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The pier is a half hour from my house, in the town of Water Cove, twenty miles south of Mayfair I arm myself before I leave the house: a snub-nosed forty-five in the pocket of ht boot; a razor-sharp knife strapped inside et a hundred yards aith a flick ofhow dangerous I a a small army to contend with me

I leave immediately I want to arrive before Slim does And I do The pier is deserted as I cruise by in my black Ferrari I park two blocks down fro is alert I can hear the bolt of a rifle being pulled back from over a mile away Slim would have to coht, and that is a possibility I consider But all is calm, all is quiet I walk briskly toward the end of the pier I have chosen theplace for two reasons Slim will only be able to approach me fro odds, then I should be able to escape by diving into the water I can swi to surface My confidence is high And why shouldn&039;t it be? In five thousand years I have never ree white limousine pulls up to the entrance to the pier A man and a woman climb out of the back The man wears a black leather coat, a dark tie, a white shirt, smart black trousers He is approximately forty-five and has the look of a hardened Navy Seal or CIA agent: the short crew cut, the bulging reen even from two hundred yards away His face is tan, deeply lined froun in his coat, possibly two

The woer, an attractive brunette She is dressed entirely in black Her coat is bulky, as are her hidden guns She has at least one fully automatic weapon on her Her skin is creas are long, her muscles toned She may be an expert in karate or some such discipline Her oing to do it right Her proreat

Yet it is clear the ht and thin lipped, irl&039;s frown This is Slim, I know

Four blocks down the street I can hear another li I cannot see the second car--it is hidden behind a building--but I aines The cars could hold ht be twenty to one againstI consider escaping over the side of the pier But I hesitate because I am a predator first and foreh Who are these characters and what do they ith me? Yet if they reach for their weapons, I will juone in the flick of an eye It is clear tobutthirty yards from me The man approaches to within ten yards but comes no closer They do not reach for their weapons but they keep their hands ready Down the street I hear three people get out of the second limousine They spread out in three different directions They carry weapons: I hear the metal brush their clothes They take up positions--I am finally able to see them out of the corner of my eye--one behind a car; another next to a tree; the last crouched behind a sign Simultaneously three people inside the lih-powered rifles at hts of six sets of cross hairs

My fear is still ure I can take a bullet or two and still escape over the side As long as they don&039;t get me directly in the head or heart Still, I do not want to run I want to talk to Slim He is the first to speak

"You reed to come alone"

"I wanted to come alone But my associates didn&039;t think it would be wise"

"Your associates are all about Why so irl?"

"Your reputation precedes you, Alisa"

"What reputation is that?"

He shrugs "That you are a resourceful young wo, I think He is almost embarrassed by the precautions that have been taken to abduct me He has been told to take them--ordered He doesn&039;t know that I am a vampire, and if he doesn&039;t know, then probably no one with him knows since he is clearly in coe But the person above him knows I must meet this person, I decide

"What do you want?" I ask

"Just that you come with us for a little ride"

"To where?"

"To a place not far fro distance if I get in his limousine "Who sent you?"

"You will meet him if you come with me"

Him "What is his name?"

"I&039;m afraid I&039;m not at liberty to discuss that at this tihs "That would not be good In fact, it would be very bad"

They will shoot ood to know

"Did you know Detective Michael Riley?" I ask

"Yes I worked with him I assume you met him?"

"Yes"

"How is he?"

I smile, my eyes cold "I don&039;t know"

"I&039;estures with his hand "Please co at any moment I&039;m sure neither of us wants to complicate matters"

"If I do come with you, do I have your word I will not be harht "You have my word, Alisa"

Another lie This htly on hts They move as I

move I estiet over the pier rail I don&039;t like being shot, although I have a few ti, I decide, for the moment

"Very well, Mr Slim," I say "I will coht, the woman on my left As we are almost at the entrance to the pier, the li up the men it deposited, it drives until it is parked behind the first limousine Four men jump out Their clothes are all similar--black sweatsuits They point automatic weapons at me My fear escalates Their precautions are extraordinary If they decide to open fire noill die I think of Krishna, I don&039;t knohy But he did tell race if I listened to him And in my oay I have not disobeyed him Slim turns in my direction

"Alisa," he says "I would like it if you would slowly reach in your coat and reround"

I do as he asks

"Thank you," Slim says "Do you have any other weapons on you?"

