Vanish

“Nothing that happened to you is your fault. Whatever those men did to you-whatever they made you do-they forced on you. It was done to your body. It has nothing to do with your soul. Your soul, Mila, is still pure.”

I ca

“Why are you afraid to look at me?” she asks gently.

“I am ashamed,” I whisper. “All the things you wish me to tell you…”

“Would it help if I wasn’t here in the room? If I didn’t watch you?”

I still do not look at her.

She releases a sigh. “All right, Mila, here’s what I’m going to do.” She places a tape recorder on the table. “I’m going to turn this on and leave the room. Then you can say whatever you want to. Whatever you remember. Say it all in Russian if that makes it easier. Any thoughts, any memories. Everything that’s happened to you. You’re not talking to a person, you’re just talking to a machine. It can’t hurt you.”

She rises to her feet, presses the RECORD button, and walks out of the room.

I stare at the red light glowing on the machine. The tape is slowly spi

My name is Mila, and this is my journey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TESS GERRITSEN left a successful practice as an internist to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of medical suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Life Support, Bloodstream, and Gravity, as well as The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Si