A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! Here's the next installment:

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Adelaide stormed up to one of the men. "What are you
doing?" she questioned, making the leader jump slightly. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"What are you doing here?" he asked, turning around.

"I believe I asked you first," Adelaide said. "We have a right to know what is happening, since a couple of men with guns just intruded on our Christmas party."

"I'm so sorry we interrupted. But we cannot reveal too much to you, for fear that you might…rise against us."

"Let's see – you have about a dozen men, and though our population is near double that, you're the ones with the machine guns, and we have mere carryon bags. However, if you do provoke us, we may come at you with an assortment of pens, candy wrappers, and Walkmans."

"Oh, that's very clever." Suddenly, he grabbed Adelaide's wrist and brought her back to the others. "Now, stay here and be of no further burden to us."

Adelaide looked in the man's eyes. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hans Grüber. If I told you anything else, I'd have to kill you. And it'd be a terrible shame to waste something so beautiful."

"Hey, you made it," Mike said. "I knew you would."

Adelaide gave him a skeptical look and said, "Well, the leader's name is Hans Grüber. And as we gathered from before, they are German. But that's all I found out. They're very secretive."

The others nodded. "What do we do?" asked Julia, clearly still frightened for her life

"Well, I suggest we go back to having a jolly old good time because I'm all out of ideas." Adelaide stood up and turned the music back on. The next song was 'Feliz Navidad'. "Come on, let's dance."

Reluctantly and hesitantly, the others joined in. The next thing they knew, Hans and the others had returned. Without warning, Hans took out his handgun and shot the stereo, making everyone jump.

"What – do they not play Christmas carols back in Germany?" questioned Adelaide, hands on hips, raising an eyebrow.

Ignoring her, Hans said, "Now, we seem to have stumbled upon a minor inconvenience. Among us, there is no one petite enough to fit in a really small place. And, unfortunately, there are no children among you, so we have come to ask who is quite small…anyone?"

Julia clutched Adelaide's arm.

"Well, if you do not volunteer yourselves, I will have to find someone by process of elimination." Hans cocked his gun.

He strode over to where Adelaide was standing. "Ah, our curious guest," he said, offering his hand to her, and looking her up and down. "If you would kindly follow me…"

Adelaide walked with Hans to a back staircase. They went down many flights, until the final door read: Basement. He opened the door and gestured for Adelaide to venture through.

Once in the cold basement, she saw the other terrorists. "Hey, who's this chick?" said a black man.

"Theo, this is…" Hans began, waiting for Adelaide to finish.

"Adelaide Ricci," she replied. "But it's Miss Ricci to all of you."

"Well, Miss Ricci, here, is going to help us crack this safe."

"What safe? I didn't say I'd help you."

"You don't have a choice, I'm afraid." Hans placed his hands on Adelaide's shoulders. "You do it…or you die."

Hans and a tall, blond man led Adelaide to a corner of the basement. They swiped their cards through the door and walked into a smaller room.

"See, this is what we need you to get through," said Theo, kneeling down to show Adelaide a small shaft, where a fan was.

"That's impossible," Adelaide said shortly.

"Not for you," Hans said. "You look thin enough to fit through."

"You know, Mr. Grüber," began Adelaide. "That is the sweetest compliment I've ever gotten…which is kinda sad, when you think about it…fine, I'll do it."

A couple of the men stopped the fan and broke it off, so Adelaide could crawl through the tunnel.

"Okay, I'm through," Adelaide called back. "Now what?"

"Now, do you see another door?" Theo asked.

"Yes."

"Go through that, and from there, you'll have thirteen seconds to set off the alarms, thus opening a back door. If the alarms are not deactivated, the police will come…and one of these guys, here, will kill you."

"Thirteen seconds? No one said anything about there being a time limit."

"You never asked," Hans replied.