by Dana Mentink
It was all too easy to identify the men who were security as the brooding, buff men with earpieces. She wasn’t sure at this point if they were here to kill her or protect her. If they were Royal Guard, she should stay as far away from them as she could. She lowered her head, avoiding eye contact as she steered clear of them.
She knew there was a very good chance they’d used her brother to lure her here. Ronin had told her the plan was to keep them as far apart as possible, after all. But there was still a slim possibility Leo was here somewhere. She couldn’t take the chance. If he was in this house, he was in danger and needed her help. She couldn’t walk away.
Thea moved around the edges of the room, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible while checking every room. She kept her eyes lowered to refrain from making eye contact. If they didn’t recognize her, they would see it in her eyes. The fear.
Slowly and carefully, Thea checked every inch of the main floor. Room after room turned up nothing but lavishly dressed people chatting and eating. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for. It wasn’t likely they’d put a sign up for her. The main floor was clear, not a sign of her brother anywhere. Neither was there a clear sign of anyone actually looking for her. That left her with the decision of whether to go up or down. Down seemed like the logical place someone would keep a person against their will.
Weaving back toward the kitchen, Thea found a door to the cellar.
She lay her tray on the countertop and pulled at the heavy wood door. It creaked as she opened it slowly. Thea glanced around her quickly to make sure no one had noticed her, then slipped inside. The entry to the cellar started with a small hallway before the stairs descended. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, then closed the door behind her.
The partygoers’ voices turned into muffled chatter as she made her way down the narrow staircase.
The stairs creaked with each step.
A chill raced up her spine as a shadowed figure darted from one side of the room to the other ahead of her.
“Hello?” she whispered through the tightening in her throat. She stood still after stepping from the last stair, searching the darkness for more movement or sound.
The sound of rustling jerked her attention quickly to one side. She convinced herself it was just another rat. Just a very, very large rat. Even as she mumbled the words under her breath, she took a step backward. Then another. The last step backed her right up against a hard form.
“No rat,” a gravelly male voice spoke from behind her.
Thea gasped as a strong hand covered her face, holding a cloth up against her nose and mouth. She recognized the voice from the woods. It was one of the men who had run them off the road. She kicked and hit at the man, but it was too late. She gasped for air, inhaling a pungently sweet scent. Sparks of light flashed behind her eyelids as she struggled to keep them open. They felt heavy. She felt heavy. Thea fought the blackness that threatened, all the while stumbling against the dark form. Her feet dragged along the floor as the man moved her through the darkened cellar.
“We can’t take her back up through the house?” she heard another voice, this one less threatening and younger, say. “Why isn’t she out yet? Isn’t that stuff supposed to knock her out?”
Dizziness threatened, but she fought against it. Her world went into complete darkness when the man behind her threw something over her head. She fought against the hands holding her. She kicked out with her feet wildly, not knowing for sure what she was kicking at but knowing she had to fight.
Every movement felt sluggish; her body moved in slow motion. Even her thoughts were slowing. Then hands moved into the hood and over her mouth, stuffing cloth inside. She gagged against the foul smell and taste.
“Let’s just kill her and be done with it,” the younger voice suggested.
“Are you dense?” the older voice replied. “Not here—he’s right upstairs. There can’t be any trail that leads back to him.”
She fought the nausea and darkness that threatened. There were two of them. If she could just stay focused on every little detail, it would help her escape.
“We’ll have to go out the back, then,” the younger voice stated.
The older-sounding man replied with a few choice words as her mind blurred. She struggled to focus, to note every detail of what they were saying.
She couldn’t give up hope that if she stayed alert, she’d find a way to get free. If only she didn’t feel so light-headed. Her body went limp. She struggled to get her feet back under her and stand, but she had no strength left. She could do nothing to fight them as they dragged her across the room. Her shins knocked against steps as her body was tugged upward.
The lower half of her body thumped against every step, but she felt no pain. A door creaked open and cool air flitted across her exposed skin. She wished for a small amount of fresh air to make its way up under whatever they had thrown over her head. She could barely breathe. Each gulp of air only brought in more of the foul smell.
She heard scuffling and fell to the ground as the men dropped her. The sounds of grunts and flesh and bone hitting against flesh and bone made its way through her muddled mind.
Gunshots blasted. Then men yelling.
Someone was rescuing her. Ronin. He was her last coherent thought before her world went completely black.
*
He had barely made it to her in time.
Ronin rushed the men coming up out of the cellar. When he spotted the limp body between them, fear like he’d never experienced welled up inside him. He smashed the grip of his gun down hard against one of the men’s heads, knocking him unconscious before raising it quickly to point it at the other.
“Don’t even think it.” The man lifted Thea’s limp body up against him, using her as a shield. “Make one more move and the lady gets it.”
“How do I know she’s not already dead?” he asked. The thought made his throat tighten, but he pushed the words through. He had to remain calm and think positive thoughts. She couldn’t be dead.
