I'm Yours (12 page)

“OK.”

When the car turned right and slowed down to
a crawl Kara figured she kept track of the turns and the speed
enough to know that now they were just moving around a parking lot
of some sort. When the car stopped Ian leaned up and kissed her
cheek then lay back down and closed his eyes. Kara heard the men
speaking some other language and she wanted to scream in
frustration. She was sick and tired of not knowing what was being
said around her. If they got out of this…if they got out of
this…she looked over at Ian who was pretending to still be out. She
felt the panic start to rise as the hulks opened the tailgate of
the SUV.

The screen they had pulled over her and Ian
snapped as it opened and she jumped. One hulk rolled her onto her
back, grabbed her bound wrists and yanked her out of the SUV and
onto her feet. Her ankles were still bound and she almost lost her
balance. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Kara was
trying to keep the panic at bay as she stretched around and saw the
other two hulks pull Ian out of the car. One hulk grabbed Ian’s
armpits and the other grabbed his bound legs.

“Be careful with him,” she demanded so Ian
would know she was close by.

The hulk that had bound her legs gave her a
look that told her to shut her mouth. Looked like Kara would have
to resort to clearing her throat so that Ian would know she was
near. As the hulk carrying her turned and strode with purpose, Kara
tried to take in their surroundings. She could tell they were near
the water, she could hear it. All around her were squat metal
buildings of all different sizes. She turned toward where she heard
the water and saw a glimpse of it between the buildings. As she
wiggled to get a better view, she started sliding off the hulks
shoulder.

“Hold still lady,” he said as he adjusted her
and she grunted.

She looked over at Ian and his eyes were
closed and his body swayed easily as if he was still out cold, but
she saw his jaw was clenched. She knew he was pissed about
something and she could only hope he wasn’t angry with her for
making him play possum. She wouldn’t be able to stand watching
these hulks beat Ronan’s whereabouts out of him. First of all, she
wasn’t sure if he knew where Ronan was or not and second, even if
they beat him to death he wouldn’t give up his brother. Why did she
have to see all his good qualities now when she wasn’t sure they’d
live long enough to see if this thing between them could have a
real chance?

Ian felt like a sissy pretending to be passed
out. He didn’t like these assholes manhandling Kara. He wanted to
protect her, but he knew this was the best plan. If they knew he
was awake they’d just beat the shit out of him trying to find
Ronan’s whereabouts and he didn’t know where Ronan was. He only
knew he was close and he had to trust Connor had seen these
bastards take them from the motel. He knew he was alive for a
reason and he already knew the reason; they were going to use him
to get to Ronan so they could kill him. Ian wouldn’t let that
happen.

He might not be a hard ass government agent,
but he had to figure out a way to protect Ronan and Kara. He tried
desperately to come up with a plan as he was carried into a
building. He could hear Kara grunting and groaning like a good girl
so he knew they were being taken to the same place. That calmed him
a little. He remembered she was wearing that little dress she’d
bought and it would be pretty easy to strip her bare. If any of
these assholes tried to lay a finger on her, he’d beat the shit out
of them!

Suddenly everyone stopped and Ian felt
himself being set down in a chair. He let his head fall forward as
if he were still unconscious. He felt the zip tie fall away from
his wrists as he was cut free. He had to work hard to even his
breathing. He was just waiting for them to cut the tie on his
ankles and then he’d make his move. But before that happened, his
arms were wrenched behind him and tied more securely with a rope.
Shit! He needed a plan and fast. He didn’t want Ronan coming into a
trap with guns blazing. The zip tie around his legs was cut and
each of his legs was tied to a leg of the chair they’d set him
on.

He heard the two men who had carried him in
leave but he wasn’t sure where the man who had carried Kara in had
gone. He could hear her escalated breathing and he knew she might
have a panic attack. Now was not a good time for her to panic
because he couldn’t calm her down with his hands behind his back.
He could hear the men arguing just outside the door they’d closed.
They were arguing in a mixture of Romanian and English and all he
could get from it was that two of them were going to stand guard
over him and Kara while the other went to show someone into the
building.

