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  Chang stared at Ell’s wrist, realized her hand was free and started scrabbling his hand inside his coat for a gun. Ell, feeling like she had all the time in the world, stepped fully back from the closet and then toward him, the hanger bar already whistling from down low, in an arc up toward his hands. As the gun cleared his lapel, the hanger bar struck Chang’s hand, traveling upward so that it drove the muzzle up, ripping the weapon out of his hand and flinging it against the ceiling. As the gun fell from the ceiling, Ell stepped over to catch it, then back to Chang who was beginning to crouch and cradle his fractured hand. Speaking slowly so he would understand her she said, “Sorry, but I did remind you that I was dangerous.”

  She pulled his AI headband off his head and jerked the cable out of the belt pack. She examined his gun, a Smith and Wesson, found the safety, worked the slide to chamber a round and put the gun in her waistband. Then she stepped into the bathroom, tossed Chang’s AI headband into the toilet and grabbed the hair dryer. She jerked the cord loose from its handle, noting with satisfaction that it came out with bare wire exposed. Ell put the plug back in the wall and touched one of the wires to the spigot, saw a heavy spark and then unplugged it. She took the cord into the entryway hall where she hung one of the bare wire coat hangers over the door knob, twisted the bare wire from the hair dryer cord onto the coat hanger and plugged it in the hall outlet which she had noted was not GFI protected. Just as she stepped away she saw the knob jiggle then heard a loud thump as whoever had grasped the knob was shocked off his feet.

  Chang, still holding his injured right hand in his left stood back up, determined to do something to stop this madwoman. She moved unbelievably fast, he thought, she stepped into the bathroom where I heard that clatter, then that deep electric buzz which made the lights flicker, then she was back out in the hall doing something with a wire and a coat hanger. She purposefully strode his way and he reached out toward her but she grabbed the wooden hanger bar and swung it hard so that it slammed into his shin. As he fell she said, “Sorry, can’t have you following me.”

  Ell started toward the window, intending to use rock climbing techniques to climb down the “chimney” between her building and the next but stopped as someone kicked the door hard. Her “door knob shocker” wouldn’t keep them from kicking the door in. She turned back, pivoted the monitor screen on the dresser toward the door and then stepped over to stand against the wall between the room and the bathroom. Sure enough, she could see the door faintly reflected in the monitor. More crashes came from the door and then it broke open. A young Asian man came warily in, followed by Mr. Chin, both of them holding pistols. Ell could faintly see someone lying in the hallway outside, she hoped the shock hadn’t killed him. The first man’s pistol passed the corner and she struck him on the wrists with the hanger bar. Then she stepped around the corner, knocked Chin’s pistol aside and punched him in the solar plexus with the wooden rod.

  Chin doubled over gasping. She took his pistol out of his hand and turned back to the first man. He backed warily away from her, cradling his broken wrists one in another. “Where’s my AI?” she asked. The man just shook his head at her. “Where’s my AI?” she said, trying to sound threatening and raising the hanger rod. His eyes widened but he just shook his head some more.

  Chang gritted out, “He doesn’t speak much English. Your AI’s probably in the next room.”

  “Tell him I’m going to pat him down.”

  Chang said something that sounded like Chinese to Ell. She stepped over and patted the man down and went through his pockets. She found a plastic room key, a bundle of cable ties, two clips of ammunition for his gun and nothing else.

  She looked at the three men, none looked threatening at the moment but Chin was gasping for breath and should recover in a moment. The man in the hall moaned and rolled over, apparently still alive. She allowed herself to come down out of the zone. She took off her rumpled suit coat, then collected their AIs and guns, stacking them on her jacket. Then she bent over Chin, using three cable ties to bind his wrists together and three more to bind his ankles. She went through his pockets which were empty. She dragged the guy in from the hall, checked his pockets and bound him, then the other two. Guns, ammunition and room keys were all she found on them.

