There comes a point where one has to really think about what they are about to do. Staring at the open space below me, fingers clenched tight to the rock above my head, I was thinking hard.
My right toe found purchase in a thin but deep crack and I shifted a little of my weight off of my throbbing fingers. I had to get down from here—up was not an option. I managed to find a small protrusion for my left toe and used it to cling to the rock face, catching my breath.
If I looked down my head would swim, but there was no other choice. The valley and rushing water below me made my stomach curl, but there were enough visible crevices that I could plot a course down. Taking a deep breath I started, painstakingly slow, the decent. By the time my feet touched the wet stones, my heart was hammering in my chest. I leaned against the rocks again, thanking God, and hoping I wasn't seen from above. It was imperative that I wasn't seen.
Grimacing I rolled my shoulders. The tension in the joints was excruciating. I concentrated, easing the pain so that I could move swiftly again. There would be repercussions, but I'd deal with that when I had to. I checked my watch, seeing that I had only minutes to get to the rendezvous point. Setting my teeth, I took off at a dead sprint, splashing through the edges of the water and cataloguing the rolls and sprains I was suffering in my haste. I saw a lone figure up ahead and didn't slow down. It was either my contact or it was a fight. I was ready for both.
The figure turned and seemed to disappear before I saw that there was a corner before me. I took it and nearly collided with a tall, damp man.
"Sonya?" He growled out.
Code name check. "Da."
"You don't look Russian," he said in English.
"Cut the crap." The pain was beginning to come back in my legs. I hoped the trembling wasn't visible.
It must have been because the man looked at me from under deep brows, blue eyes piercing. "Come," he said motioning and starting up a path I had just noticed.
"We can't go up. They are swarming up there." I huffed. He gave me a smile I didn't like and just kept walking.
I swore and followed him. "Fucking Torchwood."
An underground route through the bowls of the mountain was not what I expected. While I was grateful to be out of the arctic water, it was still cold. I shivered and the man next to me, walking with both flashlight and gun out, glanced at me.
"Cold?"
I stayed silent but glared at him in the dim light. WTF. He smirked but started to take off the coat he was wearing, making sure that at least the gun was always pointed ahead of us. He handed the coat to me with his flashlight hand.
"Wear it." I took it, and nearly dropped it. What did this coat weigh? I put it on and immediately felt like a very small child playing dress up. I started to take it off. The man stopped.
"I said wear it." We glared at one another for a minute before he said, through gritted teeth, "if you freeze to death before we get to the rendezvous point, then you've wasted my time and your life."
I turned back to staring into the nothingness before us, but kept the coat on. I was warmer in it…much warmer. I shivered again. It was like the body heat of the man kept sending out waves of warmth through the coat. And it smelled nice. He started walking and I followed in a much more comfortable, though dragging, silence.
I don't know how long we were walking, at some point I shut down and had to concentrate just to keep one foot in front of the other. But the man stopped and I nearly collided with him. A voice called out.
"Jack?"
The man turned to me and smiled a huge smile. "Calvary's here."
I kept my eyes glued to the dark when a tall man with dark hair came into range of our flashlight. He tilted his head. "She's wearing your coat," he said.
Jack turned back to me and rolled his eyes while smiling as if we shared a joke.
"Yup. Now where's the SUV?" He nearly bounced up to the other man. It was such a change in demeanor, I was stunned. He turned back to me, "Coming?"
I walked up to them, both myself and the new man eyeing one another.
"Fight over me later. We've got to get out of here." Jack started down the tunnel again without looking back. The other man waved me forward in front of him. He couldn't see the tension in my shoulders as I walked passed him but I felt the daggers he was staring into my back.
We walked a little further before the flashlight landed on a huge black car. The SUV I presumed. Jack hopped into the driver's side while the other man opened the back door for me. Taking a deep breath, I took off the coat, fighting a grimace as the air hit my wet clothes again, and handed the heavy material to the man who took it without question. It took all my strength to hop into the car without collapsing into a heap on the leather seat.
The man closed the door and got into the passenger side. Jack grinned at him. I closed my eyes and didn't question how the car got there or how we were to get out. Seconds after my head hit the back of the seat, I could no longer fight the exhaustion. Sleep called me deep.