Chapter 21: A Small Glimmer of Hope

It had been the 6 hours from hell. Sonny had to play mediator between Luke and
Nikolas the entire way. Whatever else Sonny thought of Nikolas, he had to admire the
kid’s guts and his devotion to his brother. It wasn’t easy to stand up to Luke
Spencer, and win.

They had gone to the police station in Elmira, and they had directed them to where
the investigative team was still examining the car. They were almost there now.

Luke had called Laura and explained to her what had happened, and that Nikolas was
with him. She was angry that he hadn’t told her anything, and was worried about
Nikolas. Luke told her they would be fine, and hung up before worrying her even more.

“We’re here” the driver said as he pulled over to the side of the road, in front of a
police cruiser.

Sonny, Luke, and Nikolas piled out of the car as soon as it stopped. Since Sonny knew
who to talk to, he took the lead.
“We’re looking for officer Roberts” he told the officer who stopped them.
He nodded and went to get him.
“Mr. Corinthos, we were expecting you” he said as he looked at Luke and Nikolas.
“This is Luke Spencer and Nikolas Cassadine” Sonny said. “Mr. Spencer is the father
of the missing boy”.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Spencer. Please come with me” he said as he led them to the car.
“Have you found anything?” Luke asked.
“There was a blanket, and a winter jacket left in the car, nothing more. We did find
some blood, which we’ve sent to the lab to get typed. You may want to provide us with
your son’s medical records to see if the sample is a match”.
“I want to look”.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Mr. Spencer”.
“I don’t care, I’m going to look” Luke said and walked past Roberts to the front
passenger side of the car.
The three men looked after him for a bit, before following him.
What Luke saw in the car made his blood boil in rage and freeze in fear.
The passenger door was open and on it there was blood. A large spot of it, right by
the window. There were also some drops of it on both of the seats. In the back seat,
Luke saw Lucky’s jacket. This was definitely the car they had used.
“This was it” Luke simply said and walked off.

Nikolas was afraid to get close. He was dreading what he would find. When he saw the
blood, he panicked.
What did it mean? Was Lucky already dead? There wasn’t enough blood to support that
theory, but he couldn’t help thinking it.
He understood Luke’s comment when he saw the jacket. This had definitely been Tom’s
getaway car.
Officer Roberts, though, was confused. “What do you mean?” he asked Luke.
“The jacket in the back seat belongs to my son. The blood probably does too. This was
the car he used to get away”.
The officer made some notes.
“I want to talk to the deputy who talked to Tom that night” Luke said.
“Tom?” Roberts was still confused.
“The bastard who kidnapped my son” Luke said, fast losing patience.
Sonny saw this and took the officer aside to explain the situation to him.

“He’s fine, isin’t he?”.
Luke was startled by Nikolas’ question. He turned around and looked at his wife’s
son. He seemed genuinely concerned for Lucky. Almost scared.
‘If Lucky cares about him, why should I continue to hold a grudge? I would hate for
someone to hate Lucky simply because he’s my son, so why do I do it to Nikolas? He’s
not Stefan’.
“I hope so Nikolas. I really do”.
Nikolas was taken by surprise at the sincerity in that phrase. No witty remarks or
sarcasm in it at all.

Sonny and Roberts came back to where they were standing. They had an older man with
them.
“This is Deputy Sheriff Morris. He’s the one who made that stop”.
“Hello” he said.
“I need you to tell me what you saw that night” Luke said.
“Who are you?” Morris asked Luke, confused.
“Look, I’m sorry if I’m on edge here, but the boy that was in that car is my son. He’
s been missing for 3 days. He was kidnapped” Luke explained. “We need any information
you can give us”.
“Well, the man driving was very nice. He said that he and his son were headed to a
father-son weekend”.
“Did he say where they were headed?” Nikolas asked.
“No”.
“What was the boy doing?” Sonny asked.
“He seemed to be sleeping, leaning against the door. He was covered with a blanket,
so I didn’t see much of him”.
“Did you notice anything else?” Nikolas asked.
“Nothing. I’m sorry, but that’s all I know”.
“Thank you, you’ve both been very helpful” Sonny said. He took out an envelope and
handed it to Officer Roberts as soon as Morris was out of sight. Roberts nodded and
walked away.

Back in the limo, the three of them were trying to figure out where Tom had gone to
next. Sonny had instructed the driver to follow along the road that Tom had taken.
Hopefully, it would lead to them.
“OK, so he took the couple’s truck. He probably felt the need to change vehicles
after the cop stopped him. They were heading south, but what’s south?” Luke said.
“Vermont?” Nikolas offered.
“What’s in Vermont?” Sonny asked.
“Mountains. The part of Vermont closest to New York state is mostly mountains and
rough terrain” Nikolas answered.
“Yeah, but how could that help him?” Sonny asked.
“Cabins” Luke said, suddenly.
“What?” both Nikolas and Sonny asked.
“What do you usually have around, or close, to mountains? Cabins. A cabin is small
and secluded, a great place to hide”. Luke should know. He had taken Lucky up to a
cabin himself. He still didn’t know how Laura had managed to find them, though.
“OK, so we go into Vermont and search for cabins, right? Should we ask for help?”
Nikolas said.
“No. Besides, if we know, I’m sure the PCPD must know by now. Someone from Elmira
should have contacted by now. They will be here shortly” Luke responded.

********

Mac, Garcia, and Taggert arrived at the scene about an hour after the others had
left. They were given the same information and came to the same conclusions.
Mac’s only hope was that he could get to Tom and Lucky first, before Luke did
something stupid.

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