Dawn Again

Fifteen

Sophie digested the whole plan and hoped that it worked. She looked at them all and asked, "Do you know of a reliable doctor?" The question threw everyone off, and after a moment the room suddenly erupted with all the men talking over themselves.

"s**t! I should have asked sooner. After what you have been through! Are you hurt?" asked Richard.

"Damn! Baby...why didn't you say anything sooner!" demanded Josh.

"Why do you need a doctor? Are you hurt? Or unwell? Or upset?" This from Jason.

"Z....did you check if the f**k managed to hurt her badly?" wondered Brian.

"Did you take care of the scrapes and stuff after the bastard attacked her?" questioned Chad.

Richard looked understandably harried as all his friends assumed that it was his responsibility to make sure Sophie was alright after the attack. Sophie simply felt the warmth of genuine concern from so many people after a long long time. Since after her rescue, it had only ever been James and her. She had not allowed Josh to get close enough...or so she had thought. She wore a brilliant smile as she basked in the good vibes. When they had all quieted down, she said, "Guys...I am fine. I am asking because I need to have a poison capsule with me. I know it can be done. What I need to is whether or not we have the wherewithal to do it. I refuse to entertain the possibility of falling into his hands without any recourse." Once again the room erupted in a hum of deep, disgruntled male voices. All to the effect that she need not do that.

"You don't need to go to that extent, Sophie," said Jason.

"You will be perfectly safe with me honey!" This from Richard.

"Baby...what the heck!" snapped Josh.

"That is extreme Sophie," commented Brian.

"You have us all to protect you now," said Chad.

"He will go to extreme lengths to get me back. I am not exaggerating," explained Sophie. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued, "You probably need a bit of history on this." And then she started talking.

My name, which my parents gave me, is Ana. It means 'A new dawn'. Anyways...it took John a total of one month from seeing me the first time to getting me to marry him. He did that by holding my parents virtually hostage. John claims that I make him lose his control, his cool. That is the reason he needs me to surrender and submit to him utterly and completely....so that he knows he controls the one thing that makes him lose control.

I eventually learnt that it was not only my parents who were a hostage against my compliance....surrender. In the first month after we got married, a man, Byron White, kissed my knuckles when introducing himself. For that, John killed him in front of me, after breaking my knuckles under his boot. After that, I decided that I had to run away sooner than I had thought to before. At one of the parties soon after, I was able to get away from the venue. I knew John was tracking my phone, so I ditched it and took a taxi home. I HAD to go home because I had no money. My parents and I went away to my dad's cottage in upstate New York. Obviously, it did not take John long to figure out where I was. The next day, at night, we were woken up by a crash. Two men came into the house. One of them grabbed me and the other opened fire on my parents. Then they took me out of the house and set the house on fire.

Tears were tracking down her cheeks. But Sophie held on to her coffee mug for dear life and kept on talking.

My parents died because I ran to them. And in under 48 hours, I was back with John! I made sure I understood that my parents were dead because of me. I wanted to die at that point, but I couldn't. There were motion activated cameras all over the house and there was nowhere in the house where I could escape away from his eyes. But now my parents were dead, the way I saw it, there was nothing to stop me from trying again and again until I did finally get away. I did not get a chance for another five months. But I had been watching and learning. I knew exactly when the guards outside the door changed and what the guards were like.

Then, finally, John went overseas for work, and I took my chance. I knew which guard I would be able to fool. A little bit after he came on duty, I banged on the door. When he opened the door, I hurried out muttering that John had asked me to go someplace and I was late. The guard stopped me but I was able to confuse him enough that he agreed to let me go. But, of course, decided to go with me until I found the driver who'd drive me. I had planned for this and that's why I had this huge book with me. As soon as he made to step into the elevator, I bopped him on the head with all my strength. Luckily it was enough to send him sprawling. I jumped out of the elevator and took the stairs down. I managed to get out of the building, sold off my phone and got myself on a greyhound to Boston and got myself into a motel.

It was late at night by the time I got to the motel and for the first time in months, I slept peacefully. I had had three days of freedom and I couldn't believe I was still free. A noise woke me up that night and I knew it was all over.

Sophie did not tell the men how dearly she paid for her 3 days of freedom. The noise that had woken her up that night had indeed been John coming through into her room. "Did you really think you could get away from me that easily?" John asked in his deadly calm voice. Ana shrugged, "A girl can always try." John advanced on her and Ana shuddered internally. She wondered if this time John was so angry that he'd end up killing her in his rage. Ana tried to back up on the bed. She knew it was an utterly useless endeavor...but it was an involuntary reaction.

John grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her so Ana's ass was right on the edge of the bed. Ana kicked for her life but John simply flipped her onto her stomach and placed a booted foot right on her neck. That had her completely immobilized. John then took his Swiss knife from his pocket and sliced through Ana's clothes. He was not gentle. The knife tracked a route through Ana's skin leaving a thick red line marring the ivory skin. John's foot loosened on Ana's neck as he pulled her up so that her knees were on the edge of the bed and her ass was high in the air. Ana whimpered as the pressure on her neck increased again. Before she could adjust to the reduced flow of air, John had dropped his pants and rammed into Ana's anus. Ana screamed in agony, but obviously, John did not let up. He pulled out and ploughed back in. Ana lost track of time as John r***d her anus until she nearly passed out with the pain. John emptied himself into her, then jerked her up by her hair. "Get dressed Ana," he ordered and pulled his pants up again.

Sophie stuffed the memory back down and continued.

John took me back to the warehouse in DC where he had the guard whom I had whacked on the head tied to a chair just like Byron. "You won't let her escape again, will you now Tony?" John demanded. But Tony was beyond answering. John shot him and that is when I realised that I would never escape as long as I was guaranteed of success.

Sophie finally opened her eyes and looked at the men around the table. All except Josh were battle-hardened soldiers and yet she saw that they were horrified. She gained some confidence that from this reaction. "Now you know....please...I need to know that I have some sort of control over my life." "Let's get you a GPS bracelet. That way we will know exactly where you are at all times," suggested Brian. "We won't let you out of our sight Sophie."

Sophie got out of her seat. How could she say it out loud to these men? She could not imagine being taken back to John for any length of time. She shuddered violently just thinking of John raping her again. To Sophie's relief, Richard seemed to understand exactly what was going on in her mind. "Get her the capsule, Chuck. Chad, set up a GPS tracker for her too," ordered Richard. A sigh escaped Sophie as she looked at Richard and murmured, "Thank you."

Richard nodded, and added, "You have to promise one thing though, Sophie. If at all Quinn gets his hands on you, you will not even think of using the capsule until you have given your brother and us at least a week to get you back. No matter how scared you are, you will not be a coward. Promise me that." and he held out his hand. for a moment Sophie looked uncertain, but then she placed her small hand into his and whispered, "I am not planning on actually using it. I just need to know that I have some sort of last resort. I don't want to kill any more people."