I'm really tired and it's late, so no long author's note. Please review!

Chapter 21 Part 4

Four spun around, saw the guy getting ready to attack, and spin-kicked him.

The room dissolved into chaos.

The dude recovered instantly, while David ran towards his gun. Nita screamed.

"Bud! You OK? Fight him!"

Amar and Matthew leapt up to their feet and took hold of both my arms. I struggled as much as I could, but they grasped me firmly and began hauling me in Susan's direction.

"Four!" I shouted. "Help!"

Four glanced at me. He was currently engaged in a karate match with Bud, each of them trying to gain the upper hand. When Four took his eyes off Bud for just one second, Bud seized his chance – literally. He grabbed Four's arms and flipped him.

I hadn't ever seen Four beaten before. At school, he had beat the bullies, no prob. But this was different. Bud was a hugely muscled guy, probably trained for fighting. He knew so much more than Four.

As Four landed on his back, he shrieked with pain.

"My back!" he cried. I realized he must have landed and his whip marks from Marcus took the impact. I cursed, but there was nothing I could do. Amar and Matthew were taking me to the "prisoners room."

Susan darted in front of them. "Oh no you don't, you geeks!" she shouted. She delivered a swift uppercut to Matthew's chin and kicked at Amar's legs. He collapsed and Matthew moaned.

"They're weak!" Susan said to me. "They're not trained to fight. But I am. Robert had taken me to a karate-teaching class the day I was kidnapped. You know, for a job."

"OMG, that's amazing!" I exclaimed. Susan stared at me oddly.

"Sorry," she confessed. "It's weird that you're not being spoiled anymore. I'm glad you're not, but I have to get used to it."

"Me too," I admitted.

"I brought rope," Susan said. "From just outside the prisoners room. You know, to tie Amar and Matthew up. Do you know how to tie good knots?"

My spoiled side began to come back. "Of course I do," I said snottily. Susan raised an eyebrow, and I recovered myself. "No, I don't."

"Then stop David from getting that gun!" Susan exclaimed. David was crawling towards the gun, far away, trying not to be noticed. I ran to him and kicked him in the ass.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed. I heard grunts from Four and Susan too as they struggled with their opponents, but I had to concentrate on not letting David get that gun.

David was on his hands and knees. He was pretty old, so he groaned as he tried to get up, and clutched at his butt where I had kicked him, which was pretty funny. I ran to the gun and picked it up.

"Don't hold it," David gasped. "It's fully loaded. Oh crap! Why did I just tell her that? Now she knows she can shoot me! I'm as bad as my employees! Well, not Bud, but still!"

"Tris!" I heard Four's strained shouting and spun around. He was pinned down by Bud. Susan had successfully tied Amar and Matthew up, but Bud was hauling Four over to them, probably so he could untie his colleagues and tie up Four and Susan instead – and then me.

"I know you don't know how and you've never shot before – but you have to shoot David!" Four shouted. "It's the only way we won't all get killed!"

The world blurred around me. Was Four really suggesting … that I kill someone?

"It's hard, I know!" Four yelled. "But Bud's got us all beat! I'm telling you, it's the only way! Please!" His voice cracked. "Do it for me. For Christina. For Caleb. For your parents. For your dad, who's coming home tomorrow. It doesn't have to be a fatal shot. Shoot him in the arm, or the foot. I'm sorry, Tris. I wish it didn't have to be this way."

I glance at David's terrified face. I leap on him, so he can't escape. Standing with one foot on his stomach, I take a deep breath.

"All right," I said, and my voice cracked.

"Wait – there is another way!" Four shouted. "Get the other pris-" His voice was cut off as Bud smothered his mouth with a huge hand.

Pris- Wait. Prisoners?

I didn't have to harm David after all. He'd put the pieces together too, and laughed. "Such a coward, Tris," he laughed. "You'll never find the key either." His eyes widened and he cursed. "Sh*t! Again! Again with the damned talking!"