“I guess you’re just going to have to take my word for that,” the man replied. “Is it a chance you want to take?”
His need to protect Thea warred with the strong need to see the man pay for the pain he’d already caused her. He kept his gun targeted on the man’s forehead. Even in the dimly lit driveway, at this distance there was no way he’d miss. But it was just as likely that the man’s reflexes would pull his own trigger, killing Thea even as he fell to his own death.
Ronin couldn’t take that chance. He lifted his hands in the air, holding his gun up in surrender.
“Okay, okay,” he relented. “Just move the gun away from her.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” The man waved the gun at Thea’s head as he barked out the questions. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Yes, he did, but under the circumstances it wouldn’t be wise to tell the man so. He was saved from making any sort of reply by the sound of screeching tires and voices from the street in the front of the house. Flashes of light came around the corner of the building. Jarrod had arrived with backup.
“Tell your men to stay back,” the man ordered.
“Stay back,” Ronin shouted without taking his eyes off the man. “He has Thea.”
He could only assume they’d done as asked when the man barked more orders.
“Open the back of the van! Quick or she gets it.”
Ronin did as he was asked. He moved carefully, all the while watching the man out of the corner of his eye.
“Now get in there and put these on,” the man ordered, tossing Ronin a pair of cuffs. Ronin obeyed. “Fasten them around the pole and your wrists. No funny stuff.” The man came up beside him and snapped the cuffs tighter. At least he would be with her. He was glad the man had come up with that idea on his own because there was no way he was letting him leave here with Thea without him.
As soon as Ronin was fastened in to the man’s satisfaction, he tossed
Thea in beside him. Then he slammed the back door shut and rushed around to the driver’s side.
The van roared to life and took off in a lurch.
Ronin didn’t have to see out the back windows to know his brother would take care of the unconscious man who’d been left behind and tail just far enough behind the getaway vehicle to not risk endangering Thea more. Ronin had no doubts about his brother’s ability to do his job well. It was Thea’s limp body that worried him.
He wouldn’t allow himself to think that her lack of movement was anything more than unconsciousness. The vehicle sped along, making several sharp turns along its journey. Ronin pulled against the cuffs until he could feel them cutting into his skin. It was no use.
The van stopped. Ronin couldn’t make out where or why, but he was thankful the brief pause in movement gave him a chance to listen closely. He could hear her breathing. Relief soared through him. She was alive.
The van lurched ahead again. The sudden movement sent tools and pipes rolling around the floor and bumping up against Thea’s still body.
“Thea,” Ronin whispered, hoping to wake her enough to find out if she was injured.
“Quiet back there!” the man yelled. Ronin couldn’t make out much of what he said after that. There was quite a bit of grumbling and words that didn’t bear repeating.
Ronin tuned the man out and listened for sounds Thea might make if she woke. He just needed to know she was okay. That was all that mattered to him. He didn’t care if he never got the details of what happened the night her father had died, or if she knew anything at all. He didn’t want to see her hurt or in pain.
He wanted to save her from all that he could.
Ronin maneuvered into a position where he could reach out with his foot and nudge her. He gently rubbed the toe of his shoe against her legs, trying to see if he could prod her back into consciousness. He stopped and watched for any signs of movement. He didn’t take the time to think of why he was so desperate to know she was okay; he just knew he would never be able to live with himself if she was hurt.
A buzzing of a cell phone from the front of the van startled him. He listened as the driver answered.
“Hello.” The driver pulled the van over to a stop again. “Yes,” he replied. Then silence. Ronin wiggled his foot against Thea again. He was rewarded with muffled choking sounds. Her body moved against his feet, her untethered hand feeling around on the dirty floor. She was alive. But she needed air.
“Yes, I understand,” the man said again before disconnecting and glancing back at them.
“She needs air,” Ronin said. “She needs air or she won’t be able to breathe.”
The man opened his door and within moments was behind the van opening the back doors. Streetlights illuminated the darkened vehicle.
“In a moment that won’t be a problem,” he said. The man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a gun. “I admired your father, Princess. He was a good man, and in his honor I will make your death quick and painless.”
Ronin tugged harder against his cuffs, ripping his skin. He could not sit here helplessly and watch the man kill Thea.
“To you, however, I make no such promises.” The man lifted his gun, bringing the grip down hard against Ronin’s forehead. “That I believe I owed you.” Then he came down hard again, across his jaw. “That was just for fun.”
“At least take the hood off her head so she can breathe,” Ronin said, spitting out the blood that ran from his mouth.
“I would rather not look into her eyes when I pull the trigger.” The man reached out and pulled Thea up into a sitting position.
Ronin knew what the man didn’t. Thea was not a woman to underestimate. He’d noticed her hand moving slowly toward the steel pipe that had rolled against her during the ride. He smiled as she sprang to life when the man lifted her, her arm with the pipe swinging wildly. Even after she’d made contact with the man’s head and he fell to the ground, she kept swinging.
Over and over again she swung the pipe in front of her.
