by Bri Clark
Henry’s steel hand gently pushed against my body, forcing me several paces back. He turned toward me and motioned for me to stay put. I scowled back at him as he presenting his back to me. I saw him reach inside the pouch on his hip, a small white ball in his grasp. I’d never seen that before. I followed at his flank as he crept along. With a sudden stop, he turned back around, motioning for me to stay put, his face clearly communicating his fervor. I rocked back on my heels, assuming my previous position.
He eased his body along the wall and stopped just before it ended, with the guards beyond the edge. He tossed the little white ball in the direction of the guards. I heard them talking to each other in Arabic. One noticed the ball drawing the others attention to it. I could hear the clank of metal guns.
Glazier reacted. I maintained my control, taking great comfort in his special abilities due to his own Glazier and years of experience. This undertaking was unlike any other we had encountered together, we seldom ever had direct conflict. We never went looking for it. This was all new and especially dangerous.
A white cloud moved slowly in the air coming from in the direction Henry threw the ball. I could hear the guard's panicking. I could feel their fear. I saw Henry disappear into the cloud, right in the direction of the guards. My body impulsively moved to the position Henry previously occupied. I peered into the mist, searching for him.
I could hear the sound of a struggle, a hard fist making contact, bone breaking, and the clink of metal from a gun, a bullet moving into position. My heart pounded against my ribs. Glazier was in a frenzy, wanting to charge in. I knew that would be foolish. I miraculously maintained my position. The cloud began to subside making the scene clear. Henry held one guard in a headlock, his anaconda arms locked around the guard’s neck squeezing him into unconsciousness. The guard’s hands gripped Henry's forearm weakly, his face turning pale. The other guard struggled to get up off the floor, a gun in his hand, blood pouring from his broken nose. He made it up to his unsteady feet pointing the gun at Henry.
Glazier propelled me forward reflexively. My anxious hand made contact with the armed guard. I had one hand on his throat, the other clamped down on the gun. I slammed him up against the wall until his head struck the ancient bricks. His grip loosened on the gun. I pulled it from his grasp and threw it behind me. In my distraction, his free hand wrapped around my throat and he choked me. He was no stronger than a regular man, and he was weak from the loss of blood and dazed from the head injury. He couldn’t maintain his strength. I increased the pressure of my clutch around his neck and he released me. Now he fought weakly against my arms as he bled and gasped for air, finally losing consciousness and falling limply against me. I released my hold. His body slumped in a heap on the floor.
I turned with the intention of helping Henry to find him glaring at me. His own victim limp in his grasp, he tossed him carelessly against the wall.
“I thought you understood that I wanted you to stay put,” he said fiercely, directing an icy glare at me.
“I guess you thought wrong. Is that how you thank me for saving you from a painful gunshot wound?” I mirrored his icy glare.
“I’ve been shot before. I can deal with the pain. What I can’t deal with is–”
But he didn't get a chance to finish.
Chapter Thirty
Marie
In hidden location below the compound
“Henry, is that you?” came Collin's weak voice down the adjacent corridor. We ran around the L-shaped brick wall, our argument forgotten. We made the last turn, alert, not wanting to make our presence known by having a messy scene with more guards. My eyes beheld a painful view.
A wide iron band lay across his throat, his hands cemented against the wall with matching irons across his wrists. The weight of his body and gravity worked together to torture him.
We moved in unison, Henry grabbed his waist and picked him up, trying to relieve some of the pressure. Collin groaned. I attempted to slide my blade between his wrist and the iron shackles. There was no slack. If I forced it, I risked cutting him. I looked to Henry for direction.
“Get back, Love. Be ready to help me when he’s released. He won’t be able to stand.”
I stepped back and watched my real life Hercules free our friend. He held Collin steady with his right arm, his left gripped the iron band at Collin’s wrists, ripped them clear out of the brick, and dropped them haphazardly to the floor. He turned his attention to the band across Collin’s neck. I braced myself to catch Collin.
“Collin,” Henry said.
Collin raised his eyes, meeting Henry’s gaze. His face was a pale comparison of the stunning man who had graced the piano keys hours ago. I could feel the hate churning in me.
“I need you to hold steady. I’m going to get you down. All I need you to do is hold your head still. Don’t try to catch yourself. We’ll catch you.”
Collin’s eyes moved toward me and widened in recognition. I offered him a small smile.
“You think you can do that?” Henry asked.
His eyes moved back to Henry. “Yes,” he choked.
Henry’s inhuman strength found the iron band a more formidable challenge than the smaller ones. However, he refused to be defeated and broke our friend free of the monstrous device. He let it drop to the floor, his hand catching Collin’s legs and waist as he fell forward, while I caught his torso. We were careful as we laid him down on the floor with his head resting in my lap. He studied my face. I stroked his mangled hair off his forehead.