"All I have to do is get that key from you," I said calmly. "Then I can get the other prisoners out and they'll go against you. We'll have you way outnumbered."

"But you won't be able to do anything if you won't shoot that gun," David said. "The prisoners aren't trained to fight either – No! Damn all this talking! Sh*t!"

My eyes widened. I had never heard someone cursing like that before. I had always hated cursing, for some reason. Well, actual cursewords, not "hell" or "damn."

"Shut your mouth," I ordered. I didn't know where this bravery was coming from, but I had a faint idea. It seems so clear now that I'm out of all this mess, but still. This is a journal, albeit mental (seriously, who says albeit?). No spoilers! "Shut your mouth or I really will shoot you."

David paled. "Okay."

"Tris, getting the prisoners out is impossible!" Susan shouted, but then she too was muffled. Now it was just David and I.

Suddenly David's eyes lit up. He looked behind me, and I did too. Amar and Matthew were stealthily approaching me. When they saw that I had seen them, they lunged for me.

I had seen this move on TV. I stepped calmly off David as soon as they jumped for me.

They all piled on top of David. It was hilarious. Matthew grunted. "Got her!"

"No, you ass, you got me!" David cursed again. "Tris stepped out of the way!"

Amar and Matthew tried to get up, but I stepped on all of them.

"Three down," I said triumphantly. "Literally."

"Tris!" Susan yelled. "I'm coming!" She ran over to me and grinned at the mass of wriggling bodies on the floor. "Fantastic. I have the rope." She produced coils of rope. "Four grabbed Bud's ankle and threw him to the floor, catching him by surprise. He's holding Bud down with handcuffs. Come on. Help me tie these nasties up."

She bent down and began looping the ropes around ankles, wrists, and tying them back-to-back. She completed the job with handcuffs and anklecuffs, which had been lying on the floor since the beginning. When Susan was done, David, Amar, and Matthew looked as trussed-up as rodeo cows and as disgruntled as … well, as evil masterminds whose plans had just been defeated. Totally wiped.

"Tris." Susan shoved a set of keys into my hands. "There are a zillion of these keys all around the house. Only one key can unlock the prisoners. The others are all fake. Four didn't know that, but I do, and that's why it's impossible. Tris. I'm going to have to torture David."

"No." I said it very, very calmly. "That's not the way. There's some other way. I know it."

"Tris, be realistic," Susan exclaimed. "You've gone from totally uncaring about anyone in the world to 'I can never hurt an evil person.' That's too far. I'm sorry. Do you have a better idea?"

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I do."

As soon as I said that I had an idea, Susan's eyes widened. Oh, how I had missed her expressions. "Really? What?"

I glanced at the three men wriggling on the floor, trying to get rid of the rope and handcuffs.

"Where's Nita?" was my simple response.

Susan's eyes lit up. "Tris, you're a genius! I'll go find her."

"Wait – you don't know where she is?"

"No, she got away when Four and I overcame Bud," Susan replied. "But I can find her. See ya!"

Susan darted off, out of the room. I glanced down at David.

"Listen to me, scumbag," I snarled. "If you don't do what I say, you are going to regret it. Susan is going to find Nita, and then you'll spill, won't you?"

David smiled. It was eerie, creepy. "Poor child, Beatrice. Susan will never be found." He nudged himself comfortably between Amar and Matthew, despite being tied back-to-back with them. "And when I get out of these bonds, I will release my full wrath upon you."

"OK, not scared at all," I said. I was beginning to have an idea about how I could be so brave in the face of so much danger and fear. "The only thing I'm scared of is your face. You're seriously ugly, man. Have you ever heard of a makeover?"

David gasped. "How dare you?"

"I dare because I'm not afraid of what you think," I said confidently. "I'm not just some kid you can fool easily. I am queen right now, and if you don't do what I say – off with your head!"

It was just a joke, but I delivered it seriously, and David paled, bravado gone.

"I'm sorry, Beatrice," he said contritely. "Please don't hurt me."

"We'll start off with you calling me Tris, do you understand?"

