Dual Release

by Tara Nina

  He glanced at Roy, his right-hand man. It pained him to see the scars Roy had obtained in their most recent skirmish with a few of the MacKinnon brothers. What should have been the fiery demise of his adversaries trapped in a burning dock house ended with a lucky arrow shot into a boat with a leaky fuel line, which instantly produced a fireball. If it hadn’t been for Roy’s quick actions, Leod would have suffered more than an injured hip. But it cost Roy some hair, an eyebrow and burns that would take time to heal.

  Doc hadn’t been so lucky. Not being able to swim, he’d drowned. According to the newspaper article, the authorities discovered the body of a disgraced London doctor floating facedown in the river. It was listed as an apparent suicide. Leod leaned comfortably back in his chair. Doc had been a useful tool. Shame to lose such a dedicated fool.

  Looking at Draven, he knew the only thing this man understood was money and power. Both he’d been promised in exchange for his services. Leod grinned inwardly. The joke was on him. Leod had no intentions of sharing the Book of Shadows.

  “Roy, what time is it?” Leod asked.

  Roy retrieved an old watch from his pocket. A thick gold chain attached it to his belt loop. The antique had been Roy’s reward for saving him from a fire that broke out at a nightclub. Leod rolled his eyes. That had been another failed confrontation with the MacKinnons. But now it was his time to win. Heat filled his soul and the familiar sizzle of the burn flowed through his veins and itched to escape his fingertips, but he refrained, keeping the heinous desire to destroy something buried for the time being. He’d get his chance to incinerate at least one of the brothers…soon.

  “It’s seven in the morning, sir,” he reported, then returned the watch to his front pants pocket.

  “Ahh, the sun has most definitely risen.” He grinned directly at Draven. The idiot had gotten his hand broken and had it wrapped in what looked to be a torn bed sheet. A strip of the fabric had been tied into a sling of sorts, which hung around his neck. Too bad Doc was dead. He could’ve set that for him.

  “What the hell has the sun got to do with anything?” Draven practically growled in a demanding tone.

  “Everything,” Leod replied calmly as he tapped a few keys on his laptop. His grin broadened as he lifted his gaze once again to met Draven’s dark-eyed glare. Slowly he turned the screen to share what he saw. “Take a look at your captive now. Tell me what you see.”

  Draven’s eyes widened and his brow pursed tightly. He grabbed the laptop and lifted it for closer inspection before he looked at Leod. “How the hell did that happen? I don’t understand. Where’s the man I took hostage?”

  Roy snickered as if his question were stupid, and Draven scowled at him. The air thickened between the testosterone junkies, as it usually did. Neither liked the other and even though Leod soothed Roy’s angst several times about his placement, Roy still showed no trust toward Draven. It was a point Leod kept tucked in his mental file for future reference for when it came time to dispose of Draven. Roy would gladly handle the deed. Leod interjected before the two came to blows.

  “The statue is the man. It seems their release is temporary. It looks as if the twins haven’t been given the means with which to break the curse entirely. At least, this one hasn’t. Consider this a stroke of luck for us.” He grinned widely. “We’ll use him as bait to lure the others here. What better way to end Clan MacKinnon than by fire and suffocation.”

  Draven’s eyebrow arched. The deadliest smile Leod had ever seen twisted the man’s lips. If he didn’t like the look, it surely would have scared a lesser man. “How many are we considering taking out at one time?”

  “If my calculations are correct and all the brothers come in search of this missing soul, four plus this one and the other twin if he shows will be a total of six MacKinnons and whoever else might be lost in the explosive cave-in.”

  “I’m liking those numbers. But how do you expect them to find us?”

  “Did you not tell me that bumbling idiot Crosby was left behind?” He nodded and Leod continued. “Then I’m quite sure by now he’s given the authorities everything they ever wanted to know about me and my operation. Prepare your men for what might be coming our way.”

