A MOUNTIE ALWAYS GETS HIS MAN!

Chapter 5

Michael

   Grizzly Hills was having a peaceful day for once.

   Everyone made it to work on time, the bank wasn't being held up, City Hall was quiet and there were no children screaming their heads off due to the fact that school was closed for another day. The schoolmaster was still missing. This was causing some unrest with several parents and the School Board but other than that there was very little unrest in the tranquil little backwoods town.

   Twelve thirty PM rolled around. The train whistle blew, the locomotive chugged and the train blew into the station. A figure with a red tunic stepped out onto the platform, went through the small station and out the front to where his horse was being brought around.

   It was déjà vu all over again. A red coated Mountie stepped forth upon Grizzly Hills once again. And yet....it was very different too. This Mountie was shorter: about 5'10" to Brian's 6'3". He was less muscled too although his muscles were hard and ropy with a deep chest and a flat tummy. He had short brown hair under his Stetson and green eyes. His horse was brown with a diamond shaped patch of white on her forehead. She was a mare but she was fast, brave and true.

   There were no children or schoolteacher to meet him. There was no greeting envoy from the mayor. But that was all right; the new Mountie didn't mind. After all, nobody knew he was coming.

   "OYYYY!! Hey, YOU!!" someone yelled.

   The Mountie winced and then looked around to quiet the yeller. He was now pretty sure that somebody knew he was coming. The wincing eyes bugged out of his head like a horny bullfrog.

   Coming toward him was the sexiest, burliest, most mouthwatering vision of a lumberjack that he'd ever seen. The lumberjack was easily 6 feet tall with huge shoulders and a chest so broad and deep you could easily set a breakfast tray on it and eat breakfast off of it if you so desired. The Mountie's mouth watered and he had a strong desire for some eggs over easy.

   The lumberjack had sandy hair, a square jaw and blue eyes that flashed angrily. He had the perfect amount of 5 o'clock shadow. He was wearing denim pants that hugged a thin waist and looked sprayed onto tree trunk legs. His shirt was blue/white/black checked plaid flannel. His shirt was molded over his deep chest and huge arms like a second skin ready to burst out of them. He carried an axe over his shoulder in a non-threatening manner.

   The sex god....uhhhh...I mean, lumberjack strode angrily over and yelled again, "Hey You! What are you doing here? You a cop?!"

   The Mountie looked down at his own scarlet tunic and pants with the stripe down

it, not to mention his brown leather boots polished to a high gloss. He said: "Uhhh...yes...I guess I am....a cop. Can you lower your voice though? I'm here on special business."

   "What kinda business? You here to clean up the bank robbery? Catch whoever did it?"

   The Mountie with the boy next door good looks had no idea what the lumberjack was talking about but he saw in consternation that a few store owners and patrons were emerging from different doors. He ineffectually hid behind his mare, forcing the other man to follow him a bit.

   "Yes! Yes! I'm here for that! Sure! Now will you please lower your voice! No-one's supposed to know I'm here yet. And you're blowing it! Please be quiet!"

   "Oh yeah!? Well maybe I'll be quiet when I get my money! You see, I was supposed to get paid yesterday! Now the bank's been robbed and I'm outta dough! What are you gonna do about that copper!?"

   "OK...look! Honestly...I don't know! I'm supposed to meet up with Constable Brian Kinney and see where he is on the case! Then we'll get your money back! OK? Michael smiled in a disarming way and pleaded, "Now...please be quiet....uhhh...quieter. What's your name, anyway fella?" He held out a hand.

   "I'm Ben. Sorry I jumped down your throat. I just need my money and you're the first copper I've seen today. Seems like the town's deserted of cops today." Ben tried to repress a shudder of pleasure at the sexy smooth feel of the Mountie's leather gauntlet. "And your name?"

   "I'm Michael. Brian managed to phone me a week ago saying he needed backup for a case. We used to be partners so I volunteered to come up from Vancouver. But he warned me to be secret as possible. Plus, I haven't heard from him in about three days so I've been worried. Do you know where he is?"

   "Hey, like I said, the cops have been pretty scarce lately and they let the thieves get away scot-free yesterday. I'm mad as hell!"

   "I can imagine...."soothed Michael, grateful the ticked off timber tumbler had at last calmed down. "Look...is there still a diner in this town? Maybe we can continue this conversation in a more secure location? If you want you can help me find Brian."

