Catching Glimpses Chapter 3
The Great Escape
By Kiyara
"You obviously don't know me very well."-Reno Lynley
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Reno awoke later that same night. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling,
stained with God knows what, and wondered what it was that had woken him
from his light sleep.
Just then, he heard it again. It sounded like a scuffle was going on in the
room next door; the room that belonged to the nameless girl that he had fought
on the beach. There were some quiet thuds, and muffled shouts.
Reno rolled out of bed and snatched up the bangle from where he had thrown
it the night before and attached it to his upper arm. He also grabbed his
gun and nightstick. He had heard his share of fights in his time, and Reno
was sure that that was what was going on in room five. If I’m wrong,
she can kick my ass all the way back to Midgar, like she said earlier.
He smirked. Though that may prove to be somewhat difficult…
Reno went out into the dark hallway, leaving the door to his room ajar. He
was about to look into the keyhole of the door next door when a thought suddenly
struck him. Why am I doing this? I’ve heard way too many hotel room
fights before, yet I’ve never wanted to lift a finger… The
red head shrugged it off. I’m just curious about her. Though it does
kinda help that she’s extremely hot…
He bent down and peered through the keyhole. There were five big, burly men
in the room, and they were struggling to grab the girl. They looked like
thugs, dressed all in black and with shaved heads. Each was well over six
feet tall, and with the bulk and muscle to back their height up. Compared
to them, Reno was a featherweight.
"That’s an uh oh," he muttered quietly to himself. Then he turned his
attention back to the scene in front of him, trying to figure out what was
going on and what they wanted with the woman.
One of the thugs had his hand over her mouth to keep her from yelling, and
as Reno watched, she bit into the man’s hand deeply. The man yelped
and let go, but the woman didn’t scream. Instead, she kept struggling
silently. She must not be expecting anyone to help her… Reno
mused. Either that, or she doesn’t think anyone can help…
Enough of that! Am I going to help her? Reno grinned. Of course. When
could I ever resist saving a damsel in distress?…The best approach would
be stealth and surprise, seeing that there’s five of them and one of
me, and also considering that they’re about 100 pounds heavier than
me.
Reno left his post for a moment and scurried back into his room. He dug around
in the pockets of his suitcase until he came up with a long, thin tool. He
held it up for inspection.
"This’ll do," he muttered.
Then he scrambled back to his place at the keyhole, where he found that the
woman had escaped for the time being, and was standing in a corner of the
room that was on the same wall as the door he was crouched at. The five thugs
were hastily conferring across the room. Now’s my chance!
Reno pushed the slim lockpick into the thick bolt on the door, and began
working it around in the lock, all the while peering though the keyhole.
The lock was old and tenacious, and was taking more time to pick than Reno
had expected. That was why he was still behind the door when the thugs came
out of their huddle and suddenly rushed at the woman. Reno’s mouth opened
to shout a warning, then he closed it. Surprise was his best chance.
Four of the men held her down, while the other emptied a nasty looking syringe
into her neck. She went limp in their arms.
Reno worked frantically at the lock. Finally, he heard the telltale click
as the lock gave way under his expertise. He drew his gun smoothly, then
shoved the door open. It hit the wall with a slam, and one man looked up
from where he was checking the woman’s pulse. The other four were cleaning
up the room, which had gotten trashed during the skirmish.
For once, Reno didn’t take the time to taunt them. Instead, he swiftly
shot the man that was leaning over the girl in the head. He pulled the
unconscious woman out from under the dead body, then dove behind the nearest
piece of furniture, which happened to be the dresser, dragging the woman
with him. It had been knocked away from the wall during the girl’s fight
with the men, and Reno thanked whoever was responsible for that.
All of this was done within the space of a second, before the thugs could
do anything but stare. Then the bullets flew, singing into the woodwork of
the dresser that Reno was crouched behind. He winced, but checked the
girl’s pulse as he had seen the men do. It was sluggish, but there.
She seemed to be unconscious. Suddenly, the proverbial lightbulb went on
over Reno’s head. Like he had seen the men do…
He called out, "You shoot at me anymore, I kill the girl!"
There was an immediate cease-fire. "You wouldn’t dare!" a man answered,
his voice deep and resonant.
Behind the dresser, Reno smirked. "I would. You obviously don’t know
me very well."
There was near quiet as the four remaining men conferred. He had been correct.
They had gone through an awful lot of trouble to get the woman alive. Reno
had guessed that they wouldn’t want her dead. Apparently, he was right.
Reno heard the pitter patter of quiet feet outside the room. "Is…is
everything all right in there?" the manager’s voice quavered.
"Yeah, just go away!" Reno yelled.
Reno heard the man run away.
They continued as if the interruption had never taken place. "You come out,
and we won’t shoot," the man offered.
