The Day My Life Ended (Editing)

Chapter Eighteen (Revised)

My face hurt. Also other parts. Mostly just the face. Had I hit my face when I fell? I tried to avoid that. My head was sluggish. It ached. Then again, being tazed at all shouldn't have knocked me out. My body was still weak from traveling earlier in the week. That must be it.

Dammit, my body hurts.

My silence hadn't pleased Chamberlain. He tried torturing the answers out of me. Again, I said he tried. Others have done much worse to me. He realized that quickly.

Chamberlain left me alone in the room. Classic mistake- expecting me to stay quiet and die. I kept myself calm, taking slow and steady breaths. Panicking wouldn't get me out of here.

The handcuffs were tight. They dug into my skin, actually hurting. Still. Easy enough to break out. I've gotten myself out of worse restraints.

The handcuffs weren't my only issue. As I checked around the chair, I spotted a small cord around the bottom chair leg. A simple wire? Meant for decoration? No, because I could feel more there beneath my thighs. A shape to bump into.

Dominic took great care to not jostle me during the interrogation. The thing below me needed to stay precisely in place. Handled with care.

Explosives were the most logical conclusion. A gun left too many chances for me to duck/dodge.

Dominic wanted to make sure I couldn't leave. Not before he was done with me.

I gave him no names. There wasn't a chance that I would give up those kids and the ponies. There was a chance that Dominic could find them. He could track them on traffic cameras, or cameras from the security parking lot.

But he wouldn't get the information from me! I'll die first.

This was my mess. None of my friends deserved to pay because of it. Human or pony, they were innocent in this.

He said he would get rid of the characters. That meant the Mane 6 plus Spike were in danger. If the girls took them back to their house, they were all in danger.

Dominic wanted me dead. He would need to put in a lot more work.

The cuffs were the first thing to go. These were indeed the good cuffs, meant to stay locked completely. If I recalled it right, they were meant to be unpickable. My favorite lockpick kit was stuck in my bag, which was out of reach. But lucky for everyone, there was a spare hidden in my shirt.

I shuffled my shoulders around. The constant movement jostled something hidden there. Carefully, I slipped my hands under the back of my shirt. The clip could drop anywhere, and I needed to be ready to catch it. Another jostle made something slip.

Once more.

The clip fell.

I caught it, letting out a relieved breath. The day wasn't over. It took some more work to get the clip in the shape I wanted. As I slipped it in, it became very clear that this lock required a bit more work. Work that I wasn't in a place to attempt.

The door handle started to move. I locked up, eyeing the door. Dominic locked it when he left, so it stood to reason the door needed to be unlocked. Also, very few people would come this way.

Dominic hadn't been gone long enough to want to come back...did he send guards to watch me? Keep me from escaping? A smart move, if a bit naive. I could take down a guard. My earlier fight with that officer was a fluke.

The door knob shook again.

Huh. Weird.

Then the tell-tale signs of a key being slid into a lock. I eyed the door, my fingers still twisting the paperclip between my fingers. An advanced lock, yes, but nothing to write home about. The thing could be opened with a bit of force, if you used the proper methods.