Catherine Coulter - The Edge

"It's all right, sweetheart. We're both alive. I just don't know where or why. Somebody stripped both of us naked."

She didn't move, didn't try to cover herself. I saw her draw in a deep breath and knew she was searching for control, for something to latch onto, something that made sense.

"I saw a man, standing behind you. He was just there, suddenly. I never heard him coming. And he sprayed something at me. Before I went out, I saw him strike you on the back of your head. I don't remember anything else. I want to get up now, Mac."

I gave her my hand. She was looking at me and I realized that I was hard again. I was embarrassed and frightened as hell. Pain was one thing, but not knowing what was real and what wasn't, that was beyond anything I'd ever experienced in my life. God, I hated it.

I turned away from her, grabbed a blanket off the bed, and wrapped it around my waist. There was only a dingy sheet for Laura. I pulled it off the small bed and handed it to her. She wrapped it around herself, tucking in the ends over her breasts.

She sat beside me on the bed. "I'm dying of thirst," she said, not looking at me but down at her bare feet.

I said without thinking, "We're not going to drink anything at all. Not even tap water." "Why?"

I turned to face her. I lifted her hand and held it between mine. She leaned forward until her cheek was touching my shoulder.

"Listen, Laura. Jilly came to see me. She's here. She seemed upset. She told me not to eat or drink anything."

"Jilly, here? But when could you have seen her, Mac?"

"I don't know but it makes as much sense as you and me being here, wherever here is."

"It means she is involved," Laura said finally. "You see that now, don't you, Mac? If she was really here, with you, then she's in on all of this, somehow." "Yes, I know," I said. "They've got us again, haven't they? What are we going to do?"

But how did they have us again? They just walked up to us and turned off the lights? What was going on here? Was it all somehow planned with a drug whose effects diminished, then came roaring back?

I stood and began pacing the twelve-by-twelve room. "We've got to find Sherlock and Savich," I said over my shoulder. "We know they're real."

It was odd but even though I was walking around and speaking to Laura, I knew that somewhere inside my brain something still wasn't right. I remembered reliving that horrible few moments in Tunisia, how it had somehow been magnified.

I looked over at the tap in the small sink. Neither of us was going to touch another drop of water, at least not in this place.

What about the food? Jilly hadn't said anything about food, had she? Yes, she had, I remembered. I looked down at the plate of steaming rice, tortillas with small pools of melted butter, and the small bowl of beef in some sort of red sauce. I held out my hand and stopped Laura from using her fork.

"We just can't take the chance. They could put drugs in the food as easily as in the water." I smelled those tortillas and wanted to curse, which I did under my breath.

Two men had stood in the doorway, their weapons pointed right at us, as a young girl, not more than twelve years old, looking so scared I thought she was going to pass out, brought us the meal.

"There's something else," I said, and got to my feet. I gently put the two trays of food on the floor. "Let's look around again for cameras or listening devices. There weren't any last time, but who knows?"

We didn't find anything. Even so, I kept my voice down. "We need to get ready for any opportunity, just like the first time."

"Can we be so lucky again? There were two guys this time with AK-47s." She looked over at the toilet.

"The porcelain lid is gone."

"I never said they were stupid. We'll have to find something else. We do have an advantage here."

"I'd bet the farm that they put drugs in the food and water. Someone will come sooner or later to see how we're reacting. It won't occur to them that we wouldn't eat or drink anything. They'll be expecting us to be out cold or having sex on the floor or whatever the hell else this drug does to you."

Her shoulders were slumped. I'd never seen her look so defeated. "Laura, listen to me. Our brains will straighten up again. No more drugs. We're pros. If anyone can get out of this place, we can. Now, come here and hold me. I'm feeling a bit off balance right now. I need you."

She came to me, clutching the sheet over her breasts. She didn't say anything, just held me against her. I felt her kiss my bare shoulder.

Suddenly I was so pissed I could have easily killed the first person through that door. I kissed Laura and set her away from me. I got up and tore off a leg of the bed. My blanket fell off but I didn't pay any attention. I hefted that leg. It made a solid club. I handed it to Laura. "Hit me if I try to take you down again. Please, I'd much prefer that to being kicked."

She took the club and hefted it. Then she smiled at me. "Give me a bad guy instead."

It was such an excellent weapon that I took off another leg for myself and swung it around a bit, liking the solid weight of it in my hand. I smiled at Laura, standing not six feet away. She still had that old threadbare sheet wrapped around her, her hair was in tangles, and she looked ready for anything. The woman was tough. I realized then that she wasn't looking at my face. I picked up my blanket and wrapped it around me again.

"You're the best, Laura," I said. "I can't imagine having a better partner. Now we wait again."

We waited.

We dozed. Since there were no windows, we had no clue if it was night or day. There was a lamp in the room and it gave off a sluggish sixty-watt light.

The sound of at least three pairs of boots thudding on the wooden floor snapped me alert. I couldn't wait to get a shot at the bastards.

I raised a finger to Laura. She nodded. I could see she was ready. I wondered if she was as angry as I was, and imagined that she was.

The door handle turned. There wasn't a sound. Both Laura and I were staring at that turning knob.

A woman wearing a white lab coat stepped in. She had a small silver tray in her right hand. I moaned loudly and clutched my throat.

She came down to her knees beside me, and I moaned again. But I was looking behind her at the same two men who'd accompanied the breakfast or lunch or whatever meal it had been. When the first man came through the door, his gun was down because he was staring down at me and the woman. I grabbed her under the arms and threw her at him. She yelled as she hit him squarely in his AK-47.

He screamed out the other man's name: "Carlos!"

Carlos was through the door in an instant, the weapon raised to mow me down. Laura rose up behind him, and the club came down in a hard, graceful arc against the side of his head. His eyes bulged. Blood poured out of his mouth, then he fell against the door. The other man had gotten his AK-47 free of the woman and was swinging it up. I wasn't in a good position. I managed to roll to my left side and kick up as I moved. My foot struck the weapon but didn't knock it from his hands. He fired two rounds, a loud, obscene sound. One bullet smashed into the floor beside my head, spewing splinters of wood into my arm and chest. The other bullet struck the woman. I heard her cry out as I gained the leverage I needed.

I kicked him solidly beneath his chin at the same time Laura clubbed him in his kidneys.

His eyes rolled back in his head and he went down like a stone. I slowly rose. "These guys were serious."

I knelt beside the woman. The bullet had struck her forearm. She'd be all right. I told her in Spanish to be still. As for the two men, all I wanted from them were their clothes.