“Actually, I almost feel sorry for the woman,” Bert said, “From what Jackson says, some of the experiments the doc performs on the fangers are pretty nasty.”
“This is no time to be going soft,” Ernie said firmly. “Just think of the bonus we’re going to get.”
Mary’s mouth tightened. Dante had said people had been going missing in San Antonio. What he’d meant was immortals, she realized, and she and the others were going to join their ranks if she didn’t do something about it. It seemed to her that she was the only one who could. Dante, Russell and Francis had no idea they were being led into a trap. She did. If she could somehow warn them, or get out of her chains . . .
She wasted a moment trying to force her hands out of the shackles, but quickly gave it up as a lost cause. They were too tight. She considered the situation briefly as the men continued to talk and then she grasped the chains higher up their length, closer to the metal circle they were threaded through and gave a tug.
Mary wasn’t terribly surprised when nothing happened. While Dante had said the nanos made them stronger and faster and all that, she suspected they didn’t work so quickly that she would suddenly be as strong as the Hulk.
Despite that, she blindly felt her way up to the metal circle and, just for shits and giggles, tried to turn it like it was a wing nut. Much to Mary’s amazement the circle apparently wasn’t well affixed to its base, that or her tug had loosened it. The metal turned under her pressure, just a little, but it turned. Grasping it more firmly, she tried again, and it snapped off.
Mary was so surprised by her success that she just lay there for a minute, her heart pounding and eyes wide, but then she started trying to figure out what she should do next. She was free and needed to stop the van before it reached this warehouse they’d mentioned. How much time did she have? Mary wondered. And how the hell was she supposed to stop the van?
Her gaze slid to the side door of the van. It was just feet in front of her, and Mary supposed she could probably leap the short distance, slide the door open and leap out before Bert or Ernie could stop her. The only problem was she didn’t know what kind of road they were on. Was it one lane or two lanes? If it was two lanes, she might get run over by a vehicle coming along in the next lane when she tumbled out of the van. Or even a vehicle behind them if it was one lane.
Mary knew she’d probably survive getting run over, but there was the possibility that she might get injured badly enough that she couldn’t warn Dante, Russell and Francis. They would no doubt stop and jump out to rush to her, and then Bert and Ernie would just shoot them with their darts . . . maybe. It depended on how willing they were to abduct them all in public.
Maybe she could stop them without leaping out, Mary thought hopefully, and slowly eased one foot back and up behind her butt, trying to find and poke it through the chain now lying between her hands. All she needed to do was get the chain in front of her rather than behind her and she could use it as a weapon.
Fortunately it was a longish chain. It wasn’t huge or anything, but it was long enough that Mary was able to ease first one foot into it and then the other and then draw the chain slowly forward until it was around her knees, and then in front of her.
Mary kept her gaze on the men in the front as she did it, watching to make sure that the small clinks and clanks of the chains didn’t attract attention. But Ernie, she saw, had his window open and the traffic noises appeared to mask any noise she was making. At least he didn’t glance around, and neither did Bert.
“They’re right behind us now,” Ernie announced grimly.
“Good, we’re almost there. One more block,” Bert said, sounding just as grim, and she heard the vehicle accelerate.
Time’s up, Mary thought.
Sending up a quick prayer, she rolled abruptly onto her hands and knees and then pushed upward with both hands and feet to lunge toward the front of the van. Dante had said that the nanos improved speed, but to her it seemed almost like time slowed. She saw Ernie’s head slowly turning, as if the noise she’d made had drawn his attention, but she was behind the driver’s seat, swinging the chain that dangled between her hands over Bert’s head and down to his throat before Ernie had turned his head halfway around.
“Stop the van,” Mary snapped, tugging the chain tight behind Bert’s neck. When he didn’t obey at once, she snapped, “Now!” then glanced quickly toward Ernie as he began to move, reaching for a dart gun that lay on the dashboard.
“I’ll break his neck!” Mary barked in warning.
Ernie froze, his hand halfway to the gun. Turning back to peer at her, he eyed her briefly with calculation, and then pointed out, “We’d crash.”
Eyes narrowing, Mary said calmly, “I’d survive. Would you?”