She does

"Okay... I trust you more than I trust the Director," Eve says. "He said he'd let me get away, but I don't believe that, I never really did. I was just ****, I didn't know what else to do!"

"Follow my lead," Jade whispers. "Ask me if I'm sure I want to sleep." Jade moves her lips back to Eve's for another deep kiss, which she doesn't have to pretend to savor.

"Mmm - Fox, are you sure we should go to sleep now?" Eve asks in a voice loud enough to be heard. "The men... they're out there."

"Relax, Eve. This is a Safe House. They call it that for a reason. We can sleep for a few hours, and I'll make sure we wake up with time enough to have sex again, if you want to."

"I think I'd like that," Eve says with a nervous smile.

"There's still plenty of things we can do together," Jade continues, stroking Eve's hair. "There's a little something called sixty-nine, you'll love it! And if you want to feel something really amazing, I can show you how two girls can rub their pussies together, I promise it'll feel so hot you won't ever want to do it with a man!"

"Wow... I kind of want to try it right now!"

"I just need a little rest first, lover," Jade says, giving Eve another quick kiss. "Here, lie down next to me... just let your hand cup my breast, it feels good that way."

Eve doesn't stay awake long... the trials of the island and her recent lovemaking have worn her out, and soon she's sleeping soundly in Jade's embrace.

That should keep us safe for a little bit longer, Jade thinks. The Director won't send in the men right away, not after we've promised him another hot lesbian show! I'll have to be careful we don't sleep too long, though... I think he was telling the truth when he said he couldn't stop the five-hour alarm from going off, and besides he has people to answer to who might not be as into the girl-on-girl action as he is! I just have to try and sleep lightly, not lose track of time... and hope to hell this works...

Jade opens her eyes. The room is still bright, even though the Sun has set. Lights for the cameras, she thinks, and then lifts her head slightly to look at the clock. Good, it's not too late. We've still got almost an hour. Now comes the hard part... I hate to do this to Eve, but she'll understand, afterward.

Slowly, Jade pulls her arm out from under Eve's body; the brunette girl stirs, but doesn't awaken. A smile touches her face - somehow, in the midst of this living nightmare, she's having a sweet dream. Jade's stomach lurches at the thought of what she has to put her through now, but needs must...

She gets up out of the bed, heads over to a set of cabinets on the wall, opens them. Inside are stacks of the food bars, several pairs of sandals, fresh fruit, extra first-aid kits, large canteens... it's likely the most well-stocked house on the island. Jade opens her pack and slides in some of the food bars, takes a single medical kit, a pair of apples. Then she reaches up for the canteens, and her hand slips!

The aluminum bottles clatter to the floor in a loud crash. Even bolts awake, sitting sharply upright, looking around at her surroundings in confusion.

"What? What's happening? Jade, are you -" her words stop abruptly as she sees Jade standing by the supplies, holding one of the canteens, looking wide-eyed at her.

"Eve, it's not what you think," she says quietly.

"You were going to just leave me here?" Eve whispers, and then her voice ascends to a scream. "You were going to LEAVE ME??"

"I told you, I have to win this thing. If that means pushing you aside, that's how it is."

"FUCK you!" Eve shouts, tears welling up in her eyes. "I trusted you, you said we were both going to get out of here!"

Jade crosses her arms, stares coldly at Eve. "I lied. Deal with it."

"They're going to get you, you know! Sooner or later they'll get you, and I hope I'm there to see it so I can laugh while they plow you over and over again like the fucking CUNT you are!"

"Well then, I'd say it's your lucky day, sweet thing," says a new voice, "because you're about to have your wish come true."

Jade and Eve both spin to look in that direction, down towards the entrance to the house. Standing there are three large men, smiling at them without a trace of humor or warmth, their cocks hard and erect.

"Good evening, ladies," the one in the middle says, the biggest one; he's at least six feet tall, with a hairy chest obscuring a large tattoo of some heavy-metal band. His face shows more than two days' growth of beard, and his smile reveals a couple of teeth missing. "Fox... that's what they're calling you, right?"

"Something like that." Jade drops the canteen in her hand into her bag, and then lowers the bag to the floor.

"Where I come from, we hunt foxes," he says, taking a step closer. "Then we skin 'em. I like to do it while they're still twitchin' a bit."

"Wow, that's so unbelievably sexy," Jade says, rolling her eyes. "You must be getting laid left and right, I can't imagine what you're doing here."

One of the other men chuckles, and the big one turns to glare at him. "Shut your fuckin' mouth, Billy," he says.

"Come on, Wayne, you gotta admit that was a good one," the other man says.

"You can shut up too! And remember our deal, I gave each of you guys first shot at the last two we found, so long as I get the Fox when we find her."

"I'm flattered," Jade says.

"Don't be, I don't even like redheads," Wayne sneers. "But a piece o' you is worth a hundred grand. First man to pop your twat gets rich, didja know that? You ain't just a ripe pussy, you're a golden ticket."

"Hey Wayne, watch yourself," Billy says. "She don't look scared to me, and they say she's dangerous!"

"She's about ninety pounds soakin' wet!" Wayne scoffs. "You and Levi can have the other one, I'll take my chances. Come on, Fox, don't make this harder than it needs to be."

Jade hears a soft whimper from the bed. Hold on, Eve... "How did you guys get in here? We locked the door."

"We got our own way in," Wayne says, smiling a little more. "You thought you were all safe and snug in here, didja? Stupid little bitch, there's a tunnel right there under them floorboards!"

"Get away from her," Jade says as the other men start moving towards Eve. She cringes away, but there's nowhere she can run.

"Or what?"

Jade reaches up behind her neck, grabs the weapon hidden there, pulls hard. It rips a lock of her hair out but she doesn't even flinch, and a moment later Wayne is staring down its barrel. "Tell them to get away from her, now," she says, keeping her voice level.

