Back on Solid Ground (3 page)

The Land
Rover came to a stop and Eli, Jason and Carlos bailed out and headed inside.  
Niki was left with the girl, and he picked her up and carried her to the front
door.  All eyes were on him again when he walked in, none of his accomplices
attempting to hide their smiles.  Niki knew what it was about and he was pissed
with Carlos for making that damn
soul mate
comment on the plane. 

“Fuck off,” Niki
said.

Consuela, the
housekeeper, had prepared a guestroom for Stacy before the men left for the
States, so Niki carried her up the flight of stairs to the guest wing and into
her suite.  He laid her on the bed and covered her up, then opened the windows
to let in the sea breeze.  He turned off the light and closed the door behind
him. 

When Niki got
downstairs, Eli poured him a Crown on the rocks and the two made another toast
to a job well done. 

“What a
rush!” Niki said, still on a high.

“Yeah, it was
good,” Eli agreed.

“Let’s hope
the girl’s not too much trouble before we turn her over to our client,” Niki
said.

“How bad
could she be?” Eli said, dismissing his brother’s concern outright.

Carlos and
Jason had gone to their living quarters to shower and change clothes.  Consuela
would have made them something to eat, so eventually they would all end up in
the kitchen.

The four
celebrated long into the night, and it was just about the time they were hitting
the sack that their hostage was waking up.

Stacy sat up
in bed trying to wake up from her drugged sleep.  The room was dark, but she
could see white curtains blowing in the breeze and hear waves crashing on a
beach.  Her side hurt and she had a terrible headache.  She pulled her shirt up
and felt the bandage around her waist and it all came back to her. 
I was
shot during a bank robbery and the gunmen took me with them.
  She
remembered being on the floor of the car in a disgusting burlap bag, and in an
airplane.  And there was some guy named Carlos trying to act like he was her
friend when she’d had that ridiculous memory lapse. They had probably taken her
out of the country, most likely to Mexico.  But then, she didn’t know how long
she had been out of it.  Carlos had given her some sleeping pills and she could
have been asleep for days.  She could be anywhere.  Her mind was racing. 
Slow
down, Stacy.  Think!  Don’t get bogged down in the details.
 

Stacy
listened, but didn’t hear any sounds coming from inside the house.  She figured
they would have locked her in the room, but she would try the door anyway. 
Stacy got to her feet and realized for the first time that she smelled awful.  
She must have vomited on herself, and her clothes were so filthy they were stiff. 
The thought made her want to puke, but she couldn’t worry about that.  She had
to get out of there. 

Stacy turned
the knob and, much to her delight, the door opened. 
Yes
! She felt like
she had cleared the first hurdle, and took a deep breath as she walked through
the threshold.  There was enough light for her to see that she was in a long,
wide hall with a half-dozen doors coming off it.  It looked like there was a
stairwell down to the right, so she headed that way.  Her feet were silent on
the cold marble, and she was half running by the time she reached the huge
sweeping staircase.  She flew down the stairs, then stopped at the bottom,
deciding which way she should go.  She was breathing heavily, partly from
exertion and partly from fear.  The foyer was directly in front of her and she
looked around for any sign of an alarm system that might sound if she opened
the door.  She didn’t see any, so she opened the door, praying that it wouldn’t
creak. 

The sun was
just coming up and she could see that the place was surrounded by trees.  She
slipped out the door and, moving close to the building, made her way to the
Land Rover. 
Please, please, let there be keys
, she thought, and then,
Oh!
I made a rhyme.

Stacy opened
the driver’s door and felt in the ignition, above the visor, on and under the
seat, but no keys. 
Shit!
 
Okay, think.
  Her side hurt and there
was blood coming through the bandage, but she had to get out of there.  If it
had to be on foot, so be it.   She headed away from the house, staying off the
road by the trees, trying to ignore the sticks and rocks that were poking her
tender feet.

Niki couldn’t
sleep so he went back to the kitchen to make coffee.  He had just turned on the
machine when he spotted the girl out the window, heading towards the beach. 

He hit the
intercom, “Heads up!  We got a runaway.” 

Niki bolted
out the door after her, taking the path that went below the trees, which would
put him almost even with her when she got to the beach. 

