THREE
“JUST SWALLOW IT!”
Pim gave a start and met the man’s eyes. He stood, leaning over the table with his face a few inches from hers. He was wearing a dark gray shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
She looked at the capsule in her hand. It was larger than a grape tomato and had more of an oval shape than she had expected. The contents were tightly packed in layers upon layers of latex.
Noi sat next to her and looked pleadingly at Pim, nodding almost imperceptibly in encouragement. You can do it!
They were sitting in a room above a pharmacy, the stairs to which had really been more of a ladder. A fan on the floor hummed from one corner of the room. Even so, it was hot and smelled musty.
She’d had no problem swallowing the tablet that neutralized her stomach acid. It had slid right down. But the capsule looked so huge, she thought now, pressing against the coating with her pointer finger and thumb.
The man grabbed her arm and slowly pushed her hand toward her mouth. The capsule touched her lips. She knew what she was supposed to do and her mouth instantly went dry.
“Open up!” he said between clenched teeth.
Pim opened her mouth and placed the capsule on her tongue.
“All right then, chin up and down the hatch with it.”
She looked at the ceiling and felt the capsule drop far back on her tongue. She tried to swallow, but she couldn’t. The capsule refused to go down.
She coughed it up into her hand.
The man slammed his fist onto the table.
“Where did you find this piece of garbage?” he said to Noi, who turned white as a sheet. “I can’t afford idiots, do you understand that? Time is money.”
Noi nodded and looked at Pim, who avoided meeting her gaze.
“Try again,” Noi whispered. “You can do it.”
Pim shook her head slowly.
“You have to!” Noi insisted.
Pim shook her head again. Her lower lip quivered and her eyes watered. She knew that she was lucky, that she should be happy that she had this opportunity. She wasn’t used to good luck, but when Noi told her about the possibility of earning quick, easy money, her heart had leaped in excitement.
“Okay, that’s it! Get out of here!” The man grabbed Pim’s arm and pulled her to standing. “I have plenty of others who want to earn some cash.”
“No! Wait! I want to!” Pim screamed, resisting. “Please, I want to! Let me try again. I can do it.”
The man held her tightly. He glared at her for a moment, at her narrow, bloodshot eyes, red cheeks and compressed lips.
“Prove it!” he said.
With a bottle in one hand, he grabbed her jaw, forced her mouth open and squirted lubricant into her mouth three times.
He held up the capsule.
“Here,” he said.
Pim took it and popped it into her mouth. She attempted to swallow. Poking it with one finger to move it farther back into her mouth, she only gagged more.
She grew more panicked.
She stuck the capsule down her throat again, thrust her chin up. But that only resulted in more gagging.
Her palms were damp with sweat.
She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, poking the capsule as far down her throat as she could.
She swallowed.
Swallowed, swallowed, swallowed.
Slowly, it slid down toward her stomach.
The man clapped his hands together and grinned.
“There you go,” he said. “Only forty-nine left.”
* * *
The first blow was aimed at her head, the second at her throat.
Jana Berzelius deflected Danilo’s fists with her lower arms.
He was in a rage, darting from side to side, trying to land blows from every direction. But she fought against him, got her right fist up, ducked, jabbed with her left and then kicked. She missed but repeated the movements, quicker this time, striking Danilo’s knee. His leg buckled slightly, but he kept his footing. She knew she had to make him lose his balance and fall, so she kicked again—this time at his head. But as she did, he grabbed her foot, wrenching it forcefully to the left. She was twirled around and landed flat on her back on the cold, hard ground. In almost the same movement, she rolled to the side, hands in defensive position, and jumped to her feet.
Danilo was standing completely still in front of her, waiting, his nostrils flaring and teeth bared.
He rushed toward her, throwing himself forward. At the same moment, she bowed her head, holding her fists in front of her face. Using all of her strength, she raised her foot and kicked in defense.
She hit her target.
As Danilo crumpled to the ground, she pounced on top of him and was about to put one knee on his chest when, with a primal roar, he threw his weight around so that they rolled together and he ended up on top. He sat astride her, punching her in the ribs with all of his strength.
Grabbing her hair, Danilo pulled her head toward him, lifting it from the ground. She tried to lift her upper body to lessen the pain, but his weight on her chest made that impossible.
“Why are you following me?” He leaned forward, hissing in her face.
She didn’t answer. She was thinking feverishly: this can’t happen, she couldn’t let him win. She knew far too well what he was capable of. But she was trapped, her arms under his legs. She reached out with her fingertips, trying to find something to defend herself with, but there was only ice and snow.
An unpleasant feeling began to wash over her. She hadn’t counted on ending up on the bottom. She had been intending to ambush him—she’d had the advantage from the beginning.
She clenched her fists and flexed her muscles, summoning all of her energy. Swinging her legs into the air, she drove her knees into his back. Danilo arched backward, losing his grip on her hair. She kneed him again and again, trying unsuccessfully to hook one leg around his neck.
He wouldn’t budge.
He grabbed her hair again.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he snarled, beating her head against the ground.
The pain was incredible. Her vision went black.
He slammed her head against the ground again and again, and she felt how the strength ran out of her body.
