KORDA

Chapter Seven

Selena was back out in the parking lot in less than half an hour. "We're in luck, I think."

"Did you find out where they're holding her?"

"No," she said, "but they'll be moving her this afternoon, to Sándorton."

"Sándorton!"

"There are only two doors, front and side. You get the tarp from the boat and wait at the side door. There shouldn't be more than two people bringing her out; with luck there'll be only one. You throw the tarp over them and run off with Tegan."

"What if the two of them are not standing together? There's only one tarp and there's only one me."

"You tarp one and push her into the other, knocking them both over.

I was uncomfortable with the plan. "I still can't get used to knocking women about."

"They have no hesitation knocking you about, Doctor."
"That's true enough," I admitted. "Even so…."

"You bring the tarp and one of the bungee cords. That will make it harder for them to get free, give you more time to get away."

"Couldn't we just ask them pretty please to give us Tegan back?" She laughed. "All right, how about if I create a diversion?"

"What, you take off your wig?"

"Anyway," I added, "what if they come out the front door and there are two of them and lots of bystanders? What's your plan in that eventuality?" Selena just smiled. "No, I really need to know! Oh, and do you know how they plan to transport her? There is no trolley service here, right?"

"Plenty of private vehicles here. Look where we are: they don't make parking lots like this unless there is something to park." We looked around. "There." She pointed.

"That van. Yes, maybe. Probably." I felt my forehead. It was cool. Why did my eyes burn so? "I don't suppose they said what time this afternoon?"

"They didn't say anything to me of course. I overheard this while inquiring about a batona match. There was a poster."

"Batona." I hope I didn't sound as wistful and guilty (sorry, Tegan!) as I felt.

"They said something like 'Get that paperwork ready. After lunch we'll send her back to Sándorton.' Or 'take.' I can't remember whether they said 'send' or 'take,' Maybe 'take,' since that van is there. Or that could just be a random van with no connection…."

"Still, it's better than not knowing at all. Considering you couldn't come right out and ask…."

"I know. But I wish I could remember which they said.

I thought for a minute. "I think… they have no reason to use the back way. Why would they? Are people protesting in the streets? She has no one here to speak up for her. They can transport her openly. No one knows or cares except us."

"So," agreed Selena, "they come out here, load her into the van…."

"Not if we can help it!"

We walked the scooter to the space next to the van and sat, her on the saddle and me in the sidecar, so we'd be ready to take off if necessary. We discussed whether to try to free Tegan before she could be loaded into the van or somehow get into the van and overpower her guard or guards once we were on the road.

"There'll be two," I said, "one to drive and one to sit on Tegan."

Selena offered "There could be only one. If she is cuffed, and she will be, she can be clipped to a railing. One guard would be enough."

"You don't know Tegan!"

There wasn't much foot traffic nearby but we waited for there to be none, and then I casually walked around the van to see if it was occupied. No one was in the driver's seat, the passenger seat was empty, and I even took a chance and tugged on the back door handle. By some miracle it was unlocked. I reported to Selena and we had the scooter lying flat in the back of the van in no time. We got in, ourselves, and lay flat too.

"The seat backs are too low," I realized. "There is no hiding place here." I peered over them. "I'd hate to leave the scooter behind. We could hide on the floor of this last row. Here in cargo we'd be seen right away."

"Can we cram the scooter up against the side like this?" She demonstrated.

"Why does it have to be so pink?"

"We can put it in the third row."

"Then where do we hide? Surely they'll put Tegan in the second row. It's us or the scooter. Oh, there must be a way. What are we overlooking?"

"The sidecar." We detached it and hid it in front of one of the third row seats.

"What else? It's still pretty pink. What else can we do? What else are we overlooking?"

"This blanket."

"What?"

Selena held up a worn plaid throw half the size of the scooter. "This blanket. It was hanging here next to the fire extinguisher." She threw it over the scooter and arranged it strategically.

"It doesn't nearly cover it." Still, I thought, still….

"No one is going to be examining it. It will do. You know, like your wig!"

"All right," I decided. "It will have to do." I began to climb over into the third row of passenger seats.

"What about the back door?" I stopped. "Should we lock it?" Selena wondered.

I reasoned, "They left it unlocked but they may not have done so intentionally or even knowingly. Locking it would give us a moment to prepare if they tried to unlock it, but if they left it unlocked on purpose, our locking it gives them the advantage."

