followed it down, a collapsing marionette, until I was a tangled heap on the floor. Begging for more of the whip had earned me a promotion of sorts, but certainly no mercy.
“Count for me,’ she had commanded. I counted out loud, and thanked her for each until I could no longer produce coherent speech. Somewhere around the time that the eighty ninth stroke came whistling in, I had abandoned the mantra, lost count and simply screamed until it was over.
Laying there, I could feel Captain Steuben lifting my head and tugging on the zipper that secured my hood. The sudden light when it was removed stabbed into my eyes and made them water. My earbuds were removed as well and my
