Linus pushed Moe to get inside. Moe didn't budge. He grabbed Linus by the arm and pulled him into the cabin, slamming shut the door.
"Did you see that?" Lexie said. "Our boy is in trouble."
"Time for Charlie's Angels to save the day," the dancer said. She and Lexie marched toward the cabin. "Are you coming, Dakota?"
"Whsht!" Holly hissed. "Go get some snakes to create a diversion. That might help."
"I'm not touching any snakes, Miss Holly. There are some pretty big mosquitos around here though. Do you think that might distract them?"
"I don't know. Just get something. And quickly!"
Holly fell into step with Lexie and the dancer. They surveilled the sides and back of the house, crouching beneath the windows. As Holly approached the door, a large hand closed around Lexie's face and pulled her back without the other two noticing. Soon, a different hand closed around the dancer's mouth. She was pulled backward, her ams and legs flailing akimbo.
When Holly got to the cabin door, she was alone. "Didn't matter that those two chickened out," she thought. "I'm going in."
Holly pounded on the door. Andrew opened it. "Welcome to the party, Dakota." He turned to the room. "We got ourselves a pretty new ante for the pot." The men in the room roared with testosterone-fueled laughter. Andrew grabbed her and pulled her into the cabin.
Inside the log cabin, wooden floors stretched from log wall to log wall. A green felt table was central covered with cards and slips of paper with Raven's name on it. Felix was engaged in writing the women's names of new slips of paper. Moe chained Lexie and the dancer to hooks in the wall while each of the other two men enjoyed removing each of the women's clothing.
"Where would you like to be displayed, Dakota?" Andrew asked. He threw a chain over a beam that ran the length of the cabin. He used handcuffs and the chain to position Holly with her arms high, her toes barely touching the wooden floor.
"Gentlemen! May I have your attention, please." All of the men turned to watch Andrew with the tiny blond woman with the short golden hair hanging by her arms from the beam. Andrew lovingly removed the business suit that Dakota used for her performance. Within seconds, she hung completely exposed, her legs dangling, her toes barely grazing the floor. The men began to whistle and applaud.
Andrew picked up the naked woman in chains and moved her along the beam until she was near the blazing fire. The heat warmed her tan figure, turned her ass and legs pink. Perspiration beaded on her forehead.
Holly twisted until she found each of her companions. Raven was chained in the bedroom in the rear, visible through the open door. Lexie and the dancer were chained to hooks on opposite walls of the cabin. Linus was unconscious in a heap in the corner. A bruise on the side of his head told the story.
"Whsht!" Holly called.
The men sat at the table picking up cards to begin the next round of bets, surrounded by naked women. The problem — there were five men and only four women counting Raven. Either one man will be left without a partner, ore two would share a woman. Of course it was possible that one big winner would claim all four of the women.
"Whsht!"
"What do you want me to do? I'm working here. These things are not light."
Holly looked around but couldn't confirm that Whsht was really working. Then she saw something moving from the bathroom crawling with thick arms and legs into the main room. Then another movement, crawling at the same rate as the first. By the end, five twelve-foot and larger shadows were moving toward the green felt table. By the light of the fireplace, she was able to figure out what they were.
Alligators.
Large, sharp-toothed, powerful-jawed, hungry alligators roamed the wooden floor. Powerful tails swished side to side as the sturdy legs plodded forward. Holly raised her legs so she wouldn't be such as easy target. The men were still engrossed in their card game as the reptiles slid closer to their meaty legs.
"Whsht! Get the handcuff keys. And the keys to any other locks you can find. Hurry!"
Whsht pulled at his orange hair then tried to bounce from the back of one log-like shape to the next, bringing him ever closer to the table.
"Card!"
"Two cards!"
The rapt concentration on the game continued making it easier for Whsht to rummage through pockets. He found several sets of keys. The car and truck keys he kept in one side pocket. The keys that looked like they could open locks or handcuffs he kept in his other side pocket.
The alligators circled the table behind the chairs, drawing closer to the meaty legs. The men watched their cards and periodically checked the condition of the women who would constitute each pot.
"Whsht! Hurry!"
Whsht needed to get them to stop watching the women so he could free them. He could unlike the cuffs and the locks easily, but when the freed women began to run for their safety, the men would very likely notice;
"Whsht! My legs are getting tired up here!"
"These guys are watching you too closely. I can unlock everybody, but they will notice right away."
"What about the alligators?"
"Them? Big deal. The guys will just use you all as bait for them. I need something to focus their attention long enough to get you all out of here."
"Is there something I can do?" Holly asked.
"You've done enough, Miss Holly." He scratched his orange beard and shook his head. "One thing might work, but it's pretty drastic."
"We're in a situation calling for drastic measures. Now!"
More indecipherable elvish oaths spewed from his mouth while he stamped his feet faster than a steam locomotive's piston. "Oh...All right! I'll do it."
With a flourish, Whsht summoned a bolt of lightning to the table. It illuminated everything, blinding the men for an instant, but destroyed nothing. When they could see again, there was a new pot in the center of the table.
A pot of gold.
Their eyes fixed only on the lovely yellow coins glowing in the light of the fire. Whsht rushed from Lexie to the dancer to Raven to Holly, unloosening them, and hustling them from the cabin to their freedom.
"But our clothes!" the dancer said.
"Too many alligators in there now," Whsht replied. "Get in the BMW and be ready to roll."
Then Whsht sped into the alligator-infested cabin and hoisted Linus from the closing jaws of one monster reptile and onto his own shoulder. He dashed from the house, pausing only to look with longing affection at the pot of gold illuminating the faces of the men drawing nearer.
"It's mine. I saw it first."
"My cabin, my gold."
"Goes to the strongest."
"Goes to the quickest."
"Goes to the one with the pistol."
The men argued ownership of the pot, never considering the possibility of sharing the largess. When anyone reached for a handful, someone else blocked him.
"Let go of my hand."
"Let go of my leg."
"Ow! That hurts. Let go of my leg."
"My leg!"
"Oh my God! Aaaaahhhh!"
The women heard the screams and the growls from inside the cabin, but never saw anyone leave. The women started up the BMW and asked each other, "What was that? What happened?"
Holly tried to explain, "Some alligators got into the cabin."
"Alligators didn't free us," said Lexie.
