Chapter 24

“Alec.”

Her head was pounding as she struggled to open her eyes. What the hell? When she tried to move her hand to rub her throbbing temple, she realized both hands were tied.

Her eyes popped open and the first thing she saw was Ian a few feet away tied to a chair.

The last thing she remembered was leaving the bar with Ian.

“Alec. Are you all right?”

She tried to lick her lips with a dry tongue. “Yeah. Head hurts like a bitch though.”

“Mine too. Must be from what they used to knock us out.”

Alec rolled her eyes to open again and squinted at him. “Any idea who they are?”

“No.”

His voice sounded like sandpaper. She looked around the room, the walls were covered in old, faded newsprint at least thirty years old. Slowly, trying not to move to cause her head to hurt more, she looked up at the ceiling it was made of logs, really, really old logs. Where the hell were they? Listening she tried to see if there was any noise outside to give her a clue. Traffic or train, but there wasn’t anything but silence. They couldn’t still be in the city, which her brain registered slowly. No noise, log houses. Moving her head slowly, she looked back at Ian. “Where the hell are we?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but we’re alone.”

“How do you know that?”

“I haven’t heard any noise and I haven’t heard any thoughts, at least none close enough I can tap into.”

“How long have we been here?”

Shaking his head again, he looked over at the door, “I don’t know, but it’s daylight now.” The light was coming in underneath it.

Looking around, Alec noted that there were two windows covered over by boards and one door. “There’s only one door.”

“Yeah, obviously our hosts didn’t go for the big cabin package.” He motioned with his head to a smaller door in the corner, almost a cubby size hole. “I don’t think that one leads anywhere.”

Looking around again, she realized there was no sink, nothing but the two chairs they sat on. “Well, I don’t know much about house construction, but I’d say they went cheap.”

He laughed. “Can you move your hands at all?”

She tried to move her fingers and wrist. “A little, not much.”

“Mine are tight. Can you move your chair?”

Alec leaned to the side, trying to keep her balance by shifting one leg over the side of the chair. It tipped. “Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s try to shift closer and see if we can get our hands free.”

She nodded and took a slow deep breath. “My head is nothing but fog.”

“Mine too.”

Alec didn’t know much about furniture, but she was sure the chair she was harnessed to was real wood. None of that light fabricated stuff for her ass to be tied to, this one was heavy, and it felt like eighty pounds right now. Who would have thought moving a chair would be this hard? She finally managed to shift around so her back was facing Ian’s direction. She could hear his scraping against the rough wood floor and hoped he was making more progress than she was.

She’d never really thought about it before but apparently moving a chair while you’re tied to it was very challenging. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and rest. What did they give me?

Huffing out a breath, she turned as much as her bound arms would let her and looked over her shoulder to see he was only a few inches from her. “Just a bit more...” His fingers brushed up against hers. She wanted to sigh in relief but knew they still had to get free.

“My wrists are too tight; I can’t move my hands. Can you get a hold of the rope? Maybe see if you can work the knot loose?”

“Okay.” She felt along the rope, trying to figure out which way it ran. One more thing you wouldn’t think was hard to do until you weren’t looking at the knot to undo it. The rope was a lot tighter on him than hers was. “Can you try not to put any more pressure on the rope? I can’t get it to budge.” She felt his hands moving.

“Better?”

Finding the end, she followed it up, only to lose it twice and have to start again. “I think I’ve got it.” When she felt the knot loosen a bit, she was ready to admit this was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. What I wouldn’t give for a knife right now.

As the rope started to feed through, she could feel him moving his wrist trying to get his hands free. “Try now.”

Ian leaned around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now you.” He went behind her and she could feel him trying frantically to loosen the knots. “These guys knew how to tie.”

Voices were suddenly outside, close.

“Shit.”

Her chair tipped and spun so she was facing the same direction she had been when she woke up. Pulling at the binds around her wrists, she tried to pull them free as Ian moved his chair back over to where it had been. She looked down at the floor. “Rope.”

Turning, Ian spotted the rope and grabbed it quickly, dropping it on the chair he sat on top of it and put his hands behind the chair. “Put your head down, like your still out.” He whispered.

Dropping her head back down, she shook it so the hair would fall to cover the side of her face. She wanted to see who came through the door, but the longer they thought she was unconscious the better for her.

