Explicit Instruction (33 page)

He closed the trunk and put on his backpack. When Jansen started moving through the night, Flick quickly followed. With the camouflage paint, and the Lara Croft up-do, Flick was sure she looked the part more than she felt it. But jitters could only get them hurt.

Throughout this
, Rushe had given her instructions to keep her alive. Only when Flick ignored them did she get into hot water. Rushe’s counsel would get her through this, but she didn’t have it. She didn’t have the option of it, much less the luxury. Now Flick was relying on a man she met for the first time less than a day ago. But he’d screwed over Victor, so that was a point in his favour.

Jansen’s
love had been locked up for half a year and he hadn’t managed to retrieve her. But he’d tried, and Flick couldn’t fault him that. As Rushe had told him, dead does her no good. Still, Flick couldn’t imagine Rushe being aware of her location for that long without taking action, and he was a man with infinite patience – though that hadn’t necessarily been her experience.

‘Come here,’ Jansen said
, when he steered them against a brick wall. ‘When we get around this wall, no more talking.’ She nodded. ‘I’ll get you into the basement, but we’ll have to go through the front, ok?’

‘The front of the house?’

‘The broken windows at the front are the quickest way. There is only one door in and out of the basement. If they come in with any women—‘

‘Ok,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’

Jansen didn’t hesitate now, he led her forward, and around to a section of wall with some loose bricks. He took half a dozen out of place, and with the gap already present, they could each squeeze through. Jansen went first, taking the time to scan the area before bringing her through.

Al
l around them were trees, and Flick didn’t even know where the house was. Just as she began to panic about where they were going, Jansen pushed her past a group of small bushes, and there it was, the house.

Flick hadn’t spent time thinking about the building previously, and when she realised it was run down she’
d thought Victor a fraud. A man who squatted in a dilapidated house had ideas of grandeur, but like she’d said to his face, he couldn’t back them up. Now crouched behind these bushes with Jansen switching his weapon, and retrieving something from his pack, Flick had the time to look.

On the side view
, the structure still appeared grand. The blacked out windows only appeared to reflect the night, and had no bearing on how intimidating the place could be, and it was intimidating. With the red brick and the white eaves and with the tall chimney stack billowing smoke. Bad people were in that building, and here in its shadow Flick felt feeble, and lost any confidence she had in the difference two little ants could make, and that’s what she felt like.

She and Jansen were nothing but insects in a birds nest
. Not all of the confidence in the world could alter the laws of nature. Victor and his gang were bigger, stronger, and much better prepared. In that place she’d found the strength to stand up to Skeeve. Asking Rushe to kill her hadn’t been easy, but she’d managed it in there, with him at her side. Without him, Flick didn’t know if she was capable, and he could be gone. Maybe they had already killed him, or moved him; the possibilities drove her insane.

‘What?’
Jansen hissed.

Flick hadn’t seen Jansen move, and he’d said no more talking, but he was at the edge of the lawn, exposed, and she stayed put. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t, fear would win, she’d let it. Rushe would be ashamed of her.

Then as quickly as she faltered, she straightened herself to a crouch, and ran in behind Jansen. If Rushe was in there, Flick was going to get him back. He’d promised to come for her, and there was no reason she shouldn’t return the sentiment. She had to try, and failure was favourable to never having given hope a chance.

The area
Jansen took her to was the narrowest stretch of gravel. They had to cross it; the house was an island in a sea of stones. But every footstep sounded to her like the bass at a heavy metal concert. If she was to follow Jansen’s lead the trick was to own it, because he just went, straight out there, straight across. He set his goal in mind and kept moving. Flick blocked out her uncertainty, and did as he did.

If she was going to get shot
, it was best to get shot while hoping to achieve something – like your destination. Rather than not achieving something – like making no sound.

Thankfully q
uicker than she would’ve thought, they reached the house, and keeping them in shadow, Jansen took them to the front corner. Flick was pleased to see that there were stairs at this side, which saved them from walking up the front ones. But there were so many stairs, and she felt so exposed that by the time she got to the top her heart made more noise than the gravel had.

An impulse to heave
a sigh of relief when they got to the top consumed Flick, but she kept it in, and told herself that when she and Rushe were joined tonight she’d make all the noise she wanted to.

Taking her to a broken
glass pane Jansen pointed and crouched to boost her up. Grateful of the lift Flick perched on the windowsill, and did her best to check the darkened room they were crawling into. No movement drew her eye, so she stepped over the one protruding window and got herself into the room. Mostly stripped out, the floor was spongy to her feet, so she figured this wasn’t Victor’s refurbished wing.

Jansen came
in at her back, and took her straight to the door on the opposite wall; he wasted no time in getting to where he was going. His goal was set, and there was no time to look around. Out of that room, he swept the foyer, then took her through another door and down a set of stairs.

Flick’s head spun
, and as she worried about her sense of direction in the basement, Jansen opened a door, and pushed her through it. When she was about to ask where they were going, or how long it would take to get to the basement, she was thrust into another room. Empty... with a door on the opposite wall.

Rushi
ng to the centre of the room Flick spun. ‘This is the room, the one I was in when they sent him away with Simone.’ Jansen didn’t know that story, but he apparently didn’t need to.

‘Ok
, you know where you are, that’s good,’ Jansen said, swinging his bag around, he took out a small lock-pick, and went straight for the other door.

Equally surprised as each other when the door gave
, without him picking the lock, Flick found herself at Jansen’s side in the corridor that they needed.

‘There,’ she said
, dashing to the door further down on the left.