Stacy’s
abused body was rebelling. Her side was killing her and she didn’t know how
much farther she could go, but she pressed herself to move on.  She came to the
end of the trees and out into the open and slammed right into Niki, knocking
them both to the ground. 

Stacy was
stunned.  “Get away from me!” she yelled, and she pounded him hard in the
chest. 

Niki tried to
grab her arms but she was back on her feet, this time flying with adrenaline
racing through her veins.  He took off after her.

Carlos and
Eli had made it to the beach and were watching the action with amusement. 
There was no place for the girl to go, unless she had been able to get to the
boat.  That could  have been disastrous, but since that wasn’t going to happen,
they stood back and watched the show.

“Stop!” Niki
yelled, as he gained on Stacy.  “There’s no place for you to go.”

“Fuck you!”
Stacy yelled back at him, and she ran for her life.

Niki caught
up with her, and after unsuccessfully trying to grab her around the waist, he
tackled her into the sand. They rolled and ended up in the water, where once
again she was up and running, this time out into the surf.  

Niki was
right on her heels.  He lunged, grabbed her, put her in a bear hug, and almost
managed to subdue her, but she was fighting like crazy.  Niki was amazed by the
girl’s stamina; she was incredibly strong for someone her size, and she had
taken a bullet!  He dug his feet into the sand and held on to her.  They were
breathing heavily trying to catch their breaths, as waves crashed up over
them.  The dried blood and grime from Stacy’s body and clothes had turned the
water a reddish brown all around them.

Eli and
Carlos stood at the edge of the water.  “Shark bait,” Eli said knowingly, and
Carlos nodded.

Niki locked
his arms around her so she couldn’t get away.  He turned her around and walked
her out of the water.  Stacy was too tired to fight and went with him.  Her
lungs burned,  she felt like she had a knife in her side, and the salt water
was burning the wound.  They got to shore and walked up to where Eli and Carlos
were standing. 

“Don’t run,”
Niki said, trying to catch his breath.

Stacy didn’t
have a choice; she was exhausted.  She had given everything in her attempt to
escape and she had no energy to spare.  Niki let go of her and Stacy fell to
the sand breathing hard.  Her hair was dripping pink droplets from the ends,
but her body was clean.  If she hadn’t been so tired, she would have felt
invigorated by the water.  She loved the beach.  It was her favorite place to
be.  Stacy looked around for the first time and was stunned.  It was
beautiful.  As beautiful a spot as she had ever seen in all her travels.  The
water was an incredible turquoise and the sand was white and fine. 
My
captors brought me to paradise
, she thought.

Stacy was
exhausted and barely able to speak.  “What do you want with me?” 

She was
determined not to let them hear fear in her voice.  Stacy looked up at Niki for
the first time and her jaw dropped. 
He was gorgeous. Drop dead.
 Over
six feet tall, with a brown loose curls, and a deep golden tan. 
And those
eyes.
 The color was actually very much like hers, only on him, they were
unbelievable. Stacy sized the guy up to be in his early 30’s.  He reminded her
of Jim Morrison.  She dragged her eyes away. All she needed was to be attracted
to some bank robbing, low-life kidnapper. 

“Why did you
bring me here?” she said, regaining some strength in her voice.

Niki looked
at Carlos and Eli.  He didn’t intend to tell her anything, but he felt like he had
to say
something
.  Stacy looked over at the two and recognized Carlos as
the man to whom she had talked to on the plane. 

“Why hello,
Carlos
,”
she said sarcastically.  “How nice to see you again,
not.
”

“Good
morning, Miss Trent,” he said smiling.  “I trust you will feel much better
after a nice hot shower and some breakfast.”

Trust, my
ass,
she thought.  “You didn’t answer my question.  Why did you bring me
here?”

She went from
Niki to Carlos, looking each directly in the eye, then she looked over at Eli
and sized him up. Another 6-footer with light brown hair and matching eyes.  He
had a cocky smile on his face and Stacy disliked him immediately.

“You
obviously didn’t choose me at random,” she said, looking back over at Niki. 
“What, are you going to ransom me?   Is that it?  Because, if it is, believe
me, you’re wasting your time.  My family would never cower to the likes of
you,” she lied.

