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to briefly reveal the pistol holstered at his hip. He looked up at one of the men, said something, and jerked his head for the doorway.
    The man was gone only for a moment before returning. He spoke quickly.
    Qayin closed the notebook and turned to face Cleena. ‘It appears the professor is awake. Would you care to join us?’
    Cleena couldn’t help but wonder what the man’s response would be if she had said no.
    She smiled at Qayin. ‘I’d love to.’ Movement was good. As long as she was moving, she had a chance to find a way to escape.
    Futilely, Lourds pulled at his bonds and tried to loosen them. The legs of the wooden chair scratched against the stone floor.
    He blew out all his breath, then attempted to raise his hands and slither down below the ropes. He remembered reading something about an escape attempt like that in one of the adventure novels he read whenever his studies permitted.
    Those people in books were always thinking.
    The plan worked a lot better for the character in the novel than it did for Lourds. He just ended up getting more winded and was afraid for a moment that he had trapped himself in a position that would slowly strangle him. During his frantic efforts to return himself to his previous position, Lourds shoved back against the chair and it fell over with him still attached to it. He landed with a harsh bang and the back of his head struck the stone floor.
    Lying on his back, he realized that his new position was much worse than where he had initially been. Now the blood was draining to his head and causing his temples to throb. And it wasn’t just his pants he had to worry about wetting thanks to gravity and angle. He let out a heartfelt sigh.
    As an adventure hero, you make a much better linguistics professor.
    He wondered if it would be too embarrassing to call out for help again. On the other hand, that course of action might simply hasten his death.
    I don’t have these kinds of problems in lecture halls.
    Footsteps sounded far away and seemed to be coming closer. Given the acoustics in the room, Lourds couldn’t decide where they were coming from. He craned his neck round, but the overturned chair blocked a lot of his view, which was of unrelieved darkness.
    A few minutes later, swaying incandescent light filtered into the room.
    Lourds narrowed his eyes against the light because it seemed so bright. At least ten figures approached him and he saw there were multiple lights among them. When they got close enough, he only recognized one of them.
    The young redhead peered down at him in disbelief. ‘You managed to do this to yourself by yourself?’
    ‘It was the chair,’ Lourds protested. ‘It wasn’t properly set on the floor.’
    ‘How do you get out of bed in the morning without breaking your neck?’
    Lourds struggled to hang onto his dignity, but lying on his back with a full bladder while tied to a chair made that almost impossible. ‘I get out of bed just fine. I’m just not much of an escape artist.’
    The young woman folded her arms and looked at him disparagingly. ‘You suck as an escape artist.’
    ‘Thanks.’ Lourds said dryly. He looked at the men that circled him. ‘Who are your friends?’
    ‘Employers.’
    Lourds tried to shrug, but found he couldn’t while tied up this way. ‘However you wish to designate them.’
    ‘You can be a real pain, you know.’
    ‘I’ve been told. But after having been abducted at gunpoint, shot at and nearly blown up, I think my behaviour is perfectly understandable.’ Lourds kept his fear in check. ‘So what happens now?’
    ‘Now, Professor Lourds, we’ll see if your abilities match your reputation,’ one of the men said.
    Lourds glanced at the man but was certain he had never seen him before in his life. ‘You know who I am?’
    The man regarded Lourds with a cold, penetrating gaze. ‘I do, but that doesn’t mean you’re the one I seek.’
    If I’m not, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble for nothing . It was