Chapter 24: A Little Bit Closer...

Author’s note: The town of Parsons, Vermont is a creation of mine. I have never been
to Vermont and don’t know any of the towns and cities, so I just made one up :o)

********

“There’s the limo” Mac said as they pulled up to the cabin. They had contacted the
Parsons police department after leaving the NY state line. They had agreed to meet
them with a couple of police squads. They had made good time, even with the snow.

They all got out of their cars and were heading towards the truck in the rear, when
they heard a yell. They looked over to the front steps of the cabin and saw Nikolas
and Lucky.

Mac, Taggert, and Garcia got to them first.
“My God!” Mac said as he got a good look.
“He needs an ambulance. I’ve tried to keep him awake, but it’s not working”.
“Where’s Tom?” Taggert asked.
“He took off towards the back. Luke, Sonny and the driver went after him”.
Mac looked at Taggert and the rest of the assembled officers. “Let’s go!” he said.

Nikolas watched them leave. There were 7 all together, counting the PCPD officers.
Only six had taken off. The last one walked over to him. “An ambulance is on it’s
way”.
“How long?”
“Depends on the snow. How is he?”
Nikolas looked down at Lucky just to make sure he was still breathing. Lucky was
taking short and shallow breaths, but at least he was breathing. “Not good....” was
all he said.

********
Luke and Sonny had lost sight of Tom. He was big, and clumsy, though, so he couldn’t
have gotten too far ahead of them. The fresh snow helped too. Tom’s footprints were
betraying him.

Luke was furious. He could kill. He would, if he ever got his hands on Tom. He was
also worried about Lucky. He looked really bad. At this point, though, Luke couldn’t
afford to think like that. He had to find Tom first.

They had traveled deeper into the woods. The footing was a bit tricky, because of the
snow and ice. The ground was also uneven. They were close, though. Up ahead, they
could heat the rustling of the tree branches as Tom made his way through. A little up
ahead, they could see him, too. Tom slipped and fell.

Luke was the first to get to him. He turned him around and was surprised at the
damage to his face. Lucky had gotten in some good hits.

“You son of a bitch!” Luke yelled, hitting him. “You’re a coward. Why don’t you fight
with someone your own size!”.

They both struggled, each throwing punches. Tom was bigger than Luke, but Luke had
the advantage of being angry as hell. He wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt
his son.

Sonny and the driver finally got to them. Sonny grabbed Luke and the driver grabbed
Tom.

“Luke, get a grip!” Sonny yelled. “You’re not going to help Lucky like this”.
“Let me go!”
Sonny let Luke go, and before he knew it, Luke had his gun out. It was pointed at a
spot right in between Tom’s eyes.
“I should kill you right now. You don’t deserve to live”.
Luke pulled the safety and was about to pull the trigger when Taggert’s voice stopped
him.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you” he said.
Luke turned and saw Taggert, along with Mac, Garcia, and several other officers come
into the clearing.
He didn’t put the gun down.
“Luke..” Mac warned, “don’t do this. Do you want to go to jail for murder, or stay
with your son?”
Luke knew that Mac was right. Killing Tom wouldn’t help make Lucky better. He put the
safety back on and lowered the gun.

He saw the officers walking to Tom and knew that they would take care of him. He
turned towards the cabin and took off running.

********
“How much longer?” Nikolas asked the officer.
“A little bit. It seems that the ambulance had a little trouble getting through the
snow”.

Nikolas heard footsteps behind them, and turned to see Luke. He came to them and
kneeled next to Lucky, taking one of his hands.
“How is he?” he asked Nikolas.
“I don’t know. He was conscious for a little bit. I tried to keep him awake, but I
couldn’t”.
“Where’s the ambulance? Has one been called?”
“It seems to be having a problem maneuvering through the snow, but it’s on its way”.

Luke looked at his son. Really looked. He saw Lucky’s chest going up and down, so he
knew he was breathing. His face was a mess. Both eyes were swollen shut, and his lips
were torn up. There were other scratches and abrasions. Bruises were already forming.
All of the blood just made it that much harder to see any other damage.

They heard snow crunching and were relieved to see the ambulance. The paramedics came
and put Lucky on the stretcher. Luke went in the ambulance with him.
Sonny and Nikolas followed in the limo.

They left the police to deal with Tom Baker.

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