The-Forgetful-Spy-Santiago

by The Forgetful Spy (lit)

  She was not free.

  “Did you want to join us, precious?” Serena taunted.

  Montoya turned and reached out to grab her shoulders. Rachel launched forward aiming her head for the center of his face.

  The sickening crunch of his nose breaking rang across the room when her forehead connected. He grunted and crumbled to his knees as blood spattered on the wooden floor at her feet. His hands went to his face.

  Rachel stepped back and kicked her heel into the side of his head. When he slumped to the floor, she stormed past and headed for the bed and her next target, Serena.

  “Luis!” Serena bounded off the bed as Rachel approached it. Serena glanced at Montoya now ‘resting’ on the rug at the foot of the bed. “What have you done?”

  The gag prevented Rachel from answering. Serena reached for the whip attached to her belt. Rachel kicked her hand as hard as she could. The whip tumbled to the floor as Serena shrieked and hunched over cradling her hand. Rachel had no sympathy and kicked her in the stomach. Serena went to her knees with a thud.

  Rachel kneed her in the face. Serena dodged the blow intended for her nose, but caught a kneecap to the jaw. The impact might not have knocked her out, but smacking the side of her head on the wooden post at the corner of the bed did. She slid to the floor at the foot of the bed several feet from where Montoya was.

  “Damn,” Colin said under his breath from the bed.

  Rachel looked up from the two prone bodies to see his grin. She tried to smile in return, but the gag was a bothersome reminder of her ordeal. It had been in her mouth since they’d taken her. She needed a knife to release her bonds.

  “Now what, my wonderful warrior princess?”

  Where was a sharp object that she could use to cut away her ropes? Glancing around the bedroom of the hunting lodge, Rachel saw absolutely nothing.

  “I still have a knife under my belt buckle if it would help you, darlin’.” Colin inclined his head toward his belt and smiled as if he knew he’d read her mind.

  Rachel nodded and climbed awkwardly onto the bed. She knew she needed to hurry, as she didn’t expect Serena or Montoya would remain unconscious for long.

  Hands tied behind her, Rachel scooted backwards awkwardly onto the bed and patted around for Colin’s belt buckle knife. Her hands bumbled across his thigh and she accidentally grabbed his crotch.

  “Whoa, let’s save that for later.” Colin’s hips lifted and twisted until she felt the belt buckle at her fingertips. After further maneuvering she managed to dislodge it. She removed herself carefully from the bed, went to her knees on the hardwood floor, wedged the knife between her heels and gracelessly sawed at her bonds. With every slice of the ropes she managed to nick one of her hands.

  On the other side of the bed, Rachel heard Montoya beginning to stir. She ducked down and looked under the bed. He wasn’t moving yet. She straightened and stepped up her efforts jabbing the knife tip into a knuckle twice more.

  The sting of the blade hitting her flesh didn’t slow her down. Her arms ached from being behind her back for so long. It was difficult to press them into service even at the lure of freedom. At last, she severed a rope that loosened her restraints. She tugged, cutting off the circulation further until one hand broke free from the bonds.

  “Rachel?” Colin whispered from above. She was out of his line of sight. She kept an eye on Montoya and stood as the ropes from her wrists fell to the floor. She used the knife to cut off the gag. Spitting cotton fibers out, she threw the saliva soaked rag to the floor with the ropes. She stood up.

  “Miss me?” she asked Colin in a whisper. He grinned and nodded.

  Rachel resisted the urge to kiss his mouth. Instead, she climbed onto the foot of the bed and sawed at the ropes at his ankles. The first one came undone before Montoya woke up. She scrambled to the other side of the bed and went to work on the other ankle. The top of Montoya’s head became visible when he sat up.

  “Serena?” Montoya’s broken nose made his voice sound like he had a cold.

  Colin’s ropes were being stubborn. Rachel searched the room for another weapon.

  Montoya crawled on hands and knees toward Serena still prone on the floor. His hand landed onto the quilt and he leveraged his body up from the ground. In his other hand he held a gun. He pointed it at Rachel’s head.

  “Stop what you are doing,” he commanded as his bloody nose dripped on the bed quilt.

