She was shivering with cold and her buttocks and back ached unbearably where the mattress had failed to cushion entirely the ribbed surface of the metal floor. She coughed, her throat painfully dry where her breathing had rasped while lying on her back. She had no idea how long she had been asleep, but it must have been a long time. And no idea whether it was day or night. Instinct, though, told her it was daytime.She tried to spit. There was a bitter taste on the back of her tongue. Bile, perhaps. Or was it something the man had put in the water? She shook her head. She was definitely light-headed, the same feeling she’d experienced after taking an occasional sleeping tablet.She held her breath and listened. Not a sound: no voices, no movement, no traffic. Just the pounding of fear in her head. It must be morning, but how late? Or early. She had no way of knowing.Was that a fluttering of birds somewhere close by? Instinctively she knew the van was inside a building – a shed, perhaps, or a warehouse.
