Chapter Ten – El Desperado

"'Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall."
- William Shakespeare.

The two bounty hunters had tracked us down faster than the FBI had, and they were damn proud about it. Yet here we were, like sitting ducks, at the side of the road. A flat tire was the one thing that separated Bellick and Geary from their rewards, and they were already bickering like an old married couple about it. In the end, it seemed like Bellick still wore the pants in this relationship. Geary would have to walk ten miles to get another flat tire. I wondered why they didn't just call the FBI to come to us instead. They'd still get their reward, wouldn't they? Or did they have to turn up at a specific place with us in tow? Better not suggest calling the FBI. Brad probably didn't have a cell phone either.

Michael helped pull me from the car, giving me a reassuring pat on the back as if to say, 'We'll take care of these idiotic buffoons soon enough'. I sure hoped so. Nika was in a pissy mood, which just irritated me. She would get a few years for this, sure, but she'd get out eventually. The rest of us – Michael, Lincoln and I – would never see the outside of a prison again should they catch us. Bellick herded us like sheep into the woods. I didn't recognize the place, nor did I know where he planned on taking us.

Off Geary walked in the opposite direction with a scowl on his pudgy face. In my head, I replayed the night we escaped from Fox Rivers, leaving Brad down in the pipes. How I wished they had never found him. Sighing, I walked alongside Michael, Nika and Lincoln in front, knowing Bellick wasn't taking his eyes off us. I was disgusted to see him staring at my bottom as I walked. Pervert. I'd call him a pig, but that would an insult to the poor animal.

"I can't believe I trusted you," Nika hissed from in front of us.

I rolled my eyes. "You think Michael can predict the future? How was he supposed to know this would happen?"

"I'm the one that will lose everything here, I'm going to be deported!"

I snorted. "Yeah Nika, because the minute they see me they'll let me off scot free and I can spend my days lying in a hammock in Fiji." I didn't say Panama. Not with that bastard walking behind us. She glared back at me. I ignored it. There were more important things to think about. Like getting away from Bellick. We'd done it before, we could do again.

Though Nika's hate could work to our advantage. Slowly the plan formed in my head, and Michael would be thinking about the exact same thing. Nika – as much as I hated to admit it – was a very attractive young woman, and Bellick would just love to mess around with her. I would never lower myself enough to actually try to seduce Bellick – my stomach is twisting just thinking about it. But Nika might. That's good enough for me. The next time she looked at me, I gave her a wink. Normally that was a signal I used with Michael and Lincoln when one of us had come up with something, but Nika just looked bewildered. Of course she would think I was just some weirdo with a split personality, who liked her one minute and jumped down her throat the next.

"For all that aggravation I hope you get to hit that a few times Scofield," Bellick sniggered behind us. "You got Nika first, and now you have Emilie here. You're a lucky man. Bet you ain't happy about it though, are you Lady?"

"Jealous you don't get any at all Bellick?" I laughed.

His eyes narrowed. Michael had a small smirk on his face, even in the circumstances.

"We're gonna wait it out in that shack."

Even at a crazy time like this, I worried about spiders. I hate spiders. Even thinking about them makes me imagine them crawling all over me. I shivered, and Michael looked over at me with a smile. "Spiders?"

I blinked with surprise. "Dang it, how did you know?"

"In Fox River when we were trying to break out, you told me of your fear of spiders. When we found one in the break room you almost screamed the place down, remember?"

I was touched he even remembered something like that, because I could barely recall it. It was true, I had almost screamed like a banshee. I'm glad that Theodore hadn't been there at the time, otherwise he would've used that against me. Michael's memory was pretty good. That was sweet of him.

The plan had been fully formed. Nika would seduce Bellick. I'd rather her than me, to be honest. However, Michael and Lincoln were starting to have their only little argument. We were tied to the pipes against a wall, me stuck between them and itching to get away from here. Someday, someone would write a book about us. And they better make me look good in it. I bloody well deserved it after all this crap I'm going through.

Then there was Rose. Agent Rose, that snotty little idiot who would just love to see me all tied up like this. I hope I broke her nose when we had that fight in the alley. Sure, I'm not as strong as Lincoln, or even Michael, but I'm sure I did some damage.

"Stop stressing it won't do you any good," Michael told Lincoln in a flat voice. My eyes drifted to Lincoln. His tugging was quite irritating. Nika was with Bellick, and I didn't even want to think about what she was doing with him right now. I suppressed a shudder.

"Maybe you ought-a start stressing before they put a bullet in our head."

Michael sighed.

Bellick had tied me using that same strip of material from his shirt, which was surprisingly strong.

"Personally, I think this is a great time to play that game, 'I Spy'," I chirped, attempting to lighten the mood.

Didn't help much. Lincoln just kept tugging and pulling. Plus, there wasn't much to 'spy' around this room. It had some cobwebs in the corner that I eyed warily. I bet a bunch of spider babies were about to be born, and they'd coming crawling out, before making there way over to me. Okay, I'm dramatic, but I can't help my fear of spiders. They're just so…ew.

