Page 30 of Blood Code

That way was tedious, and by the time I found the compound where the woman was held, she would be dead.

Which meant the digital trail would lead nowhere. So I wouldn't even bother.

We’d do it through sound and satellites.

“Monitor the radio frequencies and satellites, and I need—” I started to get up to retrieve my computer, but Eric was already on it. This wasn’t our first rodeo. “Great, time to feed the signal…”

I captured the sound signals from the stream and fed them through my prewritten algorithm. Most of the time, criminals would slice up the audio and feed it through multiple satellites, so in order to find them, I needed to stitch it back together. Once I had that and did some tedious math, I could narrow the location to a 200-mile radius. From there, I'd need clues from the video to pinpoint the exact location.

If my algorithm worked correctly, I might be able to pinpoint the location within the week. If my algorithm didn’t work right, it could take months to fix it.

So I prayed it wouldn’t fucking break.

Because I needed to find this girl. For me and for her.

She would not die.

So all I had was three weeks.

I also prayed she didn’t have a marathon day within those three weeks, because those were the worst.

Chapter Nine

Xeniya Morozova

Age 22

Thirteen Years Ago

During my first week as a prisoner, I'd been convinced my father would come for me and that he’d burn everything down to get me back.

Three months later, I knew I'd die here.

I begged for death several times, and they wouldn’t give it to me. On my worst days, they kept me drugged or chained so I wouldn’t kill myself.

Yes, unfortunately, I had to admit, I wanted to die.

I wanted to die every moment of every day, but I had to live so they wouldn’t hurt Nika or kidnap Abigail.

But the only question I had now was: how long would I suffer and at the hands of how many men?

How many men would rape me?

Unfortunately, I was about to discover that one day, I would lose count. And today was going to be the start.

My first Marathon Day.

I would learn much later that the Marathon Days were set up for the men who didn’t have enough money to rent me on a normal day. It was for the cheap men.

And like all other days, the rules were simple:

1. Don’t kill the Muse.

2. Don’t maim their face.

3. A Muse can only be out of service for two weeks after a rental. So all injuries must be healed, or mostly healed, within two weeks.

4. Scars can only be left by higher-paying members and must be approved by the Headmaster.