CHAPTER 36

*-*I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to my friend Jade, who brainstormed this chapter with me, and I have to say she's as twisted as I am, so your comments and feedback will be for her!*-*

Even though Elizabeth was hating being kept against her will she did enjoy the small outings she was allowed. She had seen Mann's Chinese Theater and even been able to see a movie in it. She had been spellbound for a few moments by the size and beauty of

it as she had taken her seat. She had almost even been able to forget about the 3 bodyguards her captor had sitting in various areas of the theater. One directly behind her and one near each exit. She wasn't planning on running anyway. She already knew that if she did she would be killed and she would never again see her baby girl. Her beautiful little Lani.

Elizabeth had seen the hotel Lucky was staying at. Not to shabby. Leave it to Lucky to find a way to stay at the ritziest place in town. She had even seen him drive by in a black jeep. He always had wanted a jeep. It looked like it was brand new too. Probably rented.

Today she had been given the option of the Beverly Center for a movie or the Beverly Center for a movie. So to be sarcastic to them as they were to her, she flipped a coin and said fate had decided to go to the Beverly Center. There wasn't very many things her captor allowed her to do. Mostly just go to movies. That kept her confined and didn't give her much room to get away.

As they parked in the Beverly center she noticed a jeep with a jacket slung over the back seat. Lucky's jacket. Now if only she could find some way to get a message to him.

After parking the car her "escorts" took up there positions.

One was to be with her at all times. A firy red head named Mike. The first time she talked to him, he didn't seem much older than she was, even though she found out later he was barely 20. If he wasn't helping to hold her prisoner she might even have considered him a handsome man. He had a cold smile and eyes that told her his brain was always working, but there was something behind these very same eyes that made Elizabeth not afraid of him. She couldn't explain it. It was just a feeling that he wasn't as bad as the others, almost as if he was doing this reluctantly. Of course he did have baby blues that reminded her so much of Lucky. But she wasn't even about to go there.

Another of her guards was to stay at the vehicle to make sure she didn't try to make a run for it. This was Ralph's job. He was an older man, probably in his mid to late fifties with salt and pepper hair. He wasn't very nice. He was a very "by the book" man. Elizabeth suspected that he was ex-military or law enforcement of some kind. He was a very methodical bad guy.

The Third man wasn't a man but a woman. Her name was Nattie. She seemed nice but Elizabeth knew that was all a mask and that she reported everything that Elizabeth did or said to her captor. She was constantly trying to be Elizabeth's friend. Always attempting to buddy up but Elizabeth knew she was just sniffing for information her boss could use again Elizabeth. She had the most fun post of all. She got to sit in the food court and keep an eye on the theater in case through some miracle Elizabeth managed

to get past Mike.

Elizabeth was standing in line at the concession stand. They finally reached the front of the line.

"Can I help you miss?" the teenager behind the counter asked.

"Yes. I'd like a large coke, a bag of popcorn and Twizzlers please," Elizabeth told him.

As he was filling her coke she looked into the display case and noticed some packs of gum. Then she got an idea.

"oh! And a pack of gum please," she said. Mike gave her a funny look.

"All this stuff is going to give me dragon breath. I was only thinking of the people around me."

Mike nodded and the teen added the gum to the stack of goodies. As they went into the theater Elizabeth tucked her ticket stub in her pocket with the others. She had begun collecting them when she went to the movies every Tuesday night. She had been saving them as souvenirs but now they may help save her life.

**********

Nattie was sitting at the food court across from the movie theater. She sat drinking her Bottled water while she waited for the movie to end. She hated this assignment. She was the top of her class in covert operations before she got fired and now she was stuck babysitting. What she wouldn't give for a good shootout right about now. She just wished that little tramp would come running out of the theater so she could stop her. She's stretched and popped her knuckles. She was definitely going to have to hit the gym this evening when she got her break.

She had never had this much trouble befriending an enemy before. But this one just seemed to see right through her advances. She never as able to fool her how hard she tried and that made her furious.

She had tried to buddy up with her again last night. She asked her about Lucky. She wanted to know more about this "love" that she was willing to live in this hell for! What was that girl thinking! No man was worth all this!

*******

As they entered the theater Elizabeth couldn't believe how small it was. After being inside the huge Mann's Chinese Theater it felt strange to walk through the doors and be in a theater that couldn't hold more than maybe fifty people. She took her seat near the middle on the right. Mike took his seat near the back towards the entrance just in case she decided to make a run for it.

As the lights dimmed and the movie began Elizabeth sat back and thought about how she would pull this off. Lucky for her the theater was empty except for she and Mike. She didn't want to look suspicious so she pretended to watch the movie as she ate her popcorn and drank her coke. About half an hour into the show Elizabeth set her popcorn on the floor by her feet, slouched down in her chair and popped a stick of gum

in her mouth. Hoping that Mike couldn't see her she began to chew, one by one, piece after piece. Then once they were nice and gooey she put them on the arm of her chair. Once she had about 8 pieces out she stopped and pulled out her souvenirs. One by one she began sticking a piece of gum on the back of each. Then she placed them on the sides of her chair out of sight. All but the one from today. Just her luck they were playing a rerun of GODZILLA. She took out the stub and carefully tore off all the letters except for ZIL. Now Lucky would know that it was her.

