AN: Hurray!! A new chapter! Aren't you proud of me?! You're not... I'm sad… that's what I look like.
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"This is really good." Sydney said as she ate the stew that Oscar had made, "What is it?"
Oscar smiled mysteriously and continued to eat, "Do you think Nigel wants any?"
"Probably, but he's kinda asleep."
"Sleeping is good." He paused and continued, "I like to sleep." Oscar nodded, "We should go to sleep together." Oscar stated, "Oh, shit that came out wrong."
Sydney laughed, "Finish your stew." She stood up, laid out the blanket she had brought, and fell asleep next to Nigel.
Oscar covered the left over stew in a container and cleaned up after their dinner. He took out his blanket and laid it down when he heard something snap in the bushes.
Oscar froze and listened again for the sound, however nothing else came.
Oscar moved casually to his pack and removed a small knife. He hid it under his arm and walked near Sydney. He sat down and hoped that the sound was nothing.
A few minutes passed nothing except the sharp chirps of crickets pierced the air.
Oscar started to relax; surly nothing could have that attention span.
Standing watch was extremely boring, especially in Oscar's opinion. He wasn't sure but he might have had ADD. Of course this wasn't for sure because although he did try to take the internet test he never could finish but that was because he was extremely busy with his job or the pictures on his desk or the birds outside or the coffee cup or the games or the carpet.
Anyway now that he had nothing interesting to do he was now annoyingly aware of that fact. He wondered how long he actually had to stay up because there was no way that Nigel would stand guard because Sydney won't allow it and that would mean that he would have to stay up at least half the night. What was he going to do?
Oscar stood up and walked in a small circle around their camp. He did this for as long as he could but near the third circle he made he was getting bored. Then he heard it.
A small rustle whispered through the trees and Oscar froze. He strained to hear it again but deadly silence met him.
Oscar nervously walked towards Sydney. His hand levitated an inch from Sydney's shoulder when he was efficiently and silently pulled back. A cloth covered hand placed itself on Oscar's mouth and smothered his nose as well. After a small struggle, Oscar lost himself to the darkness of his mind.
---
The guy who found aspirin was a genius. Lucky bastard probably stumbled upon the discovery though.
Nigel's head no longer pounded and he felt much better but he kept his eyes closed because he was still a little tired.
Nigel began drifting into sleep when a voice interrupted him.
"What is the importance this woman?" funny, Nigel didn't recognize this voice.
"What did I say about questions?" another voice replied.
A slight pause, "Don't ask unless you're sure someone will answer?"
There was a sigh, "Why was that stated in a question?"
"How should I know?"
"You know what? We're not having this discussion again! Just do what I tell you to and don't ask so many questions or I'll fire your ass."
The weirdest thing was that Nigel wasn't entirely sure what language they were speaking. Not that it mattered much because he and Sydney were fluent in many languages, but it was a funny feeling.
Nigel opened his eyes a crack and could make out a set of bars and two men beyond them in enthralled discussion.
Listening carefully he could make out Sydney's soft breathing and he absently wondered what was going on.
The two men's voices became muffled as they moved out of the room.
Nigel sat up quickly and took in their cell. It was small and being shared by three people. Sometimes he wondered why the bad guys always chose to put them into the same cell without any restraints.
But then he realized they were too poor to do any better.
Three cots took up each wall and the small cement floor took up the rest of the space in the cell. The barred doors swung inward so it was impossible to tell how they were suppose move when their captures wanted to come into the cell.
Nigel reached over; he did not have to get up, and shook Sydney's shoulder. She woke up with frightening speed, almost toppling over the small cot.
"Sydney, are you all right?" Nigel asked, even though he could physically see that she was fine.
She breathed in the stale air and looked carefully around her. Sydney knew this place. The last time she was here she spent a week in the cell.
"Sydney?" Nigel asked again.
"I'm fine, Nige, just remembering some things." She answered tiredly.
"Should we wake Oscar up?"
"If you do, you might have to entertain him. Did you know he has ADD?"
"We let him sleep."
Sydney smiled briefly and tried to think of a way out of this. The three stone walls left little option, so she would have to attack when they came in. However with the amount of space in the cell, it was would prove difficult as well.
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"How's your head?" Oscar asked, he woke up about five minutes ago and this was all ready his 20th question.
"Well, the jackhammer's gone, but the sledgehammer is a different story."
Oscar nodded, "What happened in there?"
At the question Sydney stopped thinking and looked up at Nigel.
Nigel shrugged, "I don't know, one minute I'm sleeping and the other I was walking through the cave. Syd, I wasn't planning on going in there alone."
Sydney smiled lightly, "I know, Nigel, but we still don't know what made you go in."
"Do you know why they want us?" Nigel asked.
"Jamie Lucero. Big time crime lord of the D.F.'s underworld. Don't cross unless you know you can survive." Oscar answered.
"Which is exactly what we did not do, isn't that just great? Another psycho path to deal with." Sydney muttered.
"Mmmm…okay," Nigel paused, "Now, can you tell me the whole story?"
