Chapter Six

Jaime's captors had worries of their own. "She should be awake by now," Tom said angrily. "If you hit her too hard...a dead bargaining chip is of no use to me!"

In fact, Jaime was awake and feigning unconsciousness to gather as much information as she could. Bargaining chip, she thought to herself, that means I'm not the target; Oscar is. They either want money, information or both. She cringed inwardly, knowing Oscar would do anything to try and save her. Once they get what they want, they'll kill him - or both of us. She could hear angry footsteps crossing the room and nearly gave herself away when a fist slammed into a table.

"We could call Goldman anyway," one of the goons suggested.

"And say what? That we have his wife but she can't come to the phone because one of you idiots may have fractured her skull? Goldman deals in facts, concrete evidence. He's gonna want to talk to her..."

"So we tell him he can talk to her when he gets here?"

"Not good enough!" the angry one spat out. Jaime correctly surmised he was the leader. "Leave me alone; I've gotta think. Can you two manage to keep an eye on her, or is that asking too much of your limited abilities?"

Jaime listened as the angry footsteps faded down the hallway. As far as she could tell, that left two men in the room with her, and they didn't seem to know about her bionics. She could take them on - she was sure of it. Even if they had guns, she had the element of surprise. But...one blow to her stomach...Jaime decided that lying still with her eyes closed was the safest way to go, at least for now.

A few minutes later, the angry one called for the other two to join him. "She's totally out. She ain't goin' nowhere." Jaime's heart leapt and her senses came alive. She tried to hear what they were doing, but realized this could be her only chance, and she might only have a few seconds. She could either listen or break for the door. She chose the door. She rose to her feet and had to waste several precious seconds shaking off the dizziness that threatened to overtake her. She located the door and moved quickly and silently toward freedom. She opened the door, and all hope withered and died. The two goons stood just outside the door, guns drawn and pointed directly at her.

The angry one spoke from behind them. "Leaving without saying goodbye is such bad manners. I had a feeling you were really awake. Now...you'll have to be punished."

Jaime felt her legs start to give out beneath her and she began to sink to the ground, but the two goons each grabbed one of her arms, and with a gun pressed directly to her head, they dragged her back inside, opened another door and roughly shoved her inside. her head swimming, Jaime sank slowly to the floor as they slammed the door and turned the lock.

When her world stopped spinning crazily, she began to assess the tiny room she was confined in. She assumed it was a small closet, because when she was sitting, there wasn't even enough room to fully stretch out her legs. Jaime tentatively felt along the walls and realized she was in serious trouble when she discovered the tiny room was walled with thick, strong metal. This was no closet; it was a specially crafted prison cell! She wondered how many other people had been terrorized there.

While Jaime was trying to calm down and think, Steve was firing up for action. "Thank you," he said to the trooper on the other end of the phone. Hanging up the receiver, he turned excitedly to the others. "Jim! Russ! I've got an address; let's go!"

Oscar was on his feet immediately. "I'm going, too."

"That's not a good idea," Steve told him.

"Dammit - she's my wife!"

"Which is why you need to stay here, in case they try to reach you." Steve turned to Jim and Russ. "Let's move."

Oscar resigned himself to staying behind and sat down with his head in his hands, nearly sick with worry and fear.