Page 56 of Taken by the Lawman

Paying close attention to every detail, they slowly made her way toward the end of the hallway where a bright window let in the early morning sunrise. So, she’d been here for hours? That made her hopes sink some. What if no one came? But she spoke to Deegan. He knew she was taken. She relied on him.

They came to a closed door with a square window.

The woman shoved Kiersten against the wall, then she reached into her pocket for a set of keys. They jingled as she searched for the right one.

Kiersten had no idea what was on the other side of the door, but she didn’t want to find out. Her instincts warned her that if she stepped across the threshold, the likelihood of her surviving would drop tremendously. They wouldn’t have a reason to keep her alive.

While the woman was distracted, Kiersten saw her one and only opportunity. She jerked against the scarf, tugging and pushing until she finally felt the material loosen some. The German woman couldn’t tie worth a damn, thank goodness.

The key was in the lock.

Sliding home…

Kiersten took a small step back, lifted her foot and kicked the woman’s wrist, sending the gun flinging across the floor. She looked around, a flicker of shock in her expression before she reacted by swinging her fist. Kiersten was quick and dodged the move that came at her face, but she wasn’t so lucky with the booted foot to her knee, sending her wobbling and falling back against the wall. The woman came at her and Kiersten threw a punch, landing it hard against the woman’s cheek. She let out a loud moan, but it didn’t take her long before she was grabbing Kiersten’s hair and pulling her, shoving her into the wall.

With an elbow to the woman’s face, she fell back a step and Kiersten turned, grabbing her around the throat and bringing her down onto her back.

A kick brought Kiersten to the ground too and they grappled, rolling around, throwing swings. The woman tried to reach for her gun, but Kiersten grabbed her ankles and dragged her across the floor, grabbing her hair and shoving her face into the concrete. Standing, she grabbed the woman off the floor and pulled back her fist, hitting her hard enough to knock her out. “Not so tough without your weapon, are you?”

Using the scarf, she tied the woman’s hands behind her back.

Picking up the gun and the keys, Kiersten held the weapon as she unlocked the door, slowly and carefully, listening for any sounds from the other side. Using all her skills, she took a step across the threshold. They weren’t alone. Not when the woman said she wasn’t “running the show”.

*

Deegan fluttered his eyes open, feeling a sharp pain in his temples. Once his blurred vision passed enough that he could make out more than fuzzy images, he examined the room from where he was tied up in the chair situated in the center of the room.

He had no clue where he was and only that Evans had sprayed him in the face with liquid chloroform.

His heart sank, remembering that they had Kiersten too. She had to be here…wherever ‘here’ was.

Pressing against the handcuffs on his wrists, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of them.

The doorknob turned and Deegan waited, planning his next step. Would he fight the person? Or would he wait for the most opportune time to pounce. It wasn’t his life he was thinking about, but Kiersten’s. He got her into this mess and he needed to make sure he got her out, alive.

The door came open slowly.

Kiersten stepped in.

His breath swooshed out of his lungs. Was he imaging that it was her standing before him?

She rushed into the room, dropping to her knees in front of him. “Deegan. I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered as she leaned in and planted kisses over his face.

He was more than happy to be on the receiving side of her affection, but he wasn’t sure when the men would be back and without the use of his hands, he wasn’t much good. “I’m cuffed. We got to find a way to get them loose. I think I can bust the chair, but it won’t help with the handcuffs.”

“I think I can help with that.” She pulled a set of keys from her back pocket and gave them a shake.

“How the hell did you manage to get the keys?” he asked proudly.

“I’ll explain later but at least we won’t have to worry about the woman for a while.” She got up and went to work finding the key that fit the handcuffs.

Voices billowed from down the hall.

“Hurry, Kiersten,” he whispered.

“I’m trying.”

He heard the jingle of the keys as she searched through the handful.

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