A Gray Llove

Fire

Claire wrestled in her kidnappers' arms all the way down the hall, screaming for her uncle at the top of her lungs. If Claire didn't know exactly what was going on between Donald and the creepy man called Lloyd, the scary vibes she had gotten from the latter and the fact that he had KIDNAPPED them both were enough to tell her that something very bad was happening. Claire didn't know what she could do to stop it. Screaming didn't seem to help, but it was something. In school, teachers had always gone through what to do if you were approached by a stranger who maybe wanted to kidnap you. You made a fuss, yelled 'FIRE!', kicked them in the balls. Claire had tried all that and was out of ammo. Now she just took her best shot at escaping her captors' hands and tried not to let anyone know exactly how much she wanted to sob as much as scream. She just hoped her stupid pacemaker wouldn't give out again just when she needed it most.

Her back hurt from writhing against the guards' hold on her arms and legs. There were four of them now – used to be just two – and Claire tried to take some pride in that. Of course, they did do a really good job of clamping her in place, and it did hurt, and she did not appreciate that. She kept thrashing and screaming, though, and swore that she would keep doing that until she passed out trying. She wished for Six, the gentle agent who cracked bowls on people's skulls and had been her guardian angel when her pacemaker had failed in Hong Kong, and tried to think of what he would do if he were in her position. She didn't have a bowl, or any sort of weapon. What could she do?

She could keep making as much noise as she could. If that was what she was supposed to do, it had to help, somehow.

When the guards towed her around the corner and she lost sight of her uncle's door, she gave an extra-loud screech, yelling with her entire lungs. She yelled her uncle's name, "DONALD!" and cried without tears for him. As her head started to feel light from yelling, she tried one more thing, old time's sake: "FIRE!"

And, miraculously, someone came to help.

As the guards rounded another corner, holding Claire aloft like a captured animal, the guard closest to the wall abruptly dropped with an "oof!" Claire dipped in the air, her right torso swinging free as she was released. Immediately she swung her arm around and smacked the guard holding her left arm across the ear – another tip from school. The guard stumbled, swearing in surprise at the attack, and suddenly Claire was hanging by her feet between the two remaining guards.

She first saw her rescuer upside-down. For a moment, Claire thought it might be Six, and her heart rose. The person moved the same way – ruthless, neat but messy, efficient, always balanced but ever-moving. Whereas Six had worn a dark gray suit the last time Claire had seen him, this person wore a half-buttoned black cardigan and a pair of flowing white pants. The outfit kind of reminded Claire of something she had seen well-dressed ladies at hotels wearing as they were lounging and luxury shopping. But this woman was blocking punches, swinging wide kicks into the guards with a force that made them topple over in their heavy armor, and doing anything but lounging. Claire noticed something different about her stance in the moments when she wasn't moving – the woman in black and white seemed unable to stand completely straight, like a mongoose tracking a swaying snake. When she finished with the first two guards, she hefted one of their huge clunky guns from the floor and held it with what looked to Claire like familiarity. To the two remaining guards, the woman said expectantly, "Would you like to put the little girl down and get the hell out of here?"

Claire fell about a foot in the air – the guard on either side of her legs had released her at the same time – before the woman interjected, "Gently!" Claire's legs were seized midair, and she reached the floor without having a concussion. As the guards jogged away, back the way they had come, the woman approached Claire. "Are you all right?"