by Katie Allen
With a sigh, she turned to Ari. “I graduated high school at sixteen and got my BS by nineteen. I did a combination master’s and doctoral program. Don’t you know this from all the ‘research’ you did?”
He shrugged, still looking at her suspiciously, as if she’d ordered her degrees from the shopping channel for only three easy payments of nineteen ninety-nine. “Your age didn’t come up.”
“Why should it? It doesn’t affect my work.” She turned back to Benjy. She was used to this argument. It was an everyday battle to prove she was more than her blond hair, blue eyes, and baby face. Her short frame and lack of curves didn’t help either. When she’d started college, most of the other students had thought she was twelve.
“So?” The clipped question brought her head back around to focus on Ari.
“What?”
His jaw was clenched again. “Are you going to help him?”
She glanced between the two men, one staring at her as if his hard glare alone could force her to do his bidding, and the other avoiding her eyes completely.
“Of course.” She saw the tension ease slightly from Ari’s shoulders. “After you bring me back, make an appointment and visit me in my office at the clinic during your scheduled time.”
Ari’s hands closed into fists. “We can’t,” he gritted, taking a step toward her.
Daphne scooted back against the headboard, his threatening glare a visceral reminder of her status as the helpless kidnapped victim. “Well, I can’t treat him like this.”
“What do you need? I’ll get whatever you need.”
“I need to not be trapped here!” she yelled.
He paused, his gaze dropping from hers for just a moment before returning, his icy walls back in place. “Anything else.”
Throwing up her hands in frustration, she glared at the ceiling, annoyed at how pretty and homey the cabin was. She’d been kidnapped—she should be in a dreary, damp basement or something. She shook her head, reining in her scattered thoughts.
“I don’t even know what we’re dealing with here,” she finally said. “It could be physical damage caused by the surgery or the head trauma or both. It could be psychological, PTSD-based or something else, in which case I’m pretty much useless, since I’m not a psychologist. I can’t develop a treatment plan without first knowing what I’m treating.”
“It’s physical.” The white-knuckled fists of rage were back, hanging by his sides. “Those bastards dug around in his brain and fucked something up.”
Daphne stared at him. “That’s the other thing. You keep saying these cryptic statements and then refusing to explain why Benjy didn’t get his test results or what type of surgery it was or even what caused the head trauma.”
“I’ll explain.” She fully expected Ari was going to break a tooth, as hard as he was grinding his molars together. “I’ll tell you everything. You just have to agree to help him first.”
“He needs medical doctors before I can start treatment, ones who will actually share the MRI results with you.”
A hint of satisfaction eased the frustration in his expression. “We can get you the MRIs. We can use the machine at the clinic in,” he paused, “the clinic not that far from here. Claire used to do a lot of MRIs before she came here.”
A thump on the footboard brought both of their attention to Benjy, who was making a face at Ari.
“Fine,” Ari grumbled. “The MRIs Claire did were of rats. The concept is the same though.”
“Rats?” she asked faintly. “The medical expert you want me to consult with deals with rat brains? Can’t you just see a different medical doctor? I could recommend one with experience in trauma to the language centers in the brain.”
She focused on Benjy after another bang on the footboard. He was shaking his head.
“No doctors,” Ari stated. “We’ve dealt with enough fucking doctors to last a lifetime.”
Shoving a hand through her hair, Daphne felt the final strands give up and release from what had started yesterday morning as a neat bun. She didn’t want to know what Bride of Frankenstein look she was rocking at this point. “What happened to you guys?”
Both men just looked at her. An embarrassingly loud growl from her stomach broke the silence.
“I’ll get you something to eat. Stay here,” Ari commanded, moving for the stairs. Drumming his fingers against the footboard in a nervous rhythm, Benjy glanced at the other man’s back and then at Daphne. She looked steadily back at him, and he dropped his gaze again, turning to follow Ari down the stairs.
Watching him go, Daphne realized her mind was already analyzing him as a patient. From the tiny bit of information she’d been given, he was a fascinating case. Despite his surgery and the later brain trauma, the completely unscientific feeling in her gut told her the problem wasn’t physical. She needed evidence, though, needed medical doctors to confirm the language areas of his brain hadn’t been damaged.
She shook her head. “Rat brains. Geez Louise.”
Chapter Two
When she heard the thump of a door closing, she realized she was figuring out a treatment plan for one of her kidnappers instead of what she should be doing—escaping. She chugged down half the water and put the bottle on the small bedside table. Shoving her body off the bed, she stood with shaky knees as blood rushed loudly in her ears.
When she was fairly sure she wouldn’t keel over after taking a step, she shuffled toward the balcony doors. Flipping the small lock by the handle, she tugged but the door stayed firmly closed. After giving it several more increasingly desperate, full-body heaves, she noticed the piece of wood wedged in the runner on the floor.
“And they called you a genius, moron,” she muttered to herself as she bent to move the length of wood. Blood rushed to her head at the movement, and gray shadows hazed the edges of her vision. She waited until the dizziness passed before standing, giving a short huff of relief when her brain didn’t protest the movement.