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"The Aztecs believed that creation began in a cave. It makes perfect sense for the gods to the store their unused power in a cave." Nigel explained.
The silence that followed was long but not uncomfortable. Each person was in their own thoughts before the patterned thump of footsteps resounded through the door.
Oscar looked at Sydney, "I have a plan."
Sydney winced, "It's not stupid, is it?"
Oscar smiled but did not reply.
"Guess that depends on point of view." Nigel shrugged, "Do we get to know it?"
Oscar motioned for Sydney and Nigel to sit on the same cot as he was, the cot that pressed up against the opposite wall of the cell bars.
Two guards burst through the wooden door along with a man in a clean white suit.
"Lucero" Sydney said in greeting.
Lucero inclined his head in reply and ordered one of the guards in a low voice.
The guard nodded and trained his hand gun at the three.
"David, el gringo." Lucero commanded and walked out of the room.
David came forward and unlocked the cell door leaving only half of the cell in possible use. He reached to grab Nigel but Sydney knocked his arm back.
Oscar picked this time to attack and kicked out at David, causing the guard to fall forward enough for Sydney to assault.
In one solid movement, Sydney smashed David's temple with her fist and stood up on the cot. She swung a kick that knocked David into the wall.
Nigel jumped up and dove on top of David, making sure that the guard would stay down while Oscar pulled out David's hand gun.
A click resounded through the room, "Don't move." The guard trained his gun at Sydney as he un-strapped his radio and called in for back up.
The guard motioned his gun in the direction of Nigel and Oscar. "Get off him."
Nigel jumped up off David and Oscar backed up a little.
"David?"
David didn't answer and the guard spared a glance at the door. "Ahh….van al otro lado."
Oscar, Sydney, and Nigel looked at him, not exactly sure what he meant by that.
The guard motioned to the half of the cell which was blocked by the door and the three moved behind it.
"Gringo, traes David fuera." The guard told Nigel.
Nigel moved out of the cut up cell and towards David. He bent down to a crouch near David's head and hooked David's arm around his shoulders and stood up slowly. David was heavy but Nigel was going to do what the man with the gun was telling him to do.
It was hard to angle around the open cell door which stuck obtrusively in front of the opening but Nigel did not trip until they were both out of the cell, where he and David tumbled ungracefully to the floor.
David had somehow landed on top of Nigel and seemed to have no intention of moving. "Little help?" Nigel breathed heavily.
The guard moved forward, his eyes on Sydney and Oscar the whole time. He glanced down to find David's arm and quickly looked up again.
He reached down this time without looking and pulled David off of Nigel. The guard kept his eyes steady on Sydney and Oscar as he freed Nigel from David's weight.
Nigel quickly swung a kick to the back of the guard's knees. This instantly brought the guard down while Sydney and David rushed out of the small confinement to help.
Sydney quickly took out the guard and ran to the door. She checked the hallway and motioned for Oscar and Nigel to hurry.
Oscar helped Nigel up and they ran.
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"If I remember correctly then the exit should be right around the corner." Sydney said.
"And if I remember correctly then there would be at least four guards there waiting for us." Oscar supplied.
Sydney glanced around the corner and did not see any guards, surprisingly.
"Where are these so called guards?" Nigel questioned.
Sydney shrugged but she was not going to argue. She waved for them to follow her and Sydney ran forwards. Nigel and Oscar ran after Sydney through the bright hall way and into the foyer. It looked like a normal house up here. Completely and utterly normal, not one thing suggested that it held a prison in the basement or that it could deal drugs behind closed walls and offer sex in private rooms. It was just normal, for a mansion.
Just as she was about to open the door a voice screamed, "STOP!"
"I knew that was too easy." Oscar complained.
"Turn around" the same voice commanded.
In a voice low enough so that only Nigel and Sydney could hear, Oscar said, "Ready?"
Sydney held onto Nigel's arm, keeping him in her time so that they could run together whenever Oscar said to.
"I said turn around" They didn't know that Oscar had a gun. And they didn't know that Oscar would aim so high.
Oscar shot the major chain that supported the chandelier as Sydney opened the door. Oscar ushered them all out while the crashing chandelier muffled the sound of their escape.
---
Six all terrain jeeps sat outside in an ordered row facing the mansion and in the far distance Sydney could make out a solid white wall, just as she remembered. And better yet, they didn't know how she got out last time so there would be no problem this time with the same method.
Sydney ran to the nearest vehicle, "Oscar, Nigel, cut the other cars. Make sure they can't follow for now."
Sydney opened the door and ducked under the steering wheel. She hot wired the car in less than three minutes and jumped into the driver's seat.
Oscar finished on the third car and jumped into the passenger seat.
"Where's Nigel?" Sydney asked.
"I thought he was done." A shrugged followed the reply.
Sydney leaned out the car window, "Nigel!"
"Yes?" the answer came from the last car in the row.
"Hurry!"
"Coming!"
A flash caught Sydney's eyes and Sydney looked up at the three story house, searching for the same light. One of the windows was open and a man stood there aiming a rifle in Nigel's direction.
Before Sydney could shout out a warning a shot shattered the air.
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AN:P