   "Yeah, it's over there," Ben said, pointing. "I guess I can spare some time."

   The two men walked over to the diner, with Michael leading his horse with the bridle and reins. Mikey was glad that by this time, most of the lookey loos had gone back inside their respective doors. He tied up the horse to the hitching post outside and made their way inside.

   "Hi Ma!" called out Michael.

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   Justin woke up with a familiar pounding in his head and cursed as colorfully as Brian's tunic. He was upside down.

   "I swear to God! If one more person...just OOONNE MORE....gasses me, I swear...I will cut off their balls with a rusty tuning fork!!"

   "Dang, Sunshine!" cried Brian who was hanging upside down beside him like a big slab of beefcake. (Oh...guess I mean, beef. Oooops!)

   "Well!! I'm dang sick of it!" Justin yelled. "Where the hell are we this time!?" He looked around and screamed.

   The two of them were tied around the ankles with coils of thick rope and more around their chests and wrists behind their back. A few stones were tied as weight to various parts of their tied up body.

   The two of them were tied by their ankles to a length of rope. The other end of the rope was tied to the slats of the floor of a long suspension bridge that was spanning a wide ravine. This suspended them under the bridge in the open air. It was also why they were upside down. The ravine looked about 500 feet deep and at the bottom was a wide and fast flowing whitewater river. If the impact didn't kill them, the current, cold and rocks dragging them to the bottom surely would.

   "Well, well! It looks like someone's awake." Came the hated voice of Mr. X.

   "Stockwell, goddammit! Can't you just leave us the fuck alone!" Brian yelled, completely losing his patience with the insane man that ran their town.

   "Not when you know all my secrets! They only problem it seems, is how to make you stay dead! How! How do you keep escaping? How!! HOW!!!? HOW!!? HOW!!? HOW!!?" he screamed, jumping up and down causing the bridge to buck and sway alarmingly. Brian and Justin were sent swinging and thrashing wildly high in the air. Both screamed and struggled in terror.

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   "Hey baby!!" Michael was engulfed in motherly enthusiasm that probably rivaled some of the grizzly bears that lived in the outskirts.

Michael also submitted to the perfunctory noisy kiss and then discreetly rubbed off the resulting lipsmack of lipstick with a napkin.

   "Hey Ma! Although I'm hardly a baby anymore! I'm a full fledged Constable now!"

   "So I see! You worried the hell out of me when you didn't come home! I'm glad to see they whipped you into shape!"

   "Oh Ma! I wrote you as soon as I could!"

   "Hmmmph! A likely story! You never would have gone if you weren't playing tag-a-long with Brian!"

   Ben watched this exchange with high amusement. He raised his eyebrows in askance.

   "I wasn't playing tag-along!" Michael said in frustration. To Ben he explained, "Brian was the one who signed up first. I went to see him off. We were...talking. Well, I was talking. We were moving along in the line and before I knew it, we were on the bus. They were so impatient! I only needed to tell him one more thing and then I would have gotten off! But just when I was finished, the bus lurched and they took off. I tried to tell the driver to let me off but he thought I was a recruit getting cold feet. He wouldn't stop! I was drafted! And they never let me go! Fortunately, I took to everything like a duck to water...after a while and here I am! A better man for it!"

   Ben laughed until tears were streaming down his face.

   "Hey! It's not that funny!" protested Mikey.

   "Oh yes it is! OK! Well, keep in touch and let me know when I can get my money, OK?" Ben clapped him on the shoulder and made ready to leave.

   "Wait! It's not how you're thinking! Honest!" For some reason, Mike didn't want this beefcake to go. At least, not yet.

   "Sounds like you followed this guy to the police academy like a lost puppy! You must really be hung up on him," Ben said, "Hmm...Too bad."

   "No! It's not like that! We haven't seen each other for ages!" Michael protested.

   "Mmmm-hmm! So why are you here now again?" asked Ben.

   "Brian said he needed my help so I hopped the first train and came right up," Michael said without thinking. Then he did, and he cringed.

   Ben smirked. "Mmmm-hmm. Well, you're clearly not hung up on him at all! I'll see you around...officer! Let me know when you find the guys who took my money!" He left and this time Mike couldn't really think of anything to stop him.

