Saviours

by Beth Abbott

He gave up trying to piece the puzzle together as he was guided through the doorway, and the salty sea breeze seeped into the cuts.

  “Fuck me!” Kellen hissed, as it suddenly felt like every inch of his skin was being bathed in acid.

  He followed the others up the stairs as fast as he could, and when they finally got into the cabin, Zach pushed him towards the bathroom.

  “Get cleaned up in the shower.” Zach was obviously in bossy papa-bear mode. “Micky said something about stitching you up, so you’d better get clean before she gets here. The longer those wounds are open, the more likely they are to become infected.”

  Kellen could see the sense in what Zach was saying, even if the thought of showering with so many open wounds almost had him whimpering like a seven-year-old girl being chased by a boy holding a giant spider.

  “What are you waiting for?” Kris grinned at him. “Need someone to wash your back?”

  For all of two seconds Kellen pictured Micky standing behind him, soaping him down, before Zach threw a bunch of clean towels at him.

  “Shower, now!” He pointed to the door.

  Kellen didn’t waste any more time. He slipped into the small bathroom and pushed the door shut, before turning and leaning into the shower to start the water running.

  While he waited for it to reach the pre-set temperature, he placed the fresh towels on the rack, and dropped the bloodied towel into the bin in the corner. He untied the laces and kicked off his boots and socks, droplets of blood hitting the floor all around him as his muscles flexed, and finally Kellen pushed his shorts down over his hips, letting them fall to the floor.

  Once he was naked Kellen took a deep breath and stepped under the flow of water.

  Even prepared as he’d thought he’d been for the shock of the warm water hitting the cuts, the pain still took Kellen’s breath away.

  He could still see the makeshift razorblade in his mind, blood soaking it for the first few centimetres.

  He guessed from the random way that the Pole had thrown punches at him, that not all of the wounds would have been that deep, but he was fairly sure that some of them were.

  Kellen ran his fingers over his shoulders, chest, ribs and finally his upper arms. He’d tried to work out how many cuts there were, but by the time he was in the mid-twenties he wasn’t sure if he’d already counted them, or if they were new cuts, so in the end he gave up.

  Kellen tried to make himself pick up the bar of soap, but knowing how much it was going to hurt, in the end, he just couldn’t make himself do it.

  He might not be afraid of pain, but he sure as hell didn’t see why anyone would deliberately inflict it on themselves, just for the sake of it. Maybe he should have accepted Kris’ offer to wash his back after all.

  When he finally felt the water start to cool, Kellen shut it off and stepped out. He wrapped the largest towel securely around his waist and looked around, realising that he hadn’t brought any fresh clothes in with him.

  As he opened the bathroom door, he heard Micky’s voice, and cursed under his breath. He needed to get clothes and dress quickly, or he was going to be standing there in nothing but a towel, with a boner you could probably pound nails with.

  Ignoring everyone in the room, he slipped back into the cabin, went straight to the cupboard and pulled out some underwear and a pair of jeans. He turned around and walked back into the bathroom without speaking.

  He pushed the door shut just enough to give himself space to drop the towel and pull on his clothes without giving the rest of them a strip show.

  Kellen heard a few chuckles coming from the cabin and guessed it must be in reaction to his silent appearance and disappearance.

  As he tried to pull his jeans on without getting blood on them, he realised he might not have thought this through properly. He grabbed the towel and wrapped it around his arm and torso tightly, fastening his jeans quickly while his hands were still dry.

  Realising the only way to get the bleeding under control was to let Micky sew him up, Kellen stepped back into the cabin.

  “Shit!” Micky winced. “You’re a mess.”

  Kellen smirked. He could hardly argue.

  “I don’t think stitches are going to be good enough to stop the bleeding on some of those.” Micky stepped forward to examine him. “And at the rate I sew, you’ll probably bleed out by the time I’m finished.”

  “What do you suggest?” Zach asked Micky, although his eyes never stopped roaming over the various cuts still visible high on Kellen’s arm, shoulder and chest.

  Micky glanced up at Kellen and smiled.

