Chapter one
I tried to breathe quietly. I hugged myself to stay warm against the cold air. I wondered if they would be coming soon.
I heard the door open. A voice called to me.
"All right missy, you can come out now."
I walked to the door on unsteady legs. "What's going on?" My eyes scanned the stranger who had accompanied my captor. "I don't understand!"
"And you will," promised the man, "soon enough."
"I want my mum and dad," I demanded. "Where are they? Why have you brought me here?"
"Come, or I'll put you back in the refrigerator with the fish!" he threatened.
"I want to go home!" I persisted, my voice getting shakier with every word.
The man gave me a sharp look. "Keep your voice down!" he hissed.
"No!" I screamed.
The man turned to the stranger. "This only happens when parents relax with discipline." He turned back to me. "Let's say I show you what you're missing!"
"Hold on, hold on," said the stranger. "What's your name?"
"Thugg," said the other man.
"No, not you. Her," he said, motioning to me. He opened his mouth, then his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. He turned back to Thugg.
"Wait a minute. Did you say your name was...Thugg?"
"Yeah. Thugg," Thugg replied, like it was obvious. "With two g's. Mycroft Thugg."
"That is amazing," said the stranger incredulously.
"I know." Thugg chuckled. "It's like having a doctor named…doctor."
"No kidding," agreed the man. He looked at me. "Now listen. Mr. Thugg here is in on a little prank we're playing on your dad."
"A prank?" I repeated, trying to sound as if I wanted him to elaborate. But I was a little offended. This man talked to me as if I was a little child! But I liked him.
"Uh-huh. And you get to play along." He winked at me.
I resisted the urge to give him a slight eye-roll. Did he think I was six?
"I like surprises," I told him. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Well, I want you to take threebig steps back, while I knock out Mr. Mycroft here."
"OK," I agreed, doing as he asked.
"Hey, you're pretty good with kids, aren't you?" grinned Mycroft, before he could completely comprehend the information. Then it hit him. "Wait, did you say knock out-?!"
I instinctively jerked back when I saw Mycroft Thugg fall to the floor with one swift punch.
"Little slow on the uptake, eh, Mycroft?" The man said, looking at the unconscious Mycroft on the floor. I noticed his voice wasn't as low and gruff as it had been before, and realized he had been disguising it. I liked his new voice.
He glanced at me again. "Come on." He held his hand out to me. Strangely I trusted him, so I took it and stepped over Mycroft.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"All part of the prank," he told me. "Now come on." I didn't believe him.
"But what about him?" I glanced back at Thugg.
He chuckled. "Nothing an ice pack won't fix." Rethinking his words, he added, "Or a piece of frozen fish." He looked around, still explaining. "The next part of the prank is for us to get away. And it looks like this is the only door out, so come on." He opened the mentioned door and peeked out.
I waited as patiently as I could for him to get it through his head that we couldn't simply stroll past our captors.
"It looks pretty busy out there," he said, closing the door.
I raised my eyebrows and nodded, my arms crossed. "Yeah."
He ignored my sarcasm. "Go over there and hide behind those sacks of flour," he told me, pointing in their direction.
I nodded. "OK."
"And whatever happens," he added quickly, "stay back there until I say, all right?"
"OK," I repeated, doing what he wanted. I ducked just in time for Reggie Fingers to enter the room.
"Hello? Mycroft?" His eyes fell on his accomplice lying unconscious on the floor. "Oh dear, Mr. Grinder. Just what have you done to Mycroft?"
Grinder, I thought. So that's his name!
"He wasn't playing very nice," replied the Grinder.
"That's not how it looked like on the camera," Fingers shot back.
"C...camera?" The Grinder's shoulders rose and fell with a sigh.
"Yeah, Mr. Grote thought a damsel in distress would draw you out" -Fingers smirked at the Grinder- "whereas I expected a seasoned undercover agent to be tougher. Grote was right-now I owe him five pounds."
Yeah, it was true. I was working for Reggie Fingers and wasn't the frightened, kidnapped little girl the Grinder had supposed me to be. But I wasn't at all surprised that Fingers and Grote had bet on whether or not the Grinder would fall for their scheme.
