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“Sally, I’m sorry. I went by your cabin a half-dozen times this morning to check on you. The last time, those bastards came out of nowhere. Hit me with a chunk of wood, and I passed out. When I came to, Daniel and I were both hog-tied in the cabin next to his. I should have seen them or heard them. I let you down and I’m sorry. Luke is going to have my head.” Regret was heavy in his tone.
From the little she’d come to know of Matt “MacGyver” Iverson, he took his duties very seriously. If he hadn’t seen the enemy coming, it wasn’t from lack of attentiveness. Of that she was sure. “It’s not your fault. They’re after Luke. That blond-haired guy is the one who interrogated him in the POW camp.”
“Wait. Are you telling me that’s the murdering snake who killed Ian?” All kinds of shuffling noises and grunts came from Daniel’s position. Sally could only imagine he was frenziedly tugging on his bindings just as she’d done earlier.
“Take it easy, Daniel. We have to be smart about this,” Matt said.
Daniel’s activity lessened and then stopped. “Whatever happens, I want that son of a bitch. Promise me.”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” Matt understood—it was there in his voice. “Do you know what they’re planning, Sally?”
“Aside from some of the gruesome killing stuff, no. He seems to be waiting for Luke to drive in.” They couldn’t let that happen. They had to warn him—but how? “Is there any way either of you can get loose?”
“We’re tied to a post. Given enough time, I could probably work these ropes loose, but Luke could be here any minute.” Matt groaned with the effort he was obviously expending on the knots. “Unless they cut one of us loose, we could be out of luck.”
Don’t sugarcoat it for me, Matt.Sally laughed softly for lack of anything better to add. “Ahmed may cut my bindings—at least my legs.” She assumed they would make the connection and figure out what Ahmed wanted her for. In the ensuing silence, she was really glad she didn’t have to make eye contact with the men she barely knew.
“Aw, fuck!” Matt’s sentiment somehow made her feel better.
Chapter Twenty
It seemed like hours before Sally heard footsteps again. She picked up her head and strained to hear how many and how close.
“Remember what we told you, angel lady,” Matt said in a stage whisper.
She smiled for a heartbeat, imagining the pained expressions on Daniel and Matt’s faces while they’d passed along their knowledge of a man’s greatest vulnerability and how to optimize the situation in her favor. Their conversation, while they waited for God knows what, was more than simply weighing their options, few as those were. They’d treated her like one of the team—like her opinions added value to the plan they’d devised—that very well might be their last. Of course, there’d only be one set of circumstances that would make escape possible, and without escape, there’d be no warning Luke about the trap he’d be walking into.
“Looking forward to it,” she whispered back and heard them both snicker. If only she was as confident as she’d made herself sound. The truth was, she was scared shitless. If she couldn’t make the pathetic plan they’d come up with work, they were all going to die. If the plan did work, Sally would no doubt die first. With that thought, her heart rate kicked up a notch, but she quickly got control of her fear. Luke would be here soon. She wouldn’t fail him.
One set of footsteps entered the barn and scuffed across the dirt floor to stop in front of her prison. “Hello, Sally. I’m happy to say, we’re ready for your friend Luke to return. I’m sorry I’ve neglected you, though.” Ahmed clicked something on the door of her enclosure, and it squeaked. “Luckily, we can fix that. You may come out now.”
Sally didn’t move, except to jump when he raised his voice to repeat the invitation. With wrists and ankles bound, she had to lie down and crawl like an inchworm. Finally, he grabbed her arm and dragged her the rest of the way, then pulled her up on numb feet. She teetered precariously until he pushed her back against the cage, and it moved slightly with her weight.
Suddenly, he jerked the bag from her head, and she scrunched her eyes shut and turned her head to block out the afternoon sunlight. He took full advantage of her exposed neck, fastening his lips there and scraping his teeth against the pulse point in her throat. One of his hands palmed her breast roughly, then continued up until he grabbed her chin and yanked her head around to face him.
Sally meant to suggest he rot in hell, but before she could utter a word, his mouth closed over hers, sucking and licking, his tongue delving for the back of her throat. She gagged, and he drew back, delivering a ringing blow with his fist to the side of her jaw. Pain erupted in sparkly lights as bright as the Fourth of July. She sagged between him and the metal cage behind her. Watching him through lowered lids, she saw him unsheathe the knife at his side. Her breath caught as she tried to stand straight. She heard voices other than Ahmed’s and realized Matt and Daniel were cursing. Tied to the same post not ten feet away, both men hurled insults.
Ahmed turned his face toward them. “I don’t need either of you. You’re only alive because of my generosity. That will end if you don’t be quiet.”
“Yeah, well, come over here and try toendme, you lily-livered Nancy boy. You think you’re tough, beating on a woman. Come over here and see what you can do with a man.” Matt’s taunt roared in the open barn.
What was he doing? He couldn’t defend himself, tied the way he was. Ahmed would kill him. “No, Matt, wait.”
He glanced at her, regret and sorrow in his eyes, but then his gaze flicked back to Ahmed, and he opened his mouth, no doubt to mock their captor further.
Without warning, one of Ahmed’s men appeared at the open door. Whatever he said to his boss in their strange dialect put a scary smile on both their faces before Ahmed issued an abrupt order that sent the other man scurrying back where he’d come from.
“Your friend is back. We’ll have to postpone our playtime…but I think I’ll let you come with me and watch.” He fisted his hand on the neckline of her tank top and pulled her toward him until his breath warmed her ear. “I may have to change my mind and keep you alive for a while. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, baby?” He slid his other arm around her hips and held her still as he ground his hard-on into her belly.
“I’d rather be eaten alive by lions than have you touch me.” The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them.
She’d done it now. He was almost certainly going to kill her.
Instead, he shoved her away from him. The back of his hand landed across her face with such force it jarred every bone in her body. Her legs nearly gave out, and she actually looked forward to the blackness that encroached on the edges of her vision. The next blow, from his fist to her stomach, doubled her over and made her forget the pain that had burst through her jaw a moment before. Her insides burned and nausea washed over her. She dropped to her knees.
“You will learn your place…or you will die.” Ahmed clutched her hair and hauled her back to her feet.
Sally pushed the pain from her thoughts and fought the urge to vomit. She couldn’t ruin everything now, when Ahmed was about to cut her feet loose so she could walk with him to witness his triumph over Luke.Not if I can help it…and there’s a God in heaven.
