Page 56 of Protecting Maggie
“What the fuck?” MacGyver said, mimicking Shawn.
“Earplugs,” Maggie said behind the tape, even though he could clearly see for himself what they were.
“Maggie! Are you all right? How the hell are you here?”
She shook her head at the same time she said, “I’m not okay yet. But I will be if you give me a minute or two to get my bearings.” That was what shetriedto say, but the tape over her mouth prevented the words from being understandable.
“Here,” MacGyver said, handing something to Shawn.
It was a knife. A wicked-looking one with serrated edges. Anyone else who came at her face with that thing would’ve gotten a foot to the groin, but it was Shawn holding the deadly weapon. Maggie closed her eyes, letting him do what needed to be done.
She felt the tape loosen around her face, then Shawn said, “This is going to hurt.”
Maggie nodded but didn’t open her eyes. She’d done what she could over the last couple days to try to dampen the tape, to loosen it around her lips, but that wouldn’t help the adhesive that was stuck tight to her cheeks.
Shawn did his best to move fast, but he hadn’t beenwrong. Peeling the tape off her face still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.
“Maggie?” he asked fearfully.
“Shawn,” she whispered. Her mouth was dry, she felt kind of sick from lack of water or food. But she was alive. That was all that mattered.
“Fuck!” he said. He was breathing hard, his eyes were huge, and his hands actually shook as he took her face in his hand.
Then his lips were on hers. It was a gentle kiss, but a life-affirming one.
He pulled back and immediately reached for something on his belt. “Here, drink this.”
Water.
Maggie would never take it for granted again. She tried not to gulp it down, but she could feel it leaking out the corners of her mouth as she desperately took in the lifesaving liquid faster than she should.
“Easy,” Shawn warned, pulling the canteen away from her.
Maggie made a small sound of protest in the back of her throat.
“I know. I’ll give you more in a second. You need to let that settle first.”
“Preacher, we have incoming,” MacGyver said.
Glancing at him, Maggie saw him gesture over their heads. Looking past Shawn for the first time, she saw a helicopter in the distance—coming at them fast. A second chopper, one much closer that seemed to be hoveringnearby, suddenly banked hard to the left, gaining height and speed as it took off in the opposite direction.
“What the hell? Thought they weren’t coming for a couple days,” Shawn said.
“Guess our intel was wrong. Not that I’m surprised. We need to get going,” MacGyver said.
“Can you stand?” Shawn asked Maggie.
“Yes,” she told him, not knowing if that was true or not. But if the look MacGyver was giving Shawn was any indication, she didn’t have a choice. She’d fucking cartwheel her way out of here, whereverherewas, if she had to.
A loudcrackechoed around them, and both Shawn and MacGyver flinched and hunched over, as if trying to duck below whatever had made that sound.
“We need to get away from the crates,” MacGyver said, sounding almost calm now, when moments before he’d definitely seemed anxious.
“Hostiles or friendlies?” Shawn asked.
“Don’t know. But I’m thinking the farther away from these crates we can get, the better. I’d rather not get between two dogs and the bone they both want.”
“The Russians were supposed to be days away,” Shawn repeated.
