Fatal Attraction

Hey everyone! Finally back with the fifth episode of the series!

And a big thanx once again to all those people who keep mailing me! Love all my fans! You keep me going!

And a note here, my college re opens this week so the last two episodes are going to be a bit slow in coming. Please be patient, I will finish the story as promised.

Ok, now with all that out of the way, onwards with the story!

Episode 5

The rest was cut off as Christian heard a whirring sound and was shocked to see the grand entry door sliding shut. He made a mad dash for it and dived forward to try and make it in the last second through the narrow opening left as the door steadily closed in.

He failed.

His head rammed against the door as he felt the solidity of it and collapsed on the floor. He groggily stood up as he pushed against the monolithic gate. It was no use. And he was sure it would not budge even if a force ten times greater than his was applied.

Suddenly Christian heard another whirring noise as the iron bar gate collapsed and fell behind him.

Christian watched in horror. He was trapped between the double gates. 'This can not be happening', he thought to himself.

"Vanessa? Vanessa? What's going on? Are you there?" he talked in a frenzied tone into the headset, but received no reply.

Christian looked around at the small two foot wide enclosure he was trapped in. And he had no way out. Was this the end for him? And where was Vanessa? What had gone wrong in their plan?

He kicked against the door screaming and shouting, all to no avail. He was powerless; he had been caught.

In his helpless state he fell back against the iron bars and slumped down to the ground, a million thoughts running through his head.

'There go the plans for my vacation now.' He thought as suddenly he chuckled in the cramped confinement. He sighed as the tension left his body, realizing there was nothing he could do; he was doomed.

A clicking noise from the first door jerked him up with a start. Had the authorities gotten here so soon?

His mouth fell open when he saw who it was. Standing ahead of him in black leather pants and a biker jacket was Duke, with a smug expression on his face.

"Yo! How you been?"

"Ba, Badgerking?" Christian finally stammered, finding his mouth suddenly dry. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Nice to meet you too." Duke stated wryly as the fallen man struggled to get up. "Now get your lame ass up and running, we have to leave."

Christian still stared at the new person on the scene. He stood up in a dazed manner.

"And close your mouth."

At that Christian snapped back to reality as his dropped jaw returned back to its normal state. There was no time to figure out how Duke was on the scene and how he got there. There was danger lurking around and they had to make an escape.

He stepped up and started sprinting after Duke who had already taken of towards the E-deck.

"Where's Vanessa?" he hissed once he sided up to Duke.

"You mean Natasha?" Duke gasped between breaths. "Don't worry about her; she's already out of here. It's us who are going to be in deep shit now."

Footsteps resounded along the ship's passageways as both the runners stopped short. Christian immediately ducked low and peered around the corner. A group of armed guards were racing along it, but much to his relief they turned left into the corridor before theirs and raced towards the museum that housed Mr. Checkov's personal collection.

"How the hell did the dock guards get here so fast?"

"The whole thing was rigged." Duke stated in a chastising manner. "You're lucky I got here on time."

"C'mon!" Duke gestured sprinting ahead of Christian when the footsteps faded away. "We have to get outside!"

Christian raced after Duke. There were too many thoughts inside his head but he had to stay focused. There would be time for questions later. He followed as Duke led him through a maze of corridors and staircases, obviously aware of the way that led out. It took a few seconds of following him around for Christian to understand that Duke had studied the plans of the ship and knew his way around; perhaps even better than he did.

The pair paced along as silently and stealthily as they could. A general commotion on board the ship made it all too obvious that the alarm had been sounded and security personnel were swarming all around.

A minute later, jumping from a deck onto the wooden wharf; a difficult hurdle for Duke from a height of around 6-7 meters, and an easy hop for Christian, the two were on solid ground again.

"Follow me," Duke stated with gritted teeth, the soles of his feet hurting after the fall. His lower jaw had slammed against the roof of his mouth as he had hit the ground and his teeth were clanging as well.

Christian's eyes widened as he was led to an area behind metallic crates and saw the metallic blue BMW parked in the shadows, hardly suitably concealed He opened his mouth to question Duke as they paced towards the parked bike but was cut off by a high pitched whistle from above the deck.