  She turned back to their stacked weapons. They were all 9mm Smith and Wessons. She quickly familiarized herself with them, ejecting the clips, racking the slides and then tossing all the ammunition in the toilet except the clip in the gun in her waistband. She carried her jacket with the AIs and guns out into the hall and tried the men’s room keys, finding that they opened the room across the hall and the one next door. Searching the first room she found her AI in a drawer, booted it, put it on, and then began searching the men’s luggage. She only found wallets and IDs for four men, Chin, Chang, Wong and Lau, hopefully suggesting that there weren’t more of their team about to show up.

  Allan chimed in her earpiece and said, “Ready. You have messages.”

  Ell said, “Please contact Chief Bowers of the Dallas police.”

  Ell resumed her search. There was clothing and more ammunition but little else to explain their mission or what they had intended to do with Ell.

  Chief Bowers’ voice sounded in her ear, “Ell? Where are you?” He sounded wide awake despite the late hour.

  “Sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night Chief, but I’m wanting to take you up on your offer of help ‘if I ever needed it.’”

  “You aren’t waking me up. We’ve been trying to find you! What’s happened?” He sounded apprehensive.

  “I’ve been visiting MIT and some men who appear to be Chinese nationals drugged me and tried to kidnap me. Apparently, they intended to have me do some quantum physics work for them. I just escaped a few minutes ago.”

  “My God! That’s kind of what the last feed from your AI looked like before it went dead. We couldn’t figure out why the Chinese would be kidnapping you. We were all thinking that they might be working for your Arab terrorist friends. Are you safe with the Cambridge police?”

  “Well… That’s what I’m calling about. I haven’t contacted the police yet and I’m hoping you’ll run interference with them for me so this doesn’t get overblown in the news?”

  “Haven’t contacted them!? Are you in a safe location?”

  “Well… All four of my attackers are disabled and cuffed. I’m staying with them so far. Shouldn’t I stay with them, at least until the police arrive?”

  The chief choked out a laugh. “I guess I forgot who I was talking to. I don’t know what they were thinking, taking on Ell Donsaii without an army. I’ve had my AI start re-contacting the Boston-Cambridge area police so I can brief them on your situation, but first describe it to me in more detail.”

  Ell told him what she knew. Allan, Ell’s AI, confirmed that she’d been in their hands for about six hours but Allan’s GPS said Ell was now about 120 miles from Boston, in Hartford Connecticut, at the Berford Arms Hotel. The chief took Ell’s room number and said he’d get back to her after reaching the police in Hartford.

  Ell continued her search of the rooms without finding anything else of significance. While she searched she listened to a series of more and more frantic messages from her mother, then Phil, then Chief Bowers, then the Cambridge police. Listening to the messages she was touched that so many people cared about her. To Ell’s amazement Phil’s last message said he was currently waiting at the RDU airport in Raleigh for the next plane to Boston! Ell said, “Allan, call Mom.”

  Kristen’s voice came on breathlessly, “Ell! Are you OK? Chief Bowers said you were kidnapped!”

  “I’m OK now. They drugged me but I escaped. The police should be here soon. Don’t worry too much and try to get some sleep, I’ll try to catch my scheduled plane back to RDU in the morning.”

  “You escaped? Are they still looking for you?”

  “No, they’re in cuffs. I’m keeping an eye on them until the police arrive to take custody.�
�� Ell talked to her mom a little longer and hung up when Kristen seemed calm.

  Then she said, “Allan, call Phil.”

  Phil sounded sleepy when he said, “Ell?”

  “Hey, I’m OK. I escaped. Thanks for helping my mom last night.”

  “You escaped? Damn!”

  Ell snorted, “What, you wanted me in captivity?”

  “No! But I was looking forward to rescuing you for a change. You can’t imagine how embarrassing it is for a big guy like me to have been saved twice by l’il ol’ you.”

