Page 13 of Trapped (Snowbound with a Stranger #2)

Urgency

Erin

Alarm splintered the comfort I’d known, ricocheting out to every cell of my body. I’d never been truly at peace in the cabin. Even when Eli and I had been getting on, the fact that we were trapped in such an isolated place while Chelle was off on her own left an enduring sense of unease, but that haunting anxiety was nothing compared to the sudden spike of shock rushing through my system.

Eli’s abrupt departure from the bed had been the first thing—worrying, yes, but not too untoward. I’d searched for him in the sheets before my gaze had flickered open, and finding no one, had opened my eyes. The blinding light I found beaming in from outside, though, was foreign and unsettling. Initially, I’d hoped it was a sign the emergency services had finally arrived, but without any reassuring sounds—the voices of those who’d come to help or the sound of other equipment—I couldn’t allow myself to give in to that dream. Eli, whose silhouette was outlined by the illumination, didn’t seem convinced either.

His responses had been curt and dismissive, his tone doing nothing to quell my rising nervousness, but when the door burst open and a stranger stalked in, along with a rush of freezing air, everything changed. My panic ratcheted from troubled to shocked in a nanosecond, my attention fixing on the man who’d vowed to take care of me. Whatever his intentions about the longer term were, I needed him then in a tangible way. I needed him to fend off the stranger and protect me from whatever ill intent the unknown man had in mind.

Recoiling in the bed, I watched Eli snarling at the intruder, his gun pointed toward him. For the first time, I sensed a flicker of gratitude for the weapon. I still loathed the thing, but silently, I thanked God for the possibility that it might actually protect us.

“Who the hell are you?”

Eli stepped toward the danger, apparently unperturbed by the abrupt presence, but despite his bravery, the sinister laughter that sprang from the stranger only heightened the trepidation clutching at my tummy.

“How about that?”

The unfamiliar voice seemed to stretch out into the entire interior of the cabin, sucking away the oxygen.

“He doesn’t even remember me.”

Remember him?

What did that mean? Did Eli and the dark silhouette know each other somehow, and if so, how?

So much of Eli’s backstory was a mystery to me, but for some unknown reason, I had the malevolent sense that the emergence of the new guy had something to do with the clandestine espionage career he’d refused to talk about. Clearly, he was no one good. Decent people didn’t barge into other people’s spaces in the dead of night.

I clutched the covers closer to my chest, aware of the swirling icy cold fingers of air flooding the already cooling space. My heart pounded as I waited to see what would happen next. There appeared to be a stand-off between the two men, both of them looming in the doorway, but in the dark half of the room, there was little body language to be discerned.

“Hawkins?”

Eli’s voice spoke of unexplained accusations, and not for the first time, I wished I knew more about him. Who was the enigmatic guide who’d sheltered me from the storm yet ended up enjoying much more than only small talk? He’d bowled into my life, just like the snow, and changed everything.

“Why the fuck are you here?”

Hawkins?

Had he mentioned that name before? I couldn’t remember hearing it, but so much had transpired in the time we’d been stuck there that I couldn’t be positive. My emotions had swung like a pendulum, lurching from despair to desire at breakneck speed, and it was entirely possible I’d missed or misheard something he’d said.

“Your message said you were in trouble.”

The stranger, Hawkins, laughed at the idea, and every fiber of my being withdrew at the gesture. What sort of a person found amusement in someone else’s peril? The question lingered before the answer mushroomed—certainly not the kind you’d want in your cabin at night.

“And you know me, Rosen. I always look after my own.”

Rosen? The latest name flitted through my brain.

Was that Eli’s name? Another fragment of the elusive identity he’d been so unwilling to share?

“I never sent you any message!”

There was venom in Eli’s voice, unspoken anger combined with disgust. It definitely seemed as though the two of them had shared history, but based on Eli’s reaction, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was.

“And I definitely don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Well, that’s a shame.”

Hawkins shrugged, his features easier to ascertain as he stepped into the beaming light.

“Because we’re here, and we’re taking you.”

We’re?

The knot of worry ballooning inside me swelled at the inference that Hawkins wasn’t alone, and just as I gasped for breath, an array of new, dark faces appeared in the doorway. The men moved like ice, sliding into position seamlessly and seemingly taking Eli by surprise. He looked stunned as three approached him, one spearing him to the ground, while another knocked the gun out of his hands. I watched as the third collected the weapon and chucked it at Hawkins.

“Why are you shooting such cheap shit, Rosen?”

Hawkins laughed.

“Doesn’t the current job pay you enough for a decent weapon?”

The men standing between us cackled, the resonance of their laughter speaking to the sinister agenda they were there to serve. I watched, helpless, as the one who’d knocked Eli from his feet pounded him with several ruthless body blows.

“Just fucking stop!”

Eli’s voice boomed as he fended off the attack, but I’d spent enough time with him to recognize the edge in his tone. The slight elevation of his timbre and the panicky intensity of his breathing convinced me that my suspicions were well-founded.

Something was badly wrong.

“What are you doing here, Hawkins?”

Eli dragged himself to his knees, ducking to avoid another left hook.

“We’ve come to rescue you!”

Hawkins’ voice had taken on an odd sing-song quality as though he was mocking Eli.

“That’s what you want, isn’t it? Let me think how you put it… you’re ‘stuck in the middle of nowhere in a deserted cabin with a civvy, and you’re out of food and firewood?’”

His voice was knowing.

“That’s the message I sent to Baron!”

Disbelief echoed in Eli’s tone as he threw me a wary glance and rose to his feet.

“How do you know what I said to him?”

“Use that big brain of yours.”

Hawkins chuckled again.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Now, where’s that civilian you were talking about?”