   "Whoooooo-hooo! Hope he comes back in here again! What a beefcake!" Debbie whooped, voicing Michael's thoughts.

   "I'll say! I was instantly attracted! If only he'd lower his voice!" Michael said. "I just wish I knew if he felt the same! And what was all that about Brian? He was way off base!

   Deb just looked skeptical.

   "What!? I am not hung up on Brian! We haven't seen each other in a while and it sounded like he was in trouble. So I dropped everything and came up on the next train!" Michael said cluelessly.

   Deb just narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms and looked gave an even more skeptical look.

   "What!?" Michael  yelled.

   "Michael! Will you wake up! That is the very definition of being hung up on someone!"

   "But it has nothing to do with romantic feelings! Brian said he was having trouble with a case! He said he was in trouble! He said his life was in danger! And if Brian's as huge as I remember, that's saying a lot! So...yeah, I came! We're cops Mom! It's business!"

   "Uh huh!"

   "Oh, I don't have time for this! Where is he anyway Ma? He said to not alert the townsfolk that I was here but come straight to you."

   "I haven't seen him today." Debbie thought about it. "Hmmmmmm....Come to think of it...Sunshine didn't check in today as well..."

   "Huh? What are you talking about Ma?"

   "Oh, sorry. It's the local color. Sunshine is my nickname for the schoolmaster, Justin Taylor. Justin hasn't been in for work in the last few days. Justin is who Brian is hung up on these days."

   "Is that so?" Michael said, pretending not to care.

   "Yup. Came into town and hooked up with the only piece of blond gay twink ass in the entire town the first day. They've pretty much been joined at the hip ever since. Looks pretty serious." She finished shrewdly, looking at her son carefully as she deliberately twisted the knife.

   "Oh please! Brian doesn't do serious! This guy must have turned his head that's all!"

   "I don't think so, Michael. This isn't the city. Things work a bit differently out here in the sticks. You'll see."

   "Whatever." Michael fell back on his training to focus. "Anyway, you said they're both missing! Where could they be!?"

   "I'm sure it's nothing serious! If their anywhere, they're probably at Justin's....taking the day off!"

   "Hmmmmm...Granted, that sounds like Brian's M.O. But what about Justin's? Would he take several days off from work?"

   "Hmmmm...No...Actually that doesn't sound like him at all," Deb admitted.

   "And why'd Brian ask me to sneak into town and find you all hush...hush? Why all the sneakcracy?"

   "Why...I don't know! I...- No! That can't have anything to do with it!"

   "What can't? What is it, Ma?"

   "Well...A couple of days ago, the boys came to me with a crazy story. Of course, I didn't believe a word of it."

   "Believe what, Ma?"

   "Oh well...It's ridiculous, of course...but they claimed the mayor was crazy and tried to kill them!"

   "OK. What's the ridiculous part?"

   "Michael! Are you hearing yourself!? He's the mayor! He can't be crazy! He's...he's...well, he's the mayor!"

   "Actually, a lot of cases I've worked on turned out to be a high ranking person who was successfully hiding their psychopathy behind a benevolent exterior," said Michael.

   "Huh??" Debbie was completely confused.

   Michael sighed. "The perps were important people who were nutty as a fruitcake on Christmas but managed to hide it behind a sane, friendly mask," he explained.

   "Ohhhhhhh....Well, why didn't you say so?"

   Michael held is head in his hands.

   But surely....Stockwell....he couldn't be....could he? I mean the story was so....so...so..."

   "Crazy?" asked Michael quirking an eyebrow.

   "Well yes! He claimed he had tried to kill him using the saw at the sawmill! Who would do that? It's so cliché! So over the top! So..."

   "Crazy? Look, Ma, that's what makes it so likely to be true!"

   "Huh? What are you talking about?"

   "Don't you see!? What better way to get away with outlandish things than to be outlandish and incredible! No one would ever suspect you of doing them especially if otherwise you are an upstanding citizen. And recently there was a bank robbery too, right?"

   "Yes, the culprits got away scot-free! Some police we have in this town! Hmmph!"

   "And maybe that's why he asked me to come! And keep it secret! He didn't want the mayor knowing he had help coming. And why he sent me to you! He knew you'd probably tell me all this!"

   "But it's all nonsense!" protested Debbie.

   Maybe so....maybe not..." Michael said mysteriously.

