Fighting (25 page)

I
hovered over him and froze my movements, breathing heavily, waiting through the
seconds to confirm him unconscious.  Right as I was about to flip him over and
cuff him, I heard bounding footsteps booming toward me.  I turned and stayed
down on a knee as I drew my weapon.  It was my gun against his, so I fired a
shot to each knee and he was down.  He panicked and cried out in agony as I
rushed to him and slammed his head against the wall until he passed out.

I
had used the gun with the silencer thinking it would support my stealth mode. 
Once the guy was down, I inspected the gun closely.  It's called a silencer,
but it didn't sound like in the movies, like a muted whistle or a dart sinking
into a board.  It may have reduced the sound by a few decibels, but it still
sounded like a loud fucking gun.  Thanks for that misconception, Hollywood.

I
wiped my bloodied hands on my stomach and zip tied both unconscious guys up
until they were completely useless, taking time to remove their masks and
catalogue their faces among the others. 

I
was starting to rethink my
maim, not kill
decision as I felt precious
time slipping through my fingers.  I figured I needed less stealth and more
speed, as it was only a matter of time before I would be outnumbered and then
eventually trapped.

I
turned the corner and saw a man at the opposite end of the hallway, looking to
have been opening each and every door to inspect the contents.  Adrenaline
still pumping furiously through my system, I waited what felt like hours until
he turned the corner and then I sped down the corridor toward my future
victim. 

I
slowed as I reached the corner and peeked around the edge.  He was on door
number two.  I approached and he turned toward me, spotting movement in his
peripheral vision.  He raised his gun, so I kicked it out of his hand and
raised my foot higher to swipe against his cheek.  His head whipped to the side
and he stumbled on his feet.  My reaction time slowing slightly from exertion,
I ducked but didn't move fast enough to avoid getting jabbed in the nose.  I
regrouped and did a back handspring away from him before immediately finding my
balance on my feet.  He came at me again and I didn't hesitate in raising my
arms up and stabilizing my body on my left leg to kick his solar plexus with
the heel of my right foot.  Fully extended, my leg aligned with my torso in a
relatively straight horizontal line, packing as much force behind the kick as I
could, shoving him backward viciously.  Still flying backward, his arms flailed
around to keep from losing his balance and his upper body crumpled in on itself
from the pain I inflicted as I pursued him relentlessly.  I punched him in the
face twice with everything I had and then shoved my right hand against his
right shoulder as my right foot swept his legs out from under him.  He fell
under the force of his own momentum, and I kicked his face savagely before he
blacked out.

I
took a few deep, precious breaths and flipped him onto his front to imprison
him with zip ties.  I shook out my fists and knew I'd have to do some serious
icing later.  Fuck, but they hurt. 

I
absentmindedly ran the back of my hand below my nose, smearing the blood
cumulated there.  I turned the last corner and onto Ethan's hallway and spotted
a man kneeling in front of Ethan's doorway, picking the lock.  I noted that the
keypad was destroyed but the door was still locked, so he apparently went old
school, his lock pick kit on the ground by his knees. 
Tsk, tsk. 
That's
a vulnerable position if I've ever seen one.   I chose to let him unlock the
door for me and then take him out.  Two birds, one stone. 

What was this guy doing alone
, I wondered. 
Surely they were ordered into pairs to counteract exactly this situation.  Oh,
perhaps I took his partner out already.  I shrugged and kept alert eyes peeled,
but when no one came and he succeeded in popping the lock, I returned my focus
solely on him.  He climbed to his feet and clutched his gun.  He cautiously
turned the doorknob open and the door creaked open.  I could hear sounds coming
from the room as the door opened further and I realized where his partner was. 
Ethan was fighting him inside his room. 

The
guy in front of me took a single step into the room before I darted out and
swept my blade across his exposed forearm, forcing the gun from his grip.  I
plunged my blade into his exposed side while pressing the barrel of his gun
against his head with the other hand.  He cried out but froze his movements and
held his breath.  I pushed farther into the room with the intruder in front of
me as both a shield and a hostage.

