"Please… where am I?" Vanessa rasped, her voice shaking.
A man laughed close to her ear. "A place you won't leave."
Then another voice spoke, calmer and older. "You are in safe hands now," he said, though there was no kindness in his tone. "You will stay here for your own good. Do you understand?"
Vanessa swallowed hard. "No… I don't want—"
Before she could finish, the blindfold was pulled away. The sudden light stung her eyes. It took a few seconds before she could see clearly.
The room was small — white walls, one metal table, a single bare bulb above her. A man in a pale uniform stood near the door; two others in darker clothes stood behind her. Their faces were unreadable.
Through a small window, she could glimpse high walls topped with barbed wire, a dry yard filled with sand, and a faded sign written in a language she couldn't read.