They had been spotted.

"Get on," Duke stated angrily as he put on his helmet.

Christian shrugged as he made towards the pillion rider's seat and straddled the crotch-rocket.

Above on deck a tumult was being raised as armed personnel made their way towards the ship railings and peered over, some standing exactly where Duke and Christian had jumped out from, but no one jumped overboard as they had. They were rushing towards the lower decks.

The spotlight beacon was now shining down onto the dock area and scanned it for fugitives as whistles continued to blast in the air all around.

But they were soon drowned out by the sounds of a gun, as bullets ricocheted against the steel containers in the small confined area.

'We're fucked', Christian thought to himself, 'They're opening fire without warning; this should definitely not be such a highly sensitized front!' Christian's thoughts were swamped out as Duke's bike started with a warm purring which developed into a heavy droning in a couple of seconds.

"Here, you'll need these to stay stable." Duke stated, handing a couple of white earphones with a small digital MP3 player to his pillion rider. Christian took the offered mini speakers with confusion written all over his face. He put them next to his ear wondering what they were for, and why they were so important in such a critical situation.

He made a face and immediately pulled the earphones apart as he heard the blaring thumps and electrical distortions of the metallic music playing on them.

"Put them on!" Duke hissed as he wrenched the handle and re-adjusted the handlebar to a greater height in his forward leaning position that would enable the back rider to hold on more tightly. They skidded as the sports cruiser pulled out from the shadows and Duke shifted gears as the GT series bike roared to life.

Without thinking, Christian put the tiny devices on as Duke accelerated at a break-neck pace to the parked area in front of the Nebressa.

Duke raced alongside the parked ship as bullets paced past them, hitting the steel canisters and the wooden crates that lay alongside. A few guards quickly made their way inside jeeps to give chase.

Christian watched in horror to suddenly find two hummers packed with security personnel raced after them. Little did he know that his fear of getting caught would soon be replaced by a new fear.

His stomach did somersaults as Duke zipped right and then left as he skidded across at a maddening pace; forging new paths amidst the dockyard dumps. The hummers were now following in a parallel lane, their profiles too large to maneuver inside the narrow path Duke had steered his bike in. He held onto the metallic back flap, all the while Duke's selection of music throbbing in his ears, blocking all outside sound and somehow seeming fit for the situation.

Duke sped towards the entrance of the dockyard. He knew once they were out of the private port area and onto civilian area, their predators would no longer recklessly shower bullets upon them. And then he saw the huge metallic gate of the entrance slowly sliding in as a few men waved for the bike to stop.

Duke knew he would have to make it.

There was no other option.

"What the..?" Christian shouted as he realized what Duke was going to attempt, but his voice was sunk in the commotion, the roaring engine, the bullets being fired towards them and the loud music blaring into his ears.

The bike zoomed alarmingly, covering the few dozen between them as the gate slid inwards, and Duke rode towards the narrow gap on growing smaller each instant.

They made it, the metallic door missing them by a hair's breadth.

Christian sat stunned behind. He had nearly been chopped in half by the massive metallic gate and the driver in front of him was to blame. He was also the one to blame for getting him out of a very sticky situation.

"What, why are we slowing?" Christian asked loudly, not able to hear his own voice as the music continued to overpower his own voice.

And then he saw the narrow path ahead; a narrow road that branched off into the expressway. The same path was blocked by a monstrous jeep with its headlights blinding them as they approached.

Behind them the metallic gate of the dock entrance was slowly reopening as the hummers revved their engines.

"Hold onto me!" Duke yelled loud enough for Christian to hear over the piercing cacophony in his ears, which had turned from meaningless thumps to screeching electrical distortions.

Christian realized what Duke was attempting as he leaned forward and tightly clutched the driver around the waist. He hardly knew if he would survive this one.

Duke clutched the handlebars hard as the bike roared and picked up speed at an astonishing rate. And drove directly towards the parked monstrous truck ahead of them.