“Ian,” Kara pled quietly.

Cautiously, Ian opened his eyes but didn’t
move his head. His whole body ached. He looked around the room
trying to take everything in. There was a metal table and two
chairs one of which he was tied to. There was also a futon with a
metal frame against the wall that Kara was tied to. Her wrists were
wrapped around the metal arm and tied securely with a rope. He
tried to give her a re-assuring smile as he continued to listen to
the men outside the door. He put his head back down on his chest
and waited for some of the men to leave.

Ian heard footsteps down the hall, but he
continued to hear arguing outside the door so pretended to still be
unconscious as they could open the door at any moment. After about
10 minutes, the door snapped open and Ian could hear Kara gasp.
Someone walked in and straight up to Ian. He braced for something
to happen. He thought they would kick his chair over, but instead
he felt fingers grasp his chin and lift his face. It took all his
self-control to keep his eyes closed. These weren’t the hands of
the brutes that had lugged him into the building. These hands were
soft, like Kara’s.

“This isn’t Ronan!”

It was a woman’s voice and she was American.
Ian could only guess this might be the agent who had betrayed his
brother, but he didn’t know for sure. When she let his face go, he
dropped it to his chest like a dead weight.

“And who’s the bimbo?”

“His ID says Ian Blake and that’s his wife,
she was in the motel with him.”

“Hmmm, this could work to our advantage. So
it wasn’t Ronan at a safe house in Chicago, it was his brother.
They do look similar. I can see how you might think he was Ronan.
Now, we just have to figure out a way to let Ronan know we have his
brother and the little woman.”

With that her footsteps retreated from the
room and a sense of dread filled Ian. The woman had let Kara see
her, which meant she was planning on killing both him and Kara. Ian
listened as the woman gave the men instructions. She told one to
stay the night to guard Ian and “the little woman” and the other
two she told to come with her. He heard the door lock click in
place from the outside which meant they had a little time so he
looked up into Kara’s wide eyes.

“I saw her Ian, I saw her. She’s not going to
let me walk out of here is she?”

“Shh, Kara.”

He could see the panic in her eyes. He’d seen
the same panic before even though the other times the situation
hadn’t been life threatening. He could tell she was going to have a
panic attack.

“Kara,” he called to her softly as he tried
to move closer to her without scraping the metal chair along the
cement floor.

“Kara, Connor knows where we are, he’ll tell
Quinn and Ronan.”

“How do you know? What if they’re too
late?”

He could see her anxiety and it killed him to
know he was the cause. He’d brought them too close because he had
panicked and now her life was in danger. If they ever got out of
this, he was going to tell her she was his and he wasn’t going to
take any arguments. But for now, he didn’t want to push her, only
to calm her. Each of his legs was tied to one of the legs of the
chair so he awkwardly tried to stand. He was hunched over as his
back maintained the angle of the chair and swung his legs one at a
time to get to where Kara was tied. When he was directly in front
of her, he quietly set the chair down and sat before her.

“Kara, even if we have to save ourselves, I’m
not going to let anything happen to you.”

“She’s the one who answered your phone Ian
and I saw her. You didn’t so maybe they’ll let you-”

“Kara!” he stopped her in her tracks with his
harsh whisper. “Kara, nothing’s going to happen to you. I won’t let
it. Please grá, you can’t have a panic attack right now.”

Kara nodded. She knew Ian was right and she
tried to tamp down her anxiety. She’d had panic attacks before, but
rarely. Those situations seemed like nothing compared to this. This
was a panic worthy scenario if ever there was one and this was the
time she couldn’t panic.

“I know where we are,” she said suddenly.
“From the hotel, the car went left, left, right, left, right. There
was a long time between the last left and the right.”

“Good girl, now we just have to try to get
that information to Quinn.”

“They didn’t take my phone Ian.”

“Your phone?”

“It’s in my bra.”

He loved her big tits, but he never thought
he’d be as thankful for them as he was right now. The thugs must
have thought she was going to the bathroom when they dragged her
out and didn’t bother to search her. Even when she was on the verge
of sheer terror, she still had a plan.