The voices were right outside the door now. She looked over at Ian and could tell by the look of concentration on his face he was trying to read the minds that went with the voices.

“It’s over an hour away, how are we supposed to be in both places at once?” A man with a slight accent said.

“I don’t know. When is he going to call to tell us what to do with these two?” Was the answer, tension clear in his voice.

“They should be out for another hour, or more, we could go and come back. Maybe by then, we’ll know what we’re supposed to do.” The first voice again.

“Hang on.”

Alec heard a lock being opened, it sounded like a bolt lock. Dropping her head down, she glanced over at Ian. He’d dropped his head forward and had his eyes closed. The hinges on the door groaned as it was opened.

“They’re still out. We could give them another shot.”

The door shut again, and the lock was slid back in place.

“Are you a doctor? Do you know how much they can have before it kills them? Yeah, me either. I don’t want to kill them by accident and then find out they want them alive. Let’s go call her and tell her we’re heading to the rendezvous and then we’ll come back.” The accented voice again.

“All right, let’s go. I don’t want to be hanging out in the middle of nothing when it’s dark.”

Alec kept her head down until she was sure they were gone. Then she looked up at Ian who had gotten out of his chair to move to the door. Pushing his face up to the slight space around it, he looked outside.

“I think they’re gone.”

Pulling at the ropes around her wrists, she glared at him. “Get me out of here. I don’t want to be here when they get back.”

He rushed over and stopped in front of her. Lifting his pant leg, he pulled a knife with a four-inch blade from a sheath on his leg.

Alec’s eyes widened. “You had a knife all along?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t get to it without hands.”

“Get me out of this.”

Nodding, he moved around behind her and cut her hands free. Pulling her arms around in front, she rubbed her wrists. “Now, how are we getting out of here?”

“They bolted the door.”

She nodded and got up off the chair. The room spun when she did. “What the hell did they give us?”

Ian’s arm went around her, and she leaned into him until her blurring vision cleared. “I don’t know, but I really don’t want another dose.”

Pushing her hair back from her face, she looked at the windows. “Let’s see if we can get the boards off the window.”

She didn’t know how long it took, but her hands were throbbing by the time they were done. Ian had been able to pry a small space between the boards and they took turns trying to pull the board off. After the first board was off, they used it for leverage to pry the others off. By the time the boards were on the floor, they were both covered in sweat and she was ready to lie down and have a nap. She was happy about two things, she was taken wearing jeans and boots, not one of those ridiculous mini skirts and super high heels and there was no glass in the window so they could simply climb out.

Ian looked out to see what they would land on while she leaned on her knees to catch her breath. If she ever got her hands on the one that had given her whatever it was she was going to drop-kick him into the next millennium.

Taking her elbow, Ian helped her straighten up. “Let’s go. We’ll stop as soon as we’re clear from here to rest.” He blew out a breath. “I don’t know what they gave us, but I feel like I just ran a damn marathon.”

Alec could only nod; she was just too tired to talk right now.

“I’ll go out first. Be careful there’s a bit of a drop.”

He didn’t wait for her response before turning and boosting up onto the window ledge. She watched him drop down and then his hands appeared on the ledge. How far is a drop? Going over, she looked out at Ian standing in a bush up to his waist, looking up at her. Balancing on the ledge, she looked down again and turned so she would be able to hang on while she let herself fall out the window. Strong hands gripped her waist and she found herself being lowered at a much slower speed until her feet touched the ground.

“You good?” He didn’t hurry to move her away, allowing her to rest back against him. “I think you got a higher dose than I did, you’re like jello.”

“I can’t shake it,” she huffed out.

“Come on, let’s go around the front and follow the road.”

Moving along the bushes, they edged to the side of the cabin and squatted down by the corner. “I can’t see the driveway from here,” Alec kept her voice at a whisper. “I doubt anyone is here or we would have seen them when we were ripping those boards down, but I’m not taking any chances.”

Ian nodded. “You’re still shaking, I’ll go.” He pulled the knife out of the sheath and went toward the front.

Alec looked around, trying to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing at the back but bushes and wild growth. “Where the hell are we?” She turned back to see Ian motioning for her to follow him. Getting up, she went over to the corner. The driveway wasn’t what she had hoped to find. It was a dirt path leading through an incline through nothing but trees.

