Finn's head throbbed; his arms and legs were no longer bound together. Trying to remember, the last thing he did remember was looking around a partition with his gun drawn and hearing shuffling behind him, and before he could respond blackness overtook him.
Now he felt someone releasing his legs and arms, allowing them to fall to the floor, relieving the burn in his muscles from having his arms and legs in a pulled back in position. A minute later, he felt cool water flowing over the back of his head, offering a little relief from the fiery throb that came from the back. Then small fingers were gently probing what Finn had to guess was a cut or gash on the back of his head. Was this Rachel? She had been bound and unconscious when he entered, did she get herself free? Instinctually, Finn felt his chest puff slightly in pride knowing that the training he had made her go through with the Bieste had done some good. Still, she needed to save herself and get out of her instead of worrying about him. He felt her hands on his shoulder and her small grunt as she pulled him over onto his back, and felt her small fingers on his carotid artery, checking his pulse. Even in this dire circumstance, she was still trying to make sure he was okay, and by the sound of her gasp, it sounded like he wasn't in a good way.
He then felt her soft lips on his, and no matter how badly he wanted to kiss her back, his lips just wouldn't listen to what his brain was demanding them to do. When he felt the coolness of the air on his lips, he realized she had pulled back, and then he heard her soft, raspy whisper, her breath warm on his lips, "I love you Finn, please wake up baby…please. I need you." He felt her move his arms and then Rachel snuggle under them and into his chest, her warmth radiating through him. He wanted to scream at her to run, save herself, but again, his mouth wouldn't listen to his brain. Then he heard her soft snores as she continued to snuggle deeper into him. Her rhythmic snoring relaxed Finn, causing him to feel drowsy, and eventually sleep, with the petite brunette in his arms.
Finn was jostled awake by feeling Rachel ripped from his arms and heard the distinct scream of none other than Jewfro at Rachel, "How could you?" Instinctually, Finn's fingers flexed to grab her arms, and then shock took over realizing what he had done, since he had essentially been paralyzed since coming too.
Finn listened to Jewfro and Rachel talk, neither of them seeing his fingers move, and he knew he would use this to his advantage when the time was right. He conditioned himself to continue taking shallow breaths and stay still while he listened to Rachel and Jewfro talk. He heard Rachel try begging Jewfro to take him to a fire station to receive medical attention for his head. Finn wanted to shake his head; God, she was willing to sacrifice herself for him. He didn't think his heart could swell with anymore pride or that he could love her anymore than he did at that moment.
Staying still, Finn heart both of them walk off to his left, and then heard the scraping of chairs on the concrete floor and more conversation. He couldn't make out what they saying, their voices were low and Finn's head still throbbed, making it hard to totally concentrate. At least with them away from him, Finn could focus on the situation and evaluate his condition.
Finn knew he had a concussion, how bad of one; he wasn't sure since he had no idea how long he had been unconscious. His breathing was shallow and rapid, he needed to slow it down and breathe deeply. His arms and legs seemed to be fine, bound, but fine, nothing broken or cut. His head though, besides the possible concussion, Finn was sure he had a gash on the back of his head, remembering Rachel touching it gently.
Satisfied with his self-assessment, Finn focused on the situation at hand; Jewfro's wedding day to Rachel. From what Finn remembered before being knocked out, there was a wedding dress hanging from the ceiling, and from what Mike had profiled, Jewfro was going to pull out all the stops, so a tuxedo for himself and all the stops for the "ceremony." It was probably going to take place under that arbor that had been erected and decorated. Finn opened his eyes for the first time, really looking at the area from his location. Unfortunately, when his eyes opened to the light of the room, everything was extremely blurry and seemed to move about. Closing his eyes again, Finn focused on getting himself calm and centered. Years of hunting and sniping for the Marines taught him how to calm down and visualize the area and situation. It was second nature to Finn.
