Mercenaries

by Anne Kane

  Summoning his best glower just in case someone was on the other side, he shouldered the door open and paused to survey the layout. As on the floor he’d just left, this level appeared to consist of a long hallway with numerous rooms branching off to either side. Starting at the closest room he started checking the rooms out one at a time. A large closet with various uniforms on the left. The next four doors bore the names of various officers, and were locked tight. He doubted there would be holding cells in any of those, so he moved on. The next room housed an impressive array of assault equipment and he paused long enough to liberate a couple of smoke grenades and a small pistol with a couple of clips of ammo. The familiar weight of the weaponry gave him some comfort.

  On the seventh door, he hit pay dirt. The room contained six metal cages, with Wren occupying the one closest to the door.

  “Snake? Is that really you? Oh thank God! Get me out of here!” Wren had never looked so happy to see him. Hell, if she wasn’t confined in a metal cage in the center of the room, he bet she’d have thrown herself in his arms. Made a man feel wanted, having a woman look at him like that.

  For the umpteenth time he wished she wasn’t his buddy’s kid sister. He was supposed to protect her from guys like himself, not take advantage of her. He shouldn’t have touched her that night in the clearing, much less made mad, passionate love to her, but a guy could only take so much temptation. And Wren, well, temptation was putting it mildly. The sight of her in a pair of sweats taking out the garbage was enough to give him a hard-on. There was just something about her that made him go all caveman despite his best intentions. The woman was enough to drive a saint to drink!

  Right now though, he needed to ignore his own needs and get her out of this place. They could sort out their relationship once she was safe.

  They were in what appeared to be yet another office. Desks strewn with papers were placed haphazardly against the walls, while battered filing cabinets filled the spaces between them. A schedule with dates, times and names was tacked up on the wall to his left, while strange pictures that resembled something out of his high school science class decorated the entire wall behind Wren. Biology, maybe?

  He quickly crossed to the cage, his gut clenching as he looked at the bruises on her legs. Once he got her out of here, he had a score to settle with these guys. No one laid a hand on his woman and got away with it, least of all a bunch of wanna-be soldiers.

  He reached through the bars and ran his hand down the side of her face, pushing a strand of golden hair back behind her ear. “Yeah, it’s me. The real question is what are you doing here?”

  She avoided meeting his gaze. “I followed you. I thought you were going to see another woman, and it pissed me off. When you did your jump-the-fence thing, I walked up to the front entrance to see what kind of place this was and two men grabbed me.” She shrugged. “And voilà. Here I am.”

  Snake shook his head. “Baby, you are so off -base. The last thing I want to be doing is stepping out with another woman.”

  She looked up, focusing those lovely hazel eyes on him. “Really? Because it seems like you spend most of your time thinking up ways to avoid me.”

  Snake let out a low groan. “Only because you deserve better than some washed-up mercenary.” He grabbed the lock and gave it a hopeful tug. “Let’s get you out of here. We can discuss us once you’re safe. Any idea where the keys are?” He looked around, hoping for a handy key rack. No such luck. In the desk drawer maybe?

  “We don’t need keys.”

  “We don’t?” He turned just in time to see Wren extract one of the pins she used to keep her hair in check. Taking the lock in her hand, she inserted the pin into the key slot and began to fiddle with it.

  Snake felt his brow raise. “You can pick locks?”

  A mischievous smile flitted across her face. “Among other things. I didn’t grow up in a state-approved school.”

  He chuckled. “I can see that. Anything else I should know about you?”

  Wren slanted him a cheeky look from beneath her long lashes and quoted his own words back to him. “We can discuss it once we’re safely out of here.”

  He had to agree. “You’re right. This is not the best place to be. I was checking out a nasty rumor I’d heard about this place. I had no intention of actually entering the buildings, but when I realized the woman being dragged through the main square wasn’t a stranger I didn’t have much choice.” He captured her gaze. “Imagine my surprise.”

  Wren had the decency to look apologetic for a moment. “Okay. I probably should have stayed safely at home in my bed.” She paused. “But it was lonely, and I’m really not good at doing what I should.”

  The lock fell open in her hand, and she held it up triumphantly. “There! I’m free to go.”

  Snake shook his head. “Sometimes doing what you should is what keeps you alive. Have you any idea how stupid it was to follow me here and get yourself captured?”

  Wren sighed and rolled her eyes. “We’re going to do this here? Of course I know it was dumb, almost as dumb as thinking you might actually give a flying fuck about me. So, either help me get out of here, or piss off and let me do it myself.”

  She certainly had regained her attitude in a hurry. “Yeah. Because you were doing a hell of a good job of it before I got here. Who’s the eager youngster who volunteered to train you? You do know what he meant by ‘train’ don’t you?”

  Wren pushed past him without bothering to answer. Probably a good thing. Now that he knew she was okay, he was mad enough to… well… to do something. She could have got herself killed, or worse in this damn place.

  Women!

