Shadow Men – 50 – Anders and Grant

A shout of terror brought Grant instantly awake. For a second he didn't know where he was. Then he realized he was still in the car, which was parked off to the side of the road. He also realized Anders wasn't in the driver's seat and turned quickly to see if Steele was still there.

He was, as was Anders. Steele's head was thrown back, his mouth open as he screamed again, his eyes staring blindly into space. Anders' hands gripped Steele's shoulders. He seemed to be trying to keep Steele still. Grant saw it wasn't working as the larger man tore himself free. As fast as possible Grant was out of the car. He flung open the door opposite Anders and reached in to help, grabbing Steele's upper arm with both hands.

Anders did the same to Steele's other arm, all the while talking calmly to the man. "You're safe, you're here with us," he repeated over and over. Then he took one hand away to stroke Steele's hair. As if he was calming a horse, Grant thought.

Slowly Steele relaxed. Then he seemed to understand where he was because his eyes focused on Anders. "Did I hurt…?" he asked hesitantly.

"No harm, no foul," Anders replied. He picked up Steele's backpack, dug through it and took out a bottle of pills. "I think in all the excitement you forgot to take these." He dumped two of them into Steele's hand.

Steele looked blankly at them for a moment before he nodded. "I didn't want to lose my edge, just in case."

"So instead you decided to give Grant his second scare of the day."

Steele turned to look at Grant. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"As Anders said, no harm, etcetera. Do you need water for those?"

After a quick glance around where the car stood, a tiny grin quirked Steele's mouth. "Unless you're hiding some somewhere, I can dry swallow them."

"Well there is that." Grant's grin was a bit more than Steele's. He watched, wincing, as Steele swallowed the pills. It was something he'd never developed a knack for.

"Okay, I'm good," Steele announced a minute later. "How much farther?"

"A little over two hundred miles so with any luck and no more bastards trying to take us out, about seven hours," Anders told him.

"How are you holding up? You've been doing all the driving."

"I'm fine."

"I can drive," Grant put in.

Both men looked at him and as one shook their heads. "I'd be willing to bet you've never had defensive driving training," Steele explained.

"True, so I'll just poke Anders every time he looks like he might be dozing off."

Steele looked at Anders and they both broke out laughing. It took Grant a second to realize why. He turned red. "I didn't mean… I mean…" Then he laughed too.

"Not," Steele leaned toward Grant, pretending to whisper to him, "that he'd mind it if the circumstances were different."

"Shit. Seriously? I figured…" He could feel the heat rising on his face again.

Anders must have taken pity on him because he reached across Steele to pat Grant's shoulder. "It's okay. Unlike Steele, I'm a bit more reticent to let people know my sexual preferences. And that said I think we should get moving again or I will be falling asleep by the time we get into Manhattan."