Ian put the knife away and motioned to the path. “I think our best bet is to follow it and hope for a road leading somewhere.” He held out his hand.

Taking it, she gave him a half smile. “I guess it would be hoping for too much to come across a phone to call a cab.”

“Even if we did, they got my wallet so unless you’re hiding some cash, we’re broke.” He ducked under a low branch and steered her around some roots sticking up.

“I have nothing.” She tried to lift her feet higher over the roots and ended up stumbling anyway. Ian turned and caught her against his chest. Grasping his shirt, she stood there leaning into him. His eyes moved over her slowly.

“We’ll get out of this.” He stroked his hand down her back.

“For a research specialist, you’re handling this very well.”

Grinning, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll panic and have a fit later. Right now, I want a coffee almost as much as I want my next breath.”

“I hear that, I...”

The sound of a car had them both stop and look down the path.

“They’re coming back.” Ian started to pull her toward the trees. “We have to get out of sight.”

The shot of adrenalin helped her to find her footing with more balance. When the noise from the car got closer, they squatted down behind a fallen tree and watched.

A blue SUV went by at a slow pace over the rough ground. Alec stared at the driver, trying to see if she knew him. There was something familiar about him. “That looks like...”

“Espinosa,” Ian finished for her.

She looked at him.

Ducking back down, he grabbed her hand. “Come on, we’re not waiting to see what they do when they find out we’re not here.”

He’d get no argument from her. Alec tripped along behind, if it wasn’t for his holding her hand, she would have bounced her face off a tree or branch more than once. The movement wasn’t helping much to clear the drug from her system. He was almost dragging her at one point. “Ian,” she panted out a breath, “I need a second.”

Stopping, he turned and scanned the area while she bent over her knees trying to catch her breath. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to be wearing off.” She looked up at him. “How come it didn’t affect you?”

He grinned. “Adrenalin.”

Straightening up, she paused for a second to see if her head was still spinning. “So, you’re saying if I get freaked out, I’ll feel better?”

“It could work.”

“Yeah and...”

A branch snapping had them both freeze. The noise came closer, but before she had a chance to see if it was a man or animal Ian grabbed her arm and started heading in the other direction. Alec struggled to keep up, she was just about to tell him to slow down and let her get her balance when the first shot rang out. The sound echoed, making it sound like it could be coming from anywhere.

Alec ducked her head to go under a low branch and pieces of bark scattered, hitting her in the face when the next shot was heard.

“Shit.” Ian swung her around in front of him. “Run. Now.”

Without pause, her instincts and training finally kicked in and she headed through the trees as fast as she could. The ground was slick beneath her boots causing her to slide a few times and change direction rather than fall. Each time she slipped; Ian’s hand wrapped around her to steady her.

“Keep going.”

Another shot rang out. The crashing through the brush was getting louder.

With her heart pounding, Alec put everything she could into moving faster.

“Rory, they’re moving that way.”

She was pretty sure Rory was the Rory Miller on the list, but she wasn’t about to slow down and find out. Turning, she bolted for an opening in the trees, Ian right on her heels. As she cleared the trees, the ground dropped out from under her feet. A strong arm squeezed her waist and she clung to the arm as she looked down at the ravine she’d almost fallen into.

Ian pulled her back a few feet and looked behind them. “Do you see a way down?”

Alec leaned forward again and looked down, lifting her head, she looked out and all she could see were trees. “I don’t see anything.”

Squatting down, Ian dragged her down with him. “We can’t go back.” Leaning closer to the edge, she watched behind them as he tried to find a way to go. “Over there.”

Not even looking where he pointed, she let him take her hand and lead her. Twenty feet along the edge of the drop-off was a thin worn path down.

“Go down the path, I’m right behind you.”

Alec looked down and then back up at him. “That’s not a path. A path is something you can walk on,” she hissed.

“Go.”

Grasping the hand, he offered, she let him lower her the first several feet until she had something else to grasp.

“Go down and then hide behind that ledge.”

She didn’t dare turn to see where the ledge was; just glanced up briefly enough to see the direction he pointed and headed that way. Using clumps of dried weeds and rocks, she kept moving as fast as she could manage. It was like going down a ladder, without rungs to hang onto. When her foot finally slid onto something that was almost flat, she glanced to the side and came face to face with a bush.

“Slide along behind it.” Ian was following so close he was almost on her hands.

