‘None of those things matter anymore.’
‘Hull then, for chips and gravy and all the local attractions.’
He tore at the wood with his fingers, a few splinters dropping out and onto the floor.
‘Nathan, please, you’re cutting your hands apart.’
He threw the nail on the floor and pulled her into him.
Autumn put her head on his chest and closed her eyes. ‘There must be some other way,’ she said.
‘There is, but it’s dangerous,’ he answered.
‘Well, what is it? I mean, they’re sizing up the knife for my throat right about now. How much more dangerous could it be?’
‘We get them in here, say that you’re sick, and we ambush them. Take them by surprise. They’re going to be expecting us to still be tied up.’
‘How would we do that?’
‘We’d yell. We’d make so much noise they’d have to come and you could act like an extra from Grey’s Anatomy.’
‘Let’s do it then,’ she responded.
‘Autumn, we have no weapons. If they’re in any way ready, they could kill us both.’
‘I’m too valuable at the moment, and… well, let’s just hope they’re not ready,’ she answered.
Nathan let out a breath and shook his head.
‘It has to be better than using that nail to dig our way out of here. Once we’re out of the room, we’d have to take them by surprise anyway, wouldn’t we?’
‘I wasn’t planning on meeting them on our way out of the building,’ he responded.
‘I want to get out of here. With you.’
He nodded and kissed the top of her head. ‘Okay.’
*
He looked into her eyes and touched his lips to hers.
‘I have to put the hood back on you,’ he said, picking the dirty sack up off the floor.
‘I know,’ she replied.
‘You know what you’ve got to do?’
‘You tell them I’m sick, that I’m bleeding. I moan and wail. Hopefully one of them will come over, and as soon as he’s near enough, I stab him with the nail. You’ll disarm him and…’
‘If two of them come, Autumn, you might have to kill one of them. Just grab their weapon and shoot it.’
‘I don’t want to think about that,’ she answered.
A shiver jerked up her body and she knew he’d seen it. She wanted to be brave, but shooting people and stabbing them with nails wasn’t ordinarily in her job description.
‘I know you can do it,’ he whispered.
She laced her hands together behind his neck and drew his face to hers again, relishing his scent.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
She nodded and closed her eyes as he replaced the hood.
*
‘Help!’ Nathan yelled at the top of his lungs. ‘She’s sick! Come on, you bastards! She’s bleeding in here!’
The room they had beaten him in was a long way up the corridor. He didn’t even know if they would hear him.
‘Help!’ he yelled again. ‘I said she’s bleeding! Help her!’
‘Do you think they can hear you?’ Autumn asked.
‘Sshh… do you hear that?’ Nathan asked.
He held his breath, hoping he hadn’t imagined the sound. It had been faint, but it was a sound he was accustomed to detecting at a distance.
‘What is it?’ Autumn whispered.
‘Can you hear it?’
‘Yes, what is it?’
‘Helicopter. Someone’s coming for you,’ Nathan said, smiling at her.
‘Coming for us,’ she insisted.
‘Sshh, footsteps. Lie on the floor. Stick to the plan,’ Nathan urged quickly.
*
Her heart banged against her rib cage in double quick time. Was someone really coming to their aid? How could Nathan be sure? He couldn’t, but he believed it was true, and that was enough to fill her with hope. She took a deep breath and prepared to put on the performance of her life.
She heard the bolts on the door being opened and tried to listen to how many sets of feet were entering the room.
‘Autumn’s sick. She’s in pain, and she says she’s bleeding. You need to get her some medical help!’ Nathan yelled from behind his hood.
She let out an anguished cry and rolled herself about, careful not to show that her hands were untied. She fingered the nail in her palm and tried to heighten her senses for when one of her captors came close.
‘We are moving you,’ Tariq’s voice informed.
Autumn let out another scream of pain. She had to get him to come closer to her. Was it just Tariq in the room with them? One not two?
‘Please, just take a look at her,’ Nathan begged.
Autumn heard Tariq step nearer to her and she whimpered.
‘Water… please, I need water.’
She hoped she sounded desperate enough. She waited, then she felt the hood being lifted off her face. There was Tariq, the man from the church who had lured her into a room to be kidnapped. He offered her a bottle of water.
Without hesitation, she stabbed him in the shoulder with the nail, leaped up from the floor, and moved out of reach.
Nathan drew off his hood, and before their captor could react, he punched him unconscious and wrangled the machine gun away.
Autumn hyperventilated with shock, her hands shook, her body trembled.
Nathan pulled off her hood and discarded it on the ground.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
She nodded, unable to speak.
‘Listen, just stay close to me,’ he said, taking her hands and moving them to the belt loops of his pants.
A reminder of the time she’d run across the car park of the motel when they’d first met came to mind. She’d hated him then, despised what he was doing to her, longed to get as far away from him as possible. Now, she felt the exact opposite.
Her heart was thumping so hard, it physically hurt her chest. Nathan crept forward, and she moved with him, holding onto the waistband of his pants. They moved along the corridor then stopped when they reached the door. Nathan looked over his shoulder at her.
‘I’m going to open the door,’ he whispered. ‘You ready?’
She nodded, but was sure her frightened demeanor gave her away.