Ethan
and I locked eyes at my entrance.  Recognition sparked in his eyes and my heart
thudded even faster in appreciation at the sight of him as sweet relief swept
through my entire body.  Quick as a whip, he concentrated on his fight again. 
While these guys weren't insignificant opponents, Ethan, a mixed martial arts
expert, tended to devastate his adversaries. 

Making
sure my hostage knew he was nice and trapped, I migrated us clear of the
doorway and toed the door shut to silence our noise to anyone in the outside corridor. 
I kicked my foot at the bend in his knee so he fell to his knees in front of
me.  I twisted the knife just enough to make a threatening statement and then
refocused my attention on Ethan, settling in to watch the master at work. 

I
didn't
really
expect to find him otherwise compromised, but damn, was he
a sight to behold.  Dressed in head to toe black, not to mention being alive,
engaged in a no holds barred fight with a serious as shit expression shaping
his features, he was exuding twenty two shades of dangerous and fuck if I
didn't find him sexy as hell.  His skin was already moist with sweat, and it
gleamed in the light over the curves of his face and the muscles of his arms. 
I knew him well enough to know that while he appeared calm and steady,
underneath the surface, he was absolutely furious. 

My
blood was still singing through my veins, almost giddy at finding him breathing
and on the offensive, but my mind had already filed it away and was sliding
into partner mode, allowing cognitive space to process and scheme as a unit.

I
considered helping him out, but figured he would be insulted.  He finished the
guy off less than a minute after my arrival, anyway.  After the guy was down,
Ethan wiped at his face and looked right at me.  He walked over to me and I
inspected him for injury as he did the same to me.  His eyes swept over my body
from head to toe, eyes flashing at the parts covered in blood. 

Cursing
my body for tingling from his attention at a wildly inappropriate time like
this, I said, "I'm fine.  Zip ties in my belt loops." 

I
angled my body to show him the back of my jeans.  I stepped to the side and he
locked our hostage's hands and ankles together.  Ethan straightened up,
extinguished the overhead light, and produced a small LED flashlight that he
promptly positioned under his gun, aiming both toward the intruder's face,
blinding him.  I yanked the knife out of his side, twisting it on the exit just
a bit to make it more painful, and walked out in front of him to see his face. 

"Who
do you work for? What's your primary objective?" I asked.

Silence. 

"Wow,
your loud feet say more than you do," I commented.

The
guy sneered at me in response and I back handed him while maintaining my cheery
persona.  Ethan's presence greatly improved my mood, so I was feeling a bit
saucy.  Or snarky, as Brooks would say. 

"Now's
not the time for secrets, Gary," I said, choosing a name at random. 
"Do you mind if I call you Gary?  Spill or you're going to notice a
distinct lack of blood flow to your heart, among other vital organs."

Silence.

I
looked at Ethan, who didn't take his eyes off of Gary, and I remarked casually,
"Maybe he's more of a nonverbal kinda guy." 

Without
blinking, Ethan produced a switchblade and ruthlessly stabbed Gary's thigh. 
Gary's eyes became the size of dinner plates and his lips opened to expose
clenched teeth. He breathed out so sharply that his spit dribbled down his lips
and chin, but he didn't yell out.

"Wow,
kudos to you, Gare, for not crying like a bitch. What is your objective?"
I repeated.

He
continued to look at us mutinously and Ethan spoke for the first time. 
"Dead end. We have to go," he told me. 

I
shrugged and cocked my head at Gary.  "Tell me one piece of valuable intel
and I swear to not kill you, just prohibit you from moving or speaking for a
while."  Gary squinted his eyes in desperate consideration and glanced at
Ethan's gun. I sighed and said, "No, he won't kill you, either. Well, he
won't kill you today," I hastily amended. His eyes snapped back to mine
and I shrugged again.  "That's as good as it gets, Gare Bear."

I
butted my gun against his temple and Ethan rumbled in a hard
don't fuck with
me
voice, "Talk."

Gary
hesitated a second before speaking.  "Ten of us were contracted out to
come here and gather hostages," he supplied.

"Gather
hostages?  They were openly shooting at us," I insisted.  Ethan's eyes
darted to my face in alarm but I ignored him for the time being.

