All hell breaks loose the second we all realize that God had not, in fact, struck those two goons down. The bullet holes in their chests kind of contradict that.

Though seeing as how there's no shooter around that I can identify, I'm still going with divine intervention.

More people start dropping around me, but I can't hear the shots from a gun. I don't even hear the quiet telltale pop of a silencer.

Sniper. My mind tells me. I can't hear the gunshots, which means whoever's shooting is a good distance away.

Well, a lot of good that does me right now. I'm tied to a table. Where am I going? Nowhere. That's where.

The table I'm on is suddenly flipped on its side and I let out a scream, still strapped the table only now I'm hanging painfully sideways.

"For the love of-stop screaming."

I freeze as I take in the stranger in front of me. Dark hair cut short, big brown eyes, leather jacket over a white shirt, faded jeans, scuffed up sneakers, flawless ebony skin, and a gun in his hands.

He places the gun on the floor next to him and pulls a knife from his pocket, flicking it open in one fast motion.

I suck in a breath and my eyes widen, and I'm on the verge of screaming again. He seems to notice this because he quickly claps a hand over my mouth.

"Quiet," He hisses as he begins to cut at the ropes on my wrists. "I'm not here to hurt you."

I rub at my wrists once they're free and he cuts away the ropes on my ankles.

"Who are you?" I question once I'm free. My muscles tense as I ready to run.

He narrows his eyes at me, seeming to notice my flight instinct is kicking in. "Damien," He says. "Agent Damien North."

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You're the one who kidnapped me?" I nearly shriek.

He claps a hand over my mouth but we've been heard and bullets begin to spray up the table we're ducked behind.

He curses. "Should've taken them all out," He mutters as he grabs my wrist and drags me behind him as he begins to run quickly through the factory.

I dig my heels in, stopping us from making any real progress. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you show me some ID."

He gives me an incredulous look and pulls me behind one of the big machines as bullets spark off it.

"Are you serious?"

I narrow my eyes at him. "How do I know you're not just another one of them?" I jerk my thumb back to guys shooting at us.

It may seem an odd thing for me to ask this, but this has actually happened to me before. I was "saved" before in the hopes that I would trust my savior and reveal things to him. When I hadn't things had gotten ugly. Plus, I knew exactly what to look for to tell whether or not an ID was fake.

"I wouldn't be getting shot at if I was," He says.

I don't budge. "They're getting closer," I tell him.

He swears before fumbling through his pockets and pulling out his badge and ID. He shows them to me. "Satisfied?" I nod. "Then can we get the hell out of here?"

"I second that. Why are you two even still in here?" Ryder growls as he just appears out of nowhere right next to me, a rifle slug by a strap over his shoulder. I let out a yelp and jump away.

Ryder grabs my wrist and pulls me after him as he takes off, Agent North right behind us.

"You had one job," Ryder grumbles as he pulls me along. "Get her out. That was it. I was handling the hard part."

"Were you now?" Agent North bites back. "You didn't tell me how impossible she is when she's conscious."

Before Ryder or me and can answer, more people appear in front of us, shooting. Ryder curses and pulls me down a side area, leading to more machines, and a wall.

"Genius," I mutter sarcastically before I can stop myself. "Staging a rescue mission and you didn't even bother to learn the layout of the building."

"I will tie you back down to that table myself," Ryder growls as he pushes me behind one of the machines, and Agent North ducks behind the one across from us.

Both Ryder and Agent North pull their hand guns and begin shooting back. I look frantically around for something of use, and then I notice there's a computer hooked up to the machine, clearly to help control it.

I turn the computer screen towards me and pull the wire attached keyboard off the shelf it's on. I cross my legs and sit on the floor, putting the keyboard in my lap and begin to power up the computer.

I hear the sound of a phone ringing and I turn to look at Ryder as he lets out a string of curses, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking the screen. More curses from him, but the idiot answers the damn phone anyway.

His stupidity will ultimately be the cause of my death. I'm certain of it.

"You pick now to finally call me back after I've already left you about a gazillion voicemails cussing you out? Your timing could not be any worse than it already is," He says.

I ignore him as my fingers fly over the keyboard, screens popping up and disappearing as I search to figure out exactly what I want to do.

I hear Ryder swearing as he speaks to whoever's on the other end of the phone, and after a while of listening it doesn't take me long to figure out who's called him, and that they're having problems. I'm barely listening though and pulling up maps and GPS coordinates on the computer screen.

"I'm winning in case you're actually concerned about me," I hear Ryder tell the person on the other end of the phone and I can't keep from commenting on that.

"Obviously they don't give a shit," I mutter. Evidently, I say it a lot louder than I think because Ryder's turning back to glare at me.

"Excuse me for a second," Ryder says into the phone, his gaze still focused on me as he continues talking, his words directed to me. The phone's been pressed into his chest. "Do you think you could get your ass up off the floor and quit playing those freaking computer games for one damned minute? We're kind of getting shot at in case you didn't notice and it's all your fault!"

A frown makes its way onto my face but I don't take my eyes off the computer screen. Playing games my ass. I'm doing more than he is. And how dare he say this is my fault.

"My fault?" I question on a growl. "I'm not the one who just had to pick a fight with the world's biggest and most ruthless gang!"

