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.