She fought harder when they reached for the chain than Marcus had fought when they cuffed him.
The key was removed from her neck.
Because Marcus had reinforced and welded the cage door, the agents still had to force the damaged metal apart before they could reach me.
The process took only minutes.
Inside the cage, it felt longer.
One agent knelt outside the bars and kept talking to me.
She did not ask me to tell the whole story.
She asked whether I could breathe.
She asked whether the baby was moving.
She asked where the phone had been hidden so no one would step on it.
Those practical questions gave me something to hold on to while the door was opened.
When the gap was wide enough, hands reached toward me.
I flinched before I could stop myself.
The agent froze and let me choose.
That choice was the first thing anyone had given me in months.
