The Reluctant Knight Read Free Page A

him, Amelia reached
around to her pocket. Trying to make as little noise as possible,
she slid her hands inside and pulled out one of the tiny bugs in
each hand. Less than a second later the back door of the van swung
open, followed by the other.
    When her legs were
grabbed, Amelia struggled again, dropping one of the bugs as she
did. Making sure she then cradled the other safely in the palm of
her hand, she allowed herself to be taken to the edge of the van.
As they set her on her feet, she let a leg turn to jelly. Instantly
she fell to the ground, slamming into the feet of the person next
to her.
    She heard him
swear in Russian; It seemed she'd hurt his foot and her shoulder
equally. Allowing herself to yell in pain, she reached her hands up
to massage her shoulder, inside her coat and near the edge of her
dress.
    Before she could
plant the bug on herself they yanked her back to her feet again.
Her breath caught in her throat as the second device slid from her
grip. Her fingers closed on it just in time and cradled it against
the palm of the other hand.
    She felt a third
pair of hands reach out, and between all three of her captors she
was slung into a small space. It took less than a second for her to
work out that it was a car boot. They pushed in the fabric of her
coat around her and then slammed the lid down.
    Once more, Amelia
felt her heart begin to pound in her chest and her breathing
quicken until her lungs felt like they were straining against the
restrictions to getting air. Fog crept into her mind and she
started to wonder if she was about to pass out.
    Little frightened
her more than being enclosed in a small space. Just before she
passed out, Amelia thought of how Myron would react. Letting her
fear get the better of her would disgust him so badly she'd never
get him to like her again. This was enough of a motivator that,
combined with the light-headedness, she managed to calm her heart
back down a little and steady out her breathing.
    Amelia estimated
she'd been in the van somewhere between three quarters of an hour
and an hour, even after adjusting for the eternity it felt like
while she lay on the metal flooring. This car was warm, which was
an improvement, but she knew she'd be in this space far longer. She
needed to conquer this fear and keep it conquered or she wouldn't
survive this journey.
    As soon as she was
once more in control of her body, Amelia tried to wiggle enough to
tuck the bug in her hands underneath the top of her dress, where
the strap was stitched in. Hopefully, her coat wouldn't muffle the
sound too much. Once it was in place she depressed the very small
button on the other side of it and wiggled around some more to
bring her head down and close to it.
    Now all she had to
do was somehow get her hands up and underneath the bag she was
wearing to try and get the cloth out of her mouth. After taking a
minute to re-calm herself, she wriggled some more to bring her
hands up to her neck and felt round the base of the bag. It had a
drawstring-style closing around the bottom, and no matter how badly
she tried to squirm her fingers up under the edge it didn't loosen.
She couldn't get it past the base of her fingers without
restricting her own neck.
    It didn't take
long for her head to fog up again and let her know she had once
more come close to passing out. She changed tack and tried to feel
around the bag for whatever was holding it so tightly closed. It
had fitted over her head with ease so somewhere it must be tied in
place.
    Her elbows jabbed
into her sides several times before she concluded she couldn't
reach the tie in her current position. The breath she'd been
holding while she concentrated came out in one exasperated puff,
but she knew she couldn't give up. She had to use every last ounce
of thought, strength and stamina she had to get herself into a
better situation.
    She allowed
herself a slight whimper of frustration as she reached her fingers
underneath the bag edge again,