“And why do you think they won’t attack us?”
“They’re in no position to attack. They’re in trouble.” She glared at Jake in the dim light coming in through the window.
“Have any of the couples we rescued been anything but grateful? And don’t throw Mickey and Kira in my face. I think we both know Kira was a psychopath, and Mickey would have done anything she asked of him.”
She saw Jake clench his fists. “Where are—is it Olivia and Travis?”
“Yes. They’re on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.”
“If we leave now, it’s going to take hours for us to get there. And it might be too late by the time we do.”
“But we have to try. And probably the best couple to take with us are Elizabeth and Matt, if they’re willing. Matt learned his survival skills in Africa. And they both know the area.”
“Baltimore isn’t exactly the Eastern Shore.”
Rachel was already out of bed and picking up her cell phone. “We need to tell the others and see what they think.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Travis tried to raise some kind of power to stop what was happening. But he was too deadened to have any effect. The drug Smith had given Olivia had done its work.
With a leaden feeling of defeat, he watched while she was secured to a stretcher, then followed along as the men wheeled her into the house like a patient from an ambulance being rushed into the hospital. Only this was no hospital. He had been here before, and he knew it was a torture chamber—with only one exit.
He shuddered, then forced himself to take in details he’d had no chance to see before. Because he’d been covered like a special delivery package the last time he was here, he hadn’t seen the outside of the house or any of the interior besides that room where he’d spent his last hours as a living man. Now, if he had had blood in his veins, it would have frozen as he watched them bring her to the same place. He couldn’t stop himself from shaking. And it took everything he had to prevent himself from turning around and fleeing. But he stayed because there was no way he was going to just leave Olivia to Smith’s tender mercies.
She was the only thing that kept him here. He hovered close to her as the men transferred her to the same table where Smith had tortured him. Horror clutched his chest as he watched them secure her arms and legs.
God, no. Don’t let him hurt her,he prayed over and over before switching his focus to the man who had complete control over her now.
You don’t want to hurt her. There’s no reason to hurt her. She can’t give you any helpful information, he projected.
He tried to grab Smith’s arm as the torture master leaned possessively over his new specimen like a butterfly collector inspecting a recent acquisition.
At Travis’s touch, the man flinched and looked quickly over his shoulder, right into Travis’s enraged gaze.
“What?” he mouthed.
Do you see me?
Smith only stared, then shook his head. “There’s nobody here but me and the woman,” he said aloud.
Wrong,Travis answered, but the monster didn’t hear him. He’d need more power to get through to Smith, and right now there was no source of power. Not from Olivia and not from himself. How long would it take to get it back? He didn’t know. He didn’t know if Smith would drug her again. He didn’t know any damn thing except that he had to somehow save her. It couldn’t all end like this, in this house with this man. Not after what he and Olivia had created together.
After a charged moment, the kidnapper shrugged and went back to his captive.
He raised first one and then the other of Olivia’s eyelids and inspected her pupils. They were dark and dilated, and Travis watched Smith stroke his chin with thumb and forefinger as he leaned over her.
“How safe is it to bring you to consciousness?” he whispered.
Very safe,Travis answered.Go ahead and wake her up; that’s the most efficient way to question her. You want her to be coherent.
And I want to be able to connect with her again,he silently added.
But the bastard didn’t seem to pay any attention to him. Or maybe Travis had had some effect, and he couldn’t tell.
“I need to have you partly conscious,” Smith said. “Let’s wait a little while for you to start coming around. I’ll be right outside, but I’ll be watching for any signs of life.” He chuckled. “Not like your friend Carson. He’s beyond that.”
You’d be surprised,Travis silently answered.