“Can you get it out, or do you need me to
try?”

“I think I can.”

Her hands were tied in front of her, which
gave her a better chance. She leaned down over her hands and used
her thumbs to push down into her dress and her bra. Ian shifted in
his chair, now was not the time to get hard. As he watched her
wiggle herself around, he knew it was hopeless to try to keep
himself from getting turned on. Finally, Kara had the phone secured
between her two thumbs as she pulled it out, but then it dropped
into her lap. Ian had visions of using his mouth to get the phone
and his jeans got even tighter.

“Damn!” she said.

Then she leaned over her hands again and
pushed her thumbs back down her dress. Ian watched hypnotized by
her little dance and almost wept with relief when she pulled out
the little knife he’d given her. He watched in awe as she opened
the knife and started to cut herself free. If it weren’t for the
panic attack’s, she might be able to back up Ronan just as well as
any of the cousins.

“Don’t cut through it all Kara,” he
whispered. “You may need to pretend you’re still bound.”

She nodded and as soon as she cut through one
strand she pulled apart her wrists to give herself some room then
unwound the long rope from her wrists. Her legs were still just
bound with a zip tie, which she cut. Ian wanted to stop her but he
knew zip ties could be broken and he didn’t want her bound.

“Here let me…”

“No, leave my legs tied.” He said before she
could cut his legs free.

“Why?”

“If they open the door to check on us, for
now we need to appear captive. Until I can figure out a plan or get
a weapon, leave my legs bound, just untie my arms, I can hold them
behind me.”

“OK.”

She crouched behind him and cut one piece of
rope then unwound the rest from his wrists as she had with hers.
She threw the folded knife back onto the futon.

“Now hand me the phone.” He told her.

She handed the phone to Ian and he stopped to
make sure no one was coming. They were both quiet for a moment
before Ian called Quinn.

“Ian?” Quinn demanded.

“Tá sé seo le gaiste if they contact you
about us” Ian warned. If his cousins were going to walk into a trap
he wanted them fully aware.

“We guessed that.”

“Tá bean i gceannas.”

“A woman?”

“Aye. Kara chonaic na mná aghaidh.”

“Shit Ian, that’s not good. If Kara saw her,
that means she thinks you both are disposable.”

“I know.”

“Sit tight.”

“They seemed happy that Ronan is all
alone.”

“If she thinks he’s all alone, she must not
know him very well but that’s better for us anyway.”

“Hurry up and get here. Is gá dom a shábháil
Kara.”

“Fast as we can, we will. Connor’s was there
today, Ian. Tá a fhios againn cá bhfuil tú. We’ll make sure nothing
happens to you or your woman.”

Ian almost deflated with relief. They knew
where he and Kara were. He may have failed to keep Kara out of the
hands of the bad guys, but Ian would make damn sure no one touched
her. He’d be able to do it a lot better if he had something more
than a knife. What he wanted was a gun, so he asked Quinn if they
could bring him one.

“Is féidir le Connor fháil dom a arm?”

“Are there any windows where you are? I’m not
sure he can just drop a gun in there Ian.”

Quinn taught them to be prepared, which meant
that if you knew you were in danger, try to have more than one
weapon. If Connor was nearby, he had more than one weapon and Ian
needed something more than a little hunting knife. Ian looked up
there were small windows near the roof but they didn’t open, so he
let Quinn know.

“Ní féidir na fuinneoga a oscailt”

“OK, we’ll figure something out. We’ll find a
way to get something to you.”

“Be careful.”

“You too col ceathrar.”

After Ian ended his call with Quinn, he
handed the phone back to Kara. She turned it off and pushed it back
into her bra. Damn he was hard again. Kara looked around the room
with terror in her eyes. Maybe he could distract them both.

“Kara, come sit on my lap grá.”

Without any hesitation she curled up on his
lap. She wanted so badly to untie his legs, but with his arms
around her, she felt a little safer. She’d seen that woman’s face
and she’d seen enough movies to know that she was as good as dead.
She felt the panic rising again.