A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

CHARADE

For the next half hour, they drove in silence with only an occasional desultory comment about the bad weather and worsening driving conditions, but Harry was watching the side of the road for a billboard that would enable him to put his plan into action. Any billboard that advertised a fast-food restaurant at an approaching exit would do. When he finally saw one, his heart doubled its beat. "I know you probably don't want to stop and go into a restaurant, but I'm starving," he said carefully, pleasantly. "That sign says there's a McDonald's up ahead. We could get some food at the drive-through window."

Zayn glanced at the clock and started to shake his head, so he hastily added, "I have to eat something every couple of hours because I have..." he hesitated a split second, thinking frantically for the right medical term for a problem he didn't have "...hypoglycaemia! I'm sorry, but if I don't eat something, I get very ill and faint and..."

"Fine, we'll stop there."

Harry almost shouted with nervous triumph when he pulled off on the exit ramp and the McDonald's golden arches came into view. The restaurant was between two open lots with a kiddy playground on the side of it. "We're stopping just in time," he added, "because I'm feeling so dizzy that I won't be able to drive much longer."

Ignoring his narrowed look, Harry flipped on the turn indicator and pulled into the McDonald's entrance. Despite the storm, there were several cars in the parking lot, though not nearly so many as Harry wished there were, and he could see a few families seated at the tables inside the restaurant. Following the directions on the sign, he drove around behind the restaurant to the drive-through window and stopped at the speaker. "What would you like?" he asked.

Before his imprisonment, Zayn wouldn't have stopped at a fast-food restaurant like this if he had to go all day without eating. Now he discovered his mouth was watering at the thought of a simple hamburger and french fries. Freedom did that, he decided after telling Harry what he wanted to eat. Freedom made the air smell fresher and food sound better. It also made a man more tense and suspicious, because there was something about his captive's overbright smile that was making him extremely wary. He looked so fresh and ingenuous with those big green eyes and soft smile, but he'd switched much too quickly from terrified captive to furious hostage to his current attitude of friendly ally.

Harry repeated their order into the microphone—two cheeseburgers, two french fries, two Cokes.

"That'll be $5.09," the voice said over the microphone. "Please drive around to the first window."

As he pulled up alongside the first window, he saw him dig into his pocket for money, but Harry shook his head adamantly, already reaching into his wallet. "I'll buy," he said, managing to look straight into his eyes. "It's my treat. I insist."

After a moment's hesitation, he took his hand out of his pocket, but his dark brows drew together into a baffled frown. "That's very sporting of you."

"That's me. I'm a good sport. Everyone always says so," he babbled mindlessly, removing the folded ten-dollar bill with his handwritten note saying that he was being kidnapped folded inside of it. Unable to meet his unnerving gaze any longer, Harry hastily looked away and focused all his attention on the teenage girl in the drive-through window, who was regarding him with bored impatience. The girl's name tag said her name was Tiffany.

"That'll be $5.09," Tiffany said.

Harry held out the ten-dollar bill and stared hard at the girl, her face beseeching. Harry's life depended on this bored-looking teenager with a frizzy ponytail. As if in slow motion, Harry saw him unfold the ten-dollar bill... The small notepaper floated to the ground... Tiffany bent and picked it up, popping her gum... Zayn straightened... He glanced at Harry... "This yours?" she asked, holding it up, peering into the car without reading what it said.