Taryn didn't leave her room for the rest of the day. She'd asked Hassan not to enter without permission, remembering Loki and therefore carefully wording the request to eliminate wiggle-room. He'd agreed to that restriction unless her safety was in question, and she'd accepted that. But with that privacy came her old enemy, boredom.
Giving in, she opened the door and saw Hassan standing just outside with four men bracketing either end of the hall. "Do you need something, Lady?" he asked her at once–Taryn could practically hear the capitalization of the title–as he straightened, instantly attentive.
"Um," she said, mind whirling, trying to think of something to say that wasn't could all of you go away so I can try that escape route Barton told me about. Somehow, Taryn couldn't imagine Loki's instructions to give her whatever she wanted stretched to that. "Are there any books in this place? Can you bring me something to read?"
"Of course," Hassan said, and snapped his fingers. One of his soldiers immediately strode away. "Do you require anything else, Lady?" She shook her head mutely and closed the door again.
The books they brought weren't exactly light reading. There were three thick manuals filled with diagrams and mathematical formulae and words longer than her arm–two of them listing Dr. Erik Selvig as the author–and she put those aside because her headache was just going away and she didn't want to piss it off again, thanks. Several paperbacks were in languages Taryn didn't speak, which was a shame because one had the unmistakable look of a paranormal romance novel.
She had to laugh then, because her life had apparently been turned into one hell of a paranormal romance.
There were also three newspapers–one in German, one in Russian, and finally a tabloid in English. She opened it and read it from front to back in sixty minutes flat, learning more than she ever wanted to know about some star's brave last days and some other star's bad plastic surgery and many, many stars who were possibly sleeping with many, many other stars. Only desperation to stave off boredom could have made her read that crap–there wasn't even a crossword–but since it was either that, brain-breaking advanced science, or sleep, she chose the tabloid.
No way in hell was she going to sleep again until she collapsed from exhaustion.
Lunch was delivered by grim-faced guards, and hours later, dinner came the same way. The hours crawled by. She reread the tabloid three times after trying and failing to make sense of Selvig's books and was about to open the door again and request a deck of cards or something, anything else to do, when she heard a loud bang even through the thick steel door. For an instant she froze, uncertain–was that gunfire? The steel door muffled the sound just enough to keep her from being certain. But whatever it was, the shouts she heard next convinced her that it wasn't anything good.
But on the other hand, something bad for Loki just might be good for her.
This might be the chance she'd been waiting for to try and slip out of the room without Hassan seeing her.
The stab of guilt that afflicted her at the idea of escape wasn't altogether unexpected and that worried her more than anything else. She was starting to lose herself in this crazy situation. Loki's memories kept ambushing her, confusing her priorities, muddling her thoughts with his fears and hopes and desires. Most especially with his certainty that she was the only thing that could bring him peace. Loki doesn't need me, Taryn told herself firmly, repeating it over and over like a mantra that could override the desperation he felt to recreate the only life of thousands wherein he'd known true happiness. She refused to think about that. He's a god–he'll find someone to love him. It doesn't have to be me!
And she needed to get back to her life, back to things that made sense.
Her mind made up, she opened the door again, this time cautious to make as little noise as possible. Hassan and his men were gone. The hall lights flickered as though the power supply had been interrupted and it gave a surreal quality to everything. Honestly, between the shouts, gunfire–she was certain now that was what the noise was–and eerie half-lighting, it reminded her of a spooky video game. Taryn firmly pushed that thought aside as she made her cautious way down the deserted corridor. This was no game that she could restart if she made a mistake. This was real.
She would only get one chance at this.
