CHAPTER 3 - THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR.
ALEXI

"So how much do you think we'll get for him?"

Alexi bit back a groan as he began to slowly surface, his whole body aching, his head throbbing like some-one was playing bass guitar inside it. Even thinking hurt, a dull ache behind his eyeballs, so it was probably a good thing his thoughts were sluggish and incoherent.

"For the Crown Prince of Mashaki? Probably a good deal, although it is a tiny country, and they do have another prince, so they've got a spare I guess."

Christ it was cold, he realised, giving an automatic shiver, and then gave an audible groan as the pain in his body spiked. And then he realised, thoughts slowly catching up, heart pounding as they did. He opened his eyes slowly, grimacing as even the dim lights seared his eyes. He blinked fast to clear his vision and cursed quietly.

He was in a concrete room, dull and grey, lying on the cold floor. He was wearing only his school shirt, tie and trousers, his shoes had been taken, and he'd obviously lost his blazer somewhere, no wonder he was frozen.

There were 2 doors off the room, one shut, the other slightly ajar, and that was where the sound of voice was coming from. If they were worth their salt they'd've had some-one sat in the room with him, he thought derisively, but as they didn't, he took his time to carefully check his situation.

His wrists were still locked together, and from the metallic bite he got when he tugged at them, he was still wearing the handcuffs. His legs were cinched together just above the knee and at the ankle with stiff rope, knotted several times... He thought about yelling, then checked the thought. It would tip them off. The best chance he had right now was to get out while they thought he was unconscious still. He took a deep breath and examined his predicament again.

What would Dimitri do? He found himself thinking, then felt a stab to the heart. He hoped to God that Dimitri was ok... He shook his head with a scowl, clearing his mind. Dimitri would not just lie here moping. He sat up cautiously, sucking a short breath through his teeth in pain as he did, biting back the number of swearwords that came into his head. If he could ever get his hands on Chen...

He placed his hands flat against the floor behind him and began to awkwardly shimmy backwards, pushing up on them, so that he was feeding himself through the loop made by his hands. He sat back down a moment, head spinning as his temple throbbed, fighting the urge to hurl, but his hands in front of his butt now. Pulling his knees towards him, he pushed his arms forwards... he bit his lip as his bound feet landed on his arm, but kept going, pulling his feet behind his hands, then straightening them, arms now in front of him.

A small smile of accomplishment spread over his face, fading as he tugged at the cuffs. He'd been hoping that they were flimsy things, but no, these looked like police issue rigid cuffs...

"Bollocks," he cursed in an undertone.

He took a breath. It was an improvement, he reminded himself. He patted his pockets... but no kidnapper would be an idiot enough to leave him with his phone, and sure enough, his pockets were empty, disappointed, but unsurprised, he surveyed his legs. The knots were mostly on the front of his legs, he noted, and checking the door to make sure no-one was coming, started picking at them. It was awkward with the cuffs and the rope was stiff, snagging on his nails, but he just gritted his teeth and kept going... until the rope above his knees finally gave away.

He gazed speculatively at the rope around his ankles, then at the rope he'd just untied, remembering something... His mother had always been fond of horses, and in the stables, he'd seen the stablehands using an offcut of bailing twine to cut through the bailing twine on a bale of hay... he looked at the rope. It was just on a bigger scale, he told himself, praying that the friction wouldn't just set the rope on fire...

He managed to feed a bit of rope through the bonds, and holding one end of the rope in each hand, began to saw back and forth with it. Even hampered by the cuffs, this was easier than picking at the knots, and after ten minutes hard work, the ropes loosened enough for him to slide his bare feet out. He straightened slowly, hissing with pain, then padded forwards, bare feet quiet on the cold concrete. Well, it looked like he had a choice, the shut door which anything could be behind, or the ajar one with the men behind. Untied he might have stood a chance against one or maybe two men, but like this... he tugged at the cuffs again irritably.

Discretion was the better part of valour, he reminded himself with the ghost of a smile and padded over to the shut door, opening it cautiously. The room beyond smelt of damp, but it was clear. He carefully shut the door behind him and started down the corridor.

Then broke into a run as he heard an explosion of voices from the room he'd just left. His feet skidded on the went floor, as he all but slid around the corner, barrelling straight into a door at the end. A locked door. Shit. So close. He took a deep breath and stepped back, then lashed out with all his might. His bare foot hit the door and the whole thing shuddered, cracking audibly. He glanced over his shoulder, then kicked again, foot screaming in pain. The door crashed open to reveal a flight of steps leading up towards sunlight. He started running, taking the steps 3 at a time. He could hear his captors close behind now, swearing and crashing around, but he was almost there... he burst into a back alley, almost colliding with an overflowing bin, then started sprinting again, but the footsteps were close behind him.

