DESPERATE HOURS

BY BW2891

The volleyball arced through the air with a deep spinning motion. "I've got it!" Jackie Ashford called out as she dove for it and drove it over the net with a hard hit. It fell straight down to the ground with a thud as her opponent missed the serve and slid down in the grass. "Every time!" Beth Miller complained, but with a teasing smile, "You pull the same move every time, and I keep falling for it!"

"That's why she's All-County and we're not," the third player said, helping her up, "Your serve, Beth."

She handed the ball to her and stepped back into place. Beth hit the ball way up into the bright early August sun, prompting Jackie to rush hard forward to get it and almost run into the net. All this proved for nothing, as the ball landed right on her head. She laughed hard at it. "You talk about me making tough plays!" she pointed out.

"No tougher than the one you made to win the game against East Central," Donna Lawrence told her. She glanced at her watch. "Uh, maybe we could wrap this up after this point," she told her friends, "I did promise my parents I'd go to the bank for them, and they'll be closing in about half an hour."

"Are you sure they need it now, Donna? I mean, not that you need the money with your father's big salary from the state," Jackie told her.

"A promise is a promise, Jackie, and I said I'd do it," Donna reminded her, "Besides, with reelction coming, he's going to need to keep all his finances in order. It's only going to take about twenty minutes at most, and we can pick up after we're done."

"It sounds good to me," Beth nodded in agreement, "Jackie?"

"It'll work for me," Jackie laid the volleyball down and picked up her purse from the patio table she'd laid it on, "Besides, I think we could use a break after a two hour game anyway."

The three of them strolled back into Donna's house for her to get the essential items, then followed her out the front door and up Hemlock Street. The late Friday traffic was still fairly light. The three of them had decided to spend the weekend at Donna's, since her father, who'd be elected to the state Senate four years ago, was busy on a reelection campaign across the state, and they'd have the house all to themselves. It would probably be their last big hurrah of the summer before their junior year of high school would begin in a few weeks.

Volleyball was the three girls' biggest love. They'd been playing it since they'd been young, and were fortunate to all be on the varsity team together. Jackie, with her long light brown hair and warm smile, loved all sports, also starting on the softball team in the spring and also putting in time with the tennis squad, albeit as a reserve. She was hoping, if the rest of her career went successful enough, to join with an Olympic-calliber volleyball team and someday win a gold medal.

Olympic glory was furthest from Beth's mind. Not quite as attractive as her friends, with shorter, shoulder-length dark brown hair and shorter, stockier frame, Beth was a quiet, studeous type who would spend hours, it seemed, in the library getting the next night's homework done. Thus, her report cards were often exemplary, and teachers pointed to her as an example for her fellow students to follow.

Donna also was on the softball team with Jackie, but she was truthfully somewhat less of a natural athlete as Jackie was. The attractive and poular Donna, with her long blond hair and deep purse, was more of a writer by nature and was filing out paperwork lately to see if she could be a part-time columnist for the area's Daily Reporter paper, perhaps to report on teen affairs in town. Different though the girls might have been, however, their friendship for each other had been strong their whole lives, and each was glad to help the other with their area of specialtise if they asked for it.

"It sure has gotten hotter out," Beth wiped her brow. The sun was beating down mercilessly everywhere; temperatures all day had been closing to ninety or so.

"Funny, I didn't notice any change," Donna shrugged. She ran a hand through her hair and shrugged, "Maybe when you're playing as hard as we were, you don't notice the little things."

"So the big question is, what are we going to do tomorrow afternoon?" Jackie proposed, "Much as I'd love to play volleyball all weekend long..."

"How about the movies?" Donna proposed, "There's that new romantic one coming in over the weekend that looks good."

"So you and James can cuddle up together once he gets back from his vacation?" Jackie teased her.

"Hey, I have missed him," Donna told her, a longing look on her face at the thought of her boyfriend, "A week an a half away in Hawaii is too long."

"Well, at least you HAVE a boyfriend, Donna," Beth said with just a tinge of disappointment in her voice, "Jackie and I have to dream."

"We're holding out," Jackie added, "For just the right guy."

"That's easy for you to say, Jackie, at least they pay some attention to you," Beth shook her head.

"Hey come on Beth, they don't ignore you because you're on the honor roll every semester," Jackie reassured her, "They just haven't found you yet. And they will."

Beth smiled. "Well, maybe," she said, "I supposed it would only take..."

"Excuse me," came a call from the parking lot to their right. A man was climbing out of a large gray van parked there, "Could you please give us some directions? We're lost, and we're looking for Route 44."

"Route 44? You have to go out of town to pick that up," Donna informed him.

"I've got a map in the back here; could you come point it out for me?" he asked, gesturing toward his vehicle.

"Uh, sure, absolutely," Donna walked over toward it, her friends right behind her, "Now what you want to do is turn right at the next light and go..."

Suddenly as she approached the van, the back doors burst open and three men wearing hats, dark glasses, and trenchcoats in spite of the heat jumped out. "Robert Lawrence's little girl, I presume?" the largest one inquired, seizing her by the wrist, "Come on in; we'd love to take you for a ride."

"What are you...stop...let go of me!" Donna cried once the initial shock wore off. She tried to pull away, but her would-be abductor's grip was like iron.

"Leave her alone, you ape!" Beth found herself screaming. She and Jackie launched themselves at the kidnappers. "Take your hands off her now!" she shouted, tugging at the arm of the largest one.

"So, you want to play rough, do you?" the man clocked her hard in the chest. He then grabbed Donna again after she'd momentarily broken free and dragged her by the collar into the van. "Get her friends too; I want no witnesses!"

The man who'd originally hailed the girls' down seized Beth around the waist and picked her up. "Jackie run, quick!" Beth screamed at her as she was carried toward the van, "Go get help!"

Jackie took off in a sprint, but unfortunately another of the kidnappers was standing nearby, and this man grabbed her leg and tripped her. "HELP!" she cried out, "Somebody help; we're being kid--!"

"Shut up!" the kidnapper covered her mouth with one hand and pinned her arms behind her back with the other. Jackie aimed a few kicks at him, but he was out of her reach. She was shoved into the van on top of Donna and Beth. "Go, quick!" her captor yelled as he slammed the doors shut behind him.

"What are you...!!" Donna asked in terror as they pulled out into traffic.

"What we're doing," sneered perhaps the smallest of the kidnappers, "is getting someone with a good price, Miss Lawrence. And that's you. You're going to fetch us a good ransom. Having a few extra hostages isn't going to hinder anything."

"Let my friends go, please," she begged them, "They don't deserve to be...!"

"Shut up!" the man cocked a rifle and pointed it in her face. Quivering, Donna slouched down on the floor. "Anyway," the biggst one said, "What do you gents say we make our guests more comfortable; after all; they are going for a nice long ride today."