Christian watched the on board computer display rapidly changing speeds on the flat screen display. He closed his eyes at the last moment, the moment when Duke suddenly arched the bike towards the left and made for a wooden plank conveniently placed as an upwards incline, pointing more or less towards the general direction of the expressway.

The bike climbed the platform and zoomed off the end, soaring through the air, the occupants of the security personnel in the parked truck watching in awe as the bike peaked at an altitude of about 10 feet of the ground before resuming its parabolic trajectory back to Earth.

A heavy clunk was heard as the Motorrad para-lever and shock absorber system took in the impact and the bike skidded before Duke regained control and veered sideways, tires screeching, just avoiding the trash cans on the sides.

Christian opened his eyes to realize they were back on track and on the expressway. His heart was thumping louder than the music that boomed in his ears.

He turned sideways to notice that the monster truck parked behind was frantically backing up as the hummer vehicles waited impatiently for it to get out of the way so they could go after the fugitives.

"It's not over yet!" Duke yelled to his companion as he zoomed off on the expressway. "Hold on tighter!"

Christian could hardly hear the instructions being doled out but he hardly needed to be informed. He clutched the leather jacket around Duke's waist as tightly as he could, holding on for dear life. The metallic bluish black rocket roared along the expressway with its two riders, its diver performing a series of tilts and turns to overtake the speeding cars.

Christian turned behind only to find the hummers back on their tracks. His head was reeling under the effect of the music, the speed and the wind blowing in his face. His jaw hurt from the impact of the fall they had taken after the bike had zoomed off into empty space. He had no clue as to whether they would ever evade their captors. He held on to Duke and inched in closer knowing he had to leave everything in his hands now.

Duke suddenly started cutting towards the right. Scott closed his eyes once again as the bike reached speeds not meant for road traffic. He hardly had the stomach to digest what Duke would try next.

With a sharp skid, Duke braked as the rear braking systems exerted themselves to turn by a complete 180 degrees at the intersection, the bike tilting at a perilous 30 degrees off the ground as Christian's knees scraped the surface. And the next instant the bike was on the road again.

Only, they were on the wrong side.

Christian's heart jumped into his mouth as Duke tilted left and right at dangerous angles to maneuver against the reverse traffic. They were riding amidst cars speeding at more than a hundred miles an hour, which were all heading in the opposite direction! Tilting too close for comfort towards one side and then suddenly lurching the bike in the opposite direction and tilting the other way, barely missing speeding cars by millimeters each time Car's veered left and right, blowing their horns and some skidded as their drivers cursed and tires screeched to a halt. Christian thought it would never end, and they would never get out of the expressway alive.

He felt he was going to throw up. He could barely make out the blurry shape of vehicles zooming by as Duke zig-zagged between them. And then he turned sharply after one to take them onto a by-lane.

Around a half minute later, having hardly recovered from the harrowing experience, Christian turned back once more to check up on their captors. There was no one in sight. No one was chasing them anymore.

They had escaped.

And toxicity was still thumping in Christian's ears.

