They approached the warehouse like they had before. Austin dodged the potholes and the loose asphalt, trying his best to drive silently. He pulled off the road earlier than he had before for additional security, made sure that the car was hidden from the road, then sank back into his seat and tried to clear his head of the million negative voices in it screaming at him to stop. It was a harebrained idea and he knew it, but Hale wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise, and even though he’d been dragged into the situation unwillingly, Austin found himself feeling responsible to see it through to the end.

Hale was… well, he wasn’t sure what Hale was to him, but he certainly meant something, especially after last night. Austin didn’t want to see him get hurt. A protective side had flared up inside of him, and it wasn’t letting him go. Even though the plan was rife with unnecessary danger, he couldn’t walk away.

“Here’s the plan,” Hale said when the car was stopped. “We’re going to approach the warehouse just like we did last time. We’re going to stake it out for a while and see if there’s any activity going on—last time, the car drove right up to the doors and parked there, so I think that if anyone’s there, we should see a car. Still, we’d be better to play it safe than sorry. We’ll wait for a little while, listen, observe, and if we feel confident, then I’ll come out of the woods and go test the door, okay? I know that it was locked before, but sometimes people forget. Plus, there might be another entrance. If we get inside and Michael’s not there, we’ll find a place to hide and try to free him once he comes back and is alone. If he’s already inside, we’ll free him and get the fuck out. Sounds good?”

“What if we can’t get in?” Austin asked.

“Well… we’ll need to scope out all sides of the building to see what our options are. I’m hoping that we might be able to climb up on something so that we can break through one of the boarded up windows. I’ve never really been around a warehouse before. If you have any better ideas, let me know.”

“I’ll let you know if I see anything.” Austin had a feeling that they weren’t going to get very far, but he tried not to let his negativity manifest in his voice. “Is that everything I have to be aware of? Are you ready to go?”

“There’s nothing else, and I’m ready. Let’s go.”

They left the car together, closing the doors as silently as they could. Austin fell into line beside Hale, letting him lead the way forward. For as physically delicate as Hale was, he had spirit, and he wasn’t afraid to take control. Austin appreciated it. He knew too many people who crumpled under pressure—these days, himself included. It was refreshing to meet someone so sure of themselves, even though that came hand-in-hand with being as stubborn as hell.

They picked their way through the forest, making their way around trees and over elevated roots. The brush was thicker in some parts than others, and more than once, Austin had to stop to free his shirt from where it had snagged on a thorny bush, or wrestle his shoe out from beneath a tangle of vines. This time, knowing that there was actual danger, the way forward seemed longer than ever before, and each crunch their footsteps made sounded a thousand times louder. Austin did his best to swallow his anxiety, but he was a different man now than he’d been while in the Navy. After the crash and the fallout with Eleanor, he was a husk of who he’d been—a man without a purpose, whose life was controlled by his body rather than his mind. If Dr. Shimota knew that he was attempting to expose himself to a tremendous source of stress, she’d be delighted… as long as she didn’t know how stupid he was being.

When they made it to the vantage point, Hale ducked down behind the same brush they’d hidden behind before. Austin followed him down. There were no cars parked in front of the warehouse, and everything looked as it had the first time they’d come to stake it out. The windows were still boarded up, the metal delivery bay doors were down, and the smaller access door on the side was shut and likely locked. If it wouldn’t open, it’d be up to Hale to find another way in… and then a way out.

They hadn’t discussed escape, Austin realized as they lay in wait. Getting in was one thing, but even if they were successful in recovering Michael, there was no way they could guarantee that the way out would be easy. If they needed to drop down from a high window, they might not be able to get back up. If the doors wouldn’t open from the inside, then they were in for a ton of trouble. Even if they could get out, there was a chance they’d be seen doing it, and then what? Turning around to call the cops was easy if they weren’t already detected, but if they were discovered midway through their attempt? It wouldn’t be a possibility. They’d have to think on their feet, which in this case, Austin was fairly sure, meant running and hoping that no one got clipped with a bullet.

If Michael could even run at this point. He’d seemed healthy but low in spirits the other day, but Austin had seen him from a distance—and a day could make a world of difference. Austin knew from experience.

