Chapter 9: A Close Call

Nikolas looked at his clock for the hundredth time. It read 3:45. Only five minutes had gone by since the last time he had looked.

He was worried about his brother.

He had been really surprised that Luke hadn’t kicked him out of the house. Luke, however, had not really been in a good state of mind to deal with him.

‘Seeing him tonight’, Nikolas though, ‘Luke seemed almost human. You have to hand it to him, though. He loves his son, and he’s really scared for him’.

That thought, however, only scared Nikolas even more. For Luke Spencer to actually be scared, the circumstances must be bad.

Nikolas didn’t know what to think. He had wanted to go and see Elizabeth, but Luke had told him that she wasn’t up for it. He decided to wait until later to talk to her.

He had gotten home really late, and had been worried that Stefan would grill him for it. He didn’t want to tell Stefan about what had happened, because he would only say that it was the Spencer’s problem and that Nikolas should stay away.

Nikolas didn’t want to stay away. He had watched his mother fall apart and he wanted to help her. He also wanted to help his brother.

‘How ironic’ he thought. ‘Now that we’re actually behaving like brothers, this happens’.

Nikolas didn’t know much about Tom, but from what he had seen of him during Emily’s ordeal and the trial, Nikolas knew that Tom was psychotic and unscrupulous. He was also vengeful. If he felt he’d been wronged, he would hurt back.

Lucky was the one who did most of the searching. He’d been the one to find the model and the website. Ultimately, Lucky had led the police to Tom.

Out of the four of them, Nikolas knew that Tom would blame Lucky the most.

*****

Tom looks behind him and sees the cruiser. He lets up on the accelerator, hoping that the cruiser will pass him and keep going. No such luck. The car slows with him. He finally pulls over, because he knows that there’s no way he can outrun the cop.

He turns towards Lucky who is looking out the side window.

"Remember what I told you" he simply says.

Lucky turns at the sound of Tom’s voice and is greeted by Tom’s right fist hitting the side of his face. The force turns his head towards the window he had been looking out of earlier and the momentum slams his head into it.

The last thing he sees before passing out is the cop behind them getting out of his car and walking towards them.

Tom sees Lucky slump into the passenger door. He is half turned so that his back is towards Tom. That causes a problem.

Tom quickly bends down to pick up a blanket that he had stashed under the driver’s seat. He quickly places it over Lucky to hide the fact that his hands are tied. He’s also careful to strategically place the blanket to cover the lower half of Lucky’s head and face.

The cop walks up to the driver’s window just as Tom is done placing the blanket. He rolls down the window to be able to speak to the officer.

"Good evening officer, what seems to be the problem?" Tom cheerfully asks.

"Well, sir, it’s late, and this part of the state is very deserted. We don’t normally get many people out at this time of the morning" He pauses and looks past Tom at Lucky.

Tom notices this and gives the officer a questioning glance.

"Your son?" the officer asks.

"Yes, I promised him a weekend of camping and male bonding. He couldn’t wait until the morning to leave and seemed really excited about it, so I decided to leave tonight. He does lousy on the road, so I just let him sleep."

The officer continues to look at Lucky, who was leering against the door, covered up with a blanket, seemingly fast asleep.

The officer turns to Tom. "Well, you do realize that it’s dangerous to be out here at this time of night. There aren’t many people around. The only reason I was, is because I’m headed home. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the danger."

"Thank you for your consideration, officer. We’re almost to our destination, so you don’t have to worry about us."

"All right, I hope you and your son have a wonderful weekend" the officer said and walked back to his squad car.

Tom waited until the cruiser had left before he started the car.

He looked over at Lucky, who hadn’t stirred at all. He turned Lucky’s head towards him and noticed that there was a small trickle of blood coming out of the side of his mouth, dripping down his jaw.

He sighed and let Lucky’s head fall back to where it had been.

‘That was too close’ he though. ‘If the cop had gotten one good look at the kid, the game would be up. We have to get to our destination fast, before this happens again’.

He put the car in gear and with renewed determination headed towards their destination.

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