Carlos
interrupted before she could go on.  “There’s no need to get into it right
now.  We should all go and enjoy this beautiful morning, have some coffee on
the veranda and a delicious breakfast.”  He offered his hand to Stacy and she
took it because she wasn’t sure she could get up on her own. 

Niki and Eli
walked ahead as they headed back to the villa.

“She’s a fighter,”
said Eli, clearly amused at what he had seen.

“No shit. 
She hits like a guy.”  Niki rubbed the spot where Stacy had pounded him in the
chest.  “Look where she slugged me,” he said.  Eli checked it out and sure
enough, there was a deep red fist mark imprinted on Niki’s chest.  “And last
night I actually thought she looked
frail,
” Niki laughed.

Jason was
walking in their direction with a mug of coffee in his hand.  “Hey, did I miss
the action?” he yelled to the group.  He met up with Niki and Eli, “So, she got
her memory back, huh?”

“Apparently
that’s not a problem anymore,” Niki said.

“Look where
she hit him,” Eli said  “You should have seen it, it was priceless!” he
laughed.

The brothers filled
Jason in on what had transpired, while Stacy and Carlos caught up with them. Jason
broke away from the two and walked up to Stacy.  He looked like an all-American
surfer, tall and tan, with sun-bleached blonde hair.

“Hey, I’m
Jason, and I guess you met . . .”

Stacy covered
her ears.  “Don’t tell me your names!”  

Jason
laughed. “It doesn’t matter. We’re anonymous.  That’s Niki, Eli and Carlos,” he
said, pointing to each respectively.  It was an awkward moment for everyone
except Jason.  Nothing much fazed him. 

Stacy, on the
other hand, was feeling the brunt of her combat with Niki and knew it was going
to be a rough walk back to the house. Her head and side were killing her and no
sooner had Jason made the introductions than she grabbed onto a palm tree for
balance.  Jason caught her just as her legs gave out.

“Whoa,” he
said, maneuvering his arm behind her back to hold her up. He handed off his
coffee mug to Carlos.  “You don’t look so good.  Let’s get you back inside,”
and he picked her up before she could protest, and started off toward the
villa.  “What are you, about 100 pounds?” he laughed.  He walked with a skip in
his step the whole way back to the villa.

Stacy was mortified.
She couldn’t stand helpless women who needed a man to do everything for them,
and here she was being carried by a damn kidnapper.  It was pathetic.

“Hey, isn’t
that your job?” Eli said, elbowing his brother in the side.

“She’s
something else, isn’t she?” Niki said, shaking his head.

“That’s one
way to put it,” Eli agreed.

The aroma of
freshly brewed coffee met them at the door, and the group settled in the
kitchen when they came inside. 

“Would you
like a cup of coffee, Miss Trent?” Carlos asked her. 

“No,” Stacy
said.  Jason was still holding her, because he hadn’t decided where to put
her.  Stacy squirmed in his arms.  “Put me down!” she said indignantly.  Jason
set her down and Stacy held on to the table to get her balance.  “Someone take
me back to my room,” she said flatly.

“Can you walk
on your own?” Niki asked.

Stacy gave
Niki a dirty look.  “Yes, I can walk on my own.”   She took a step and grabbed
her side involuntarily with the pain, and Niki took hold of her arm trying to
help her.  “Get your hands off  me!” she said, jerking her arm away from him. 
She inched her way across the kitchen and out into a corridor leading to a
large living area. 

Niki walked
beside her, wanting badly to pick her up and carry her. 
She’s as stubborn
as they come
, he thought.  At last they came to the foyer where her
unsuccessful escape attempt had begun. Stacy looked up at the monstrous
staircase and she snapped.  It was just too much.  She couldn’t drag her body
up those stairs if her life depended on it.  Stacy collapsed on the bottom step
and broke down in tears. 

Niki was
horrified.  He sat down beside her and tentatively put his arm around her. 
When she didn’t slug him or pull away, he patted her on the back and tried to
soothe her. “You’ll be okay,” he said.   But the floodgates were open and Stacy
couldn’t stop. He sat helplessly while she cried, and when she finally let up, Niki
picked her up without protest, carried her up to her suite, and placed her in a
comfortable chair overlooking the ocean.