   "What do you mean?"

   "Well....tell me about the bank robbery? Was Brian involved?"

   "What!!? You ungrateful little shit! How could you think to accuse..."

   Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. "In the police effort, Ma! Did he try and stop it?"

   "Oh! Well yes, I believe I watched him ride up on that black horse of his." Actually, Deb had watched the whole thing from the diner in such detail that she had to wash the makeup imprint off the window afterwards. But Deb was such a lady that she felt there was no reason to go into details like that.

   "Uh huh! So it's probably safe to assume that he tried to stop it. And if Brian went after it and failed, there was probably a damn good reason why he didn't!"

   "Well, you bet your sweet bippy there was!"

   The door was flung open dramatically ringing the bell madly.

   It was, of course, Emmett, followed more meekly by Ted and even meeker than that a smaller man dressed inexpertly in one of Ted's suits. It didn't quite fit and the man looked quite uncomfortable wearing it as it was.

   Michael swung round to look at this odd entourage. They looked back at him. "Uhhh....What do you know about this?" Michael asked in his best official voice.

   Emmett stalked over and took in the uniform. "Well well!! Looky here! If I'd known Mounties were duplicating like this, I would have bought stocks!"

   Michael harrumphed uncomfortably and tried moving away for some space. Emmett moved right up and invaded it again. After his coming out as a karate expert and then his night with Ted, Em was feeling quite emboldened. Yes, sirree! This bottom was on top of the world!

   ""Look what can you tell me about this?" Michael tried again.

   "Practically everything," Emmett purred in his sexiest purr.

   "Uhhhh...OK! Why don't you go grab a booth and I'll be with you in a minute to take your statement," Michael tried to keep it official but was quickly coming unraveled. He found the tall, thin man unsettling.

   Ted took pity on the poor officer and dragged Emmett away. "Behave yourself," he admonished in a stage whisper.

   "Oh pooh! You never let me play with the new toys!"

   "A Mountie is NOT a toy!

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   Meanwhile, Brian and Justin continued to hang from the bridge over the gorge screaming for help. Above, Mr. X smeared the coils of rope wrapped around the bridge slats with honey and then poured birdseed all over that making sure there was plenty stuck firmly in the honey and rope fibers.

   "There!" Mr. X cackled gleefully...and insanely, "So simple and yet so deadly! You'll be destroying by the forces of the very nature that you hold so dear!"

   "Hey! I don't hold them so dear! I'm a city boy! I only came here because you asked me to! So you can let me up! There's no skin off..."

   "SHUT UP!!!" screamed Mr. X, "You're not talking your way out of anything! Prepare to DIE!!!"

   "HELLLLPP!!" they both screamed. Their voices echoed uselessly into the distance.

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   "So what's this all about?" Michael asked.

   The four of them were seated in a booth. Michael and Ted made sure that Emmet and Ted were seated on one side while Mike and the small man who would only identify himself as "Lou" were on the other side.

   Emmett began an animated account of his harrowing adventure at the bank. He talked compulsively for quite a while and waved his arms a lot as he described their terrifying death trap at the hands of the maniacal Mr. X. Their selfless heroism and cunning sleuthing to track down the captured cop and rescue him was also duly documented. The only problem was that Emmett was prone to embellishing the facts a great deal. Fortunately, Ted was there to correct him and bring him down to earth....time and time again. Between the both of them, they finally got the story out in a...mostly accurate way.

   "And you're sure it was the mayor who was perpetrating these events?" asked Michael.

   "Sure as shootin'!" answered Emmett. "Sorry Deb! I know this is going to rock your world...but after he left the mine, he took of his mask when he thought nobody was looking! We were hiding behind a rock outcropping and saw everything. It was definitely him!"

   Deb looked faint. "Oh my God! I still can hardly believe it! And I feel so bad! I practically called those two sweet boys liars right to their face!"

   "The important thing now...is where are they now?" Michael said, bringing things back on track. "Deb says that neither of them have shown up for work this morning. And I know Brian! He's a control freak! If he's supposed to be somewhere...especially work...he gets there!"

   "Well, he can't be too far!" declared Emmett, "He was out at my house...on an errand...earlier this morning. If he went somewhere...or something happened...it would have happened this morning. You should check Justin's house. That's where they'd have been last. Or still are! Between the sheets! That slab of beefcake might be a control freak but he's also an insatiable sex machine!"