“Thea!” Ronin shouted. “You got him—you can stop.”
She stopped and pulled the hood away from her head. She glanced wide-eyed first at him and then to the man on the ground.
She turned to Ronin and smiled weakly. He watched the fear, the terror and the shock of what had just happened and of what she’d done register across her features. Her hair flew wildly around her face as she looked down at the man.
“It’s okay. He’s not getting back up anytime soon.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He would be more sure when he had the cuffs off and was able to use them on their assailant. “Can you get me his gun?” He knew she wasn’t going to like going anywhere near the man, but he needed more from her. “And can you search him and find the keys?” He pulled at his cuffs.
A new emotion crossed her face, and for a split second he knew she was thinking of leaving him there and running again. He hoped she wouldn’t. She might not want to admit yet how much she needed him, but tonight had shown him something he’d never imagined possible.
He needed her.
The terrified look left her face and she attempted a small smile.
“Bad guys really do need to learn not to talk so much,” she said.
Her words surprised him.
She needed to talk to calm her nerves, he imagined. He willed her to keep moving forward and get the keys. If conversation was what she needed, he was happy to help.
“How so?” he asked.
“They always seem to make the same mistake—all that talking when they should just be getting the job done.” She poked at the man and jumped back, as if she were expecting him to wake up and lunge at her. “They should just kill a person right away and get it over with instead of talking and giving the person a chance to get away.”
“I guess he learned his lesson.”
“Yes, yes, he did.” She studied the man and then quickly rummaged through his pockets. After a few seconds she hopped over the body. “I think I rescued you this time.” With a smile of victory, she dangled the key in front of her.
Her smile warmed his heart. She was truly special and whether she was a princess or not, he needed her. Not just for the truths she held in her mind, but for who she was.
“But I wouldn’t have needed rescuing at all if I hadn’t had to rescue you.”
“I’m sorry.” Her smile vanished and he wished more than anything he could bring it back. “They told me Leo would be there. I couldn’t risk it.”
“I know.” He understood. It still stung that she thought she would be better off without him. But he was sure she had her reasons. In the same circumstances he’d probably have done the same thing.
“Is Leo safe?” she asked. Her voice was filled with concern and a dash of fear.
“Yes.” He was glad he could bring her good news among all the bad that had happened tonight. “My brother Declan is with him. He will be released from the hospital in a few days and taken someplace safe until the threat is eliminated.”
“Thank you.” Her smile was back and it lit her face. “Would you still like to be rescued?” Thea teased, shaking the keys at him again.
“I would very much like to be rescued, Princess,” he teased right back. “Before the cavalry arrives, if you don’t mind.”
“Do we have cavalry arriving soon?” she asked. Her smile faded as she moved closer to unlock the cuffs from his bloodied wrists. “You’re hurt.”
“So are you.” She would definitely need to be checked by a doctor. He’d seen firsthand the callous way the men had treated her. There was no telling how long she’d been unconscious or how they’d knocked her out. “And yes, we do have backup this time. My brother should be here at any moment with his men.”
As if on cue, three dark cars pulled in behind them in the vacant lot. He recognized his brother immediately as he emerged from the lead vehicle and strode toward them.
“Princess Dor
thea, we need to get you away from here quickly.”
His brother was never one to beat around the bush, but he knew Thea would only balk at being ordered without any sort of explanation.
“This is my brother Jarrod,” Ronin explained. Then he asked, “Do you have the safe house ready?”
“Everything is prepared. But we need to go now.” As Jarrod spoke, his men were already moving about, picking up the still-unconscious man off the ground and securing the van. “We don’t have long before the police arrive or whoever he was working for comes to finish the job.”
Ronin nodded. It was imperative Thea was secure before anyone else arrived on the scene. He reached out his hand toward her and without hesitation she took it.
“Did you get the other man?” Ronin asked.
“Yes,” his brother replied as they walked to the car.
“What was going on at the house?”
“It appeared to be a gathering of a select few Portasean officials.” Jarrod stopped at the car, holding the door open for Thea.
“Someone else was there.” Thea startled them both with the comment. “I remember them saying something about not killing…” Her voice trailed off. Ronin could only imagine the struggle it was to relive the ordeal she had just been through. “One of them wanted to kill me there and the other said something about they couldn’t because he was there.”
“He?” Ronin asked.
Thea nodded before climbing inside the vehicle.
“I’ll get someone to review the guest list right away,” Jarrod stated as he started to push the door closed behind her.
“I’m with her,” Ronin said, blocking the door before it could close. His tone left no room for questions. “I’m not leaving her side until we are 1,000 percent sure she’s safe.”
If Jarrod had a problem with it he didn’t say anything as Ronin slid into the backseat next to Thea.
It was hard to believe just hours ago he’d thought he needed to distance himself. He couldn’t imagine leaving her alone now. Now was when she needed him most. The danger was very real and imminent. If the killer wanted her dead before she could be presented as Princess Dorthea Jamison of Portase, they would have to do it soon.