"Whoa, where the fuck did that come from?" Levi exclaims, stopping in his tracks. Eve hesitates a moment, then scrambles out of the bed and runs to stand behind Jade.

"Back off," Jade says. "Out the front door, all of you. Or you burn."

"Can't shoot all three of us, little Fox," Wayne says, daring to take a step closer - but he's stopped smiling. "That's just a flare gun. It holds one shot, and it takes ten seconds to reload - if you had somethin' to load it with, but that clip's empty."

"I'm not going to shoot all three of you," Jade says. "I'm going to shoot you."

"You can't kill me with that," Wayne says, taking another step.

"No, but I can blind you. Or worse." Jade lowers her aim slightly.

Wayne stops advancing.

"C'mon, man, let's get outta here!" Billy says. "This ain't what we signed up for, it's not worth it!"

"I can think of a hundred thousand reasons why it is," Wayne says, but his voice is much less certain.

"That'll just about cover the skin grafts," Jade says, "but there are some things the doctors can't fix."

"You think I'm just gonna walk away?"

"Try to imagine what I've probably been through for the past two days," Jade says, her eyes narrowing, "and then ask yourself if any other woman on this island would even have waited this long before pulling this trigger. Do you really want to gamble on me being too squeamish to burn your goddamn **** dick off your body? No, I don't think you're going to walk away. I think you're going to run away, asshole."

"All right!" Wayne says, putting up his hands. "All right, you win! Don't do anything stupid, I'm backin' off!"

"Wrong. I said you're going to run, and I meant it. I'm not even going to count to three, I'm just going to shoot you. NOW!"

"Let's go, man, she's crazy!" Billy shouts, and makes for the door. Levi follows him, and after a brief struggle with the door they're outside and running for it. Wayne curses, then turns and runs after them.

"Grab your stuff, we're leaving," Jade says, hoisting her bag on her shoulder.

"We? But I thought -"

"I'm sorry, I had to make you think that. I needed to get the men in here so I could find out how they got in. I knew the Director would see it as a perfect come-uppance for me, if I betrayed you like that and then got gang-**** for it. I woke you up on purpose, to give the scene a little more drama; I never actually intended to leave you here. If you don't believe me, you don't have to come with me, but don't stay here if you know what's good for you." Even as she speaks, Jade quickly makes her way to where Wayne said the secret door was, feeling around on the floor. Come on... don't tell me it locks from the other side, I've come too far to be stopped by something that stupid... there, that's got to be it! Jade forces her fingertips into a groove in the floor, and pulls. It's heavy at first but then it seems to lift almost of its own accord. Of course... it needs to open silently, so it's got hydraulics! "You coming? Now or never," Jade says, looking back at Eve.

Eve grabs her pack. "Wait for me!" she says, and follows Jade into the tunnel.

The door clicks shut over their heads, and a series of dim lights in the ceiling illuminate a long, straight tunnel, about six feet high and three feet wide, lined with cinder blocks. On a small panel beneath the trapdoor, a screen comes to life, and Jade sees the Director's face appear.

"Jade? Jade, answer me right now!"

Jade stands up, turns to face the screen. "Hello again," she says.

"You know why I'm calling, Fox," the Director says, the usual smug smirk absent from his face. "Just put it down, you and your friend get out of that tunnel, and we'll pretend you never had it."

"What's in it for me?" Jade asks.

"What's in it for you is that you'll avoid immediate disqualification," the Director replies, a hint of steel in his voice.

"I'm willing to bet there's no rule in that contract I signed against carrying a flare gun."

"Cut the crap, Jade!" the Director almost shouts at her. "You think that thing gives you an edge? You unbelievably stupid girl, how far do you think you'll get with it?"

"The other side of this tunnel."

The Director's next reply fails to come out. His eyebrows knit in a moment of confusion, and then his face relaxes. "All right, Fox. I'm listening. What exactly did you have in mind?"

"You let me and Eve use this tunnel to get to the house on the other side," Jade says. "Once we're there, I'll be on my way, and I'll leave this little toy behind."

"I think I'd be willing to agree to most of that," the Director says, folding his hands in front of him. "Except you leave the gun behind now."

"Not a chance," Jade says. "There's nowhere to run in here, so this is my insurance. If you send anyone down here after us, I'll see to it that at least one of them won't be coming back out."

"It's almost like you don't trust me, Jade."

"And I'm sure that must be just heartbreaking to you," Jade says, "but if you want this thing back without a fight, this is how it's going to be. Oh, I'm sure you could send in some of your boys with the taser rifles and take it by ****, but that doesn't make for very good TV, does it? And if you think about it, I'm not asking for much here. I'm willing to give this back, I simply want to do it on the other side. And if that doesn't work for you, then I'll just hold onto it and take my chances."

"And lose the prize." The Director smirks slightly.

"I can't spend it if I'm dead."

"Don't be melodramatic, Fox. No one's trying to kill you."

"What about Enrico?" Jade demands, her eyes narrowing.

The Director looks startled for the barest moment, but quickly recovers. "He's been removed from the island, you know that."

"Bullshit. I saw him myself. He was in that helicopter that went down, he's still here and you know goddamn well he's after me!"

The Director leans forward on his desk. "If he's even still alive, he won't get far, Jade. We have people tracking him with orders to shoot on sight."

"You already had him once and he got away, so I'm not exactly filled with confidence about your ability to keep him away from me," Jade says. "But, if you let me and Eve through that tunnel so that I can get well ahead of him, I'll feel secure enough to leave the gun in the house on the other side. Otherwise, I'm keeping it with me so I can shoot the bastard in the face if I see him again. It's your call."