More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [46]
“…move…lost…beach,” was all he could make out, and he tried to fill in the blanks.
The Sparrow was on the move and I lost her on the beach.
The beach being possibly straight down the passageway judging from the sound of the sea. He waited and listened for yet another footstep.
Nothing. Had the Sparrow realized he was there and run?
He cursed again beneath his breath. If he forged ahead, he might smack straight into her and if he did…
Proof positive that Elizabeth was the elusive assassin?
He didn’t want to guess at why that thought now bothered him.
Another crackle of static and some scattered words pierced his ear. “Back…cellar…hurry…”
With a frustrated sigh, Aidan made the call and turned.
A sudden blur of movement caught his eye, but before he could register who or what it was, blinding pain smacked him in the middle of his solar plexus, doubling him up. It was immediately followed by a hard, swift kick to his head.
The force of that sent him flying against the wall, where his head connected roughly. As he dropped to the ground and his gaze darkened, all he could see before him were a pair of feet. Petite women’s feet encased in running shoes.
Then everything went black.
“Aidan? Aidan?” Elizabeth repeated and wiped the damp towel over his forehead and the side of his face.
His eyelids flickered for a moment, and then he was instantly alert and in action.
He grabbed hold of her hands and shoved her down hard onto the mat, pinning her there with his greater force and strength. “What did you do to me?”
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” she said and pushed at him, trying to loosen his grip.
He seemed disoriented for a second, looking around the cellar as if thinking he was elsewhere. When he realized where he was, he released her and sat back onto the mat, a puzzled look on his face.
Natalie came running down the cellar stairs at that moment, a bag filled with ice in her hand. “Here it is, Lizzy,” she said and stopped short as she realized something was up.
Elizabeth rose from the mat, walked over to Natalie and took the bag of ice. She approached Aidan, who was looking a little dazed, probably from the blow that had put the bruise on the side of his face.
Not wanting to risk that in his current state he would take her down again, she paused well before reaching him and held out the ice bag. “Here. This might help.”
Confusion reigned on his face again, finally forcing her to kneel before him and place the ice bag gently above the injury. He winced as she did so and roughly asked, “What the hell happened?”
She shrugged and Natalie piped in from behind her. “When you didn’t come up for a while, Lizzy came down to see what you were doing.”
“You were lying on the mat with one of the free weights beside you,” she said and motioned to the equipment off to the side of the mat. “You were out cold, so I ran up to get some damp towels and asked Natalie to make an ice bag.”
“Oh,” he said and grasped the ice bag from her hand. As he held it to the injury, he winced again.
“Do you need to see a doctor?” she asked and Natalie broke into the conversation once more.
“You’re not going to sue, right? After all, it was your fault the weights hit you,” she said nervously, clearly concerned on her employer’s behalf.
Elizabeth gritted her teeth. She knew Natalie meant well, but she wasn’t helping the situation at all. While still kneeling before Aidan, she said, “Nat. Aidan is not going to sue—”
“You know how litigious these Americans are,” her friend worried out loud, wringing her hands like an anxious old maid.
If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable, Elizabeth thought. Trying to calm her assistant, she gave Natalie instructions that would remove her from the cellar. “Please finish up the prep work while I see to Aidan. I’ll be up shortly.”
Natalie seemed about to argue with her, but Aidan clinched it with, “I’m not going to sue. It was an accident.