I actually had a lot of fun writing this one, so thanks to Erin for the prompt!
My usual thanks go to everyone that followed or favourited, and extra thanks to RuthWriter, krazyy989, Agent Striker, McNuggets, NCISRookie33, kateanneshepherd, Puckish879, gurl luvin the fic life and red lighting for reviewing!
My apologies also for not updating as I usually do, I've had a long week of being sick and having assignments due for uni. I have a mid semester break coming up soon, so hopefully I can get some more writing done then!
Anyway, please enjoy and leave a review, as well as any prompts you may have.
-Scottie.
Stuck in freezer. (I couldn't work with a freezer, so I used some creative license here).
"No, you can't leave us in here!" Riley kicked out at the man who had just pushed her into the edge of a crate. Had her wrists not been tied together, she would have attempted to drop the guy, but as it was, they weren't, and she was rewarded for her kicking efforts by a fist to her own jaw. As she hit the ground, she took a moment to make sure Gabriel was still breathing.
"Get in there," the man sneered, dragging Riley by her hair back to her feet. "Or I'll shoot you both." Riley winced as she was pushed forward into the shipping container. She landed heavily on her side, and Gabriel was thrown in, landing half on top of her. Riley heard the door close and the scratching of a padlock being latched into place seconds later. Groaning under the dead weight of Gabriel, she rolled out from under him, and pulled the knife from the side of his boot. She carefully sliced the rope around her wrists before untying Gabriel's, replacing the knife in his boot.
Riley stood and moved to the door, searching for any exit possibility. When she couldn't find any obvious exits, she lashed out and kicked the door, immediately regretting it as a stabbing pain made it's way up her foot. She walked back over to Gabriel when she noticed him starting to come to.
"Gabriel, you gotta keep moving or your concussion's going to get a lot worse." Riley pulled the lethargic man to his feet, tripping backwards over an empty crate. She felt a trickle of blood running down her forearm, but ignored it, pulling herself back to her feet and hurried back to Gabriel. "Damn it Gabriel, talk to me."
"Bit hard to talk when you're telling me what to do all the time." Riley shook her head.
"Nice to see you still have a sense of humour." She frowned when he was slow to respond again. "Are you ok?" Gabriel gazed expressionlessly at her for a minute.
"I think I hit my head on something," he mumbled. Riley frowned again.
"You don't remember it?" Gabriel shook his head. "You did more than hit it," she noticed the beads of sweat starting to work their way down Gabriel's forehead. "Gabriel, you were thrown into a wall," Gabriel frowned, and Riley reached for his hand and began walking, forcing him to follow.
"At the shipping yard?" Gabriel asked. Riley nodded. "I think I remember most of it," he mumbled. Riley turned to face him again, noting how clammy his palm was. "Riley," Gabriel mumbled. "You're really hot." Riley started moving again.
"You're not too bad yourself," she replied, cursing when she tripped over another crate, this time not pulling herself up again. Gabriel dropped to the ground next to her, and Riley finally pulled herself into a seated position.
"Let's just hope Nelson was watching." Gabriel mumbled. "Or we're going to fry in here."
Riley just nodded, the intense heat inside the container draining any energy she had left. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, opening them only when a trickle of sweat rolled down her face, jerking her back to awareness. Riley wiped a hand across her face, hissing when she pressed her jaw too hard, and glanced over to Gabriel. He had his eyes closed as well, and Riley reached out a hand to wake him up.
"Gabriel," she croaked, her throat dry and lips cracked from dehydration. "Gabriel, wake up." Gabriel groaned and turned his head, but didn't respond. Riley sighed when she gave his shoulder one last shake and felt the cut on her forearm she'd received earlier split open. She rolled her sleeve up to inspect the cut, and when she'd decided it'd be alright for now, she tore a few strips of fabric from her shirt, fastening them as bandages.
"Riley?" Riley was distracted from her task by Gabriel's confused mumbling.
"What's up Gabriel?" He turned his head to face Riley.
"Thirsty," he mumbled, his eyes blinking closed before reopening again.
"Me too," Riley replied. "But there's nothing in here." Gabriel sighed. "Is there any way you can get a message to Lillian or Nelson?" Gabriel shook his head.
"Nah, we're in a shipping container. The metal is blocking any signals from getting in or out." Riley groaned.
"Looks like we're stuck." She turned to face Gabriel again. "Try and stay awake," she said. "I don't want you dying on me in here." Gabriel managed a wry grin before he reached for Riley's jaw, turning her head sideways to better see the bruise spreading across the side of her face.
"I don't remember that happening," Gabriel frowned as he gently touched her jaw, checking for a break.
