Page 94 of The Doctor's Twins

I turned to see a man, I assumed Mateo, running toward the kitchen. I followed as quickly as I could through the darkened passageway after him. He flung open a door and ran down a flight of stairs. I followed.

It was dark in the basement and the smell in there was one of death. I knew that smell all too well. Mateo was hovering over something. A bed. Peyton! She was cuffed to the frame of the bed, but she was alive.

“Ben!” she shouted when she saw me.

“Stay back or I’ll slit her throat!” Mateo threatened.

Fuck!

26

PEYTON

“Ben!” I shouted again.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was I having a dream? Was it a nightmare? Mateo had yanked me up off the bed and had a knife to my throat. I could feel the edge of the blade pressing against the skin which burned suddenly where the sharp metal was threatening to rip into flesh. I felt a trickle of blood running down to my collarbone.

“Let her go, Mateo!” Ben growled at the maniac behind me.

Mateo reeked of alcohol which made my situation even more precarious. One drunken slip and I’d be the third late Mrs. Garcia.

“Mateo, please,” I begged in a calm voice, so as not to startle an already freaked-out madman.

“Shut up, you whore!” he yelled and hit me against the head with the butt of the knife.

It hurt like hell and left me seeing stars.

“Come on, you coward,” Ben spat at Mateo. “Let her go and come over here so we can fight like men.”

Mateo started cussing at Ben in Spanish. It was clear that he had no intention of doing the honorable thing. That didn’t surprise me one bit. No, if I was going to make it out of this alive, I would have to employ the skills Ben had taught me. All I had to do was to wait for the right moment.

Mateo was close to hysteria. He was swaying and cursing, and I was terrified that he would lose control of the blade pressed against my throat. I could waste more time. It was now or never.

I took a deep breath and moved my right elbow backward and upward. The blow connected Mateo square in the jaw. He staggered back and fell onto the bed at which point I hunched down and out of his reach.

Ben leaped at the opportunity and lunged toward the bed where Mateo lay, momentarily dazed by my well-executed attack. Unfortunately, his confusion didn’t last long and by the time Ben got to him, he was swinging the knife wildly. All I could do was watch as the blade cut into Ben’s forearm.

I kept myself out of arm's length of the maniac who had once vowed to love, and cherish me, and watched as the two men struggled for the weapon. Ben moved lightning fast and punched Mateo in the throat at which point the latter dropped the knife and reached for his Adam's apple.

With one smooth move, Ben thrust the blade into Mateo’s chest. And suddenly the fight was over. Mateo collapsed into a heap on the cold basement floor and Ben rushed over to where I cowered.

“Peyton, are you hurt?”

“Ben,” was all I could utter before I passed out.

* * *

I was vaguely aware that I was in a moving vehicle. Was I in a car? I opened my eyes very slowly, praying that I wasn’t hallucinating, caught up in some kind of delusional state where my mind was trying to overcome the trauma of being chained to a bed in the dungeon of death.

No, I was definitely in a car. A hand reached out and touched my arm.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re alright, my love.”

“Ben?” I whispered.

“Yes, Peyton. It’s me.”

Ben’s face slowly came into focus. His beautiful eyes were filled with concern.

---