"Right." Selena sighed, "I just hope this really is the van they intend to use."

"It's been out here for at least an hour. Either it belongs to someone who works in the community center or we have the right van."

"Or," countered Selena, "someone is taking a long time to conduct business and they'll come out when they come out and we are in extremely hot water."

"I've had enough water for a while, thanks." I climbed over and got down on the floor. Selena followed suit. "Except I haven't. I'm a bit thirsty, actually. We should have picked up more water on the way here."

The van suddenly shook. Selena checked her watch. "Too early!" she whispered. I shushed her silently.

We held our breaths.

The middle door, driver's side, swung open and Tegan, kicking and screaming, was thrown in. I heard the click of her cuffs' being attached to a rail or handle; we hadn't checked out exactly where that would be. Tegan's screams became muffled so I assumed she had just been gagged. The door slammed shut and the driver's door creaked open. There was only the driver, no guard in the back. Good! I had a flash of regret about leaving the serrated knife in the motorboat, which I also regretted leaving behind but there was no time to think about any of that. Selena and I had been expecting a little more time to refine our plan. Discussion was out of the question. One of us had to move and the other had to follow through.

I looked at Selena. She was looking at me. I am slender but she was slenderer. It didn't matter so much, as there was a wide gap between the two second-row seats, but if whoever crawled through was seen by the driver, I wanted to be the one free to grab her if she responded by stopping the car and coming back for Selena. I didn't want either of us trying to grab the driver of a moving vehicle. This was iffy all the way around. I indicated with my hands that Selena should crawl through, still on the floor, and slide over to the left. She understood and did this, and I heard Tegan's muffled gasp.

"Shut up!" said the driver, turning on the radio. The song that emanated from it was " A Tu Vera," sung passionately by a woman accompanied by a lone guitar:

" Ya pueden clavar puñales/ Ya pueden cruzar tijeras/ Ya pueden cubrir con sal/ Los ladrillos de tu puerta." It was hard for me to stay still on the floor behind Tegan's seat. I was briefly distraught that I would never know the name of the singer.

I saw Selena put her fingertips to her lips and Tegan must have seen that too because she shushed right away. The music was loud and the driver was singing along, off key. I crawled through to the middle row and was pleased that Tegan didn't gasp or cry out; her eyes lit up when she saw me. I think she was trying not to laugh. I'd forgotten about the wig. I smiled up at her from the floor and patted her knee, then pulled off the wig and tossed it (low) into the third row. I'd forgotten about the headband; it made a soft sound. I held my breath. The driver kept singing. I let my breath out. Tegan wiggled her left foot. I looked at her quizzically. She wiggled her foot again, then jerked her head at the driver. I still didn't understand. Tegan put her foot on my shoulder and used it to rub her shoe off of her foot. It plopped to the carpeted floor. Then I got it: she wanted me to use her high heel to hit the driver. I picked up the shoe but shook my head and held up one finger: wait. She nodded.

The driver blasted the radio for about two hours and then pulled onto a dirt road, drove about a mile and parked. I looked at Selena; she knew as well as I did that this was it. I handed Tegan's shoe to her, then leapt into the front row and pulled the driver down toward me, my sore right arm around her neck and my left hand over her mouth. She bit me but I didn't let go. Selena hit her in the head with the shoe. She had to hit her four times to knock her out. As the now unconscious driver was stuck in her seat belt, I had to reach over her to unfasten it. She slumped into my lap. Selena had ungagged Tegan, who cried "Doctor!" but Selena shushed her. We were nowhere near out of the woods yet.

I opened the passenger door, then closed it again; we were parked in front of what appeared to be a tavern which two women were entering, after which one woman exited. Selena carefully fitted the shoe back onto Tegan's foot. Another woman exited the tavern. I went through the driver's pockets, found two keys and handed those to Selena. I kept the little packets of hair I found, as well as the pocket knife, the small box of turron and a flask that felt more than half full of some kind of liquid.

Selena crawled through and got into the driver's seat. Off we zoomed, not really knowing where, until we reached the end of the dirt road and the beginning of a wooded area. Our erstwhile driver was coming around, so I hastened to dump her out of the car. Selena took the flask from me and shook her head. "I'll explain later," she said, turning the car around and driving back where we'd been, and beyond, to a main road. She checked the sky, then turned eastward. I left navigation in her hands and clambered back to be with Tegan.

