Captive! (4 page)

“All right, you punks,” Ripper growled. “Get out of there.”

The boys reluctantly climbed out of the car, and Ripper pushed them toward the old house. “This time we’re gonna make sure you runts ain’t goin’ nowhere.” He followed them through the front door. “Everybody down on the floor. Find something to tie ’em up with, Spoon.” Ripper picked up a ball of twine from the table and threw it at the large man. “Here, use this, and make it tight.” He turned and went back out to the porch to talk to the woman.

Roman looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished. A rickety table and two chairs stood near the door, and there were a
couple of army cots under an open window near the back wall. There was a shortwave radio on a wooden shelf above the table.

“You’re the last one. Get your hands out, kid.” Spoon knelt down in front of Roman. Roman stuck out his hands with his wrists crossed. It was the oldest trick in the book, but it was worth a try.

Spoon fell for it. He pulled the twine tight, then ran it down to Roman’s feet, tied them together, and cut the end of the rope with a butcher knife.

Spoon stood up and grinned. “Now you boys just make yourselves comfortable, ’cause you’re gonna be here awhile.” The big man tossed what was left of the twine into the corner of the room and headed out the door.

“Man, these ropes are tight.” Woody squirmed, trying to find relief. “I think they’re cutting off my circulation.”

Roman uncrossed his wrists and easily pulled his hands out of the cords. Quickly he reached into his pocket for his knife and cut the twine around his feet. He moved to
Woody and had started to cut him free when he heard someone coming.

“I’ll be back,” Roman whispered. He ran to the first cot, made a flying jump, and leaped out the open window headfirst. He hit the dirt in a tight little ball, scrambled to his feet, and ran as hard as he could for the bushes.

The door opened and the three kidnappers walked in, still talking and laughing.

The woman stopped when she saw the boys. “Wait a minute. One’s missing.”

“Spoon, you idiot! Can’t I trust you with anything?” Ripper stormed across the room to the boys and slapped Woody hard, knocking him sideways. “Where did he go?”

Woody struggled to sit up. Blood was dripping from his nose. He set his jaw and glared at Ripper.

Ripper had drawn his hand back to strike again when Madge spoke up. “That big kid will be halfway to town if you and Spoon don’t quit fooling around and go after him.”

“She’s right, Ripper—” Spoon started.

“Shut up, you moron. If it wasn’t for you he
wouldn’t be loose.” Ripper took his gun out of his belt and checked the clip. “Madge, you stay here and keep an eye on the rest of them.” He pointed the gun at Spoon. “You better hope we find that kid.”

Roman burrowed his way into a thick section of oak brush and tried to lie as still as possible. His heart was pounding. He couldn’t see anything but he could hear the two men yelling back and forth.

Then it was quiet. Spoon had found some tennis shoe tracks the boys had made the night before and was following them deeper and deeper into the woods. Ripper had taken the car and was checking the roads.

Roman sat up. His mind raced. They must have left the woman behind to watch the others.
If he was going to try anything, it would have to be now, while the two men were gone.

He took a deep breath, inched out of the oak brush, and looked around. There was no sign of anyone. Quietly he made his way to the window, edged up to one corner, and peeked in. The woman was sitting at the table with her back to him, reading a newspaper. She was tapping the table over and over with her long red fingernails.

Carefully he moved toward the middle of the window until he caught Jeff’s eye. Jeff nodded. Roman took the knife out of his pocket and tossed it lightly onto the end of the cot.

Roman moved back and watched Jeff working his way over to it. He had to scoot along the floor, trying not to attract any attention. Once he reached the cot, he had to reach up quickly to grab the knife before Madge turned and saw what he was trying to do.

She looked up just as he snatched it. “What are you doing over there?” She stood up and took a step toward him. “If you think you’re
going out that window, think again. Get away from there.” She marched over to the window and slammed it shut as Roman ducked around the side of the building.

Jeff kept his fist tightly closed over the knife and moved back to Woody and Mitch.

The woman folded her arms and walked around the three boys. “You squirts better not be planning anything. It won’t do you any good. I had a talk with Ripper earlier. I told him I thought there were too many of you. He wouldn’t object to getting rid of one or two of you. All I have to do is give the word.”

She gave them a long, disgusted look and then went back to the table to read her paper. But this time she turned her chair toward them and looked up every few seconds.

With as little movement as he could manage, Jeff opened the blade and sawed at the twine on his hands. It was difficult work since his hands were tied, but in minutes the twine snapped. He kept his hands close together and silently worked on his feet.

Roman heard the faint sound of a car engine
coming from somewhere down the road. He knew it wouldn’t be long until Ripper was back. His choices were getting narrower.

He took a breath, centered himself, and ran to the front door, shoving it open. Madge stood up so fast her chair fell backward. She reached into her purse, pulled out a small gun, and pointed it at Roman.

“You get over there with your friends, kid, and I won’t hurt you.”

