"Rescue"
Renee was still in the state between sleep and wakefulness when she heard the sound of footfalls. As they came closer, her eyes opened. Two men were approaching. They were the ones addressed by the leader as Owen and Travis: the two who had given Gabriel his beating. The leader was sitting in the corner of the room, loading the extra weapons. He knew a fight was coming soon. He had sent the other two men outside to keep watch. He decided to let his top two men have a little fun while they waited.
The shorter one carried a knife by his side. He squatted beside Gabriel, who was in a deep slumber. The taller one, a redhead, kept an eye on Renee. She glared up at him. He grinned at her as he grabbed at his crotch. She choked back a gag at the implication of what he wanted.
"Owen," he said to the other man, "maybe I should take her into the other room." He was still eyeing Renee lustfully.
"Don't," Gabriel mumbled from behind broken lips. He had no idea what woke him, but was glad it had.
"What did you say, boy?" Travis demanded.
"Don't touch her," he said again, trying to make the words sound normal this time.
Travis sent his foot into Gabriel's side. "Why don't you learn to shut up, boy?"
Gabriel's face went white from pain, and he couldn't speak. When he finally regained his voice, he just repeated, "Don't touch her."
Owen grabbed Gabriel's hair, pulled his head back, and held the knife against his throat. A small drop of blood rolled down his neck. "I could easily," Owen threatened him, "slit your throat." He pulled the blade an inch away. "But, I think your hair's too long. Maybe I'll just give you a haircut instead."
Gabriel tried to jerk away, but the knife reappeared and cut into his neck again. Blood welled to the surface and rolled down to the collar of his shirt. He grew weaker from the loss of blood and soon slumped against the pole.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Danny stopped the car a quarter mile from the cabin and turned off the engine. Sara turned to Jake in the back seat and said, "Stay here and call for back-up."
He started to protest but she stopped him. "You won't be much help with your arm. We'll be worrying about you instead of watching out for our suspects."
Jake nodded reluctantly, realizing what she said was true. Danny and Sara stepped out of the car and made their way to the cabin. When they were about fifteen yards from the cabin, they stepped into a clearing. The two men keeping watch spotted them and raised their guns.
Sara and Danny raised theirs and bullets began to fly. She crouched down and the Witchblade formed into a gauntlet. Danny was ahead of her and didn't see the change. Bullets glanced off of the metal glove. The eyes of the man on the right of the cabin widened in shock and fear. One bullet took him in the chest, punching through his right lung. He fell to the ground, and blood bubbled through his lips.
Sara turned to her left to see how Danny was doing just in time to see him fall to the ground with a bullet through his leg. She had a vision of him being shot in the chest while laying of the stage of a theater. Her finger tightened on the trigger, but the shot went wide. She didn't realize her feet were moving until she was a foot away from the man, and he was impaled by the blade. He collapsed and slid from the sword.
She started toward the door as two men stepped through it. one of them carried a knife with blood dripping from it. The Witchblade showed her the man holding it to Gabriel's neck. Her eyes snapped back to the man. With a scream of rage, she lunged forward and skewered him on the blade. A shot sounded from behind her, and the other man fell tot he ground with a scream of agony. The bullet had taken him through the groin. She turned her head and saw Danny grin at her before his head fell back to the ground.
A bullet screamed past her head, reminding her there was still one man left to take care of. She turned her attention to him and raised her gun. Her first bullet took him through the chest, breaking off his Xiphoid process. The next one caught in his throat. He fell to the ground, choking on his own blood. He died a few minutes later, and Sara stepped over the body and walked into the cabin.
She saw Gabriel and Renee chained to the pole and hurried over to them. The gauntlet had turned back to the bracelet when she killed the leader of the group. Sara took a clip out of her hair and used the narrow end of it to unlock both pairs of handcuffs. She helped Renee to her feet, then the younger girl turned to look at Gabriel. His hair was hanging in his face, and his eyes were closed. "He thought they broke a couple ribs," she said softly as tears finally slid down her cheeks.
Sara dug her phone out of her jacket pocket and called for an ambulance. She told them she had two wounded men. While Renee stayed with Gabriel, Sara went outside to check on Danny. His eyes were closed, but he opened them when she kneeled beside him.
"You just won't let me catch up, will you?"
"On what, partner?"
"The saving of lives. Thought you would let me catch up, but you had to save mine before I could even do it for you."
"Shut up, partner," she told him with a worried grin on her face. "Ambulance should be here soon."
