* * *
"Tie him up," the big man said, pointing at Caleb. They'd returned to the smaller chamber where they had been kept earlier. The guard was once again awake, and as he bent down to take Caleb's wrists into his hands to bind them, he aimed a well-placed kick into his kidney.
Caleb felt the air whoosh out of him while a stab of pain cut through his side.
"No!" he heard Dani scream. "Leave him alone!"
"You should be more worried about what we're going to do to you, young lady," Stevens said, licking his thick lips.
"I call dibs," Martinez said, rubbing at the growing bulge in the crotch of his cargo pants.
"No way." The Chief shook his shaggy head.
"Come on," Martinez began to whine. "She broke my damn nose. I should get to go first."
"Fuck you, Martinez," Stevens replied with a laugh. "You can have sloppy seconds."
"Fine." The darker man scowled. "Then you better leave something after you go. Not like last time. I'm not into fucking corpses."
"Yeah," his partner Roberts agreed. "Make sure there's enough left to go around."
"Oh, there will be." The Chief's tone was menacing. "She's a feisty little one. She might even like it."
"Shut up!" Dani screamed.
The three men laughed, and Caleb wanted nothing more than to rip their hearts out and show them to the men before they died. Instead, he sat helplessly while the guard behind him pulled the zip tie tight around his wrists.
He had to find a way to save her, to stop these men. He couldn't let this happen, especially not in front of him, not while he watched.
Stevens began to unbutton his pants, and Caleb saw panic enter Dani's wide, dark eyes. "Take off your shirt," he ordered.
"No," Dani replied. "Not a chance in hell!"
Stevens laughed, exposing big white teeth. "Martinez, take her shirt off." The man with the bandaged nose set down his gun and walked over to Dani where she stood near the cave wall. He pulled down the zipper on her jacket, slapping away her hands when she tried to prevent him.
He then bent down to tug the shirt off of her, but she wouldn't hold still for it. Dani balled up her fist and swung it, smashing it into the bridge of his already injured nose.
"Fuck!" Martinez screamed, falling to his knees in pain. "She fuckin' hit me again."
"Enough!" the big man shouted. He moved toward Dani and yanked her closer to him by her ponytail.
She cried out in pain and Caleb felt as if his heart was being crushed. Anger flared inside him, turning his insides molten until he felt capable of breathing smoke.
He took in the scene around him in a split second. Martinez was down, his gun lying by his side. His partner Roberts was bent over him, carefully poking at his injured nose, his gun a hunting rifle that was slung over his shoulder and was hanging ignored down his back.
The big man's attention was entirely focused on Dani. He was standing in front of her, struggling to get her shirt off. And behind him stood the quiet guard. Caleb knew he had the shotgun, but he didn't feel it pressed against his back.
He had to take a chance. There was no way he could sit here and watch his beloved professor being brutally assaulted by this gang of thugs.
It was time for action.
Without hesitation, he threw his entire weight backwards while pressing off with his knees and then with his feet. He tumbled back against the guard, catching him unawares, and the man fell underneath him.
Caleb rolled over, crushing the guard's arm before he could bring his gun up. Taking a look into the man's wide eyes, he drew back his head and slammed it into the guard's forehead. The force of the blow, coupled with the head wound from earlier caused the other man to lose consciousness.
"Stop him, you idiots," Stevens said with a growl, slapping Dani hard across the mouth when she scratched his face.
Caleb rolled off the guard and struggled onto his feet while the two men were trying to determine just what was happening. In a flash he was across the room, kicking Martinez's gun out of the way before barreling into Roberts at full speed. The surprised man fell beneath the force of Caleb's push, and the ranger brought his knee down over the man's throat.
Roberts gurgled in pain, but before Caleb could repeat the blow, he felt Martinez grab his bound hands and twist. Without delay he swung around, standing up and kicking a leg out, sweeping the legs from under the man with the bloody nose. Martinez fell on his face and let out an agonized scream as his nose was injured for the third time.
Caleb turned back to Roberts who had recovered enough to try for his gun. It had unfortunately become caught on his belt, and he couldn't bring it around in time. Caleb stomped on his chest, causing him to cry out in pain and forget the gun at his side. Another stomp and the man stopped moving.
"Stop!" Stevens yelled, pushing Dani to the ground and straightening back up. "I thought it would be amusing to make you watch, but you're just too big a pain in the ass," he said, grabbing Caleb in a headlock. "Looks like I'm going to have to take care of you first."
Caleb twisted in his grasp, wedging a leg behind the big man's thigh and jerking it forward, causing the man to stumble and lose his grip. The ranger took the opportunity to aim a kick at the man's chest, but the Chief was too fast. He grabbed Caleb's leg from the air and pushed it, causing him to fall over backwards.
Caleb sat down hard, cursing a blue streak. The big man smiled cruelly and then put his boot on the ranger's face.
Caleb saw stars as agony rearranged his features. He licked his lips and tasted blood.
The Chief had moved back to Dani and pulled her up, putting a big arm around her chest and pulling up her chin with his other hand. "Stop your struggling," he said to Caleb. "I could easily snap her neck."
"Where's the fun in that?" Caleb growled, pushing himself to his feet yet again. He didn't advance, however. He had to take the big man at his word for now. The sight of Dani, vulnerable, scared, trembling in the grips of the foul psychopath, caused his world to turn red with the haze of bloodlust.
This man would pay, and pay heavily.
"You're right," the Chief replied, moving the arm across her chest down to take a breast in his hand. "Mmm..." he moaned, "doesn't that feel good."