I could sense his conflicting emotions. Pain, hope, fear, despair, relief, all equally strong, were coursing through him. Henry pulled a small black pouch out from his thigh pocket. A first aid kit. He cleaned and dressed the wounds on Collin’s wrists. Collin winced. However, his eyes never closed, never left my face.
“Collin, how are you?" I asked.
“Doll, is that you?” he asked, calling me by Shae’s affectionate nickname.
“Yes, it is, Collin. It’s just a wig to protect my identity. Surely you can understand that.” I teased him.
Henry hovered over his neck, cleaning the abrasions.
“Yeah, I know it’s a wig, but it’s something else,” he answered, quieting to grimace as Henry worked.
“What else?” I urged, trying to distract him from the pain.
“It’s everything. I keep trying to convince my mind it’s you, but my eyes disagree. Your eyes, they’re so different. You’re different.”
Henry’s eyes found mine and no words were necessary.
“It’s the outfit and wig. You’re tired,” I tried to convince him. He didn’t answer, but I could sense his disbelief. I smiled to myself. He must be feeling better.
“All right, Collin, I’m done for now. I need to set you up so you can drink some water. You need to sip it.” Henry’s Goliath hands held onto Collins shoulders, positioning him up and leaning him against the wall. He pulled out the metal bottle of water and held it to Collins lips. He sipped it at first then grabbed the bottle from Henry and drank greedily. Henry and I shared a smile.
“Collin, what happened?” Henry asked.
Collin set the water down, his features turning grave, “Abbass’s guards ambushed us right after the doors closed to the ballroom. We left shortly after you two; most of the other guests were still celebrating. The guards said nothing. I begged them to leave Shae alone. They bound and gagged us. They took us through a hidden door in the wood paneling. We rode an elevator down here. I couldn’t free myself, there were too many of them, all armed. I feared they would hurt Shae, so I gave up my struggle. I could hear Shae following behind me. I saw them blindfold her. They began to undo my restraints, and I realized they were taking her from me. I pulled my arms free fighting with one of the guards, desperate to get her away, to protect her.” His voice broke off in pain.
“It’s okay, you’re just one man. Where is Shae now?” Henry encouraged.
“I don’t know. One of the gua
rds hit me in the back of the head, knocking me out. When I woke up, I was hanging from there.” He gestured up and a shiver ran through him.
Collin and Henry started to talk strategy, sharing all the information each of us had obtained on Abbass. I slipped away back to the guards. One of them stirred. I somehow knew that he would know where to find Shae.
We had to move. I had seen firsthand what evil Abbass was capable of. He wouldn’t exercise restraint because Shae was a woman. He would be harsher, crueler. I withdrew my favorite blade, thin, feather light and sharp enough to tear straight through a body.
I straddled the dazed guard each of my boots pinning his arms to the ground. I sat on his chest. His eyes flickered open when my weight pushed the heels into his skin, driving them deep into muscle. For once I was grateful for the pointy contraptions. I covered his mouth, muffling his screams. I lifted my weight from my heels relieving the pressure.
“Where is the woman?” I demanded in Arabic.
He shook his head no. I laughed icily, reapplying weight to my heels, my hand muffling his screams. He shook his head in agony. Then attempted some words against the palm of my hand. I eased up off my heels. I held the silver blade where he could see it glisten in the light. His eyes grew wide. I could sense his desperation, but I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t scream, alerting the other guards or worse Henry and Collin. They wouldn’t approve of my plans.
I ran the blade down the side of his face along his cheek leaving a fine crimson line. He felt the stream of blood trickle down in his ear. His eyes bulged as I ran it along his jaw line finally resting it on the thin epidermis covering his jugular vein.
“I’m going to uncover your mouth. You’re going to answer me not one decibel above a whisper. You’ll answer all my questions. If you choose to practice stupidity, I’ll cut your throat. You’ll have no hope of surviving, you’ll bleed to death, unable to scream or call for help, and I’ll move on to your friend over there.” I informed him.
He nodded his head in agreement, careful not to cut himself. I released his mouth, my blade still holding its position.
“Where is the woman Abbass kidnapped?” I demanded.
“At the end of the metal corridor?” he whispered.
“Is he with her?”
“I don’t know. He’s down here. He shouldn’t be far.”
“How many guards does he have with him?”
“One or two. Most of the guards are along the perimeter of the wall on watch.”
“What are they watching for?”
“Abbass is on the defensive, he believes the spies he found got information to the outside.”
“How did he find out about the spies?” I sat back on my haunches.
“I don’t know.” I could feel his terror, worried if his answer would seal his death. He wasn’t lying. I withdrew the blade, his tense body relaxed under me. I punched him square in the face, forcing him into unconsciousness again. I could hear Collin and Henry still talking. I retraced my previous steps along the metal corridor, moving at Glazier speed. I slowed my pace as I reached the end.
