Yes, it's me again. You're friendly neighbourhood Svendances, bringing to you the latest chapter of King in His Own Lunch Box. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy devising it's plot. And speaking of devising plot! I've been working on a new story: That Froghurt Guy. You may have noticed the first chapter is already up. I strongly urge you to go take a read and let me know what you think. I've already written chapters 2 and 3 and know almost exactly where the story is heading (and it's not where it might seem like it's heading in the first chapter). Make sure you check it out, and leave me a review. I won't be posting any more on it until I'm absolutely sure that people are interested in it.

Chapter 7

"Come on, kid," Justin implored across the small coffee table they were seated at. "You've gotta eat something. You need your strength." He'd been sitting cross legged on the floor with Liam and a plate of pancakes for the last hour. The pancakes were now a cold and soggy mess on the plate and Liam was getting more and more upset by the minute. "What will make you eat?"

"Don't go making any more deals with the kid, Justin," one of the other men, Kane, sneered from the armchair nearby. "You know what he wants. He wants his mommy. And he'll have his mommy soon as the time is right."

Justin shook his head and leaned his elbows on the coffee table. "I still don't think we should go through with it," he said to no one in particular. "It doesn't seem right."

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't seem right," Viv told him from the little kitchenette. "It has to be done. You know it has to happen. We made an oath."

"He knew what he'd been agreeing to, but now that it was starting to become a reality, he wasn't sure he agreed with the decisions anymore. This kid clearly had some kind of impairment. He was so innocent. To take away his life with a loving family just so that Justin's own hateful sister could pretend like everything was okay in her life, seemed like a massive mistake. Liam was not the son Katie wanted. He was just unfortunate enough to look enough like the one she'd lost that she had devised the 'perfect' solution.

Viv brought candles over to the end small, circular dining table and set them around the outer edge, measuring the distance between each precisely so that the spaces were even. Once they were all in place she stepped back to contemplate the set up. "You really think a table top ritual is gonna work, Kane?" she asked, glancing over at him. "It's not very big."

"We can check the dimensions right now," Kane suggested, hauling himself up and ambling over to where Justin and Liam still sat.

Liam was eyeing the pair warily, but with obvious confusion in his gaze. He'd stopped crying and was listening intently to the short conversation happening around him, trying to understand why they wouldn't take him home. Justin's heart clenched as the small boy trembled in fear and shuffled away from Kane as he came to stand directly beside him. What would I want for my child? he thought. How would I feel if someone did this to my son?

That was it. He had to put an end to it.

Sending Liam a small encouraging smile, he held out kneeled up and offered his hand. "Wanna play a game?" he asked him.

Liam slowly and hesitantly moved his wide-eyed gaze from Kane to Justin, still fearful, but less apprehensive as he took the man's hand and stood. "What kind of game?" he asked in a very small voice.

"Have you ever played 'The Floor is Made of Lava'?" Justin asked, leading Liam away from Viv and Kane and into the middle of the room. Liam nodded his head, yes. "Hmm, let's think of something new to play, then. How about, 'How many surfaces can I fit on'? Have you played that before?"

Liam drew his brows together in thought before shaking his head, looking up at Just in awe. "How do we play?" he asked.

"Well, we lie on top of things and see if we fit. Whoever fits on the most surfaces wins."

A big grin crawled across Liam's face. "Can I lie on the bench?" he asked eagerly.

"You sure can," Justin said. "Why don't you go check out some surfaces you want to try, I'll be there in a minute." As Liam hurried over to the bedroom to check out what he could lie on in there, Justin turned to the other two, who were eyeing him suspiciously. "This way he's not freaked out about why he's being put on the table," he explained. "The poor kid's been through enough. He's freaking out. The least we can do is make sure he's at least okay. If we let him get any more stressed he would have made himself sick."

!

"You really think they're gonna help us?" Astrid asked as she and Cooper got off the bus at the show grounds. "I mean, who's going to believe a couple of kids?"

Cooper shook his head and lead the way to the entrance, glancing over his shoulder to make sure she followed. "Of course they will," he told her. "I know how to explain things in order to make tough men feel compassionate. I've been doing it my entire life."

Sure, she thought, but that was on tough men you knew and whom knew you. Astrid was not at all convinced that Cooper could persuade these men to help them. They may be willing to divulge the place they're staying at, but the likelihood of a group of complete strangers offering to help find a boy who'd supposedly been kidnapped was a little slim in her eyes. She always thought that Cooper had a skewed vision of the world. He didn't feel he was worthy of good things like the love of brother. He claimed he wasn't good at anything physical, though he held the district title for track. He saw himself as weak despite having the strength to carry on through some of the most difficult ordeals. And, most relevant to right now, he thought all tough guys had soft hearts. Clearly, he hadn't watched enough crime shows.

Astrid hurried to catch up as Cooper spoke to the ticket seller. "What's your plan here, Coop," she asked once they'd gotten their tickets.

