Hold On

Chapter 14

The next day started the same way like the previous one. Early in the morning, Thomas and Juliet were woken up by the door being opened. Again, the food team arrived - it was Nick with the gun and Tony with breakfast which surprisingly this time didn't comprise of two cheese sandwiches but only two bananas and of course only one bottle of water.

As soon as Thomas saw that, he reacted in a mocking way. "What? No sandwiches today? You've obviously lowered your standards. I'll make them take back one star from you."

Nick chuckled at his words. "That was really good. Have you ever considered changing your profession? Being a comedian would surely suit you better than working as a PI, stalking people and searching for their dirty secrets."

"You're wrong." Juliet suddenly spoke, making Nick look her way. "Being a PI often means helping people in need, people who are desperate because no one else offered them comfort, help and in many cases hope." She said that without even thinking what she was doing. She knew that probably this man wouldn't understand it but that didn't matter at that time.

Nick seemed surprised at her sudden outburst and he eyed her for a long time before he slowly started clapping his hands.

"Bravo! Wow, that was something. I'm really impressed, Juliet, how much you care for your partner here to defend him like this. Good for you. I hope you'll be happy together when all of this ends." The kidnapper said with a smile and then turned to look at Magnum.

"You must surely be proud of such a partner, huh?"

"Yes, I am. She means everything to me." Thomas replied bravely, staring at the man and not minding talking about that since he and Juliet had admitted their feelings.

Then something in the man's face caught Magnum's eye and he pondered for a second. Was it a glimpse of longing and misery he noticed? No, it can't be true. He thought but then he heard Nick's words which surprised him a lot.

"Yeah, you're really a lucky guy... For a moment there, I was that lucky too." He murmured, his eyes became dreamy and for a few seconds his face softened a little.

Silence fell over the room and when Magnum thought the man wouldn't reveal anything else form his past, he suddenly added. "And all my happiness ended just in a split of a second and there was nothing left... no one left." Nick met his eyes. "Don't let anyone take her away from you, Mr. Magnum." He told him probably having no idea how odd it sounded, considering their situation.

Thomas only nodded his head, still quite in a shock. This whole time Juliet was listening to their strange conversation. When she heard her partner talking about her, she felt a wave of pleasant warmth flooding her whole body from head to toes and her cheeks flushed deeply. Then what Nick said shook her to the core. What he went through evidently left some deep scars on his soul. She wondered what happened. Of course, that piece of information didn't excuse any of his actions in the past days, including their violent kidnapping.

Finally, Nick recovered from his memories and shook his head as if he wanted to shake off all those disturbing thoughts.

"Sorry about that. I didn't want to sound so depressing." He apologized. "Enough about me. I don't want to make you blue." He turned to Magnum. "You wanted to know why your breakfast changed - it turned out someone stock up on not enough food supplies."

"Or someone ate too much of them." Magnum butted in making Nick laugh.

"Fortunately, you don't need to worry about that. I've just told Burt to go and do the groceries." Nick said.

As soon as Thomas heard that, a sudden idea struck him. With Burt out of the picture for the time being, there were only two kidnappers left so if he played it right, there was a slight chance that by attacking one of them, he could get a gun. This could be their only occasion. He knew that he couldn't afford to just miss such opportunity. He wasn't thinking about himself, it was Juliet he was so worried about. They still didn't know anything about that mysterious man who had gone to great lengths in order to bring Higgy here and he had no idea what could happen to her when the boss arrived. Judging by everything that had happened so far, it wouldn't be anything pleasant. So he had to do everything he could to avoid that and make sure his partner got home safely... with or without him. Magnum swallowed hard. He was ready to sacrifice his life if that was necessary.