If he could just make it to the street, shout for help... But the steps were close...

And then he was flattened to the floor, hands trapped uselessly underneath him as the man that had just squashed him flat with a rugby tackle panted for breath on top of him. Alexi desperately sucked in a breath, opening his mouth to scream when the man caught him by the bottom of the jaw, holding his mouth shut while he adjusted himself on Alexi, sitting on top of him, pinning him firmly to the floor. Alexi writhed underneath him, flailing with his feet only to feel a loop of rope slip over his right ankle, tightened brutally so the hemp bit deep into his skin, then be knotted off, and another loop closed over his left. He pedalled his feet desperately, but found that he couldn't move his ankles more than 15 centimetres apart.

He jerked his head away desperately, but the man held tight, keeping his mouth shut.

"Oh no you don't you little shit..." A voice said conversationally from above him. "Roach, get his mouth will you?"

"With pleasure," A voice stated coldly, and there was the scream of duct-tape as it was ripped from the spool.

The man on top of him loosened his grip slightly and Alexi opened his mouth to scream, then choked, as a large ball of cloth was shoved into his mouth, forcing his jaws apart. Before he could spit it out, a length of duct tape was stuck firmly in place, followed by another to form an X over his mouth. The ski-masked man gave an evil smile, wrenching more tape from the spool and wrapping it around the whole of his head, only just missing his hair.

Alexi tried to scream through the gag, but it only came out as a muffled whimper. The man's grin stretched and he slapped Alexi hard across his face, making his cheek sear with pain.

"That's for kicking me in the nose you bastard," He breathed, following it with another slap to the other cheek. "That's just because I felt like it."

Robbed of his voice, Alexi used the one weapon available to him, his furious dark blue eyes. If looks could kill, this one would have had the man 6 feet under. The man laughed.

"You done?" The man ontop of Alexi demanded.

"Yeah."

"Good, lend me your belt will you?"

There was an incredulous silence from the man and Alexi went suddenly still, panicking slightly. The man shrugged and unbuckled the thick leather belt from his waist as the other yanked Alexi to his feet by the hair, yelling through the gag in agony.

"God this one's verbal," The man behind him remarked, grabbing Alexi by the upper arm as he tried to stomp on his foot and cuffing him over the back of the head. "None of that."

The man, Roach, passed over his belt and the second man took it, wrapping it around Alexi's chest and arm, buckling it so tight Alexi could almost feel his ribs creak, pinioning his arms to his sides, the buckle digging into the small of his back, so far away that Alexi could never reach it. He struggled, trying to shuck the leather, but it was hopeless, and stars danced in front of his eyes. The man caught him as he nearly passed out again.

"You said that he'd never make it out," He accused Roach.

"That door was locked. And I was certain he'd still be out for another half an hour, you know how hard that psycho Chinese lady can kick..." Roach protested, then grabbed Alexi by his tie, yanking it tight against his neck. "Walk!"

Alexi shot him another glare and started to shuffle forwards. There was just enough slack in the rope for him to take baby steps forwards, but moving at any great speed would be impossible. He felt tears of frustration well in his eyes, but he shook them away. He'd gotten so close. Now they'd guard him even tighter. He cursed as he stumbled, nearly falling down the stairs back into the basement.

"Can I kick him?" Roach asked casually. "Please Jones, can I just kick him?"

Alexi froze, terrified. If Roach kicked him right now he'd fall down the stairs... He looked up at the other man, Jones, a mix of terror and pleading in his dark blue eyes, and shuddered as Jones laughed.

"No Roach, you can't. We can't risk you breaking his neck or the psycho Chinese lady will break our necks," Jones said after a long pause of consideration.

So Chen was running the show? Alexi felt another stab to the heart. He'd never liked Chen, and she'd always been assigned to his brother rather than him, apart from today, because Lucas had gone missing, Alexi's tertiary bodyguard. That had just seemed a co-incidence before. Now it seemed ominous...

Alexi felt the jerk at his neck as Roach wrenched the tie again, and wobbled. He managed to regain his balance, taking a deep breath, then with slow care, he pattered down the stairs, his heart sinking with each step. He cast a glance backwards desperately, but the alley was being lost already, and the basement door yawned wide, like the maw of a beast preparing to eat him alive.