A new, smaller ray of light shone suddenly from a flashlight in Hawkins’ hand, and swinging the beam around the dark half of the cabin, he paused when the beam found me. Shielding my eyes with my hand, I glanced away from the blinding light, exposed and terrified.

Evidently, Hawkins knew Eli from a former life, and there appeared to be unresolved scores to be settled between the two of them. Shivering in the sheets, I realized too late that I’d become a pawn in whatever twisted game they were playing.

“Aww, there you are!”

Hawkins’ conceited tone had never sounded so insidious before.

“And you’re a woman, too. How interesting!”

“Leave her out of this!”

Eli stepped in front of the flashlight’s beam, blocking the illumination and offering my eyes a reprieve.

“Whatever you think you’re doing here has nothing to do with her.”

“Nonsense.”

Hawkins clicked his fingers and motioned for the men in the doorway to move. All at once, four of them snaked in from the shadows, headed in my direction.

Paralyzed with fear, a tiny mewl escaped my lips as they advanced. From the little I could see, each was dressed in black with ski-masks covering their faces, so only their eyes were visible. It was like watching my every nightmare play out in front of me in real time, and the worst of it was, with only one exit in the cabin and the knowledge that the door was already guarded by another brute, there was nowhere for me to go.

Hawkins snorted.

“If she’s here with you, then that makes her my business.”

“What are you doing?”

Eli’s panicked voice rose above the wall of men surrounding me as I huddled in the center of the bed.

“Stay the hell away from her.”

“You’re coming with me.”

Hawkins sighed as though Eli should have known better.

“You already know there’s no choice, so do your little lady a favor and tell her not to struggle.”

“Eli?”

Eyeing the barrier of men in black blocking my escape, I called for him as nausea whirled in my stomach.

How had we gone from a couple on the verge of trekking to a potential future together, to two people about to be kidnapped? Time seemed to be shifting in strange pockets, sometimes protracting, and at other times speeding up, as if it didn’t want me to keep up.

“It’s okay.”

The strain in Eli’s voice told me it was far from ‘okay’, but I sensed how hard he was trying to make me believe it.

“I’m right here.”

“How reassuring.”

Hawkins’ snide tone reverberated past the line of his men.

“Let’s get this show on the road, shall we? Start with him. You know what to do.”

I never saw what happened in that moment, but the gut-wrenching thuds of flesh colliding with flesh and the cry from Eli left little to my imagination. He was obviously in pain, and as the grunts that followed found my ears, I envisioned him being punched and manhandled to the ground.

“Don’t hurt him!”

Rising on my knees, I tried to make out what was happening beyond the heads of my oppressors, but the wall of paid muscle only seemed to move in tighter around me.

“Deal with her.”

Hawkins’ order sounded more like a cursory sigh, but it was all the men surrounding me needed. They moved in unison, flicking on their flashlights while the sickening sounds of punches continued from behind them. Temporarily blinded by the lights, I flinched while the two in front of me leapt onto the bed and the two at either side leaned in to prevent me from fleeing. In a moment, I was encased, my heart hammering so fast I wondered if it was about to make an unscheduled exodus via my throat.

“No!”

I screamed when two separate pairs of hands clamped around my wrists and yanked me forward. Lurching, I scrambled to maintain my balance as I kneeled on the edge of the bed, pinioned by huge, unforgiving hands.

Fear fogged my head and made it damn near impossible to think, but I knew instinctively that the act of aggression playing out in front of me was different to anything Eli had ever put me through. Even when he’d used force to hold me down and spank me, his approach had remained largely playful. There was nothing spirited or teasing about the men pulling me to the end of the bed. Their grips were ferocious, and I didn’t have to double-check their intent. No one who’d entered the cabin had benevolence on their minds.

“Get off me!”

I stared past the lights to their blackened faces wildly.

“You can’t do this!”

“Get the cuffs on her.”

One of the assholes holding my wrists out in front of me barked at the others, and I watched in slow motion as the one to my left dropped his flashlight onto the bed and shifted into place to oblige.

“No!”

Fresh panic surged as the cold metal slipped around one wrist and then the next, forcing my hands into bondage that was as unwelcome as it was unyielding.

“Don’t fucking hurt her!”

Anguish resonated from Eli, the sound of his pain contracting the knots twisting inside of me. He was afraid—maybe for him or perhaps for me—but either way, it spelled extremely bad news.

“Shut it, Rosen,”

another growling male voice replied, followed soon after by the appalling noises of more punches; knuckles pounding softer skin over and over until my knees buckled. The black masculine wall of muscle enclosing me moved to catch me, but there was no tenderness in the act, only a performative function—keeping the prisoner upright until they’d been given the order for more.

“Oh, God.”

I think I murmured the words out loud, although I couldn’t be sure.

“This can’t be happening.”

“Shut it, bitch.”

The vicious snarled reaction was the biggest clue yet that I had spoken, but I felt nothing but fear and loathing as he yanked at my cuffs to draw me closer.

Who were the men taking orders from Hawkins and what did they want from me? My head hung at the unknown verdict, and staring at their matching black boots, I considered throwing up over them.

“Fuck!”

Eli’s gargled protest snapped me back to attention, my head rising in response to the sound of his pain. I might not have known him that well, but I cared enough to never want to hear his strangled sob again.

Before I could muster the courage to call out for Eli and check if he was all right, the monster holding my cuffs shifted and hiked me up from the bed. I cried as he hoisted my feet to the ground, my gaze scanning the space for Eli, but before I could set eyes on him, a new challenge descended. A black hood I hadn’t seen coming was foisted over my head, muffling my cries and thrusting the whole world into terrifying, choking darkness.