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maneuver closer to her friend.
    Andie’s shoulders shifted, like she might be trying to work her bonds free. She had her back close to the stone wall, so Theron could not see, but he wondered if the two women were up to something. Had Min-ji managed to pass something to Andie? Her hands had also been tied, but they were in front of her instead of behind her back. Nobody else seemed to being paying attention to them. No, most of the men were ogling the younger women. Theron reminded himself that he wasn’t responsible for keeping Min-ji and Andie from escaping and that he would be pleased if they managed to do so.
    “What?” Optimus frowned at her.
    “Are you taking us to China?” Min-ji asked. “There’s a bride shortage there, isn’t there? Because of the one-child rule the government has been enforcing and people preferring boys for so long?”
    “One-child rule?” Optimus truly appeared stunned at the statement. Whether it was because he simply couldn’t imagine such a thing or was unaware of the population problems that had been a huge part of this century, Theron couldn’t guess. He would think someone who dipped into Roman history for his name would be more of a historian. “Such a strange problem to have,” Optimus finally muttered, then raised his voice. “You’ll find out when you get there, girl. Now tell me, do you belong in the virgin group or not?”
    Min-ji’s mouth sagged open. These kidnappers did have an off-putting bluntness. Among other things.
    “If you don’t tell us, we’ll have to do an inspection.” Optimus smiled, nothing friendly about the gesture as he eyed Min-ji and the other women.
    Inspection? Theron looked to the ceiling, to the heavens. Even with the Lord’s strength, how could he stand by and do nothing while such a thing occurred in front of him? He found himself looking around, assessing the numbers again, wondering if he could possibly do something by himself. In addition to the women, more stolen goods were stacked against one of the walls of the cave: food items, a few electronic devices, camping gear, and several jugs of gasoline. If he could dump out one of those jugs, expose the gasoline to the oxygen in the air and light it, maybe he could cause enough chaos that he could gain the upper hand in a fight.
    Against forty men, Theron? You’re not a god. You’re not even that young anymore.
    He sighed at the voice in the back of his mind. It was not wrong. He would get himself shot, and then what protection would these women have? And who would contact headquarters to let them know where the rogue time machine was?
    “Take their clothes off,” Optimus ordered. “All of them.” He gestured to the uniformed girls too. “We can’t assume that just because they’re young that they’re virgins. Given all the people that were in the world in this time period, some of the women had to be jumping anything with a cock.”
    Theron wanted to clobber the man, for the foul language and everything that was so utterly wrong about this whole situation. Instead, he shifted a couple of steps to the side, toward the gas jugs. Starting a fight he couldn’t win was idiotic and might get him killed, but he couldn’t endure Optimus inspecting every woman in here.
    Unfortunately, he had chosen his spot poorly when he first entered the cave, and twenty feet and many men stood between him and that cache. Still, several kidnappers had begun disrobing their captives, leering as they did so. The fact that not one of them objected made Theron want to burn every man in the room with his plan.
    One thing at a time. He inched closer, trying to look like he wasn’t moving at all, should anyone glance in his direction. Even if most eyes were toward the women, some of the thieves stood back with their weapons in hand, maintaining a more professional guard stance. Theron had already noted that several of those men had rifles from the time period, ones that could fire entire magazines full