With that done, she rolled over, quickly pulled her hands over her feet and could stand up with her hands tied in front now. Her sister’s eyes widened, and she stared at her in shock. Rosalina shrugged. “Not sure it helps much,” she said, “because I’m still tied up.” Rosalina hopped over and untied the gag on her sister’s mouth. “Don’t suppose you have anything sharp enough to cut these, do you?” And she pointed at the ties on her feet.
“No,” Melinda gasped.
When Rosalina studied her tied feet further, she realized, without the chair leg involved, the ties had loosened just enough so that she could shift one of the loops of the zip ties, and, just like that, one foot at a time, she was free. With her feet free, she went to work on her hands, trying a similar method. It wasn’t as easy, but she walked around, checked on her sister, and could untie her because she was tied with ropes. With that done, they got Melinda’s legs free. Still Rosalina’s hands weren’t free, but her sister was completely free.
“Oh, my God,” Melinda said. “Where did you learn to do that?”
Rosalina stopped, looked back at the chair, and shrugged. “You know how I always loved puzzles.”
“Those are hardly puzzles,” she snapped.
“No,” Rosalina said, “but, in this case, their solution was exactly what we needed.” She went back to chewing the heavy plastic on her wrists. It didn’t take long before it snapped. With their hands and feet free, she looked at the door. “So, what next?”
Immediately Melinda raced to the door. “We have to get out of here.”
“Oh, I agree,” she said. She picked up a chair and studying it for a moment, untwisted one of the legs until it came off.
Her sister looked at her. “What are you doing?”
“We need weapons,” she said. Handing the first chair leg to her sister, she then unscrewed two more. “Now let’s go,” she said, and her sister reached for the door.
Chapter 2
The moment the unlocked door opened, Rosalina expected to face a guard or to be charged by somebody racing toward them. But, as they peered around the door, they saw nothing but a nasty dark-gray hallway, as if they were in the basement of some large building. Several ducts and HVAC system components lined the ceiling above them. She also saw several more doors. They slipped out, and she walked to the door beside them and opened it, only to find it was an empty room. They quickly checked all the other doors down this hallway, looking for their parents, but found no sign of anyone.
Each sister armed only with what they had, a chair leg and two, they headed toward the Exit sign.
“This looks like a big hotel,” Melinda said.
“It might be,” Rosalina said. “I don’t really care. I just want to get out of here.”
“You want out of here?” Melinda said. “My children and fiancé are back at the hotel.”
“For all we know,” Rosalina said, “we could be in the same damn hotel.”
They pushed on the Exit door, surprised that it allowed them to get out. One of those lever-operating systems, where you push it in, and the door unlocked and let them out. They raced up the stairs. On every floor they kept looking for another way out.
The next level was obviously a much lighter atmosphere. “It looks like we were three floors down from ground level,” Rosalina said. She headed out into an underground parking lot. Quickly they slipped through and were in the area where the vehicles were parked. Immediately they hid between two vehicles.
“How is it that we got out so fast?” her sister asked.
“I suspect they wanted Dad and Mom instead,” she said, “but, because we were all together, they took us all.”
Melinda stared at her in shock.
“The good news,” Rosalina said, “is that we can get you back to Steve and the kids.”
“We need a phone,” she said. “How do we know we’re even safe here?”
“We’re not,” Rosalina said. “Come on. Let’s go this way.” She led them around the vehicles and up to the car park exit, where nobody was in the little booth at the side. It was all automated. She ducked under the gate, and, just like that, they were out on the busy street. Looking around, she said, “Well, it looks like we might still be in Honolulu.”
“How can you tell?” Melinda asked, gasping beside her.
“I can’t really,” she said, “but it’s one very busy town center at least.” She turned to look around and saw a couple businessmen walking toward her. She stepped out smartly in front of them and said, “Excuse me, we have an emergency. Could we possibly borrow your phone?”
One of the men immediately handed his to her. “What kind of emergency?” he asked, looking puzzled.
She pointed at her sister. “We were kidnapped.” But she was already dialing. She tried the police emergency number first. But it was busy. “We need to get through to 9-1-1,” she said.
“Maybe,” her sister said, “but let me try Steve.” She immediately dialed Steve. As soon as his voice came on, she cried out, “Steve! I’m here!” She looked at the businessman. “Do you know what corner or what street we’re on?” They quickly gave her the street location.
Rosalina looked at him. “I hate to ask, but are we still in Honolulu?”
Bemused, both men nodded.
Once Melinda made arrangements with Steve for a pickup, she returned the phone to the men.
When she didn’t stop to thank them, Rosalina added, “Thank you. Really. Thank you, so much.”
The men just shrugged and said, “Sorry this happened to you,” they said. “Is there anything else we can do?”
“I’d like to make one more phone call, if you don’t mind,” Rosalina said. “Our parents were kidnapped with us, and I’m wondering where they are.”
He handed her the phone immediately. She dialed her father’s number, and it rang and rang, then went to voicemail. “Dad—” she said, and then she stopped. She hit End, terminating the call. “I don’t want to let the kidnappers know we’re free,” she said, looking back at her sister. Her sister had her arms wrapped around her slim frame and nodded. “Not until we’re safe,” Rosalina said. “You know they’ll come after us.”
One of the men spoke. “Maybe. Can you identify the kidnappers?”
Both women shook their heads. “We were taken off the street while walking home from dinner,” Rosalina said. “We didn’t see much.” The two men stayed with them until a black SUV careened around the corner.
Before it even stopped completely, Steve jumped out and raced toward Melinda, picking her up and holding her tight. She was crying and talking and threw her arms around his neck.
The two businessmen just watched.
Another man hopped out the back of the SUV and joined them, his gaze direct and with a clear sense of purpose. He reached out a hand. “I’m Gavin,” he said. “I’m here to recover your parents.”
“I hope you mean that in the best of ways,” Rosalina said, staring at him. She gripped his hand. “Neither of them are in the best of health.”