Chapter 8: No Way Out

The car had finally stopped. Lucky had been in and out of consciousness so much that he didn’t know where they were or how long they had been traveling. He slowly raised his head to take a look at his surroundings. They appeared to be parked by the side of a convenience store. An old, run down one at that. Theirs was the only car in the parking lot, and there wasn’t much light.

Tom wasn’t in the car, so Lucky assumed that he was being kept busy inside the store.

‘This is it’ he thought. ‘I’ve got to get out now’.

He moved lower in his seat to try to find the door handle. The car had automatic locks so the only way to tell if the door was locked was to try to open it. He found the handle and turned his back to the door to try to grab it. It took a while, because his hands were tied, but he finally managed to find it.

‘Please let it be unlocked’ he silently prayed.

He tried it and, miraculously, it opened. He smiled and let out a small sigh of relief.

He was about to lean forward to swing his legs to the front when he felt the door being jerked open behind him. He still had most of his weight on it, so the force pulled him backwards. A pair of strong hands grabbed him by the front of his shirt breaking his fall. He felt himself being lifted, until his face was inches away from Tom’s.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Tom asked.

Lucky was still gagged, so he couldn’t really offer an answer even if he had wanted to. He looked into Tom’s eyes and saw pure rage there. He squirmed, trying to break free of Tom’s grasp, but was unsuccessful.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to try to escape" Tom said. "You see, while I was in prison awaiting my trial, I did a little research on you and your friends. I know you’re street smart. I know about your ability to pick locks, hot wire cars, and formulate escape plans. I guess it must run in the family. Your old man isn’t exactly a saint, is he? Tom teased. "Frankly, I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t tried anything".

He paused for a moment and brought Lucky’s face even closer to his own.

"Let me tell you something" Tom said very slowly and menacingly. "If you escape, I won’t go after you..... I’ll let you go. However, I will go after your little girlfriend. She owes me one, remember. I’ll just do to her what I was going to do to you." He pauses to gauge Lucky’s reaction. "It’s your choice".

Lucky goes numb at the sound of those words. He knows they’re not just a threat. After what he’s seen in the past few hours, he knows Tom is capable of just about anything. He has to go along, for Elizabeth’s sake.

‘Whatever Tom is planning on doing to me, I’m sure it will be ten times worse for Elizabeth’ he though as he desperately fought his rising panic, not completely sure if he succeeded.

Tom watches with satisfaction as the emotions play out in Lucky’s face. He sees the hatred, then the acceptance and resignation. He looks more carefully into those blue eyes and sees the terror. It’s slight, but it’s there. So far, Lucky’s been doing a good job of hiding it.

‘Not for much longer’ Tom thinks.

He smiles with satisfaction. Breaking Lucky is going to be a lot of fun.

He picks Lucky up and throws him back in the car, slamming the door behind him.

Lucky lets out a muffled scream as his chest hits the center column, banging his already bruised ribs. He tries to get up, but without the use of his hands, it’s impossible.

Tom opens the other door and sees Lucky’s dilemma. He picks him up and sits him properly in the seat, buckling him up.

"We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, now would we?" Tom asks in the most condescending tone he can muster.

Lucky just stares at him until Tom turns away to buckle his own seat belt. He starts the car and they take off towards their unknown destination.

‘Spencer, you have to stay calm. You have to keep it together’ Lucky thought to himself as he watched the scenery, which wasn’t much since it was dark outside. He had looked at the car clock earlier and it had read 3:15. He had been missing now for over six hours. He wondered who was looking for him. More than anything, though, he hoped that Elizabeth was safe, and that she wasn’t scared.

‘There’s bound to be a way out. There’s got to be something you can do. You can’t figure it out, though, if you lose control’ he told himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by flashing lights and the siren of a police cruiser coming up behind them.

Main Menu
Next Chapter
Previous Chapter