Chapter 37

The pain in my wrists is something else. I tore a lot of skin getting out of the ropes, but it worked.

And I still can't believe I managed to get the drop on Marco. He'll be out for at least a minute.

But I need to get us out of here, and in order to do that, I need to get Luke free.

His hands are too thick to slide through the ropes like I did, so I hurry through the warehouse until I find something sharp to cut the rope with.

I also know he's bleeding harder than he was earlier and that many hits to the head and face are going to make operating difficult for him.

A broken bit of metal sheared off at an angle catches my attention. I hurry over and snag it, rushing back to Luke.

His head is wobbly as I get to him, and I try to keep him talking.

"Hey, hey. No falling asleep. I'm right here. Hang on."

"There you are, doc." Luke's voice sounds tired. "Thought you left."

There are others in this building or around it somewhere, and I need to be fast.

"I didn't leave, Luke. I'm getting you out of these ropes."

I saw through them while trying to avoid hurting his wrists. It takes a good few moments for me to cut through enough to loosen the hold.

Finally, they slip away, and I help Luke pull his arms free. He hisses as his right shoulder lifts, and I have a feeling the punch there really strained the ligaments.

"Okay, there we go."

I struggle to help Luke to his feet, but as he leans on the injured leg, he grunts. The upside, however, is that it seems to have woken him up a bit.

"Dammit, that hurts." He looks down at me, putting his hand on my cheek with a smirk. "There you are. Hi, doc."

Taking just a second to smile back, I huff out a breath. "Hi."

"Marco! What's going on?"

Another Cobra calls from just around one of the remaining walls, and Luke and I tense, frantically looking around us.

Luke points at a stack of pallets and those dumb canvases. "Get back behind that pile. I'll take care of it."

"You're barely standing!" I whisper urgently. "What are you going to do? Bleed on them?"

He frowns, only just refraining from rolling his eyes.

"I've got it. Go."

Heavy footfalls come in our direction. There's no time to argue, so I rush over, peeking through the slats to see when Luke will need my help.

I can barely see the two gang members run in from around that wall, and Luke sinks low into some type of fighting stance.

The man who comes to his right swings wide across him, and Luke ducks back.

He traps the man's wrist with a firm grip and punches several times right into his lower side. Over his kidneys.

It's a smart location, and the guy reels, curling in on himself to protect his side. Unfortunately for him, his loss of focus means Luke can move him pretty easily.

He angles the guy into the oncoming blow of his buddy, and this new assailant does the work of punching the first man in the face.

That guy is out cold.

Left with one more, my heart is still in my throat as Luke faces off with the other man.

I know how much pain Luke has to be in, but I can't sneak up on this one like I did with Marco.

My gut twists, nauseating fear clawing through me as I watch Luke circle with his opponent and dodge several more swings.

Luck isn't invincible, however, and the Cobra lands a kick to Luke's bullet graze.

It drops him to one knee, and just as the guy goes to kick down on his head, some bullshit MMA move or something, Luke raises his arms to block it.

Standing up, Luke launches the guy backward. It stuns the Cobra long enough for Luke to snag another piece of wood and smash it down into the guy's head.

The second one is now unconscious, too.

Coming out from hiding, I go right up to Luke, wrapping my arms around his waist and squeezing.

"Oh, thank God you're ex-military."

Luke chuckles lightly, and the rumbling of his chest against me feels so damn good.

"We're not out of the woods yet, doc. But thanks." He grabs my shoulders, backing me up. "Also, ow."

Memory strikes, and I realize I was just clamping down on his battered ribs.

"Oh, fuck. I'm sorry. I just?—"

His hand comes to my chin, tipping my face up to look at him. "Hey. You're fine. We, uh, need to go, though."

Nodding, I step back, and Luke takes my hand.

We run through the debris in this part of the building, and he guides us toward that fenced-off area.

"We'll be less visible here."

"Got it." I try to breathe around the horrible worry gripping me.

I'm terrified something else is going to happen, and I can't exactly help much if we're attacked again.

Luke hauls me behind another tall stack of random debris, and we hunker down behind it.

"Do you have your phone?"

I shake my head. "I wasn't able to grab it from the hotel room. You?"

