A/N: Not sure if there was too much flirtatiousness in the last chapter ... It was meant to be very subtle really ... anyway, this isn't a romance story and I don't suppose it's going to turn into one either ...

As always: thanks to anyone who's reviewed!

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Chapter 9: An Unnecessary Risk

Meanwhile Jack still hadn't found Kiki, but he had found the cottage where he, Philip and the girls had been locked up the night before. There it was, sitting peacefully on its small clearing in the thick woods.

Jack stood in hiding for a little while, crouching behind a thorny bush and trying to decide whether or not he could risk to go in and try to find some food supplies.

'I might as well be able to find some clues to help Isabel with,' he told himself. There was really no reason why Philip should get all the excitement for himself! Jack, too, was ready to do his bit to bring this adventure to a happy ending!

'And it's really not very risky', he thought confidently, when after watching the cabin for some minutes still nothing had happened. 'The men are long gone. I'll just take a quick look around and then be gone too!'

Carefully, he crept around the small cottage, ducked low and hidden from sight by the undergrowth, then he stopped again and waited for a bit. But still there was no sign that there was anybody here; everything remained quiet.

Finally Jack dared to leave his cover. Quickly, he went to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. Blow!

He was about to give up on his plan, but just as he turned to creep back into the bushes he saw that next to the door a window was slightly ajar. Aha! Jack went over to inspect it more closely; there was a small clasp holding the window in place; once undone it would surely open completely without much trouble.

Carefully, Jack put his hand through the narrow gap, feeling for the clasp. He soon found and undid it. Then he pushed the window open more widely and eyed the hole it left. It wasn't very large but should be big enough for him to squeeze through. At least that was what he hoped – the very last thing he needed now was to get stuck!

With a little difficulty he hoisted himself up and was glad find that he could slip through the gap more easily than he had thought he would. After he had climbed in, Jack closed the window again. Then he began to survey his surroundings.

He must be in a kitchen of some sort he realised – and grinned. Just the place he would have liked to be. Now for finding some food!

Searching through the cupboards he soon discovered a few tins the men had left behind – what luck! He was about to squeeze the supplies into his pockets when he spotted a cloth lying on the counter and had a better idea. He could wrap all the tins up in the cloth and carry them much more easily that way.

After he had bound his supplies up, he looked for a tin opener and soon found that as well. He pocketed it, feeling rather pleased with himself.

So far everything had gone well, making Jack feel confident enough to continue exploring a little bit around the house. If truth be told, he didn't expect to find very much. If the men were about to flee for good they wouldn't have left behind any clues as to where they were about to go. But Jack decided it couldn't hurt to have a look anyway. He still had time, he assured himself.

He inspected every room very thoroughly, but just as he had expected there wasn't anything there that would have seemed to be of interest. Most rooms were almost empty except for a few mattresses on the floor and some also had a small cupboard. Jack opened every drawer but found nothing inside them. He went to the top floor and there it was just the same.

He was about to get back into the kitchen to gather the tins and go back to where the girls were waiting for him when suddenly he heard a noise coming from the front door.

His heart beating fast, Jack stood very still at the bottom of the stairs and listened. Was one of the men coming back? Weren't they supposed to be busy digging up their theft? But there was no mistaking – the sound he heard was that of the key being turned in the lock!

Frantically, Jack tried to think of a place to hide. He knew he didn't have time to gather his neatly wrapped up food supplies and slip out through the window. The only thing he could think of was to hurry back up the stairs. As he did he felt glad that his rubber-soled shoes made no sound at all. He hastily tiptoed towards one of the rooms. There was a large wardrobe in it; he had searched it for clues just a moment ago and he was sure that he could easily hide inside of it.

He slipped into the room without making a sound and made for the wardrobe. After closing its door behind him, Jack crouched down inside it and began to wait, trying to calm his breathing.

There were faint noises coming from down below him. It sounded as if someone was rummaging through the cupboards, just as Jack had done. But who was it? Shouldn't the robbers all be gone by now? Maybe they had forgotten something. Although it did seem unlikely because there was so little in the house that seemed worth being taken.

Jack wondered. Was it maybe just Isabel who had changed her mind and come back to the house for some reason? A very nasty thought came to his mind. What if Isabel wasn't as trustworthy as they had thought? If so, what about Philip? For an awful moment Jack thought that his friend might get harmed after all.

'Golly, I'd better not jump to conclusions,' he told himself sternly. 'Isabel can't switch sides yet again. And even if so I suppose old Tufty should be able to defend himself against a girl.'

Of course, Isabel didn't count for an average girl. She was a trained police officer and probably knew a hundred ways how to knock out even a bigger and stronger opponent than Philip was. But Jack didn't get to dwell on his terrifying thoughts, for he suddenly realised that there was someone coming up the stairs. He held his breath when he heard the person enter the room with the wardrobe in it.

Jack's heart beat so vigorously that he thought that it should jump out of his chest any moment, but for good reason – someone was walking about in the same room where he was hidden! Who was it? The steps sounded too heavy for it to be Isabel or Philip. It had to be one of the men.

And then the door of the wardrobe was opened and Jack found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.