Ahead of him, adrenaline and epinephrine coursed its way through Duke's veins, as he relished the spirit of adrenaline he always sought.

~~~

"But darlings, how long are you gonna keep me here? I'm getting bored you know!"

The helpless bodyguard tried to put on his best poker face, but their new guest was not an easy one to handle.

Damien banged his fists against the wooden door that kept him locked inside. The massive bodyguards parked outside grunted in disapproval but there was not much they could do, unless one of the two barged in and gagged and tied the melodramatic man. And they were under instruction from Ms. Zelderman to not mistreat their 'guest' in any manner.

"You know Carl or whatever your name is," Damien stated, his voice muffled from the other side of the door, "For a person built like a brick house, you sure don't know how to pitch!"

The guard named Carl shifted uncomfortably at the obvious reference to the encounter he'd had with Damien as his companion eyed him curiously.

"I mean, back in the bar last Wednesday, you looked all butch and massive and all and you took of your clothes and had this teeny-weenie dick," Damien continued in a sing-song manner from the other side of the door. "And then we go back to your apartment and you stuck your ass in the air and waited for me to do the honors!"

The guard outside turned beet red while his companion's face lost its frown as he coughed to stifle a chuckle.

"I mean, jeez honey, I brought you over to do the plugging, and instead I had to do all the dirty work while you laid back and enjoyed!"

Damien heard sounds of feet shuffling from the other end but nothing else happened. He sighed as he cursed Duke; 'A fine mess he and his boyfriend have gotten me into!'

He opened his mouth again, not one to stop the never ending provocations. "So tell me, why doesn't this boss of yours, Ms Zelderman, why doesn't she have some reconstructive surgery on her face or something? She scares the shit out of me!"

Damien backed away a little from the door when he heard the latches click from the other side. Maybe he had nettled them enough to finally open the door.

The door swung open as Randy's smiling face appeared.

"Doing Okay hon?"

"Fabulous!" Damien retorted and then ran his fingers over his own cheeks as he stated, "By the way, forgot to mention it before; nice scar!"

Randy's face lost a bit of its color as he scowled. "Yeah, you want one?" Randy immediately pulled out a pocket knife and flicked it open in front of Damien's face. It was the same knife he had failed to threaten Christian with earlier, the same knife that Christian had used to slice his own face.

Damien however was unfazed. "What? That Christian dude messes up Zelderman's sex-toy and he comes running to her for revenge? Can't handle one guy on your own can you honey? Brawling like a baby in front of your mama and now keeping ME hostage to try and lure Duke's boyfriend?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Randy spat out at Damien's face. "Or I'll show you how I handle things."

Damien stepped back as he let out his breath. He was enjoying every moment of the ridiculing the porn star, and it was hardly difficult to mess up his mind.

"So what you doing hanging around here anyways? Bareback videos threw you out because of the new pattern on your face?"

Randy's face turned livid as he stepped forward. For a moment he looked like he was going to reach out and grab Damien's collar. Then he spat on the ground and left in a huff, slamming the door as he left.

Damien stepped to the shut door and yelled at the top of his voice, "You know honey, some guys find scars hot! I'm sure you can find some blokes to get off on them!"

Damien heard footsteps stomping along the corridor before the finally faded.

~~~

Christian coughed and pulled back as he realized he still had his arms around Duke's waist. They had lost their chasing party quite some time back and he was just recovering from the giddiness that had nauseated his mind, owing to the traumatic daredevil stunts that Duke had performed on the BMW, with him on the backseat. The spinning feeling in his head was yet to fade away and he still had the urge to get Duke to stop the bike, lean over a railing and puke his guts out.

And Duke's selection of music still reverberated in his ears. The whole experience had shaken him to the core, which was a funny thing in itself for Christian always thought himself to be unshakeable.

"You know, we're going the wrong way," he stated leaning towards Duke.

"Yeah," Duke mumbled sliding the visor of his helmet up. "I was waiting for you to come out of shock to give me directions."

Christian scowled at that before he chose to ignore the comment as he asked Duke to turn off at the intersection and provided him with the directions to where he and Vanessa had been staying in Mali.

Twenty minutes later, guided by Christian, Duke drove to the outskirts of Mali, leading them away from the shore and towards the hilly areas that barricaded the southern entrance to the port town. Traffic decreased to a few stray cars as the roadways turned from broad 8 lane expressways to 2 lane cement paths. The two did not speak, except for Christian giving the odd direction here and there.

With the powerful headlights beaming, they sailed across the darkness of the night, the moonlight casting a pale glow on the forested areas along the slopes as no sound was heard, other than the 152 bhp engine purring as they ascended the acclivity of the hills.

The verdant southern foothills of Mali impelled their tranquility to try and calm the animosity between the two.

"There it is!" Christian suddenly burst out as Duke looked up ahead to make out the shape of a wooden cabin that lay embedded in a canopy of trees, highlighted by the waning moon. The cabin was raised on wooden stilts and Duke wondered briefly if the area ever flooded for the cabin to be raised so high.

A couple of minutes later they reached a stony tract that led to the cabin; bumping across which Duke killed the engine as they reached their destination.