A/N: I was going through some old documents and realized that I had more parts to this story written that I never posted on this site. Mind you, the story's still not finished, I haven't worked on it in ages, and don't know when I'll get to writing more. But since people still read it, I think you deserve all that I have written (up to 16 parts, which will probably leave you slightly more satisfied than where this has been left for so long).

Trinkets - Part 10

Harm had known that Mac had taken advantage of their 'ordered' kiss to further some sort of escape plan, but until now, he hadn't known the exact logistical significance of what had transpired. When Clinton had turned to get the requested water from the table after the short, first attempt at a kiss while both prisoners were handcuffed, Mac had mouthed words to Harm.

At first, he had been confused, because it looked like her lips had formed the words, 'back pocket,' while she tilted her head to indicate her left side. This hadn't made much sense to him until she convinced Clinton to uncuff Harm, ostensibly to make access to kissing each other better.

Then Harm had understood that she wanted him to reach in and get something from her back, left pocket. It wouldn't be easy with Clinton watching their every move, but Sarah had used a plan to deal with that. Her over-the-top demonstration of what she could do with her mouth during a kiss was clearly a diversion. Her straddling him was certainly to allow him access to her rear pocket.

Harm had done his part by rubbing his left hand against her back to add to the distraction while his right hand slipped into her back pocket under the guise of pulling her closer to him … and, of course, cupping her normally forbidden behind.

With Mac's mind-numbing kiss, especially in addition to the drugs already keeping him less than totally lucid, it had been damned lucky that he was able to keep his senses about him enough to grab what was in her pocket! But, he was certainly glad now that he had been able to retrieve the small, plastic key.

Now if his head would just stop pounding! That blow that Clinton had given him with the chair had done some serious damage, but Harm forced himself to concentrate. Mac's well-being was at stake. At least his muscles seemed to have recovered from the jolt of electricity, so his movements were fairly steady, as good as he could expect under the circumstances.

Putting his mouth to his hand, he clenched the back of the key between his teeth and then tilted his head to insert the end into the keyhole of his cuffs. After a few seconds of jiggling and twisting the small object, Harm was rewarded with a click as the cuffs unlocked and opened.

But now what? If Harm went downstairs, his footsteps would give Clinton too much warning, and, not only would that make any chance to gain the upper hand futile, but it would put Mac at extra risk as Clinton was likely to retaliate by zapping her with that deadly electric device strapped to her back.

Harm's eyes flitted to the nearby window. There was a board covering it, but he had felt air coming from that area earlier, so he knew it was not well secured. Should he make an attempt at escape and try to go for help?

No, even if he were in top shape, the odds of getting out without alerting Clinton were low, and the area was largely deserted, so getting help of any kind was not likely. Besides, Harm could not leave Mac behind with this lunatic for even a little while.

He looked at the monitors. Clinton had forced Mac onto her knees beside the body. But Harm had to ignore the orders that the mad man was giving Mac. He focused on that remote in Clinton's hand. Any brash action would cause Clinton to push that button. There was no way around it. First and foremost, Harm would need to get that remote out of the psycho's hand to ensure Mac's safety.

After a moment, Harm figured that his best bet was the element of surprise. And since there was no way to drop onto the guy without warning, this meant getting Clinton to come back up to the second story. That ought to be easy enough with the phone that was left on-line and in speaker mode. Just announcing that he is ready to talk at the right moment should get Clinton's attention. The trick would be to have Clinton think that Harm was still cuffed, so that he would get close to Harm before realizing that anything was amiss.

That would be Harm's only chance of wrestling the remote away. Hopefully, once he got the remote, Mac would be free to help take Clinton down. Harm knew that, in his current state, he was no match for the other man once the initial surprise attack ended. He would need help, but he wasn't capable of thinking that far ahead anyhow. He was using all of his willpower to keep himself thinking clearly enough to figure out the very next step.

Harm looked at his wrists and the now-open cuffs in his hands. There was no way to get the cuffs to stay in place on him, as they had been, hanging over the pipe, except to click them closed, which would defeat the whole purpose of having freed himself. If he just had something to keep them temporarily and loosely around his wrists so he could quickly break free at the opportune moment …

He scanned the room for something to use. Tape maybe? He caught view of Clinton's bag in the corner. Who knows what else the guy had in there? Surely, something in there ought to do. But Harm couldn't risk the movement. If he walked over to the bag, the floor would creak and alert their captor.

He briefly wished that Mac had been able to provide him with more than just that plastic key to work with. Then it dawned on him! She had! Well, Clinton had, but Mac had left Harm with her half when she had pushed her gum into his mouth during their kiss.

With all of the gum, he could divide it again and use it on the handcuffs, sticking a bit between each bracelet clasp. Hopefully, the handcuffs would stay together long enough to fool Clinton into believing that Harm was still immobile.

Harm didn't know if Mac had purposefully given him her gum as a 'tool' for escape when she had pushed her piece into his mouth during their kiss, but he was very grateful that she had done so.

TBC ...