  “In typical battlefield tradition, there’s only one thing that’s going to work here.” She winked at him. “Superglue.”

  Kris chuckled behind him.

  “She’s right.” He nodded. “It’s been used for battlefield wounds for decades, and that’s exactly what you’ve got. It’s the quickest fix you’re going to get around these parts.”

  Kellen shrugged. If she was going to glue him together he wasn’t going to object, but he’d rather she got on with it before he bled out.

  “Come on.” Micky picked up the first aid kit. “I have some superglue in my cabin. I’ll clean the wounds with antiseptic lotion before I stick you back together.”

  Kellen stood up, but his eyes were already watering as he thought of the pain the antiseptic would cause.

  “Oh, and I think Sergei was arranging to send you your prize for winning tonight.” Micky said matter-of-factly to Abram. “He’s sending Mara and Katya.”

  “What are we supposed to do with them?” Zach frowned. “We thought they would be sending us the trafficked girls we could keep safe, not hostesses from the casino.”

  “Mara is sensible, and she and I get on well.” Micky shrugged. “If you just give her a bed for the night and treat her kindly, she won’t say anything to Sergei.”

  “And Katya?” Kris asked.

  “Katya actually likes being a hostess and enjoys being with her clients.” Micky shrugged. “She’s very sweet and likeable, but unlike Mara, if Katya doesn’t get what she expects from one of you, then I have no doubt she’d tell the other girls all about it. It wouldn’t take long to get back to Sergei.”

  Kellen looked at Abram and shrugged.

  “Let’s face it, even if I had the inclination, which I don’t… there’s no way I’m going to be taking Katya or anyone else up on that offer tonight.” Kellen nodded down at himself. “It looks like you’re going to have to take one for the team.”

  Abram looked towards his team-mates to get him out of the situation.

  “Forget it.” Zach said simply. “I have Sacha.”

  Kris clapped Abram on the back.

  “It’s gotta be you, Abs.” He pointed out. “She’s expecting to meet up with the winner as his prize.”

  Micky reached into her pocket.

  “I noticed cabin five was still vacant when I came past.” Micky handed Abram a key card. “At least you can have a little privacy.”

  The look on Abram’s face was so funny, that if he hadn’t been busy concentrating on keeping the towel in place to absorb the blood, Kellen would have rolled on the floor laughing.

  “Come on.” Micky nudged his good side. “We need to get you glued together.”

  Kellen took a deep breath and followed Micky back to her room.

  She swiped her key card and let them in before shutting the door firmly behind her.

  The room was very similar to theirs, except there wasn’t the clutter from having four men sharing.

  “Sit on the bench with your left side facing outwards to start with.” She pointed to the wide dresser stool. “Keep the towel in place while I get the glue. I don’t want you dripping blood everywhere.”

  He watched in the mirror as Micky pulled a bag from the bottom of the wardrobe and rummaged around inside.

  Eventually, she found what she was looking for, and emerged with a tube of glue and a bag of cotton swabs.

&
nbsp; She dipped into the medical kit and pulled out a bottle of antiseptic.

  “Ok, you can cry as much as you like.” She grinned at him in the mirror. “I promise I won’t tell your friends.”

  Kellen shook his head.

  “What, and embarrass myself in front of such a beautiful lady?” He smiled. “Not going to happen, sweetheart, but thanks for the offer.”

  “Ok, fair enough.” Micky shrugged, ignoring the ‘beautiful’ comment. “But feel free to swear as much as you like. I don’t offend easily.”

  “Duly noted.” Kellen smiled. “Now do you want to get on with it before I pass out from blood loss?”

  As if realising that he might not be joking, Micky knelt beside him and immediately set to work.

  Kellen stared at the top of Micky’s head, noticing how shiny her hair was under the stark cabin light, and wondering how he could still smell the fruity fragrance of her shampoo over the smell of the antiseptic.

  Her skin was flawless, and her china blue eyes were surrounded by almost black eyelashes, the same colour as his own. Her lips, he’d noticed, were a dusky rose pink, even when she wasn’t wearing any lip gloss.