  “Well boyo, I guess you’re just gonna have to wait a while longer to rescue me. Hey, Mom told me you’re at the airport in Raleigh waiting to fly up to Boston, but I’m going to fly back down there in the morning. Maybe I can buy you lunch for your trouble?” Ell’s heart leapt into her throat. It felt like she’d just asked him on a date or something. She really liked the big lunk and would love to go out with him, but worried the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. She steeled her heart against rejection.

  To Ell’s relief Phil enthusiastically said, “Great! It’s a date! Just let me know when your plane is arriving.”

  The police arrived so Ell had to hang up, the words, “It’s a date,” still rolling happily around in her head.

  The Hartford police took custody of “Chin, Chang, Wong and Lau”. After interrogating Ell’s and Chang’s AIs they took a statement corroborating the record on the AIs from Ell and released her. When they learned that she was scheduled for a Boston to Raleigh flight in the morning they assigned one of their young officers to deliver her back to Logan Airport.

  As Ell was about to leave the senior officer stopped her. “Ms. Donsaii?”

  “Yes sir?”

  “We’ve been interrogating Chin’s AI and its records showed them arranging a charter flight leaving Newark’s Liberty Airport tomorrow afternoon. These guys were very serious about taking you somewhere far out of our jurisdiction. I urge you to be very, very careful.”

  Heart sinking Ell said, “Yes sir.”

  Sitting in the police cruiser on the way back to Boston, Ell had time to think about the implications of what had just happened. These people wanted her, and they had tremendous resources. Somehow, she didn’t think that their failure this time would scare them off. Ell got depressed thinking about them attacking again and again. How would she protect herself from eventual capture by a group that had these kinds of assets? Sure, she’d been able to get away this time, but next time they might just keep her drugged until they had her on foreign soil. She sighed.

  The young officer in the driver’s seat said, “Hey, what’s got you so down? That was amazing, you getting away from those guys back there.”

  “Just have a feeling that someone else will try the same thing and I might not get away next time.”

  “Hmmpf, you should get into witness protection or something. If they didn’t know who or where you were, they wouldn’t be able to track you down.”

  “Really? Do you think I could?”

  “Well, I have an aunt down in North Carolina who could help you with the disguise part. The real problem will be getting permission to legally use another name, that can be quite a hassle. But you know some big names in the police hierarchy, I’ll bet they could make it happen for you.”

  As Ell was pondering this Allan said, “Call from Chief Bowers.”

  “Answer.”

  “Ell?” She heard the chief say.

  “Yes?”

  “I understand you’re in transit back to the airport in Boston to catch your flight?”

  “Yes, they were kind enough to send me back in a police cruiser. Probably because of your influence. Thanks so much! I really appreciate it.”

  “Well the Hartford police also told me disturbing things about the group that kidnapped you. They were obviously planning to take you out of the country in the morning and it would have been hell trying to find you after that! They obviously had extensive assets available to them, possibly even national resources from the PRC!”

  “If you’re trying to make me even more depressed, Chief, you’ve been quite successful. Do you have any ideas what I can do to keep them from succeeding next time?”

  “Next time? These guys are going up the river. There won’t be a next time... Oh… you figure that whoever sent them has the resources to send an even better team after this one failed?”

  “Yeah. Do you think that they will have learned their lesson? Or that we can track down whoever sent them and dissuade them?”

  “Hmm, You may be right. We might be able to find out who sent them but we might not and even if we do we might not be able to bring effective influence to bear. Maybe if the President got involved?”

  “I don’t want to start asking the President for favors! Officer Galway, who’s taking me back to Boston, suggested that I should get into witness protection. Do you think that’s possible? I’d kinda like not being recognized and pestered for autographs all the time anyway.”

  “I’m not sure; you’re not a witness after all. I’ll check with our folks who do that kind of thing in the morning when they’re awake. I’ll let you get back to trying to get some sleep on your ride to Boston. But you be careful until we work something out! I’d try to get you assigned some police protection,” he snorted, “but I’d be afraid you’d wind up protecting them.”

