24 hours

TWO post meridiem

For the third time, my body regained consciousness. This time, though, it was different. This time my brain was a little less foggy and my mind more awake.

Even with my sight taken away by the rag over my eyes, I could tell that Gray was near. His hand brushed against mine and his head leaned down to touch the back of mine. That was when I realized that my hands were tied behind me to the wooden chair I sat on. My ankles were also bound and to the legs of the chair. Muffled voices could be heard beyond the walls of our confinement. My ears strained to make out even a single word being spoken by our captors, but it was in vain.

"Colette," my fellow captive breathed out as he awoke, his voice barely audible.

"I'm here," I reassured him, brushing my hand against his, "but how do we escape?"

"Can you reach the bindings on my wrists?" Gray asked. I extended my arms and managed to touch the ropes holding him, though my own bindings cut into my wrists as I did so.

"Good. There is a small piece of glass in my hand. I managed to pick it up before losing consciousness after we crashed the car. If you can grab it from me, use it to break me free, then I can do the same for you and we can escape."

I touched my hand to his once again, reaching for the glass. I nearly dropped it.

"Gray. It's covered in blood." Now I was even more gentle than before as I retrieved our tool of escape.

"Yeah, I know," he grimaced, "Just wipe it off on your shirt. Or my hands."

Well, I certainly wasn't going to wipe more blood on his already bloodied hands. I didn't want his blood on me either, but I had no choice. So I wiped the glass on my shirt and got to work.

After probably half an hour of sawing back and forth, the rope snapped and Gray was free. Gratefully, no one came in to check on us during that time. I heard him walk over and lock the door as quietly as possible, then come back to help undo my bindings.

Once free, I rubbed my wrists, removed my blindfold, and started working on the ropes binding my legs. Someone shook the handle of the door. The last of my bindings snapped just in time. Both of us ran to one side of the entrance, as a key was inserted into the door. I clutched the piece of glass tightly in my hand, almost drawing my own blood. We heard the key turn, and click into the unlocked position. As soon as our captors entered, we charged.

There were two men. One was huge — at least six-four, and definitely over two-hundred — and physically very strong. The other was thinner, but I could tell he was fit.

Grayson took the bigger guy while I dug the glass into the smaller man's side. He howled in pain and pushed me to the floor, wrestling to get control of the glass. Eventually, he was able to tear it out of my grasp. He instantly brought it towards my neck and it took all my strength to stop the lethal shard from going the final few inches that separated me from death. As hard as I tried, he was too strong for me. There was nothing I could do, so I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst.

The man was practically ripped off of me by my knight in shining armor. Using his speed against the man, Grayson wasted no time in getting under my attacker's arms, going around to his back, and pulling him to the ground. Fast as lightning, Gray got up onto his knees, and as soon as the man tried to get up, he placed his hands under the man's neck. To tighten the choke, Gray wrapped his legs around the man and hooked his ankles on his back. In no time, the attacker was out cold from the deadly choke. Just now, Colette realized the other guy Grayson had fought lay on the ground as well. Unconscious.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" I exclaimed in amazement as Gray grabbed a knife from one of the men and slipped it into his shoe.

"I was in several combat sports as a kid, including Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu."

"You are definitely a person of many talents, Gray Arbitrium," I marveled.

Wasting no more time, we ran out of the building and stole one of our captor's cars before they had a chance to wake up and regroup. I took my phone out of my pocket, surprised it hadn't been confiscated by the kidnappers.

Go to Torpedo Wharf.

That was all the message said this time.