by Linda Grimes
waiting for the famous Doyle growth spurt to hit. She had long, dark hair, eyes exactly like Bily’s (al the Doyle kids do, courtesy
of their father), and more energy than a hummingbird on crack. When I used to babysit her, the only way I could keep her
entertained was by playing “twins” with her. Have to admit, that was fun for me, too. I loved having an excuse to bat the legendary
Doyle eyelashes.
Moly’s hand slipped easily from the handcuffs. Once free, I almost changed right back into Mina so my clothes would fit, but
decided I would be faster and lighter on my feet as Moly. I hauled up my dress, slipped out of my shoes, and tiptoed to the
window. Peeked out, careful to keep my face from showing, in case anyone was outside. No tal blond men, no dour Native
American, only a bunch of trees to one side, and a barn to the other. Beyond the barn was an old farmhouse. Al right, then. A
country farm. I must be in some sort of guest cottage.
Stil treading softly, I scurried to the bedroom door, Moly’s teensy feet soundless on the wooden floor. There was no lock.
They probably hadn’t thought they’d need one, what with the handcuffs and al. Little did they know what I was capable of …
and my problem was going to be making sure they didn’t find out about those capabilities while I made my escape.
No squeak when I opened the door—good. The bedroom was directly off the living area, where the furnishings were pure
Ikea. Inexpensive, modern, serviceable. The kitchen, if you can cal a stove, a sink, a minifridge, and two smal cupboards a
kitchen, occupied one end of the room. A pine table with four chairs around it served as a room divider. If there was a bathroom,
I didn’t see it.
The back window looked out over a smal yard, with closely cropped grass blanketing the ground right up to the edge of the
woods. Just beyond where the trees started I noticed a smal building, barely wider than its door.
Ah-ha. An outhouse. Lovely. Wel, any port in a storm. I didn’t want to risk getting caught, but not nearly as much as I didn’t
want to wet myself, so I crept out the front door and scanned the area. Al clear. I ran to the privy and slipped inside.
Ugh. It wasn’t a bad outhouse, as outhouses go, but the atmosphere left little doubt as to its function. The seat—basicaly, a
hole in the wooden planks—looked wel-sanded, so maybe I wouldn’t wind up with splinters in my ass. Lucky me.
Pressing matters seen to, I stepped out and scanned the area, turning my mind to what I should do next. Run for it? Tempting,
considering the bad vibe I’d been getting from Per. That man would take any excuse to slap me sily, just because of a little bite.
What a baby.
Nils hadn’t hit me, but he’d sure as hel held me down while Per had jabbed me with the needle. Couldn’t count on him for
help, no matter how polite he was. I needed to get gone, and fast, before they got back. Running was hardly practical, though,
considering I had no idea where I was. How close was I to a town? Might be too far to walk, even if I had a clue which way to
go.
Maybe there was a phone? I hadn’t seen one in the cottage, but the big farmhouse might have one. But what if that was where
the Vikings were? Crap. Couldn’t risk it.
What I needed was a vehicle of some sort. A car, or even a motorcycle. A map that had a big “You Are Here” X-ed onto it
wouldn’t hurt either, I thought wryly. Hmm … The barn? It was big enough to hold a car, or maybe there was one behind it. That
was more likely—I’d check there first.
The only thing behind the big, old building was an equaly old fertilizer truck. Ful of shit, from the smel of it. Stil, it had wheels,
and I couldn’t exactly afford to be choosy. I morphed back into Mina (Moly was too little to see over the steering wheel) and
reached for the door.
As I was climbing up onto the seat, I heard the sound of an engine in the distance. Shit. Someone was coming. I left the truck
—regretfuly—and peeked around the corner of the barn. Saw Per and Nonto get out of a Mini Cooper. No way would I be able
to make a quiet getaway in the monster truck with them so close—I’d be caught for sure. Damn it. I’d have to get back to my
bed and wait for a better opportunity.
Nonto retrieved a few sacks from the backseat—groceries, it looked like—while Per headed straight to the front door. Not a
helpful sort, apparently. If he checked on me right away, I was sunk.
I waited until Nonto was almost to the porch, then made a dash for the cottage, moving as swiftly as my long dress alowed.
The sky was definitely darker than it had been earlier, so we were on the downhil side of the day. Once around to the back of the
house, I saw what I hoped was the window to the bedroom. If it was locked from the inside, I was screwed.
It wasn’t. It gave, with only minimal resistance and not a lot of noise. I heard voices from the front of the house, and the sound
of cupboard doors closing. I might just have time.
Bracing my hands on the sil, I hopped up and swung my hip over. Ducked my head into the room, puled my legs in behind me.
The voices were getting louder, heading toward me. I couldn’t take time to close the window.
I changed into Moly as I dove for the bed, slipped my hand through the cuff, and was back to being Mina before I could
complete a breath. Just in time, too. Per strode through the door, a pompous smirk plastered to his face.
“Wel, wel. Den lilla hunden has awakened from her nap,” he said.
“So it would appear,” I said, ignoring what he’d just caled me. I figured whatever it meant, it wasn’t likely complimentary.
He looked from me to the window, where the cheap cotton curtains were moving with the breeze. His brow furrowed and he
swung his head back to me. I kept Mina’s expression blank.
“Nils thought you needed some fresh air?” he asked, his tone making it clear he didn’t approve of his partner’s considerate
treatment of me.
“How should I know? I just woke up.” I rattled my handcuffs. “Hey, can you undo me here? I could use a ladies room.”
“You wil have to wait.” He walked to the window, closed and locked it. “When your hero returns, perhaps you can prevail
upon him to see to your needs. Though I must warn you, we have nothing so fancy as a ‘ladies room’ here.” He smiled
unpleasantly and left.
The son of bitch. If I hadn’t already taken care of matters, I’d pee al over his bed just to spite him. I found myself actualy
missing Nils. At least he was courteous. And he had kept Per from breaking my arm. That was nice of him. Where was he,
anyway? The only voice I could hear belonged to Per, saying something about shampoo and body wash in English to Nonto.
What the heck? They were in the middle of a kidnapping and discussing toiletries? I listened harder, but wasn’t able to make
out every word.
“… new product … unlikely women wil … only men who need … be no problem,” Per said.
“Have you considered…” Nonto’s voice at last. Wel, whaddya know. He wasn’t mute after al. “… could harm…”
“It’s a chance we must take,” Per said, his voice closer.
The front door opened and shut. “I sometimes think you are wiling to take too many chances.” Nils’s voice. I was relieved to
hear it.
“And I sometimes think you need to use some shampoo,” Per answered him.
Huh? What kind of comeback was that? Maybe it was a Swedish thing.
My door opened and Nils filed it. His hair looked clean enough to me. “Ah, you are awake.”
I bit b
ack a smart-ass comment and nodded. “Where’s Trey? You said you’d take me to him.”
“And so we shal. Later.” He set his jaw, and I knew it was the end of that topic for the moment. In a more solicitous vein, he
added, “Have you been up yet?”
“If that’s your way of asking if I need to pee, the answer is yes. Your buddy didn’t seem inclined to let me off my leash.” I
jingled my special bracelet.
He took a key from his pocket and freed me. “I’l show you to the toilet. I’m afraid we don’t have indoor plumbing here in the
cottage.”
“Yeah, wel, I’m dressed for the olden days, so lead me to it. I’m sure I’l manage. By the way, what does ‘ den lilla hunden’
mean?”
“The little dog. Why?” He looked at me curiously.
Pretty much what I’d expected. “No reason,” I said.
I put my shoes back on, hoping Nils would assume I’d kicked them off when I woke up. Guess he did, since he didn’t
comment on it. I wasn’t exactly thriled at the idea of spending more time in the outhouse—especialy now that it was even darker
outside, and God only knew what kind of creepy-crawlies liked to hang out there in the murk.
Once outside I gestured toward the farmhouse. “How about there? Any chance they have a working toilet?” If I could get a
look inside, maybe figure out where a phone was, I could sneak back later and cal for help.
“Sorry. We only have access to the cottage. The farmhouse is locked.”
“And, heavens, we couldn’t break in, could we? Why, that would be ilegal,” I said, widening my eyes. He acknowledged the
irony with a tight smile, and led me to the crude facilities, where I went through the charade while he waited nearby. One would
almost think he didn’t trust me. Nothing crawled up my legs, as far as I could feel, and I removed myself from the fumes as
quickly as seemed reasonable.
I looked around after I got out, pretending it was al new to me, and noted there was stil only the one car. Wherever Nils had
been, he hadn’t returned with a vehicle.
“Hey, is that a Mini?” I asked, trying to sound excited in a rich girl way. “They are so cute. I wanted to get one, but my parents
got me a stuffy old Mercedes instead. No fun at al.”
“Poor you,” Nils said, clearly amused.
“Seriously, may I look at it?”
“Why would you want to? Surely you’ve seen one before.” He eyed me with something hinting at suspicion. Time for a wistful
sigh.
“Wel, it’s something to do to stay outside a little longer, isn’t it? I’m not realy looking forward to being chained up again.” That
much was true.
He cocked his head. Shrugged. “Al right. But only for a moment.” He took my hand and led me toward the car.
“Afraid I’m going to make a break for it?” I said.
“No. You are smart enough not to do that. But the ground is uneven here, and I wouldn’t want you to trip and fal.”
Yeah, right. Wel, he needn’t worry. I wouldn’t be trying to run right under his nose. I just wanted to get a look inside the Mini
to see if maybe, just maybe, Per had left the keys in the ignition. I knew how to hot-wire a car—Bily showed me when we were
in high school—but that didn’t work wel with the newer models, and I didn’t want to waste time searching the cottage for the
keys later if I didn’t have to.
I figured there was a good chance al three musketeers would sleep tonight without one of them standing guard, since they
would think I was stuck in the cuffs. If I could get away with the only available car, they wouldn’t be able to catch me. It wasn’t
like the fertilizer truck could keep up with a fine piece of German engineering like the Mini. And so what if I got lost? I’d reach
someplace civilized eventualy, and figure out how to contact help then.
Nils extended a hand toward the dark green import as we neared it. “Look—here is your dream car. Do you realy think it
would satisfy a woman of your refined tastes?” It looked ridiculously smal next to him when he stopped beside it, almost like a
toy.
“Oh, my tastes tend to be quite simple,” I said, running my free hand over the white car top, and bending over to look inside.
There was stil enough light to see the keys hanging in the ignition. Yes! I thought. Only maybe I kind of thought it out loud. Oops.
Nils brought his head down to my level to see what had me so excited.
“Um, yes, look at that—leather seats!” I gushed. “See? Good things come in smal packages.”
“I can see that,” he said, only he was looking at me and not the car. Yikes! He wasn’t getting ideas, was he?
Duh. What man wouldn’t be getting ideas about Mina? Improvise, Ciel. Maybe you can use this.
I straightened up and moved away from the car, taking Nils with me, since he stil had hold of my hand. Darned if I didn’t slip
on a loose stone and stumble up against the big Swede, and heck if I didn’t accidentaly brush my breasts up along the side of his
rib cage as I righted myself. His swift intake of breath told me if he had noticed the key, it shouldn’t be in his mind long enough to
make a lasting impression. Mission accomplished.
“I’m sorry—I guess you were right about the ground. I’m not usualy so clumsy.”
His hand tightened on mine. I looked away, hiding my victory smile. “I, um, guess we should go back in now,” I said.
“In a moment.” Nils’s voice was soft. Inviting.
