Finding Tio Guillarmo was harder than imagined. His room had been vacated, and the villa had no forwarding address. Angie knew her uncle had told her he was going to Madrid to talk with Interpol contacts and that he said he would be back this evening but it worried her that he had pulled out of his room. Rollie called Mira back in New York to see what contacts she could come up with and whether Michael could once again assist them. Mira apparently was unable to contact Michael herself and Rollie hung up the phone, chewing his lower lip with a sigh of resignation.

 

"By now, Loubar has got to know that he didn’t succeed in killing us, Rollie," Angie told him, sitting down beside him on the bed, "and I guess, well- we are like sitting ducks here."

 

"Yep, but decoy ducks soon to be," Rollie said with a look of preparation, "come on- we need to get out of this villa and get lost in the dust of Avila. I am going to tell Syd we are out of here and I’m not telling him where."

 

"But, what about Tio Guillarmo?"

 

"I got Mira leaving a message for him in Madrid at Interpol. Don’t worry, that base is covered. We got to get out of here and set-up again someplace that Loubar won’t suspect."

 

"And where’s that?"

 

"He’s likely staying hidden, thinks we have the tracker so it is our advantage now. Get packed- we’re going to Toledo." Rollie was up and pulling his gear together.

 

"Toledo?" Angie repeated, her mother would be in Toledo tomorrow. She took a deep breath and began to pack her things as Rollie went down to find Syd and tell him the news.

 

There was a knock at her door and Angie was surprised to see Doolan standing there, his hat on backwards as he typically wore it and looking tired.

 

"Hey, Angie," he said, peering beyond her, "Rollie here?"

 

"No, he went down to talk with Syd," Angie said, as Doolan noted the packed bags behind her.

 

"Going home, huh?" he said, leaning against the door.

 

"Ah, yep," Angie replied, keeping their plans secret from him as well.

 

"Well, here’s the thing, we got all of your equipment at the set and you know, the stuff from Zeiss and France came in and it looks pretty fragile and I just want to know what you and Rollie want to do with it?"

 

She had completely forgotten about the IXB parts. There was no way she was trusting Syd to take care of them. The parts needed to be babied. While Rollie was downstairs, she decided she would leave him a note to say she had gone over with Doolan to pick up the mirrors and Xenon from the delivery packs at the set. She could take them along to Toledo and start work on the new IXB.

 

Doolan walked her to his rented car and she got in, hugging her knees as she thought of all the events that had happened to her today. It had only been 3 hours since Rollie and her had last made love and she longed to be with him again. She wondered if this feeling would start to slow down as time passed and let out a small laugh as Doolan backed out.

 

"What?" Doolan asked her, in response to her suppressed laughter.

 

"Nothing…I just thought of something amusing," Angie told him as they pulled out of the villa and headed back toward Avila.

 

Angie could see the set lights ahead as Doolan approached. The set looked vacant, no one was around. There was no security guard at the enclosure which was strange and Angie frowned.

 

"Hey, where’s the guard?" she asked Doolan, suspicious suddenly.

 

"He’s in a better place…" responded Doolan or as she acutely realized at that moment, the voice of Victor Loubar under the mask of Doolan.

 

She tried to get out of the car in a quick, frantic escape but Loubar pulled out a stun gun and touched her neck with the electrodes in a swift motion. She went completely paralyzed, unable to control her body, her mind jumbled.

 

Rollie threw the note down that Angie had left him and cursed under his breath. Why had she done something so lame? he asked himself. Bother the equipment, they had to get out of Avila before Loubar came back for more fun and games. He went back down and took Syd’s car into town, to the set. He felt like shaking some sense into Angie for being so careless and at the same time, worried for her safety. He came upon the deserted, unprotected set compound. There was no sight of Doolan or Angie. Maybe he had passed them on the road so he headed back to the villa. Not seeing Doolan’s car, he still proceeded to go to the stunt coordinator’s room. His fears became reality when he found Doolan, bound and gagged in his bathroom tub. Loubar had Angie.

 

Rollie stood in the middle of the villa parking lot. His hatred for Loubar had no bounds now. If he found this man, he would kill him, he knew that. He expected that Loubar would contact him and he looked up at the starry night sky, praying for a miracle.

 

Guillarmo Montgreviejo found Rollie still up at 3:00 A.M. as he arrived back at the villa. Lt. Sanchez had contacted the Madrid office and he returned to Avila in haste. Rollie told him the particulars of Loubar’s moves the previous day and that Angie was now with him.

 

"He has not contacted you yet?"

 

"No, not a word yet," Rollie said, sitting in a chair looking at Angie’s uncle in bitter disgust.

 

"This ion chip you need- let me make some calls. Loubar will contact you, Rollie. He wants to trade, I imagine," Guillarmo told him, seeing the look of worry and anxiousness in the F/X man’s eyes, "Get some sleep. I will stay up. I have had sleep, you look like you haven’t slept for some time."