  Chapter Four

  Damn Snake to hell anyways. It was his fault she’d gotten herself into this mess. If he’d quit giving off mixed signals and just tell her whether or not she had a chance with him then she wouldn’t be skulking around in the shadows stalking him. First he ignored her, and then he let her seduce him into the most amazing night of sex she’d ever had and then he’d gone right back to ignoring her.

  She got that he didn’t like to talk, liked to play the strong and silent type. Really she did. But you can’t treat a gal like she’s the most amazing person on the face of the earth one day, and then ignore her like she’s got some kind of interplanetary plague the next. It just wasn’t fair!

  “We’re in a sub-basement of the main building.”

  She wasn’t quite sure how he managed it, but Snake managed to insert himself between her and the door before she managed to open it. “We need to get to the stairs at the end of this corridor.”

  He obviously knew more about the layout than she did, so much as her pride wanted her to say screw you, she should probably let him take the lead. “How far to the stairwell?”

  “About twenty yards. Most of the doors between here and there open into offices that looked deserted when I came past them.”

  She gave him a brittle smile. Well, she bared her teeth and that was about the best she could manage at the moment. “Let’s hope they still are. Left or right?”

  Snake frowned, a confused look on his face. Apparently his mind reading skills weren’t any better than hers. She sighed. “Do we go left or right when we leave here?”

  “Oh. Right.” A ghost of a smile curved the corner of his lip. “We go right. The stairs are at the very end of the hall.”

  “Well then, let’s get moving.”

  Snake opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. The ping of the elevator doors, followed by the sound of footsteps heading their way called for an immediate change of plans.

  “Not yet!” Grabbing the lock, he threaded it back through the bars of the cage. “Quick, get back in here. Someone’s coming.”

  Wren’s brows shot skyward. “And you think it’s a good idea to hang around and play with them?”

  He shook his head, half of his attention on the sound of the approaching footsteps. “No, but if they see you still in the cage they won’t suspect anyth
ing is out of the ordinary. Whatever you do, don’t look at me.”

  * * *

  She looked doubtful, but he didn’t have time to reassure her. He looked around. His best bet was an alcove just to the side of the door. When the door swung open, the space would be blocked long enough to give him the element of surprise.

  Locking his gaze on hers, he watched as she climbed back into the cage and set the lock to look as though it hadn’t been tampered with. He noticed she didn’t go quite as far as to actually relock it, not that he blamed her.

  Grabbing a heavily weighted baton from the weapons rack, he slipped into the alcove. Turned out, it wasn’t as big as it looked, and his shoulders scraped both sides of the space. He gave an exaggerated grimace, and was rewarded by a slight relaxing of the tension in Wren’s face. Then the door burst open, and two burly thugs entered the room.

  Wren actually winked at him before she took a deep breath and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

  Good girl! The unexpected noise had the effect of focusing the thugs’ attention on her, leaving him free to step out of his hiding spot and render them both unconscious with a couple of well-placed blows.

  “That went well. Now can I get out of here?” Wren grinned saucily and flipped the lock on the cage. The door swung open and she stepped out, picking her way over the two bodies lying unmoving on the floor.

  Snake snorted. “Could I stop you? That scream was brilliant. Let’s just hope it didn’t carry too far.”

  A worried frown creased her brow. “Do you think it did? It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  It was his turn to grin. “Maybe, but in a place like this they must be used to the occasional woman’s scream. Let’s get moving before we find out for sure.”

  He eased open the door and stuck his head out into the corridor. He sensed her moving up behind him just before her unique scent filled his nostrils, flooding his senses with an all too familiar yearning. It took all of his willpower to ignore the heady invitation. Reaching back, he took her hand. “All clear. Let’s go.”

  The corridor seemed ten times longer than it had on the way in. Snake walked on the balls of his feet, making as little sound as possible. He noticed Wren followed suit, keeping right behind him and matching his pace. His little bird was no stranger to perilous situations.

  It looked like they were going to make it back to the stairs without being detected. Snake knew there had to be surveillance cameras mounted all over the place, but so long as they didn’t do anything out of the ordinary they shouldn’t trigger any alarms. In his experience the people who monitored the cameras had half their attention elsewhere.

  He glanced up as the bank of elevators came into view. One of the three was in operation, and if the glowing numbers above it were to be believed, it was heading down their way.

  Damn!

  He did a quick mental calculation. They might just be able to get out of here. Tightening his grip on Wren’s hand, he broke into a sprint.

  The stairwell loomed closer.

  The glowing numbers on the elevator continued their steady decline.

  He burst through the metal door into the stairwell without slowing down, dragging a silent Wren behind him. The elevator let out a light ping, signaling the arrival of someone in the corridor they’d just vacated. If they were lucky whoever it was had come for some reason unconnected to Wren.

  He didn’t feel lucky today.

  “What now?” Wren’s voice sounded positively cheerful, but a quick glance told him she was faking it. Her eyes betrayed her fear.

  “We get the hell out of here.” He sure hoped his tone conveyed more assurance than he felt.

  “I need to recheck the mess roster, and then we can work on the…” A strange voice trailed off into the distance on the far side of the metal stairwell door.

