And then suddenly, without warning, she felt hands lifting up the sheet over her, tearing at the tape over her nose. In seconds Beth could breathe again. More hands loosened her bonds, the blindfold, the gag. "Are you all right, young lady?" asked a soothing voice. Beth looked up once her eyes had adjusted to the light. Policemen were standing over her. She started sobbing hard in relief. Saved. "Yellow wires on the explosives," she said in a low, weakened voice, gesturing at the explosive vest and belt she'd been forced to wear.

Another officer rushed forward with pliars. Two loud clicks and the bombs were disarmed and removed. Beth swayed as she tried to stand up and slid into the police's arms. "It's OK, Miss Miller, you're safe now," he told her reassuringly.

"They've still got Donna!" Jackie cried from her right as she was untied as well, "We don't know where they took her!"

"We'll look for her as soon as possible," the officer nearest to her took hold of her arm and gently helped her up, "It's all right, you two are going to be OK. Come on with us, we'll get you some water and medical aid."

"Where are we anyway?" Beth glanced around, but the structures around them seemed little more than unidentifiable hulks.

"Pine Valley Summer Camp," one of the officers told her, "Wouldn't have open for another two months; they could have held you here for a long time. But, at least its over now. And there's some friends here to keep you company."

"BRAD!!" Jackie half-screamed, seeing him sitting near the open door of a police van parked by one of the cabins. With the little strength she had left, she shot herself into his arms in delight. "Oh, I thought I'd lost you!" she sobbed.

"And was worried I'd lost..." Brad sniffed in delight and pulled her close, "But it's over now, Jackie. You're free and you can finally go home."

"Now without Donna," Beth raised her head up from her embrace with Kyle in the seat next to them, "They've still got her somewhere; drove off with her in a van. Could be up to either of the hills around this camp. I can't go back if she's not alive, and..."

"Got them, sir," came the sound of a search party crew crackling over a radio on a table set up nearby, "Van moving west up the mountain to the top of the peak."

The apparent leader of the rescue team ran for the radio. Keep them in your sight," he ordered, "They do NOT go over the edge of that cliff! Circle around and bring them back down here, and make sure Miss Lawrence isn't hit."

---

Donna bounced up in the air. The road she was being taken on now was very uneven. The kidnappers had removed her headphones, but had kept her gagged and blindfolded, and had her bound from head to toe. Where she was going now, she had no idea whatsoever. But it immediately became clear she was being followed, as a helicopter blade could distinctly be heard rumbling through the air behind them. "Please, please, please be a rescue!!" she begged.

"Drat, how'd they get to find us so fast!" one of the kidnappers whined. No sooner were the words out of his mouth that the roar of sirens filled the evening air. "This is the police!" came the roar over headphones, "You are ordered to pull over and release your prisoner."

There was the smashing of a window and the sound of rifle fire above Donna. She scrunched down as far to the floor as she could in fear, trying not to present herself as a target to anyone. At least the police presence hinted Jackie and Beth were safe, but would she be...??

"Watch out!" came the cry from the front of the van. Seconds later Donna lurched forward hard. And was picked up roughly by brutal arms. "Lllltt eeee oooo!" came her muffled cry for release.

"Shut up, hag!" the head kidnapper slapped her hard across the face. The van door burst open in front of them. "See Lawrence's girl!?" the head kidnapper yelled, shoving Donna forward, "I want to see all weapons on the ground now if she's to live another few minutes!"

There came the loud clattering of guns hitting the road. Donna was too frightened to do anything except let her captor drag her along the road, or wherever they were. "Don't follow us, don't make any attempt to look for us!" the head kidnapper continued his ranting, "If I see one single...!"

"Boss watch out!" cried one of his henchmen too late. In a blur that seemed to take forever, Donna tumbled out of the head kidnapper's hands and rolled hard into a tree. She winced as several shots rang out, followed by a loud scream that took forever to go away. She whimpered in terror, too frightened to get up.

Until the familiar hand clutched her shoulder. "Don't be scared anymore, Donna," James told her soothingly, yanking off her gag and blindfold, "They've got them. They won't bother you ever again."

"But the...the guy...he's,...?" she stammered weakly.

"Shot him after he tried to shoot me for driving straight at him," James explained as he untied her and slipped off her explosives, "Cops got him seven times before he fell off that cliff. Even if he isn't dead, they'll find him in the end. "I'm just so glad you're so right, Donna...precious, lovely Donna."

Crying in delight, the two of them hugged each other hard right there on the road. Donna couldn't remember the last time she'd been as happy as she was now. She'd survived. Against unbelievable odds.

"We've got a car for you two lovebirds," one of the officers dragging away a handcuffed kidnapper told them, "Take you and your friends to the precinct. Your families will be waiting there for you."

"Wonderful," Donna breathed happily. She skipped towards the car--not least in part because of the rain starting to fall--and climbed in next to an equally exuberant Jackie and Beth. "We're finally going home!" she breathed excitedly.

"Dorothy was absolutely right, there's no place like home," Jackie sighed, "I may even give Mark a kiss when I see him. We made it."

"Yep," Beth nodded in joy, "We made it together. And we got something out of it positive, too."

She smiled warmly at Kyle, with his arm around her, as the van they were in started off down the mountain away from the scene of the final confrontation. Life had never seemed so much better to all three of them.

THE END