"Not really. You?"

"My head feels like it went twelve rounds with Holyfield, but other than that, I'm intact."

"Let's figure out where we are, and how we're going to get out of here," Pullman suggested. He groped in the dark, feeling his way around various supplies: rope, a gas can, several boxes of miscellaneous junk used to fix Gridley's planes. A short distance away, Pullman caught a glimpse of light coming from under a crack along the floor. "Door's over here, Tony. And by the looks of it, the sun is still shining."

"So at best, we've been out a few hours," Tony observed.

"And at worse, at least a day." Pullman led Tony to the crack of light. They leaned close, listening for a few moments for sounds to come from under the door. They were met by silence.

Tony pushed against the door, and was met by firm resistance. It was locked.
"So much for my plan to just walk out of here," Pullman said. He hesitated a moment, listening to the sounds that came at that moment from the other side of the locked door. Some people had just entered the room beyond their prison cell. One of them was the unmistakable voice of Gridley.

"It's simple, Mr. Ingram," Gridley said. "We abandon this place, leaving Pullman and his partner to fend for themselves. Since they can't get out of the closet, they will eventually starve. By the time someone finds this place, there will be nothing left but unidentifiable bones."

"I like your thinking, Cap'n," his barrel-chested first officer praised. "Clean and easy." Noises like chairs sliding back on a hard surface, followed by rustling papers, suggesting a desk being cleared out, sounded in Pullman's ears.

"Not very nice of Gridley not to invite us along," Tony said.

"We'll have to crash another party, it seems," came Pullman's answer.

"If you don't mind my observing, our last party-crashing experience left us a bit in the dark. How do you propose we get out of here? Last time I checked, we don't have a key to this broom closet, and even if we did, the lock's on their side."

Before Pullman could answer, a familiar voice came from the other side.

"My boss would not take kindly to you depleting his workforce unnecessarily, Captain Gridley."

It was Zarina.

"Seems reinforcements have arrived," Pullman said. "Thankfully, she doesn't listen to orders very well."

"At least, not your orders."

"Takes after you in that respect," Pullman joked.

"Miss Khan." Gridley sounded nervous, laughing slightly, caught off guard. "What brings you here to my neck of the woods?"

"You've taken two people in the employ of Charles Leach," she answered curtly.

Pullman could hear her boots staccatoing across the wooden floor. "I've come to take them back." A click from a gun told Pullman she came armed and ready. You go, girl, Pullman rooted silently, before realizing that for the first time in his life he was being rescued by a woman. He hoped the boys back at ASD don't catch wind of this.

Gridley laughed nervously again. "I don't quite know what you mean, Miss Khan. You have me at a loss. My men and I were just getting ready to take cargo to Mount Sibel."

"Cut the small talk, little man. I came with Pullman Brown and Tony Vincent. I saw your men abduct them. They are here and I want them back, along with the Four Elements that you've taken for your boss."

From inside the closet, Pullman tensed. Boss? What boss? He hated being at a disadvantage, especially against a woman. This situation was not helping his ego one bit.

"Surely you've been misinformed," Gridley replied. "My cargo is coffee beans, not this --- what did you call it, the Four Horsemen?"

"Elements, and don't play stupid with me. I want the Four Elements. Now."
"You don't want Mr. Brown or his partner?"

Pullman heard Zarina hesitate. He did not like the silence.

"The pilot and his friend, unfortunately, are in the employ of Charles Leach. They must come with me."

Unfortunately or not, at least they were not going to be left behind to die, Pullman thought. "Get ready, we're leaving," he whispered to Tony.

"Got my overnight bag packed, and my boarding pass in hand," said Tony.

Outside in the adjoining room, they could hear footsteps coming closer to the closet door. "You realize my men will not allow you to leave the island," Gridley told Zarina.

"I have insurance...Dr. Taylor?"

Pullman and Tony heard new footsteps enter the room beyond.

"Dr. Taylor here has agreed to be our escort to our planes. Pullman will be allowed to take the Brown Hound back to his company, while his partner will fly the Silver Bird on to Leach Enterprises, with the Four Elements." Zarina said matter-of-fact. She was not messing around. Pullman wondered if she was also glaring. Pullman heard a new voice. A whiny voice, similar to Gridley's but not quite so weasely. Seemed more natural to this Dr. Taylor, whoever he was.

"I did not exactly volunteer, Captain Gridley. Her powers of persuasion, coupled with the gun in her belt, made it difficult to disagree with her."

"I understand, Dr. Taylor," Gridley reassured him. "Perhaps, though, I can persuade Miss Khan to change her mind, especially since there are more of us than there are of her?"

