That seemed to shake him out of his fog, and his eyes snapped open, wider than before, and he was present once more.
“Oh shit, princess,” he said and gave me a lopsided grin, the one I always loved. “I forgot about that.”
“You forgot?” I laughed. “Well, come on, get your ass in gear. Fire it up. Let’s go! You have to save us, which means you are pretty much needed right now, and you bring a ton to the table.”
“You just love me for my escape planning,” he said with a smile.
“And your fat cock,” I agreed. And, of course, any compliment about his dick always cheered Ryker up. He straightened his back and squared off his shoulders, and pulled it together for us.
He led us to a small hatch that was low to the floor, and I don’t know if we would have seen it without him.
He removed the clips on all four sides, kicked at it, and pushed it through. We took turns crawling out and emerged in the very back of a darkly lit underground parking garage.
It was completely devoid of sound. Ilya’s people weren’t here.
“We have to run down the back alley,” Ryker said. “The service exit is over there, but we’ll be exposed for about a block. If Ilya has people down here, they might spot us.”
“Why didn’t you say that the first time you went through the plan?” Kingston asked.
“Would you have said no if I had?” Ryker asked. “Probably now because this is literally our only choice. Now let’s go!”
We began to hurry, Ryker was still supported by Valen and Kingston, but it seemed like we were going to make it.
We reached the area where Ryker had found the exit and walked between the parked vehicles to get there, but Ryker stumbled and began to say as we got closer.
“Are you okay?” I gasped, whirling around to see him almost tumble down. His eyes were heavy-lidded, and his head lolled on his shoulders. “Ryker, stay with us!”
“What are we gonna do?” Kingston asked, fear twisting his features. “We have to get him out of here with us, but I don’t know if he can make it.”
My mind raced as I searched for a solution. I frantically looked around, trying to find something to help him, but there was nothing. It wasn’t like a supercharged electric wheelchair was going to appear out of thin air.
“We’ll have to steal a car,” Ryker said under his breath. “It’s the only way out.”
“I don’t know how to steal a fucking car,” Archer said. “Fuck, I wish I did.”
“Neither do I,” Valen added. “Seems like a pretty good skill to have, now that I think about it.”
Ryker perked up again and said, “I’ll walk you through it. We need to find an older model SUV, one that’s sturdy, big enough for all of us, and easy to steal.”
It didn’t take long to find one that fit the bill. An older Range Rover, one that Ryker could disable the alarm on and hotwire it once we got inside.
He was pretty amazing when he went to work, and I think it basically saved his life. He was so focused and intent on helping us get the car that he didn’t want to doze off anymore. He was excited by the theft, and I was okay with it. All long as it kept him alive.
I didn’t even see how he managed to unlock the doors, but he did. He had a small tool with him that helped. Once he slipped it back into his pocket and we were all inside, he tore off the driver’s side of the center console and began to work.
“A lot of people get stumped because the ignition is in the middle of the vehicle,” he explained as he worked. “But that’s a good thing. Land Rover got lazy and didn’t protect their ignition wires that carefully.”
He found what he was looking for, touched two wires together, and grinned when the care started up.
“It’s good for us, at least,” he said and slipped out of the driver’s seat. “But I can’t drive in this condition. It’s up to one of you.”
None of them seemed particularly excited about racing through the streets of Vienna in a stolen SUV, but finally, Kingston volunteered.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “But nobody says a damn thing about my driving. I’m not used to driving fast.”
Valen scoffed and said, “Sure, and I have a bridge to sell you.”
“Yeah, dude, that’s not gonna hold up on a Maury Povich episode. We’ve all seen you drive,” Archer laughed.