Page 33 of Rescuing Micah (Prey Security: Cyber Team #3)

A shrill shriek jerked her from sleep.

Confused and still half asleep, Teresa blinked open her eyes and lifted her head, trying to figure out what was going on and what the obnoxious noise was.

She’d been out like a light within minutes of lying down and snuggling into Micah’s warm body.

He’d always been so cozy. When they were teens and it was cold out, she’d always just tucked herself close and absorbed some of his body heat.

Even though years had passed and there had been so much bad blood between them, it had been much easier than she would have guessed to curl up against him.

Because she was healing.

Like she’d told him last night, there was lingering pain, and there would likely be a scar left behind. They could never completely go back to how things had been between them when they were teenagers, but she was healing, and it was getting easier to let him in.

Now his large body moved beside her, seemingly waking with a lot more clarity than she had, because she felt him tense, and then he was flinging the covers back.

“Get dressed,” he ordered, already searching for clothes for her and thrusting them at her.

“Dressed? Is that the fire alarm?” she asked, finally realizing what the sound was.

“Yes,” Micah replied, his voice clipped as he found her a pair of shoes.

If she’d been wearing pajamas, Teresa would have been happy to just leave in them, but she was naked, and fire alarm or not, she wasn't going out of her apartment without clothing on. Shoving her legs into the leggings Micah had gotten, she realized with sinking clarity what was really going on.

“It’s a trap,” she said, standing and carefully easing the leggings up so the band didn't sit pressed against her healing wound.

“It is,” Micah agreed. Since he wasn't bothering to shield her from the worry rolling off him in waves, she knew he wasn't just concerned, he was terrified.

“The guys are out there,” she reminded him, grabbing the oversized T-shirt and pulling it over her head. “And you're here. They won't get to me.”

Although she said the words to reassure Micah, they both knew they weren't necessarily true. While she would stick to Micah’s side like glue, there would be a lot of people out there, and it would be far too easy for them to get separated.

Which was the point.

These people had decided to create chaos in order to flush them out and make an abduction attempt that much easier.

But she had no intention of making any of it easier for them.

As she shoved her feet into her sneakers, Teresa brushed a fingertip along the inside of her wrist. She was taking a huge gamble, and she knew Micah was going to be furious about it when he found out.

But she wasn't going to leave herself vulnerable to an attack and reliant on anyone, even her team who she trusted implicitly, to luck out on finding her, it was part of the reason she’d insisted on going into Prey yesterday.

Both Eagle and Raven knew what she had planned, and if the worst happened, she had to believe that it would work out the way she hoped.

The risks were high, but the potential benefit could be everything they needed to close the ring down once and for all, rather than just putting dents in its operation.

“I'm ready,” she said as she straightened.

Giving her a quick once-over, Micah nodded, then they both hurried down to the living room. They paused only long enough for Micah to throw on jeans and a T-shirt, then put on his shoes, and tuck his weapon into his waistband, before he grabbed both their cell phones and shoved hers into her hand.

At the door, he paused, his large hands covering her shoulders, kneading a couple of times before pulling her close and crushing his mouth to hers in a fiery kiss that under any other circumstances would have wound up with them both naked and in bed again.

“I want you to call me, keep the line open, that way if we do get separated, at least we’ll still be in contact,” he ordered as he unlocked her door, and they both stepped out.

Teresa quickly brought up Micah’s name in her contacts and called him. He answered, then he took hold of her hand, his long fingers holding firm to her own, and she prayed they weren't going to get separated.

Knowing they were walking right into a trap didn't mean they could avoid it.

They couldn’t stay there so they were just going to have to hope for the best.

Her neighbors were streaming out of their own apartments, filling the hall as they all headed down the stairs by the elevator. They joined the throngs, and with each step they took, Teresa felt her anxiety rise.

Just minutes ago, she’d been snuggled in bed, Micah’s comforting presence beside her allowing her to have pleasant dreams. In fact, she’d been dreaming of the two of them, they’d been right in the throes of passion when that fire alarm had ruined everything.