   Michael thanked them for the information, paid up for breakfast and headed out on Diamond to Justin's house at a gallop.

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   "You'll never get away with this!!" Brian yelled bravely.

   "I won't be getting away with anything! I don't have to! All I have to do it back off a little and the birds who come after this birdseed and peck away at the ropes and do my dirty work for me! When all is said and done, you'll be dead and disappeared...without a trace! Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaaa!!!" He stalked off the bridge and disappeared into the forest back to town.

   "Oh God, Brian! What are we going to do! I can't get loose! And even if I could, I don't think I'd want to! This is even more terrifying than the mine! At least then you couldn't see where you'd be falling!"

   "It was probably farther than this," said Brian morosely.

   "Gaaaaahhh! Not helping Brian! Get me out of this!"

   "I - I can't Justin. I'm pretty trussed myself. And I wasn't able to call in this morning. Emmett's mad. Ted was probably with Emmett. There's no one who can get here to help us in time. I - I think this is it!"

   "It?"

   "I can't figure a way out of this. This might...might be the long goodbye!"

   Justin gulped and swayed gently in the breeze.

   A cardinal, the color of Brian's tunic landed on the rope railing of the bridge and cast an interested eye down.

   "Get! Get away!" yelled Brian.

   The cardinal ignored him and hopped the rest of the way down and began to peck interestedly at the honey and birdseed. Mmmmm! Delicious!

   The cardinal was joined by a bluejay, and then two sparrows and a family of goldfinches. Slowly, more birds came to see what was happening and slowly, oh, so slowly, Mr. X's evil plan was pecked slowly to fruition.

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At Justin's House:

   Michael galloped up to the right address and did not like what he saw. The front door was ajar and open slightly.

   "RCMP!! Open up!"yelled Michael unnecessarily  and then stepped inside.

   There was no one there. And there were signs of a struggle; scuff marks on the floor where someone might have been held in place put was struggling to get away. A few pieces of furniture were overturned. Michael investigated further and found hair fibres on the floor a few blond and a few dark. There were also trace fibres of what appeared to be hemp. Quite a few of them. Hmmm. Someone had used a lot of rope to tie someone up and probably gag them too. A blond and a brunet. Michael was glad he had acted on his suspicions. Brian and Justin were definitely in trouble!

   Michael may have been smaller in stature but his brains were working fine and they worked overtime as always. In seconds he had made a perimeter sweep of the house and found horse tracks leading away from the house. They were unnaturally deep; say, if they were carrying the tied up and gagged dead weight of an unconscious 6'1" Mountie!

   Michael retrieved Diamond and followed the tracks. They led down the road a bit and then veered suddenly off into the first trail leading into the wild forests of the as yet untamed British Columbia Rockies.

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   Peck! Peck! Peck! Peck!

   Even with the small flock of birds, progress of their doom was painfully slow.

   The two tied up and helpless, hemp handcuffed, hitched, hobbled, hampered and otherwise hung out to dry hunks just sort of dangled over the deep drop for a little while without saying anything.

   Finally Justin asked, "Brian? Back there with Ethan. Did you mean what you said?"

   "I said a lot of stuff. You'll have to be more specific, Justin."

   "Oh right. Well...the part...the part where you said you considered us married...if things were different...if we were allowed I mean."

   "Justin! Do you really think this is the right time to be taking about this?"

   "Yes! If I'm going to meet my maker than I'd rather go with a clear head and at least know! You know!

   "Yes...I guess I do. Well, the truth is..."

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   Michael and Diamond blundered a ways into the woods along a meandering trail for a while. Suddenly, they turned a corner and found themselves in a clearing where the trees had been thinned out and there was no brush.

   Working in this clearing, hacking and sawing away at a number of huge felled trees was a crew of lumberjacks. They were all tall and heavily muscled so that Michael fancied he'd walked into a muscle worshipper's wet dream.

   They all wore denim jeans and hiking boots and flannel shirts, either the red/white/black variety, or like Ben, blue/white/black. More than a couple of these hunks had sweaty chest hair popping out from under said shirts and almost all of them wore five o'clock shadow like it was a badge of honor.