He closed his eyes and drowned out his thoughts, focusing instead on the sounds going on around him. There were the birds and the bugs, just like there had been the day before, but there were also small mammals nearby. Squirrels, by the sound of it. They rustled through the leaves as they played with each other. There was no sound of traffic coming down the road, no whir of electricity from inside the warehouse, or any kind of man-made noise, apart from the sound of Hale breathing beside him. As far as Austin could tell, they were alone.

Hale seemed to read his mind. “I’m going to go test the door,” he whispered. “Wait here, okay? If anything happens to me, um, well, tell the police, I guess? It’s safer if we don’t go together for that reason.”

“Agreed,” Austin whispered back.

Slowly, Hale climbed to his feet. He came out from behind the brush and crossed the chipped pavement at a half-jog. He arrived at the door and tried the handle, but the door was locked. It looked like they weren’t getting in that way.

Hale backed away from the door and headed for the nearest corner. He disappeared around the side of the building on his search for a way in, and Austin stayed exactly where he was, as instructed. He listened for signs that Hale had been detected, but heard nothing but birds, bugs, and squirrels.

Michael, if we get you out of this, you goddamn better buy me a new pair of headphones and clean up your act. I’m not going to be saving your ass again.

Minutes passed. Hale didn’t return. Austin didn’t find it all too suspicious, as the warehouse was rather large, and Hale was operating with stealth in mind. But as minutes continued to tick by, and there was no sign that Hale was about to return, Austin found himself growing worried. They hadn’t investigated the area behind the warehouse before. What if it was crawling with the people who’d taken Michael? What if Hale had walked directly into their hornet’s nest and been taken in immediately?

I would have heard him scream if that happened. Why am I so nervous?

Maybe it’s because I have feelings for him…

Austin shut that thought down immediately. He was barely able to take care of himself. A relationship was a bad idea. A very bad idea. His mental health combined with the fact that he was still straight-ish meant that he didn’t even want to consider it—but his heart was a tricky bastard, and it kept pestering his brain with feelings it didn’t want.

If he’s hurt, it’s my fault. I told him that he was the one responsible for this. I told him that he was going to be on his own. I should have stepped up and been there for him when he needed me.

What would he do if the people who had Michael got Hale, too, and hurt both of them? Austin didn’t think he could live with the guilt. The paranoia flooded him and made him second-guess his decisions, then made him loathe how weak he’d become. When he was in his prime, he’d never doubted himself. He’d acted when necessary and he’d never felt guilty over it. Why was it different now?

Because you actually care about someone now. Don’t delude yourself into thinking you cared about Eleanor. You cared about her as much as she cared about you.

Austin winced. He didn’t like to think about Eleanor that way, but sometimes, when his life was quiet and still, as it was now, those thoughts crept into his head. They’d married too fast and for all the wrong reasons, and although he knew that he was lucky he’d gotten through the divorce without much trouble, there was a part of him that still considered the loss of his marriage a failure—that Eleanor’s conditional love was a reflection of his worth as a person. Dr. Shimota had done her best to coach him out of thinking like that, but the thought still haunted him.

Eleanor had left because she couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of her life with a cripple. At the time of the crash, Austin’s prognosis hadn’t been known, and she’d left him at the first possible chance because of it.

That wasn’t love, and didn’t reflect on him, but his newfound weaknesses convinced him otherwise. It was a kick in the gut when he was already down, and it had left him gasping for air like a fish out of water.

He was still trying to recover from it.

While he fought against himself, struggling to push unwanted feelings for Hale aside while conquering his fear of loneliness and rejection, he stopped listening to what was happening around him. His thoughts were too loud to permit anything else to enter. By the time Austin realized that something was right, and that he was no longer alone, it was too late. Someone crashed down over him, forcing the air from his lungs, and smothered his mouth with a rag. Austin tried not to breathe, but his lungs had been forcefully emptied, and his body instinctively sought to correct the shift in pressure inside of him. He drew in a mouthful of air around the rag and felt the effects almost right away—the world went blurry, then started to turn black. As he spiraled into unconsciousness, all he could think was that he hoped Hale had managed to escape.