Without a word to Ivy, he turns, and his pace quickens as he leaves. We’re both silent until there’s no sound again, and a loose plan starts to form in my head. Although, it all hinges on me getting free.
“Hey, what gives?” Ivy sounds pissed.
“How about staying quiet and doing exactly what I say? It’s Afghanistan all over again, alright?” I hope she can hear the importance of my words. I mean it. I’ll get her out of here alive, but Ivy being Ivy and getting herself into more shit with her mouth is not on my agenda today. “Maybe when this is done, we can work out what the fuck is going on together.”
She nods, but behind that pissed off fire, I can see a cloud of fear in her eyes, and I fucking hate seeing it there.
I sit up straight and pull on my arms, testing the resistance in the metal bar. Assessing the building's integrity, I hope whatever I’m attached to is in a similar weakened state. I manoeuvre, trying to get my feet under my body to force more power through my arms, then pull up sharply and ignore the bite of the plastic into my wrists.
A few hard yanks and the pipe should give. I hope.
Pushing up with my legs, putting more thrust into it, I keep going. Either this will work, or I’ll slice half my hand off in the process, but one way or another, I’m getting free.
A clanging and the sudden movement of the pipe indicates that it gave way before the plastic.
“Yes, there’s my hero.”
“Shh…” I smile over at her. “They might have heard.”
We wait in position for the sound of footsteps, but nothing happens, so I edge along the pipe until I can slip the ties off the broken end. Next step, cut the ties. I run to the broken glass and metal and find a sharp edge against the wall to position and weaken the plastic. Not much is needed before I can split my wrists apart.
As soon as I’m free, I rush to Ivy.
Gently, I try to see the damage to her leg. Her jeans are too tight to remove easily, but I can see there’s a nasty gouge in her leg. There’s nothing I can do about it here, but I want to get her to a hospital just as soon as I can figure this all out.
“Err, a little help. I have a thing for heroes, not medics.”
“Oh, you and that mouth.” I grab a piece of glass from the floor and position it to cut through her binds, careful not to damage her any further. A few minutes later, and she’s free. The moment her hands are loose, she lunges at me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Don’t fucking scare me like that,” she says, kissing me.
For a moment, the pure adrenalin of the situation and the feel of her lips on mine take over. We’re not in an abandoned building. We’re alone. Together, and I can taste every ounce of passion she puts into that kiss.
“As much as I like this, and it kills me to stop, later, okay?” I kiss her forehead and rest mine against hers for a moment, savouring her. “Now, just stay where you are. Pretend like you’ve got your hands bound still.”
“Why?” she whispers.
“Because, for us to get out, I need to disable the man with the gun. And to do that, I need a distraction.”
“We can’t just run out of here?” she offers.
“We could. We could also run right into the man with the gun and be dead on the floor in a few minutes. There’s not a chance in hell I’m going with that plan.”
“Okay. So, I’m the distraction?” she asks, looking up at me with her wide eyes. She already knows she is. She’s smart.
I make my way to the entry of the space we're in and peer around. It opens into a courtyard, with several other outbuildings dotted around, but there’s no sign of anyone guarding us. If they’re still here, they must be in one of those buildings. Ivy’s idea just to walk out of here comes to mind again, but I know that’s dangerous as hell.
“Right. I need you to get his attention. Make a fuss, scream, shout, get him to come back in here, okay? When he checks on me, I’ll strike.”
“And if he doesn’t go and check on you?” she questions.
“I just need his back to me, take him by surprise.”
“Okay.” I try and rest the pipe back on the bracket on the wall, so it’s not so obvious it’s broken free. Before I take my position, I grab a shard of glass and clasp it in my hands as I put them behind my back. Slouching down against the wall, I nod to Ivy, who immediately starts screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Hey! HELP! Somebody!” Her voice cuts through the air and echoes around the building. Somebody must have heard that.
Sure enough, the sound of footsteps follows. We take one long look at each other. I nod, hoping she knows that I’d never let any further harm come to her. Over my dead body springs to mind, but I refrain from tempting fate.