Breathing slowly, deepening his breaths and focusing on his breathing and heart rate, Finn calmed himself down, his head becoming clearer, thinking easier. Jewfro must have taken Finn's 22 Glock, because it had been drawn when he was ambushed, but taking stock of himself, he felt his small 9 mm still hidden in his boot and this folding kabar in his waistband. So he had two weapons on him, one with only six shots and the other that was for up close and personal combat that Finn was definitely planning on. Finn had extra clips for this Glock, but with no Glock, they weren't much use, and he didn't have any extra for his 9 mm. He was going to have to be very smart and frugal with the shots he took.
He was going to have to free his wrists and ankles first, or any plans he made would be a moot point. Finn was thankful that Jewfro didn't know what he was doing because he really sucked on binding ankles and wrists. Finn looked through slitted eyes to make sure Rachel and Jewfro were no were in the vicinity, and seeing everything clear, he moved his arms slowly, pulling the folded knife out of his waistband and from under his shirt and flipping it open with a flick of his wrist. There wasn't enough slack in the cords for Finn to pull the blade up and slice the cord, so he positioned the cord on the handle and snapped the blade down, cutting it that way and freeing his wrists. Finn quickly worked on untying his ankles and then proceeded to retie the cords around his individual wrists and ankles so that they appeared to still be bound.
Listening carefully, he could still hear Jewfro talking to Rachel, and in the distance, he heard the whirl of helicopter propellers, in particular, Chinooks. From the sound, they were flying low, possibly searching for Rachel or the "gunmen" from yesterday still. Finn was going to use this bit of information to his advantage.
Suddenly there was the sound of scrapping chairs from behind the partition, so Finn quickly brought his arms and legs back to their original positions. He watched through slits as Jewfro led Rachel to the arbor and cut her original bindings, but secured her to the arbor and brought over that fucking ugly wedding gown. When Jewfro kissed Rachel on the head with his thin bird lips, it took all the control Finn had not to jump up and pummel him. Finn was never going to allow Jewfro's thin, dry lips to touch Rachel again. Finn knew he wasn't the perfect guy for Rachel, but he was a hell of lot better than that perverted afro haired man that was currently patting Rachel's hair and walking away, whistling.
Finn continued to observe Rachel; she looked so crestfallen and lifeless. She was pale and even from a distance, Finn could tell there was no twinkle in her eye, her smile was as fake as the plastic flowers that surrounded her. Hatred for Jewfro coursed through Finn's veins; he had stolen the spark from a shining star, leaving nothing back blackness. Soft sobs from Rachel broke Finn from his hate-filled trance as he saw her shoulders shake as she tried to control her sobs. It broke Finn's heart listening to the sharp sobs escape from her lips. He watched her step out of her clothes and started pulling on that white monstrosity that had been chosen for her. Finn wanted to chuckle at the curses emitting from the inside of the dress, but as soon as her head popped out of the sea of white and she turned , he instinctually moved his arm and leg to get up, but quickly stopped himself. He watched as she wiped her eyes on the skirt of the dress, and finished getting ready while he ached to take her in his arms and comfort her.
He heard her call to Jewfro that she was ready, Finn started to slowly reach for the gun he had moved to his waistband earlier. Of all the things though he could hear in response to Rachel saying she was ready was the nasally voice of her captor telling her to hold on! Hold on! The idiot was playing Connect 4 on the internet for some tournament, while the woman he had been obsessing over, kidnapped and was now forcing to marry him was waiting, tied up to an arbor! Finn knew he wasn't the smartest man around, but even he knew how dumb Jewfro was being.
Suddenly he heard footsteps making their way to the arbor, and saw the slight man wearing a tux straight out of "That 70's Show." It was ridiculously funny looking, until Finn caught sight of the outline of his Glock under the tight fitting jacket. Finn glanced around with his eyes, making sure there was nothing else that Jewfro could use as a weapon, and since in looked like the only things that was available was the plaster pedestal, Finn wasn't too worried.
