Disclaimer: as usual, I don't own the characters out of Relic Hunter.

I apologise for having Nigel kidnapped. I just couldn't help myself. I'll be relatively gentle… probably. Please review and I may modify my actions accordingly!

Before he had time to protest, Nigel found himself flung forward across the back seat of the car, landing with his face in the lap of another burley, suited man. After the first man had slammed the door he began to pull off Nigel's rucksack, and so his arms became tangled behind him. This meant that the historians first line of resistance was to kick his legs randomly and wildly, hoping he might catch his aggressor somewhere painful, and to lift his head up to yell out. Surely they'd get stuck in a traffic jam soon, and somebody might hear?

Unfortunately, before this plan had been in operation from more than a couple of seconds, the rucksack was off, and he heard the click of a barrel and felt the cold steel of a pistol pointed into the small of his back.

'Don't try anything, Nigel. Just sit up, and don't make a sound. We know that your professor will still come for you, even if she only has the faintest hope that you're alive. And she wouldn't know that you're dead until she is in our hands.'

Nigel did as he was told, and found himself settled between the two men in the middle of the backseat. The first man, who was bald with a snub nose and tiny mouth, facial features far too small for his enormous head and body, jammed the pistol uncomfortably into his captor's side. The second thug, who had long hair like a biker, a look which didn't really accompany the slick suit he was wearing with much style, kept on grinning down at Nigel. He looked incredibly pleased with himself.

Betwixt his general panic, Nigel couldn't help but feel silly about having been kidnapped in London of all places. This is where he should have been able to take the lead, show Sydney something she didn't know. Impress her, maybe. And now? At best, she was going to have to rescue him again. And at worst? He could well imagine many worst-case scenarios.

He had been trying to keep absolutely still - the best thing to do with a gun in your side - but these thoughts triggered in Nigel an involuntary shudder. The second guy, the hairy one, had just turned his head away and begun staring out of the window at the southern inner suburbs of the city, but now turned back towards him and laughed.

'Scared? Surely you're used to this by now? I'm surprise you don't have permanent police protection, kid.'

Nigel stared resolutely ahead of him. Why do people always know all about him, and what he and Sydney had got up to? He hoped this wasn't going to get humiliating.

'He thought,' the guy went on, indicating his accomplice with his head 'that this would be difficult, and maybe that she didn't let you out of her sight these days. I mean, grabbing you, to get at her, has become a bit of a cliché, hasn't it?'

It occurred to Nigel that this conversational turn gave him the opportunity to try and find out about where he was being taken, and why. These guys were big, and armed, but no doubt they were none too bright. A little bit of information might give him a bargaining tool. No knowledge could be a bad thing, and they had to stop driving sooner or later. If he could convince them that he was willing to collaborate, they might let down their guard, giving him an opportunity to escape. 'Was that what Syd would do?' he though. No exact answer was forthcoming.

He licked his lips nervously, but decided to start on a defiant note. 'Me and Syd winning in the end, that's what I like to think of as the cliché,' said Nigel, regretting the words even as he said them. The bald man jammed the pistol barrel hard into his stomach. The hairy guy, however, was obviously still in a talkative mood and laughed.

'Well, I'm afraid that's not going to happen this time. But if you're very good boy indeed - and your dear professor is a very good girl - you might live to fight another day.'

Nigel ventured a question. 'What do you want us for, anyway? Something to do with that bloody locket I suppose?'

'How perceptive. That other historian had been looking at the book for months, and didn't even have a glimmer of an idea there were any clues within it. He was clueless about how to help Bellimo find the locket, even with a certain amount of…persuasion. The best he could do to save his ass was call in you guys '

'How do you know that there's a clue in the book? And that it leads to the locket?'

No answer came, just a smirk.

'Where are we going?'

'Shut up!' The bald guy had obviously had enough chitchat. H accompanied his words by thwacking Nigel with the pistol on the side of the face. It was not enough to cause any real damage, but hard enough to sting nastily and leave a bruise. That was enough inquiring for now.

Nigel glanced mournfully out of the window as the car glided through the outer suburbs. Homely houses, pebble-dashed semi-detached and then large mock Tudor, slipped by. It was so much like where he had grown up, he ought to be safe here. He knew he was far from that.

………………….

Back at the British library, Sydney was predictably frantic. Nigel had not called or answered any messages. The whole building was shutting up now, so she grilled the security staff and librarians as they left.

She had little luck. There had been hundreds of grad students and academics there that afternoon. Two of the female librarians remembered a young man of his description - it seems he had shared a bashful smile with one of them, and a few flirtatious words with the other, as he gave back the manuscripts. Neither, however, had seen any more of him after that.

She was about to demand access to the CCTV, when a voice summoned her from the shadows around the side of the building.

'Professor Fox!'

Sydney froze. She remembered that voice from earlier. It was Tadman… or whoever he was. With one swift action, she had him pinned to the wall, her arm against his neck, restricting his breathing.

'Tell me when Nigel is, or I'll crush your oesophagus!'

'Really, Professor Fox!' wheezed Wildey. 'I honestly didn't know they'd take him. They said that for me to persuade you to search for the locket was enough.'

Sydney did not loosen her hold. Wildey gasped and tried again. 'I didn't realise he was in any real danger. I tried to stop them, but there were too many.'

'Who took him? Bellimo?'

'Uh huh. Look, we've got to work together now. I can help you rescue Nigel.'

Sydney loosened her hold, just a little. Like her assistant before her, she did not trust this man one little bit.

'They want me to find the locket in exchange for him?'

'Well, yes… not that I'm working with them, but I expect so. And I do know where they are, you know.'

Sydney re-strengthened the force against her captor's neck, and growled. Wildey, despite his discomfort, founded it strangely feline and sexy.

'Why should I believe a word you say? You are obviously a consummate liar!'

'I straightened it all out with Nigel…here, before he was taken. He believed me, and I know you will once you've heard. Just give me a chance!'

Unfortunately, Sydney knew that this crook was currently her best lead. So she listened as he told her a story, somewhat similar to that which he had told Nigel only a few hours earlier. Small details were different, but he had already spun such a web of confusion and lies that he barely remembered what he'd told who.

'So, I'm supposed to believe you're just an academic who wants his source back?'

'It's the truth! Please, Professor Fox, the sooner we can get to France the sooner we can sort this out. These are nasty, violent people. Who knows what they could do to your assistant? It would be a shame if anything happened to that nice-looking young man.'

'If I even suspect for a moment that you're going to double cross me, you're a dead man,'

said Sydney. She knew as she said it that he was probably already double crossing her, but what else could she do?

'I won't, Professor Fox. I just want my book back, and for your assistant to be safe. And if we find that locket… hey, it's a bonus.'

Sydney hailed a cab, which took them straight to Waterloo. They bought tickets for the Eurostar, and were in Paris by just after midnight.

Thanks for reading. More soon! Please review. Katy.