She turned the corner, hoping to slip into the other hallway without being noticed in the commotion. There was a good chance of it, or at least she hoped so. Her navy slacks and charcoal sweater would blend into the shadows and the soles of her black boots were soft rubber instead of noisy heels. Then again, with the cacophony of what had to be a pitched battle, it was unlikely anyone would hear her footsteps even if she were wearing tap shoes. All she had to do was stay out of sight for the heartbeat of time it would take her to duck into the other corridor, just two little seconds–
–and she wasn't going to get them. As soon as Taryn cautiously peeked around the final corner into the main room, nearly a dozen of Loki's black-armored guards backed out of the very corridor she'd been heading toward. They were firing down that hall and were clearly in retreat. It must've been a full-scale invasion going on from all the noise. The report of automatic weapons was deafening in this enclosed space, and combined with the shouts and echoes and flashes of light, the scene was incredibly confusing. Then to make things worse, one of Loki's men glanced back and spotted her. "Sir!" he shouted, grabbing another guard's arm and pointing toward her.
No! It was Hassan, and when his clouded eyes met hers and flared with anger and panic, she heard the echo of Loki's command. He was already turning to run to her side, ready to do just that, but the last thing Taryn wanted was for someone to die for her!
"Run, get out of here, go!" Hassan yelled at her, breaking formation with his men and starting to run for her. Then a small silver cylinder flew over his head and rolled into the cavernous room and his eyes widened. "Grenade! Get down!"
Taryn instinctively ducked a split second before the ground and walls shook with a blinding, deafening explosion–flashbang, some part of her mind supplied, though the words made little sense right now. She found herself flat on her back, completely disoriented with her ears ringing and flashing spots dancing across her vision. Several endless seconds passed as she tried to think, to figure out what to do, but that was difficult because she couldn't quite remember what she had been doing. Slowly the events of the last few minutes came back to her and she forced her eyes open. Patting her body, she didn't feel any pain or blood, but it was hard to be sure of anything with her head spinning like this.
The only thing she was sure of was that she couldn't stay here. Planning to escape was all well and good, but she hadn't banked on walking into a full-out war. Taryn rolled over and tried to get to her hands and knees, but her elbows buckled and she fell on her face. Nose and forehead throbbing distantly–everything felt distant–she tried again and this time managed to stay up.
But before she could try to crawl away or even decide what direction to crawl, rough hands grabbed her and yanked her upright. The sudden movement sent the world on a slow, sickening roll that almost made her pass out. Hassan, of course it was Hassan, pulled one of her arms over his shoulders and started to drag her away, shouting nonstop although she couldn't hear a word he was saying.
It didn't matter what he was saying anyway. He was preventing her from escaping! If she didn't get away now while Loki was gone, she might not get a chance like this again for weeks or months. And struggling as she was to keep her mental footing while dealing with the influx of Loki's memories, not to mention that little interlude in her bed this morning, she wasn't sure she would still want to escape after much more time.
Protect this woman with your life or pay for your failure with the same, Loki's voice echoed in her head. Taryn winced and prayed that this man wouldn't pay the ultimate price for her escape attempt.
But regardless of that, she had to keep trying. She couldn't just give up and go back to that room. She had to get away from this madness!
Taryn planted her free hand in Hassan's chest and shoved, trying to reclaim her arm, but he lifted her bodily off the floor and kept going. Fighting him in earnest now, Taryn kicked and punched and clawed at him, all to no avail. He didn't even slow down, not even when she bit him hard enough to draw blood. He might not have even noticed.
That was why she was shocked when Hassan abruptly stopped and shoved her away, hard. Unprepared, Taryn slammed into the wall and felt a sickening, wet snap from her right arm. A nauseating wave of pain swamped her and she clutched at the injury. But she wasn't about to question her unexpected good fortune in getting away from him. Ignoring the pain, she managed to lurch to her feet and stumbled forward–
–and tripped over Hassan's body, sprawled in a pool of blood at her feet. Protect her with your life, Loki had commanded, and he had–he'd died for her, just as he'd been ordered, and horror filled her throat with bile. Letting out a shocked scream she couldn't even hear, Taryn spun around, all thoughts lost in bright throbbing panic and the animal instinct to escape from danger, saw soldiers chasing her and tried to run back the way she'd come.
Another man sprinted out of the shadows in front of her with more soldiers at his back. Even in the darkness, his bright red, white, and blue uniform stood out vividly. She'd seen him before, Taryn knew it–why couldn't she place him?
Then someone else punched her in the back and her legs flew out from under her, and she was unconscious before she hit the ground.