  Wren looked up at him with visible relief. “They weren’t coming for me.”

  Snake shook his head. “Not this time. Let’s get moving before someone does.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” She looked up at him expectantly, the tip of her tongue playing across her lips nervously.

  * * *

  By the time they reached the ground floor, he’d managed to get his libido under control. He paused at the exit door. “Okay, this is how we’re going to play this. I lead the way. You walk behind me. Keep your head down and try not to do anything to attract attention.”

  Wren nodded. “Okay, but Snake?”

  “Yes?”

  “If we don’t make it, I want you to know I appreciate you coming in after me. I shouldn’t have been following you, and I shouldn’t have let those idiots at the gate get their hands on me.”

  “We’re going to make it.” He wouldn’t allow any other outcome. “Remember not to look up. All the women I’ve seen in this place are totally focused on the guy they’re with. Now let’s blow this joint!” Dropping her hand he pulled the door open and stepped out into enemy territory.

  He knew Wren was right behind him, could sense her every move. He kept his stride steady, his steps deliberate. If they made it out the front door they stood a good chance of getting clear of this place, but if not he intended to fight with every dirty trick he’d learned over the years. No one was taking his woman from him.

  No one.

  They just needed to get to the end of the corridor undetected. Luckily most administrative personnel worked banker’s hours, and the offices should be empty at this time of night.

  One foot in front of the other, the only way to get home.

  He slipped one hand behind his back and gave Wren an all-clear signal, but he didn’t dare turn to reassure her. There would be video monitors in this part of the building and he had no way of telling how attentive the guards were. Fixing the end of the hallway with a steely gaze, he strode toward the main hallway.

  Wren would keep up. He had faith in her ability to do what was necessary to gain her freedom. She’d survived as an orphan in a world that wasn’t kind to orphans, and in an enclave where her worth was judged by her ability to fight. She wouldn’t let him down now.

  * * *

  Wren watched the play of muscles across Snake’s back. Tension showed in every movement, every step he took, but given the circumstances that wasn’t a bad thing. She’d gotten herself into this mess and he’d stepped right in after her. She supposed she should feel guilty about that but some small part of her took hope in the fact that he’d put himself on the line to get her out of here. Surely that meant something.

  If only she could figure him out. One moment, cold as ice and the next the best damn lover this side of the planet Mars. If they managed to get out of here she was going to pin him down one way or the other. Not knowing how he felt about her was driving her insane!

  Snake slowed as they approached the end of the corridor and Wren followed suit, making sure to keep her eyes focused on the floor at his feet. They were entering the main foyer and the chances of running into someone who’d already seen her were at their highest here.

  Her chest felt tight, her breathing difficult. If they were stopped, they’d have to fight their way out and they were drastically outnumbered. She had to restrain herself from crossing her fingers like some dumb little schoolgirl.

  They were going to make it. She wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

  Snake started across the great hall, his stride long and confident. Wren followed suit. What was that old saying? Fake it till you make it? Snake seemed to have it down to a science.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the guards who’d originally brought her in, the older of the two. He had his back partially turned to her as he filled out some paperwork at one of the stations.

  Please don’t let him see me. Please don’t let him see me. Please don’t let him see me. She repeated the phrase over and over in her mind, as if saying it would somehow make it come true.

  A group of younger men in sweats and T-shirts headed toward the main doors, cutting off
her view of the guard, and she sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god had answered her prayer.

  They were two thirds of the way to the exit, and she wasn’t sure she could take the tension much longer. Somehow, this felt worse than when they fought their way out of the enclave she’d been held captive in last year. There at least they’d had the pandemonium of mass chaos to cover their escape.

  It seemed like a lifetime before Snake’s hands were on the release bar of the door, and then, just like that, they were outside.

  But they weren’t out of danger yet. They still needed to get out of the compound.

  Snake led her off to a set of stairs at the side of the building, keeping up the same pace he’d used inside the building. When they reached the bottom of the stairway he picked up the pace, breaking into a slow jog, as they ambled across the open space toward the tree line. She didn’t dare say a word, keeping her head down and trying to use her peripheral vision to make sure no one was paying too much attention to them. It seemed like an eternity, but they finally entered the wooded area away from the prying eyes of any of the people in the compound.

  Snake turned to gather her up in his arms and she melted against him, some of the tension draining out of her body.

  Tears she hadn’t known she was holding back threatened to spill, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. She didn’t deserve him, but after him sticking his neck out to save her dumb ass she began to hope that maybe, just maybe, he might feel the same way about her as she felt about him.

  “We’re not home free yet.” His gruff voice sounded from somewhere above her head. “I’ll feel a lot better when I have you on the far side of that rock wall.”

  Wren took a deep breath, and straightened her back. “Let’s get going then. Can’t have you losing it when we’re this close to freedom.” She didn’t dare look up for fear he’d see how close she’d come to breaking down.

  Snake captured her hand, and together they walked toward the high wall and safety.

  * * *

  “So what can you tell us?”