 

"Actually, I did get some earlier when Angie…" he started to say but reddened as he realized how that sleep had actually occurred, "yeah, maybe I will stretch out a bit, with you watching the door, thanks mate…"

 

Guillarmo nodded and Rollie laid down on the bed where he and Angie had made love only hours before. He grabbed the pillow where her head had rested, taking in a deep breath that her scent had left and bundled it up, sinking his head into it. His loss of her was beyond his rational thoughts as he tried to close his eyes and sleep. He was remembering in the dark, the curves of her body as she had lain beside her earlier. He was remembering her taste, her every move of lovemaking and he remembered her eyes meeting his- the wondrous fulfillment they ultimately shared.

 

The phone rang precisely at 7 A.M. Guillarmo answered with Rollie jumping up with a start from the bed. Guillarmo handed the phone to Rollie and immediately used his cell phone to call in a trace.

 

"Missing that special someone, Tyler?" asked the obnoxious voice of Victor Loubar.

 

"Just cut the crap, what do you want, Loubar?" Rollie said, his voice angry and demanding.

 

"You know what I want," Loubar said in almost a hiss, "I want the tracker and the antidote."

 

"We don’t have a tracker. Never got around to making one," Rollie told him truthfully.

 

"Well, that just does not sound good, Tyler. To let you know, Angie is having some fun right now…"

 

At the mention of her name, Rollie felt his anger soar, "I don’t have it! As far as an antidote, I’m working on that with Interpol."

 

"Good, better hurry though. Angie was a nice little treat but you know how I tire of the meat once it gets spoiled, Rollie. Dani was a lot of fun and mmm, she was quite a treat but she got quite rotten. I’ve had a nice taste of Angie, you’ve seen how I enjoyed that and I plan on a little more dining before I’m through so the faster you work, well…"

 

"You bastard, you bloody bastard!" Rollie said, cursing him as Loubar laughed.

 

"I’ll be in touch…" Loubar ended and there was a click as a cold chill ran down Rollie’s spine. He wasn’t going to give Angie back, that- Rollie knew for sure.

 

Guillarmo looked at Rollie shaking his head. They were only able to get four numbers traced.

 

"He wants the antidote. He knows we don’t have the tracker. Do you have such a thing?" Rollie asked the Cuban who was staring at the burn scar on his hand.

 

"There was some development of a ion interceptor agent being developed but I do not know if was ever finished, Rollie."

 

"We have got to give him something, something that will make him happy so he will keep Angie alive and not harm her…" Rollie said, his voice cracking as he said ‘harm’.

 

Guillarmo was back on the phone calling Interpol. Rollie called Mira to update her. He could tell she was trying not to sound upset but he knew Mira too well now. He knew that Mira and Angie had developed a special bond since Loubar.

 

"I’m coming over there!" Rollie heard Mira exclaim on the phone.

 

"No! It won’t do any good and I wouldn’t want you hurt as well," Rollie told her, knowing that Loubar would try to hurt anyone that Rollie cared about.

 

"I feel useless!" Mira told him, in resignation.

 

"No, you have been my right hand, Mira- God Bless you!" Rollie said, in an uncharacteristic, emotional voice that he tried to control now.

 

"I’ll call you when we get something," Rollie told her then, holding on to his resolve.

 

Guillarmo put his phone down a few minutes after Rollie had hung up. He looked over at the Australian man’s face. This man had loved his brother and cherished his brother’s daughter. He had watched Rollie grow as well during his years of observation while he was in the cold. He felt a resolve in this man’s ability to get his niece back safely. He knew that this man loved her desperately and would risk everything for her return.

 

"Rollie," he said, looking at him with resignation, "we do not have the ion interceptor…Interpol will not deal with him."

*************

Angie welcomed the gag being removed as Loubar gave her something to drink. They were somewhere, a small room, rustic by the looks and she heard nothing outside. She had no idea where she was. Her hands were handcuffed to the headboard railing as were her feet to the footboard railing.

 

Loubar smiled at her, pulling up her shirt to reveal her abdomen. Her eyes widened as she breathed hard and screamed. He laughed, and put his lips to her lower abdomen just below her navel and kissed her there. He then straddled her and leaned down over her, his face within inches of hers as she continued to scream.

 

"Scream all you want, Angie. No one can hear you. But, I think, I will put this gag back in as your screaming is not very conducive to my thinking right now. He gave her a rough kiss as she fought and replaced the gag, bruising her mouth with the force, "Don’t worry, I’m not into bondage. I like my women nice and receptive, you know like I had you purring back in Rollie’s loft."

 

She was incensed and repulsed. This nightmare was never going to end. She prayed that Rollie was up to something and that when the time came, she could kill Loubar herself.