Unthinkable: Part Eleven

(Today's installment is going to be short b/c I was in the Goodreads M/M Romance Group Chatroom all day but I promised you guys an installment, don't worry, it's still a good one)

Part Eleven:


     Richard coughed and wiped the dirt streaked tears from his face as he continued pushing the stroller through the well-lit bunker hallway.  It had been eight hours since Vet had shoved him into their pantry.  Eight hours and he'd heard nothing from his mate.  Not through their link and the cowboy hadn't shown up to let him know that it was okay.  He was supposed to leave the bunker an hour ago, to make his way to the cabin at the edge of the woods and contact Vet's friend, Ross.  He had been frozen in place though, shock rippling through his body, tears flowing down his cheeks, the babies all sound asleep, none of them aware of what had taken place.  He guessed he should be thankful for that, it was a small miracle, but a miracle nonetheless.  Sniffling, he paused and wiped his nose on the sleeve of flannel shirt that he wore.  It was one of Vet's, he was glad that the other man had accidentally thrown some of his shirts inside and that they all smelled like him, it would help him to focus when he figured out a way to save his mate.
     "Stupid man," he muttered as he continued to push the stroller, happy that he still worked out and his legs were not tired from the mile walk he was on.  "Going off to fight some stupid fight with some stupid redneck, for what?  Leaving these babies with me, we need you," he muttered as he kept walking, "You better not be dead, stupid cowboy werewolf." He felt a sadistic thrill that he'd called Vet a werewolf when the man repeatedly told him that he was a wolf shifter and not a werewolf.
     "You leave me alone with triplets while you go and risk your life, you're a goddamned werewolf," he hissed at his invisible mate.  Looking up from where his eyes had fastened on the wheels of the stroller, he saw a ramp that led up to a door.  Aware that if Vet hadn't come to him that meant that the other man...the bigger man...the stronger man was in mortal danger, Richard knew that he needed to take some precautions. Taking the duffel bag out of the stroller, he placed it on the floor and placed Amy in the stroller with her brothers, folding up the Baby Bjorn and placing it in the pocket of the stroller seat.  Pulling the stroller to the side of the ramp, out of the way in case someone charged from within, he grabbed the duffel bag in both hands and made his way up the ramp and to the door.  Pulling out the key that Vet had hastily shoved in his pocket, Richard inserted the key in the lock and eased open the door, listening for any type of movement.
     Hearing nothing, he looked around the edge of the door and saw a dark, abandoned cabin, no furniture lay within and all around the cabin it looked like deserted forest.  With the duffel bag still clutched in his hands he crept forward and towards the phone he saw sitting on the counter in the kitchen.  This is when the villain jumps out and kills the stupid cheerleader in the movies,he thought to himself, turning around quickly and seeing no one.  Grabbing the phone, he saw there was only one number written on the counter in permanent marker.  Dialing the number quickly, he rushed back to the doorway of the bunker, his eyes still darting around the empty room.
     "This better be a fucking emergency Vernon," an extremely deep and husky voice answered the phone gruffly.
     "Um..this isn't Vet, I mean Vernon.  It's Richard, his...um, partner.  I've got the triplets in his cabin at the edge of the property, someone came by with a lot of other wol-men and they attacked Vernon, he told me to call you from here if sunrise came and we hadn't heard from him," Richard's words were rushed and frantic.
     "Calm down man, I know who you are and what Vet is.  I'm one too.  So you're Vet's mate Richard and you're in trouble?" he heard the other man ask, the sound of rustling, footsteps and three doors opening and closing sounding through the phone.
     "Y-yes.  This is Ross right?" Richard asked, wanting to smack himself for not asking that at the beginning of the phone call.
     Richard heard the sound of tires swerving on the ground and the sound of the other man's deep chuckle, "Yeah.  I'm Ross.  Prob'ly shoulda asked me that at the beginning though huh?" He didn't let Richard reply, his voice turning gruff and commanding.  "Look, I want you to go back into the bunker and lock the door.  When I get there I'll come and knock on the door three times, walk away for a minute, I want you to count to sixty seconds now, and then I'll come back and knock twice and say Rio."
     "Rio?" Richard asked, his curiosity temporarily overriding his fear.
     "Place where me and Vet came out to each other.  Plus, we both love that movie," Ross chuckled.  "Now, you got what's gonna happen?"
     Richard nodded, before realizing that the other man couldn't see him.  "Yeah, I got it."  He heard Ross sigh at the sound of fear in his voice.
     "Just calm down New York, wolves can smell fear and if you ain't in that bunker, that means that fear is surrounding you big time.  We're gonna get you and the little ones to safety and then we're gonna rescue Vet. How about that?"
     Richard breathed a sigh of relief.  Ross knew without being told that he was going to want to rescue his mate and had already volunteered to do so.  "That sounds great man, thanks."
     "No problem.  Now hang up the damn phone New York, I'll be there in five minutes."
     Without another word Richard hung up the cordless phone, unplugged it from the wall, grabbed the permanent marker from the counter where it sat next to the phone and blacked out the number that was written there.  He didn't want anyone to trace them to Ross.  Picking up the unplugged phone and marker, he stuffed both items into the duffel and hurried back to the bunker and to the triplets.  Pulling the door closed he locked it and then raced down the ramp to the stroller.  Quickly checking on the babies he found them still sleeping.
     "Must be nice," he muttered with an indulgent smile, praying that the babies wouldn't wake up until they got to wherever it was that they were going.  Taking out the Baby Bjorn, he moved Amy back to rest against his chest, the baby girl making snuffling noises in protest to being moved again, and put the duffel back in the back of the stroller.  Pulling the stroller back up to the door, he waited, barely breathing.  A few minutes went by and then he heard footsteps.  Holding his breath he heard three knocks on the door and then the sound of footsteps fading away.  He began counting immediately, when he reached sixty he heard the footsteps return and then heard two knocks and an extremely deep, whiskey smooth voice say "Rio."
     Unlocking the door, Richard looked up and up and up and up into the beautiful hazel eyes of an oak tree posing as a man.  His mouth falling open at this man who was bigger, taller and damn near sexier than his Vet, Richard struggled to remember what it was they were doing.
     "You can look at whatever you want as soon as I get you into safety there New York," the man-imposter, Ross said with a cocky smirk and Richard scoffed.
     "I don't want to look at anything.  Just help me with my babies and let's get the hell out of here, I want to come back for Vet as soon as possible," he commanded Ross in a haughty tone before turning to pull the stroller the rest of the way out of the bunker.  The two men lifted the stroller and walked swiftly but quietly through the bare cabin, through the woods away from the house and to an open field where Richard saw Ross's large Hummer parked.
     "Could you be anymore ostentatious? " he muttered as they lifted the stroller into the car, babies and all and Richard climbed in after them.  "This is so dangerous, we could get pulled over, arrested or in a car accident because the babies aren't in car seats," he pointed out to Ross.  The bigger man said nothing, merely closed the door and walked around to the driver's side, climbed into the driver's seat, stuck the key in the ignition, started the car and then before taking off caught Richard's worried gaze in the rearview mirror.
     "Then I guess you better hold onto that stroller and make sure that that doesn't happen," the large man said before whipping the Hummer around and taking off like a shot down the road, showing no mercy to the road or the passengers within his car.  Richard held onto the stroller for dear life, praying the whole time that they would all get out of this alive.  Five minutes later, they drove onto the back of someone else's property, to the back of a large house, much like Richard's home with Vet and Ross shut off the vehicle.
     "See?  You survived, nobody's hurt and nobody's dead from riding in the car with me.  Now let's get these babies in bed and then figure out to save your idiotic mate."