I readied a blade, prepared to stop anyone standing in my way to do whatever was necessary to find Shae. I scanned the space ahead, hoping to find some hint of her. I found nothing, no one.
I moved to the opening at the end of the passage. It curved to a hard left into another metal passageway. My sprint resumed down this new path. I sensed as I ran, desperate to find Shae, my terror igniting a burn in Glazier, driving me faster, pushing my senses farther than ever before.
I sensed something, it stopping me in my tracks. I closed my eyes concentrating on the feelings. Hurt, anguish, misery, fear, but the despair, as intense as Collin’s, was gut-wrenching. I opened my eyes. Shae. She was up ahead, and I could feel no one else. A glimmer of hope that maybe we could get them out of here.
My sprint resumed carrying me to Shae. I rounded the corner at the end of the hallway. I found her. Her appearance was better than Collin’s. However, she was wretched in her own right. She sat on a metal chair her ankles shackled to the legs, the metal bands rubbing her skin raw. Her wrists were cuffed behind her back and a black bag covered her head. Her beautiful ball gown was ripped and torn, hanging precariously from her body. I fought the rage that suddenly blistered inside of me. A power struggle between my need to free Shae and the bloodlust Glazier thirsted for from Abbass raged.
I controlled Glazier for now, moving to Shae’s side. I was careful not to startle her. I withdrew an especially strong blade I used for cutting through metal. It was unsuccessful against the iron, but I knew it would work on the ordinary cuffs. She jumped as I shoved the blade through the chain links on her leg, breaking it free from the chair. She tried to speak, but I shushed her. I knew she wouldn’t cooperate if she knew it was me. I didn’t know how long I had. I freed her other leg. I could pick the lock off later to remove the remaining cuffs from her ankles.
I reached around her back to free her hands. I could hear her muffled words, and I shushed her gently. I couldn’t get the restraints around her wrists free. They seemed to be made of something different from the shackles that held her feet. I heard her muffled pleas again. It hurt my heart. Against my better judgment, I removed the hood that covered her face. She kept her eyes closed, probably a defense against the light. I did a careful observation of her face. Like Collin, perfect and flawless hours before, now black, blue, and purple streaks stained her cheek. There was a cut above the top part of her bruise bleeding a fine trail.
“Who did this to you?” I insisted, forgetting my worry of her finding out my identity. I could barely form the words without screaming, my vicious anger and Glazier at odds. I desperately tried to maintain the monster forming at the volatile mixture. Shae’s eyes flew open. She squinted, turning her head away. The light was directly behind me.
“Abbass. Who are you?” she asked.
“Don’t worry. I’m on your side.” I went to work on the cuffs again.
“You can’t get them off,” she said. “They’re made from some special unbreakable alloy.”
I squatted down in front of her, trying to pry the bolts from the floor, when her breath caught. My eyes found her battered face. The skin under her bruises was ghost-white, making the marks even more prominent. I knew who it was behind me; I didn’t need to sense to determine that. I heard the click of the bullet sliding into the chamber.
“Hold your hands up where I can see them,” he commanded. I stayed on my knee. My hands up in the air making the back of my jacket billow out exposing the countless shiny blades and stars strapped to my person. Shae’s eyes grew wide in astonishment.
“Another woman. How fortunate for me. I am pleasantly surprised what lengths these governments will go through to confiscate this list.” Abbass’s venomous words slid out of his mouth, like puss from a wound. He had said list. I remembered my original task and knew that whatever was on that list was what we were sent here for. Shae cowered in fear. I had to save her. I wouldn’t let him touch her or Collin again, but most importantly, he wouldn’t come anywhere near Henry. If this day, someone must die, it would have to be me. But only after I secured everyone’s safety.
“I have to admit. I’m confused. I’ve gone over the list, and I remember all the female spies, their descriptions, their pictures. I don’t remember a spy like you.” He positioned himself closer to my back a few paces behind me. I held my position, maintaining my silence. So the list held information on spies. I could see him play with something small in his fingers.
“You won’t be able to undo the cuffs on Mrs. Stryker, or I’m sorry, Shae. Such formality is no longer necessary. We’re such good friend’s now,” he said. “They’re a special kind of restraint, unbreakable. Only I have the key.”
I wracked my brain trying to formulate a plan. I sensed his demeanor. He was amused because I was a woman. That was it. I could be the distraction. If I could distract him long enough to let him know who I was, his precious prid
e would get the best of him. I would then let Glazier take control and accept the consequences. One on one with him, she was my best defense. I knew that my body was weakening from the stress of invoking Glazier this long. If I died, Henry and Collin would find Shae and escape with her.
“You won’t find me on your little list.” I informed him, my voice steady. I knew this would entice him. I could sense his curiosity. I wasn’t cowering in fear before him. Abbass couldn’t turn down a challenge. His pride would be his undoing.
