Courage Under Duress (SYTYCW)

Chapter 34

I woke up feeling disoriented.  I remembered heading upstairs to bed with Thomas along with us curling up together under the sheets.  The sweet kiss that made me tingle from my head down to my toes had relaxed me enough to not let the events of the day lead me into another bout of insomnia.

I looked around but everything seemed fine in the bedroom.  I still had Thomas wrapped around me but something didn't feel right.  It had nothing to do with the man, more like the air which felt thick with the stench of danger.  I shivered at the eerie thoughts that flittered through my mind.  As if sensing my uneasiness, Thomas tightened his hold on me.  "Go back to sleep," he mumbled and kissed the back of my head.

"Something's wrong," I told him, "I can just feel it."

"I'm sure it was just a dream."  I could tell that he was trying to settle back down and sleep some more.  I couldn't blame him.

"No."  I pushed his arm off of me and sat up to turn the bedside lamp on.  It didn't turn on.  "Thomas?"

"Hmm?"

"Did we get a storm tonight?"

"No.  Why?"

"My lamp isn't working.  Can you turn yours on?"  I felt the mattress shift, heard the discernible click of the lamp yet the room remained plunged in total darkness.  I heard some banging and then Thomas cursed.

"What is it?"

"My alarm clock isn't working either, the power's out.  Erica, we need to get up right now," he told me and I didn't like his tone one bit.  I heard what sounded like a drawer open and shut and with one click, the room was illuminated by a flashlight.

"Where's your cell?" he asked me.

"Right here," I reached for it and noticed that it had no signal.

"No signal?"  He guessed.  I nodded.  "Mine either.  Dominic had to have used a signal blocker.  If we have no power, we have no land line to call out and now that our cells are jammed, we're entirely on our own."  He proceeded to walk toward his closet, holding his index finger over his mouth so that I stayed quiet.  I wasn't about to go against his request.

My heart hammered in my chest as I watched him rummage through what looked like a series of shelves.  I heard the clicking of a turning knob and when he turned, he spread out a box of bullets and two revolvers on the comforter.  He shocked me further by dropping what looked like a large cell phone beside everything else.

I watched as he turned the thing on and then dialed.

It works?

"Yeah.  It's me.  We have a situation.  Okay.  Thanks and stay safe," I heard him whisper.

"How is that working and our other phones aren't?"

"Sat phone.  Works virtually anywhere and everywhere and no every day run of the mill signal blocker can block this one," he explained with a self-satisfied smirk.  "I never thought I'd need this thing aside from on my missions but I'm glad I held on to it."  He grabbed one of the guns and handed it to me.  Upon a closer look, I realized it was the same weapon I had practiced firing.

My hand shook as I reached to take it from him.  "I'm not sure I can do this now," I whispered, my eyes had begun to blur with tears of fear and panic.  Things were vastly different in the dark, eerily different when reality was staring you right in the face.

"I don't want you using that thing unless you absolutely have to.  Do you remember what I taught you in order to defend yourself?" he asked and I nodded.  "I want you to try everything possible before pulling that out.  Don't forget that he's trained to kill, Erica.  You want to make sure that you're at a distance when you whip it out and fire."  Again I gave him a silent nod.

I watched as he loaded his gun and left it on the bed.

"Get dressed," he commanded.  I rushed to put on the clothes I had worn the previous night.

When he had his jeans and shirt on, he tucked the gun into his pants, behind his back.  I did the same and used one of Thomas' flannel shirts to cover it up seeing as a tank top doesn't really conceal a weapon very well.

"Are you ready to go?"  I nodded.  "Here."  He handed me a handful of ammunition to throw into my pockets.

"Where are we going?  Who did you call?  What's the plan?  Thomas, you haven't told me anything.  I know you're trying to keep me safe but it's doing nothing to ease this feeling I've got that everything isn't going to work out so well," I blurted out.  "We didn't plan to be ambushed and dealing with it."

"You didn't," he stated simply, "but you're forgetting about whom I am and what I've been trained to do, beautiful.  Most of how I work is by doing things on the fly.  I'm trained to adapt, make due with what I've got."  He reached for my hand and pulled me close.  "I knew he'd do something like this.  It's Dominic.  He's always liked to play on the dirty side of things, always so impulsive.  I'm shocked it's never gotten him caught or killed to be honest."

"I can't say I'm surprised," I said.

"We're going to get through this, Erica," he grabbed my face in his hands and gave me that self-assured smile of his, "and then it'll be just you and me.  Let's get your life back."

"I'm scared."

"I know."  He rubbed my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.  "So am I.  I'm scared shitless right now but I'm going to fight.  There's just something I have to make sure you know."

"What is it?"

"Actually, two things.  If something happens to me and you break free, keep running.  Go to my mother's."

"What?  No!" I protested.  "She's been through enough on her own, she doesn't need to be part of this."

"Listen to me.  We don't have time!  Please do it.  The second thing is that in no way will both of us men live to walk away," he said.

"What do you-" I couldn't finish the question when I already knew the answer.  "He's not going to jail at the end of this is he?"

"No, honey, he's not.  You've said so yourself that the police were never really able to do anything.  I just got proof of that when we came back here.  The help that's coming is about as much as I can rely on within the system and even so, I'm not sure if I can rely on him," he stated.  "With him going AWOL, they're going to have their own questions and Dominic will need to serve time.  He's not going to let himself get captured.  He'll go down first or take us down and disappear again."

I nodded that I understood.  "We should get going," I said, trying to sound brave.

"We should.  After this."  He took the one step he needed to and closed the gap between us.  My hands grabbed his face and kept him there.  I drew in as much courage as I could from the heat of his body, the softness of his kiss before I heard the slamming of a door which made me jump back from Thomas.  Footsteps made their way upstairs and Thomas positioned me behind him as we hid behind the door.

"Baby, I'm home!"

My blood ran cold.

Dominic.