Chapter 10

"What are we going to do now," Vivien asked as she moved around their prison like a tiger in a cage. She was still shackled with her hands behind her back. "Sam, what is going on? Who are these people and what do they want from us? Why are they doing this?" With each question, she picked up her pace. Her breath quickened and she stopped in the middle of the cell, staring at him.

During her tirade, Sam sat on a cot that was surprisingly comfortable, considering their surroundings. He was able to soften the blow of falling to his side by using his elbow, and then he completely collapsed onto the blankets. It felt too good to resist. He closed his eyes.

"Sam! Sam, are you okay?" Vivien was beside him in an instant, kneeling on the cold dirt floor. "Talk to me, Sam. Please."

He opened his eyes just enough to see her through slits. "I'm fine. Just wiped out."

She leaned forward and briefly pressed her forehead to his. "Sam, you're warm. Maybe if you're sick we can use that as an excuse to get out of here."

"No, it won't work. They're not going to just let us go. And even if I'd given them that password, they wouldn't let us just walk out of here. Anson will get what he wants and then kill me. It's as simple as that."

"And you're going to just lay there and let him do it? Sam, I thought you were better than that!"

He smiled. "You hardly know me. And who said I was going to just lie here and take it?" With a little exhalation, he slowly pulled his left arm away from his body. The shackle fell with a soft clink onto its mate that was still attached to his wrist.

"Sam!" Vivien stifled the sound that expelled from her lips.

His smile turned into a grin as he sat up and held up a thin flat piece of metal. "I'm glad I kept this little thing I used to pick the lock on that gun case. Although I was really sweatin' it when they patted me down. I thought for sure they would find it."

"I don't think I even want to know where you had it hidden," Vivien remarked with a faint blush, and Sam responded with a laugh.

With his hands before him, Sam easily picked the lock and freed himself from the other shackle on his wrist, then worked on Vivien's bindings. "So, the next time our guards come in, pretend you're still locked up."

Vivien nodded. "And then we bring our hands out, do some serious damage on them, and escape, right?"

"Not so fast, sister. I'm hoping that when they bring in the chow they don't try to unlock us."

She gave him a strange look. "Why not? That would be pretty cruel, to give us a meal and no way to eat it."

"Do you really think they're going to be nice about it?"

She thought it over for a few seconds. "Yeah, I guess you're right. So, what's your plan?" She sat beside him on the cot and gave him her full attention.

"My guess is that Anson has probably ordered this guy not to have too much contact with us, so the guards will just deliver our meals and get out. They may or may not come back for the trays. If you see silverware, you know they're coming back, because they're not going to leave potential weapons alone with us for too long." He paused. "If there are no utensils, they're expecting us to be here for the rest of the night without interruption. Unless the General decides he wants to grill me some more for that password."

"Somehow I've got the feeling he's not going to bother. He'll have somebody try to figure it out for him."

"Only he won't be able to do it because it's ten random letters and digits that even I can't always remember! If he tries three times and fails, on the fourth attempt...pppfft, fried hard drive."

"Wow, that's pretty risky for you if you ever did forget it."

"Yeah." He put his arm around her shoulders, leaned close and whispered, "The documents I have on that drive could be dangerous in Anson's hands. I've dug up stuff on him that...well, I'm not going to tell you any more. I don't want to risk your life in this. It's bad enough you're in the position you're in now."

"What, with your arm around me?" She smiled sweetly. "It's not so bad, Sam."

"No, it's not, is it," he replied as he felt a spark of something travel from his head to his toes.

They were interrupted by the sound of a key in the lock. His eyes widened, and Sam rasped, "Quick, put your hands behind your back!"

Vivien complied and pushed her shackles behind her body. Two guards glanced at the prisoners and noticed how closely they sat together. They entered with two trays and set them on a small table in the center of the room, then quickly left. Jedediah gave them a longer glance and grinned. "Bon appetite, ya'll," he drawled as he closed and locked the door again.

"No silverware," Viven whispered as she stared at the trays. "You were right, Sam."

They approached the table and sat on opposite sides, leaning in such a way that the guards couldn't see that their wrists were free. It would be easy enough to assume they successfully threaded their legs through their bound arms to get to this position. A guard glanced in and looked at them, but he didn't seem to be alarmed, so they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Question is," Vivien said as she poked at what looked like meatloaf on her plate, "Is this safe to eat? I mean, did they drug it or poison it or something?"

"I don't know, and frankly, right now I'm so hungry I don't even care. I know I should, but I don't." He picked up a french fry. "You know, I'm thinking they didn't have fries in the 19th century." He sniffed it, licked it, and he didn't fall over dead, so... "Oh well, here goes."

Vivien watched with fascination and amusement at his actions. "I don't really care if they had fries in the 19th century. I just want to eat something substantial. You know it's been almost 24 hours since I've had anything decent?"

"Me too," Sam replied around a mouthful of meat. "Okay, for prison food this isn't so bad. Or maybe I'm just really hungry."

She laughed and grabbed a couple fries. "I have to agree with you. But I guess it was too much to hope for some fresh veggies or something. Now that would be more appropriate finger food."

"Hey, why feed us something nutritious if they're going to just put us through the wringer later and kill us?" He noted the sudden change in Vivien's expression. "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so...cavalier... about it."

"It's okay. I guess I'm not used to having my life on the line every day."

"Well, it's not like it's every day, but okay, I've had more than my share of life-threatening situations. You develop a gallows humor about it if you're not careful. Or you go crazy. Your choice."

"Okay, I think now I understand why they don't let women become SEALs."

Sam chuckled. "So I take it you're withdrawing your application?"

Vivien laughed with him. "Yeah. I'll just stick to my nice, safe job at the naval hospital. If and when we get out of here. This situation has given me more adventure than I want for awhile."

They fell into silence and ate their meal. It wasn't much, but after having nothing for so long, it satisfied their hunger much better than the pitiful rations in the cabin. They washed it down with cool, clear water.

"Ahhh, spring water," Vivien sighed as she drained her cup.

"You're a water connoisseur?"

She shook her head and laughed. "No, my grandma had a farm in northern Michigan and they lived on water from a spring. It doesn't have a flavor, but there's something about it, you just know where it came from. If this is from around here, whoever built this fort found a good place for it."

"Except for the fact that it's so remote, which is good for them, bad for us." Sam stood and made his way to a window at the back of the cell. He looked out and saw nothing but stockade fence. A tree's limbs dipped over it and down. They were high up, but low enough for someone to reach up, scramble across the limb, and drop over the other side of the fence. He whispered, "Hey Viv, come here."

"What?" She spoke softly so the guards wouldn't hear.

He put his arm around her shoulder and pointed her toward the branches. "Look at that. A perfect escape route. We just need to find the right time to break out and get to it."

"If we wait until dark...we don't know what's on the other side of that fence!"

"I'm well aware of that. But it's the only chance we've got. If the General doesn't get into that laptop by dawn, you can bet he's not going to care what Anson says. He'll deal with us, or at least me, himself."

"So, what do we do until then?"

"We rest." He squeezed her shoulders and walked back to the cot. "Try to get some sleep, Viv."

She nodded and lay on the cot underneath the window. Sam took the one he lay on before and tried to get comfortable. His head was pounding and his stomach felt unsettled. Too much. He'd eaten too much too quickly, and now he would pay for it. Yet he managed to doze off, and when he awoke he felt a lot better. His strength was back. And even better, it was dark outside.