“So, Mr. Fowl, are you going to tell us what we want to know or not?”  Artemis’ eyes followed the young, blond ,and french woman as she circled the chair he was bound to. “I hope you know that it’s against my morals to hurt a child.” She stopped infront of him putting her hand under his chin to make him look her in the eye. ”But ,then again, morals never made me money.” Her voice took on a slight tinge of glee as she slid a knife from its sheath on her thigh. She stepped close enough to Artemis for him to be able to smell the designer purfume she had on, and tickled the sharp point of the serated blade around the soft skin between his neck and his jaw. One solitary drop of sweat rolled down his temple, his jaw clenched. “Marina! De boss wants you in her office!” The door slammed open and Marina gouged a slight cut into Artemis’ neck. “Damn it Peirce! I’m using a knife here!” Artemis’ only reaction to the pain was to take a sharp breath through his teeth. He could feel the small dropets of blood drip down his chin. Marina turned back to him, “we’ll continue our little date at a later time, Arty boy. See you later.” She walked out and closed the door behind her. Artemis heard the dead bolt lock. His mind started to race, he had to get back to the others, he knew they had not been captured, he needed to get untied. Thats the first problem get untied. He focused on that one problem. if only he could reach the switch blade in his own pocket but his hands were secured behind him. There was a table behind him, a metal one with sharp edges, if only he could reach it. Artemis started to slowly push against the floor with his bound feet and the chair started to move slightly backward just enough to bump his hands against the table. Artemis sawed his wrists against the edge trying to rip the ropes. Soon he was free and cutting the bonds at his feet. When he was mobile again his hissed seemingly to thin air, “Felix! You couldn’t see the guard right behind me?!?” A slightly crackily and mostly indignant voice sounded in his ear, “Well I wasn’t the one who couldn’t put a stupid bug in their computer system without being caught!” The voice was coming through the ear piece in Artemis’ ear. “ I got the virus into the computer! You just took your sweet time warning me about the thug right behind me!” Artemis wispered in an exasperated voice. “Alright anyway, are there any guards outside the door?”

“Nope your all clear untill you go down the hall; there’s a goon at the corner.” Felix the tech-head back at base had the scematics and the floor plan and a 3D map with moving figures of guards setup at his operations booth. ”Ok a goon at the corner. Thanks. Now where are Hannah and Trent?” Artemis heard the tapping of a keyboard and then,  “They’re outside waiting for you to get out. Do you need me to call them in?”

“No.” was Artemis’ reply, “This is my mission.”

Some other stories by bookwormchick:

• Valentines Day
• Silent Snow
• Always
• Hold Me
• Heart Beat