  How he would love to grab hold of a handful of that lustrous black hair as he slammed her back against the wall while he plundered her mouth.

  Kellen closed his eyes for a second, not wanting her to see the lust in them.

  He’d better get his brain out of the gutter, and back on what Micky was doing, or there was no way she was going to miss the straining erection developing in his jeans.

  Micky grabbed Kellen’s hands and placed them on his knees palms up, using them to hold the bottle and the cotton swabs when she needed both hands to wipe or glue something.

  The first few times she swiped over his skin with the antiseptic, Kellen’s breath expelled from his chest in a hiss. It probably hurt more than the blades going in, and that was saying something.

  After a while, he felt himself becoming accustomed to the pain, and even plucked up the courage to look and see what Micky was doing.

  Her hands were sure and steady as she wiped at each wound with the antiseptic soaked swab, before pinching it together and applying a thin line of glue. She held each cut in place for about thirty seconds before releasing it slowly and testing it gently to see if the bleeding started again.

  Once Micky was satisfied a cut had been dealt with, she selected the next one and repeated the process.

  “Why are you picking out cuts randomly?” Kellen frowned having watched her fix one cut on his shoulder followed by one on his side, and another high up at the back of his bicep. “Wouldn’t it be easier to start at the top and work your way down?”

  “I’m trying to close the biggest cuts, or the ones that are bleeding the most first.” Micky explained patiently. “I only have two tubes of glue, so I want to make sure I take care of the more serious wounds before I risk running out. I can sew up any that remain if I have to, but that won’t be very pleasant for either of us.”

  Kellen glanced up at her face, surprised that Micky had made such an admission.

  “You don’t want to stick a needle in me?” He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

  Micky glanced at him briefly.

  “Not if I don’t have to.” She admitted. “Contrary to what some might think, I don’t actually like inflicting pain on people unless they absolutely deserve it. Somehow, I don’t think you fall into that category.”

  “I’d like to think not, but I suppose it would depend on who you asked.” Kellen smiled. “I think there are a few terrorist organisations that would happily inflict pain on me and my team given the opportunity, and I can definitely think of some Colombians who might want me dead.”

  “Then I’m very glad they no longer have the opportunity to kill you.” Micky said quietly, keeping her eyes on what she was doing the whole time.

  They lapsed into a comfortable silence as Kellen watched her work, occasionally wincing when an unfortunate amount of antiseptic lotion entered a cut.

  “You speak near perfect English, you know.” Kellen eventually spoke. “Where did you learn?”

  “Same place as you did.” Micky muttered before grabbing the antiseptic bottle out of his hand.

  “What? Houston, Texas?” Kellen laughed. “Really?”

  Micky broke off what she was doing to smile at him.

  “No, idiot!” She shook her head. “I meant I learned at home. My mother spoke several languages fluently, including English, so she taught me from as soon as I could speak. When she died, my father continued my education, although I never thought of it as such. It was just something we did at home. One day English, the next day French, and so on.”

  “D’you know what’s funny?” Kellen looked her straight in the eye. “You’re so much like the Alpha-Stalwart women it’s spooky.”

  Micky tensed as though she couldn’t be sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

  “I meant that as a complement, sweetheart.” He chuckled. “There’s nothing about being like any of the Alpha-Stalwart women that could be considered a bad thing. They’re all strong, smart and beautiful, and totally awesome.”

  Micky carried on with her wiping and gluing for a few minutes until Kellen was sure she’d forgotten what he said.

  “What’s Alpha-Stalwart?” She finally murmured, her curiosity getting the better of her.

  “It’s our family.” Kellen explained. “Alpha Company started out as a group of men who served together in the British special forces, who later set up their own security company by the same name. Stalwart is the name of an American security company based in Philadelphia, run by a man called Ryan Tucker. He was long-time friends with some of the Alpha Company men, so over the last maybe fifteen years they’ve worked closely together, becoming a family unit spread across two continents. So, there you have the Alpha-Stalwart family.”

  Micky kept working diligently, but Kellen watched her closely as she processed the information.