Leaves scraped Alec’s face as she crouched down and held onto the thin branches in the center of the bush. Ian moved over and wrapped one arm around her waist as he reached in and grabbed a handful of the wand-thin stalks to keep him on the small outcropping.

Espinosa’s voice carried from the top of the embankment; she couldn’t make out what he was saying but by his tone, he was pissed that they’d gotten away from him. The other man with him was swearing loud enough to make out the actual words and Alec was sure a few of them he invented out of sheer frustration.

When the voices faded, Ian shifted, so they could both look at what was below them. “There’s a village of some sort over there.”

Following the direction he pointed, she squinted. More miles than she wanted to guess through trees and god only knew what was between here and there. A few buildings and a road were in the distance, she couldn’t even make out what any of the buildings could be. “Do you know how far that is?”

“Do you see any towns or cities nearby?” His breath brushed against her ear as he spoke.

“No,” she admitted.

“Then we’re heading that way.”

Nodding, Alec relaxed back against him. She could feel his heart pounding a frantic rhythm that matched her own. “Okay. How?”

He shifted again so they were looking down the steep embankment. “It’s going to be slow going, but we have to stick to as much cover as we can.”

Looking down the so-called path once again, Alec sighed. There wasn’t a lot of cover or things to hang onto for that matter but it was better than going back up, her hold slipped so she reached out and grabbed Ian’s arm to steady herself. One wrong move and they’d both fall. Glancing up at him, she saw a pained look on his face, and then the wet feeling under her hand registered. Moving it away, her heart stuttered. “You were hit?” She shifted around so she had her back shoved into the bushes and could see the blood dripping down his arm from his shoulder. Pulling at the material covering his arm, she shifted the sleeve up and out of the way. From the look of the gash, a bullet had grazed him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just realized it a few minutes ago.”

“Let me see your knife.” His eyebrows went up. “I want it to cut some of my shirt so we can cover it.”

Adjusting his grip on the branches, he used the injured arm to pull her tight into his chest so he could shift and bring his leg forward while still crouching. “You’ll have to get it, I’m out of hands.”

Wrestling his pant leg up high enough, she pulled the knife from the leather. With slow movements, she turned in his hold until she could kneel in front of him. Pulling the side of her shirt out, she cut far enough into it that she would be able to rip the three-inch strip of material from the bottom of it.

It wasn’t until she set the knife beside her leg and looked up at him that she realized the intimate position they were in. The look in his eyes and breath brushing against her temple told her that he had known it as soon as she did it. “This might sting.”

By the time she had it tied tight enough to stop the flow of blood, her hands were shaking from being this close. This is a perilous situation, Blondie, not a chance to cop a feel. She couldn’t believe that under the loose-fitting shirts he normally wore hid a nice, toned body. Sighing softly, she forced her mind back to looking after the injury. Glancing at Ian, she saw him smirk. “Are you inside my head?”

His grin got bigger. “No. Although something tells me I’d like to be right now.” His blue eyes wandered over her face, stopping at her mouth.

A reflex made Alec lick her lips. “Nothing interesting going on in my head,” she lied. She chanced another look at him, but his black hair had fallen across his brow covering most of his eyes. Dropping her hands away before she did some ditsy move like brush it back, she glanced to the side of where she knelt. “We better get moving.”

Ian was silent for a long uncomfortable moment. Finally, he blew out a long breath. “Ever been rock climbing?”

She shook her head.

“This is going to get tricky.” He let go of her and reached down and started to unbuckle his belt. Alec’s heart started beating faster. Dragging her eyes from what he was doing, she looked at him.

His eyes burned into hers and then he grinned. “Relax. As much as I’d like I don’t think I have the skill to try that on this ledge. I want to tether us together, as a precaution. A rope would be better, but I don’t have any.” She watched as he took her wrist and wrapped the loop of the belt around it. He ran the length of the belt through the loop and then pulled it snug.

“If you slip, just grab it so we don’t pop your wrist out.”

Swallowing she nodded. “So, you rock climb?”

Leaning down, he brushed a light kiss over her mouth. “Yeah. No thoughts to barge their way into my brain if I’m hanging on a side of a cliff alone.”

“Oh.” She watched him wrap the other end around his hand twice and then grip it.

“I’ll go first. Just put your feet where I place mine.”