Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

April 18 th

4:46 P.M.

If Beth was killed for his mistake, Axe would never forgive himself.

Although, if they were caught, neither of them would be living all that long anyway.

He wasn't a rookie, and this wasn't his first op. Axe knew better than to have sex out in the open in an unsecured location when he knew there would be people out looking for them.

Letting his anger and fear get the best of him could be a mistake that cost them their lives. Just like he wasn't a rookie, he wasn't a teenager either, and he knew how to control his hormones instead of letting them control him.

What he should have done was pick Beth up, throw her over his shoulder, and sprint back to where his team was waiting near the vehicle. The conversation he'd wanted to have with Beth could have waited until they were someplace safe, and sex definitely could have waited.

Only in that moment, it had felt like it couldn't.

In that moment, it had felt like there was nothing more important in the world than purging the terror he'd felt seeing his wife in danger, and his anger that she was shutting him out again.

But he was wrong.

Because keeping Beth alive was more important than anything else.

Grabbing his wife's hand, they were already moving before the first shot was fired. That bullet missing wasn't doing anything more than buying them a couple of extra seconds. They were outmanned and outgunned, and he had Beth with him. Smart as she was, and with all the knowledge his team had given her on how to defend herself, she was still nowhere near ready for something like this.

If he hadn't been so impulsive, so intoxicated by his wife's mere presence, they would already be safe right now.

That knowledge made his stomach bitter as they ran through the woods.

Behind them, he could hear the vehicle getting closer, and a few more shots were fired, all of them missing their target. Staying and fighting wasn't an option until he was out of other choices. He only had one weapon on him, and Baranov's men were like cockroaches. There were always more of them. Just when you thought you had them all, more seemed to materialize out of thin air. Right now, there was only one vehicle, but they would have already radioed that they had spotted him and Beth, and more would be on the way.

The terrain was rocky and there was other debris and roots in the way as they ran, and both he and Beth were already tired from hiking all day and then being kidnapped. Still, his wife didn't complain, and she kept pace beside him, her long, slender legs pumping hard as she followed where he led her.

Dodging around a particularly large tree, Axe wished he knew the terrain better. If he knew exactly where he was and what was around him, he could better formulate a plan. Because his current plan of run and hope for the best wasn't cutting it.

"Axel, look. Up there. It's a river," Beth said.

He'd noted it, too, and it presented their best shot at getting away. If it was too deep for the vehicle then the men in the car would either have to stay and shoot at them or try to find a way across. The river wasn't too wide, and it wasn't running too fast, the temperature would still be cold because it was April, but they weren't going to become hypothermic.

They would be sitting ducks as soon as they left any protection the trees gave though.

Still, it was a risk they were going to have to take if they wanted a chance.

"You get in and swim to the other side without looking back," he ordered his wife as they approached the water's edge.

For a moment, it looked like she was going to argue with him, but this was non-negotiable. Laying down covering fire gave Beth the best chance at reaching the other side, and his wife was the priority here.

"Remember you promised me you'd be safe," she said as they splashed into the water.

"A promise I'll do my best to keep," he assured her as he gave her a shove to get her moving faster.

As soon as she was swimming, he turned just as the vehicle approached the river. Shooting at the people inside would take a whole lot longer than taking out the SUV itself.

Firing at the gas tank, he hit it, and then fired again, and again, until he was rewarded with a fiery explosion.

There was no hesitation as he dived under the water and began to swim for the other side. Pieces of the now burning car, and the bodies of those inside were strewn about, several landing in the water, but Axe ignored everything but his need to get to his wife.

Holding his breath for as long as he could, by the time he surfaced, he was already close to the other side where Beth was standing, water streaming off her, eyes panicked as she searched for any sign of him.

As soon as she spotted him, she ran toward him, into the water, grabbing him as he stood.

"I thought you got blown up, too, you had disappeared by the time I heard the explosion and turned," Beth babbled as she clung to him.

"No intention of leaving you alone out here, wisp," he assured her as he grabbed her hand and urged her on. As much as she needed time to rest, to process everything that had happened, time wasn't a luxury they had right now.

They had to keep moving, find a way to circle back to his team, or at least a place to hide out because that explosion would have alerted everyone in the vicinity, including his team, that something had happened.

So they did the only thing they could, and ran.

And ran.

And ran.

They kept running until Beth began to stumble and he was holding her up more than she was holding herself up.

"Let's take a quick break," he said as he stopped and pulled her into his arms.

"I can keep going," she said, voice uneven as she gasped for breath.

