The sudden light spilling into the box had been a source of blessed relief for Jett. Shock replaced his fear when he spotted Rico on the other side of the box’s opening. Of all the people he had expected to come to his rescue, the detective wasn’t one. Yet, somehow, deep down, a quiet voice in his mind told him he shouldn’t be surprised. Rico was a trained professional, efficient, focused, and detail oriented, of course he had figured everything out.

Rico’s attention had barely shifted up to Jett’s face, as if he were taking note of Jett’s state before returning to the job at hand. There was almost no expression on Rico’s face as he looked over the knots, hands and fingers moving somewhere out of Jett’s vision. In any other scenario, Jett might have found Rico’s cool, detached expression disturbing. Yet, as he heard the approaching sound of the bandsaw, he was glad one of them had their head on straight.

Jett found Rico’s calm infectious and the panic began to dwindle away as he tried to force himself to think quickly. There was a throbbing at his wrists, and he realized his hands were slicker than usual. In his fear, he had pulled and yanked hard enough at the cuffs to draw blood, which was running between his fingers and onto the bottom of the box.

“Having my hands would be really nice right now,” Jett said, not caring that no one could hear him over all the noise and confusion.

Taking a deep breath, he bent himself down, contorting his body. It took a moment, but he was able to just barely bring his arms down and slip first one, then the other leg through. He felt almost a little foolish for not having thought to bring his arms to his front in the first place, and he made a silent promise to have Rico show him some more escape tricks if he made it through this alive and in one piece.

Movement caught Jett’s attention and he looked up to see what looked like a trio of security guards headed their way. Two of them looked livid, and in the glare of the stage lights, Jett could see both of their faces bore red marks. He wondered if they were Rico’s doing. He almost laughed until he realized they were headed straight for Rico, with looks of determination on their faces.

Jett shoved his face through the barely opened lid to shout, “Rico! Behind you!”

He didn’t know if Rico had understood him or had just heard the panic in his voice. Rico whipped around when he spotted the security guards. They had apparently decided to bring more firepower to the next fight than the last one, if the looks of the stun guns in their hands were any indication. Jett thought Rico could probably take the three of them on in a fair fight, but he didn’t think the former SEAL would stand a chance against a good dose of electricity.

The same thought seemed to occur to Rico and he dove without warning, out of Jett’s sight. The three guards hurried after him and Jett watched them disappear as well. He wished he could see what was happening, shoving at the lid of the box as he tried to open it further. Rico had only managed to loosen the rope enough for Jett to stick his face through if he tried, but otherwise, Jett was just as trapped as he had been before.

Jett threw his body against the lid, trying to dislodge the remainder of the knots so he could free himself. The lid barely moved, the knots still holding tight near the middle and bottom of the box. He wasn’t surprised. Riley had always been devoted to making sure the knots were on tight, knowing it didn’t matter if they came loose or not, since Jett always escaped through the bottom. On the day she decided to lock Jett in a box to send him rolling to his death, he was sure she had taken extra care to keep the knots firm.

As the sound of the approaching bandsaw grew louder, Jett thought as quickly as he could without growing frantic. The conveyer belt was built with guardrails on each side of it, preventing the box from accidentally falling off. Jett had decided to add them because of how awkwardly tall the boxes were, and because the small motor placed in the escape boxes shook them in a convincing manner. Not for the first time since he’d realized he was trapped, Jett made a mental note to stop making tricks which could easily be turned against him.

“Your hero is a little busy, so you better try anyway, dumbass,” Jett told himself as he threw his body against the side of the box.

The guardrails were built tall enough to prevent the box from accidentally falling off the belt’s path, but they were only made to compensate for a small motor. Jett hoped he hadn’t built them tall enough to prevent his attempts to free himself. All he needed to do was throw himself hard enough against the box’s walls to tip it over. It was going to hurt like hell when he landed, but it was far better than ending up as pieces and ash.