Karen lurched foward against the counter weight of her captors.  Pain shot up her arms from her bound wrists.  She ignored it.

“Get my kids.  Give me my kids!” she shouted.

“Where is your base?”  The man before her asked.  He wore a dark suit and spilled over with power.  Behind him was a young man in a white lab coat.  The techie constantly checked the various monitors linked into the rooms survielance system.  They would tell him if Karen lied.

“My kids.  Bring me my kids.”  Karen directed her gaze at the Dark Suit, but kept an eye on the door just to his right.  Any minute now they’d send in their bruiser.

Dark suit leaned forward.  He smiled, but his pupils were narrow slits.

“You’ll see your kids only if we feel you’re being helpful.  Information is the only thing that will keep you alive, let alone you brats,” he said.  When Karen said nothing he nodded to the techie kid. 

The door opened, and Bruiser entered.  He aproached Karen, held where she was by the gaurds behind her.

“And this is only a sample of the treatment your kids will be getting,” Dark Suit said.

Karen lurched back against the men holding her.  When they braced themselves and took a tighter grip she used their support to swing her legs up and around Bruisers neck.  With a quick snap she had broken his neck.

Her captors dropped her and she landed hard on her back.  She kicked in a wide arc, connecting solidly with knee caps and shins but taking several kicks in return.

“Give me back my kids!  Give me my kids!” she yelled.

Dark Suit stepped out of reach and someone from behind her, through the door, shot her with a tranq.  She sunk into darkness.

***

When she awoke she was in a sitting position with her head flopped forward.  She saw first that her ankles were now bound to the chair’s legs.  Her arms were not bound, but her wrists had white bands around them.  Probably housing drug injectors that could shoot straight into her viens.  Her head pounded and her tongue was thick, her body puffy with bruises.

She raised her head.  Dark Suit sat watching her from his seat on the edge of a stool.  The techie was still in his corner of screens.

They eyed each other.  Karen could feel more gaurds standing behind her chair.

“Just give me my kids.  You’ll get all the info you want,” Karen said.

Dark Suit turned to the techie.

“Truth,” the techie said.

Dark Suit stood and walked to the door.  He opened it.  There was movement inside. 

Tyler and Tara, Karen’s twin six-year olds, walked into the room.  They spotte Karen at the same time and ran into her arms.  She cuddled them close for a moment, then held them away for a longer look.  Tyler had a long welt running across his face and over one eye.  Tears ran down his face, but he didn’t flinch from her gaze. 

Tara looked worse.  Her hair was a mess and blood from a puffy lip mixed with dirt on her face, but her eyes were more angry than scared.  Karen pulled them both close.

She closed her eyes around the tears threatening.  Her voice was low as she began to detail her entrance to the compound, the location of her base, her passwords and mission.  Anything they might want.

And while she talked she planned how she would get her family safely out.