Free Tender Savage by Iris Johansen

Shouts.
    Did they really exist or had she imagined it? Jurado was screaming orders. Someone was freeing her from the leather manacles.
    He shouldn’t have done that, she thought hazily. Didn’t he know she couldn’t stand alone?
    Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees on the floor.
    “Lara …”
    It was Ricardo’s voice, but he sounded hoarse, strange.
    She tried to lift her head to see his face.
    It was too difficult; her neck felt odd, like a fragile stem that would snap if she tried to move it.
    It didn’t matter. She probably couldn’t have seen him anyway. Everything was growing so dark.
    She pitched forward as the darkness overwhelmed her.

FOUR
    S TALACTITES .
    Beige-, peach-, and cream-colored stalactites hung down from the high ceiling above her like giant jagged icicles.
    “It must be quite a shock waking up to this. You’re in the caverns.”
    Her glance flickered to Paco Renalto’s face. She was lying on a pallet on a stone floor, she realized, and Renalto sat cross-legged on the floor beside her.
    “The caverns?” She looked around her in bewilderment. She appeared to be in a small chamber of some sort, if you could call a naturally formed room in a cave a chamber. Three lanterns affixed to the craggy walls burned brightly in a valiant attempt to dispel the darkness. The room contained no furniture or comforts other than the pallet on which she was lying. She knew there was something she should remember about the caverns…. It was the password Renalto had given her to identify herself to Ricardo at the Abbey! Suddenly everything flowed back to her with overwhelming force. Ricardo, the Abbey, the lash striking her back.
    “The caverns network these hills and we use them as an arms cache and primary base of operations,” Paco said quickly, his concerned gaze on her suddenly shadowed face. “How do you feel?”
    “Lousy,” she whispered. “Ricardo?”
    “Safe. He carried you here.”
    “You were … late.”
    “I know.” He grimaced and the expression made his puckish features look more elfin than before. “It took longer than we had thought toget rid of the perimeter guards and cut off the voltage of the fence. I’m sorry, Lara.”
    She tried to smile. “I suppose it couldn’t be helped.”
    “You’re more generous than Ricardo. He raved at me like a maniac. You were very brave,
pequeña.”
    She shook her head. “I was scared to death.”
    “But Ricardo said you never cried out once while Jurado was having you whipped.”
    “Why should I give him that satisfaction? I knew he wouldn’t stop, and it would have made it harder for Ricardo and me too.” She shifted and flinched as hot pain flashed through her back. “How badly did he hurt me?”
    “There will be no permanent scarring, but you’ll be uncomfortable for a few days. Ricardo had the doctor dress and bandage your back as soon as we reached the caverns.”
    “Jurado?”
    “Still alive, unfortunately,” he said regretfully. “He slipped out of the interrogation room when we attacked and we had no time to search for him. We thought it best to get you and Ricardosafely away before reinforcements arrived from the cell block.”
    “When can I get up?”
    “As soon as you feel well enough.”
    Lara carefully levered herself up on one elbow. Another hot flash of pain shivered down her spine and her head began to swim. “I think … I’ll wait awhile.”
    “I thought you would.” Paco picked up a tin cup from the ground beside him. “Drink this.”
    She took the cup and looked dubiously at the milky liquid it contained. “What is it?”
    “Just a sleeping powder. It works very quickly and when you wake, you’ll feel much better.”
    “I’ll drink to that.” She lifted the cup and drained it. The liquid possessed a vague fruity flavor that was not unpleasant. She handed him the cup and carefully turned over on her stomach as she lay back down. “Where’s Ricardo?”
    “In the war room planning the