As Jewfro turned his back to Finn and positioned Rachel for the ceremony to begin, Finn swiftly raised himself to a steady position and took aim with his revolver. Firing all six shots in rapid succession, Finn hit his target, the opposite, plywood covered window, sending all six bullets through the wood, causing splinters to fly everywhere.
Finn heard Rachel and Jewfro both scream as the popping sound reverberated throughout the concrete room and the smell and residue of gunpowder filled the area, causing Jewfro and Rachel to cough. Using the distraction, Finn charged at Jewfro, tackling him to the ground. As he rose up, fist clenched, ready to throw a punch, Finn was momentarily distracted by Rachel screaming, "Finn!" Her voice automatically pulled his eyes to her where he saw fear in her eyes.
As he turned back to Jewfro, Fin was met with the feel of cold metal slamming into the side of his head. Stunned from the unexpected hit, Finn fell off of the smaller man as he saw sparks in front of him, and not the good kind either.
Shaking his head and feeling blood trickle down the side of his head, Finn got to his feet and literally growled like a mad wolf, "You're finished Jewfro! I'm not gonna let you hurt Rachel anymore!"
"Really Hudson, I've already knocked your ass out and I have Rachel, so I think in most books, which means that I win. Plus, I have your gun and you're such a bad shot, you missed me all six times and the shots went through the plywood over there." Jewfro motioned with his head as he roughly grabbed Rachel by the waist and pulled her tightly to him.
"Wrong. There are Chinooks circling this area, and after your little "distraction" yesterday, police always increase their presence by three fold in any area where automatic gunfire is heard, and your little recording was that of automatic gunfire. So Chinooks and added patrol heard my shots, just like I planned, and they're coming to investigate. They should be here anytime, and that means your time is over. You won't have Rachel as your bride, but maybe some big burly guy named Pincher in prison would like you to be his bitch."
Finn watched as what he said sunk into Jewfro. He saw the grip loosen ever so lightly on the gun, and the gun that had been trained on Rachel dropped slightly. Finn would have made a grab for it, but Jewfro knew something about guns, because the safety was off and with it still trained on Rachel, Finn wasn't going to take a chance of it going off.
Even though his head still throbbed, he could hear the movement on the outside and saw the plywood he had shot up move ever so slightly and a small camera was lowered into the room. Knowing all they could see were Jewfro's and Rachel's back and Finn was facing the camera with his kabar out , he was going to have to use his voice to let LAPD know what exactly was going on, "Rachel are you okay? Jewfro, you aren't showing much love for your lady if you have a gun pointed at her."
Finn watched as he started to lift the gun away from Rachel and at him, and that's when LAPD SWAT decided to make an entrance, storming in through the windows, causing mass chaos. Finn took full advantage and took a flying tackle at Jewfro again as the gun clattered across the floor and both men sliding. Now unarmed, Finn couldn't control his anger anymore and landed multiple punches to Jewfro's face. Finn was sure that he had caused some type of head trauma to Jewfro, but just to make sure, Finn reared his head back and head butted him so hard, he heard cracking. By then he felt arms forcibly pulling him off of the smaller man, but as his tunnel vision widened he heard Rachel's sobs.
Finn could now feel more blood flowing from a now busted forehead, but didn't care. Walking over to Rachel, who was now standing beside a female officer, and still wearing that awful dress, but was covered in a blanket. Finn knew the police were going to request his presence, but he needed to make sure that she was okay, that she was truly safe.
Rachel was looking down, her lips quivering, as Finn took his finger and gently lifted her chin forcing her to look into his eyes. He stared into her beautiful deep eyes and saw the fear in them. Softly, still looking deep into her eyes, he softly whispered, "You're safe now Rach. He isn't going to hurt you or scare you anymore. No more bodyguards. You get your life back." Finn knew that as he said those words, he would be leaving Rachel's life. He had done his job.