Daylight shone through the windows. Anne woke up and looked around her "We must have been hang dog tired last night." she said. A quick glance around the room confirmed that she and Drea had simply crashed on their return. Neither one had changed clothes, and Drea had not even bothered to take off her shoes and her gag was still hanging loosely around her neck. Then again, so's mine, Anne thought with a quick glance in the mirror. Drea stirred, and Anne shook her companion. "Wake up, Drea." she said.

Drea's eyes opened, then she looked around the room. "How long have we been asleep?" she wondered.

"Long enough." Anne replied, already undressing for the shower.

"Okay, at least were refreshed and alert, but what do we do today."

"Beyond getting your tank back!?" Anne raised her voice to be heard over the shower.

"Well, we need to find out about our friends from yesterday." Drea reasoned. "The ones that borded us, that is. I figure they're probably in with our guy Ted."

"Yeah, too bad we didn't get a last name!"

"So we mix and mingle? Make it look like we're working on our tans while we find those Bikini Bandits."

"Pretty much."

Within twenty minutes, Drea and Anne were- well, departing their hut clad in brightly colored bikinis and sarong-like skirts. Each carried a beach bag containig more than just suncreen and beach towels on. As they sat down for breakfast, Glenda Chafee came by. She wore a polo shirt, knee length shorts, socks that went up to mid-calf and sneakers. "How did your case go yesterday?" she asked.

"Terrible." Anne replied and described what had happened.

Glenda gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed "You two must be made of steel. I'd crack under it."

"An occupational hazard." Drea said.

"I think I'd better stick to water hazards. See you 'round."

"So our Doctor Glenda isn't the prima and proper type we know." Anne commented as soon as Glenda was out of earshot.

"We've never seen her away from an academic setting, don't forget."

Drea then smirked and shook her head. Anne asked Drea what made her do that.

"Remeber Sharon said she envied us right before she left?" Drea asked.

"Sure."

"I wonder if she'd change her mind when she heard about yesterday."

Sharon and Jack had a standing lunch reservation for Noon on Wednesdays at their favortie resteraunt. This dated back before they were married, but had been all but eliminated after Mike was born. Once Mike was old enough for school, they had back to the routine. She still remembered that vacation she had taken in Baja back in '87 while Jack was working on a case. They had met before, but had not really known each other. She got to know Jack well enough to fall in love with him, though as a result of the expeirce was her favorite joke: the only pre-nuptial agreement they had was she wouldn't work on any cases as long as Jack wouldn't write any books.

As a result, she came into the office shortly after eleven a.m. in a nice, but over powering dress.

"How's the case going?" she asked Cindy.

"Haven't heard from them so far today." Cindy replied "They had a rough first day."

"So Jack said."

"Looks like someone else is interested in Jack." Cindy commented as two figures appeared outside the door. Two men then entered the office, they were tall, well groomed and wore slacks, jackets, dress shirts and ties. Sharon, for some reason, kept a careful eye on the pair.

"What may I do for you?" Cindy asked them.

"Is Mister Mac Clarey in?" one returned.

"Not at the moment. Would you care to leave a message?"

"I sure would."

Without another word, the two men each drew a .357 Magnum at pointed at one of the women. "I'll cover 'em, you check to be sure he isn't in his office." the speaker continued.

Sharon's stomach turned. She glanced toward Cindy, whose deep brown eyes showed fear. No more than mine, thought Sharon. Soon, the second thug emerged from Jack's office carring an eight-by-ten portrait from Jack's desk. "Look at this!" he said as her handed the pictur to his partner.

"Well!" he exclaimed. "A pleasure to make you acquaintence, Mrs. Mac Clarey. This way, you two." He pointed toward the nearest door, the one to the conference room. "I think we can make do here. In you go."

Sharon was was taken to one end of the couch, Cindy to the other. As Sharon's wrists were being tied with some sort of rope, her mind was racing, mainly with her worst fears. She knew for a fact Jack's gun was on the top shelf of their bedroom closet, where it stayed when Jack thought he didn't need, as he clearly had today. Then they were gagged with silk scarves, Cindy's was black, and it blende nicely with her sglossy black hair. Sharon's was a vivid red. "Too bad we don't have longer bits of rope." the first thug said as he sucured the gag. "But they're hard to carry around in your pockets."

The second thug had a brainstorm and went over to the window and the mini blinds. He smashed the blinds and cut the cords.

"Well done!" exclaimed his partner. The duo each took a long piece of the cord and used it to secure each captives' arms to her body. they were both shoved onto the couch, where the two goons proceeded to bind his captive's ankles together. At theis moment, Sharon was hoping Jack would take his time and arrive after these guys left.

Jack had spent a fruitless morning with the pilots of the airplane. All they could say was two of the engines died shortly after take-off, and they had no idea why. That would require raising the plane, which could not be done until it was located. About the only comfort he could get out of the situation was he could get an emergency charter if need be, which would be fine if he could get in touch with Doctor Flynn. He'd heard nothing from her since she'd left his office. He shrugged it off until as he entered the parking garage. They'd be late , but not terribly so. He called ahead on his cell phone and was bouyed by the sight of the minivan parked in the garage.

He took the elevator up to his floor and alternately hummed, sang, and whistled "That'll be the day" on his way to the office. Upon opening the door and seeing the ransacked office, he abruptly stopped. "Cindy?!" he asked, then spoke another name in alarm "SHARON?!"

His heart began to pound, then her heard a faint mmmmmmmmmmmph come from the conference room. Two, to be exact. He opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief to find his wife and secretary were unharmed. "What happened?" he asked as he removed Sharon's gag, then pulled down Cindy's.

As soon as they were able, the two relieved, but frightened, women told him what had happened. "Just before they left they said you should take the two young ladies off the case if you ever want to see them again." Sharon reported.

"When did they leave?" he asked.

"A few minutes before you got here."

Just then the phone rang. Jack punched the up the speaker and was somewhat agitated when he said "What?!"

"Something wrong, Jack?" Anne asked on the other end.

"Everything." he replied, then told Anne what had happened. When Anne reported the most recent events Jack said "Get out of there ASAP."

"Jack, I don't believe you!" Anne shot back "You've always said you'd never ask us to do something you wouldn't do yourself. You'd never quit, so neither will we!"

"Dammit Anne-"

"Sorry Jack, but I'm getting static." The line was clear as a bell "Besides, you told us to hold down the expenses." With that Anne hung up.

By now both captives were free "Should I get a hold of them?" Cindy asked. "The phone number should be on the Internet, and I don't they can handle this."

"I'd better go down there myself." Jack said.

"Jack don't." Sharon said. "There's a problem here that needs looking into. "I know Anne's green and this is Drea's first case with out your direct supervision, but you could shatter their confidence." she paused. Sharon knew her husband well, and he valued her opinion, even playing devil's advocate on occasion. She too thought the girls should be called home, but felt it was her turn to be take on the role. She could see she was making some kind of impression on him and pressed home her charge. "Besides, they're smart enough to know when they're in trouble. If they need your help, they'd tell you."

"You're right, Sharon." Jack said as her took her in his arms. "But if they do call, I want to be ready."

END OF CHAPTER FIVE