I tried my best to avoid meeting his eyes, but he caught my glance when I peeked up at him, and puled me closer. Geez. He
was going to kiss me.
Should I let him? Would that make him more kindly disposed to help me? I didn’t want to—oh, hel, who was I kidding? A tiny
part of me (the unthinking, stupid part) kind of did want to. I was curious. Helo? Viking hunk. What normal, heterosexual woman
wouldn’t be curious? But, I decided, Mina wouldn’t want him to—she would be too worried about Trey to even think of it—and
I had to be Mina. So I puled away.
Right after the first minute or so.
I know. It was wrong. I mean, here I was making loose with somebody else’s morals. Honestly, I was just going to take a little
sample, and then fly into a mortaly offended routine, but you know how it is when you have one itty-bitty bite of Ben and Jerry’s
Cherry Garcia, with the best intentions not to have any more than that, and before you know it the whole pint is gone? Yeah, it
was kind of like that. The thing of it was, Nils was a pretty good kisser, which sort of took me by surprise. Could kidnappers be
good kissers?
And then I felt queasy—the ice cream analogy holding up only too wel—because here I was betraying Pete’s memory. I mean,
even if Nils hadn’t been the shooter, he was stil an accomplice. But I could hardly claim to be offended now. Not when I’d let it
go on for so long. So I kept it simple. “I shouldn’t have let you do that.”
He smiled, not looking like a kiler at al. “I’m glad you did.”
I shook myself. Mina. Damn it, remember who you are! “Just don’t do it again. I’m practicaly engaged!”
“So?”
“What do you mean, so? Trey is the man I love, and for al I know you’ve kiled him. I saw one of you kil Pete, and you’re
probably going to kil me, too, for God’s sake!” I baled up a fist and slammed it against his chest.
He puled me back to him, but only to wipe away a few stray tears sliding down my cheeks. Gawd. Was I actualy crying?
Damn aura leeching—Mina must be a crier. How embarrassing. But at least it seemed to
be gaining me some sympathy. That
couldn’t hurt, could it?
“First of al, who is this Pete? The man on the dock?”
I nodded, more tears springing forth. I’d realy liked Pete.
“It is unfortunate he was in the way,” he said, voice tight. Was that regret I heard in his tone? I wanted to think so, but I
couldn’t be sure. “But Trey is not dead. And I am not going to kil you.”
“Ha. You won’t have to—Per would rather do that himself,” I countered.
“Per wil not kil you. I promise.” Then he added, almost as an afterthought, “If you cooperate with us.” I shivered, afraid once
more. Every time I felt myself start to trust this guy, he said something to snap me out of it. Maybe he was just an extremely
courteous sociopath.
“What about the other guy? He might. He looks pretty shifty.”
“Not him either.”
“Who is he, anyway, and why is he working with a bunch of Swedes?”
“That I cannot tel you. Now, perhaps we realy should go back in. Per is watching from the window.”
I pushed away from Nils and swung my head toward the house. “Oh, shit! Did he see? Was he watching?”
“What does it matter? It isn’t his business.”
“He’l think…” I stopped and swalowed, feeling shame I knew was unreasonable. While I was perfectly wiling to use Mina’s
charms to manipulate Nils, I certainly didn’t want that asshole watching. Especialy if it might lead him to think I was up for grabs.
“He wil think you were trying to enlist my aid,” Nils said matter-of-factly. “It is not an uncommon tactic.”
I felt my eyes get big. Was I that transparent?
Laughter rumbled through him. He turned back to the Mini and retrieved the keys. “It wouldn’t have worked, anyway,” he said
when he looked at me again.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” I said, masking my disappointment with as much innocence as I could gather.
“Distracting me with sex so I wouldn’t handcuff you tonight, and then taking off in the car after we are asleep. You don’t know
where you are—you would get lost. Besides, I stil would’ve handcuffed you. Sex with handcuffs can be exciting, ja?”
Chapter 15