Chapter Nine: Promises We'll Never Keep

Back at the NYPD Station

Stella searched through the reminents inside Loren's bag. It contained nothing more than old clothing, a drawing notebook, and kid's clothes for her brother.

"We have a match," Mac told her, handing her the files.

She briefly scanned it.

"Turns out that Luke's blood is also on the trunk. But see, what stumps me is when we last saw them on East 120th, the children didn't seem to be injured. Why didn't the ambulance come in time?" Mac tried to explain. Being thoroughly confused left him in the dust on the situation.

"So what does the records show this time?" Stella asked, throwing the files on her lab table.

"That Loren and Andy Cromwell should be still alive. The dents on the car are from rocks, probably the only equipment that Luke could use at the moment."

She looked stern at him. Everything was slowly falling into place.

"The reason that they took the car is --" she began.

"The reason that they took the car is that Luke needed somewhere to go, rather than someplace that they could easily find him. Being a convict, he's already a scare tactic to the kids. He must be somehow armed. Since he escaped two days ago, he must've met up with someone else, including someone connected to the Cromwells, in order to find them."

Back at the Barn...

Loren waited worriedly for the search team to arrive. Luke seemed content as usual, but tried desperately to think of somewhere to hide rather than the burned barn. Andy waited anxiously close to Loren who kept peering out behind their hiding spot.

"We're going to get caught," Loren repeated as numerous black trucks began to arrive.

Luke bit the side of his nail in deep thought almost certain he wasn't going to get caught that day. But, in keyword: he wasn't going to get caught.

"I might have an idea. Keep look out." he instructed. The siblings nodded.

As he grasped the burned boards on the back of the barn where they were stationed, the chain from the cuffs seemed to also get stuck. They tied around whatever seemed to be inside. As nails seemed to dig into his flesh and the pain from the opened wound on his hand and wrists started to come again, Luke tried desperately to ignore it.

A large, yet thin wooden board broke, along with the nails, which now had seeped into his skin, leaving a few blood scratches along his palms. Thankfully, the hole that he had made was just big enough to fit all three of them inside.

"C'mon!" he said as he realized the cuts on his wrists from the cuffs were now larger since the chain had gotten stuck to a nail inside, and as he pulled upon the board attaching it, the cuffs dug deeper in his skin.

Andy quickly lept in, followed by Loren. Andy seemed to realize now what was happening, now that he saw the wounds that were left on Luke. He began to see that they weren't playing some strange game that he or Loren made up. This was real.

Loren sat quietly on a soft patch, which realized quickly as hay.

The barn was very dark, and dusty along with burned patches along the walls, easily recognizable as a fire. It was deserted. It had an upper flooring which just contained a few wooden boxes with written words as 'fragile.'

The awkward scent of burning hay and horses came. Andy was the first to notice.

"Aw, that's that smell?" Andy said, holding his nose.

"Sh," Luke said, holding his hand in his direction and quickly standing up. Footsteps could be heard coming closer.

"Check in here! They might have gotten inside." said a deep voice as three of them started to approach it as well.

"Well, if we can't get into that little hole, how the hell are they?" said another voice.

"Good point. Double check the houses and anyone local. Check and ditches or holes for any bodies and such. We'll double back here; this shall be our last point since it'll take the longest to search." said the third voice, female.

The running footsteps began to fade, as Loren, Andy and Luke let out a sigh of relief.

"Now what?" Loren asked, worriedly.

Luke looked at her straight in the eye. "Do you trust me?"

She looked at him for a moment. "N-Now's not the time for that."

"Well, it's going to have to be." he answered, squatting down a bit.

She was confused. What did he mean by that? He was completely serious with his reaction this time, and it almost scared her. Loren started to become afraid of something that he meant, and she didn't even know.

"You're going to have to go back." he said, finally. Loren paused for a second before speaking. She almost began to shout, but realized where they were at.

"You're not serious, are you?" Loren said, almost instantly after the thought.

Luke shook his head.

With the loudest whisper she could get, she finally disagreed. "No! I am not going to go back! I promised myself over and over that I would help you. And that's what I'm here to do!"

He nodded. Also, with the low tone of voice, however not yelling but content with his reactions, he answered with an "I know. But you've already helped me enough. You're going to have to trust me on this one. We'll see each other again."

Loren shook her head. She still disagreed with everything that was spilling out of his mouth. But, for a moment, isn't that what she wanted?