   Michael moseyed Diamond slowly through this den so as not to startle anyone. His scarlet tunic drew the attention of every eye in the clearing. There was total silence and more than a few distrustful, unfriendly looks.

   "Uhhh.....just passing through... police business... you're doing good work here, boys...." Michael murmured as he passed through the huge clearing.

   "Yeah! Good work...HARD work! And now for free!" someone yelled.

   "Uh oh!" thought Michael.

   In alarm, he saw that he was being slowly cut off and the men were pressing closer and closer to his horse. Shouts of....Where's my money!!? And...my children need food, you know! And...What are you people doing about it!!?...became louder and louder and uglier and uglier.

   "Uh oh!" thought Michael again, "If I don't get out of here, there's sure to be a riot!" He looked around to see if there was any help, any friendly face. There was none.

   Far away at the opposite end of the clearing to where he had come in, Michael could see an opening into the forest, the trail continued. But the lumberjacks continued to close in and Michael found it harder and harder to navigate Diamond through the throng.

   "Hey! Come on, fellas! Make way! Make way for the Mountie! I'm on a case! Important business!"

   "Oh is that so!!!? Important business, huh!!? Too important for us, are you! We're good enough to chop your wood and fuel and make just about every stick of furniture your ass has come across but you don't think we're good enough to look at or speak to properly when payday comes around! Well, we deserve to get paid! And we deserve respect! And if we're not going to get either this quarter, maybe we can take a pound of flesh out of your Mountie hide! And when word gets around that we have one of the RCMP's finest, maybe we'll get what's coming to us!"

   "You wouldn't dare! Stay back! Respect the uniform! Let me through! I'm on ..."

   "A case...Right!! We heard you the first time! Hey Boys! Let's show this Mountie what we think of his "case"!"

   "NO!" yelled Michael.

   "YEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" yelled the enraged and burly mob. "GET HIM BOYS!!"

   The huge lumberjacks encircled Diamond in a tight semicircle so that there was nowhere for her to go. She reared and whinnied rather panicked. She rather calmed down again when an apple appeared out of nowhere and was fed to her. She settled down at once and began to munch.

   "Diamond! You stop that! Keep going! You turncoat! Help! Help!"

   But there was no help and next moment Diamond's reins were grabbed out of his hands and she was bumped and Michael was knocked off his perch and fell.

   He landed on a crowd of outstretched hands that seemed to be everywhere. He heard: That`s right boys! Knock him off his high horse!...and then a massive cheer rose like a noisy ocean wave.

   The hands grabbed his biceps, his legs and ankles and he was passed along the top of the throng and away from his horse. Then he felt himself lowered to the ground but he was still held fast despite struggling mightily. He just wasn`t any match for their brawn.

   Ropes appeared out of nowhere and then he was being pressed against a tree and coils were going around his chest and legs and ankles and he was tied to a youngish tree as if tied to the stake. They tied his hands into rope cuffs and attached them around the back of the tree. And when all was said and done he was tied to the tree and he couldn`t move a muscle. And he was surrounded on all sides by unfriendly huge muscles and angry faces and axes.

   "Please! Let me go! I was on the trail of whoever took your money! Besides, no good can come of this!" cried Michael.

   "A likely story! We'll use you to get answers! One way or another!" The spokesjack said menacingly.

   "You dare not hurt me! Or kill me! Killing or hurting a police officer is an especially terrible crime! You'll be hunted down mercilessly!" Michael warned.

   "We're not going to hurt you! You'll just stay here as our...guest...until we get some media coverage and somebody finally listens to our complaints! We didn't want it to come to this but we need our paychecks!"

   "But I was on my way looking for..." Michael trailed off, realizing nobody was listening to him. Dammit! How did these things happen to him? He struggled mightily in the ropes. He HAD to get out of here! Brian could be in real trouble from what he had found at Justin's house. He HAD to get someone to listen to him! How would Brian have done it!? He would never have ended up in this position, a prisoner and tied up and helpless....

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Elsewhere....

   Brian hung upside down, tied up and helpless.  Justin hung beside him, equally tied up and swinging gently over the gorge.

   A merry band of birds were now busily pecking away at the ropes and seed. The ropes tied around the bridge slats and attached to their ankles were frayed everywhere.

   There was a snap as one rope gave way. Justin gave a cry as he dropped several feet and then stopped again swaying violently with the backlash effect.....

TBC