If she thought there were a lot of people in the hall, it was nothing compared to the number in the stairwell. Her building had fifteen floors, and she was on the ninth, so there were still a lot of apartments above them, which meant a lot of people all having to use the stairs to get out.

As they started down the stairs, Teresa was acutely aware that any one of these people could be the enemy. They were here somewhere, if they weren't in the building, then they were outside it, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

All about her, people bumped into her. Everyone was on edge, some people openly panicking, none of them knew that she was the cause of this. She doubted there was any real fire anywhere in the building, any real problem at all, but these people didn't know that, and they were acting accordingly.

It was slow going down the stairs, there were too many people, more than the stairwell was made to accommodate, so they had to trudge along with all the others, constantly getting pushed and pulled in all directions.

Throughout it all, Teresa clung to Micah’s hand.

Not only was he her lifeline, her protection, but he acted as a buffer as much as he could, trying to keep her close so he took more of the bumps.

But the sea of people was like the ocean.

It pushed and pulled.

It had a mind of its own.

And sometimes it was almost impossible to handle.

They were almost down to the ground floor when she felt it.

A tiny prick against the exposed skin on her arm.

She knew immediately what it was, but whatever she’d just been drugged with was fast acting.

Already, her head began to swim, making it hard to focus.

Teresa tugged on Micah’s hand, but with them being jostled as they were, he didn't seem to notice.

“Micah,” she called, scared when her voice came out weak, not loud enough to be heard over the noise of the masses.

Then an arm wrapped around her from behind, and she was yanked away from her lifeline.

Whoever was taking her was moving quickly, taking them backward into the sea of people going down and into the door that took them to the second floor.

She saw Micah turn around, his gaze searching for her.

Did he see her?

The door swung closed, and she tried to fight against the man carrying her, but the drug in her system made her clumsy, her limbs refusing to cooperate the way she needed them to.

“Teresa!” Micah’s voice called from the phone she still clutched in her hand. “Where are you? Call out to me, tell me where to find you!”

“Micah,” she called again, lifting the phone toward her ear. “Need you.”

“I hear you, pretty girl, I'm coming, hold on for me.”

“Hurry,” she murmured just as the man carrying her swatted the phone out of her hand.

It landed on the floor with a clunk, her last lifeline snatched away.

Although her brain urged her to fight, to try to stop this from happening, to at least buy some time for Micah to find her, it was like she was watching her body from the outside, no longer in control of it.

She watched as she was carried inside an apartment and straight through it to the window. Watched as the window was shoved open and the man stuck his head out, calling to someone.

A man appeared below the window, and the man holding her maneuvered her through it, and then she was falling.

Maybe she screamed, she wasn't too sure.

The landing was soft and quicker than she’d been expecting as the man on the ground caught her.

Movement beside her was her abductor jumping out the window.

Since they weren't high up, he merely grunted as his feet hit the ground, and then they were moving again. With the flow of people streaming out of her building.

Once upon a time, she’d believed in safety in numbers, but tonight there was no safety to be found.

No one knew she was in trouble.

They likely just saw a guy carrying his partner out of the building, assumed she was sick, or hurt, or just panicked.

Police officers and firefighters were also filling the street, but there was no safety to be found from any of them.

A white van was waiting for them, and she was shoved into it, a man waiting inside jabbed her with a second syringe, and the world shimmered out of reach.

As the darkness descended, she prayed that her gamble would pay off, otherwise, her life was about to be over.

May 7 th

2:37 A.M.

One second she was there, clinging to his hand, the next she was gone.

Micah felt the surge of people around them, and his grip on Teresa’s hand weaken as she was tugged backward.

He tried to reclaim his hold as her fingers left his.

Tried to turn around to see where she was, if need be, he’d haul her into his arms and carry her out of there. It might make him unpopular with the sea of people fleeing the building, but he didn't care about that.

All he cared about was Teresa.

They were going to go straight to Prey’s office after this, and no matter how much she argued against it, she wasn't leaving until this ring was dismantled.

Managing to fight against the swell of people, Micah turned, scanning the heads, searching for the only face he was interested in.