Jeff tossed the knife to Mitch and jumped to his feet.

Madge swung around. Jeff stepped closer. “What are you going to do, lady? You can’t get both of us.”

The woman slowly backed into the corner. “Stay away. I mean it. I’ll shoot.”

Roman waited for her to look over at Jeff again. The second she did, he jumped in and landed a swift karate kick, knocking the gun out of her hand. It sailed across the room and dropped through a hole in the old wooden planks to the dirt below. Madge slumped to the floor, holding her wrist.

“All right!” Jeff slapped hands with Roman.

Mitch had just finished cutting the last piece of twine on Woody’s feet. Woody rubbed his ankles. “What took you so long?”

“Shut up, Worm.” Mitch playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Your nose okay?”

Woody nodded and looked at Roman. “What do we do now?”

“Grab the radio. We’ve got to get out of here. I heard Ripper coming back. He could be here any second.”

“In here.” Roman led the way into a dark thicket. “We’ll rest for a few minutes. We’ve been moving hard for the last couple of hours.” He reached for the radio. “I don’t know what good it’ll do to call out, since we don’t have a clue where we are.”

Woody sat down and dumped the dirt and rocks out of his tennis shoes. “It couldn’t hurt, and right now it’s about the only hope we have.”

Mitch was puffing like a bellows. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees, trying to
catch his breath. “Man … I’m tired. What I wouldn’t give … for a cool … glass of water.”

Jeff fell to the ground and stretched out. “Somebody wake me when this nightmare is over.”

“Don’t get too comfortable.” Roman set up the radio. “We’re moving out again in a couple of seconds. Ripper and Spoon could be anywhere. They know the area. We don’t.”

He pressed the transmission button. “Hello, does anybody out there hear me? My name is Roman Sanchez. I was kidnapped along with three other guys two days ago.” Roman let go of the button and listened.

Nothing.

He tried again. “If you can hear me, we need help. We have escaped from the kidnappers but they’re after us. I’m not sure of our location. All I know is that we’re on a mountain, somewhere near a small gas station called Freddie’s.” He listened again. There was no response.

Roman packed up the radio. “I’ll try again later. We better be on our way.”

“On our way to where?” Jeff asked. “It’s getting late and we don’t even know which direction to head.”

“Like the Worm said, we should keep going downhill.” Roman started walking. “This time I have a pretty good idea where the road is. I’ve been trying to stay out of sight and still keep it to the left of us.”

Mitch moved up beside him. “Do you think there’s any chance we’ll make it to that little town we drove through before it gets too dark?”

Roman shrugged. “Who knows? All I know is the farther away from those guys we can get, the better.”

They walked single file for the next mile without talking. The sun was almost down and it was starting to get cold.

Mitch broke the silence. “If we keep going in this darkness, somebody’s gonna trip and break a leg or something. Maybe we should find someplace to lay up until daylight.”

“He’s right, Roman,” Woody said. “I’m worn out. Those guys aren’t going to find us
in the dark. We can get a fresh start in the morning.”

Roman hesitated. “I don’t know …”

“Come on. It’ll give you a chance to try the radio again.” Jeff pointed to some trees. “We’ll spend the night over there.” He patted Roman on the back. “I’m not worried—if anything goes wrong, we’ve got the Karate Kid on our side.”

Roman’s eyes flew open. It was morning. He needed to get everybody up and moving. He stretched. His neck was stiff from sleeping on the cold ground. He was about to turn over on his makeshift bed of leaves when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of movement.

A sharp-toed cowboy boot was coming at him. He rolled but it still hooked him in the ribs. He groaned in agony and tried to stand up. The boot came at him again, this time catching him in the stomach and knocking the
wind out of him. He rolled into a ball and looked up.

Ripper stood over him. “You thought you were pretty big stuff yesterday, didn’t you, hero? What’s wrong, kid? You don’t seem so tough today.” The blond man laughed and looked over at his partner. “Does he, Spoon?”

Spoon shook his head. He was standing behind Mitch, Woody, and Jeff with his gun out. “No. In fact he looks kinda sick today. Maybe he ain’t feeling so good.”

“Leave him alone.” Woody took a step toward Ripper. “Pick on somebody your own size.”

Ripper burst out laughing. “Like who, half-pint? You?”

Woody glared at him. “Leave us alone. We haven’t done anything to you.”

“Wrong again, little man.” Ripper stepped in front of him. “You four have given me a lot more trouble than you’re worth. But that’s going to stop because we’ve decided to move you to a different place. A place where you’ll never be heard from again.”

The three boys glanced at each other.

“Get your friend up,” Ripper ordered. “We’re going back to the cabin.”

Jeff and Mitch tried to help Roman to his feet. Halfway up, Roman drew a sharp breath and held his left side in pain. “I think a couple of my ribs are broken.”

“Here. Put your arm around me.” Jeff moved to the right and let Roman use him as a crutch.