"That's because you'd already passed out," Riley returned, wincing at the pressure.
"I don't think it's broken," Gabriel mumbled, moving her head to face him again. "Did you get hit in the head too?" He asked. Riley thought for a moment.
"I may have collided with the ground on the way in," she replied. "But I didn't think so." Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
"Well you've got a nasty cut, so you've done well." Gabriel dropped his hand from her chin.
"What about you?" Riley asked. "Any injuries?" Gabriel shook his head.
"Head is pounding and I really need a drink, but everything else is intact." Riley nodded, wiping another layer of sweat from her face.
They fell into silence for a while, Riley drifting in and out of consciousness, Gabriel staying out for most of the time. She was abruptly woken again when the sound of a padlock at the front of the container was heard, and shouts in a European language she didn't recognise were heard. Riley quickly found the rope she had untied from Gabriel's wrists earlier and loosely knotted the rope around him again. The rope she'd cut from her own wrists was not reusable, so she left it and moved back to Gabriel, hoping if she pretended to be unconscious, they'd present them with an opportunity to get out. Leaning against the wall of the container, she closed her eyes and listened.
The door of the container swung open with a loud bang, and it took all the self control Riley had not to jump at the sound. It sounded like there were three men that stepped into the container. A moment later, one man called out something, and the other two hurried over to Gabriel and Riley, dragging them to their feet. Staying limp, Riley knew that they'd found the rope, and there wasn't much time left for them. Riley felt a hand curl around her forearm, and she ignored the pain of the man pressing on the wound. He pulled her hand forward from behind her back, revealing her untied wrists. Another man shouted an order and she was immediately thrown to the ground. She couldn't hold back a groan as she slammed into the ground. She barely had time to register the throbbing pain through her temple when her hands were roughly bound again, pulled tighter than before. They bound her ankles with the same rough rope before dragging her by the back of her shirt, along the ground to the other side of the container. Riley felt another piece of rope being looped around her midsection and pulled tight against what Riley guessed was a heavy crate she'd seen from the other side of the container earlier. One last blow to her cheek, and Riley let her head slump to the side.
She heard the men move over to Gabriel, checking the ropes and searching his pockets again. Carefully cracking one eye open enough to see through her eyelashes, she watched them find the knife in his boot, bind his ankles and then leave the container, slamming the door shut. The now familiar sound of the padlock was heard, and then nothing.
"Riley," Gabriel called a few moments later. "Are you alright?" Riley nodded.
"Yeah," she mumbled, her entire head and face aching. "I'm fine. Are you?"
"I'm good," he replied. "Great actually." Riley reopened her eyes to see a grin spread across his face.
"How are you great right now?" The grin grew bigger.
"Managed to send a message to Nelson while they left the door open," he replied. "Help is on the way." Riley returned his smile, and watched as he wriggled around for a while.
"What are you doing?" Riley finally asked after watching his frustration grow.
"Idiot that tied the rope didn't do it very well," he replied, still twisting. "If I can grab the loose end, I should be able to get it undone." She watched for a few more minutes until he finally got it. "Yes!" he called. "Got it!" He pulled his hands free and moved to his ankles, quickly unknotting the rope and pulling it off.
Gabriel stood and moved over to Riley, stepping around the splintered wooden crates. He untied her ankles, carefully pulling the rope off and avoiding giving her rope burn. He had just started searching for the knot around her middle when there was shouting and gunfire outside the crate. Gabriel looked at Riley.
"Go," she said. "If it's not CyberCom, don't let them in." Gabriel nodded and hurried over to the door of the crate, positioning himself to the side of the door. "Be careful," she added as the shouts got closer. When the door burst open, Riley squinted against the bright sunlight. The armed man that stood in front of the door peered in.
"Agent Neal?" He asked, stepping inside and immediately being pulled into a headlock by Gabriel.
"Who are you?" Gabriel yelled. The man dropped his weapon and tried to reply.
"Agent Green," he choked. "CyberCom." Gabriel released his grip.
"Show me your ID." The man stepped away from Gabriel and massaged his throat, his free hand pulling his ID from a pocket. He handed it to Gabriel who glanced over it.
"You guys took your time," he said as he handed it back and walked over to Riley. "You got a knife or anything?" Agent Green handed a combat knife to Gabriel, who turned back to Riley and cut through the ropes with ease. Gabriel handed the knife back to the Agent and pulled Riley to her feet.
"Let's not do this again," Gabriel said as they sat on the edge of an ambulance, water bottles in hand. Riley nodded, and held up her water bottle, and Gabriel touched his bottle to hers.
"I'll drink to that."
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