Hold On

Chapter 15

After Thomas had gone to the bathroom, Juliet was sitting on the mattress and couldn't stop thinking about Nick's recalling his lost loved one. She wished she had her laptop or at least her phone with her, in that way she would probably be able to find some information about the man and the history behind his obvious pain.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her reverie by some strange sounds coming from the corridor. She stood up and cautiously approached the door. She put her ear to it so she could hear better. The noise was very muffled and the thick metal door didn't help either. All she knew was that there seemed to be some commotion and she instantly thought of Magnum. Somehow she had a feeling those sounds had something to do with her partner's prolonged absence. She just really hoped he didn't do anything stupid and was okay, and when she heard some steps getting closer, her gut instinct started telling her she was going to find that out really soon.

She tried to hear anything else and for a moment there she could swear she heard her name being spoken and then there was a sound of someone dropping to the floor. Her whole body froze on the spot.

"Magnum?" Juliet whispered and for a few seconds she just stood there, not being able to do anything. Then something snapped inside of her.

"Magnum, is that you? Speak to me, please. Magnum!" Her voice was rising with each word proportionally to her rising level of anxiety. With eyes full of tears, she started banging on the door, pleading for him to come back to her.

"Please, let him be okay." She sniffled and leaned her hands on the cold metal surface, shutting her eyes and trying not to break down.

She finally stopped the moment she heard some muffled voices which she recognized they belonged to the kidnappers.

"Are you all right?" Nick asked and the second man replied.

"Yeah, although my head hurts like hell." Tony's voice was evidently weak.

"You let him take your gun."

"I'm sorry, he surprised me." The younger man said with remorse. "I promise it won't happen again."

"You'd better be right otherwise you won't be needed here... and you know what it means." Nick said through gritted teeth.

Tony swallowed hard and just nodded his head in fear of making Nick angrier.

"Now, grab his legs and let's take him inside!" Nick shouted angrily and Tony did as he was told.

Juliet jumped away from the door as soon as she heard the key being turned in the lock. Soon the door opened and the sight she saw simply made her heart stop.

The kidnappers came inside, holding Thomas' lifeless body and unceremoniously dropped him down on the mattress. Nick instantly noticed Juliet's horror-stricken face.

"Don't worry, he's alive. That partner of yours has just done something extremely stupid. He must have thought he could fight his way out of here for both of you but he obviously overestimated his own strength. Even though he managed to tackle Tony here," Nick stated, pointing to the young man who had his head down, "he didn't anticipate that I would knock him out and ruin his plan. But I must say, he was lucky anyway."

His last words made Juliet surprised which didn't go undetected by Nick.

"If Burt was here, Mr. Magnum's condition would definitely be much, much worse." He told her, his tone of voice very serious.

Higgins' expression spoke volumes, everyone would notice how deeply she cared for Magnum. She quickly knelt by his side and checked his vitals. Only then she could breathe out with relief that he was really alive. She smiled lovingly and gently stroked his cheek.