  Galway also suggested that Ell try to get some sleep but she’d already had four hours of sleep, plenty for her. She reclined the seat and pretended to sleep while pondering her quantum theory again. Thinking about quantum theory usually calmed her, but her thoughts kept wandering off onto what would happen when she saw Phil tomorrow. Would he actually show up?

  Chapter Three

  As her plane was leaving Boston, Ell sent Phil a message that she was on her way. Then she fidgeted and worried the entire flight about whether he would actually be there. Was lunch with an old friend all he was interested in? He’d been cool and standoffish for so long after they originally got started on the wrong foot, three years ago now. He’d really thawed this last year but at the Academy the rules forbade them from considering each other as boyfriend or girlfriend material. Now that I’m out, might he be interested? Am I just infatuated with his amazing physical condition? Is he still afraid of me? Right after the terrorist stuff at the Olympics he said he’d be happy to be my boyfriend—did he mean it. If so, does that still apply?

  When she got down to baggage claim, Phil was standing there, all big and blond and Norse God looking. Damn, the man looked as good as ever! A grin split his face and he stepped over and wrapped her in his arms.

  So much for whether he’d be friendly.

  He squeezed and she squeaked, then he held her out at arm’s length, “Hey! You look good. I spent some serious time wondering if I’d ever see you again.”

  Ell grinned crookedly up at him for a moment, then with a serious look she said, “Hey, thanks for looking out for me. I know my mother really appreciated your help.”

  “Well, I didn’t do much. But I’m hungry, so I’m willing to have you buy me lunch for whatever I did do.”

  “Much more importantly than what you did, I appreciate what you were willing to do. I can’t believe you were ready to fly up to Boston and look for me!”

  “Hah! You’re my classmate! Of course I’d do whatever I could to pull your ass out of the fire…” he looked down, “Well, I guess you aren’t actually my classmate anymore…”

  In a small voice Ell said, “Can I be your friend instead?”

  “Always! Well,” he mused, “except for when I’m remembering that you’re the only one to ever really kick my ass in a fight…”

  Ell punched him in the arm, “Someday you’re going to have to forgive me for that. I was scared.”

  Phil looked down at the floor and scuffed a toe, “Jus’ not right, fifteen year old girl beatin’ up a full grown man… Jus’ not right.”

  Ell punched him again, then grabbed her duffle and they head
ed off to lunch. There they talked about her kidnapping and escape and whether the Chinese would have another crack at capturing her? Ell kept hoping that the conversation would stray back toward their relationship but Phil focused entirely on her situation and what they could do about it. He thought witness protection was a great idea but that it was sad that she might have to stoop to disguising herself.

  Long after they’d finished their hamburgers and had been asked repeatedly and eventually, pointedly, by the waitress if they “needed anything else?” they finally got up and left. Ell left a painfully big tip when she paid for their lunch. Phil walked her to Ell’s mom’s car which had driven up to get her and for a moment she thought he might give her another hug or even, maybe, a kiss? But, he just shook her hand and slapped the car as it left.

  As Ell’s car rolled away, Phil shook his head. Why didn’t I at least give her another hug? Damn it, I like that girl! I couldn’t be afraid of her could I? Although, he thought, just about anybody with any sense would be afraid of her.

  Ell huddled down in the seat of the car and swallowed around the lump in her throat. It was great to see Phil. Why am I so sad?

  After a few minutes on the road Ell’s AI said in her earpiece, “Dr. Smythe from MIT is calling.”

  Ell’s voice croaked a little, “Yes?”

  “Ell, we were very impressed yesterday and we’d like to offer you a position as a graduate student in our program. Are you OK? Your voice sounds kind of ragged.”

  Ell cleared her throat. “Uh, yes sir. I’m fine.” She pondered a moment about whether to tell Smythe what had happened, then decided honesty was best. “It’s been a little stressful. I was kidnapped last night by a group that apparently wanted me to work on my quantum theories for them.”

  “What! My God! I assume that you were rescued or I wouldn’t be talking to you, but where were they going to take you?”