HARDCORE: Storm MC(49)

“Shh, shh, Zoe, it’s okay. It’s all right. I’m here, it’s done, it’s over. Shh. It’s over.”



I don’t even know if she heard me. She was crying so hard, and once I got both her arms and legs free and finally cut the belt that had her around the middle, she just rolled over and would have fallen down straight to the floor if I hadn’t been there to catch her. As it was, she knocked me to the floor and ended up kind of curled in my lap. That was okay; if anyone needed a hug, it was this girl.



But I was aware she was naked, and she was aware, too. As fast as I could, I shucked my leather jacket and pulled it around her as gently as I could, having nothing else to offer her that might cover her better than that. She was small enough that it did the job. She pretty much swam in it.



Her breath was coming in deep gulps between sobs, and I knew it would be a while before she’d be able to calm down, but I was also getting really antsy to get up and get back out into that hallway and search for that other voice—god, I hoped it was Sienna’s—that I had heard. I couldn’t hear it anymore, not with Zoe’s gasping and sobbing and the sick bastard’s continuing whine.



Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Zoe, honey, I have to get up. I think there’s somebody else down here. I have to go look.”



She paused in her weeping and nodded. “There is. There’s another one. She’s new. He was so…” Her voice was scratchy and weak, and she broke off. I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me, but she either wasn’t able or wasn’t willing to find the words to convey her thoughts to me on the point.



“Okay. Okay, honey. Do you think you want to just sit here for a minute, maybe come out of the cage? We can shut him inside it. Or do you want to come with me? Can you stand up on your own? Do you need me to carry you?”



I maneuvered myself to my feet, letting my arms fall away from cradling her, and she let me go. While I retrieved my gun and holstered it, she crawled out of the cage as fast as she could in that big leather jacket of mine that fell almost to her knees. I followed her out. Then she indicated one of the switches by the door and said, “That one. Hit that one. The cage’ll lock him in.”



I lifted my eyebrows in surprise at the ease of it, the schematic use of modern technology in this man’s depravity. But I hit the switch, and sure enough the cage door hydraulically shut and locked with a loud steel clank. Fielding moaned, “No,” but he didn’t make much effort to move in any direction; he knew he was toast.



Zoe propped herself to sit up against the wall under the switches, and I told her with my eyes that I’d be back for her after I dealt with whatever came next. She seemed to get it; she nodded, and her eyes rested at half-mast on the slimebucket wheezing in the cage.



I slipped out and paused in the hall, not sure where to go, listening for that other voice.



Nothing.



“Hello? Is there anybody else down here? Where are you?” I called out.



“Dom? Dom?” It was Sienna. I almost cried to hear her; her voice was harsh and hoarse and held disbelief. And it was coming from the left. I immediately headed in that direction.



“Baby, keep talkin’ to me. I’m comin’ to you. Just keep sayin’ my name, okay?”



She put force into it. A lot. “Dom! Dom! Dom! Dom!” over and over again. My beautiful one had some lungs on her when she wanted to use ’em. My heart was pounding with pride and anticipation at seeing her, with fear of how she would be, with joy that she was alive.



I was close, then I passed it, so I backtracked to the appropriate door, yelling, “Get back from the door, baby, I’m comin’ in!” I flung open the door.



I guessed I needn’t have bothered to warn her; she, too, was caged up, so there was no way she could have been standing by the door to the cell. But she was on her feet, at least, not bound or gagged or anything.



Still, she looked weak. I’d never imagined Sienna could look so weak. She was practically wilting on her legs, her arms wrapped around the cage bars the only things keeping her vertical.



The tears I hadn’t been aware of behind my eyes tripped their way down my face at the sight of her. “Sienna, baby, I’m gonna flip the switch to open that door. You think you can move forward with it, or do you need a minute to skootch over to the side so I can come in and get you?”



She only nodded, breathing my name under her breath now, and not even making eye contact with me. I gave her a minute, but she made no move, so I flipped the switch and she shuffled her feet to keep up with the door as it swung open. It got her out of the cage, and I was right there to catch her as soon as I had access.