Taming of the Two

It was locked.

Exactly as she’d suspected.

“I don’t think there is an emergency,” she said, not adding that there was going to be one just as soon as she got out of here and wrapped her hands around Bianca’s neck. “There’s been some sort of…mistake.” She jiggled the doorknob, hoping to throw the lock.

“Is that locked?”

Kate turned around and leaned her back against the cool door. “Yes, it is.”

“So we’re locked in here?”

“Yes, we are.”

He heaved a sigh and went over to the phone, muttering something about idiots in charge. He lifted the receiver and pushed a button. Then another. And another.

Then he tapped on the receiver button.

Kate watched with growing trepidation. “What’s wrong?”

“Phone’s dead.”

“I just used it.”

“Well, now it’s dead.”

“Do you have a cell phone?”

“No.”

This pushed her panic buttons. “What do you mean, no? How can you not have a cell phone?”

“I notice you don’t, either.”

“Yes, but I did.”

He looked at her too patiently. “Then where is it?”

“It must have fallen out of my pocket. Or something.” At this point she was sure Bianca was behind this somehow.

“Whatever. Let’s stop talking about what we can’t do and figure out what we can.” He frowned and looked around. “First thing is, we should look for keys.”

“Okay. Good.” Hope surged in Kate. Surely, Bianca hadn’t been that thorough. They began riffling under the counter and in the cash register, looking for a key.

At one point they both put their hands in the same cubbyhole at the same time and Kate pulled her hand back as though she’d touched a snake.

Ben looked at her for a moment. “Something wrong?”

“No, I—” What could she say? How could she explain what looked like such a distasteful reflex? “I was startled.”

He kept feeling around the cubby before pronouncing, “And for nothing. There’s nothing here.” He stepped back and folded his arms in front of him. “We’ll have to figure something else out.”

“We could break the window,” Kate suggested, gesturing toward what she thought was obviously the only thing left they could do.

“Kate, it’s a racetrack. They plan for security breaches. That’s not glass. It’s thick Lucite. You couldn’t break it if you tried. Not without a power tool.”

“Do they sell power tools in here?” she asked halfheartedly.

“Afraid not.”

They both looked at the inventory of horse-themed T-shirts and sweatshirts, key chains and the like.

“If it wouldn’t appeal to a thirteen-year-old girl, I don’t think they sell it here,” Ben concluded.

Panic began to rise in Kate’s chest. “So, wait a minute, you’re saying that we actually can’t get out of here? We’re stuck?”

He looked as if he was ready to give some smart-aleck answer until he looked into Kate’s eyes. Then his expression softened and he said, “I didn’t say that. We haven’t exhausted all the possibilities yet. Not by a long shot.” But he looked doubtful.

She didn’t care, she’d take it. “I have a Swiss army knife, do you think we can do something with that?”

“Hand it over. Let’s see.”

She reached into her pocket, thinking what a good thing it was that she’d gotten a splinter earlier because she’d ended up pocketing the knife after using the tweezers in it.

But when she handed it to him, he looked at it dubiously.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Well.” He turned the knife over in his hand and opened the small blade. “I was sort of picturing something a little bigger. But this might do.”

He went to the door and started working at the lock.

Kate went up behind him and watched over his shoulder. “Guess those years of juvenile delinquency might just be coming in handy, huh?”

He shot a look at her. “I’d hardly say I was a juvenile delinquent.” He worked more on the knob and said, without looking back, “But yeah, I guess you could say so.”

There was a click and for a moment they both sucked in their breath in anticipation. But when he tried the knob, it was still unmovable.

He closed the knife and started to hand it back to her.

“You can’t give up,” she said.

“I’ve got to. This place is built with security in mind. They designed it exactly so that people couldn’t do what we’re trying to do now.”

“So that’s it? You’re just…quitting?”

He laughed softly. “Well, it’s not like we’re going to die here. They open the shop a couple of hours before post time. Someone will be here soon.”

Kate looked at her watch. “It’s six-thirty in the morning,” she said, her breath feeling tight. “Post time isn’t until seven o’clock tonight.”