  Draven turned for the door but was stopped before he reached it. “Draven.” Leod spoke his name in a commanding way that made him look back across his shoulder. “Make sure all the MacKinnons gain access to the holding cell’s bunker. I don’t care what you do to anyone who goes along with them. Is that clear?”

  “Loudly,” he replied then left, humming a deadly sounding tune.

  “How come he gets to have all the fun?” Roy whined.

  “Because you, my friend, have another assignment.”

  Roy’s eyes widened with a questioning glare. “What is it you want me to do?”

  “Find and kill Kip Crosby. Make sure he’s informed them of our location first. Then do what you want with him.”

  “And Draven?”

  “He’ll be my present to you when this is done and the MacKinnons are dead.”

  *

  She woke to the vibration of her phone. Jenny hadn’t been in a deep sleep out of fear of someone sneaking up on her. Fifteen-minute catnaps helped her continue to keep watch over Dour without becoming totally exhausted. Her eyes hadn’t been closed for long when her phone did a dance on her chest. Lifting the cell so she could see the screen, she couldn’t believe it. No signal to make or receive a call but a text message had somehow gotten through.

  Keep your cell on and we will find you. Help is on the way.

  Jenny sat upright. Who sent this? She climbed out of the driver’s seat and continued to stare at the message. Should she turn the phone off? What if it was someone from the compound who’d noticed where she was hidden and somehow managed to track her cell signal? She knew the technology was out there. It was possible to locate a person by the GPS device in the phone as long as it remained on. Jenny chewed her lower lip with indecision. Should she or shouldn’t she turn it off? Her thumb lingered over the power switch. She couldn’t take the chance it came from the compound. Who knew what sort of techno geeks they had employed inside there?

  But why would they text her? She stared in the direction of the guardhouse. Wouldn’t they take her prisoner if they saw her? That made more sense but still she couldn’t be sure of anything, especially the person on the other end of that text.

  Just as she was about to press the button, it vibrated. Another text message.

  This is the woman from the warehouse. Praying you haven’t been taken prisoner. By now you’ve learned the pitfalls of the anti-curse. Please keep him safe until nightfall or at least until his brothers can get there. Your new friend, May.

  Should she trust this May person? Jenny leaned against the car. What to do, what to do? On or off? What if this was a trick perpetrated by someone from the compound to lure her into a false sense of security? She inhaled deeply, trying to quell her nerves. Her eyes widened as she reread the words. Pitfalls of the anti-curse? What anti-curse?

  Ancient words resurfaced in her head. The woman had spoken something in front of the crate right before the ground shook and thick dust filled the room. Was that an anti-curse? Jenny stared at the brown blanket covering the upper half of Dour. The lower edge of his kilt to his feet was visible. She turned her attention back to the phone.

  Should she try texting back? Her insides churned. Indecision was making her nauseated, or was it simply hunger? Jenny leaned inside the car and dug another protein bar and a second water bottle from the backpack. Maybe if she ate something she’d think clearer. Checking the time on her phone, she saw it was almost noon. How long would it take this so-called help to find her? What would they do when they got there?

  Would Cait even be alive when they did?

  Her chest tightened. She refused to believe in the negative. She and Cait would both get through this, a bit worse for wear, but alive. This she was determined would happen. Jenny hung the binoculars a
round her neck. She moved to the front of the car and leaned against the hood as she searched the compound for any signs of her best friend or Dour’s brother. Nothing. There was minimal movement above ground with the exception of the two guards at the gate and a series of armed patrols she’d spotted occasionally walking the perimeter of the barbed-wire fence.

  That didn’t mean something wasn’t happening below ground. Jenny’s shoulders sagged as she lowered the binoculars. She had no choice but to trust the unknown at the other end of that text. Retrieving the cell phone from her pocket, she responded.

  I truly hope I’m not making a mistake & what you said is true. We are located near the border of Scotland. Not sure exactly where. Hiding outside a bunker community, which seems to be armed and guarded.

