Eye of the Beholder

“Why?”

“Say you saw a mouse. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I mean why do you want me to scream?”

“Distract the guards. Get them to open the door so I can jump them.”

“Wouldn’t they be expecting that?”

“I’ll move fast. I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.”

“It would be easier to pick the lock and open the door ourselves, wouldn’t it?”

“Sure, if I had the tools, but—”

“What about some hairpins?”

He twisted to face her, lifting his hands to her hair. “Do you have some? I didn’t feel any when I…” When I kissed you, when I ran my fingers through your hair as I wanted to do from the moment I saw you… He dropped his hands. It was over. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place. He couldn’t afford to think about it. “I didn’t feel any an hour ago.”

“I lost most of them on the trip here. I took the rest out before you regained consciousness because my hair was such a mess….” She drew in her breath unsteadily. “What a stupid thing to have worried about.” She caught his hand and tugged him forward. “Help me look. They should still be on the floor somewhere.”

Both guards were leaning back in their chairs, the olive-green caps they wore shading their eyes from the bare lightbulb that hung from the corridor ceiling. As soon as the door cracked open, the closest man jumped to his feet and swung his gun toward them.

Rafe was on him before he could pull the trigger. He knocked the gun aside and drove his stiffened fingers into the man’s solar plexus as the second guard was getting to his feet. As the first man toppled, Rafe spun around and struck a swift blow to the side of the second man’s neck. Within seconds, both guards were sprawled unconscious on the floor.

Glenna blinked at the sudden ferocity of Rafe’s movements, then hobbled toward him when he gestured her forward. Maybe escape wouldn’t be as impossible as she’d feared. Now that they’d gotten past these guards—

Instead of going by, though, Rafe was leaning over the fallen men.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, grasping the back of one of the empty chairs for balance. “They’re out cold, aren’t they?”

“Buying us some time,” he said. He reached for the man’s belt and yanked it off.

“What?”

He gestured to the unconscious man in front of her. “I’d prefer not to kill them, so I want to tie them up and gag them to keep them from raising the alarm when they come to. You can help by taking off his belt.”

It made sense. She should have thought of it herself, but she didn’t have any experience in matters like these. No, arranging a fund-raising banquet or coordinating a conference didn’t have much to do with the skills involved in breaking out of a drug lord’s basement prison…

She focused on Rafe and somehow managed to tamp down the bubble of rising panic. He was moving swiftly and purposefully as he bound one guard’s hands behind his back with his belt. He emptied the man’s pockets, coming up with a lighter, a small ring of keys and a folding knife. After he crumpled the man’s cap into a rough ball and wedged it into his mouth, he fastened the gag in place with one of the guard’s boot laces, then grasped him under his arms and dragged him into the storeroom.

Glenna bent over and reached for the remaining guard’s belt buckle. It was a challenge to open because her fingers were shaking. But she couldn’t fall apart. She would think of Rafe. He had promised he’d get them out of here. She believed him. He wasn’t like the other men she’d known. They had a bond…

I’d prefer not to kill them.

That’s what he’d said. That meant he would have killed them if he’d had to. Of course. He was a soldier. That’s what soldiers did.

But his touch had been so tender, and he’d given her what she’d needed and held her while she’d slept and—

Oh, God, she couldn’t think of that now. If she did, she’d be no help to either of them. She pulled the belt free from the belt loops just as Rafe returned.

He bound and gagged the guard the same way as the other one and dragged him into the storeroom. When he reappeared, he was carrying a pair of boots and the guard’s clothing. “I left the laces in these ones. Take them,” he said, holding them out to her.

“Why?”

He dumped them into her arms and stooped over to pick up the guards’ discarded rifles. “You don’t have shoes and that skimpy top and skirt you’re wearing aren’t practical for jungle survival.”

She juggled the bundle of clothing and grasped the boots before they could fall to the floor. “Jungle…”

“We need to cover every contingency. We’re not in New York, princess.” He took the ammunition clip from one of the rifles and tucked it into another pocket on his jumpsuit. He slung the other rifle over his shoulder, slipped his arm around her waist and guided her down the corridor. “You can change later,” he said. “The first priority is getting us out of here.”

His tone was curt, his grip on her waist firm, yet he did his best to take most of her weight as they moved. She realized she had to be a burden to him. He had to be aware that he could probably get away faster without her. She stole a glance at his face.

Because of the wound in his left leg, he held her on his right side, just as he’d done when they’d been taken to meet Juarez. Glenna had a good view of his scars, but she still couldn’t see any ugliness. She saw his strength and his concern for her.

They reached the place where the corridor branched into three without encountering anyone. The corridor on the right led into the main part of the house. Rafe stopped and tilted his head to listen.

Glenna thought she heard footsteps until she realized it was the pounding of her pulse. She bit her lip and tried not to give in to the urge to run back.

He lowered his lips to her ear. “When they brought us here after they caught up to us at the airport, which way did they come?”

“From the left, I think.”

“Were there many twists? Changes in direction?”

“I don’t…” She swallowed hard and clutched her bundle of clothing to her chest. The image of Rafe’s limp body being dragged by two of Juarez’s henchmen rose without warning. Oh, God. She’d blocked that out. They’d been so rough. “Yes. Quite a few. It was awful. They kept bumping you into the corners and—”

“What else did you see? Any doors?”

“I saw a big room that looked like a lab.”

“What about the exit? How far is it?”

“There was a door that was set into a cement wall outside. It wasn’t wood like the ones upstairs. It was steel.”

“What was nearby?”

“It was dark and—”

“And you were scared out of your wits. I understand.” He spoke slowly, his words calm although she could feel tension humming through his body. “Think about where they parked. Picture that.”

She felt the truck jerk to a stop after it backed into place beside a platform, and she remembered Rafe sliding toward the tailgate… “A small loading bay with a set of steps. There were people all around. They might still be there.”

“Yeah. People in the drug business tend to work nights, especially if they’re running a refining operation in that lab you saw. That might not be the best way to—” He stopped abruptly and looked down the center corridor. “Someone’s coming. We can’t go that way.”

To her surprise, he started down the corridor on the right. “Rafe, this will take us into the house,” she said.

“I didn’t see any guards stationed there. They’re probably more concerned with keeping people out than keeping them in. Could be our best bet.”