The caterers had not only delivered lunch from town: they delivered the news of a crazy car chase involving a handsome federal agent ending in a shooting match out on the old highway resulting in one man dead.

The remaining staff and all of the models were now currently inside the dining room, listening on bated breath as the caterers told the intriguing blow-by-blow account of swerving cars and near-misses with the bad guys.

That, therefore, was why no one saw when Marcus took Lee's gun from his shoulder holster. No one watched him take the package of film from out of Amanda's hands when she reappeared from the coat room, threw her purse back in to that room and forced her and Lee at gunpoint out of the front door. There was no one to stop Marcus from tying their hands tightly behind their backs; no one to notice the time it took for Michael to flip the back seats down in the van. And no one witnessed when Lee and Amanda were forced by gun point to climb into the back of said van.

Now Lee and Amanda were sitting back-to-back, each facing a side window They were low enough that they couldn't see out, unfortunately, which meant no passersby would be able to see them, either. To their advantage, however, was the fact that there were two rows of seats between them and the front seat, where Michael had just slid into the driver's seat and Marcus was sitting shotgun. The two in the front were loudly arguing back and forth about what they were going to do and how they were going to do it and likely couldn't hear much beyond their own voices.

"I'm sorry, Lee," Amanda wailed quietly when she heard the engine roar to life. "This is all my fault. I thought I could get them to make a call, or that Marcus would leave to check on his group. Or lead us to Nicole. I didn't think he would kidnap us! What is it with me today? Everyone thinks they can just take me anywhere they want! I can't believe this."

"Shh," Lee answered even more quietly than she, taking hold of her bound hands with his. He rubbed her fingers in comfort. "This is going exactly to plan."

"What?" she sputtered. After a moment of silence, he felt her body shaking with barely pent-up mirth. "Of course, there's a plan. Why wouldn't you have a plan?"

He squeezed her fingers. "Just trust me, okay?"

She sagged against him. "Always. What do you want me to do?"

They hit a hard bump on the road and Lee's head knocked painfully into hers. "Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry about that!" Marcus called out, looking back and chuckling gleefully. "Did you bruise your ass?"

When neither of them responded, Marcus soon lost interest in them, his attention back on Michael's driving and the road.

"I have a knife in my back pocket."

Amanda turned her head to hear him better over the noise of the engine. "A knife? Really?"

"Yeah, really. Marcus doesn't know what a pat-down is, thank God."

"Can you reach it? Your hands are right there." She poked at where she knew his hands were and was rewarded when Lee grabbed hold of her index finger and tugged it playfully.

Patiently, he whispered, "Not with the angle they've tied me in. It's too tight and my arms are almost hyperextended as it is."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I'll try. Which pocket?"

"Right." She cautiously began her quest and he jumped as if he'd been goosed. "Other right! My right! My right!"

"Oops, sorry!"

Fumbling, she moved this way and that, grappling for a way into his back pocket. She wasn't getting anywhere. "Um…Lean into me so that your pocket is—" she hesitated, realizing with chagrin that she would have to reach down the whole length of the pocket, and that pocket was currently being sat on by Lee's extremely fine tush. She would have to feel him up in order to get to the knife. Lamely, she finished, "Flat. So your pocket is flat."

She felt him stiffen. "What?"

"You're sitting on your pocket, Lee, and there is no way to get into it unless you move!" She whisper-yelled, pushing against him impatiently. "Don't make me say it again. Just do it!"

"Oh...Amanda!" He grumbled but lifted himself just enough so that her fingers could slide between the fabrics and down into the pocket. "Careful!"

After many unsuccessful attempts, Amanda was eventually able to use two fingers to drag the small penknife out. It fell with a thud onto the floorboard between them.

Using his back as support, Amanda groped around before finally picking it up. She attempted to pass it to his bound hands.

He pushed it back into hers. "You'll have to do it, Amanda, I wasn't kidding when I said I'm tied too tightly."

She was able to cut through both of their bonds and they were free. Choosing to not tip off their captors, however, they left the ropes wrapped around their wrists loosely and stayed back-to back once Lee explained there was an unmarked police car following them.

"After I talked to you and you insisted on going back to the mansion, I asked to Sheriff Rawlins to follow at a safe distance behind me. We're hoping they take us where they're holding Nicole."

"Did you think we'd be kidnapped?"

"Well…no. I'd hoped they would just leave together and Rawlins could do his thing but that's obviously not what happened. Small town gossip travels fast."

"Do you think anyone else at the mansion is involved? Someone at the station? How did they know you were an agent?"

"It's unlikely, really. I only told Alicia the bare minimum about what happened. She doesn't know…about your abduction. Well," he said, his voice lowering, "she didn't. Sounds like everyone knows now. I'll have to have a talk with Rawlins."

She sagged against him. "How are we going to get out of this?"