"We can afford a moment." They couldn't really, but his wife didn't need to know that, and she really did need this moment to catch her breath and refocus herself. "You're doing amazing."

"But not amazing enough if we don't get away," she said, burying her face against his chest and leaning into him, letting him take her weight, which he was more than happy to do.

"Shh, just close your eyes and rest. For this one second, don't worry about anything," he soothed, stroking her back with one hand while his other kept her locked against him.

Slowly, a little of the tension eased and her breathing began to slow. Giving her every second he could—giving himself every second he could—time passed far too quickly.

"You ready to run again?"

"Yeah. What's the plan?"

"There's my girl." Axe grinned down at her. "Plan is to run parallel to the river but not close enough to be spotted if Baranov's men are searching it. Sooner or later, it'll lead us to someone, a house, a town, a road, something."

"Let's hope for sooner rather than later."

"Amen."

Hand in hand, they began to run again. While Axe kept their pace brisk, he allowed them to go a little slower this time around. They had to have put a good bit of distance between themselves and the explosion, and hopefully, Baranov's men would be tied up there for a bit before they started looking. They had no way of knowing which side of the river he and Beth were on so that should help, too.

Another half an hour passed, and he was just about to give Beth another short break when he heard the rev of an engine. A different engine sound this time than before, so he knew it wasn't a car, probably an ATV if he had to guess.

More than one.

At least half a dozen.

"Axel," Beth's terrified voice said as she clung to him. He didn't have to explain to her how bad things were about to get. She already knew. Had already lived it.

"Sorry, honey," he whispered the heartfelt words, knowing he had just failed his wife who he had vowed to love and protect no matter what.

Since he wasn't going down without a fight, he shoved Beth behind him, pressed her back against a tree, so she was protected on two sides, and began to fire at the approaching men.

It was worse than he'd thought, there were at least a dozen of them. Cockroaches. Just like damn cockroaches. Still, he took out almost half of them before he felt the sting of something hitting his arm.

Expecting to see blood, when he looked down, he saw something else instead.

Already it was affecting him. Lightheaded, he swayed and went down on his knees.

"Axel?"

Beth's panicked voice sounded so very far away.

"Sss-rry," he slurred as more strength leeched from his body and he slumped all the way onto the ground.

The last thing he saw as the world around him began to fade was Beth's body as she slumped down beside him.

Sorry, wisp, I'm so damn sorry for failing you .

April 19 th

6:03 A.M .

Why did her head hurt so bad?

For a long moment, Beth couldn't remember anything. She didn't know where she was, how she'd gotten there, or what had happened.

Panic began to seep into her mind.

Did she have amnesia again?

Had she finally gotten all her memories back only for them to vanish like a wisp of smoke?

Wisp.

Axel's nickname for her.

Axel, her husband. The man who had saved her life in more ways than one. He'd taught her how to love, helped her to heal, and been there for her every step of the way through her recovery.

Her memories weren't gone. She remembered her childhood, she remembered being sold to Russian oligarch Leonid Baranov. She remembered the pain and humiliation he had put her through before she was rescued by a Delta Force team. She remembered Axel and all of the other men on his team. She remembered the five years of heaven she had lived with them before she was kidnapped. She remembered being forced by Baranov to fight and kill his men if she wanted to survive. She remembered having amnesia when she escaped and got back home.

And she remembered finally getting her memories back when Axel had been blown up and she'd almost lost him.

She remembered everything up until she and her husband were running for their lives through the woods and were outnumbered by men on ATVs.

No amnesia.

Obviously, she'd been knocked out, or shot, or something and while she was unconscious, she had been brought to some place. A place that felt exactly like the one she had been held in for eight long months.

There was a sterile feel to it, and a faint hint of antiseptic in the air. It was like a hospital only it lacked all the usual hospital busyness.

Open your eyes, Beth .

The order she gave herself was ignored.

She didn't want to open her eyes and see herself back in a small white cell with a bed shoved into the corner, a shower head embedded in the wall, a toilet and a sink, and a small table and chair. She didn't want to be back in the place she had already escaped once before, but knew that escaping again wouldn't just be unlikely it would be impossible.

Okay, start with something easy then. Are you hurt anyplace?

Taking mental inventory of her body, she felt a little battered and bruised. There were a few stinging places on her face and her arms, but there was nothing that suggested she had been badly injured. Even the ache in her head wasn't like she had been hit and knocked out, it was more like there was a heaviness, like concrete wrapped in fuzzy material had been stashed in there.

If she hadn't been shot, and she hadn't been hit over the head, then how had she been brought here?