Reno grimaced. "How stupid and naïve do you think I am? I know you’d
just shoot me. How ‘bout this. You tell me how to wake up Sleeping Beauty
here, and I don’t kill her. You refuse, and do something stupid, like
sneaking up on me, I blow her brains out!" Reno heard the sounds of
the man who had been creeping up on him crawling back to his partners.
Amateurs… "And just to prove to you how sincere I am about
that…" Reno slid out from behind the dresser, holding the woman’s
limp body in front of him the whole time as a shield, keeping his gun trained
on her temple.
He heard a quiet curse from the other side of the room. "All right," a man
said resignedly. "There’s another syringe in that guy’s pocket."
Reno saw his hand pointing to the dead man. The Turk slid across the floor
to the man, keeping the woman in front of him. He kept one hand on his gun
at all times, and quickly rifled through the man’s pockets. He found
what he was looking for almost immediately. He held up the syringe and inspected
its blue contents.
"If this is a trick, I kill her," he informed them.
"It’s no trick," the elected spokesman answered. "Inject it into her
neck. All of it."
Reno went back behind his hiding place, not wanting his shield to move when
she awoke. He slid the needle into the creamy skin of her neck, and made
sure all of the blue liquid got out of the syringe and into her body.
She gave a jerk, and her eyes opened slowly. She looked up at him for a second,
then realization dawned on her. A fist shot up at his face, but Reno caught
it easily and held it down.
"Take it easy. I saved you," he said.
Her eyes flickered from the area in front of the dresser to him again. "Tell
me again why I should trust you?"
"Because I came to help you, and you’re stuck with me now. Any ideas
on how to get out of here?" he asked.
"The window?" she suggested, still looking like she didn’t trust him.
"Right. Should have thought of that." Reno began to push the dresser outwards
so that he could duck straight from it to the window without being seen.
She immediately understood what he was doing, and helped him shove it closer
to the window.
"You do anything stupid, I still shoot her!" Reno threatened the men as he
climbed out the window. He found hand and foot holds in the bricks easily,
and quickly clambered down the face of the building. He stood at the base
of the building, looking around for an escape route. Bingo. The men
in the hotel room had traveled to Costa del Sol by way of five, state of
the art black motorcycles. They were all parked in front of the hotel.
Suddenly, Reno heard a shout from above. "Hey! He’s gone!" One of the
thugs had poked his head over the top of the dresser. The woman promptly
knocked him out with a swift punch to the head.
"Hurry up!" Reno shouted up to the woman.
The blonde looked down the face of the building uneasily, then back over
her shoulder. "They’d catch up to me before I got halfway down!" she
answered.
"Jump then!"
She looked down at him as if he had suddenly grown another head. "Are you
crazy?!?"
"I have been accused of being so, but I’m serious here. I’ll catch
you."
She looked over her shoulder again, and whatever she saw clinched it. "All
right, but if you drop me I’m going to kill you."
So saying, she heaved herself over the windowsill and plummeted straight
down. To give her credit, she didn’t scream or flail. She just fell
silently. Reno caught her easily, finding that she wasn’t a heavy
person.
She quickly leapt out of his arms.
A split second after she jumped, the thugs appeared at the window. They
didn’t look like they wanted to jump or climb, and they quickly disappeared
from view.
"They must be taking the stairs!" the girl shouted over her shoulder. She
was dashing to the lead motorcycle. While she leapt on and began revving
the motorcycle, Reno pulled out a knife that had been in a hidden sheath
under his pant leg. He quickly and efficiently slit the tires of four of
the bikes, knowing very well that he had left only one motorcycle for the
two of them. Reno wanted to know more about this mysterious girl.
An engine roared in his ears, and Reno looked up to find that the big motorcycle
was halted beside him.
"Get on!" she shouted over the clamor of the engine.
Reno jumped onto the seat behind her, and his arms swiftly encircled her
waist. The girl revved the engine again, and they shot off out of Costa del
Sol and into the still late night.
Reno looked back, and saw the three thugs stumbling out into the street.
He laughed at their reactions when they saw their bike tires.
The bike drove off into the night, swiftly leaving Costa del Sol behind.
"Who are you?" Reno asked the girl, his voice loud.
"That’s nothing you need to know," she replied snappily, her answer
tossed back to him by the wind.
"What’s your name then? You obviously already know mine."
She hesitated. "…Dinah."
Reno felt sure she was lying, but didn’t push. "Oh…And would you
mind doing something about your goddamn hair?! I’m not really enjoying
choking on it!"
Dinah’s laughter drifted back to him, along with her voice. "Y’know,
I think I’m going to leave it the way it is, just to spite you."
"Bitch," Reno muttered. What the hell was I thinking when I got mixed up in this? It’s gonna be a loong trip……… I remember thinking I was gonna get teased about the black eye on Monday. Now I’m wondering where I’m gonna freakin’ be on Monday…
* * * *
Dinah’s name is pronounced Dee-nah.
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