“Not very long. I almost have your legs apart. If I’m not hurting you I want to finish.”
“Evette, honey, come up here.”
I closed my eyes and kept them closed when I admitted, “I can’t. I’m barely holding on and I’m afraid if I slow down I’ll break. I have to be strong for you. I have to get you free.”
“Babe, please trust me and come up here.”
“I do trust you, but—”
“I have something that will help you.”
Help me?
I needed help. All the help I could get. So with my weapon in hand, I scooted on my bottom and stopped at his hips, careful not to jostle him.
“How bad is it?”
“You’re fine. What do you—”
“Babe. How bad?”
“Bad,” I whispered. “I haven’t checked under your shirt because with you not awake I was afraid I’d hurt you so I left you be. But there are two gashes that are still bleeding and I don’t have anything to stop it.”
“All right. In my wallet, I have a cuff key. My ribs are broken so this is gonna be tricky. I’m gonna roll as far as I can to the side and you’re gonna reach into my back pocket and get my wallet.” Gabe paused and took in a labored breath. “Here’s the thing and it fucks me to say this but I can’t lean too far to the side. My ribs are fucked up and right now it burns to breathe. If I twist too far and puncture a lung I’m more fucked. So I need you to be quick.”
Oh, God.
Punctured lung.
Gabe didn’t give me time to dwell. He leaned and I reached around feeling for his pocket. My fingers slipped in but I needed more room.
“Can you lean more?”
He nodded and groaned a low guttural sound that was similar to something a wounded animal would make but he did it. And as fast as I could I pulled out his wallet. Gabe righted himself and I opened his wallet.
“Behind my license.”
I found the key, closed his wallet, and stowed it in the back pocket of my jeans.
I felt around behind him, and without room to see I blindly felt for the cuffs. It took agonizing minutes of Gabe leaning forward—and I say agonizing because Gabe was panting the whole time while I was trying to insert the key. Finally, after several failed attempts I felt the key catch. The cuffs opened and fell to the concrete with a clatter.
“I can’t believe you had a key,” I muttered in disbelief.
“Old habit.”
Thank God for that.
“I’m gonna work on your feet,” I told him.
But before I moved, my eyes roamed his face stopping on the worst of the cuts. Then my gaze met his and locked.
“Brave.” I shook my head in denial and he semi-repeated, “So brave.”
“I think you’re the bravest person I know, Gabe Harris, but how ’bout we argue about it when we get out of here.”
Then I watched as his fat, swollen, cut lips curved up into a bloody smile.
“All right, Evette. Cut my legs free while I get some circulation back in my arms. Then we’ll get out of here.”
With renewed vigor, I went back to work on the zip ties and I found they were much easier to saw through with Gabe’s encouragement. After the ties fell away he slowly bent his knees. I knew the pain he was experiencing from the blood rushing to unused extremities. Once the cramps subsided he asked, “Is the door locked?”
Shit. I forgot to check.
“I haven’t checked.”
“Okay, few things before we do. How long before me did you wake up? Do you know where we are?”
“I woke up in the car not long before we got here. I didn’t see anything but trees. There was a lot of bouncing so I’m guessing it’s a dirt road. We’re in a cabin. I was pretending to still be out so I didn’t look around but I did sneak a peek at the living room. It’s not big—one open room with a kitchenette in the corner. We’re in the last room down the hall. I counted three doors plus this one.”
Gabe smiled and nodded.
“Good, babe. Now, tell me the truth, how long was I out this last time?”
I pinched my lips and since it was important I told him the truth.
“Long enough for me to crawl to you. Crawl back to the chair, bang it on the concrete until it broke, then come back to you and finish the disassembly. Best guess is almost