"We'll be okay." He nodded toward the back window. "These two buffoons are too wrapped up in their own problems to realize they're being tailed."

"That was a good call, having Rawlins follow you," she said approvingly, bouncing her shoulder into his playfully.

He pushed back lightly. "Thanks." He found one of her hands and threaded her fingers with his. "This is going to turn out just fine."

Amanda turned enough to rest her cheek on the back of his shoulder. "I always know that when you're with me, everything will turn out just fine. I'm not worried."

Lee rested his head lightly on hers comfortingly. "We'll get through it together."

Ten minutes later, the van turned down a long, dusty driveway lined with quaking aspens on each side. The road was rocky and bumpy, causing Amanda to knock into Lee uncontrollably. All of the jostling was beginning to take its toll and she groaned in pain as it sent sharp pains shooting up into her head.

"I still wish you would have let me handle this, Amanda," Lee grumbled under his breath. "You should be back at the B and B, resting. How's your head?"

"I'm fine." She struggled back to a sitting position just as the car came to a stop. "I just want to find Nicole."

"Hopefully, we're about to."

The van pulled to a stop in front of a lone farmhouse. It was large with yellow siding and white trim, a deep, wrap-around porch with a swing in the front. Amanda thought idly that it would have been quaint if there wasn't such a very high possibility Nicole was somewhere inside being held against her will.

Michael jumped out of the driver's seat and rushed around to the back. He opened up the door, gun trained on them.

"No funny business," he warned, grabbing Amanda roughly and pulling her out onto her feet, keeping the gun pointed on Lee.

"Hey, be careful with the lady," Lee snapped testily, "And don't give me a reason for funny business."

Michael pushed Amanda to Marcus, who had come around to join them. She all but fell into his arms, crying out.

Angry, Lee barked in irritation, "What the hell did I just say to you?"

"Shut the hell up," Michael growled, bodily heaving Lee out and onto the dirt driveway. "We can do whatever the hell we want, and you don't get to have a say in it."

Amanda was already being pulled by Marcus up the porch steps by the time Lee righted himself. Michael pulled at his arm, forcing him up the stairs.

Lee carefully tugged at his bonds, making sure they were secure enough to appear untampered with. Looking around, he measured the terrain, calculating the time it would take for the Rawlins and his men to get there and into place.

It wouldn't take long, he estimated. The whole department was on high-alert and were on the ready. Rawlins would have called in every available man, even from neighboring counties. They would be under siege within twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes could be an eternity.

He considered the time it would take to overtake these two clowns. Marcus would be the easier of the two take down, that was a given. He was just a mealy, oily little man who would crumble from the first hit. But Michael was a different story. His size alone put him at an advantage over Lee. At six and a half feet, Michael wouldn't need much encouragement to simply crush his opponent. Lee would have to go after him first; but not too soon. If he attempted at the wrong moment it would put Amanda in jeopardy and Lee wouldn't risk that, not ever.

Michael pushed Lee across the porch and into the house behind Marcus and Amanda. Inside, Lee looked around with rising disgust. While kept up and charming on the outside, the farmhouse was a complete pigsty on the inside. Take-out containers were littered across the floor, open cans of beer strewn about on end tables. It stunk of unwashed bodies, sex, and old-food.

Lee casually asked to no one in particular, "So what's the plan? You gonna shoot us where we stand?"

Marcus came around to shut the door behind Lee and Michael. Unexpectedly, he pushed the muzzle of the gun against Lee's back, forcing him further into the room. Lee moved easily along, keeping tabs on Amanda, who had been shoved into a recliner. She was watching him closely, waiting for his signal.

"Turn around," Marcus ordered.

Lee complied, giving nothing away when he met Amanda's brown-eyed stare, though his insides were roiling with tension. He might not be able to wait twenty minutes for Rawlins.

As Lee slowly turned around and looked down into the smaller man's face, Marcus scowled. "You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." Lee shrugged. "I've been told that a time or two." He hesitated, forcing himself from looking back to Amanda. "But, look, Pal, if you are going to kill us, the least you could do is tell us why, right?"

"Oh, there will only be one death today, Pal," Marcus emphasized and motioned toward Amanda, who sat wide-eyed watching them. "She's worth too much and isn't going anywhere except with who bought her."

"Bought her?" Lee repeated, glancing over at her in alarm and then back to Marcus' smarmy grin. "You sold her? Was she for sale?"

The little creep licked his lips, turning Lee's stomach. "She's a high commodity, Man. Fresh for the picking. Touch of innocence with a supple body—"

It took every ounce of will not to pull out of his bonds and deck Marcus' yellow-toothed smirk off of his face.

"Enough," Lee interrupted, furious. "I get it."

"You, on the other hand," Marcus said, his grin becoming wider. "You, I won't hesitate to get rid of. You're nothing but an inconvenience."

A/N: Thank you. Reviews very welcome.