Chapter 7
"Broder." Danny spat through gritted teeth, staring at his rival directly in the eye. As his heart started to race in anticipation of the fight he knew was coming, sudden movement behind the man in front of him caught Danny's eye. He cursed his luck as he noticed that Leo, predictably, wasn't alone; the two men who had helped him beat Danny earlier in the day were now standing behind Leo. Not taking his eyes off of them, McCoy reached down and picked up a tree branch that had fallen to the ground.
"You know what, G.I. Joe?" Leo smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "If it were up to me, I'd just let you freeze to death out here." He paused momentarily as if mentally debating whether or not he should still go that route, and just leave Danny where he was. Eventually, the dark-haired man shrugged his broad shoulders. "However, Henderson seems to think that you're worth more to us alive than dead at the moment."
"Gee," a sarcastic Danny remarked, "You disagree with him on something?" He chuckled and shook his brown-haired head. "And here I thought that you had your lips permanently attached to his ass!"
"I could say the same thing about you and Deline." an insulted Leo grumbled, "See, Danny Boy? This is exactly why things haven't worked out so well for you lately: you don't seem to know when to keep your mouth shut." He glanced back at one of the muscular men behind him. "Kick his ass!"
"But Henderson said..." the man started hesitantly.
"There's no way that he's going to come peacefully." Leo waved off, knowing that the man was going to say that Henderson's specific instructions had been to bring Danny back with as little bodily harm as possible. However, Broder didn't see that McCoy coming along without at least attempting to put up a fight, and seeing Danny McCoy getting beaten up never grew tiring to him.
Seeing the man start to charge towards him, Danny got into a fighting stance and gripped the tree branch harder than ever. He didn't like the odds of three against one, especially out here where there was no one or nothing but the trees and snow to bare witness to it. However, the tall, brown-haired man knew without a doubt that he would rather die than be taken hostage again willingly. The man aimed a punch for Danny's head, but, thanks to his quick reflexes, McCoy managed to dodge in the nick of time and, as his opponent staggered forward confused, he swung the branch in his hands. It was a direct blow to the back of the head!
"Damn it." Leo muttered as the first man fell to the ground stunned. Still gritting his teeth, he turned to the second man. "Get him!"
Determined not to let the second muscular man have better luck, Danny was ready for him as he charged forth. This time he managed to connect the tree branch to the front of the head. As the man fell lifeless into the snow, McCoy dropped the tree branch and looked squarely at Broder, who got into a fight stance of his own.
"Been waiting for this." Danny grinned confidently before lunging forward and tackling Leo to the ground. As he held him down with one hand and punched with the other, Danny couldn't help but think about the pain his kidnapping had caused the people in his life; most importantly the pain it had caused both Delinda and Mary. And, although he felt relief wash through him as he continued to pound away, he almost made a promise to himself that no matter what, he would also make Henderson pay for orchestrating the whole incident.
WHAM! Danny didn't even see Leo grab the nearby rock, much less his hand slamming it into his head. Falling to the side in a daze, he silently berated himself for letting his thoughts distract him. He should have been concentrating on Leo, and Leo only. He felt the all-too-familiar sensation of blood trickling down the side of his face as the old wound had once again reopened. Wiping it away, McCoy noticed that, next to him, Leo was trying to get to his feet.
"No!" he exclaimed, grabbing the other man's legs and bringing him down again.
"A little help over here!" a desperate, bloody Leo shouted, causing Danny to glance over. To his horror, Leo hadn't been the only one to get back to his feet; the other two men had as well. Clenching his teeth, Danny managed to get in a few more blows to Leo's head before the two men rushed over and pulled him off.
"We got him, man." the man on Danny's right said, firming up his grip on Danny's arm as McCoy thrashed about, trying to escape. "I see what you said about him not coming peacefully. You going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine." Leo nodded, wiping blood from his nose and mouth. His dark eyes turned to Danny as he bent down to pick up the nearby tree branch. "You think you're so tough, don't you, McCoy?" He rammed the branch into Danny's abdomen, causing the other man to cry out momentarily. From past experience, he could tell that Leo's blow had broken a rib or two. "Screw Henderson's plan! I think that I'll just kill you right here and now." A confident smile crossed his features and a look of anger mixed with fear crossed Danny's as he produced a hunting knife from a sheath around his waist. "I can always tell him that a bear mauled you or something."
"Leo." the man on Danny's left shushed as the sound of snowmobiles were heard fast approaching the group. Danny felt relief wash over him as the sound reached his ears. Leo and his two cronies had obviously not been expecting the company, so whoever was approaching wasn't one of them.
