A/N: I keep the chapters coming quickly at the moment ... :) love getting some comments just as quickly! Huge thanks, Em!
(I might have to slow down after the next chapter or so ... the story is completed already but the later chapters still need a lot of revising!)
Chapter 5: Trapped
'Isabel, how stupid can you be?' snarled one of the men. He was an ugly fellow with a big pug nose and dark bushy eyebrows which dominated his face. 'We disposed of them for a reason and now you're bringing them right back here? They hadn't even seen our faces, now they are all ready to recognise us!'
'Girl, have you lost your mind?' added another, shaking his head.
'Raise your hands,' said a third man, pulling his gun out and pointing it at poor Lucy-Ann. He had a thick neck and a well-trimmed, strangely twirled moustache. Further, he was in need of a haircut and there was a bald spot at the back of his head. 'And don't get any funny ideas, any of you!'
Isabel glared at the men. She had put her hands on her hips and stood up to them confidently. 'My father's co-worker saw the helicopter last night and he was about to help these three bring the police on our tracks,' she snarled back at them. 'Now he thinks they're safely on their way to the police station, but instead we're going to lock them in with the other one! By the time anyone finds them, we'll all be safely out of the country.'
Philip couldn't believe his ears. Isabel was one of those villains! And to think he had thought her quite likable just a moment ago! He felt hot anger rise inside of him, knotting up his stomach, and couldn't help spitting out the words in a spiteful tone as he asked, 'what did you do to my sister?'
Isabel smirked at him. 'Oh, nothing much, Philip – don't worry yourself! We locked her in and fed her, and she is just fine. Thanks to me by the way – for old Klaus here really has a thing for her. But I told him not to touch her.' She pointed at fellow with the twirled moustache who was still threatening Lucy-Ann with his weapon.
'Oh, so I ought be thankful to you now?' asked Philip in an icy tone, and Isabel shrugged, looking very cool and indifferent towards his anger.
'Whatever you feel like,' she told him.
Klaus, the fellow with the gun, who always spoke with that strange accent, was not as casual as Isabel about the situation. 'We mustn't waste our time on zis unfortunate interruption,' he announced. 'Best lock zem up right now and carry on wiz our preparations.' He made an impatient gesture to urge everyone to move.
Two others pulled out guns from their belts and each positioned himself close to one of their newly re-acquired hostages. Klaus clearly wanted to take care of Lucy-Ann but at seeing this Philip quickly stepped forward a little and positioned himself between the two. He earned himself a hard shove in the ribs from the villain for doing so and gasped in pain – for he was still a bit sore from the kick in the middle he had received the day before – but he remained standing where he was, shielding Lucy-Ann firmly.
Seeing the scene, Isabel stepped in as well. She glared at Klaus and even gave him a rough push, moving him away from Lucy-Ann and snapping, 'I'll take care of her. You take care of him.' She nodded towards Philip. Then she told the hostages to hold out their hands. Jack, Philip and Lucy-Ann couldn't do anything but oblige as the men bound their wrists tightly together before they were led away from the clearing.
For the second time within two days Jack felt the uncomfortable sensation of having a gun pressed firmly between his shoulder blades. He didn't say anything but he was furious – at those men of course and the way they treated them all – but also at himself for trusting Isabel. He should have known her enthusiasm to chase after the villains was suspicious! And now they were captured again! And what if the men wanted them all out of the way for good – now that they had seen their faces?
'Wipe your feet,' said Kiki suddenly very sternly to the man walking behind Jack. He had totally forgotten about her – she had flown off his shoulder to a nearby tree upon the villains' arrival and until now she had kept quiet. But she did not agree at all with how they treated her beloved Jack and so she came back to his shoulder and ranted at the man threatening him, 'and don't sniff! Where's your handkerchief – bless my soul! Ding dong bell – Polly's in the well.'
'Shut up,' grumbled the man at the parrot, but Kiki had no intention of doing so.
'Open your book on page six,' she said, cocking her head. Then she fell into a cackle of laughter. It was loud and shrill and it annoyed the fellow endlessly. He gave Jack a painfully hard nudge in the back.