  Rachel ignored him and worked even faster cutting through another rope until Montoya cocked the hammer of the pistol.

  She stopped cutting and scrambled backwards off the bed onto the other side. The width of a king-sized bed separated them and it simply wasn’t distant enough to render the gun useless. If he pulled the trigger, he’d hit her.

  Rachel licked her cracked lips. “Let us go and you’ll have a good head start to get away.”

  “No. This I can not do.” He sniffed and his face winced in pain. The gun shook in his fingers. Rachel was about to launch across the bed and knock the gun out of his hand, but something grabbed her ankle.

  “I’ll kill you, bitch,” Serena’s fury made her voice sound like it came from the depths of hell.

  Rachel turned to kick Serena’s hand off her ankle when she heard Montoya fire a shot.

  * * * *

  Colin watched the events around the bed as if in slow motion. He pulled hard on the ropes that Rachel had started cutting through and miraculously he snapped free in time to kick the gun Montoya held. The shot went into the ceiling. Rachel ducked to the floor out of his sight.

  Arms tightly handcuffed to the headboard, Colin wished for another miracle. If Montoya aimed and fired at him, he’d be dead.

  Montoya dropped his arm and rounded the corner of the bed towards Serena and Rachel. Colin couldn’t see either of them, but heard scratching and scuffling on the floor.

  “Let go,” Serena screeched.

  “Shut up. Don’t move or I’ll cut your face.” Rachel stood and pulled Serena up by her hair keeping her in front as a shield from Montoya’s gun.

  Colin’s buckle knife, clutched in Rachel’s fist, slid from Serena’s cheek to her throat.

  Rachel nodded once at Montoya. “Unlock Colin’s handcuffs or I put this psycho bitch out of my misery.”

  “No, don’t let him go. I want him.” Serena shook her head until Rachel pushed the blade into her flesh. A runnel of blood accompanied her shriek and she stopped struggling.

  Rachel tightened her grip on Serena’s hair pulling her head back and exposing her throat.

  “Drop the gun, Montoya. I’m not kidding.”

  The loud clunk of Montoya’s pistol hitting the wood floor was a welcome sound.

  “Unlock him.” Rachel pierced Montoya with a positively demonic glare. “Now!”

  Montoya sighed through his mouth as his broken nose had swollen his cheeks to the point that his nose almost disappeared into his face. If it weren’t for the flat nostrils, he’d look like he lacked a nose. Shuffling around the bed he reached inside his coat pocket and retrieved a set of keys.

  The welcome click of an open handcuff was the best sound he’d heard today.

  “Give me the key,” Colin held out his freed hand. Montoya dropped the handcuff key into the center of his palm and stepped back.

  Twisting to reach the final restraint, Colin maneuvered it until the lock clicked open and he was free.

  Colin bounded off the bed towards Montoya. He reached down and grabbed the gun resting where Montoya had dropped it. He motioned Montoya with the gun, “Handcuff yourself to the bed.”

  Montoya’s shoulders slumped. Without further protest, he ambled over to the bed, sat down on the edge and snapped one wrist into the closest handcuff attached to the headboard.

  Gun pointed at Montoya’s forehead, Colin checked to ensure that the restraint was secure. He turned to Rachel and saw Serena’s rage radiating off her body in waves. He didn’t want to point a gun in Rachel’s direction but felt it was
warranted.

  “Now you, Serena. Your turn to be handcuffed to a bed.”

  Her sneer didn’t move him to leniency. Rachel swung her prisoner around and pushed her towards the headboard and the waiting handcuff.

  In a flash, Serena shoved both of Rachel’s shoulders backwards forcing her to lose her balance. She fell backwards. Colin leveled the gun to shoot but hesitated. In slow motion, he watched the two women stagger towards the footboard and the waiting post.

  The sickening thud of Rachel’s head striking the bed’s solid wood frame echoed to his bones.

  “Rachel!” Colin screamed her name and hoped her injury wasn’t as bad as it had sounded.

  Serena bounced away as Rachel slid slowly to the floor. She looked down at where Rachel had fallen and drew back her leg as if to kick her. Colin didn’t hesitate. Leveling the gun, he pulled the trigger. He kept pulling it until four holes appeared in Serena’s chest. He might have emptied the gun into her but she fell out of his line of sight.

