Hold On

Chapter 9

For a long moment, Higgins lay there disoriented, not knowing where she was or what happened to her. She felt dizzy, there was constant pounding in her head and all her muscles ached as if she had just been run down by a car. Slowly, she opened her heavy eyelids and looked up. How did it happen? She was up there just a minute ago and now she was on the floor.

Wait, no, it's not the floor, she thought and then realization hit her hard. I must have landed on Magnum.

"Oh my God, Magnum!" She shrieked in pure horror and moved off him at once. "Thomas, are you all right?" She asked feeling so worried about him.

"Mhmm..." He murmured, breathing heavily. "I've been better." He stated with a wink. "I tried to catch you but it turns out you weigh more than I expected."

She sent him a condescending look but then smiled with relief. "I hope my fall didn't make you break anything." She said.

He stretched his limbs and shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Come on, let's move you to the mattress. It's better to lay there than on this hard floor. Can you stand up?" She said and took his hand.

"I'll try." He replied and lifted himself up with Juliet's help.

When they were halfway there, in the middle of the room, Magnum stopped abruptly. "Higgy, can you tell me what happened up there? Why did you try to get down so fast?" He looked at her with expectation.

However, Juliet didn't get the chance to explain anything as they heard footsteps coming closer outside the door. The woman visibly paled as she was well aware of who could that be. Magnum felt her whole body go stiff so he squeezed her hand, this small gesture giving her his strength and support. She glanced at him for a second before the door was unlocked and opened by Burt who was adjusting the mask on his face. He stormed inside, going straight for Higgins. It was evident he was full of rage, his eyes were shining with menace and he was visibly shaking.

"You!" He shouted and approached Juliet, shoving Magnum roughly to the ground.

She wanted to protest but the attacker grabbed her by the arms and pushed her hard against the wall.

"What were you doing by that window?" He growled at her.

She knew she had to keep a cool head in order for them to survive so she answered him in a calm way.

"Nothing. I just needed to get some fresh air."

"Cut the crap." He snapped at her angrily. "I know you were planning to escape."

"I can assure you that you're highly mistaken." Juliet replied politely but this only infuriated him even more.

He took hold of her neck and tightened his fingers around it, thus squeezing her throat and making her choke. She tried to do everything not to let the panic take over her but if someone cut off your air and you could barely breathe, you would find it extremely difficult to remain calm. Higgins struggled against Burt but she felt she was running out of time – with that iron grip on her throat, she started to feel lightheaded and her vision was slowly blacking out. Just as she thought she couldn't take it anymore and her legs finally gave in, making her drop to her knees, a sudden blow landed on Burt's back. He instantly loosened his grip on Juliet, leaving her barely breathing on the floor. She looked up and noticed that Burt spun around and then her partner delivered another blow to the man's jaw, making him stumble backwards.

"Magnum." She murmured.

The moment the PI was ready to attack Burt one more time, he heard the sound of a click coming from the open door. He froze with his hand in the air and turned his head to look that way, spotting Nick with a gun ready to be fired.