There was room enough beneath the bed for the two captives, but lying on one's hands is seldom comfortable. If we can be rolled ender this bed, Anne reasoned, we can roll out from under it. She rolled out from beneath the bed, away from Drea, but on that side of the bed found the gap between the bed and the corked wall to be roughly the equal to the width of her own body and herself face down That was not what she had planned on, so she rolled back underneath. Drea saw what Anne had done, and decided that there was more room on her side of the bed, rolled out from underneath, and to a position where she could at least sit without lying on her hands.

Anne followed, essentially repeating the same positions they had earlier, only they didn't have to worry about bumping their heads on the bed frame. To Drea's surprise, Anne went back to lying on her arms, which wore off when she noted Anne was trying to raise her legs as high as possible. Of course! Drea thought, she's trying to get at her Swiss Army Knife, and then proceeded to do the same, though she thought they would look rather silly to anybody who would happen to come in.

Try as they might, they could not retrieve their knives. After about ten minutes, Anne gave up. We'd have to go to complete vertical, which we can't do. She sat up and looked toward Drea, who had also given up on trying to shake loose her knife. Anne gave a "what can you" shrug and contented herself with trying to wriggle her way out.

The guys who tied her knew what they were doing. The ropes refused to give way so much as a millimeter. Drea did likewise and had the same results Periodically, they would stop for some bit of rest, then start over, but the ropes held fast. They failed effort made the duo even more determined to escape.

Anne was contemplating rolling under the bed face down and trying to cut herself loose on a spring when the door opened. The woman called Pilar came in, still in the bikini and blouse, but barefoot. She knelt beside Drea and removed the gag. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I couldn't get away easily " she said in English, to the surprise of the two captives."

"Who are you?" Drea asked.

"I am Pilar Delgado of the Mexican National Police. I'm on your side, so to speak."

"How so?" Anne asked.

"I overheard Ted talking to a woman about you two. You're trying to find that plane with the lost Mayan artifacts, which makes you all right in my book. Has either of you a knife?"

"Right front pocket."

Pilar removed the knife and cut Anne loose. "Won't you be get in trouble for helping us?" Drea asked.

"Who is helping?" Pilar asked as she untied the duo's ankles. "You cut yourselves loose, saw me in the hallway, overpowered me, and took me in here and tied me up. I kicked off those ridiculous shoes before I came in, so it should lend credence to what I'm saying."

"Won't you be missed?"

"I had a small bit of dinner, and said I had a headache. It'll be a while before I'm missed."

Drea and Anne where now up and moving, trying to restore their circulation "How do we get out of here?" Anne asked.

"The same stairs as you were taken up, then turn left. You'll be leaving through the servant's entrance, but I think escape is your chief priority. Enough talking. Tie me up and do a good job of it so they believe it."

Anne picked up a length of rope and secured Pilar's wrists, while Drea went to work on the ankles. Pilar winced a bit, but she reminded herself they had done as she had asked. Anne picked up one of the discarded gags and hesitated a moment. Drea nodded and Pilar did likewise. The Federal even opened her mouth to allow Anne to employ the cleave style. Anne tightly tied the bandanna in place, then she and Drea gently set Pilar down on the bed. Without another word, they set quietly slipped out of the room.

Wine had flowed freely at the dinner table, and two of Stoneman's henchmen had not only availed themselves of the wine but, had supplemented it with a few on the sly shots of stronger stuff and were now in their cups. Well aware the of two lovelies held captive in the far bedroom and with overeager libidos do to the booze, they staggered up to the bedroom with thoughts of naked flesh writhing helplessly beneath them. On entering the bedroom, they ignored Pilar, as the ones they were interested were underneath the bed. They lifted the blankets dangling over the sides and found nothing. They then took notice of Pilar on the bed. Even stone drunk, they recognized the boss' lady when they saw her and realized something was wrong.

The pair were so drunk they forgot to untie Pilar, which gave her time to get over her surprise, and to hope the two could at least get out of the house before all hell broke loose.

Drea and Anne had slipped out of the house and were looking for some way escape. The Jeep was out of the question, as was on the other side of the building from where they were and surely they would be seen if they tried to get to it. They slipped into they shrubbery on the property and thought out their next step.

"I wonder if we can slip through the fence." Anne whispered.

"We could" Drea returned "but with all this thick plant material, that gate could be only window dressing."

"Come on. We've got less than an hour before the sun goes down, and since we have a long walk ahead of us, I suggest we get as much of it in while we have the light."

They crept through the brush as quietly as they could and to their surprise, came across a trail of some kind or other. As they went along, they notice two figures emerging to block their way. Anne ran right toward them, then leaped through the air, legs extended, to hit one squarely in the stomach. The other one tried to seize her from behind, but she flipped him to the ground. Drea had by now arrived on the scene she gave the second a good kick before grabbing Anne by the arm and towing her friend away from the scene. the continued along the twisting for several minutes before encountering a place where the trail split. What's more, they encountered two familiar faces "We were wondering where you two went off to." Lopez said

"Look, we can't sit here all night and talk." Anne said, then her expression changed as Sullivan began tying her wrists in front of her, and Lopez did likewise for Drea. Both girls started to protest loudly, only to have a small piece of cloth jammed in her mouth, they had a digger one tied tightly over to hold the smaller in place. "I kinda like you better this way." Sullivan said to Anne as he led his captive to the underbrush, a way from either trail, but where they could see it and their white shorts would be easy to spot by somebody who was looking, even in this failing light. Sullivan and Lopez went back out to the trail. after a while, two more men showed up, no doubt trailing the two escapees.

Odd, Anne thought, that Sullivan and Lopez stood so the newcomers had their backs to us. Or is it? She wondered after further reflections. After a brief conversation, the two newcomers went down one of the trails. Once those two were gone Sullivan turned and waved jauntily at the two detectives, then departed with his companion. After a long minute, Anne went over to Drea and pulled down her friend's gag, then allowed Drea to do the same. "Those creeps!" Drea snarled after spitting out the packing.

"I'm not so sure." Anne said as she probed Drea's pocket for the latter's knife "They did a rather poor job of tying us up. And did you notice how they stood when talking?"

"Yeah." Drea said as she pulled on to reveal the blade. "So Terrible Teddy's getting it from two sides."

As soon as they were both free, they fled in the direction away from the two goons. Soon they were on the road leading down the hill, and to their immense delight, their Jeep was parked beside the road.

"Our two friends must have hot wired it or something." Anne remarked as she flourished the keys."

"They got away, sir." one of Stoneman's men told him.

"I thought as much." Stoneman said. A knife had been found on the floor. Serves me right for not insisting they check for a blade, he reflected. Mac Clarey was known to keep one handy, so it would make sense he imparted this wisdom to his two Associates.

"Keep an eye out for them." Stoneman said. "Today's Tuesday, right?"

"All day." Stoneman chuckled. "Good." he said "I know just how hit Mac Clarey close to home. Get on the phone to L.A."

Darkness had settled in after Drea and Anne returned to the resort. They settled down for dinner, but it had been a long and difficult day for them. On returning to their quarters, the distaff sleuths were so exhausted they simply stretched out on their beds, and went straight to sleep.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR