Page 32 of Savage Escape

For a second, the mercenary was struck by her own words and just how incredibly... standard they were. How much different would her life be if she never had to say those words? It was a normal occurrence for her to be standing over a body looking for a nook or cranny to stuff it into, but did other people—normal people—have to hide bodies or ever voice that sentence? Probably not.

“I’m getting you shoes.” He shoved the body over and started tugging off his laced-up combat boots. “He’s small, like you, so I figured...”

“I’m not small,” was all Caden could work up in response, seeing as how all her mental efforts were focused on battling the sheen of tears that’d sprung up in her eyes.

What the actual fuck?

The fact that he took out some random asshole to get her shoes should not be making her all emotional and crazy. What the hell was wrong with her?

Lack of sleep and malnutrition.

That’s what it was.

“You are small. Small and lethal—and sexy as hell.” He was grinning again and holding out the combat boots.

“Would you stop—you’re just embarrassing yourself.” Caden tried hard not to smile at the giant, but it was difficult when he was smirking at her and trying to be all charming.

“Ya know.” The boots were a wee bit too big for her, but they’d work. “I’m starting to think I was wrong about this being a prison.” It almost felt weird to wear shoes again.

“I’m starting to think so, too.” Nathan was frowning and staring down at the body, now bound, gagged, and stuffed in the bathroom he’d come out of.

Everything she’d predicted so far was off. They’d been on two floors now and there was the random guard or two. They’d found no holding cells or even rooms that remotely resembled the one they’d been in. Then there was the lack of torture sounds coming from other jailees. Which only led to the assumption that there were no other prisoners.

She had been right about the CCTV, though. The concerning thing about that was there were no patrols to make up for it. Sure, they’d passed the odd guard or two, but they hadn’t looked like they’d been actually guarding.

“All right, fuck, let’s go.” There was no turning back now, and she was sure as hell getting Savage out.

Another flight of stairs and two corridors later, they finally found an out. Double doors with big square windows cut into them that shone in the sunlight like the holy fucking grail. Between them and the doors were guards. There were three of them, standing around a computer laughing at something on the screen. They were all wearing the same thing, all armed, and all looked capable.

“Okay.” Caden stepped back into the stairwell. “I say we try walking right past ‘em. Hell, they probably won’t even look up.”

“I think.” His face was torn between concentrating on the making of a plan and his mounting concern for her well-being. Caden could see the internal war he was waging with himself whenever she breathed too shallowly or leaned too far over for his liking. She tried to suck it up and blank her expression so the man wouldn’t throw her over his shoulder and try to escape all by himself. “Okay, how ‘bout you stay here and I’ll take care of it?”

“Pfft.” Was he joking? “And how exactly are you gonna take care of it? You don’t speak the language and you have no money to do any kind of bribing. I mean sexual favors, maybe, but I can hardly see you getting on your knees.”

“Well, that all depends on who I’m kneeling for.” He paused to arch a suggestive eyebrow at her and Caden willed her face not to flush. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”

“What are you gonna do? Question ‘em to death?”

“Caden, I feel like—and this is just a vibe that I’m getting—that you underestimate me.”

“If you shoot at them or start a shoot-out, you’ll bring the whole damn house down on us.” What was he not understanding? Was it a man thing where he had to prove his macho-ness?

“I understand and I won’t. Don’t worry.”

“Nathan!” Caden was snarling and pissed. “There are three of them,three. You, mister macho man, are gonna need this woman’s help. Now shut up and?—”

“Ya know, I’ve noticed that you only call me Nathan when you’re concerned for me.”

“Shut up.” God, she could punch him.

“Look, you stay right here and be impressed.” He grinned and stepped out into the lobby.

“If you get yourself killed, I’m not even gonna bury your ass. I’m gonna fucking write, ‘TOLD YOU SO’ on your dead damn forehead and everyone’s gonna laugh at your ass.”

“I can live with that.”

“You wouldn’t be living in that scenario, dumbass! You’d be fucking dead.”

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