"They were here for you!" He growls back. "I picked a fight to keep them from killing you! It's called a job and you're clearly lacking in the self-preservation department."

"At least I ain't lacking in every other department."

He curses me out, calling me every name under the sun. He even invents some new ones. He puts the phone back to his ear. "Sorry about that," He says and I stop listening. My attention back on the computer screen.

Yes. I think as I find what I'm looking for.

Ryder's still talking on the phone, and I set the keyboard aside as I get to my feet, about to solve his problem.

"If these morons would stop shooting at me a freaking second I could-Hey!" He shouts as I snatch the phone from his hands and move back to the floor, pulling the keyboard into my lap once again.

He can't make a move after me because he's too busy shooting.

"Uh, Ryder?" I hear on the other end of the phone as I put it to my ear.

"Ryder's a little bit preoccupied at the moment," I reply.

"I am not! You took my damn phone!" Ryder shouts.

I ignore him, focusing on the problem. I pull up more maps and phone records. I quickly explain everything to the people on the other end of the phone.

Who they are is complicated. The simplest way of putting it is that they're friends who need a favor and some of the good guys that know who I am and what I'm capable of. They're also friends with Ryder, but they keep my secret from him. And just because we happen to have some of the same friends, we've never known each other until recently.

And everyone knows how well that's gone for us.

I hang up the phone when I'm done and divert my attention back to the machines. My fingers fly over the keys and I smile as I get the results I was hoping for. I tap a couple more keys and the machines all around us whirl to life.

I don't know what they do. I don't care to know what they do. They're a distraction. And I may or may not have set them up to overwork and overheat.

Gunfire ceases as everyone tries to figure out what the hell is going on. I don't waste that time. I already know what's going on.

"What the-"

I don't give Ryder the chance to finish his sentence before I'm grabbing hold of his and Agent North's arms, pulling them after me and down a different direction.

I made time to actually look at the layout of the place on the computer screen. Like someone-Ryder-should've done to begin with.

"Hurry up!" I shout as I hear the whirring of the machines grow louder and louder.

Ryder abruptly stops and shoves me out of the way as bullets spray up the spot where I was previously standing.

He curses and then pulls me along as he spots the exit I was leading him to.

"You're welcome," I mutter. I see his jaw clench.

I hear something blow a good distance behind us, but it startles me and I trip, my glasses falling off as I hit the floor.

Ryder hoists me up by my arms and pulls me after him.

"My glasses," I tell him.

"I'll get you new ones. Hell, I'll get you contacts so that we don't have this problem ever again. They're not important right now."

Easy for him to say, his vision isn't horrible.

"I can't see anything but blurry shapes," I warn him.

"Well if you end up crashing into something, just know that it was completely intentional on my part."

I imagine him suddenly bursting into flames and I feel a lot better.

We make it outside and I'm practically thrown into the backseat of a car. Ryder gets in the driver's seat and Agent North takes the passenger seat. There's the screeching of tires as we peel out of there. Ryder keeps the speed up for a while before finally going back down to the speed limit when he's sure we aren't being followed.

"What the hell did you get into?" Agent North questions.

"I don't know. Rusty back there won't tell me anything," Ryder replies.

"Rusty?" I question.

"Yeah, cause of your hair."

I want to slap him.

I must make some kind of face because he continues on. "It's either that or carrot top. I'll let you take your pick."

"Punch to the face or kick in the ass," I tell him. "I'll let you take your pick."

Agent North laughs. "I think I like her."

"The same offer goes for you too," I say in a deadly voice.

"What did I do?"

"You kidnapped me!"

"I retrieved you," He corrects me. I'm getting so damn tired of that word. "And for the record that really was all Ryder's doing."

"I don't doubt that."

"You know, a thank-you would be nice," Ryder tells me. "I mean, we did just save your life."

"And almost get me killed all in the span of what, ten minutes?"

"You should know, you're like a frickin stopwatch."

If he weren't driving this car, I'd have decked him by now.

"Now, what was it you were saying before? Oh yes. I believe it had something to do with me not being able to hit a target with both eyes open and a laser pointer?" Ryder questions in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"If you're such a good shot, why didn't you take out the guy with the torture instruments?"

"My job is to protect you. He didn't appear to be the biggest threat."

My mouth drops wide open. "What?!" I sputter. "He was about to torture me!"

"And I'm sure he would have done a damn fine job too," Ryder says. "I'm also sure you probably deserved it. But the immediate threats to you were the two guys tying you to the table, and then anyone else who made a move to get near you."

Agent North clears his throat, catching our attention. "She said that God struck them down," He says, and I can hear the amusement in his voice.

"Oh really?" Ryder says, and even though he's too blurry to make out, I know he's smiling smugly. "You think of me as a god? I'm flattered."

"Asshole."

"Try not to drool over my godly looks."

"I think you meant to tell me not to go blind looking at your hideousness. Oops too late, my eyesight's going already."

"Tell me, can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?"

"It doesn't take twenty-twenty vision to know how many fingers you're holding up, or exactly which finger you're holding up."

"Oh good, then it's not wasted."

Vote

Comment

Enjoy!

And Thanks for Reading!