The door slid open easily with the impediment removed. Peeking out, she looked for any kidnapping giants but only saw a thick cover of evergreens, with mountain peaks in the distance. She shivered as she stepped onto the balcony, taking a breath of the thin, cold air.
“Frick,” she muttered, realizing they must be high in the mountains. She looked at the snow-capped peaks in frustration, wishing she could identify them. Although she lived just a couple hours away from the mecca of skiing, rock-climbing and hiking, Daphne was a city girl. To her, the mountains were just a backdrop to her life. A pretty backdrop, but a backdrop nonetheless.
She looked over the railing, trying to figure out a way to get down. The balcony was supported by two thick logs, rather than the typical square beams. Although the branches had been trimmed and the bark stripped, the supports were lumpy and unfinished, providing possible foot and handholds. Her hands tightened around the top rail as she pictured herself plummeting to the ground.
“Quit being a baby. It’s only ten feet down.” The skeptical part of her brain hummed at that. “Okay, maybe twelve. Fourteen?”
This was getting her nowhere, and Ari would probably be back soon. With a final nervous glance at the bedroom, she swung her leg over the railing. She clutched at the edge of the balcony as her legs wrapped around the support post. One hand at a time, she released her death grip and circled the log with her arms, hugging it to her as if she were a koala.
Taking a deep breath, she eased the grip of her legs so her lower half slid down a few inches. The rough surface rubbed her skin through the fabric of her slacks and sweater. Tightening her legs around the post again, she shifted her encircling arms lower. Bit by bit, she made slow, inchworm-like progress down the post, sometimes sliding too fast and panicking, sometimes bumping over rough protrusions with enough force that she knew a bruise would form later.
> After what felt like an eternity of clutching the support, she risked a look down—and groaned.
The circle of dwarves had returned, and they were watching her progress, their expressions ranging from amused to irritated.
She sighed and rested her forehead against the cold surface of the log.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Ari muttered, and then his hands were at her sides, plucking her from the support as easily as if she were a child. Resigned, she went limp, knowing from the tremors in her muscles that she wasn’t going to win a fight at that moment, especially one with Paul Bunyan’s big brother.
Instead of placing her on her feet, he tossed her over one burly shoulder. When she arched up, trying to see through her curtain of blond hair, he gave her butt a casual smack. Startled, she collapsed against his back as he carried her to what she assumed was the front of the cabin. Thanks to her hair blinders, all she could see beside Ari’s backside were the rocks, dirt, and pine needles on the ground.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay?” he grumbled. His boots thumped against the porch, and then her circle of vision was filled with polished wood flooring, so they’d obviously re-entered the cabin.
“So sorry for trying to escape my kidnappers.” They were climbing the spiral stairs and the upside-down circles were making her feel a little nauseated. “I guess the Stockholm syndrome hasn’t quite kicked in yet.”
He flipped her upright and tossed her on the bed. She bounced, grabbing at the quilt for balance as her head spun with the quick inversion.
“There’s nowhere for you to go.” Ari folded his arms across his chest. She wondered if that was his favorite stance because he’d practiced in the mirror and liked how it made his biceps bulge. “Even if you’d managed to get to the ground, this whole place is surrounded by ten-foot fences topped with razor wire. If, by some miracle, you got over that without ripping yourself to bloody shreds, you’re on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. In December.”
Even though she’d suspected the “middle of nowhere” part, she felt her stomach drop. She was not an outdoorsy person. Without supplies or a sense of direction or even a coat, she’d be toast, missing until a search-and-rescue team found her popsicled body in the spring.
Darwin appeared, holding a bowl of something that smelled incredibly good, meaty and spicy and warm. As her mouth watered, she realized that she hadn’t eaten since she’d wolfed down a lunchtime turkey sandwich yesterday in the five minutes between appointments. Darwin extended the bowl toward her, and she grabbed it without hesitation.
Between bites of the best chili she’d ever tasted, she remembered that it was probably a bad idea to eat food given to her by her captors. It was just that, besides crabby-pants Ari, the rest of them seemed kind of...nice. She paused at the thought, the spoon still in her mouth.
Despite her lame escape attempt, Daphne felt as if she was failing as an abduction victim. Shouldn’t she be screaming and crying and...well, flailing or something? Maybe hiding the spoon so she could create a weapon from it later? She definitely shouldn’t be eating like a starving pig.
Hunching her shoulders against her thoughts, she took a defiant bite of chili. Her entire life, she’d been the weird one, reacting differently than everyone else. Why she thought her reaction to being kidnapped would be any better was beyond her.
“So?” Ari barked.
Her mouth was full, so she just raised her eyebrows as she chewed.
“Are you going to help B?”
Daphne shook her head as she swallowed. “Not until you bring me back to Denver, and we’re at the clinic during a scheduled appointment. I don’t give in to terrorists.”
Making a choking sound, Darwin turned away. She was pretty sure he was laughing. Maybe the “terrorist” line had been a touch melodramatic.
“Fine.” Ari was showing his teeth in more of a snarl than a smile. “I’ll take you for a little drive farther up the mountain and leave you to hang with the mountain lions and bears for a while.”