"Yes," David squeaked.

"Good." I was stern and unmerciful, and I was loving it.

"Tris!" Susan was panting hard. "Tris, Nita rounded up some other thugs who work for David. We're in big trouble."

I despaired. "Oh no! Um, how far away are they?"

Nita opened the door that led to this room. "C'mon, over here, boys," she called.

Susan turned an ash gray color. "How's right about now sound to you?"

Thirty well-kept, uniformed men marched into the room. They didn't have guns, but their muscles were huge in their biceps. And triceps. And legs. Oh, the hell, they were totally ripped everywhere in their bodies!

Five of them hauled Four off Bud. I wanted to shout out, but didn't want to give David the satisfaction of seeing or hearing me afraid.

I was suddenly overcome by confusion. Instead of pushing Four to the ground, two of the very attractive, muscled men protected him like bodyguards – yes, protected him – and the other three pinned Bud down.

Not that Four took that well. He fought with them, saying, "I don't need babysitters! I'm a black belt in karate! I escaped my dad's whips for years by physical self-defense! I can take care of myself! Get the hell off of me!"

David had been grinning in triumph, but when he saw the men pinning down Bud, he frowned. "What –"

"That's right," Nita interrupted, marching into the room. Surrounding her were bodyguard-looking guys in black suits and sunglasses, like the Secret Service or something. "You're done, David."

David gasped. "Wait – Nita, you betrayed me?"

"Little slow to catch on, David," Nita replied swiftly. "I've been gathering this army of men and women for years now. Yes, women. Right now they're rigging deadly booby-traps every few feet around the house. If you want to emerge out of this house alive and in one piece, you will surrender to me. Right now. Or I'll take Four, Tris, Susan and the rest of the poor prisoners you have been tyrants to out of here, leaving you to die. Alone."

"Wait – Nita, I don't get it," I said. "You're on our side?"

"I'm on Four's side," Nita replied, batting her eyelashes at him. "Not yours."

"But … Four and I are on the same side," I answered, puzzled.

Nita rolled her eyes. "Damn, girl, you just do not take a hint. Let me explain it to you in your language." She raised her voice loudly and spoke slowly, pointing to each person as she spoke. "Four and me. Together. You. Butt out of our relationship. Got it, Clueless?"

I glanced at Four. He raised his hands in defense.

"Wait a minute. Nita, you're married," Four said in disgust. "This is all so gross. Aren't you, like, forty?"

Nita's eyes widened and she gaped, mouth opening and closing like a fish's. "Four, I'm seventeen."

Four yelped and jumped back. "Married? At seventeen? To, like, a seventy year-old?"

"Hey!" David shouted. "I'm forty! That's really offensive!"

"David isn't actually my husband," Nita explained. "We're siblings, but we pretend we're married because otherwise people start asking questions."

"Yeah, like why you are faking your marriage to make it easier to explain that a seventy year-old is siblings with a seventeen year-old? It really doesn't make it much simpler," I cut in sarcastically.

"Hello, it's forty!" David called.

Nita waved an elegant, slim, perfectly manicured hand in disgust. "Enough with the chitter-chatter. Men, retie my brother, Amar, and Matthew. Bud can be tied separately. Tie him to the fireplace and light it. That won't make him eager to haul it away – if he can."

Things kind of happened in a blur after that. David and his accomplices got handcuffed, ankle-cuffed, and trussed up all around. Bud's eyes had widened when the fireplace was lit. Nita had told me that he had a deep fear of fire. Nita released the other prisoners from David's cells. They had been dirty and bedraggled, and each was given twenty minutes to shower with hot water. At some point, I was grabbed by Susan and shook fiercely.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" she'd said excitedly.

We hugged.

After a few hours of watching everyone get settled, it was time to go. Nita promised she would fly on a plane back to Maine with Susan, who would be reunited with her family, and take care of legal matters. I wasn't sure how much I could trust that promise.

End of Part 4

Part 5 Coming Soon!