"Back me on whatever I say," he said simply, like it was obvious. "You'll be like my wing man."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "You remember I'm a terrible liar, right? And also, I'm a woman."

"Teenage girl," he corrected, grinning evilly.

"That technicality is going to cost you," Astrid informed him as they entered the show grounds proper. She stared around at the booths and displays, wondering how on earth they were going to work this. "Coop? Some directional assistance?" she requested, taking his hand.

Cooper nodded toward the row of bikes to their right and pulled her toward them. "We'll start over here and keep going until we find someone useful," he explained before calling out to the man guarding the bikes. His jeans were well worn as was his leather jacket. He was bald, but with the tattoo of an eagle reaching around the back of his head. "Excuse me," Cooper called as they approached. "I was wondering if you could help us out."

"I recommend you be at least twenty-one before you join a biker gang," the guy said, sounding serious. Just as Coop was slowing his pace, taken aback, the guy split into a big grin. "It's no fun if you can't drink."

Cooper joined the guy in his laughter, but Astrid could only manage a nervous titter. "We're looking for my brother," he informed him. "It's vital that we know what hotel most of the biker guys are staying at."

The grin seemed to drop from the guy's face as he crossed what looked to be muscled arms over his beefy chest. "Why would you need to know that to find your brother?" he asked suspiciously.

"He's been kidnapped," Cooper explained.

"And you think one of my guys did it?" the biker guy asked incredulously. "Are you asking for trouble?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. Cooper may have a gift for talking tough guys into doing what he wanted them to do, but his skill was clearly subpar today. Stepping forward, she ignored Cooper's instruction to play the wingman, and took over. She addressed the biker as she would a teacher at school; respectfully.

"Sir, allow me to explain," she began. "My name is Astrid, and this is Cooper. His brother was kidnapped yesterday evening as he played near his grandparents' house. We have not heard from the kidnappers for any kind of ransom et cetera, however we have made contact with Liam." She pulled her phone from her pocket and flipped through the gallery. "Liam is nine years old, but he has a vision impairment that causes him to see things very differently to how they appear to you and me. On top of that, his imagination is highly developed; something we encourage in him. My point is, he's a very special boy. We need to find him as fast as we can."

"What does that have to do with where my guys are staying?" he asked. His face was still serious and even on the intimidating side (if you weren't used to that sort of thing), but Astrid could tell that he was softening.

Maybe Cooper was right after all.

"When we spoke to him he mentioned that he was being held at a hotel and that there were a lot of motor bikes in the car park," Cooper explained.

"It wasn't until we were in English class at school, looking through the newspaper and found the ad for this show that we realised that he'd actually given us something to go on," Astrid added.

"So you see," Cooper finished, "We really quite desperately need to know where you're all staying."

The biker guy nodded, a short, crisp movement, then put his hands on either side of his mouth and made a weird bird call type shout. The entire space went silent and all heads turned to see where the sound had come from. "We got a situation to attend to," biker guy called to the crowd. "We need to saddle up and get back to base!"

Astrid couldn't help the small giggle that burbled up inside her. The way he phrased it sound part cowboy and part military, which of course, was at odds with the biker image as well.

A swarm of leather and denim clad men and women raced over to the bikes, pulling on helmets and gunning engines. Biker Guy spoke to a couple of them to quickly explain what was going on, and Cooper and Astrid were swiftly dragged onto the back of a couple of bikes. Helmets were thrust onto their heads and then, they were on their way.

Astrid briefly acknowledged that they should relay some kind of information to Cooper's parents, but there was no way she would be heard down the phone line over the roaring of bike engines, and she was too busy holding on tight to the person in front of her so that she didn't fall off to be able to text anything. She just hoped that they figured it out soon enough.

!

"I can't believe we missed that vital information," Hal commented, not for the first time as they sped down the street toward the show grounds. "I mean, Woody has tomorrow off to go to this show. And Liam mentioned the heap of motorcycles. And we couldn't put two and two together?"

Lester, sitting tensely in the passenger's seat, agreed, "I know. We've really dropped the ball on this one."

"Can it, both of you," Ranger snapped. This was taking a major toll on him, but he refused to either stay behind at Rangeman or relinquish the steering wheel. He expertly guided the speeding vehicle into the parking lot, zooming past a long line of motor cycles heading in the other direction.

"Whoa," Hal uttered softly, staring after them. "Where do you think they're going so fast?"

Lester couldn't believe his eyes. "Uh, boss?" he said. "I'm pretty sure Cooper and Astrid were with those guys."

"What?" Ranger demanded. "How can you know?"

"Astrid's backpack," he stated firmly. "It's pink with black stars drawn on it in sharpie. And Cooper is wearing a red jacket today."

Without another word, Ranger reefed the SUV around to follow the line of bikes, causing Hal and Lester to scramble for a handhold.


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