Page 29 of Protecting Kelli
Again, their kidnappers probably thought giving them all this stuff was a joke…but it was a treasure trove to Flash.
“I was hoping there might be something we could use,” Kelli said, sounding dejected.
Flash realized that while he’d kept up a running commentary of what he’d discovered, he hadn’t shared the usefulness of the items.
“Wecanuse most of this.”
“How?”
“Well, first things first, the cans. We have no idea what’s in them, it could be dog food, which would suck, but hopefully it’s human food of some sort.”
“But we can’t open them.”
“Yes, we can. They gave us a spoon. Again, probably totorment us mentally, but in lieu of an opener, that’s exactly the tool we need to get in. All I have to do is rub the edge of the spoon back and forth in the same spot on the top, and it’ll break through.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The tops of cans aren’t as thick as the sides. So we can definitely get into them, and again, hopefully it’ll be something we can eat.”
“What else?” Kelli asked, scooting closer to him and sounding much more interested now.
“The one bottle of water isn’t super convenient, but listen…”
They were both silent for about a minute.
“I hear dripping,” Kelli whispered.
“Right. We’re in the jungle. It’s wet. It’s not surprising that this bus isn’t waterproof. We can drink this water, then use the bottle to catch more from wherever it’s dripping. It’ll probably have dirt in it, butanywater is better than none. And they gave us a freaking container. If they were trying to demoralize us, they definitely failed there.”
“What about the shell? What can you do with that?”
“It could be another container, but I’m thinking if I break it, the edges will be sharp. It could be a useful weapon.”
“Cool! And?”
“Well, not everything is useful, although I bet MacGyver could come up with a use for literally all this shit. I’m not sure about what we can do with the Band-Aid or the coins. And the bullet is pretty useless.”
“Did they think we were going to have sex while we’re in here? I mean, really? A condom?”
“Actually, that could be the most useful item of all,”Flash told her, glad she couldn’t see his grin. “A condom can hold water. We could use it as a kind of glove if we had to, or an improvised pressure bandage for wounds. It can be used to make a splint for a broken finger; it’s rubber, so it could also be a rubber band, except we don’t have anything to cut it up…but maybe the shell would work if it had to. It can be a slingshot, an emergency sealant, like on a pipe or something. And I’ve even seen MacGyver start a fire with one.”
“Now Iknowyou’re lying.”
“I’m not. I swear. He filled one with water and used it as a magnifying glass. It took a good bit of time, and there were a lot of bad words, but damned if he didn’t get smoke, then flame. I was as surprised as you.”
“Okay. So the condom can be used for more than…you know, the obvious.”
“Yup. We can take the ink out of the pen and use the casing as a straw, and while the uncooked pasta will be hard on our teeth, it does have some caloric value. And lastly, the candle is pure gold. Assholes thought they were taunting us, but I think I can strip the insulation off some of the wires in the broken radio, hook them up to the battery, and maybe get a spark that will light the wick.”
“Holy crap. That would be awesome!”
It would. If he could get it to work. Flash usually left this kind of thing to MacGyver, but it was his turn to step up. If he could give Kelli the comfort of some light, he would.
To his surprise, she chuckled.
“What’s funny?”
“Just that Heckle and Jeckle thought they’d break us byleaving a box of worthless crap. Except they didn’t know they’d kidnapped a freaking Navy SEAL. Idiots.”