  She said a silent prayer before she hit send.

  Taking up watch with the binoculars again, she scoured the area, looking for anything that might help in Cait’s rescue. Something caught her eye. As careful as a mouse avoiding a hawk, she moved toward the tree line closest to the compound. Squatted behind the underbrush, she focused on an oddity in the fencing. It appeared as if an animal had burrowed underneath the wire. If she approached it at just the right angle, she could use the only visible building onsite—some sort of storage barn—as cover, blocking the guardhouse’s view. But she’d have to time it with the patrol’s maneuvers.

  Lying quietly, she watched and timed their rounds. Her neck ached and she did her best not to let the sun hit the binoculars and give her position away. When she was certain she had their schedule down pat, she eased back into the brush and thick of the trees, returning to Dour and the car.

  Her cell phone vibrated again and relief washed over her as she read the words.

  We have your location. Keep hidden and the MacKinnon brothers will be there by nightfall when the twins wake.

  Keep hidden. That was exactly what she was trying to do. Jenny moved to the front of the car and leaned on the hood. She lifted the blanket from Dour’s face. The pain in his eyes made her ache. It must have hurt to have his freedom for such a brief time. Her left eyebrow lifted as that last message poked her curiosity. She dropped the blanket’s edge and looked at her phone again. Pulling up the last message, she reread it.

  Key words burned in her brain. Nightfall. Wake. Excitement stirred in her gut as a spark of heat ignited and spread, warming her. Dour would wake at nightfall. Did that mean what she thought it meant? He’d be free of the curse again, but for how long?

  Jenny rolled the blanket back from his face, bunching it on top of his head. She sat facing him and touched his outstretched hand. Did he know she was there? Did he know he’d be free when the sun went down? Thinking back to the warehouse, she didn’t remember the woman saying anything about it then, but events happened so fast. She could’ve said it and Jenny missed it.

  It had to be horrible being trapped. She gently rubbed his hand and prayed he knew he’d be free in a few hours. Jenny pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, “Help is on the way.”

  She hoped he heard her but she had no way of knowing if he did or didn’t. And that help was in the form of MacKinnon brothers. Were they Dour’s brothers? Had they also been cursed? Confusion contorted her thoughts. This curse thing was a bit too much to consume at one time.

  A heavy rustling in the limbs above her head made her jump. Catching sight of a squirrel, she took a breath and shook her head at her uneasiness. But who wouldn’t be scared and on edge in a situation like this? She wrapped her arms around herself as she made a quiet pass around their perimeter, making sure it was truly only a squirrel that startled her.

  The need to be near him made her settle on the ground at his feet. She curled into a ball against his legs and prayed he wasn’t suffering in his magically induced prison. Questions tumbled through her tired brain.

  Could he breathe? Did he need to breathe? Was he alive or in some partially dead sort of condition? A state of suspended animation, so to speak. She nuzzled against him, wanting him as close to her as possible. She needed this connection to feel secure. It was her against a compound full of crazies until the others reached her or Dour woke, whichever came first. Closing her eyes, she prayed the enemy wouldn’t find them and that Dour was okay and Cait and Donnell weren’t hurt.

  Was Donnell a statue too? He had to be. The curse had stricken them both. Jenny hoped Cait understood what was going on, but how could she? Cait had no way of knowing the effects of the curse. She had to be scared shitless. Lord knew what those creeps were doing to them. Jenny closed her eyes tight for a moment, trying to send Cait a wave of strength to see her through this odd adventure. It was only a matter of time before help arrived. She had to keep the faith for all of their safety.

  Though she doubted Cait would receive it underground, she sent her a text message. Help is on the way. Be safe. Stay close to Donnell. When night falls, he will waken. She prayed heavily that the words reached her friend. If she was still alive.

