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“Wait, what?” she asked. “Where are you going?”
“Into the hallway.” His tone was meaningful as though he expected her to know the plan already. She kept herself from reaching out to help him when he slowly pushed himself off the bed and to his feet. Better not to touch. “You sneak out once I’ve got their attention.”
“What if you get shot again?”
“I won’t.”
“You sound awfully sure for a man who just was, in fact, shot.”
“They don’t have the right gun,” he said.
“You don’t know that. All the guns might be hexed.”
He gave her a smile over his shoulder as he limped passed the bed, headed for the door. She rolled her eyes at him, but her eyes got caught on the bloodstain he’d left behind, making her slide off the bed after him.
He’d better be right. She didn’t want to spend the rest of the night squeezing wounds shut. The thought was macabre enough to make her smirk at his back, though the reality of it soon hit her, the smile dying. He’d better be right.
She couldn’t believe she’d kissed him.
And the way he’d kissed her back…
She blinked the thoughts away, the lingering sensation of his mouth hot against hers. Distractions were sure to get them both shot.
He gestured for her to get behind him. She knew what he wanted her to do and took hold of the doorknob so that she’d be able to keep the door from shutting entirely behind him. When he was doing whatever it was he was going to do, she’d slip out of the door undetected. Hopefully. And get to the phone.
“Wait,” she whispered, hand on the door as he was about to open it. “Where’s the phone?”
“To your right across the hallway. It’s a cordless one.”
“A cordless? You still have those old-fashioned things installed?”
“You just be happy we do,” he reprimanded at her slight jibe.
She smiled sheepishly. He looked ready to kiss her again. A thrill in her stomach at the thought. He twisted the doorknob, pulling the door open. She kept behind it.
“Yes?” the man on the other side said but Dmitri didn’t answer him, simply moved out through the door, pushing past the two men.
“I need something for the pain,” he said. “Just let me go get it.”
“Hey!” the man who’d opened the door said.
“You need to stay here,” the second man stated.
“I will, I will,” Dmitri assured. “It just hurts so bad. I’ve got some stuff in my bedroom that’ll help. Yeah? You know it’s just down there. Not far. I won’t try anything. You can come with me if you’d like.”
As assumed, the men hadn’t been assigned to guard her but to guard the big prize. Both of them sullenly followed him down the hallway. She listened to them move away, then pulled the door open a crack. The hallway lay empty. Drawing a breath to steady the tremble of apprehension near her heart, she slipped through the door. Taking an immediate right down the opposite side of the hallway to the one Dmitri had led the guards, she spotted the phone. It was indeed cordless, sitting in its charging station.
Bless the old technology, she thought, nabbing it and hurrying back to the bedroom door, slipping back into the room just as she heard the men’s voices growing louder, clearly approaching the door of Dmitri’s bedroom, having retrieved whatever pain meds he kept in there.
She didn’t wait. She pressed the call button, making sure there was a tone, and dialed her father’s direct number. She moved into the bathroom to be sure she wasn’t spotted if the men decided to accompany Dmitri into the room.
She’d have to listen out for them and hang up if they did, but she didn’t want to waste any time sitting tight until Dmitri was in the room and the door was closed behind him.
The line rang.
Thank God. If her father was busy, he’d often put calls to go straight to voicemail. Most people, of course, didn’t have this number but if he was in a meeting even urgent family calls would have to wait until he was done.
It rang again.
