[Sasha Girl]

THE SAFE HOUSE - DAY 3

The Rules: There are no rules.

This was all Gabriel had managed to come up with thus far. Although in fairness he had been thinking about it for only a day. Perhaps if he tried harder... He went over the facts again. Fact one: he was in love with Natasha. Two: He also loved Wolfgang. Three: Wolfgang was in love with him. And last but not least: the Wolf Squad did not believe in monogamy. Naturally this included him, for he never saw himself as being restricted to just one woman. It was one of the main reasons he loved being part of an elite squad of men that nobody in the world had control over. Yes. Well. The problem that he faced now was that he could not conceive of sharing Natasha with anyone, except maybe Wolfgang. But even that was starting to bother him now that he was out of action for a while. This then was fact four: for the first time in his life Gabriel was jealous. And that sure as hell complicated things.

Absorbed in thought Gabriel did not hear his surgeon enter the room until he heard him say:

"How is my patient today?"

"Fine. Just fine," Gabriel mumbled. In truth, he was hurting like hell but his pain tolerance was such that he put up with it without complaint.

On examining Gabriel's wound and then his vital signs, the doctor soon worked out the truth for himself.

"Ahm. Ok... judging by what your body's telling me, you should be on pain killers right now," he said. Without waiting for Gabriel to reply, he turned around and fetched an ampule of the required drug from the bedside table. As he was upending it on the needle to draw it into the syringe, he heard a low growl from the bed.

"If you stick that needle into me I swear to God I will make you regret it later," Gabriel said. His voice was quite calm and steady and it only made the threat seem more menacing. The doctor put down the ampule with a trembling hand.

"My dear man, there's no need for such threats," he said. "It's my job to take care of you, which normally extends to minimising pain. But if you prefer otherwise that's totally up to you."

He turned to leave.

"One moment, doctor," Gabriel called after him. "Can you tell me how long this will take?"

"How long until you're well again, you mean?" the doctor said. "Well, you were lucky... the bullet missed all of your major organs. Provided you give your body what it needs, I'd say you should be back on your feet in approximately two weeks."

"Two weeks!" Gabriel exclaimed in dismay.

"I did say you were lucky," the doctor smiled, obviously missing the point. And with that he left him.

"Fuck this shit," Gabriel growled gritting his teeth. He raised his eyes to the camera fixed to the wall above him. "Guys! Whoever is watching… I want one of you in here! Now!"

It took Henrik and Bjorn two minutes to do as he asked. By the time they were in the room with him, Gabriel had a plan. One that would ensure Natasha stayed right where he wanted, every second of every day… until he was ready to come and claim her. As was his right.
A few minutes later as his men were leaving to do his bidding, he called them back and said:

"One last thing and this is extremely important: make sure she doesn't know the order came from me."

After all, he thought as he watched the door close, it would not do to go to all that trouble only to have Natasha hate him at the end.

*******

Natasha was restless. Not physically, because the men had fucked her senseless for most of the night, but mentally and emotionally she just could not shut down. Her head was a whirlwind of thought all centred around one theme: escape. Escape from Gabriel and the Wolf Squad and their safe house. Which was not a safe house at all, but a prison she thought. It was a nice prison to be sure and her jailers were hot - damn hot, in fact. But it was still a prison and as such it grated on her, making it impossible to enjoy her time there as before. Besides, she was beginning to think it was simply not healthy to have so much sex. And just as she was thinking this and pacing around the common room, the doctor walked in.

He was wearing a paisley bow tie over a pale pink shirt and his thinning grey hair was combed to one side in an apparent effort at hiding his bald patch. As he nodded at her from across the room, Natasha thought he looked perfectly ridiculous. She would have been happiest not to speak to him and with that in mind she was heading for the door, when he stopped her by saying:

"You don't have to leave to avoid talking to me."

Eyeing her over the glass of lemonade he was holding. Swamped by guilt, she turned to him and stammered:

"I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling very well."

Which was the wrong thing to say to a doctor but she realised it a tad too late.

"Please, tell me more," the doctor said, eyeing her up and down. Natasha had on just an oversized men's T-shirt and at once she felt strangely vulnerable. Pulling the material as low as it would go over her shapely ass, she sat down on the lounge and folded her long legs beneath her.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," she said, avoiding his eye.

"Young lady," the doctor said, assuming a tone of infinite wisdom peculiar to members of his profession, "I'm a doctor. You can't lie to me about how you're feeling. Not while looking like that."

At once Natasha was irritated. Was he trying to tell her she did not look good?

"The boys think I look just fine," she said, regretting it instantly. But it was too late.

Predictably the doctor laughed.

"I'm sure the men of this house think that... and I can't blame them for you are a very attractive lady," he said, switching on the old world charm. Suitably mollified she smiled at him.

"But?" she said, knowing he would tell her his opinion, whether she wanted to hear it or not.

The doctor took a step toward her. Setting his lemonade on the table before them, he sat down in the chair opposite her and looked her in the eye.

"From a doctor's perspective you look awful, my dear," he told her, not mincing words. "You are thin and dehydrated and you clearly haven't slept for days. And I also couldn't help but notice the bruises..."

He trailed off, uncertain where to draw the line. Without thinking Natasha said:

"Well, what do you expect when you're the only woman in a house with a dozen men?"

And then to both her and the doctor's surprise, she hung her head and burst into tears.
Oh dear, the doctor thought and he jumped up and went to her. He was just sitting down and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, when a sound of footsteps reached his ears. A moment later, two of the squad men walked into the room. They were dressed in full combat gear and as they headed toward him the doctor felt a sudden spike of fear.

"Is something the matter?" he asked, but the men did not answer. With their expressions set and their muscles bulging under their black shirts, they walked right up to the girl and took her by the elbows – one on each side.

"Come on," one of them said, "you're coming with us."

The other one nodded at the small man with a paisley tie gaping up at them mutely.

"Doctor," it was both a hello and goodbye.

And without another word they were gone. Leaving the kind doctor to finish his lemonade on his own.

*******

"Where... where are you taking me?" Natasha hiccupped, the tears still sliding down her face. "Bjorn? Henrik? Why can't you talk to me?"

Bjorn and Henrik ignored her. She soon worked out they were taking her to the basement and at this point she started to shake.

"Have I done something wrong? Was I not supposed to talk to the doctor, is that it? If so, I'm sorry... but nobody told me," she was starting to ramble and to help shut her up they spoke to her at last.

"You haven't done anything wrong," Bjorn said, "but we really don't have time to explain."

Thus silenced, Natasha waited until they were in the basement, hoping she would get some answers then. She was to be disappointed. Particularly as the first person she saw was Wolfgang, whom she counted as her closest friend.

"Wolfgang! Oh, thank God! Please tell me what's happening..." she blabbered. But Wolfgang's face, like that of his friends, was set in a serious expression and when he spoke so was his tone.

"Hi Natasha," Wolfgang said, "I'm afraid I can't tell you anything. We are going on a mission and the information is classified."

And with Bjorn and Henrik holding her, Wolfgang leaned forward and tied a blindfold over her eyes.

"Hey! What the... I don't understand..." Natasha mumbled.

"You're not supposed to understand," Wolfgang said. He gave the signal and the men pulled her arms back and started tying her up. It made her head spin.

"Seriously, this is ridiculous..." she protested. Then as she thought of it: "Gabriel! I want to speak to Gabriel! Does he know about this?"

The men exchanged glances. Their instructions were very clear. Which was why Bjorn and Henrik were shocked to see Wolfgang lean close to Natasha and hear him whisper in her ear:

"He's the one who gave the order, honey."

*******