"No." He mimics my head shake. "They busted in while I was sleeping. I only got through a few of them when this Marco asshole appeared. They used some type of gas."

My stomach flip-flops at the memory. "Yeah, I think it was chloroform or something similar. It had that chemical sweet smell."

Luke frowns, his jaw working as he looks around us.

"I'd really like to know how they're getting all this shit. Stealing this level of supplies…It isn't easy. I'd bet anything they've got an inside man."

"That's a terrifying thought." I furrow my brow at Luke, looking around for a way forward or anyone heading our direction.

"International crime syndicate, right? They've definitely got connections."

With a tiny nod, one I only offer because, yeah, that's true. I freeze for a moment because I think I hear something out in the distance.

"Is that?—"

Luke puts a finger to his mouth, and I clam up. We wait a few seconds, but no one comes in our direction.

"We can't stay here." Luke points to the far corner of this fenced-in area, where I can see the upper lip of another loading dock. "There. It's our best shot right now."

"Okay." I get up from my knee, still holding a crouch, as I follow Luke to the sliding metal door.

There's no lock on it, so that's good, but the thing looks rusted shut, which, of course, is not.

"Help me. Even if we can get it up six inches, you can crawl under and get help."

Luke sinks into a squat, gripping the edge of the panel to try and force it up.

Glowering at him, I shake my head. "I'm not leaving you here."

"Then you better help me get this thing up so I can come with you." He strains, pulling at the gate.

I step in alongside Luke and offer everything I have to pull up the sliding dock door.

It creaks slowly. We're struggling for centimeters at this point, but then suddenly, it breaks past whatever was stuck in the track and flies open.

"Fuck, yeah." Luke takes my hand, ducking us under and through the door. "Let's get the hell out of here."

The area around the warehouse is about what I expected. As we run along the side of the building, trying to stay out of view, I see several of those abandoned shipping containers.

A plethora of graffiti and garbage greet us out here, too, and to the east, the sun is starting to come up.

"Shit, we were out longer than I thought." Luke directs me through a short run to a collection of those containers, and we pause.

"Stay here. I just need to look around quick."

He holds up his hands, and I don't like the thought of leaving him, even for a moment, with the current health status he's in.

But I stay because it would just take even longer if we argued.

Rushing around the forward side of the container, Luke is gone for twenty-five seconds, having counted them in my head.

"Okay, I think I actually know where we are." He looks hopeful, and that's a damn welcome change. "You were right about it being Pelican Trails. I can see the stupid fucking logo faded on a truck to the west."

"Okay, okay. That's something." My heart rate kicks up as I consider we might actually be free of this place. "What are we near?"

"The old shipping company always advertised being off Highway 12 at the edge of Hildale Port. So, considering that's east…"

Luke looks toward where the sun is coming up on our right.

"We need to go that way. That'll take us closer to the highway itself. That's probably where the main office is. Maybe a phone line will still work."

I nod, but then my damn logical brain starts finding all the holes in our plan.

"What if it doesn't? Can we follow the highway somewhere?"

With a sigh, Luke nods, standing straight and walking closer to the edge of the containers we're hiding between.

"Yeah, we can. I think." He offers a subtle head shake and shrugs. "It's going to be a hell of a walk, though. They needed space for this place. We aren't by the town proper."

I grip his bicep, meeting his eyes.

"It's better than nothing, Luke. Let's go."

Resolution floods his expression, and Luke puts a hand on my cheek, sweeping his thumb back and forth before grabbing my hand and ducking us low again.

We sprint across the open area in front of us, heading for another stand of empty containers.

There's an odd driveway-like path that cuts through the buildings up ahead, and we start in that direction.

That main office might have a working phone, and regardless of that, it's still likely closest to the highway.

Walking down the road in the open isn't a comforting feeling, and I can tell Luke isn't loving it, either, because he hurries me forward as fast as I can go while remaining low.

The knots in my stomach have yet to abate, and that typical empty belly, morning nausea I've been feeling these past few days is back in full force.

Because despite my current situation, I am, in fact, still pregnant.

Fucking hell. This is so screwed up.

A low rumbling sound knocks me out of my thoughts, and I look behind me toward the noise.

"Do you hear that?" I look to Luke, furrowing my brow.

He scans the horizon, and then I see his mouth fall open slightly.

"Shit."