Pressing her body to it
, she tried to listen for movement. This should be where Rushe was, but he could have been moved. The deathly silence of the hallway sent her uneasy. The women had been held in this place, and now with the lack of sound, the screams echoed in her mind as if ghosts of vengeance hung in the air.

The clunk of
the gun on the wood startled Flick, until she realised it was the gun in her own hand. She hadn’t even thought about the thing, and she was grateful that she hadn’t been surprised anywhere along the way, or goodness only knew what she’d have shot.

Jansen tucked his own gun away
, then took the pick and unlocked all of the locks on the door. Both paused and looked at each other, knowing, this was the make or break moment. Rushe was here, or he wasn’t, and if he wasn’t...

Jansen reached up for the high bolt
, and Flick crouched to undo the lower one. With a finger count, they pulled their locks, and gave the door a shove. As quickly as it opened Jansen was gone, pulled over the top of her, and into the room. Rushe had a hold of his throat, and had him pinned to the wall three feet off the floor.

‘Let him go!’ Flick’s hand went to her mouth
to suppress her volume, but Rushe dropped Jansen in an instant.

There might not have been time for him to register
whom he had pinned to the wall, but the sound of her voice had him whipping around. Flick hadn’t given any thought to their reunion, about what she would do when she saw him again. But her body acted on instinct. Running straight to him, she leapt into his arms, and swallowed his mouth.

Kissing him once, and again, dipping her tongue into his mouth, then licking his lips
, and diving in for more, her arm wrapped all the way around his head.

‘Rushe,’ she exhaled. ‘Oh
, Rushe.’

All she wanted to do was mate wi
th him, right here and right now. Her animal drive to bond had her legs trying to climb higher on him, until her lower limbs locked around his diaphragm.

‘Kitten,’ he said. ‘Ok
, Kitten.’

Like a limpet on a rock
, she didn’t want to let go of him. ‘You’re here, oh you’re still here.’

His hands
sought her ankles, and he tried to pry them apart. ‘When we get out,’ he said, still trying to free himself, but she kissed him again. ‘Kitten.’

At his stern tone
, Flick relaxed, and slithered down his body. Her feet might have touched the floor, but her body remained against his.

‘I think she likes you,’ Jansen said
, tossing a tee-shirt to Rushe. Flick was surprised to perceive the amusement in his voice.

‘You gave her a gun?’ Rushe asked
, yanking on the tee-shirt, and removing the offending item from her hand, while she rubbed her face in his chest.

Whether she was trying to scent
him, or get his scent on her, it could go either way but both were achieved. Rushe had been where she’d left him, and now that he was with them, Flick was confident of their success.

‘
I thought she should have the means to protect herself,’ Jansen said.

‘I’m surprised you made it here alive,’ Rushe said. ‘The safety’s off.’

‘She doesn’t know how to use a gun.’

‘I know. Why did you bring her?’

‘She saw Serendipity.’

Rushe took Flick’s
shoulders, and forced her body arm’s length from his. ‘You saw Serendipity? Alive?’

‘That’s the only reason we’re here,’ Jansen said. ‘I was leaving you to rot.’

‘Figured,’ Rushe said. ‘I heard the shipment didn’t make it, there were fatalities.’

‘
During and after the crash,’ Jansen said. ‘Yeah.’

Flick thought this was all lovely, ev
eryone catching up. But being away from Rushe’s body, she was reminded of where they stood, and this room.

‘I want to leave
,’ Flick said, backing toward the door.

‘Where’s
Serendipity?’

‘End of the corridor,’ Flick said. ‘The very last door on the right.’

Jansen didn’t wait, he went out the door, and Flick was about to follow when Rushe caught her wrist.

‘Do you think that now was the best time to start following my instructions?’
he asked.

‘What?’

‘You’re not wearing any underwear.’

‘How do you know that?’ Flick asked
, looking down at her chest.

‘I know how much the girls like me
, but they’re not usually so eager. Follows that no bra means no panties.’

‘We’re breaking you out of the evil lair
, and your main concern is my breasts?’

‘
No,’ he said, appearing offended by her question. ‘Don’t complain about chaffing later is all. I’m fucking you senseless when we get out of here. It’s gonna be hard and dirty and constant, so I don’t want to hear any defiance.’

Flick was
n’t sure how serious he was, she knew his humour could be so dry, but on her own smile she wanted to leap back up into his arms. ‘Do I have a choice?’

‘No.’

‘Ok,’ she said, and he took the lead out of the room.

Keeping hold of her
, Rushe approached Jansen who was already picking the lock of Serendipity’s room.

‘When did they have you in here?’ Rushe asked.

‘This is the room with the... John and Shiv brought me here,’ she said, not wanting to alert Jansen to what they did to her in here, and as would follow, what they did to Serendipity.

When the final lock was
opened, Jansen stood, and he looked over her head to Rushe. A lump pounced to her throat. These men had worked together on freeing this woman for months, and until now they hadn’t been successful. Flick thought about how grateful she was to see Rushe, and to be back in his arms, less than a day after she left him. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see your love after half a year apart.

Jansen had expected to see Serendipity after the first shipment
, and he was thwarted. He’d commandeered their shipment last night in a final ditch attempt to free the woman he loved. Rushe hadn’t told her about the possible interception because as far as Flick could gather, even Jansen wasn’t sure he was going to take the risk.

He’d thought Serendipity lost, and then losing contact with Rushe, Jansen had believed the jig was up. But he’d run them off the road with hope, that last ember of hope that maybe he could see Serendipity again.