I Thought It Was Over

Chapter 19 - The Van

19 The Van

I held my breath and tense, trying to return heat to my cheeks, as Cleveland once again roared something about a van.

“What’s happening?”

“We are taking you to Master Leo.”

I thought quickly, and hoped that these henchmen were as dumb as they seemed.

“If it’s going to be a long stay, can we at least grab our stuff? Our clothes and everything? I mean, I need my pajamas at least,” I asked. “It’s in our car, if you could transfer it to your little van.”

Two of their people did so at a shrug from Cleveland, and I smiled. “Thank you.”

Without any warning, more people came and frog-marched us to the van.

“Calm down mate, I’m not going anywhere,” I said. I obediently walked toward the van. “Nice day for it, huh?”

Clio hadn’t said a word, and neither had the other two; I was doing all the talking.

At the garbled directions of the person holding me, I awkwardly heaved myself into the cab of the moving van-type vehicle. Clio heaved herself beside me and the little ones were put in the back, at gunpoint.

Well that messed up my plans a little.

The guards with Clio and I left, and I laughed quietly to myself. Those idiots, thinking I was actually trapped. No no no.

Making sure Clio was watching out the window, I squirmed around, working the cuffs off; I had known to tense and flex my hands to create the most room possible. I then tried to shrug out of the rope, and managed to work one hand out. Bringing it around to in front of me, I grabbed my penknife and with a quick sh sound I tore it through the cords. Throwing them on the floor, I slit my leg binds and dropped them, too.

I then tried looking for keys. The glove box was locked! In despair I looked at Clio and she was glaring at me. Oh right, she was still tied up.

“A little help here?” she asked.

“Okay, turn around,” I hissed to Clio. She moved herself around and showed me her wrists. They were beginning to get chafed by the rope, and I worked quickly.

“It’s not cutting!”

“Well untie it!”

I quickly scrabble at the knot with my fingers and the knife. I heard voices coming towards the van, and I flicked the knife closed, sat on it and put my hands back behind me.

“Floor!” Clio whispered. I kicked the ropes and cuffs under the seat along with my feet, tangling it to make it look like my ankles were still tied.

As it turned, out, a head peered in the window, and nothing else; I raised an eyebrow and they left. I heard noises and twisted my head around behind me, still keeping up the pretence of being tied. The guards were climbing out of the truck, as I could see through a gap in the wall between the cab and the truck part. The girls were left alone, shaking. I couldn’t say anything to comfort them, so I turned to Clio.

“Turn.”

I worked for a tense twelve seconds, before the rope fell into my hands and I almost cheered.

Dropping them on the floor, Clio worked on her legs, then we smoothly switched positions.

I glanced in the ignition – no keys.