Page 43 of Prophet
I didn’t want to, no I did not. Where had this plan gone wrong? Fear did take over now as my body trembled. I had hoped to be grabbed back before I would actually be taken to Deacon. That option was now out the window. A trash bin? Used as an entrance to an underground lair? I wondered now about the tracking device. Did it work underground? I didn’t know anything abou—
“NOW!” Maxim ordered as he slackened his hold on me.
Given no other choice, I took a deep breath and slid one foot down onto the metal step then my other one. When I stood, my legs wobbled as shock still had control over my body. With my wrists tied, I couldn’t catch myself as I fell over sideways immediately. My head hit the metal rail and it stunned me. It stung badly and I whimpered from the pain.
Under his breath, Maxim swore in Russian as he pulled me up. Everything seemed to spin around me and I felt a trickle of blood as it seeped down along my face. I vaguely knew that he had lifted me up into his steel like arms but I didn’t know much else as dizziness assailed me.
The next thing I knew, we were off the stairs but I couldn’t be sure as everything looked fuzzy to me.
“The hell?” a voice shouted.
I heard it but I didn’t look as I kept my eyes closed. I didn’t recognize it either. I felt weak and listless suddenly.
“She slipped,” Maxim said.
“Bring her this way,” the voice ordered gruffly.
I saw a high ceiling above me as my head fell back along Maxim’s arm and the ceiling changed while he carried me along. I sort of felt like I was in some kind of dream state. Things again went in and out for me as I heard voices but I couldn’t understand the words. More Russian? Or was it that I hit my head too hard?
Maxim laid me down onto something like maybe a table but I barely registered it. I kept my eyes closed which wasn’t hard as I didn’t seem to have the strength to do much now. I knew about trauma but this felt different. My head throbbed and my body seemed to have just given up on me.God, don’t let me die here? No...I would see Prophet again.I needed to make sure I did.
Someone used their fingers to ease one of my eyelids open and flashed a light. I groaned a little but I didn’t struggle as I seemed to not have any strength in my arms either.
“Fuck all!” the new male voice exclaimed close to me, the one with the pen light. “She might have a concussion.”
I could hear Maxim groan and more swearing in rapid Russian sounded out. I only guessed at the swearing but I’d already learned something about this brute even in just the last hour. He had two gears, evil amusement and angry swearing.
“He is going to be livid about this,” penlight guy stated with fear in his voice as I could feel something damp on my forehead and it swiped along my face. “We can’t let him see the blood,” the voice above me went on. “He will see the large cut though. Nothing I can do about that.”
“Fedor, it was an accident,” Maxim defended in a low tone.
“You know what he said,” Fedor replied. “Not a mark on her.”
“Fuck!” Maxim swore in English this time.
“Well, I will get her bandaged and...” Fedor paused. “We will have to wait and see. It is all we can do.”
I still kept my eyes closed as they spoke. I realized if I tried I could maybe open them, but I would rather postpone looking at any of them or at the room right now. I did want to just go to sleep though, but I’d always heard that would be a bad thing if you had a concussion. I wasn’t sure if I even had one like this Fedor guy had said, but this was my life at stake here. I would fight sleep. I would do like Liv had said. Fight for all I was worth. At least, it might buy me some time before Deacon—
“What happened?” someone spoke.
I knew this voice and that dreaded fear returned immediately. Deacon was now in the room with us.
“Boss,” Maxim spoke in a defensive tone. “She slipped.”
Silence.
“We were coming down the stairs and she fell,” Maxim added.
I could hear steps coming closer and then someone touched my arm. I fought the shudder that my body instinctively wanted to make. Deacon was touching me.Oh, God.
“I told you several times, Maxim.” Deacon’s voice went low as he went on, “You were not supposed to hurt her. Now I find her injured by you. Look at the bruises on her arms and that cut on her head.” His litany of Maxim’s sins paused as he said, “Dr. Fedor? What did you find?”
“She...” Fedor hesitated.
“Tell me or your ass will be in the same fucking sling as Maxim!” Deacon stated though his voice still did not raise to high volume. This seemed to be part of the ominous predator he perpetuated. His voice never rose even when he seemed angry or disgusted.
“I think she has a concussion,” Fedor finally replied.
