Diamonds in the Rough

3.

"Well, this is nice, just you and me spending quality time together in this cute little dungeon."

Neal gritted his teeth, as the knife he was using to cut his bonds nicked his skin, "please stop talking"

Jake huffed, "fine, I don't see what your problem is, everything's going according to the plan."

Neal stopped sawing, "no it's not, we were supposed to be out of here five minutes ago, but this stupid rope simply refuses to get cut."

"Let me see if I can help" Jake said, standing up and walking over to him, "maybe you just need a smarter person."

"How did you get out of yours?"

"Magic"

"That's impossible"

Neal rubbed his wrists once the ropes were off, wincing at the ugly black marks. He stood up "it's go time"

Jake removed the map from his pocket, "okay Kat should be held somewhere here" he said, pointing to a spot, "you go get her and I'll get Charlie"

"How did you manage to keep the map; didn't they search you?"

Jake shrugged, "I bribed a guard"

"What?"

"They don't even get health insurance here dude, my guy wanted to book a flight to Paris, and I offered to bump him up to first class."

Neal shook his head, "I'm not even going to ask, let's go"

They ran out of the dimly lit room, Neal going right and Jake taking the left turn. Neal carefully made his way to where Kat was supposedly being held, noticing the lack of guards throughout the corridors. He made a mental note to factor in the health insurance when he was building his own criminal empire. It was always the little things that made people turn on each other.

He backed up against the wall as Kat's cell came into view. There were three men standing guard and Neal could see the dark-haired girl leaning against the bars of the cell, reading a book. He felt a whiff of annoyance. Three men guarding her and no one watching them? Did they really think that he and Jake weren't competent enough to escape their bonds?

He pushed those thoughts away and focused on the problem at hand. The guards were definitely stronger and bigger than him and the fact that they were three of them made him discard the idea of going in guns blazing, pretty quickly.

Kat looked up suddenly and he ducked behind the wall, abandoning his reconnaissance. He didn't want her accidentally giving him away by gasping or getting nervous.

He was getting the beginnings of a plan in his mind when he heard Kat shout, "Neal? Is that you?"

He froze. What the hell was she thinking?

"Oh, it's alright" she shouted again, as if she had read his mind, "these guys won't hurt you"

He peeked out from behind the wall and saw one of the guards unlocking the door. Kat stepped out, folding the page of the book she had been reading. She smiled at him "I'm ready to go"

He looked at her in confusion, "they're just going to let you go?"

She grinned, "it's amazing what money can buy, did you know..."

"Yeah" he interrupted, "they don't get health insurance."

She nodded, "Can you imagine treating your workers like that, especially for a job like this which is so dangerous?"

He rolled his eyes, "come on, we need to meet up with Jake and Charlie"

Kat waved at the guards, "send me a postcard from Berlin and Switzerland, you guys"

Neal grabbed her hand and ran down the corridor with her. The sooner they got out of this place, the better it would be.

They met Jake and Charlie halfway, Jake hugged his sister, "it's really great to see you"

"Likewise"

"How come I don't get a hug" Charlie complained.

"Because you're the one who got us kidnapped in the first place" Kat said, patting him on the back.

"Don't tell me you're still pissed about that"

"Guys" Neal was starting to realise that he was probably the only one who understood the gravity of the situation, "can we play the blame game after we get out of here?"

Charlie looked up, "someone's coming" he winced, "six seven people at least"

Jake took a deep breath, "we should probably run"

The four of them ran in the opposite direction, with Charlie in the lead.

For a 12-year-old, he's a pretty fast runner, Neal observed.

"You should probably pick up your speed" Jake told him, panting.

"Quit messing with me" Neal shot back, "I know you paid all the guards"

"I didn't bribe all of them Neal, do I look like I'm made of money?"

Neal gave him an incredulous look as they kept running.

"It's a dead end" Kat announced, she looked up at the sunlight streaming through the hole in the cavern, "maybe we could climb out of here"

The footsteps were getting closer, and Neal turned to Jake, "what's our exit strategy?"

"Our what?"

"Oh my god, we're all going to die."

"No, we're not" Charlie chimed in, "the helicopter will be here in less than five seconds."

"The what?" the three of them asked together.

Charlie pointed to the ladder falling through the sunlit hole, "you didn't think I'd let myself get kidnapped without an escape plan, did you?"

Prompt retrieved from Pinterest (thefakeredhead.com)