  “Serena!” Montoya shouted.

  Colin ignored him and hurried around the foot of the bed.

  Rachel lay motionless on her side. Squatting, he brushed the hair from her face and carefully probed her scalp. The knot was big but not bleeding. He ran his fingers along her jaw, checked her pulse and found it beating fairly strong.

  The blank stare in her open eyes confirmed Serena was dead. He checked the pulse at Serena’s neck and felt nothing.

  “Is Serena dead?” Montoya asked.

  Colin raised up and caught his gaze. “Yes.”

  He nodded. “There is a vehicle outside,” Montoya’s quiet voice intruded on his worry.

  “Where are we?” Colin scanned the room for weapons or anything that would help him.

  “Salerno’s hunting lodge somewhere in northern Georgia.”

  “How far to the nearest hospital?”

  “There is a small town at the base of the road leading up here. It’s less than an hour away.”

  Colin slid his arms under Rachel’s back and knees to lift her into his arms. She moaned and stirred a little. He took it as a good sign and made his way quickly to the front door. He opened it one-handed as he cradled Rachel in his arms and stepped out onto the creaky porch.

  Light from the hunting lodge spilled far enough for Colin to see a pathway of tiles at the bottom of the porch steps leading into the darkness. He hugged Rachel closer and gingerly climbed down the few stairs to the dirt path scanning the surrounding area for a vehicle or garage.

  The sound of an approaching vehicle motor stopped him dead in his tracks. Friend or foe, someone was approaching quickly. He didn’t see any headlights, but figured he had about three seconds before the imminent arrival.

  Colin shifted Rachel higher in his arms and took a sharp right off the path and headed to the side of the porch. A large squaring shape loomed before him and Colin figured he’d found the vehicle Montoya had referred to. Ducking out of sight near the front bumper, Colin squatted to watch and see who approached.

  “Colin?” Rachel’s faint voice murmured from his shoulder. “What’s happened? Where are we?”

  “Shh, darlin’, someone’s coming.”

  “My head hurts.” She sniffed once. He hoped she didn’t have a nosebleed to accompany the pain in her head.

  “I know. We’re headed for a doctor as soon as I know we’re safe.” In the darkness, he aimed a kiss towards her brow. Bussing her cheek, he sent up a prayer for a rescue. If the transmitter that still itched was working, his team couldn’t be far behind.

  “I love you.” She kissed his neck and burrowed her face into his shoulder.

  Colin smiled, hugged her lightly and managed to kiss her forehead this time. “I love you, too.”

  Tonight marked the second time she’d saved him from Serena Ortega.

  The roar of the engine grew louder and Colin saw a vehicle swing towards the hunting lodge with only it’s parking lights on. He didn’t know how the driver could see to maneuver but the vehicle came to a stop several yards from the porch of the cabin. Another truck with headlights bouncing over the rough terrain pulled in behind the first one.

  Colin saw a gun exit the driver’s side door of the first vehicle before the driver. The passenger door swung open and it sounded like someone emerged.

  The driver’s door remained open, but the driver didn’t emerge. Colin took this to mean these were not friends of Montoya’s or Serena’s.

  A lone figure appeared at the base of the stairs, leading his way up with a rifle he stepped onto the porch. The light from the cabin lit up his face. It was Ken.

  “Here,” Colin called. Ken’s weapon swung in his direction and a flashlight beam came on and lit up the fender of the car he hid next to. He tightened his grip on Rachel and stood.

  Ken’s weapon lowered and his relieved voice came through the darkness. “Good to see you.”

  “I need medical.” Colin carried her towards the vehicle as Ken retreated off the porch and followed.

  Ken asked, “Any threats inside I need to worry about?”

  “Serena Ortega is dead. Luis Montoya is handcuffed to the headboard in the bedroom. I didn’t see anyone else.”

  Paul jumped out of the driver’s door. The first question out of his mouth was, “Is she alive?”

  Colin tightened his grip. “Yes.”

  “Is she shot?” Brows wrinkled, Paul approached. His concern focused on Rachel’s face. “We heard gunfire when we approached.”

