Part 6 (1/2)

”Oh christ, that's just great.” Rhys didn't disguise her anger. ”Two snoring p.r.i.c.ks and a f.u.c.king wingnut.”

Jamie heard the disappointment in Rhys's hoa.r.s.e whisper.

Expected more, huh? Well, this is all I've got. I don't know what else to do. So much for even getting to be friends with Martina Rhys. Jamie squeezed her eyes shut and continued her search. Please, just ten or eleven inches...

”Will you settle down, dammit?” Rhys's voice darkened toward desperation and she seemed not to notice the small snap that came from the top of Jamie's bed frame. ”You're driving me nuts now!” For a nanosecond, Jamie ceased all movement. Almost, almost...

When she began a small repet.i.tive motion, she saw Rhys's eyes blink too fast. Chest heaving silently, Rhys turned away from her just as the taunting sounds of the Pirates' poker game and the tunes of an old Latin-hip fusion rock band wafted toward them.

Jamie stretched herself farther, harder, kept her hands circling rhythmically in defiance of the restraints. Come on... come to Mama...

And then, at last, another snap. She raised her hands as much as the manacles allowed and angled her head back, back to gaze at the length of wire. Yes, thank you, yes, yes! Jamie clutched it in both hands and let the rest of her body relax.

But not for long. Okay, okay, now gotta break it in two. Jamie stretched again and pushed the wire against the concrete wall a few inches from the top of the bed frame to make the first bend. The metal resisted-a good thing, since the tools she needed to craft had to be strong, and a bad thing because hard metal would be tougher, maybe even impossible, to craft at all. Sacrificing her hands and her ankles, she kept at it.

* 55 *

”Ha!” Jamie exhaled when she finally felt that third snap. She craned to get a look at what were now two pieces of wire, one in each hand. They still needed a lot of work. She decided to start with the short piece. Can't do s.h.i.+t without a torque wrench. She'd work first on bending it.

”Rhys.”

Rhys ignored her.

”Dammit, Rhys, talk to me.”

Rhys turned and scowled but refused to meet Jamie's eyes.

”What?”

”If we could undo these cuffs, and maybe get the cell door open-”

”Oh christ! Will you shut the f.u.c.k up? This G.o.dd.a.m.n s.h.i.+t ain't over yet and if I'm gonna get my a.s.s through tomorrow I need some sleep.”

”Listen to me, Rhys, okay? Indulge me for a minute.” Jamie stopped all movement and stared Rhys down. ”If we can get out of the cuffs and open that padlock on the cell door- if-can you see a way we can get out of the camp?”

Rhys snarled between clenched teeth, her slivered eyes now launching their fury at Jamie. ”So you know how to pick locks or something, Gwynmorgan?”

Jamie fluttered her eyebrows and winked.

Lips slightly parted, Rhys gaped. Jamie grinned.

”My G.o.d,” puffed Rhys. ”My G.o.d. Let me think.” She fell into silence, her eyes closing.

”No promises, understand? These pieces of wire I've liberated are a little soft, but they might just work. If I can make them into something, then we need a plan for getting the rest of the way out. And that's on you, Rhys. 'Cuz I didn't see the camp at all. Nothing.”

”Okay...” Rhys murmured, her face tightening, her eyes staring through Jamie, who'd already resumed work on the torque wrench.

”How to get out...”

After a while she spoke up again. ”It's a long shot, you know? But what the f.u.c.k. If they're not using cameras and if they stick with the same protocols, maybe I can see a way. Mmm, we gotta get out of the cuffs and open the cell before the next watch. Before. We whack the four guys down there playing poker. That'll be the hardest, but we can * 56 *

get pretty close before they see us, since they're around a corner. No line of sight to our cell door.”

Rhys paused. After an unsteady inhalation, she continued. ”We wait for the next watch to arrive, take them out, too. That'll be easier.

We'll have the advantage of surprise and can use this watch's stunguns.

Then we use their keys to unlock, um, let's see, two other doors. And we walk out as the departing watch. It'll be about twenty-five meters to the gate. But it'll be dark. Our faces will be shadowed by boonie hats.

Nearest guy will be like ten, fifteen meters away. Far as I can tell, they don't challenge the winking skull and crossbones at the gate. We just wave at them and walk right out.”

Jamie craned to get a look at the shorter length of wire. The last inch or so of one end had been bent about eighty degrees. ”Bingo.”

”Yes!” breathed Rhys.

”Now I gotta file it down. Cross your fingers.” Again Jamie sacrificed her shackled ankles and hands to reach the concrete wall and sc.r.a.pe the wire against it. She sc.r.a.ped for a long time before examining the result. Yes, the wall was hard enough, the wire soft enough. ”Slow going,” she said. ”Need to taper this f.u.c.ker down.” Sensing Rhys's eyes move slowly over her nakedness and inspect her while she worked, Jamie counted the number of times she'd feel a swath of warmth on her skin and then find Rhys's gaze on the very spot.

Once, twice, four times, five...

Too many times. Because I'm going too slow. How long 'til a Pirate shows up? How long have I got? And then, at last- ”Yesss!

We're in business!”

Rhys didn't hide her tears this time. Neither did Jamie.

”We make for their barracks,” Rhys said, triumph in her whisper, while Jamie began work on the longer length of wire. ”It's about twenty meters beyond the gate. Should be a truck there, maybe two. If we can get a truck, we can drive around the bay and be back in our own racks sometime tonight.”

Rhys stiffened, her face ominous. ”But the fellas have to go along with us. Four guys in the Pirates' watch. We need four of us to pull it off. The boys might want to just wait it out.”

”Plus I have to make this wire into a workable pick,” Jamie added, rewarding herself with a sneak-glance at Rhys's b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”Needs a little forty-five-degree bend at one end and- f.u.c.k! ”

* 57 *

Like it had a life of its own, the wire had flipped out of Jamie's fingers, which chased it, fumbled with it.

”No, Jamie, please,” Rhys gasped just as Jamie caught the precious wire and managed to hold on to it.

”Okay, it's okay. I got it.” Jamie closed her eyes, swallowed against the acidic splash of fear that stung her throat. She'd almost lost the torque wrench, too. ”I got it.”

”Take your time, Jamie. We got time.”

”Yeah.” Jamie let her eyes slide open and closed and open again.

”Yeah, I'll take my time. Thanks.” With swollen, b.l.o.o.d.y fingers, she continued while Rhys lay still and stared at the ceiling. Rhys didn't say it, but Jamie knew: They were running out of time. ”Not as smooth as it should be, but I got one end done,” Jamie whispered finally. ”Gonna give it a try.”

She began with the handcuff lock on her left wrist, twisting and warping her hands to work the torque wrench and the pick. Seconds, then what must have been minutes ticked by, and her hands started to cramp. ”d.a.m.n. I popped a pair of these in thirty-eight seconds once.

Ah, wait.”

The first cuff clicked open, freeing Jamie's hands.