Page 37 of Thor
Besides the usual self-defense moves, in which he stressed that playing fair was not a consideration, he went over escape protocols.The first was to see if you still had your phone and activate the find-me function.I pushed myself upright, shaking my head to clear the last wisps of whatever they’d used to knock me out before I reached in my pocket for my phone.Damn.It wasn’t there.Either I’d dropped it at some point, or the kidnappers had taken it and trashed it.Either way, I couldn’t call for help or activate the find-me function.
I wasn’t sure how much time I had before the thugs who’d grabbed me would come to see if I was conscious.The fact that they’d left me untied seemed to indicate they didn’t expect me to regain consciousness for quite some time.Or else they thought I was dumb enough to just lay here and wait for whatever they planned to do to me.
Not a hope in hell of that happening.
I looked around the room they’d left me in.There was a door on one side, and I could hear my captors beyond it, and one window on the wall opposite the door.It looked big enough for me to squeeze out of.I stood and walked over to it, being careful to keep quiet.The latch gave way easily enough, but when I tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge.It looked like someone had painted the damn thing shut.It was glass though, and glass could break.
I stepped over to the corner by the door where a bunch of cleaning supplies were piled.Despite the condition of the room, it looked like whoever owned this place was big on cleaning supplies.There were five different mops, each with a sturdy handle.I picked one with a thick wooden shaft and hefted it in my hand.
A wave of dizziness swept over me, and I reached out to steady myself against the wall.Whatever they’d used to knock me out wasn’t completely out of my system.
I could hear the conversation in the other room clearer from this position.It sounded like there were two men, and they were gloating over how easy it had been to get to me.One of the prospects had been bribed to look the other way while they snuck into the compound.
Sketch.
I needed to remember that name.When Thor came to get me, and I was positive he would, he needed to know who’d betrayed the club.
The dizzy spell passed, and I twisted the mop head off, leaving me with a nice solid stick.I was no longer weaponless.I could hear Beast’s voice in my head, explaining all the ways to take down someone bigger than you if you were lucky enough to have a long stick or branch.
There were at least two men in the other room, possibly more.I had to assume they weren’t above hurting a woman and were likely armed with more than a stick.I didn’t like those odds.
I grabbed some rags, trying not to wonder what they’d been used for.They definitely weren’t clean.I wasn’t going to be the helpless victim waiting to be rescued.Not this time.
I crossed to the window and tried to open it again.Nope.Not happening.I examined it closer.It was single paned, and probably older than my grandfather.
Did glass get brittle with age?
Did it make a lot of noise when it broke?
I was about to find out, but first I needed to know what was outside the window.No point in breaking it only to find a couple of vicious dogs waiting to have me for lunch.I used one of the rags to wipe the grime off the window.The only thing visible was trees.Lots of trees, with ribbons of moss trailing off them.It wouldn’t take long to sprint across the open ground and gain the cover of the woods.
I took another look around the room on the insane hope there was something else I could use to free myself, like maybe a loaded gun someone forgot to take with them.
A rickety old chair in the far corner of the room caught my eye and I remembered Beast talking about not only defending yourself and escaping but slowing down pursuit any way possible.It took a bit of fumbling to wedge the chair under the doorknob but hopefully it would be enough to slow the kidnappers down if they tried to enter.It might just give me enough time to get out of the area.
Time to escape.
I took a deep breath and glanced upward, praying to a deity I wasn’t sure I believed in that I could get out of here and find a hiding spot before the kidnappers realized I’d escaped.
I wrapped one of the rags around the end of the wooden pole and swung it at the window.
The glass exploded outward, and I was sure the sound was loud enough to be heard for miles.I threw a fearful glance back at the door before using a handful of rags to knock the rest of the glass out.
Slicing an artery while trying to escape defeats the purpose.
I could hear Beast’s grumpy voice in my head, telling us to make sure to pad the edges of the hole if we were trying to climb out of a broken window.
I quickly lined the edges of the window with the remaining rags and hoisted myself through the gap.I landed awkwardly on the glass-covered grass on the other side, gaining a few nasty scratches on my bare arms.Thankfully, I was wearing long pants, socks, and shoes or it could have been much worse.
Throwing a panicked glance behind me, I stumbled to my feet and headed into the woods.
* * *
Thor
They took Janet.Those words sent a dagger right through my heart.
Janet was in danger.Because of me.