  “No. She hit her head. She’s got a goose egg, but it isn’t bleeding. She says her head hurts, not surprisingly.”

  Rachel shifted in his arms, gifted him with a wide smile and turned towards Paul who approached at a fast clip. A relieved expression shifted his face into an unusual calm countenance. One that Colin hadn’t seen before. Paul showing a softer side towards his agent? Shocking.

  Paul nodded once, put a hand on her shoulder and asked her, “How bad does your head hurt?”

  Rachel hugged Colin’s neck tighter. She turned and glanced at him with a puzzled expression. She looked back at Paul. “I’m sorry. Do we know each other?”

  * * * *

  Paul felt his eyebrows go skyward when she spoke.

  Holy shit. She didn’t know him.

  Rachel had never flipped into her other personality without help from the Protocol scientists. It was listed as a worst-case scenario in the handbook.

  Plastering a fake grin on his face he quickly dropped his hand from her and said, “I’m a co-worker of Colin’s. I’m in medical. So I’ll be taking you to the hospital.”

  “I want Colin to come with me. Okay?” She currently had a stranglehold on Riley’s neck.

  “Sure.” Paul slid a measured look Colin’s way. “He can come with you for now.”

  She smiled and snuggled even closer. “Can you call my aunt? I don’t want her to worry.”

  “Sure. I’ll take care of it.”

  Colin sent a questioning look his way. He opened his mouth to speak further, but Paul shook his head. No need to disturb her now. Besides, he didn’t know what would happen if they referred to her as Rachel.

  It might incite a nosebleed or worse.

  “Right this way.” Paul led them to the second vehicle, a van equipped with needed Protocol medical supplies. The back space had been turned into an ambulance of sorts. He ordered the protocol scientist he’d brought with him to fix her up with an IV for fluids along with a code to sedate her quickly.

  Colin laid her on the field gurney. They loaded her inside and he climbed into the van to hold her hand while a technician checked her over. The tech did a rudimentary physical and set her up with an IV. Seconds after the needle was inserted in her arm, she closed her eyes. Colin assumed she was knocked out.

  Paul whipped his head around to stare at him. “What happened to her? Start at the beginning and tell me everything you know.”

  Colin watched Laurie and sighed deeply. He cleared his throat and spo
ke, “Once I got into the van at the bridge, Montoya tranquilized me. I didn’t see Rachel until I woke up here.”

  “Was she Rachel or Laurie then?”

  “Rachel. She fooled Luis and Serena into believing she was overly upset and weak. Thinking she wasn’t a threat, she caught them off guard and beat the shit out of both of them before releasing me from my bonds.

  “She hit the back of her head against the bed post fighting with Serena.”

  “Then she woke up as Laurie?”

  “I think so. She called me by name, but both personalities know me. I didn’t realize she was Laurie until she didn’t recognize you.” He shrugged. “What will happen to her?”

  Paul shook his head. “I wish I knew. I’ve never seen an agent switch personalities like this. I’m in uncharted territory here. Once we get her back to Protocol headquarters and the scientists evaluate her, we’ll know more.”

  “You aren’t going to keep us apart.” Colin clutched her limp hand. It wasn’t a question. The worry etched in his face was genuine.

  Paul sighed deeply before answering, “No. I may need you if she wakes up as Laurie again. Go and debrief Ken. She’ll be unconscious for the trip back to DC.” Paul pulled a card out of his pocket. “Here’s my private card. Call me once you’re free and I’ll get you access to the Protocol main labs.”

  Colin took the card and sent her another angst-filled look. “I love her.”

  “Oh? Which one, Rachel or Laurie?”

  “Both.” With one last loving glance at her face, Colin exited the van to ride with Ken.

  Paul watched his agent’s peaceful face. Rachel or Laurie, he wondered who would wake up next.

  Chapter 16

  Colin took the stairs leading to the Protocol Agency’s main lab two at a time. He’d told Ken every detail he remembered about his abduction and documented it in his official report. The second he was finished, he called Paul to find out how Rachel was doing. Or was it Laurie? He didn’t know who to be worried about, probably both, given the odd circumstances of their existence.