Beyond Blue Excerpt #5 - Ruby Sanchez

In this scene, Ruby is held captive along with a reluctant terrorist she has fallen for. The bad guys have her doing "woman's work" which they will soon regret!
The only other person in the room, one of the quiet Peruvians, just stared at her.  He had been assigned to watch her the whole time she was in the kitchen, crushing kidney beans, chopping tomatoes, browning slivers of steak, and dicing the peppers and onions.  He always kept a close eye on her when she was using a knife, as if that were the only way she could be dangerous.  Still, he watched in silence while she chattered.  In all that time, Ruby had not said one thing that pissed him off.  And Lord knows she had tried.
"Man, I don't know how you got this babysitting gig with no sense of humor," Ruby said, adding salt and crushed garlic to the pot.  "If I get too bored, I might try to run off, just to find some decent conversation."The man just stared, so Ruby wandered into the living room.  The room was starting to smell of men who didn't bathe often enough, especially the corn chip odor of jungle-toughened feet.  And damned if there wasn't another soccer game up on the big screen.  Two South American teams were going at it, and the local audience was all smiles.  de la Fuente sat with his arm around Rafael, shouting at every play.  Rafe was somewhat less enthusiastic.  When he looked at Ruby, she could see the pain in his eyes.  She knew he was embarrassed by being played for a sucker by these bargain-basement Marxists.  What she hadn't predicted was the obvious guilt over getting her stuck in the middle.  Beyond Rafael's troubled face, de la Fuente turned to her, grinning wider than ever, light glinting off that one gold tooth she had come to hate.
"Don't be so antisocial, girl," the Shining Path leader said.  "Can't you see how lonely your dear Rafael is?  Why not come join us for the end of the game?  Come watch Peru destroy Brazil."
"I think I'll pass.  What I'd really like is to get some fresh air, but I guess under the circumstances I'll just walk around the house."
De la Fuente responded to her remark, but Ruby didn't hear him.  She was on her way toward the back door.  The man who had watched her in the kitchen stayed behind, but another follower rose and followed her. 
Ruby was walking slowly because she wanted some time to pass.  de la Fuente and the others should be fully occupied by the game.  When she finally reached the door, she walked back and forth slowly in front of it, tracking her follower's movements by sound.  She could unlock the door and fling it open inside of two seconds, and be through the door in three.  Unfortunately, even the clod watching her would have his gun out and aimed in half a second less than that, and he would not hesitate to put a bullet in her back.
Still she couldn't resist a test.  She stopped in front of the door and turned to present her profile to her watcher.  She gave him a sly smile, and coyly reached for the doorknob.  Before her hand actually made contact, her watcher was reaching for his weapon.  She snatched her hand back quickly.  No slack.  She could only hope that she had cultivated her appearance of helplessness well enough to ease his nervousness.    
"Don't you think this is a little extreme, sugar?" she asked him.  "I mean, I been stuck in this house for two days.  But then, so have you.  Ain't you feeling a little cabin fever?"
To her surprise, this solicited a small smile from the Peruvian terrorist.  Perhaps he was reachable.  He didn't move when Ruby walked toward him.  He was her height, mildly handsome, and quietly muscular the way the best fighters are. 
"Look, how about you open the door while I stand way back here?" Ruby asked, adding a little silk to her normally squeaky tones.  "That way I could at least see the outside.""Look out a window," he said.
"My Lordy Lord, he can talk!"  Ruby flashed him her most brilliant, heart-stopping smile.  "Come on now.  We can work something out here, can't we?"
The guard shook his head, but he looked a little uncomfortable, like he didn't know what to do with his hands.  Ruby raised her own left hand toward him causing him to flinch.
"Oh, now, I won't hurt you, honey," Ruby said.  "You're too cute."  His smile grew by a couple of degrees, and she took that as permission to continue.  Very gently, Ruby drew her hand down the man's cheek, inhaling as if it were a special thrill for her. 
The guard was a little off balance, but he didn't react as if he were threatened in any way.  In fact, he winked at her.  No, his right eye was blinking.  He reached up to rub it. 
"What's the matter, sugar?"  Ruby asked.  "Something in your eye?"  Maintaining a non-threatening tone she reached up again, cradling his cheek in her right hand while rubbing her thumb across his left eye as if to clear it. 
"Ahhh!" It was a low howl of pain.  The guard bent almost double, covering his face with his hands.  He didn't know why, but of course, Ruby did.  Capsicum, it's called.  The active ingredient in pepper spray is the same chemical that makes your eyes water and your nose run when you bite into a real hot pepper.  Good cooks learn very quickly not to touch their faces after dicing those peppers.  To do so can subject a person to a paralyzing burst of intense pain.  By not washing her hands after preparing dinner, Ruby had armed herself with a homemade chemical weapon.  It was not a weapon of mass destruction, but it was powerful enough to buy her the three seconds she needed.

Ruby knew there were men patrolling the outside of the house, but couldn't be sure if one would be at the back.  As it turned out there was a man there, but he was more surprised to see her than she was to meet him.  Black jeans and jacket made him inconspicuous, but it also meant his gun was concealed.  Ruby dived sideways along the edge of the house while the guard was reaching under his jacket.  She came up faster, flinging one of the white stones.  The guard raised an arm to protect his face.  Ruby rolled forward, then swung her legs around to sweep his feet out from under him.  His hands broke his fall, but he could not protect himself from the stone in her left hand, which she swung down hard on his temple.  After that he lay still and Ruby was on the move, knowing the people inside would be after her in a matter of seconds.
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