It arrived a few minutes later, and they carried two stretchers out. Two of the men got Danny on one and into the ambulance quickly, and the other two went in after Gabriel. Renee watched as they carefully lifted him, strapped him on, and carried him outside. She followed and waited beside Sara while the ambulance pulled away. "We should get you to the hospital, too," she told Renee when she saw her hands.
They were almost to the car when the back-up arrived. "You're too late," Sara told them when they walked past the car. They got into the car and pulled away, driving toward the hospital.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ian stepped through the window again, and the two sisters looked up at him. "They are safe," he told them.
"Thank you, Ian," Dakota said.
"I did not do it. Sara did." He turned to leave, then added, "They are at the hospital."
He walked over to the window before Darvi called, "Ian, wait."
He turned and looked at her.
"We need to talk. To catch up."
"When are you returning?"
She hesitated for a moment, then made a decision to the question she had been asking herself the last several hours. "I'm not. I'm gonna stay here."
He looked shocked for a moment, then his face broke into a grin. "I am glad. We will talk He smiled at her, then started to go out the window.
"Ian." Dakota stopped him. When he looked at her, she grinned and said, "If you're gonna be seeing my sister, use the door."
He looked between them, then stepped back into the room and walked to the door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The doctor finished bandaging the backs of Renee's hands and gave her some ointment to put on them. She thanked him, then went to find someone who could tell her where Gabriel was. A nurse pointed the way to the room but told her,"He's asleep. The doctor put him on some pain medicine."
"Can I at least go in and sit with him?"
"I don't think there should be a problem with that. He'll probably be out for a few hours though."
Renee nodded and walked into the room. Like the nurse had said, he was sleeping. There was a bandage on his nose and one over the cut on his neck. His shirt had been removed,
and a bandage wrapped around his ribs.
Renee pulled a chair beside the bed and sank into it. She leaned forward and grabbed his hand. Not saying anything, she brought it up to her face and laid her cheek against it. Then she let it drop back to the bed.
She hadn't thought she was tired, but her eyes wouldn't stay open. Her chin dropped to her chest, then jerked up again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and saw Sara standing there. "Maybe I should take you home, Renee."
"No, I want to stay 'til he wakes up."
"Well, at least lay down. That other bed is empty."
Renee stood up and walked over to the bed. Within a minute, she was asleep. When she woke, Gabriel was watching her from the other bed. She pushed herself into a sitting position and asked, "How long have you been awake?"
"Not long."
She swung her feet to the floor and walked over to the bed. Smiling down at him, she pushed his hair out of his face. The doctor walked in just then and grinned at them. "How are you feeling, Mr. Bowman?"
"Oh, like I've been chained to a pole for a couple days, had two men work me over with their fists and boots, and one of hem holding a knife to my throat."
The doctor chuckled. "That's understandable, son." Then, he sobered up. "I'd like to keep you here for a week at least."
"The less time I'm here the better. Wanna get home right now."
"I understand, son. Even after you go home, you'll need to take it easy for a couple more weeks."
"I'll try."
"You'd better. Make sure he does," he told Renee.
"I'll try," she repeated Gabriel's answer.
The doctor left them alone and Gabriel looked up at Renee. "Are you still scared?" He asked.
"Yes." At his look of disappointment, she added, "But nothing could have me more scared than the thoughts of what those men were going to do to you."
"Cut my hair? That wouldn't be too terrible."
"Gabriel, I'm being serious! I was afraid they were going to kill you Twice."
"Can only kill a person once."
Her lip moved out in a pout at his teasing. He chuckled then apologized. "I'm sorry, Renee. I'll stop now. Will you let me take you to that dinner I asked you for when we first met?"
"Now?" She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
"When I get out. Will you?"
"Yes."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Your friend's sister is gonna be living here, right?" Gabriel asked as they finished eating dinner. They had gone to see a movie earlier that night and were just about to come to the end of their fist date.
"Yeah. She's staying at Irons' mansion with Ian."
"Cool."
"Yeah. Dakota's happy about it."
Gabriel payed for the dinner, and they walked out of the restaurant. He walked Renee back to her apartment, then stood there in silence for several minutes. He wanted to kiss her but was afraid of how she'd react. She seemed to read his mind. Leaning closer, she brushed her lips across his cheek.
They said good-bye, and she walked up to her apartment. When she reached it, Renee looked down from her window and waved. He returned the wave, then started home. His ribs still hurt, but now he almost forgot to remember them.
THE END