Two of a Kind. Susan Mallery

of heavy lifting.”

      “Right. The bodyguards. Sure, use them if they’ll do it. Just don’t tell the city. They’ll be worried about injuries and insurance.”

      “The guys will be happy to do it,” she said confidently. Justice and Ford both owed her, and she had a feeling Angel could be easily manipulated into helping. She would only have to suggest that Ford could lift more than him and he would be all in. While men were traditionally viewed as the stronger of the two sexes, they were often emotionally delicate.

      * * *

      GIDEON RECOGNIZED THE cell immediately. It was maybe ten by twenty. Stone, with a barred window up high and a big wooden door too thick to break down. Not that he could. He was kept chained.

      The floor was dirt. The only bathroom was a bucket that was emptied every few days. Gideon sat with his back against the wall, dripping sweat as the temperature climbed to what had to be a hundred and twenty degrees.

      “Gideon, please.”

      He ignored the words, the plea. Dan had been asking for days. No. Not asking. Begging.

      “I can’t hold on,” his friend said, his voice nearly a sob. “They’re threatening my family. I can’t stand it. The torture. All of it. I’m going to break.”

      Dan, once a tall, proud soldier, lay curled up against the wall. He was bloodied and nursing a broken arm. Gideon had tried to set it but didn’t think he’d done a good enough job.

      After sixteen months and twenty-two days of captivity, Dan was the last one left. The others had either died of their wounds or provoked their captors enough to be killed.

      “Maddie,” Dan moaned. “Maddie.”

      Maddie was his wife. There weren’t any kids. Dan had said they were going to start trying when they got home. He talked about her all the time, claimed her love sustained him, but Gideon knew he was wrong. Dan’s love kept him anchored in this place. His love made it impossible for him to go so deep in his head that they couldn’t hurt him anymore.

      Gideon glanced toward the window and saw the sun was near its zenith. That meant they’d come for him soon.

      Later, he felt the blows as he was hit over and over again, felt himself vomit, although there was nothing in his stomach. Gideon wrestled with his captors, but it only made it worse. When they were finally done, they started to drag him down the hall back to his cell. He felt the dirt in his wounds, the dry dust in his mouth mingling with the copper taste of his blood.

      Then the door swung open, and he couldn’t look away. Not from the sight of Dan slumped over, the chain restraining him wrapped around his neck.

      The guards tossed Gideon aside and raced to Dan, but it was too late. Gideon had refused to kill him, so he’d killed himself. Gideon lay on the dirt, wondering if his friend had been desperately weak or incredibly strong.

      And then, as quietly as it had appeared, the cell was gone and he was awake. Awake and drenched in sweat.

      He knew the folly of trying to sleep again, so he rose and ripped off his T-shirt, then walked out onto the deck. The night air chilled him, but he didn’t care. Then he sat cross-legged on the deck, closed his eyes and began to breathe.