"Unless
the hostages were otherwise armed, we were to shoot
at
you to scare you
into submission.  If you were armed, we had orders to take you out, but only if
necessary," he said.

"Who
hired you?" Ethan asked.

"Called
himself Fletcher."

"You're
not fibbing, are you Gare?  My man here doesn't need to use excessive force on
you to make sure you're being truthful, now does he?" I asked, knowing he
wasn't getting paid enough to face crippling pain or death. 

He
shook his head and reiterated that, "Fletcher was his name."

I
nodded and threw my elbow against his face so hard that he fell onto his back
in an uncomfortable position, but was unlikely to wake up to reposition himself
more comfortably any time soon. 

As
soon as I sheathed my knife, Ethan grabbed my hand to pull me from his bedroom
and navigated down the hall, choosing a random empty room and locking us
inside.  He stowed his gun away, put the small light in his mouth and focused
the beam on my abdomen.  Before I even knew what he was about, he quickly but
tenderly coasted his hands up the sides of my stomach and came to a rest on my
ribcage, lifting my shirt to inspect my damage.

His
brow furrowed in confusion and he glanced a finger across my stomach and
through a transparent sheen of blood and sweat translated from my soaked
shirt.  I inhaled sharply at his touch and his eyes locked with mine.

"It's
not my blood," I said in a shamefully breathy voice.  Damn it, I was not a
breathy kind of girl.  What was this guy doing to me?  He shows he cares and
suddenly I'm all flustered from his touch and attention?

The
hand that was resting on my soon to be discolored ribs squeezed slightly and my
breathing hitched and my body curved to the side slightly in a protective
stance.  He narrowed his eyes on my ribs and I placed my free hand on top of
his to loosen his grip. 

"That
does hurt just a bit, though," I said lightly.

His
eyes shot back to mine and lingered for a second before glancing down to my
still bloody nose.  I cleared my throat to say something reassuring, but paused
when, already standing close, he lowered his face even closer to mine and
lightly feathered his fingers across the bridge of my nose, checking to see if
it was broken.  I squinted my eyes from the glow of the light was really bright
and in my face, though not pointed directly into my eyes.  I could feel his
breath flaring across my skin and thought about how easy it would be remove the
flashlight and close the distance between our lips.  I had to remind myself
that
oh yeah
, we were in a life and death situation and should probably
flee the scene as quickly as possible. 

Keeping
my libido in check, I wrapped the fingers of my free hand around his wrist and
said, "You can play nurse later, but right now we need to go.  We got the
others out safely, and now it's our turn.  Let's go."

He
seemed a bit taken back and freed his hands to take the flashlight in hand
again.   "You and Brooks got everyone out already?" he asked.  I
nodded and he tilted his head to the side slightly. "You came back for me?"
he guessed quietly.

Trapped
in some kind of spell from his extremely close proximity and intense gaze, I
whispered, "I came back for you." 

I
saw his jaw clench and his eyes drilled fiery holes into mine as he
straightened fully away from me.  "Why?" he asked.  Or sort of
demanded.  Spell broken.

"Can
we have this heart to heart later?  We really need to get the fuck out of here
before the rest of the minions find us," I said, trying to ignore the
scorch of his gaze. 

I
could almost hear his teeth grinding before he conceded, "Fine, you're
right."

"Great." 
He nodded his head once, and I said, "Brooks has a secret tunnel out of
this place.  Follow me."

He
raised his eyebrows and shook his head.  "Should have known."

"Right?"
I asked before turning and heading toward the door.  "Should have
known," I whispered to myself. 

I
opened the door and, finding the coast clear, I reversed down the path I took
to get to Ethan's room.  It felt like an hour had passed since I found him.  In
reality it hadn't even been a full ten minutes, yet I still felt like we wasted
time.  Ethan studied all the bodies I left behind, neatly tied and resting on
their stomachs.  Satisfied and a little proud that they were all still knocked
out cold, I glanced at Ethan when we arrived at the last two bodies and the
door leading to the outside.  I motioned him through the door and we exited
swiftly, right into trouble.

Someone
grabbed my arms from behind me, and I instantly launched forward and struggled
out of them.  Ethan whipped to face me and the assailant, and he lunged toward
us right as I felt an intense pain in my left ear.  The world tilted and then
suddenly there was grass and pine needles right in front of my face. 

That's funny.  Those are usually on the ground.  Why are they right in
front of my face? 

I
kept blinking furiously but couldn't seem to focus my vision or my thoughts. 
Everything seemed hazy and kept moving around.  My head was aching like a
bitch.  And there was an annoying ringing in my left ear.

Shit. I've been hit.

I
heard grunting and the sounds of fighting as slowly, my vision cleared and I
didn't feel quite so confused.  The ringing in my ear and the pain in my head
didn't stop though.  Seconds ticked by as I struggled to push up and into a
sitting position.  And then Ethan was there, framing my face with his hands.

"Alex,
baby, are you okay?" he asked.

"Uh,
kinda.  What happened?"

"He
slammed the butt of his gun against your ear," he seethed.

"Son
of a bitch.  Yeah, that hurt," I said slowly. 

"Yeah
well, he'll be hurting worse when he wakes up," Ethan muttered darkly. 

I
saw a lump of black clothing behind Ethan's hovering form and knew he took the
guy down efficiently. 

"We
need to go.  Can you stand?"

I
nodded and he helped me to my feet.  He released my arms and I tilted to the
side a little.  He caught me and handed me his gun.  I took it without
question, and he slid his arms around my back and legs, scooping me up.  I
looped one arm around his neck instinctively and held the gun in the other
hand, pointed at the ground a few feet in front of us.  I took a moment to
appreciate how his hard body felt pressed against mine before I took the time
to protest.

"What
the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"We
can't waste time waiting for you to stabilize.  You'll be fine in a minute. 
Point me in the direction of the tunnel."

I
knew he was right, so I did as he said.  He took both of us the forty or so
feet into the forest and I pointed out the tree leading to the tunnel.  Once
inside the gate, he sat me on my feet and I leaned against the wall of the dark
tunnel.  I whistled a low frequency to alert anyone inside the tunnel of our
imminent arrival, but was met with silence.  Ethan turned on his flashlight and
aimed it ahead of us, down the path.  With no one in sight, we waited a moment
until I felt okay and then started walking forward.  Luckily, I was feeling
better with every step.

Thoughts
about what we just experienced and what I had to do were floating through my
mind, weighing it down with doubts.  I knew down to my bones that whatever the
hell just went down, we came out on top and alive, and that's all that
mattered, but there was still a kernel of unease that hated that we had to do
any of it. 

I
was going to do worse to whoever set us up.

I
tried to think of something to say to Ethan, if only to keep the darkness at
bay, but I just kept reliving the fight we just had.  Unsure of what to say, I
wanted to hold his hand and not let go, but settled for shifting closer to him
so that our shoulders brushed every few steps.  He glanced at me at the contact
and must have read the disquiet on my face, because he finally spoke.

"Do
you know where this leads?" he asked, his voice surrounding me in a
blanket of warm familiarity on the foreign dirt trail. 

"No. 
But knowing Brooks, there's either a vehicle waiting for us, stashed away in
the forest or it opens up somewhere crowded with people."

"Which
means," he concluded, "that it could go on for miles.  We should pick
up the pace."

"Right,"
I said.  "But I pretty much kicked a lot of ass to get to you, and I'm
kind of beat."  He leveled a look at me and I shrugged my defense. 
"Just saying."

A
smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he said, "You kicked ass, did
you?"  I nodded my head seriously and he said, "And all for little
ole' me."

I
made a show of scanning his tall frame from head to toe.  "There's nothing
little about you, my friend," I said dryly.

His
lips twitched again.  "Damn straight," he intoned deeply and
suggestively.

He
was joking around and because of it, I didn't feel so heavy.  Grateful, I
playfully shoved at his shoulder and said, "It's not the size of the boat,
it's the motion of the ocean, Boss."

He
full on smiled now and raised an eyebrow.  "You wouldn't say that if you
were with me.  You would be too busy screaming my name."