"They need us," Michael said with confidence. "They need us to get that money."

I groaned. "Nika better come through for us."

"Well if she doesn't we always have you as a second option," Lincoln said seriously.

Both Michael and I looked at him with shocked expressions, before he began chuckling. I relaxed instantly. Even Michael laughed at the image of me seducing a man like Bellick. Gross. In my opinion, I could do much better. I stretched as best I could. I was getting a dead leg from sitting here. Pins and needles. It was beginning to annoy me.

The door creaked as it opened. Michael caught my eye, and he looked worried. Uh-oh. That's never, ever a good sign. Bellick entered behind Nika. She didn't look happy. Oh this was all going to Hell. We were screwed! I'm stuck in a shack with my least favourite ex-C.O in the world.

"You guys need to use the can, hold it," Bellick said. He nudged my foot. "What about you Em? Need to pee? I can help you, you know. Or you Nika. Need to tinkle?"

I rolled my eyes. Sleaze-ball. I was lucky I didn't actually need to go. I'd rather soil myself than let Bellick anywhere near me. I shifted from my position, I felt a pinch in my side, where my pocket was. Oh my God. Finally! Something good had happened! I still had the pocketknife! The one I took from Rose.

From all my research on body language, I managed not to let my surprise and happiness show. Something had gone right for once! Bellick didn't notice a thing, but I purposely shoved against Michael to get his attention. Hallelujah, Rose had actually done some good in my life. Bellick was too busy tying up Nika to notice.

I nodded towards my pocket, mouthing the word 'Knife'. A smile broke out onto his face. A Plan B was quickly being formed.

"Bellick!" Nika yelled. He walked in with a scowl.

"What's wrong sweet-pea?"

"I need to use the toilet," she muttered bitterly. He complied with a smile, pulling her up and dragging her into the next room. Lincoln leaned his head against the wall with a sigh, growling softly under his breath and cursing.

"We're screwed," he whispered.

"Au contraire!" I smiled. "Rose has actually helped me out for once!"

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked, sitting up and looking me in the eye.

"Do you remember when I came back to Nika's covered in all that blood?" I said, shifting so Michael could reach my pocket. He immediately began trying to grab the pocketknife. The stupid 'cuffs' were burning me as I tried to make it easier for him to grab them. This wasn't easy at all.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Rose had a pocketknife on her. I took it, thinking I would need it later and…" I trailed off, letting him put two and two together.

Lincoln grinned, he was so happy. "You genius Emilie! I could kiss you right now!"

"Ah, I'm sitting right here," Michael muttered, pretending to be annoyed. I heard the pocketknife fall to the ground, and we held our breath. Had Bellick heard it? No. He would be too engrossed in his lap dance. Well, at least we hoped as much. Michael had some trouble trying to pick the knife back up.

When he did, he began cutting me out. It was harder than it seemed, because he couldn't see what he was doing. I let out a gasp when the knife cut my wrist. Not too deep of course, but it still stung badly.

"Shit, Emilie I'm sorry!" Michael apologized. Poor Michael. He could never stand the idea of hurting another person, no matter how small the wound.

"Forget it Michael, just keep going," I said, laughing breathlessly. That actually hurt, but we had more important things. I knew straight away when the 'cuffs' had been cut. The wound was longer than I had previously thought.

"I'm sorry," Michael repeated, regret in his eyes as if he had actually meant to do it.

"Hey, I told you to forget about it. At least I didn't have to cut my entire hand off like a certain Bagwell we know," I joked, taking the pocketknife from Michael.

"Okay, you're going to cut Lincoln loose. When you do, stand by the door. Bellick will tie Nika up before he goes after you."

"How can you be so sure Mike?" Lincoln asked.

"Bellick isn't stupid. He's been a C.O for years. The first thing they learn is that if a riot is happening in the prison, they have to lock up the rest of the prisoners before they do anything else. He's too well trained to break that habit."

Though I heard the worry in Michael's voice. I did as he asked though, letting Lincoln go before taking my place by the door. He wouldn't see me here.

"When he comes in, and ties Nika up, distract him," Michael instructed. "Lincoln, when Emilie distracts him and he has his back turned, you know what to do."

Michael was the brains, Lincoln the brute. What did that make me? El Desperado, perhaps?

Nika entered. Bellick followed. "Thought you could trick me…Shit! Where is Emilie? Where is she!"

Just like Michael predicted, he shoved Nika to the floor and began tying her up. The moment he finished, I stood forward. "Bellick!"

He turned to me instantly, a smirk on his face. "You should-a run when you had the chance girl." He felt for his gun, realizing Nika had taken it, his eyes turning dark and cold. "You bitch…"

Lincoln grabbed him by the throat. "Fooled you."