"Numbers mean nothing to me," Zarina answered boldly. "I was never good at math."

"Fair enough," Gridley responded. "Let me teach you a bit about superior numbers, and home court advantage." He brought his index and thumb to his mouth, blowing out a shrill whistle that echoed through the room and into the closet holding Pullman and Tony. Within moments, a whistled response told Pullman the wrong cavalry was on its way, and he quickly and uneasily realized that he didn't stand a chance of helping Zarina out. He also didn't harbor any delusions that this Dr. Taylor, whoever he was, would be able to help either. Zarina would be on her own against Gridley and his goons.

Or would she? Pullman sniffed as an idea came to him. He shifted, turning in the dark to where he believed Tony to be. "Tony, how are your firefighting skills?"

It took Tony only a moment to catch on to what Pullman had in mind. "Not as good as my fire starting skills. In fact, downright terrible in comparison."

"Good. Let's get the party started." Pullman moved back toward the store of goods, amid the gas cans and what smelled like paint.

Tony groped blindly for several cans of used oil and came across a pile of greasy rags. "We have a pyro's dream catch here, Pullman. There's enough incendiary in here to set half the Caribbean to flames."

"Just this island. We don't want to put ourselves out of business before we can retire."
"Better to retire, than be retired, I always say."

"Yes, you do."

Pullman and Tony started grabbing various items to ignite, dousing them in gas and used oil and setting their pile by the door. Beyond the door they could hear chairs, tables and other furniture being overturned as a fight ensued. Lucky, no guns were being used...yet. The quarters were just too close to risk it. Pullman used this to his advantage as he lit the pile of soaked rags and rope. Immediately their prison cell erupted into a bright orange fireball. Pullman breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the flames catching the old, dry wood of the door and its surrounding walls, the flames licking hungrily toward the ceiling. Within moments, the ceiling was a raging inferno.
"You want to join the party?" Pullman asked Tony.

"Need you ask me twice?" Tony took the lead, with Pullman following him through the fiery blockade separating them from their captors. When they erupted into the room through the spreading flames, they caught everyone off guard momentarily.

Cinder and ash cascading around their heads, Pullman turned to Zarina. "Wanna leave this lousy party?"

For the first time, Zarina didn't glare.

She smiled.

"I like your style, Mr. Brown." She grabbed a protesting Dr. Taylor, and bolted for the window, shoving the wiry doctor of mythology through the open window to land with a thud on the ground just outside. Zarina followed, leaping through the window and easily scooping up Dr. Taylor in one move while running in the direction of the Silver Bird.

Pullman started after her as Gridley's men, still not registering what had just happened, stood rooted to the spot. The fire raced across the ceiling above. Only when pieces of fiery wood began crashing down around them did the pirates begin running for the nearest exit.

Tony stopped just short of the window. He called after Pullman. "I'll catch up in a second! I've a score to settle."

Pullman looked back briefly, shouting over his shoulder. "When you're done dancing with Gridley, get to the Hound! We'll head to the Bird! "

Tony nodded, then pulled up to Gridley, who looked frantically about the room at his men scattering like cockroaches before a light just turned on.

"You cowards! You're letting them all get away! Now get back here and fight like men!"

"Sorry, Grid, just me I guess," Tony cold-cocked the pirate captain before Gridley even knew what was happening. Gridley dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Tony, rubbing sore knuckles, looked down upon him. "Better hurry, Grid. The place is going up like a tinder box." Knowing Gridley did not hear him, Tony leapt over his inert form and through the open window. He bolted in the direction of the Hound.

The sound of bullets whistled past his ear as Pullman struggled to keep up with Zarina. Even pulling the doctor along, Zarina moved far faster than Pullman. All those years sitting behind a yoke in a seaplane were finally catching up to him. He just hoped the angry pirates he heard coming up behind him didn't catch up to him. His lungs burned and white flashes appeared in his vision. He felt the need to lie down, but something inside him edged him on and he called upon an inner strength to keep going. The Silver Bird would be just ahead, a few more yards through the trees. He trusted Tony to get safely to the Hound and get her up and away. This left him with only the need to concentrate on each step. He let Zarina lead the chase to the Bird, knowing she knew better than he where it was. He had gotten disoriented after being caught by Gridley's men at the Hound's hiding spot. He never would have found the Bird on his own. For once, he was grateful to have Zarina along.

He broke through to a clearing, and found Zarina and the doctor stopped. How could they stop with Gridley's pirates dogging their tails? When he looked past them, he realized with growing horror that the ground fell away into a deep chasm hundreds of feet below them. The roar of a waterfall off to the left accentuated the deepness of this chasm.

Zarina turned sheepishly to Pullman. "Wrong turn..."