Page 116 of Under His Guard

The pain in my wrists is something else. I tore a lot of skin getting out of the ropes, but it worked.

And I still can’t believe I managed to get the drop on Marco. He’ll be out for at least a minute.

But I need to get us out of here, and in order to do that, I need to get Luke free.

His hands are too thick to slide through the ropes like I did, so I hurry through the warehouse until I find something sharp to cut the rope with.

I also know he’s bleeding harder than he was earlier and that many hits to the head and face are going to make operating difficult for him.

A broken bit of metal sheared off at an angle catches my attention. I hurry over and snag it, rushing back to Luke.

His head is wobbly as I get to him, and I try to keep him talking.

“Hey, hey. No falling asleep. I’m right here. Hang on.”

“There you are, doc.” Luke’s voice sounds tired. “Thought you left.”

There are others in this building or around it somewhere, and I need to be fast.

“I didn’t leave, Luke. I’m getting you out of these ropes.”

I saw through them while trying to avoid hurting his wrists. It takes a good few moments for me to cut through enough to loosen the hold.

Finally, they slip away, and I help Luke pull his arms free. He hisses as his right shoulder lifts, and I have a feeling the punch there really strained the ligaments.

“Okay, there we go.”

I struggle to help Luke to his feet, but as he leans on the injured leg, he grunts. The upside, however, is that it seems to have woken him up a bit.

“Dammit, that hurts.” He looks down at me, putting his hand on my cheek with a smirk. “There you are. Hi, doc.”

Taking just a second to smile back, I huff out a breath. “Hi.”

“Marco! What’s going on?”

Another Cobra calls from just around one of the remaining walls, and Luke and I tense, frantically looking around us.

Luke points at a stack of pallets and those dumb canvases. “Get back behind that pile. I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re barely standing!” I whisper urgently. “What are you going to do? Bleed on them?”

He frowns, only just refraining from rolling his eyes.

“I’ve got it. Go.”

Heavy footfalls come in our direction. There’s no time to argue, so I rush over, peeking through the slats to see when Luke will need my help.

I can barely see the two gang members run in from around that wall, and Luke sinks low into some type of fighting stance.

The man who comes to his right swings wide across him, and Luke ducks back.

He traps the man’s wrist with a firm grip and punches several times right into his lower side. Over his kidneys.

It’s a smart location, and the guy reels, curling in on himself to protect his side. Unfortunately for him, his loss of focus means Luke can move him pretty easily.

He angles the guy into the oncoming blow of his buddy, and this new assailant does the work of punching the first man in the face.

That guy is out cold.

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