12. Marc
Marc
“…a nd while we’re incredibly appreciative of all the support, the sheer volume of messages has made it impossible for our ‘hosts’ to find important communications.
We therefore request that once a legal, binding agreement has been reached regarding Malati’s future, the Minister of Environment makes a televised statement to let the world know of the plans.
Serena and I haven’t been harmed so far, and we want very much to go home to our families. ”
Families. Marc sure hoped Kitty wasn’t losing sleep, and he also hoped she was keeping Huck sheltered from the drama.
This time, Marc and Serena had written most of the script, although Havana had changed some parts to make Wild Roots appear more benevolent.
Then Serena had pointed out that if they came across as too nice, nobody would believe this was a real kidnapping, so they’d changed them back.
Marc had offered to be tied up again. The blonde showed up with onions, and Serena cried convincingly while Marc adopted a suitably grave tone for the appeal.
When they included footage of the tarsiers and the pig-tailed lemurs, plus several clips of Indonesia’s natural beauty to show what would be lost if the development went ahead, Marc had somehow found himself rooting for the bad guys.
And were they really that bad? Sure, they’d fired a few bullets, but they hadn’t actually killed anyone. The property developer would wipe out half the island’s wildlife population.
“How long does it take to catch Stockholm syndrome?” he muttered as Havana and the cameraman left the room, leaving Marc with just Serena and the handcuffs for company. “I think I have it.”
“Do I look like a psychologist?” she asked. “All I know is that the tarsiers are oddly cute and the property developer sounds like a real dick.”
“He is a dick,” the blonde said from the doorway. Katie. Someone had slipped up and called her by her real name earlier. “His ego is bigger than Uranus.”
Marc crinkled his nose. “Is that a roundabout way of telling me I’m full of shit?”
“Uranus, the planet. Not… Never mind.”
“Isn’t Jupiter the biggest planet?”
“Yes, but Uranus has that magical blend of size and toxicity. Lonnie McDonald only cares about money. Not the environment, not animals, not even humans. He hides his assets to avoid paying child support because having an extra zero on his bank balance is more important than being a father, and he cheats on his wife and his girlfriend.” Katie was breathing hard, and her anger came through loud and clear.
“So no, you don’t have Stockholm syndrome.
You just have empathy. We’re the good guys here. ”
“I’m sure all the bad guys say that.” Marc held up a hand when she opened her mouth to protest. “Yeah, yeah, I know—your collective is different.”
“If you keep on with the rudeness, I won’t bring you any more pineapple.”
“My apologies—I’ll admit we could have been kidnapped by worse people. How long until the video gets uploaded?”
“Ten minutes? Twenty? They’re just finishing up the edits. This had better work.”
“I’m sure the good folks in the Indonesian government don’t want a diplomatic incident on their hands. Have you tried grilling the pineapple with a little sugar? It tastes much better that way.”
“I don’t think my dentist would agree with you.”
“This could be our last night on earth. Who’s worried about cavities?”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Fine, you’ll have to show me what to do. What do you want with the pineapple? We have nasi goreng or bubur ketan hitam.”
“The second one is that gloopy black porridge?” Serena asked.
“It actually tastes better than it looks.”
“No, it really doesn’t. Let’s go with the nasi goreng. I don’t like slimy stuff in my mouth.”
Phae would have made a joke about that, a joke that was probably inappropriate and definitely dirty.
In Nebraska, the age of consent was sixteen, and they’d taken full advantage of it—her decision, not his.
Marc would have waited. Back then, he would’ve worn a cock cage and given her the only key if she’d asked him to.
And now? Now, he saw what he hadn’t fully understood as a jumped-up twenty-three-year-old—that Phae was the kind of woman who came along once in a lifetime, the soulmate you did everything in your power to keep.
He’d walk to the ends of the earth, fly to the moon, to Mars, to wake up next to her again.
But instead, Marc was sharing a mattress with Serena and dinner with a strange bunch of kidnappers. He just had to make the best of it.