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She cared.
A gravelly voice answered. “He’ll live.”
Then blackness swallowed him whole.
Consciousness returnedwith agonizing and brutal slowness. Coughing, he tried to clear the dryness from his throat and forced his eyes to open. A mistake. The light cut through his skull like a blowtorch. Squeezing them shut, he fought to inhale through his nose and out through his mouth. Matching his breathing to the four count of his heart rate let him push past the illness swamping him.
Focus.
Control.
Breathe.
When he opened his eyes a second time and forced his chin up to survey his surroundings, he identified blank walls, a table, two chairs, and a camera in the corner. Nothing—and no one else. His arms were secured at his sides, wrists bound with individual threads of rope wrapped around each finger then secured to the chair legs.
Effective. No way to dislocate a thumb and slip free unless he wanted to dislocate all of his fingers. A second cough, and he didn’t taste any blood. The pounding in his brain, however, wouldn’t cease no matter what breathing tricks he tried.
The door opened, and a dark figure entered. A water bottle was set on the table, lid secured. Whether to taunt or because his interrogator wanted a drink, who knew? Gabriel didn’t struggle, sneer, or otherwise respond.
Was this—what did she call his assailant? Merc? As in Mercenary?Dressed in unrelieved black and wearing a ski mask, his captor’s only visible feature were eyes and the color remained indistinct in the shadows.
“Name?”
Really?Even with his head threatening to split open, he wasn’t fooled. They knew exactly who he was. Why else would he be here, unless—? Had they been after Copper? The moments surrounding the thunderbolt slamming into his skull were a little blurry. She’d offered him her hand, and he’d gotten to his feet.
Then she’d…
“Name,” Mr. Monosyllable demanded.
Gabriel smiled. “My name is Inigo Montoya, and you are an asshole.”
The masked figure stiffened, then sighed. “Mr. Danvers, this doesn’t have to be unpleasant.”
“Shocking, considering I’m nursing a concussion. You’re lucky I haven’t vomited all over you.” Then, because his skull didn’t like him talking, he said, “But keep asking me questions. That can change.” Where the hell was Copper?
He tested each rope. They hadn’t quite cut off his circulation, but his fingers weren’t moving. Wiggling his toes, he took inventory. They’d lashed his ankles, too. Fuckers didn’t take any chances. Smart.
Irritating, but smart.
“I’ll take my chances.” Was that a note of amusement? “You’re Gabriel Danvers, Professor.”
“No, asshole. I told you, I’m Inigo Montoya.” His right eye twitched. The light acted like a blade, stabbing over and over. Pain could be controlled, and he’d had extensive anti-interrogation training. If he could get the pulses in his head to keep time with his heart rate, he could breathe through the worst of it. “Where’s Copper?”
The man unscrewed the water bottle then took a drink. Setting the bottle down, he left the cap off. So, it was there to taunt.Good to know.
Gabriel ignored the drink.
“You worked for the CIA.”
“Nope, I was hired by Vizzini to kidnap a princess.” Sometimes he cracked himself up. “Don’t suppose you’ve seen her? Sexy as sin? Red gold hair, dark skin, legs that don’t quit?”
“What do you know about Red Wolf?”
“Not much. How much caffeine does it have in it? Last I checked, Red Bull was the thing.” Red Wolf—terrorists. Highly specialized. Urban legend. Facts ticked through his brain. He’d had a file on them a few years before, but it went nowhere. After he submitted a request for more resources to set on the trail, he’d been reassigned. South American shithole number one, followed quickly by shithole number two.
A shoe scuffing the floor behind him warned him a moment before a gun pressed to the back of his skull. “Jackson Jennings. Why were you meeting with him?”
They were going to pull the trigger or not. Meeting the gaze of the man across from him, he said, “I have no students named Jackson Jennings. If this is about cheating, I think you’ve taken it a little far. Where is Copper?”
