Hearing her captor's outburst, Sandy studied the darkness carefully. She could barely make out a slender person stepping out of the shadow of the trees.
"Guess you missed one." It was Selina's voice.
"Out of curiosity, where would that be?" Nick asked, "It's not like there's many places you could hide one on her."
Sandy was curious too. She only had her shirt and sweatpants on. There was no place to hide an electronic bug on her, unless it was within her body.
"Trade secret," Selina replied.
Up close, Sandy could see by the light of the moon filtering through the treetops that it was indeed her long-haired classmate. Selina wore a sweater and a pair of slacks but somehow she looked different. She appeared more matured by the dim light. Perhaps it was because of the lack of perceivable color or the confident way with which she strode. Then Sandy noted that Selina was not wearing her glasses.
"You're older than you look," Nick mentioned casually, "Is that wisdom teeth I see?"
"You can't have seen it in this light," Selina told him.
"True," Nick agreed, "Actually, it's the fact that you were driving."
"Maybe," Selina said vaguely, "Or maybe someone else was driving."
Nick at once cast a glance at the trees. Then he suddenly turned back and fired at Selina.
Selina at that time was stepping towards him. At the shot, she dodged aside. Then she evaded a second shot.
"You're no ordinary person," Nick noted.
By then, Selina was right in front of him. "You'd better not miss the next shot."
They stood staring at each other. Sandy had no idea what to do as she watched them. Not that she could do much with her hands restrained behind her. Half a minute passed. Then suddenly...
"That empty grenade a while back, one of yours?" Selina asked.
"Yeah," Nick admitted, "Wanted to see who you'd protect."
"Used a launcher of some kind, did you?" Selina guessed, "I don't think you can throw the grenade from a safe distance with enough force to crack the window otherwise."
Nick nodded once. "Sure. Gave me enough distance to..."
Suddenly, Selina dodged aside and struck at the hand holding the gun. Nick pulled that hand away and swung with his free hand.
The two combatants blocked blow after blow from each other. There was a shot that struck the ground. Then Selina knocked the pistol from his hand, in a direction away from Sandy.
Nick pulled out a large knife. Selina shook one of her bracelets into her hand to use as a makeshift brass knuckle. Then the fight continued.
It was more exciting than watching an action movie. If only Sandy had some snack to eat and maybe a blanket to shield her from the cold. Yeah, when she was rich, she could buy those along with a mug of hot chocolate and... That Was Not What She Should Be Thinking When Her Life Was At Risk!
Nick grabbed Selina's long ponytail during one of her backhand spins. To Sandy's surprise, Selina's hair came off, along with the hair clip it was attached to. Was her long brown hair fake?
The fight continued for another minute. Selina grabbed from the ground her long hair that Nick had discarded and used it as a whip. After a few more parries, Selina whipped her hair around Nick's arm, the one with the knife, and pulled it aside. As her opponent struggled to regain the initiative, she lunged forward and struck Nick in the chin with her bracelet.
Nick took a few involuntary steps back, pulling the hair wrapped around his arm with him. Then he disappeared. There were a few distant crashes and shouted oaths.
"Who the hell put a ditch here of all places!?" Nick protested from the bottom of wherever he was.
Selina stepped up to where Nick had disappeared. "Still want to continue?" she asked.
"I'll have to take a rain check on that," Nick replied.
"Do you need me to call anyone?" Selina offered.
Sandy struggled to her feet and started walking towards her classmate.
"No, no, I can manage," Nick declined.
"Any chance I can get my hair back?" Selina asked, "It's one of my favorites."
"Come down and get it if you want it!" Nick told her.
When Sandy reached her, Selina held her back. "He may have another gun or something." Then she asked the man in the hole, "One more question: that old man in Greasy Aunt's, was that you?"
What? The old man who had told Sandy the story about the hidden treasure was the same person who had kidnapped her!? Was the whole thing a trap from the start!?
"Trade secret!" Nick threw back at Selina.
Selina chuckled. "See you around. Not too soon, I hope."
"Yeah, yeah."
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