"Are you all right? I can't believe we did it! We thought we'd lost you!"

"Good onya, Doctor; beaut!"

"You've forgotten English in this short time?"

She hit me lovingly on the shoulder, then cried out, "What the heck is that?" I looked down at my forearm. The gauze bandage had slipped off. My wound was full of maggots.

Selena pulled over as soon as she heard me cry out. She and Tegan got me out of the car and then had to restrain me; I remember yelling but I don't know what I was yelling, except I distinctly remember calling out for Jo. I remember extending my right arm as far as I could, as if it were a foreign object. "Hold him!" Selena ordered Tegan, and Tegan grabbed me around the chest at elbow level, pinning my arms. Selena took my right forearm and adjusted a small net bag within the wound. I know now that there were maggots contained within that bag but at the time it seemed to me they were the size of Yorkshire terriers and that the street was roiling with them, and all over me. I am afraid I was giving Tegan a hard time but she held onto me while Selena wrapped my forearm loosely in gauze from the roll I'd got from Dr. Reseda. I don't know how she managed it with me struggling and yelling nonsense but she did, and then, letting go of my arm, she said, "Now, Tegan." Tegan let go of me and I fell onto the street, at Tegan's feet, so I could clearly see her taking off one of her shoes. That made me happy because I knew what was coming and it meant I didn't have to be afraid anymore.

Well, I felt downright silly when I awoke sitting up in the second row, with Tegan watching me anxiously and Selena driving our stolen van. When I opened my eyes and saw Tegan, she smiled at me and called out to Selena, "He's up, and I think he's himself. Maybe. Are you okay, Doctor?"

"I think so," I said, trying to remember what she'd used to knock me out. "Have you two…?"

"You weren't available," said Selena, "so we introduced ourselves. I mean, I knew who Tegan was, obviously, but she didn't know me from Eve!"

"I know you now," said Tegan. "You're the person who saved my life!"

"I did contribute ever so slightly," I offered. "Unless I imagined that too."

"Too, Doctor?" Tegan gave me a strange look.

"Like the maggots. I don't know what happened. I suddenly thought…." I shuddered. "What a thing to think. I apologize for my behavior and for causing you stress. Both of you."

Tegan wasn't looking at me strangely anymore. She was looking at my bandaged forearm. I followed her stare and at the same time felt a faint but unmistakable stirring under the gauze. "It's all right, Doctor. Let it be. They're helping you. They're not enemies."

"Yes," I said, wearily. "I know that now. I'm just… you know, not quite myself. Please forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive, Doctor. Now let's go find Nyssa!"

"Definitely! Selena, where are we headed? You seem to know where you're going."

I could see Selena's grin in the rear view mirror. "I certainly do. I'm going home."

We arrived at Selena's bungalow in Sabu in time for tea but Selena wanted to change clothes first and thought I should, too. She did ply me with water before vanishing into her bedroom to wash and change. She came out all pink-faced in a flannel shirt and jeans. "I don't think you should shower with your arm like that," she advised me, "but you can wash up a little and I do have a clean change of disguise for you. We don't want the neighbors to recognize their stolen clothes on your back, right?" I agreed to that and probably came out a bit pink-faced myself but Tegan didn't notice that because she was busy admiring my loose-fitting jeans and peasant blouse.

"Love the daisies," she teased.

"Shut up," I responded, affably.

"Oh Doctor, sometimes you sound so human!"

Selena, bringing out the tea – cucumber sandwiches, lemon-glazed tea cakes and the eponymous hot brown liquid – looked uncertain, then laughed.

"You didn't tell her, Doctor? Oh, I think you should!"

"Tell me what?" Selena put her hands on her hips. "What's going on?"

I cleared my throat. "Selena, you know, you guessed, we are off-worlders."

"Yes," she said, a bit relieved. "I've met lots of off-worlders."

Tegan asked, "Off-worlders with two hearts?"

"You're not human? You look human…."

"I'm human," said Tegan. "He's not."

"Nor is Nyssa," I reminded her. "But she is as we have described her."

"All right," said Selena. "Eat up, drink up. Let's go find Nyssa."