"Damn it." Leo muttered, putting the knife away. He looked to the men on either side of Danny before nodding to the snowmobiles. "Quick! Make it look like a crash or something happened here." He turned to Danny as the men threw him on the ground. "Say or do anything and I'll make sure not to kill you until you watch helplessly as sweet little Mary and Delinda are killed right in front of your eyes!"
Feeling his blood boil again, Danny simply glared up at Broder and clenched his fists. He wanted to do more, but his ribs were crying out in pain upon coming into contact with the cold snow. His reply was even cut short by the approaching snowmobiles arriving in front of the group, just as Leo's men had tipped a couple of the snowmobiles over. There were two riders, Danny noted, one male and one definitely female. Placing himself in between his companion and the group, the male rider got off of his snowmobile and pointed at Danny.
"We're all okay." Leo lied, putting his hands up. "Our buddy here just had a little accident, but he's going to be just fine." He glanced warningly down at Danny. "Isn't that, right?"
"Right." a defeated Danny sighed, looking away.
WHAM! Hearing Leo cry out in pain, McCoy turned his attention back to Broder and the mysterious rider in front of him just in time to see his captor reel back as if he had been punched in the face. "What the hell?" Leo asked, putting a hand to his jaw. His dark eyes studied the rider carefully. "What in the hell did you hit me for?"
"Because." Ed grinned in response as he pulled off his helmet, causing a look of fear to appear on Leo's face and a look of relief to appear on Danny's. The graying man's smile widened as he threw his helmet aside. "That's what I do to douchebags like you."
"Deline." Leo muttered angrily before turning to the two men behind him. "Take him out!"
"Ed!" Danny shouted, getting to his knees as the two men charged forth towards his mentor. Seeing the tree branch laying near him on the ground, McCoy tossed it to his mentor.
"Thanks, kid." Ed nodded, catching it in the nick of time.
"Danny!" a concerned Mary shouted as she took off her helmet.
"Mary." Danny whispered, wondering what the hell she was doing here. Catching a glimpse of movement from nearby, he turned his head to see Leo heading directly for Mary. He threw himself at Broder, knocking him to the ground with a sideways tackle. "No! This is between you and me, Broder!"
"Get off of me, McCoy!" Leo growled, elbowing the other man in the temple and temporarily stunning him. The pair wrestled around on the ground for a while before Leo, after hitting Danny with a cheap shot to his lower abdomen, came up victorious. Pinning McCoy to the ground with one of his arms and his knees, he pulled the knife out once more with his free hand.
"Danny!" Mary screamed, wanting to help her friend but feeling as if the weather had frozen her to the spot. "NO!"
"It ends now." Leo smiled evilly, putting the knife to a struggling Danny's throat.
"Damn right it does!" Ed growled, swinging the tree branch with both hands, hitting Leo in the side of the head. Dazed, Broder fell sideways off of Danny and dropped the knife, giving McCoy a minor scratch on his neck in the process. Throwing the tree branch aside, Deline stomped over and picked the still stunned Leo off of the ground by the collar of his jacket. "Give Bill my regards."
"Nice one, old man," an appreciative Danny said as Leo fell lifeless to the ground beside him after becoming the victim of an Ed Deline punch. Although he was thankful to finally be rescued, he couldn't resist teasing his mentor. "But shouldn't you have been here a few days ago?"
"Shouldn't you have escaped sooner and saved me the trouble?" Ed fired back, helping Danny to his feet and pulling him into a tight hug. "It's good to see you, kid. You all right?"
"Broken ribs," Danny reported, wincing as Ed hugged him. However, after he said that, the older man loosened his grip. "And some bumps and bruises, but I'll be fine."
"You've suffered worse." Mary nodded as she joined the two men. Tears of joy were beginning to cascade down the red-haired woman's cheeks and, after Ed let him go, she hugged Danny.
"I'm just glad to see that you're okay." Danny smiled, hugging his best friend back. Ever since Henderson's men had taken him from the parking lot, he had wondered what had become of Mary, and who he'd have to kill if she had been harmed.
"Ed and Mike got to those guys before they could hurt me." Mary replied, rubbing Danny's back. She sniffled, trying to get the tears under control. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"What were you thinking bringing her up here?" Danny suddenly asked Ed.
"She would have killed me if I hadn't." Ed shrugged, tucking Leo's knife into his own belt. "All right, I want you two to head back to town while I..."
"Take on Henderson and company alone?" Danny finished, knowing what Ed was going to say. "Yeah, I don't think so, Ed. You can send Mary back, but I've got a score to settle."