She flinched, the empty bowl and spoon quaking in her suddenly shaky grip.
“Hey!” Darwin protested, all laughter gone from his expression. “There will be no driving and leaving, unless it’s driving back to Denver to leave her at her house.”
“You’re not helping, D.”
Darwin moved so his considerable bulk blocked Ari from her view. “Yeah, she’s the only person in this room I’m helping, at least until your sanity returns. Jesus, A, you can’t just take people to use them.”
“I’ll do whatever I need to do to help B.”
“And turn into a monster in the process?” There was a pause before Darwin spoke again. “You threatened to leave this little girl on top of a mountain to die, A. That’s fucked up.”
“I wasn’t going to actually do it.” Ari sounded sulky and, to Daphne’s hopeful ears, guilty.
“You shouldn’t even be scaring her like that.” Darwin sat on the end of the bed, making the mattress bounce. She was grateful her bowl was empty or she would’ve been wearing chili.
With Darwin’s change of position, she could see Ari again. He was leaning against the railing, both hands gripping the top rail, his face slightly averted. His expression was a mix of sullenness and stubbornness, and his knuckles were white.
“Why don’t you take a little walk and think about things?” Darwin suggested to Ari. He leaned over and took her bowl and spoon out of her hands. Daphne released her grip on the utensil reluctantly, watching her chance of creating a spoon weapon being literally removed from her possession. “I’ll stay here with Miss...”
“Daphne.”
“The hot blonde chick. That fits.” When she cocked her head at him curiously, Darwin grinned as he stood and shoved her used dishes at Ari. “Scooby Doo?”
“Oh,” she said faintly. Although it was nothing she hadn’t heard before, his cheery mention of the cartoon just increased her feeling of surrealism.
“Bring these to the main kitchen,” Darwin ordered, poking the dish into the other man’s chest when Ari made no move to take the bowl. “Be useful. Just don’t show yourself in the lab.”
Clearly distracted by the last statement, Ari took the bowl. “Why not?”
“Claire is super pissed at you right now.”
“What? Why?”
Darwin stared at him, looked at Daphne and then back at Ari. “Besides the whole kidnapping-an-innocent-woman thing?”
Although he flushed a little, Ari gave a confused half-shrug.
“You used her handy-dandy, better-than-chloroform invention for nefarious purposes, bud. I think she imagined that it would be used on bad guys, not sweet little girls.”
Daphne cleared her throat. That was the second time he’d called her a little girl. She’d let the first one pass since he seemed to be on her side, but enough was enough. “I’m twenty-five.”
Both men blinked at her.
“I’m not a little girl. I’m twenty-five.”
After staring at her for another moment, the men turned back to their conversation. Daphne glared at the ceiling.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Claire pissed,” Ari said, drumming his fingers absently on the bowl. “How long do you think I should avoid the lab?”
“Yeah, it’s a little scary.” Darwin grinned. “It’s like a little baby bunny gone rabid. Frightening yet cuddly at the same time. I’d give it the rest of the day, at least. Maybe tomorrow too.”
With a nod, Ari glanced over at Daphne. “You’ll watch her?”
“Yep.”
His gaze turned suspicious. “You won’t let her escape just to prove your point, will you?”
Darwin let out a loud, exasperated breath. “Yeah, I’ll let her wander to her death, just so I can say I’m right. You’re the bastard here, A, not me.�
��
Ari scowled, but the blond man just looked amused. “No giving her a ride back to Denver, either.”
“I can’t really do that, can I?” Darwin asked, humor switching to a sharp look. “Now that you’ve brought a stranger here and exposed us and our location. Plus, you made sure to do it in a way that positively guarantees she’ll run to the cops with all that information as soon as she gets a chance.”
Daphne was shocked to see a hint of red beneath Ari’s cheekbones. That was the first time he’d shown any shame for what he’d done. The color faded quickly.
“Fine. Watch her. I’ll be back soon.” The last part sounded like a threat.
As Ari descended the stairs, Darwin jumped back on the end of Daphne’s bed. His grin returned, so open and happy that she couldn’t help but smile back. Once again, she felt like the worst kidnap victim ever.
“So, Daph...”
She cocked her head, waiting for him to finish.
“Think you’ll be able to help Benjy?”
Daphne drew back a little, feeling oddly betrayed. Just in their short interaction, she’d started thinking of Darwin as her ally. “Maybe. If he follows my directions.”
“Yeah? That’s great!” His smile increased a few hundred watts until it was nearly blinding. “What does he need to do?”
“Bring me back to Denver and make an appointment to see me at the clinic, for one.” Her voice held a snap as she fought the urge to return his grin again.
His mouth dipped a little at the corners. “Yeah, we’re working on that. The thing about Ari is that he’s, well...”
“An asshole?” she suggested.
He snorted a laugh. “Yes, that. And stubborn, especially when it comes to the five of us. Especially especially when it comes to B. Those two have always been tight. Now that he’s taken you, it’s going to be hard to return you without...consequences.”
She opened her mouth to ask a question, but her eyebrows scrunched together when something he said registered. “Five? I know I was coming out of a drugged stupor, but I counted eight.”