'Make that bird shut up at once or I'll wring its neck,' he roared angrily.
Jack reached up, ready to clasp Kiki's beak with his hand, but just at that moment, she fluttered off his shoulder once more.
'What a pity, what a pity,' she said sulkily to herself perching on a branch right above Jack's head. 'Poor Polly. Naughty boy, naughty boy!'
'Come on, Frank, leave ze bird,' said Klaus from behind.
He clearly was the most impatient about getting to move. Every few steps he gave Philip strong shove, making him stumble a few steps and nearly sending him face first into a small thornbush at one time. When Frank didn't react, Klaus led the others past him. Frank kept staring at Kiki for a bit, who was still sulking up in the tree, but then he followed the others with Jack still walking in front of him.
They didn't have to go much further. When they reached a small house, just like the one Isabel lived in with her parents, Jack, Philip and Lucy-Ann were ushered inside and upstairs to the second floor, where Klaus unlocked a room and roughly shoved them inside.
They were locked in, but at least there was one very pleasant surprise waiting for them here – Dinah! She was sitting on the window sill, trying to peer out, but when her brother and their friends were pushed into the room with her, she got up from her seat and exclaimed excitedly, 'Philip! Jack! Lucy-Ann – gosh, how did you get here?'
Happy to see that her friend was unharmed, Lucy-Ann strode forward and hugged Dinah.
'Are you alright, Di?' asked Philip, who was just as relieved to see her. He didn't hug Dinah, but he lay a hand on her upper arm and gave it a squeeze, a worried look etched on his face. 'Did the men hurt you?'
Dinah shook her head. She had been given small portions of food and water several times and had had a warm and dry place to sleep. She also hadn't been touched or hurt by her captors either. All she had done since arriving here the day before was to sit in the tiny room and wait for something to happen.
Seeing Philip and the others made her feel better – for she had worried about them – and she didn't brush off her brother's hand on her arm as she might have done at another time. Instead she slightly leaned into his touch, though only just enough that she could be sure that he knew she was alright.
'How did you get here?' she asked one more time.
'It's a long story – but to cut it short we most unfortunately ended up being trapped,' admitted Lucy-Ann. Then she and the two boys took turns intelling Dinah what had happened.
'So, that's why suddenly they all ran off into the woods!' said Dinah. 'I could hear that there was just some uproar among the men. I think they always have one or two of them strolling about outside to make sure they know if someone's getting close to this place. Whoever was on guard must have seen you approach and come back here to get the others!'
'And before we knew it we were surrounded,' said Jack with a nod.
'And you sillies let that girl, Isabel, lead you right into a trap,' Dinah concluded, shaking her head. 'But to be fair, of course, you had no means of distrusting her.'
'Well, I'm afraid we should have noticed something was suspicious about her,' admitted Jack. He glanced over at Philip and added, 'but – you see, old Tufty here was quite smitten with her and I guess we just –'
Lucy-Ann interrupted him with an indignant huff. 'You're telling Dinah only half of the truth, Jack,' she corrected her brother – which was a rare thing for her to do. But it had to be said! 'You both were quite smitten with her, don't think I didn't realise it!'
Upon hearing this Dinah have first Philip then Jack an indignant stare, then she slapped her brother, who was still standing close to her, hard against the back of his head. 'You boys are unbelievable,' she scolded.
Rubbing the place where Dinah had smacked him, Philip defended himself, 'I was only intrigued by the fact that she's studying at university to become a vet – just as I'm going to do – that's all.'
Dinah shook her head and make a low noise, almost like a snort. 'I bet she's never seen a university from the inside before. She and the others are bank-robbers! They have robbed a dozen banks all over Britain, and they are keeping their theft hidden somewhere about. I think they're going to leave the country!'
'How do you know?' asked Jack.
Dinah grinned. 'I listened to them talking. I was locked up in here since last night with nothing to do so I crouched by the door and tried to overhear what they were saying!'
'Golly, you're clever, Dinah,' said Jack approvingly. 'What else did you find out?'