I
was glad for the lack of light, because my eyes flashed wider and darted away
from his face.  I felt blood rush to cheeks that have never blushed a day in my
life.  He must have seen it anyway, because he chuckled but didn't say anything
else. 

A
little shocked and a little turned on, I think I reacted less because it was a
sexually suggestive comment, and more because it came from
him
.  He must
have still been wired from our escape, exhilarated enough to not censure his
words, because he was usually more reserved than that.  Damn his deep, rumbly
voice.  He could read aloud straight from the newspaper in a suggestive tone,
and it would affect me.  Not to mention the imagery he produced.  I rolled my
eyes at my own thoughts. 

On
the other hand, he seemed to have just showed me another facet of his
personality, and I couldn't help but feel special that he chose me to share it
with.  So he had a dirty sense of humor.  I sighed. 

I think we were made for each other.

Uncomfortable
with the directions of my thoughts and unwilling to acknowledge it, I stowed my
gun in my jeans and checked my knives, happy to have my hands free of the
dreadfully significant weight of the gun.  The gun itself was fairly light, all
things considered, but it grew heavier each time I used it against someone. 
Ethan followed suit after replacing his clip with one fully loaded.

"Well,
come on then.  You're buying me a steak dinner after this saving your life
non-sense," I declared.

"Pretty
sure I saved you, too," he said.

I
smiled at him and said, "Are we keeping score, now?"

He
didn't answer and we both leaned forward slightly as we started to run.  We ran
for more than an hour before the dirt trail sloped upward and became narrower. 
We slowed to a walk and Ethan took the lead.  We drew closer to what appeared
to be a gate made out of black vertical bars with a horizontal bar at the top
and bottom.  It was covered in green ivy, so we couldn't clearly see what
waited on the other side.  Ethan creaked open the gate and we stepped outside
of the tunnel.  He walked out a few feet and spun in a slow circle, casting his
light on our new location.  We were completely surrounded by heavy darkness and
gigantic trees. 

The
air in the tunnel was stale, and stepping out of it was literally a breath of
fresh air.  It was cold mountain air, too, which was refreshing after all that
running and you know, fighting.

"So
now what?" I asked, my heaving breath creating fog in the cold air.

"We
walk."  We looked at each other, thinking the same question.  He shrugged
and said, "Pick a direction."

I
squinted my eyes in vain, trying to see beyond the beam of his flashlight.  I
opened my mouth to suggest going north of the tunnel when we heard a rustle and
a loud
thunk
behind us.  We both whirled around to face the sound, guns
drawn and aimed at the source of the noise before I threw my hands in the air
incredulously, rolling my eyes.

"Spencer,
what the hell, dude?" I asked.

He
smiled and rubbed his eyes.  "Sorry."  He pointed his own flashlight
upward and we all looked to where he just vacated a tree above us. 
"Brooks took the others to the safe house and left me behind to direct you
which way to go.  He didn't want to leave a note or something, just in case the
bad guys found the tunnel.  He didn't want to leave nice and easy directions to
the rest of us."

Ethan
nodded and we both packed our guns away.  "Lead on, my man," he said.

Spencer's
eyes lit up and nodded his head enthusiastically.  "Sure, let's go."

Spencer
led us through the forest and after a few minutes of only hearing our quiet
footsteps, I heard him counting under his breath.  He was counting his
footsteps.  Great.  We were on a treasure hunt looking for the big X. 

Over
an hour later, I was cold and beyond ready for a long, long nap.  The sweat on
my body had chilled faster than dry skin would have.  The adrenaline in my
body, however, had pretty much dried up, allowing me to feel every pinch and
ache of muscle and bone, not to mention a brutal headache.  I also wanted a
nice, long hot bath.  Maybe I'd compromise and just nap in the bathtub.  That
seemed suitable.  My torturous thoughts were interrupted when I saw a dim light
emerge through the leaves of the trees. 

Ethan
and I immediately tensed and slowed down in caution, but Spencer didn't react
at all, other than to turn his head toward us and say, "Home, sweet
home."