"You will have to search me to find out"

"I prefer not to search you I&039; you if you have any other weapons, and that you surrender thehly trained I have to go on the offensive, I think, quickly I stare at Slilance away but is unable to I speak softly, knowing he hears my words as if they hispered between his ears

"You do not have to be afraid of me, Mr Slim," I say "It does not matter what you have been told Your fear is unnecessary I aestion deep in his psyche, pushing buttons he already feels But the woman takes a sudden step forward She speaks "Don&039;t listen to her Reestures to the woman "Search her," he orders

I stand perfectly still while the woman works her way down intopistol and knife I consider grabbing her and holding her as a hostage But a study of the eyes of the et to me, and lose no sleep over the act The woman disarms me and ju from me All of them, without exception, are confused about why I have to be treated with such caution Yet all of them are determined to follow orders Slim reold colored, and don&039;t smell like steel--probably some special alloy They are three times thicker than normal cuffs Slim tosses them toward me and they land at my feet

"Alisa," he says patiently "I would like you to put one pair of these around your wrists, the other pair around your ankles"

"Why?" Noant to stall for time Maybe a police officer will come by Of course, these people would just kill the officer

"We have a long drive ahead of us, and ant you safely tucked away before we allow you in our car," Slio?"

"Put on the cuffs"

"All right" I put the once ether so that they lock," Slio?"

Slim removes a black eye mask from his pocket, similar to the kind people wear to bed He steps toward me "I want you to put this on," he says

I hold out my cuffed hands "You&039;ll have to put it on me"

He takes another step toward h to put it on"

I catch his eye again; it may be my last chance "You do not have to be so afraid of me, Slim Your fear is ridiculous"

He hurries toward ht, Alisa," he says

He grabs my arm and pulls hway All is dark, but I still have my sense of direction All my senses with the exception of ht, the woman on my left Four burly men sit across from us; two up front I count the breaths The second limousine follows a hundred yards behind They picked up their three marksmen before we hit the road

There are no incidental smells in the limousine The car is new There is no food in the limousine, but there is drink in the bar: sodas, juice, water There is a faint suns in the vehicle has recently been fired Everybody has his gun out, in his hands or resting in his lap Only the woman keeps hers aio by The breathing of the people around , except for the woman They think the difficult part is over Careful, I test the strength of the cuffs The metal is incredibly hard I will not be able to break it But that doesn&039;t et around I can hop, even bound, far rab one of the automatic weapons from the lap of one of the men across from me and shoot and kill most of the people in the liain, the woht put a bullet inunder strict instructions The pattern in the abduction is clear If they see , they will open fire without hesitation Everyone in the first limousine will die, and I will be one of them This is why there are two cars, not one

I o by Then I speak

"Slio to the bathroom"

"I&039;o bad I drank an entire bottle of Coke before "

"I&039;ll pee all over the seat You&039;ll have to sit in it"

"Pee if you must"

"I will do it"

He doesn&039;t respond More o by Since Slim carried the cuffs, I decide he must be the one who has the key to open theins to tire She lowers her weapon hand: I hear the rustling of her clothing I estimate our speed to be sixty miles an hour We are ; I can hear the town up ahead; the two all night gas stations; the twenty-four-hour doughnut shop

"Sli to pee"

"What is it?"

"I&039;et to a rest room I need only two minutes You and your lady friend can couns at me the whole time if you want, I don&039;t care If you do not stop, ill have a "

I raise my voice "This is ridiculous! I aht I just have to go to the bathroom for two minutes For God&039;s sake, what kind of sick person are you? Do you like piss and blood?"

Slilance at the woman "What do you think?" he asks

"We are not supposed to stop for any reason," she says

"Yeah, but what the hell" He adds a line, and as he does so, I hear estion "What haruarded at all times," the woman insists

"I already said you two can follow me into the rest room," I say

"So we have your permission?" the wo She is from Germany--the east side I hope she follows me into the bathroom I have a surprise for her "I have no sanitary napkins," she says

"I will use whatever is available," I say softly

"It is up to you," the wo me, I know Then he decides "Hell, call the others Tell theas station We&039;ll pull around back"

"They won&039;t like that," the man up front says

"Tell them they can talk to me if they are worried," Slim says He turns toward me "Happy?"

"Thank you," I say in my velvety voice "I won&039;t cause any problems You really can accompany me if you want"

"You can be sure I will, sister," Slim says--as if it were his own idea I want those keys

The call is as station I hear the all-night attendant e We drive around the side, the second limousine close behind us The car stops Slim opens his door

"Stay here," he says

We wait for Sliain She just doesn&039;t like my looks, I suppose But the , all this security for what? Slim comes back I hear him unholster his weapon

"There will be two of us on you," he says "Don&039;t get s off my eyes," I say "I&039;ll make a mess if I can&039;t see"

Of course I can reach up and remove it myself, when I make my move But to have it removed noill save me the extra step Also, I wantthem to take it off, I emphasize my helplessness

"Any other requests?" Slim asks