When the movie was over Elizabeth filed out of the theater ahead of Mike. She made sure not to look back at her seat or Mike might become suspicious. She hoped the cleaning crew didn't find her stubs. She tossed her popcorn bag and her drink into the garbage. She also "accidentally" threw the pack of gum away too so that Mike wouldn't notice that she had chewed the entire pack.

"Aw man!," she said as she tossed them in.

"What?," Mike asked her.

"I threw my gum away. Oh well. This piece will just have to do," she told him.

Mike just shook his head. She had been chewing the same piece of gum for almost two hours and yet she was holding onto it...

As they left the Beverly Center Elizabeth walked as close as she could get to the area where Lucky's jeep was. She just hoped he was still here. As they came around the corner she looked to see if the jeep was still there, and it was! She had to stop herself from shouting with glee. She hoped that they didn't know it was his car. They didn't seem to care as she began to walk past it on her way to the car. As she neared the

passenger door she reached into her pocket and pulled out today's torn ticket stub. She pretended to sneeze and as her had came up to her mouth she pressed her gum to the back of the stub. Then she pretended to loose her footing as she sneezed and reached out to balance herself on the car door. She pushed the stub against the inside of the door gluing it to the interior of Lucky's jeep.

Mike caught her left arm as she fell and for a moment she thought she'd been caught. As she fearfully looked up at him she was relieved to see that he wasn't mad or suspicious. He thought she had actually fallen.

"Be more careful, please." he said semi-coldly. Elizabeth blushed playing the part of embarrassment and allowed him to steady her. As she straightened up pain shot through her right ankle and she couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips as she grabbed onto Mike's arm. She had turned her ankle for real attempting to reach the inside of Lucky's car door.

She tried to take a step with Mike's help but she couldn't. Mike caught her in his arms and then seeing that she couldn't even walk with assistance he sighed and picked her up carrying her the rest of the way to the car.

Nattie had already reached the car and was surprised when she turned around to see Mike carrying the tramp. How did she manage that! Jealousy flared but she kept it under control.

"Now what!" Nattie said, not able keep some of the venom out of her voice.

"Don't even ask," Mike replied as he just crawled into the backseat of the car with her still in his arms. Nattie took her post in the front seat of the limousine with Ralph and rolled up the window separating them. The last thing she wanted to hear right now was that tramp's voice or her short temper just might snap.

As they drove away Mike set her on the seat next to him and carefully picked up her foot.

"What are you doing!" Elizabeth cried.

"Just hold still," he said as her felt her ankle to see if anything was broken.

"Does this hurt?" he turned it gently and she cried out. "I guess so," he said placing her foot gently in his lap.

"What are doing?" she asked. She didn't want him touching her but he was being so gentle and it hurt so bad. He gently began to massage her ankle where it was the pain was. At first it just hurt but as he kept massaging it the pained eased somewhat. She sat back and closed her eyes.

Mike continued to rub her ankle wishing that he had a bandage to wrap around it. He was afraid that it would start to swell. Since he didn't he kept rubbing it to keep up the blood flow. Then he heard a soft snore. He looked up and saw that Elizabeth had fallen

asleep. He smiled. She was a feisty one but she just looked so innocent and peaceful at rest.

They arrive back at the building and pulled around to the side entrance. He gently set her ankle on the seat and went around to her side. He opened the door and caught her gently as she was leaning against the door. He picked her up in his arms, careful of her ankle and carried her inside. He took her to her room and gentle

placed her on her bed. He propped her foot up on a pillow and went in search of some ice and an ace bandage.

He came around the corner on his way back to her room and nearly ran into Nattie. She shot him a deadly look and stalked away in the opposite direction. "What's

her problem?" he wondered.

Mike went into Liz's room and gently wrapped her ankle and laid an ice pack on it to keep the swelling down. Then he left gently shutting her door so as not to wake her. He sat in his chair at his post outside her door and just waited.

*********

Lucky and Luke had been at the California Pizza Kitchen all day hoping to find something to help Elizabeth but had no luck. They got back to the jeep around eight o'clock that night and crawled into it. They were beat. As Luke closed his door he saw something was on it. He pulled it off and was about to throw it away when Lucky

grabbed it.

"What are you doing, Cowboy?" Luke asked him.

"I don't know..just don't throw it away yet, okay? There must be a reason why it was stuck there" he looked at it more closely. It was a ticket stub from the theater in the mall. The were showing Godzilla but he's already seen it and wasn't really in the mood for

a movie. But there was something strange about this ticket. It was torn. He turned on the overhead light in the jeep. He looked at the stub.

"I don't believe it. Dad! Look at this and tell me what you see." He handed the stub to Luke.

"ZIL?" Luke asked, confused.

"Think about it Dad." Lucky said, unable to keep the silly grin off his face.

Understanding dawned on Luke's face after he read the ZIL backwards. "We've found her."

"Nope," Lucky said. "She found us."