“You idiot! You shouldn’t have let her see you!”

“Calm down, man, it’s not like she’s gonna recognize us.”

“That shouldn’t have happened in the first place!”

Contrary to what the tabloids and rumourmongers insisted, Kira Clearwater did not enjoy being kidnapped. Her abduction the previous year had made all the headlines, and now everywhere the slender, pretty brunette went, her kidnapping was all anyone either knew about her or was interested in talking about, especially with all the salacious gossip that came from being bound, gagged, naked and held prisoner for five days. No, she hadn’t fallen in love with her captor. No, he hadn’t taken advantage of her. No, her father was not making her pay back the ransom money (though no doubt the old miser had considered it). It was an experience she neither looked back fondly on nor wished to repeat, and if the kidnapper was ever found and brought to justice, she’d be first in line to punch the bastard square in the mouth.

Yet in that moment, a small part of her wished it was he taking her prisoner again. Anything to avoid having to listen to the bickering of her current captors.

Anything to get out of this misbegotten clown show of an abduction…

“At least tell me you tied her up, right?”

“Don’t be stupid, of course I did!’

“Well, you’ve screwed up everything else so far, so I had to ask!”

In the car’s trunk, Kira listened to the two kidnappers bicker in the front seats, rolling her grey eyes in disgust. While her first kidnapper had taken great care to drug her without any witnesses to interfere before carrying her away from the nightclub, these clowns had simply grabbed in broad daylight, snatching her away in front of at least a dozen bystanders and hastily binding and gagging before driving off with her stuffed in the trunk of their rundown old car. Ropes crudely bound her wrists and ankles, while a filthy rag stuffed into her mouth served as a gag, a far cry from the professional, inescapable restraints the first kidnapper had employed. Do they honestly think these will hold me? Kira groused inwardly, long fingers already picking away at the knot securing her wrists. At least the first guy seemed to take pride in his work…

“Oh, shit, it’s the cops! Quick, gun it!”

“And tip them off? Don’t be stupid! We stay calm, and everything will be all right!”

“Don’t you call me stupid, you fucking asshole! Barrel past ‘em!”

Behind the gag, Kira couldn’t help but smile. There’d be no long and hopeless imprisonment for her, not with these two clowns to deal with…