I glanced around the room. The windows were blocked up with drywall, the only light a single fluorescent on the ceiling. My guess was from the outside the window looked natural. It was only from in here that you couldn’t get to it.

I leaned against the bars of my cage and tried to think. My head had been clearing since we landed. The effects of the second dose of tranquilizer didn’t last nearly as long as the first. I didn’t know if that was from forming a tolerance to the drug or just that he didn’t have much left to inject me.

As far as workers here at the jail, there was Jackson and the man who drove us. Every indication was that a third person worked in the house. There was no way I was going to overpower three men. Especially when one of them was Jackson. I doubted I could handle him by himself.

As I started to think about all the possible ways someone might find out about me, I felt something on my shoulder, then my whole body jerked back to the bars of the cage. I couldn’t breathe. It took me a moment to realize there was an arm around my throat.

The man in the cage next to me had reached between the bars and grabbed me, hard. I squirmed, but couldn’t get out of his grasp. The other two men were whispering encouragement to him. It was in Pashto, but I got the gist of their encouragement. They wanted to see a dead American.

There wasn’t a whole lot I could do right now. My hands were cuffed behind my back. I wiggled my head, hoping to be able to bite the arm around my throat. But I got nowhere.

Then the man with his arm around my throat pulled harder and whacked my head against the bars. I saw stars for a moment. I still wasn’t getting any air. I felt his grip get tighter.

I had to do something, and it had to be quick. I squirmed, hoping to break his hold. No luck. All I could think to do was stand up. I pushed up with my legs, but the man just rose with me. Oddly, so did the other two men in the other cages. They all stood up at about the same pace I did. They were following the action like they were watching a cricket match.

When I was upright, I bent as hard as I could. I jerked forward with all of my abdominal strength. My butt braced me against the bars. When it didn’t work, I did it again. I jerked down savagely, hoping to break this guy’s grip and hurt him in the process.