"I'm not going anywhere." Mary echoed with a look that told Danny not to question her.
"All right." Ed smiled, thinking to himself that he was beginning to be a bad influence on his employees. "Let's do some hunting!"
Slamming down the phone, Bill Henderson ran a hand through his hair in a futile effort to calm himself down. He had just heard from one of his men that he had stationed in a nearby town that both Ed Deline and Mary Connell had been spotted earlier that day renting snowmobiles and heading in his direction. As he cursed his luck, the former senator hoped that Leo had caught up to and recaptured Danny McCoy before Ed could interfere. Although he was confident in Leo's abilities, Henderson knew that his protege was no match for Ed Deline or, worse, the team of Ed Deline and Danny McCoy.
"Pack everything up." he growled to some of his men nearby. "Ed Deline won't win this easily."
"This is it!" Danny shouted so that Ed, who was sitting in front of him, could hear him over the roar of the snowmobile. "Henderson's base is on the other side of that hill coming up!"
"You sure?" Ed asked, glancing back momentarily.
"Positive." a slightly embarrassed Danny nodded, "I remember slipping on some ice and falling down the damn thing."
"Graceful, kid." Ed laughed, shaking his head. "Real graceful."
As Ed pulled the snowmobile to a slow stop, Danny turned and motioned to Mary, who had been riding behind them, that they were going to stop there. Pulling his helmet off, Deline got off of the snowmobile and looked at the hill in front of the group.
"What are you thinking, Ed?" Danny asked, walking up to his mentor's side.
"You and Mary, stay here." Ed replied, turning physically towards Danny before nodding his head towards the hill. "I'm going to have a look around."
"All right." Danny nodded, "But be careful going up that hill, old man. I don't want you pulling a me and breaking your hip or something."
"The only breaking that's going to happen around here is me breaking your neck when I get back down for that comment." Ed replied, gently punching Danny on the shoulder.
"I'll be sure to run." Danny laughed as Ed walked away. He turned to look at Mary, who was looking in a compartment of the snowmobile for something. Curious, he walked over to her. "You know, you really haven't said much this whole trip."
"Really haven't had time." Mary pointed out, not looking at him.
"That's true." Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"Here it is!" a relieved Mary said to herself, pulling a first aid kit out of the compartment. Turning towards Danny, she motioned to the seat of the snowmobile. "Sit."
"Mary," Danny started to reply, "I'm fine! I don't need..."
"SIT!" Mary demanded, causing Danny to comply. Kneeling down in the snow, she wet a handkerchief and started to clean Danny's face, which still had some dried blood on it. "God! You're a mess!"
"I've looked better." Danny grinned before wincing momentarily as a dull ache radiated from his ribs when he dared to take a breath. "Felt better too."
"I'm sure that Ed will have a doctor look at you sooner than later." Mary replied, dabbing some rubbing alcohol onto a cloth so she could clean the wound on Danny's temple. The redhead had to stifle a laugh as her friend, a former Marine, tried to pull away from the resulting sting. "Of course, maybe we should do that before you're reunited with Delinda. Something tells me that she's not going to let you go for awhile."
"How is she?" Danny asked.
"She's tried to be strong this entire time," Mary reported, taping some gauze to Danny's temple after not being able to find an appropriate sized bandage. "We've all been worried about you."
"I'm sorry about that." Danny apologized, knowing that Mary had probably been acting the same as she described Delinda: strong on the outside, but a mess inside.
"No need to apologize." Mary shook her head as Ed headed back towards the pair.
"Well, I'm guessing that our friend Billy knew we were coming." Ed said as both Danny and Mary got to their feet. "The place looks pretty deserted."
"So either the bastard got out of here while we were busy dealing with Douchebag and company," Danny nodded, "Or he's got some sort of ambush planned for us if we go down there. Neither of which is an ideal situation for us."
"Nothing about this week has been ideal, Captain Obvious." Mary pointed out, gently elbowing her best friend in the arm.
"So, what's the plan, Ed?" Danny asked after briefly smiling at Mary. "The sun is already starting to set, and it's already getting colder."
"The town's too far off." Ed nodded in agreement, "So, I guess we make for the only shelter around here." He sighed and the nod turned into a shake. "However, if things do get hairy down there, I want the two of you to get yourselves out of there, understood?"
"Okay." Mary reluctantly agreed, crossing her fingers behind her back.
"You know where I stand, Ed." Danny firmly replied.
"Right." Ed smiled, knowing full well that if things did go like he feared, his protИgИ would be right behind him. "Let's go!"
To be continued...