Perfect.
“Drop with me,” Drew ordered in a low whisper. He didn’t want Carl hearing them.
Without a word, Tina dropped with him. The floor was cold and hard, and it smelled of blood. Hell, he wanted her out of that place. No way did Tina belong in a room like this. He yanked again against the pole and then...then Tina was there, adding her strength to his. She’d positioned her body closer to his, and she was jerking on the pole with him.
It groaned again, and Drew stilled. “Wait.” Because he didn’t want to alert Carl, not yet.
But Carl didn’t come rushing into the room.
“Again,” Drew whispered.
They yanked again, and the pole lifted off the floor, just a few centimeters, but that was all Drew needed. He slid his cuff under the pole and his left wrist was free.
Hell, yes.
He jumped to his feet and Tina rushed up with him. “What about this one?” she said, tugging on the cuff that connected their wrists.
“That one’s going to have to stay.” Until he could find something to pick the lock or find a saw to cut the cuffs off. And if she was going to stay cuffed to him, then Tina needed to realize... “We’re going to be targets.”
Her eyes were wide. Stark.
No glasses.
He swore. “Just how much can you see?”
“I’m fine. I’m near-sighted, so I can see up close pretty much perfectly.”
Which should work, since she had to stay up-close with him.
“I’ll be your eyes for distance,” he said.
She licked her lips and, of course, that just made his gaze drop to her mouth.
Focus.
He exhaled slowly and let the ice sweep over him. “You follow my every order, understand? No hesitations, no questions. Because a hesitation will get you—or both of us—killed.”
She nodded. Her dark hair brushed over her shoulders.
“These are bad men, Tina.” Bad was an understatement. “You know what they want to do to you.” Cutting off her finger would just be the start of their fun.
Her gaze held his.
“So just be prepared for what I have to do...to them.” Their escape wasn’t going to be some walk in the park. It might even turn into a blood bath.
“What can I do?” She shook her head. “I want to help you, not just be some burden that you have to carry out of this place.”
“Help by staying alive.”
Her lips tightened. “That’s not what I meant.”
He knew, and Drew also knew that he didn’t want to risk her. But she will be risked. There was no escaping the danger surrounding her. “How the hell did you even get in this mess?”
“I don’t know.”
His left hand lifted. The loose cuff dangled from his wrist. He touched her cheek.
Tina flinched.