Focus, Beth. What's the last thing you remember? Be exact, specific. It's important .

Forcing herself to take a deep, cleansing breath, she walked through the last things she remembered. Being in the back of the van, the guys killing the guards, herself running away because she was scared of getting them killed. Axel had come after her, found her, made love to her, then they'd run when a vehicle had found them. They'd swum through a river, Axel had blown up a car, then they'd run again until more men had found them.

Her husband had killed several of them before he'd just dropped.

She'd been terrified he'd been shot and was dying right before her eyes or already dead.

Something sharp had pierced her arm, and she thought she'd been hit, too.

Only it wasn't a bullet, there had been no blood, her head had immediately gotten fuzzy, and she'd lost control of her limbs.

"Drugged," she muttered aloud. She and Axel had both been drugged, and while they were unconscious, they'd been brought here, wherever there was. Or at least she had. "Axel?"

There was no answer, and Beth now wasn't afraid to open her eyes, she was desperate to. They popped open and she sat up, too quickly, it turned out because a wave of dizziness almost pulled her under again.

Fighting against it, she shoved to her feet and did indeed find herself back in a small white cell. Concrete walls, floor, and ceiling all painted white. Bed in the corner. A showerhead embedded in the wall. Toilet and sink. Table and chairs. It was like she had traveled back in time, and was right back where she had been just over a year ago.

What scared her the most was there was no sign of Axel.

Where was he?

Since the walls of her cell were concrete, she couldn't see through them, but if this place really was either where she had been held before or a replica of it, then she knew there were other cells there. She'd seen them as she was walked down to the room called the arena, and then when she was brought back here after a stay in the infirmary. Just because she had killed the men she was pitted against didn't mean she had escaped unharmed.

Was that where Axel was right now?

Was he in the cell next to hers?

Maybe he just hadn't woken up yet and that was why he hadn't answered her.

Still unsteady on her legs, she stumbled to the front of her cell and curled her hands around the metal bars. Beth pressed her face to them, trying to look through as far as she could, but all she could see was the concrete wall on the other side of the corridor that led past the row of white cells to the door at the end.

"Axel?" she called again, hearing the panic in her voice. "Are you there? Axel! Wake up. Please. If you're there I need you to wake up. I need you to be there," she added.

What was she going to do if Axel wasn't there?

Surviving another round of this hell just wasn't an option. There was only so much a person could take before they broke. While Beth considered herself to be a strong person, she hadn't really ever had any other choice, she wasn't invincible. Already, her mind had fractured to protect her from this reality once before, what would happen to her if she had to live through it again?

If Axel was already dead, would she even bother trying to fight?

Before she'd fought because she had to, she had to get home to the man she loved, but without Axel there was nothing to fight for. She'd rather be dead than live in a world without her husband.

"Axel, please," she begged. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she didn't try to stop them. Her heart was breaking into a million pieces, terror was a living, breathing thing inside her. It was trying, and close to succeeding, in consuming her from the inside out.

Please be here, Axel.

Please just still be unconscious.

Don't be hurt.

Don't be dead.

The silent pleas only made her cry harder, and with the drugs still lingering in her system, she swayed and sunk to the floor. Pulling her knees to her chest, Beth wrapped her arms around them, then buried her face and began to sob.

Huge, body-wracking sobs.

Her husband could be dead.

She couldn't go on without him.

That was the only thought that ran through her mind as she huddled there and wept. It wasn't until she had been crying for what felt like hours but was probably more like minutes, that she realized something.

Both of them had been drugged. If they wanted Axel dead, they would have shot him with a bullet, not a tranquilizer dart.

Her husband was alive. Even if he wasn't unconscious in one of the cells, he was there somewhere, or at the least, he was alive somewhere else.

If Axel was alive then she had no choice but to fight.

You can do this .

Could she?

Maybe.

But she wasn't giving up.

Not yet, anyway.

Slowly, she wiped away the last remnants of her tears and grabbed the bars for support as she dragged herself to her feet. If there was one thing Beth knew about herself, it was that she wasn't a quitter. She hadn't taken the easy way out and ended her life when she was a kid, and she hadn't allowed Leonid Baranov to break her. When he'd made her fight for her life, she'd done it, and if she had to she'd do it again. She wasn't letting him break …

Her thoughts trailed away as another memory popped into her mind.

The force of it and its ramifications slammed into her with such force that she stumbled away from the bars until she reached the bed, then dropped down onto it.

How had she not remembered?

It changed everything, and it explained a lot of unanswered questions.

It also decreased the chances that either she or Axel were going to walk out of this place alive.