Part XI

If he gave it some thought, Roy guessed he'd probably been in more pain on some occasions in the past, but he really couldn't remember when. Maybe it was because in those periods, the pain might have been intense, but for a shorter length of time. In this case, the pain was being prolonged. It felt like days instead of hours that the men had hauled up on the rope that kept making it feel like his shoulders were going to dislocate at any time. If he pressed down with the toes of his feet, he could take the pressure off of his arms for a little while, but he couldn't do that for long periods of time. Besides, his feet hurt as badly as the rest of him did.

Lifting his head as he tried to force his mind off of his own aches, Roy tried to evaluate his two friends. The attempt wasn't as successful as it might have been. It didn't help that his vision was blurry and they were across the room. Chet looked the worse for wear and seemed out for now, but the part about Mike that had him worried was how still the engineer had been ever since they'd brought him in. Roy didn't have much time to worry about that though. The hour was up again.

Hearing the door opening, Roy took as deep of a breath as he could with the way that he was tied and waited. As had become the usual pattern, the first thing the men did was to knock his feet out from under him, jerking his elbows up painfully.

"Haven't heard from them yet. Maybe your partner decided he'd quit while he was ahead and just left, eh?"

That he didn't believe for a minute, but he didn't plan to respond to the jibe one way or another. Roy stayed silent and his silence brought the usual response - being lashed by what seemed to be a riding crop - this time across the back of his legs. He did his best to bite back any noise, but he couldn't always manage it. Roy cringed when he heard the sounds played back after they finished.

"Very nice. We'll send this tape to them along with the mustache guy's body. Between them, maybe they'll figure out we mean business."

Laughing, they exited again and Roy drew a ragged breath in. At least there was an hour before they started again. A small noise caught his attention and he gave a bleary look over to Mike. It took three beats for it to sink in that Mike's hands were free. No wonder he'd been being so quiet.

Mike quickly made his way over to Roy, speaking softly.

"Let's get you down from there."

Getting out of the cramped position the ties were keeping him in sounded good, but Roy's eyes went over to Chet.

"Get Chet out of here, Mike. I don't know exactly how much time has passed and those guys have been talking about killing him first. I don't know if I could walk right now, let alone run. I don't think Chet could either. Helping one of us, you might get out, but both of us? It won't work."

"Not happening, Roy."

The third member of the group spoke up then, Roy's first indication that Chet wasn't unconscious.

"Mike's right. The only reason John left is he was still chained to the van. So - let's let Mike get us loose and see what we can do to slow these guys until the help comes that we know is coming."

As Mike moved to see what he could do about the ropes, Roy had mixed feelings. He really did want his friends out of this situation, especially as he felt it was his fault that they were in it in the first place. On the other hand, he didn't have any desire to remain here by himself. Part of him was happy that they were staying with him.

Apparently, Chet could see Roy's expression pretty well.

"Oh for pity's sake, DeSoto. No guilt trips. You didn't invite those losers over. Put the blame on them."

"Listen to Chet. Not often the man is right, but when he is?"

"Hey!"

That got a short chuckle from Roy that cut off with a hiss as Mike loosened one of the ropes that had been restricting blood flow in his arms. As Mike continued to work, he spoke softly as if not wanting Chet to hear.

"Is Chet right that those guys will come for you?"

"If Johnny is able to find them and let them know? Murdock and B.A. will even if the other two don't. And if Hannibal's anything like his rep was, he'll be with them. I don't recall anyone named Face, but if he's with the others? Yes. They'll come."

Lowering Roy to the floor, Mike laid a hand on his shoulder briefly before going over to free Chet.

"Then we work on staying together and alive until they can get here."