'There leaving us here, locked up in this room,' said Dinah, looking miserable now. 'That's what they said they'd do to me. Tomorrow, I'm afraid, they will be ready to pick up all their theft from where it's hidden and then they'll leave the country. They discussed if they should tell anyone about me being here, but decided that they would tell the police my whereabouts only when they're safely away from here.'
'So eventually we'll be rescued, but not for a long time,' Jack concluded. 'Blow! I wish old Kiki would fly back to the Springtons and call Rory or Tilda for help.'
'Kiki?' asked Dinah in astonishment. 'How could she … wait a moment – is she ...?'
'Of course! Dinah doesn't know yet that Kiki came with us – all the way since we were first kidnapped,' said Lucy-Ann with a chuckle. 'We think she must have sat on the helicopter's skids. But I haven't heard or seen her since –'
'Since Frank chased her off into that tree,' said Philip. 'I'm glad she flew away or otherwise the men might have become even more short-tempered than they are already – what with her babbling all the time. But … golly – she might even find the way back to the Springstons, Jack – do you reckon? She's such a clever bird!'
Jack agreed with that but he was also worried for his pet bird. Kiki was clever indeed, but he had no doubts that if the men so much as spotted her near the house somewhere, she'd be history.
He went to the window and had a look outside. Wooden planks were nailed against it from the outside; it was difficult to look past them. If Kiki was there somewhere there was little chance that he would be able to see her from here.
He turned around to the others. 'Well, for now I suppose Kiki will stick around somewhere near. Maybe she'll give the men a fright at night if they leave their windows open.' He grinned. 'She's done that to other villains before!'
The thought made the others giggle until Lucy-Ann pointed out that it would be unlikely. They had seen Kiki – so they would know it was her talking if they would hear someone's voice outside their window at night. After she had said that she suddenly remembered Philip's latest pet too. 'I say, while we're at it, Philip – where's Hopper?'
'Hopper?' asked Dinah suspiciously moving a few steps to get some distance between herself and her brother – just in case.
'Just a rabbit, don't get upset, Dinah,' said Philip, slightly annoyed at her squeamishness. It was fun teasing her at times, but now they really had other things to worry about! 'I left him on the Springtons' veranda anyway. He's probably hobbled back into woods by now.'
'Anything else you picked up to carry around with you?' asked Dinah, who didn't quite feel reassured yet.
Philip stared at her for a moment but then he shook his head. He was completely devoid of any pets but from the looks of it Dinah didn't seem to believe that. 'Well, I can't help it if she doesn't want to trust me,' he thought to himself.
But even if he had some creature on him, what could Dinah do, other than retreat to the furthest corner? They were prisoners, with no way of getting out any time soon. The door was locked – Jack had tried the knob, just in case, but it wouldn't budge. And through that window they couldn't get out either. Philip had already eyed it very carefully; the planks outside were strong and sturdy. They didn't look as if they would come loose anytime soon – and certainly not without making lots of noise.
'What do you suppose we do now?' Philip asked into the silence that had ensued.
'Wait,' said Jack. 'And as soon as they are gone in the morning, we'll try to get the those planks off the window and see if we can escape. Then we go back to Tilda and Rory's house and have them take us to the next police station. We might be in time to catch them before they leave the country!'
At thinking about Isabel's parents Lucy-Ann suddenly made a low gasping noise, and covered her mouth with both of her hands. 'Do you think they are maybe involved in this as well, Jack?' she asked, with her eyes wide and looking horrified. Her voice was muffled by her hands, clutched over her mouth, but Jack understood her well enough. He shook his head.
'No, I don't think so,' he said reassuringly, putting his arm around his sister. 'I'm quite sure they don't have any idea what Isabel is involved in.'
Everyone was miserable at the thought of that. 'Poor Tilda and Rory if Isabel is going abroad with the others,' said Lucy-Ann who was always full of compassion. 'She probably can't come back for a while.'
'Maybe not ever,' said Dinah.
'Poor Tilda and Rory,' repeated Lucy-Ann.
The others agreed but there wasn't anything they could have done about it!