  Trying to redirect her thoughts from the worst, she shook it from her mind and forced something pleasant to surface. Thinking of Dour’s kiss made her smile. She liked the way he kissed her. Even though their sexual escapade in the car hadn’t exactly been the picture of perfection, they’d both gotten off. Absently she brushed the tender spot on her head where she’d hit the roof several times, but it was worth it. She had a small bruise on her hip from the gearshift that really didn’t matter. She’d fuck him again in the car if he wanted.

  Even better, she wanted to take him home and share the oversized memory foam mattress she’d treated herself to a few months ago. It hadn’t been broken in as yet and she couldn’t think of anyone else she’d like to test it with other than Dour. Sex with him in that bed would be awesome. The two of them stretched out side by side naked, tasting and touching each other, exploring every nuance of foreplay possible until they fucked each other raw. Her nipples tingled at the thought and her pussy throbbed with an immeasurable ache for Dour’s cock. Just thinking about sex with him had her wet, willing and wanting.

  Jenny tightened her arms around her knees, clasping them to her chest. Never had she reacted in such a way to a man. But Dour wasn’t just a man. He was a hunky Scottish laird from a time long forgotten. It turned her on even more thinking about being in his arms, about teaching him the ways of this era. Her eyebrow arched. Yeah. She definitely wanted to be the one to show him how this world worked. The life he knew no longer existed and someone needed to help him. Why not her?

  She did her best to relax even though every little noise, every whistle of the breeze through the trees had her looking for intruders. Her senses were keyed on high alert and her nerves were stretched thin. Jenny caught herself checking the time on her cell phone every few minutes.

  This was going to be the longest day of her life.

  Chapter Ten

  Cait woke to the sense of being watched. For several long seconds, she didn’t move on the cot as she got her bearings. On the pretense of washing the tears from her face, she got up and walked over to the sink. She rinsed the washcloth while using the small mirror on the wall to survey the room without being obvious. If she didn’t know what she was looking for, she would have missed it. A circular mark high on the wall above the door gave the camera’s location away. She finished the face-washing process, tidied the sink and neatly folded the cloth and hung it to dry on the basin’s edge.

  She wasn’t wrong. They were watching them and she had no doubt they knew Donnell’s current condition. So what was the next move going to be? She checked her wristwatch. Noon. She’d slept a few hours and it didn’t appear as if they’d entered the room while she’d done so. What were they up to? It baffled her. They’d taken them hostage, thrown them in this room and then left them alone. Why? Why not question them? About what? She nearly laughed at herself over that one. What did she know? Absolutely nothing. Or at least nothing that was of any worth to this nutcase Brother Leod in her opinion.

  F
rom the position of the camera, she bet it followed her every step around the room. If her calculations were right, the only place it couldn’t see was directly below it in front of the door.

  With this roving eye upon her, escape proved more difficult but not impossible. She turned her back to the door as she smiled. Nothing was impossible as far as she was concerned. Looking at Donnell, she knew she needed a plan. Something that included hauling a man of stone out of this cell because there was no way she was leaving him behind.

  Slowly she moved around Donnell, doing her best to mentally guess his weight. She doubted she’d be able to lift him. There was no way she’d carry him out on her back. Determined to see if she could even move him, she gave him a great big hug, doing her best to reach all the way around. It didn’t matter if the people watching thought she was nuts hugging an inanimate object, it gave her proof she couldn’t lift or even nudge him an inch in this state.

  Damn. This was going to be a challenge. She sat on the floor facing him. His distressed expression tore at her heart. Was he in pain? Did he know she was here? She snorted at her ridiculousness. How the hell had she gotten herself into this nightmare? Oh yeah. She’d listened to a drunk and believed his wild tale about a crazy man, a curse and a book of black magic spells.

  She sat back on her heels but let her hands linger on his as they lay frozen to his legs in his kneeling position. He’d been about to stand and now he was stuck that way forever. Cait bit her lower lip as an idea brewed. But was he? Something the drunken idiot had told her sizzled in the back of her brain, trying its best to burn its way to the forefront. What had he said? Her eyes widened as the memory surfaced.