"Here, eat this." A dark blue bandana covered the boy's eyes as he tried to find the pizza he could smell somewhere near his face. Carefully, he brought both hands up to find the kidnappers' hands and the pizza. It smelled heavenly. The usually picky eater didn't care what the pizza had on it, breakfast had been more than twelve or fourteen hours ago. Even pineapples and green peppers together tasted wonderful. Ben had been sitting in the vehicle ever since they'd forced him inside. Why, he didn't know but he was sure tired of sitting in the back of the Ford Explorer all cramped up.
"When are you going to let me go?" Ben demanded to know after eating the overgenerous slice of pizza. A second, large piece was laid on his knee.
"As soon as we get the money your mother stole, kid." A gruff, agitated voice answered. The whole time Ben had been sitting in the back of the SUV he'd been thinking of how to get out of the small space containing the American vehicle. So far he hadn't thought of anything. His hands were tied so tightly that he couldn't get into the hatch area to find anything. Ben wanted to lay hands on a tire iron so he could break the window, but then there was a guard somewhere in the garage.
"I can't believe I've been so dumb for so long, ugh." Ben thought to himself after he heard the door between the garage and the outside close. After eating all the pizza laid on his lap, he pulled his pocket knife from his front pocket and pulled the well oiled blade out of the Case XX. It opened with a quiet, 'snick'. One of the boys at the home had taught him how to sharpen the blade to keen edge. He kept the three inch blade razor sharp. There had been a lot to learn at the home, especially about how to get into trouble. Ben had been an apt pupil in that life class.
Quickly he cut through the thick, plastic zip ties binding his hands and feet. Free at last, Ben began to look through the hatch area of the SUV, searching for anything that might help him escape. Searching the compartment beneath the side rear window he found the jack. With it came a skinny, metal handle, just big enough to do some damage.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, son." The gruff man who'd brought him pizza spoke, a handgun in his gloved hand as he pointed it at the rear hatch window. Ben let the jack handle fall free of his hand and sat down on the seat again.
"How'd you get out of those zip ties, kid?" The kidnapper's face was hidden by a dark ski mask but Ben could tell that his eyes were dark colored and his eye brows were nearly black. Ben heard someone open the door then felt himself being dragged out into the garage. The bandana had long since been taken off but it was so dark he couldn't make out anything about the kidnappers without the light from the SUV's interior lights.
"You didn't check his pockets, you lunkhead." A voice Ben hadn't heard before spoke, cursing one of his companions. Roughly, someone shoved their hands into Ben's jeans pockets. A few coins hit the cement at his feet and his billfold was removed. He just let them search, the kidnappers were unlikely to find the knife where he'd hidden it in the back of the seat pocket in the Explorer.
"How did you get loose, kid, and you'd better answer truthfully, we don't actually need you for this deal." The first, gruff voice barked in his ear.
"I rubbed the ties against my zipper handle until I could pull the plastic apart." Ben lied instantly. His heart beat hard and fast in his chest. All this made the trouble he got into over stealing the hunting knife look like a tiptoe through the tulips. Aunt Maggie could be rough, but she did it because she cared and even at fourteen, Ben knew that.
"Great, we're gonna have to leave the kid sitting in his boxers now." The last voice cracked sarcastically.
"No, we're not, here, put these on him." Ben heard metal clacking as someone caught what ever was thrown. One kidnapper held his hands in front of him as another one clamped handcuffs down on his wrists.
"Ouch, that hurts." The boy pulled away, his back slamming harmlessly into the side of the vehicle.
"You'll get over it, now get in there and sit down." Gruff voice shoved him into the backseat again.
"You'll regret this, my father is a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman, he'll catch you for sure." Ben threatened, frustration and fear pulling at him.
"If he knows what's good for you he's on an airplane right now headed for Fortitude Pass." One of the kidnappers laughed. "You, lunkhead, stay in here and watch the boy, the kid's seen too many episodes of MacGyver, one of us will be out to take over in a few hours." Two men walked through a door at one end of the garage, leaving one behind. Ben had had many fights over the last few years. For his age he wasn't bad, but he knew he couldn't stand up to a full grown man who was armed. He sat back against the seat, his head against the glass. Eventually the boy laid over onto the seat and stretched out to sleep. It had been a long day.
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