"You can come out now," Mr. Fingers called to me.
"No, stay where you are!" The Grinder said anxiously as I came out of my hiding place.
"I think it's better if I come out," I told him.
"Thank you, my dear," smiled Fingers.
The Grinder rolled his eyes. "Oh, now I'm embarrassed! What, is my face turning red? A damsel in distress, who wasn't really in distress."
I fought an amused smile. The Grinder was very quick, but seemed terribly slow on some things.
"Trying to con us with 'the Grinder' the same way you played the Stiletto in America-that shows a lack of imagination." Reggie's eyes narrowed in on the Grinder. "Jason."
The Grinder returned to the higher voice he had used before with me. "Well, would it make any difference if I said, I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Not at all." Fingers shook his head.
I chose this pause in conversation to speak. "Right, so, uh, I'll be on my way-soon as I get paid, Mr. Fingers." I glanced at him.
"Well, we're not quite finished yet," replied Fingers. "You'll have to stay."
"Oh, well that'll cost more," I stated, matter-of-factly.
"No it won't," I heard him mutter.
"What Mr. Fingers is trying to say is that, you're not leaving, and you're not getting paid," cut in the Grinder (no, Jason). "You're a witness to whatever he has planned."
"Oh, I can keep a secret," I cried, casting nervous eyes at the Englishman. "You know that, Mr. Fingers. You can trust me!"
"Well, actually, I can't." Reggie glanced over at the unconscious Thugg. "Mycroft!"
I sighed as I heard a faint groan from the other side of the room, remembering Fingers' accomplice that Jason had knocked out.
"Get up, you dope!" Reggie called. "We've got work to do!"
"Right. Sorry, Mr. Fingers." Mycroft winced as he got to his feet. "I didn't expect him to hit me in front of the girl!"
"Oh yeah." Jason scratched the back of his neck nonchalantly. "Sorry about that."
"So...where were we?" Thugg asked. I kept my mouth shut, afraid I would say something sarcastic.
"The van's been taken care of," Reggie said. "It's time to relocate."
"The Julius house?" Mycroft suggested.
"Quiet, Mycroft!" hissed Fingers.
"Oops. Sorry." Thugg's voice was hard to deduce from. Was he actually sorry?
"What did you do to the van?" The tone Jason used wasn't exactly frightened and worried. It was a warning. I instantly knew that this wasn't a man I wanted to be on bad terms with.
"We created a little diversion for your friends at MI5," replied Fingers.
I watched Jason to see if he would react, but his face was perfectly calm with only a hint of anger that nobody else seemed to notice.
"You'll find out about it eventually," Reggie continued. "Dennis will be along for you shortly. Please. Don't try anything dramatic in the meantime."
He cocked his head towards the door, motioning for Mycroft to follow him. He shut the door behind them. We were alone.
I sighed. "Now what have I gotten myself into?"
"Well what did you expect, taking a job with Reggie Fingers?" Jason's voice was irritated, but not angry. This impressed me.
"He pays well," I argued simply.
"He's a criminal!" Jason looked at the ceiling.
"One does what one must to survive," I stated, as if quoting an author.
"Life is more than survival," he told me. "What are you, an actress?"
I beamed. "Not professionally. It's more like a hobby."
"No home, no parents?"
"No parents," I answered, choosing not to disclose any information about my home. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'd rather get out of here."
"You can't go through that door, do you have another way out? One that won't show up on their camera?"
Once again I ignored his ignorant words.
"There's a large duct on the wall, justunder the camera," I told him.
"What kind of duct?"
"It's from the old days when the restaurant used steamed heat," I explained, happy that my knowledge of London was being useful. "It's behind those shelves."
"How do you know that?" Jason seemed impressed.
"I make it my business to know the ins and outs of every building in London," I replied.
He seemed satisfied with that, so he continued. "But listen, we have to move fast. Once we're out of view, they'll send someone in after us."
"You could throw those huge bags of flour in front of the door while I get the panel open," I suggested.
"Oh, you're just full of good ideas, aren't ya?" He winked at me. "By the way, I never did catch your name."
I grinned at him. "Sue."
~TBC~