'Dachte ich es mir doch,' said a voice Jack recognised easily even though he didn't understand the words. Then Klaus continued in his funnily accented English. 'Zere you have hidden. I knew someone was here because I left the house just a few minutes ago and by the time I got back, someone had tried to raid ze kitchen. Come out of zere – off we go.'

He waved his revolver a little and Jack stood up straight and came out of the wardrobe. What else could he have done?

Although he was afraid of the armed villain he couldn't help asking rather boldly, 'where are we going?'

Klaus smiled evilly. 'To ze lake. Ze ozers will soon be done with ze work. Zen I won't need zem anymore. But I'll need you, to get zat traitor Isabel off my back. I never trusted her – she wouldn't even let me touch zat feisty girl!'

Dinah – he was talking about Dinah!

'You're a bastard,' said Jack, before he could stop himself. He got a box on the ear for it and after that he bit his tongue to avoid further unadvised comments. Nevertheless, Klaus gave him rough push and made him stumble forward a few steps, then the man shoved his gun into his hostage's back – causing a feeling Jack had become uncomfortably familiar with lately.

They walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Klaus made Jack gather up the cloth holding all the tins he had found.

'So ... you zought you could steal my supplies,' the Austrian remarked, watching calmly. 'Sorry, lad, but no one steals from old Klaus. I'll have you know zat well enough by ze end of ze day!'

With the end of a rope he produced from his pocket, the man tied Jack's hands together tightly behind his back and attached the wrapped up cloth to it. It was now dangling uncomfortably from his bound wrists.

'Move!' ordered Klaus and directed his hostage towards the front door.

Walking in front of the man, poor Jack felt very cross at himself for not being more cautious. To think that he had spoiled Isabel's plans once more! How were they to stop the men from flying off to safety now, if they had got back one of their hostages. Isabel couldn't risk Jack's life by trying to stop the robbers. All hope lay with the girls now – but would they be able to get help in time? Just how were they to manage that? They couldn't drive the car, and it would take far too much time to walk to the next police station!

The sun was up now and it was getting very warm, but the weather wasn't the only reason why Jack's palms felt slippery with perspiration. Klaus made good pace as they strode into the woods. Jack tried to keep up but he was feeling the uncomfortably heavy cloth with all the tins in it, tearing at his arms, and the whole load bumped against his calves with every step he went. He staggered a couple of times, and each time he was rewarded with a jolly strong whack in the back for it.

Blow Klaus!

They walked quickly past trees and bushes and Jack wondered how far it would be to the lake and what Klaus would do with him once they reached the place. He was already beginning to think up a plan of how to escape when unexpectedly a voice came to his aide. 'What a pity, what a pity!'

'Shut up,' said Klaus crossly and gave Jack another nasty slap with the grip of his gun.

'I haven't said anything,' said poor Jack with a shrug. The weight of the tins tied to his wrists felt heavier with every step and he appreciated the blissful moment of rest when Klaus stopped to listen as the voice came again.

'Blow your nose! Where is your handkerchief?'

After standing still for about a minute Klaus grumbled something in his own language and then forced Jack back into movement. Not long after that the mysterious voice came again. 'How many times do I have to tell you to shut the door, idiot?'

Again Klaus stopped walking. 'Who's zere?' he shouted. 'Isabel if zat's you, I'm warning you! I've taken one of ze lads hostage again – you led him straight back into my arms. And I'm quite ready to hurt him if I must, so don't get in my way."

What happened next was rather astonishing – even to Jack who had of course recognised the voice at once. It might have been the words "hurt him" that set it off, but he wasn't sure. In any case, what followed after Klaus' words could only be described as a frightful tirade! 'Send for the doctor – Polly's got a cold! Aaa-CHOO! What a pity, what a pity! Ding Dong bell - Polly's in the well.' After that a loud whistling noise shrilled through the woods. 'Pheee, call the police! PHEE! PHEE!'

Kiki was really excited, and her loud tirade gave Klaus a real fright! He couldn't even make out how many persons might be hiding among the trees, for he was quite sure he had heard different voices!

Then with another frightful screech Kiki came out of where she had hidden in the bushes and pecked at Klaus' face angrily.

How dare he take her beloved Jack prisoner?

The villain yelled angrily at the attacker, and lashed out blindly but Kiki kept coming at him from different directions.

'Pheee, call the police! Phee! Phee!' she shrieked again before hacking her beak at Klaus. Then she let loose her absolute specialty – the imitation of a train screeching through a tunnel.

Jack used the moment of inattention on his captor's part to turn around and give the man a strong shove of his own, putting his full weight into it. Taken by surprise Klaus stumbled forward. He caught himself before falling but dropped his revolver.

Seeing it, Jack wished that his hands had not been tied on his back, for he had no chance to pick up the weapon. The only thing he could do was to kick the revolver deep into a nearby thorn bush. Then he gave Klaus a hearty kick against the back of his knees, which finally made the villain fall down.

'Ha! Without the gun in your hand you're not so strong after all,' he thought.

With his arms still busy fending off Kiki, Klaus missed his chance to catch his fall and he hit his head square against a nearby trunk of a tree. Feeling dazed he just lay there for a moment, unable to do anything but watch as his hostage bolted away, that nasty parrot fluttering above his head.

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A/N: Good old Kiki ...