Universal Headaches - Revised

Chapter 15

Sutton paced the room for a while. It wasn't a big space and she could only pace five steps before she had to turn and start again. At least she was able to move. But the door remained locked, she tried, and no more INSOL agents came in to speak with her. After a while she walked to the back of the room and slid down the wall until she sat on the ground.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been in the room. She wasn't even sure how much time had passed between her being sedated and waking up here. When she spoke with Loki in her head, it only felt like a few minutes. But she doubted that "mind time" and "real time" lined up exactly.

Her eyes burned and her mouth was dry and she needed to use the bathroom soon. Would they use that as collateral? Would they try to starve her out in order to get answers from her?

She was fine. She was totally fine. She could be strong and get through this.

She dropped her head onto her knees and dug her fingers into her hair.

If this incident went on her official record, then her job was gone. This went leaps beyond even "oops, I drove home a little tipsy' trouble. She wasn't sure if Jen would be horrified or impressed that Sutton managed to get into this sort of trouble.

And Chase.

It was all Chase's fault that she was in this mess in the first place! He told the INSOL agents that she'd seen what happened. He told them her name and sent them to her.

If she died down here, probably in a deep hole in the ground, she was going to come back as a ghost and haunt him for the rest of his stupid life.

Sutton fought back tears as she finally allowed herself to think of her family.

It would crush her mom if Sutton disappeared without a trace after that phone call. Would they eventually have her declared dead? After a year or two they'd have to stop looking. Tyrese might think she abandoned him to run away with someone. Possibly even Chris Evans. At least he might initially.

And shockingly that was somehow more unrealistic than what was actually going on.

She wanted the chance to let Howard teach her how to make his famous cinnamon rolls and she wanted to hug her mom. She didn't want to miss Tyrese's next birthday.

But the INSOL agents didn't care about that.

It was too bright and cold in the room to sleep, and Sutton was too afraid to leave herself that vulnerable. They could drug her again without her knowing and move her to a different room. Possibly a worse one.

How long did she have until they tried sending in the 'badder' cop?

The door opened and Sutton wobbled as she shot to her feet. Agent Perez closed the door behind him before he frowned as he smacked the file he had with him previously on the table.

"I'm sure you're tired of being here, Miss Regan. To be honest with you, I'm tired of this dance we have going. You keep saying that you want to go home, but that isn't going to happen unless you work with me."

Sutton wiped her eyes, straightened her hair, and made sure to keep her distance from the handcuff table.

"You mean, unless I give you the answers you want."

"What I want is the truth."

Sutton huffed.

"You wouldn't believe the truth."

His eyes took on a new gleam and he opened the file to spread out the scientific readings where she could see.

"After being debriefed on these, I'm willing to entertain quite a bit. I've reached as far as I can go, Miss Regan. I need you to come halfway."