  “And how many women are there?” She asked, just a little bit too casually for it to be a meaningless question.

  “Let me see… on the Alpha Company side, there’s Hannah and Ellen of course, plus Alice, Vicky, Suzy, Sara, and CJ, and then on the Stalwart side, there’s Candy, Sacha, Abbey, Aisha, Bella, Sophia and Tulli. Oh, and I guess we have to include Niko now as well. That’s Ilya Federov’s sister. She’s the latest family member to join.” Kellen counted them off by wiggling his fingers as he spoke. “I don’t think I forgot anyone, but there are quite a few.”

  Micky carried on gluing, but Kellen could see she was frowning.

  “You said Hannah and Ellen, ‘of course’.” She murmured. “Why, ‘of course’?”

  “Because those are the two you remind me of most.” Kellen grinned. “Ellen because she speaks lots of languages fluently, and Hannah because she’s a certifiable computer genius, which sounds a bit like you. Plus, she’s kinda my boss.”

  “Your boss is a woman?” Micky stopped what she was doing. “In a testosterone fuelled world full of agents, missions and military types, you’re seriously telling me you answer to a female?”

  “She’s the five-feet nothing Queen of Badass, and you’d better believe I answer to her.” Kellen snorted. “The woman is fucking unbelievable. She’s my own personal heroine. I’d crawl through flames to save her, as would everyone else in the family.”

  From her shallow breathing, Kellen could tell that Micky processed the details slowly and methodically. Was she adding two and two and making five?

  “Of course, we’d all have to crawl behind Danny, Hannah’s husband.” He grinned. “They’re the most devoted couple you ever met. They don’t function properly without the other one nearby.”

  Micky half smiled, and Kellen wondered whether she was secretly pleased to hear that Hannah was married. Maybe that meant she had the tiniest spark of interest in him?

  “How did you come to be part of the family?” She asked him, obviously tr
ying to piece everything together.

  “I served with several men who are now part of Stalwart, or the Guardians, which is the newest part of the organisation.” He explained. “But I came to know them a few years ago because my commanding officer was Ryan Tucker’s stepson, Alex. As well as being my CO, he was also a close friend. Anyway, we ended up working on several missions together with Alpha-Stalwart, and they even came down to rescue our team when a particularly memorable mission in Colombia got hideously fucked-up. That’s how I came to meet Zach, who also happens to be Ryan’s nephew.”

  They lapsed back into a comfortable silence for a short while, as Micky refocussed on gluing him back together.

  Well, it was as comfortable as it was possible to be when he’d been trying to hide a rather persistent erection for the last twenty minutes!

  Chapter 42 – Micky

  Micky had long since lost track of the number of cuts she’d sealed shut.

  Occasionally she would swipe over a particularly deep one, and the sting of the antiseptic would make Kellen jerk away from her, which in turn would make her jump.

  Bizarrely, when that happened, they would both end up apologising to each other, Micky for hurting him, and Kellen for making her jump.

  In the end, she smiled at him.

  “It’s just gonna keep happening, so no more apologies, Ok?” She laughed.

  “Sounds reasonable to me.” Kellen nodded.

  He watched her closely as she worked on a few cuts at the front of his shoulder, and Micky struggled not to stare back at him.

  “So, tell me… why isn’t a beautiful woman like you married with a couple of kids already?” He asked.

  Micky finished working on the cut she was gluing, before looking up at him.

  “Why does every woman need to aspire to having a husband and kids?” She shrugged. “I don’t need a man to make me happy, and kids aren’t something I have a yearning for at the moment. It’s quite a sexist generalisation to assume that marriage and kids are all a woman should want out of life.”

  “It wasn’t intended to be a sexist comment.” Kellen shook his head. “I have this theory that by the time most people, male and female, reach between thirty and thirty-five, they come to the realisation that they don’t want to be alone all their lives. As you’re just coming into that age bracket, I was wondering whether you might have already started to think that way. As you’re obviously straight, I suggested the husband and kids. If I’d thought you were gay, I’d have suggested a wife and kids. Same difference.”