“Here, have a seat.” He points out a big boulder and I slump down in relief. My skirt’s in tatters and I know he can see clear up to my knickers, but he keeps his gaze on my feet. “I’ve got somesocks, and we can tighten these laces. How do ye feel?”
He’s taking items from his backpack, pulling my boots off gently and checking my heels, his mouth tight.
“It’s fine, Lucas. They dinnae hurt. The socks will feel grand, though.” He still dinnae look happy, but the man always got the sour face when I was the slightest bit uncomfortable. The memory hurts my heart and I push it away. “How are ye here? What happened?”
He looks up briefly and the moonlight hits his eyes, a beautiful pale, silvery gray color, like a gull’s wing. “Your father called me when you were taken. I’ve been searching for ye ever since. Your mother had to hold the Chieftain down to keep him from coming on this rescue mission.”
I huff out a little laugh. “Sounds like Da. Where’s the rest of your team?”
His hands tighten on my boot laces before he forces them to relax. “Dubois’ men hit our extraction site, the ATVs and all our equipment are gone, including my satellite phone. The rest of the men will spread out and find one of the other escape routes we set.”
“Ye always liked having a backup plan or two,” I nod approvingly. “How can we reach my family for help? Will the other team members be able tocontact them?”
Grief creases his face. “I lost one of my men. Morris.”
“I remember ye talking about him, from the service, aye? I’m so sorry.” I touch his arm, squeezing gently.
Lucas composes himself back into the aloof, expressionless bodyguard I remember. “With everyone scattered and no communication, I canna be sure who got out. As for us, I canna use my cellphone until we get to a big enough town to conceal it. Dubois is going to be tracking the cell towers for calls out. In a region with so little population, triangulating our position would be too easy.”
“Well then…” I rise from the boulder, turning in a circle. It’s all deep forest, the trees crowding together high enough to block most of the night sky. “We walk, aye?”
He's running his hand through his hair, and I can see he's grown it out a bit, just long enough to curl slightly.My fingers tingle, wanting to run through all those curls.
"If I’d known we’d be hiking out, I would have picked a different direction. We’ve got three or four days of hard terrain ahead.”
“Well…” I straighten my shoulders, I’m strong, a MacTavish. “I dinnae think ye had much of a choice on the direction. We’d best get started.”
The path is littered with enormous rocks and fallen trees, and there’s a lot of scrabbling and climbing involved. “How did ye find me in the lab?” I need a distraction, and though Lucas never says much, he’s gonna talk me through this.
“I sent one of my men up to the hall with the most bedrooms and the panic room, thinking they’d try to drag ye in there first.” He smiles at me briefly, “I had a feeling, though, that ye might be in the labs.”
“Well, Dubois did send two guards to get me from my bedroom.” I grin happily, remembering their look of shock. “Once I heard the gunfire, I knew it was a rescue. I had to get to the lab and download everything I could about C-1161.”
“C-1161? What is that?”
“A brilliant new poison that rat bastard is working on.” I give an unladylike grunt, clambering over the next boulder. “He kidnapped me to create the antidote. Fortunately, he’s been working on it for some time, so the research gave me an edge. But I canna do it without the formula for the actual poison.”
“Dubois, that son of a bitch, I’ll be going back for him.” He spits on the ground. “How did ye get outof your room?”
“I hid behind the door and punched one guard in the larynx with a big fancy platter when he came rushing in, and then shot the other one with his gun.” I’m grinning, and then so is he.
“Ye cunning wee vixen.” Lucas shakes his head, laughing. “I dinnae need to rescue ye at all, ye could have skipped out the front door with combat skills like those.”
“I did appreciate the assistance.” I give him a haughty nod, and he keeps laughing. It sounds good to hear it again.
We hike through the rest of the night, hiding under trees every time a drone buzzes over. We can hear the faint sounds of a helicopter, but it dinnae come close.
It’s noon, the sun high overhead when Lucas finally insists on stopping. “We’ve got some good concealment here. Ye try to sleep a bit.”
It is a good spot, craggy granite cliffs on one side, hovering over a stream and the forest, thick with trees on the other. “I dinnae need it.” I fold my arms. “I can hike ‘till nightfall. The more distance between us and the castle the better, aye?”
I can tell he’s keen to argue with me, but he nods reluctantly, wiping the sweat off his foreheadwith his torn sleeve. “I’ve got some protein bars, let’s take a break, at least.” Rooting through his backpack, he hands me one. “Our one advantage here is that these mountain streams are pristine. Drink as much as ye can, it’ll help.”
“Where’s the closest town that’s large enough to safely make a call?” I’m trying to remember everything I know about Morocco, which sadly, isn’t much.
He’s drinking from the water bottle and it’s making my insides clench. His strong, tanned throat, his shirt, open just enough to see the outline of a tattoo. I was always irritated that while we were both Scottish, he could tan and I simply blotched from the sun.
“Ourika Valley,” he wipes his forearm across his mouth. “If we make good time, we can make it in two or three days.”
