Free Just Needs Killin by Jinx Schwartz Page B

but that was out, because if they could watch me on my own webcam, maybe they'd hacked into my computer, as well? Jeez, where was Jenks, my techie guru, when I needed him?
    I feigned restless boredom for the camera, pacing the cabin, then picking up a paperback or two before throwing them down. Then, as if I'd thought of something, I picked up my Kindle and sat at the dining table. Oscar, anyone?
    With my Sat system chugging away, I had WiFi throughout the boat, and more importantly, on my Kindle. I cursored to Turn Wireless On, then waited until it showed me some bars. I gave myself an imaginary high five when four lovely bars popped up. I was, as we say in Texas, 'in bidness.' Problem was, I still had no idea how to send an email on this clever little device that I had heretofore only used to read books.
    The keyboard keys were so small that I was sure a pen or pencil eraser was called for, and I cursed myself for stubbornly refusing to learn to text message. Something about it, like a typing course I once flunked, ticked me off. I think watching all these people bent over their phones, tapping with their thumbs like monkeys peeling a banana had something to do with it.
    If I were four, instead of forty, I probably could have sent a message in seconds, but I was being watched, and I was supposed to be reading. So, I tried to look like I was reading for awhile, all the time trying to figure out how, and what message, to send Jan as a warning. My thumbs were getting a warm up changing pages of an unread novel while I composed an email message in my mind, and figured out how to send it. There was nothing in the menu giving me a damned clue.
    I stared at the screen, cursing myself again. When I got the Kindle, Jenks was the one who discovered it was email enabled, but I wasn't interested. After all, I have a computer, who needs anything else? Then I spotted something on the menu: Experimental. Isn't that what Jenks said? It was experimental on this model?
    I hit enter and, voila! There it was. Yahoo! I wanted to kiss fellow Texan, Jeff Bezos's shiny head, then do a happy dance. The dance could wait, however. No use entertaining the freakin' peeping Tomases on the other end of my webcam.
    Okay, now I had Yahoo. Yahoo MX. Crappola, everything was in Spanish.
    I realized I was hunched over, not at all the vision of one enjoying a good bodice ripper. I made a cheese sandwich, opened a beer, picked up my Kindle, and boldly walked out the door to the back sundeck, and out of camera range. Settling in, I experienced a moment of triumph, hoping my actions made them sweat for a change.
    My cellphone rang back in the cabin. Should I answer it? What if it was them? They had my cell number, obviously. Maybe, if it was someone else, I could further convince the kidnappers that I was going along, and buy some time to figure out the Kindle? I was desperate to send that message to Jan without endangering Po Thang.
    I made it to the phone on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
    "There you are. No email this morning?" Jenks's voice brought tears to my eyes. I turned away from the webcam.
    "Oh, hi, Jenks. Sorry about missing my morning email. Uh, Tel Mex went down for a few hours. I guess it's fixed now, huh?"
    "I guess, since we're talking on it. What are you and Po Thang up to today?"
    "The usual."
    "Is everything all right? You sound…strange."
    "Sorry, I was reading and got caught up in it. You know how I am when I'm engrossed in a really good book."
    "Yeah, I do. Okay, just wanted to check on you. I gotta run. Love you, bye."
    I wanted to bawl, but whispered, "Love you too. Bye."
    Well, that was depressing, but at least I got another chance to make the bastards believe I was following orders. I took the phone with me back on deck, just to jerk their chain, and was tempted to call Jan, but decided to give the email thing on Kindle a chance.
    You're an engineer, Hetta. Figure it out!
     
    And I did. Sort of.
    My first challenge was putting in Jan's