Fine.
Ed was determined to repay that in kind. For every drop of blood they got out of this man, he was taking a pint from them.
Yeah, that sounded fair.
4
MAX SUTTON
Consciousness crawled into Max’s brain. He wished it hadn’t. With it came pain, and he was tired of hurting. The days had blurred into each other until he no longer knew how long he’d been held captive.
Except he’d escaped.
The thought jolted him more awake. That hadn’t been a dream. He’d killed guards. Maybe. He wasn’t entirely sure. He hadn’t hung around long enough to double-check.
Part of him was afraid to open his eyes. Everything after getting out was a jumbled mess in his head. There was running and now…
Did he hurt less?
He was in less pain. Other than his bladder. That was full.
Nope. There was no avoiding it. Time to wake up.
He opened his eyes and discovered he was in a plain but neat room with pale-blue walls and white lace curtains over the one window. The nightstand by his bed held a small lamp, gauze, tape, and antiseptic. On a silver stand was a clear bag of fluids with a tube running to his arm.
That made him look down at his body. There were several pristine white bandages covering his arms and even a few on his chest. And he was clean! Someone had washed the days of sweat, dirt, and blood from his body. He winced as he lifted the covers to find he was naked from the waist up while his lower half was wearing a pair of soft pajama pants.
Oh, and there was also a large Black man dozing in a too-small chair near the foot of the bed. That was a new feature he’d never seen in a hospital.
But this place was way too quiet to be a hospital. A private residence?
The only thing keeping him from panicking was the fact that he recognized this man. He was the same one he’d run into in Athens. And on the street here in Cairo, right?
How was that even possible?
It shouldn’t have been. There was one way to get answers, and possibly relieve his bladder—talk to Big ‘n’ Sexy.
The only problem was that even sitting up hurt. He wasn’t entirely sure he could make it out of the room, let alone to the bathroom. Answers could come with a side of help. Yes, he’d prefer to sneak out with no one knowing it, including his nursemaid-slash-guard, but that wasn’t possible. Whatever painkillers he’d been given were working great to keep the worst of the agony at bay, but he felt shaky. Escaping unnoticed was currently beyond him.
Gritting his teeth against the swell of pain, he shifted partially on his side and snagged a soft roll of gauze. He threw it at the man, hitting him square in the face. There was a snuffle of breath, and he batted a massive hand at his nose as if he were swatting away a fly, but he didn’t wake up.
“Hey!” Max whispered as loudly as he dared. He didn’t know where he was and didn’t want to risk catching the attention of too many people. “Hey!”
The man didn’t stir.
Growling low, Max grabbed a roll of medical tape and a box that looked like it might contain some medicine. He threw the tape at him. Nothing. A burst of loud laughter echoed along the hall, answering the question of whether they were the only ones in the house. Nope. Someone else was there.
Max froze, his ears straining to hear any other noises. There was the hum of an air conditioning unit, the steady but distant creak of wood as if someone was walking across the floor on a lower level, and some low conversation, but it didn’t sound like the speakers were drawing closer to the room.
He was safe for the moment, but he needed this guy awake. Picking up the small box from his lap, he released a breath and threw it as hard as he could. The box bounced off the man’s head and he started awake, his bright honey-brown eyes instantly appearing alert as they snapped to Max. Yep. He remembered those eyes, that face.
“You’re awake!” the man exclaimed, sounding so thrilled and relieved.
“Shhh! Keep your voice down! Who are you? Where am I? You need to help me get out of here!” Max rattled off in no particular order in a harsh whisper.
The man jumped to his feet and moved closer. “It’s okay. You’re safe with us. You ran into me on the street, and we’ve been taking care of you.”
“Us? We? Who is us? Who are you?” Max shook his head. No. He needed to get out of here. Needed to get out of Egypt. Find Janet. Find the scarab. He threw back the covers and swung his feet around, groaning the entire time. He didn’t know which hurt more, his ribs or his poor, overfilled bladder.