Ben stared at his phone for a few minutes, he couldn't decide if he really understood what he thought he heard. "Damn it." He jammed his phone in his pocket and went to find Kristin.
She was sitting at the window of her room alternating between reading and watching the storm. She looked up when he entered, "have you heard from Lucas or Tim? I'm worried about them in this storm. And it sounds like it's going to get worse." She stretched her back. "I wish Lawrence hadn't gone out either."
He started to pace before responding, "Lucas just called me... I think something is very wrong."
Kristin stood, scattering her papers on the floor, he had her full attention. "What do you mean? What did he say?"
"He... we... oh, hell... I was teasing him about safe words the other day... and he said the one I used... but it may be nothing. He may actually be going to a place called the Blue Banana." Ben shook his head in confusion. "Have you ever heard of something like that?" He flushed slightly as he realized what he had to explain next. "I mean, it kinda sounds like some kind of sex joke. Lucas could just be messing with me."
Kristin tilted her head as she thought, "if I remember correctly, there is a place in town called that, but it's frozen yogurt."
"Yeah, that's what he said."
"Ben," She started to explain very carefully, "do you remember what happened when you ordered frozen yogurt instead of ice cream a few month ago?"
His head jerked back and he finally stopped pacing. "He yelled at me for five minutes about how much he hated the stuff, called it 'the false prophet of ice cream.' Shit...he's in trouble."
"Lucas... Lucas, come on get up. You... you can't do anything for him." Tim gently shook the crying boy's shoulder. "We need to figure out how to get out of here."
"I'm not... I can't leave him here." He said through gasps for air, his face still buried in his father's chest. His Brave's hat was knocked loose and Tim picked it up. He twisted it in his hands, trying to stop his own tears from coming.
"I know, we won't. We'll get out and get help." Tim finally ignored all propriety and pulled Lucas off of his father. He wrapped his arms around him and let the teen cry into his shoulder. After a several minutes, Tim leaned his forehead against the blonde hair. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I said everything would be ok. I... never thought..."
Lucas shook his head and pulled back. "No, I'm not going to blame this on anyone but Conrad." His tears stopped and his eyes turned to brittle blue ice. "We need to get to the police, if I get to him first..." He bit down on the end of his sentence.
Tim stood and pulled Lucas with him, he looked at the cap in his hands and tugged it down low on his young friend's head. "Alright, what do we have to work with?"
"Not much, the floor under the edges of the door looks pretty weak, we would just need to get the vertical bar holding the hinges loose enough to lift the hooks out." He inspected the old style door. "But we don't have anything to dig with. And it's going to take a while." Now that he had a task, Lucas was able to wrench his mind and eyes away from his father's corpse.
"The rock looks like it's flaking apart over here, if we get a large enough piece free, it can be a tool." Tim pointed out in one corner of the small cave. "The years of the surf coming in must have done it." He knelt and started pulling on the lip of one piece. Very soon, his fingers started to bleed from the sharp edges. He heard Lucas moving behind him and assumed he was working on another rock.
He jumped when the crushed phone appeared under his nose. "Here, it isn't good for much else now." Tim nodded and started to use it as a lever. Lucas found another loose rock and began working it out with his fingers, beside him.
"So, um... and you don't have to explain it... but what's with the car thing?"
"Oh... when I was about ten, I think, Dad got a car prototype to test out, this gorgeous silver Tesla. Well, it was a long weekend and I kinda got bored so... I pulled apart the entire dashboard. I wanted to see the interface." He smiled sadly.
"My dad found me sitting in the garage, surrounded by all the parts, I thought he was going to kill me... hell, he even looked like was going to at first. He asked me what I was doing and I tried to tell him. He... he just looked at me and said 'Well, little buddy, I guess we have a project we can work on together now.' We spent three days putting it back together." Lucas let out a laugh. "We had about a half dozen extra parts when we finished. And... it worked better than before. He sent the new specs to the company and they improved the car. It was on the market months later."
"Sounds like you had fun." Tim said, shooting his eyes sideways to him. Lucas' face was still blotched and red, but now had his typical smirk on it again.
"We did," he responded softly.
Tim out a happy shout. "Got it!" He pulled the fist sized rock completely free from the wall. He passed the broken phone to Lucas and crossed to the door to dig out the bar.
"So," Lucas said, still facing the wall. "Wanna have the cavemen versus astronauts argument?"
Tim snorted, "I don't think so, I've nearly lost friends with that one." He paused and looked back, "why, who do you choose?"
Both men grinned and in unison, loudly said, "astronauts."
"Try it now." Lucas said an hour later. He was leaning over Tim chipping at the ceiling of the opening as the other man dug small chunks of rocks from the hole he created. Tim lifted the bar and gave it a shake. The hooks barely cleared the socket of the hinges and the door swung open. Their joy was short lived as a large storm swell crashed against them, knocking them to the floor.
"Do you have any idea where they would have gone?" Officer Brinks asked Kristin, as they sat in the dinning room.
"No, I know Lucas wanted to go to the boardwalk, but after that..." She shrugged helplessly.
"And you're sure they're in trouble?" Officer Gerky asked Ben.
Ben tried to control his frustration. "Yes, he used my safe word. You need to find them."
Officer Gerky's eyes gave Ben a once over, "safe word? How old you are?"
"Why does that matter?" He snapped back.
She calmly looked at her notes. "Because a minor was attacked under strange circumstances, and now you've made mention of something of a possible violent sexual nature, while telling us he's missing."
"What? No! No, it's not like that... I'd never..." Ben sputtered back, with difficulty, he brought himself under control. "I was teasing him. I didn't even think he understood it at first." He bit his lip at the memory. "He's like my kid brother."
"Alright Mr. Krieg, I..." She trailed off and put a finger to her ear, sliding her com-piece in deeper. The officer pushed a button on the radio microphone on her shoulder. "Ten-four, send him in." She looked at her partner and then Kristin and Ben. "It looks like there is another officer who wants to speak with you two. You seem pretty popular."
The door bell rang and Officer Brinks took the liberty of opening the door. A male officer stood there, he was of average height but held himself in such away, that he appeared more imposing, he barely gave the officers in the room a second glance. "I need to speak to Dr. Kristin Westphalen and Lt. Benjamin Krieg." He said gravely.
Kristin and Ben stopped breathing as they watched him walk in. "I am Sargent Oswalt. I need to know how you know a..." he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Lucas Wolenczak, Lawrence Wolenczak, and a Tim O'Neill."
"No... no." Kristin started to moan. Ben caught her before she could fall over.
The officer refolded the paper, he looked at them with compassion in his brown eyes. "As of now, we have no reason to believe they are dead, but I need to explain something to you and get more information from you."
"Do you know where they are?" Ben asked, "and where did you get their names?"
Officer Oswalt hesitated, "a long time resident of our town walked into the PD today, only about twenty minutes ago actually. He handed a sheet of paper to the county clerk and then pulled out a gun and shot himself." He saw the confused but shocked expressions around him and continued, "according to his note, you knew him as well. Um, I'm not suppose to release his name until we've notified his family, but given the situation I have to. It was a Dr. Conrad Oberg."
"Conrad? He... he's dead? Why?" Kristin managed to get out.
"His note explained that he took the Wolenczaks and Mr. O'Neill. He was holding them some where in the marina, unfortunately he wasn't clear on where. There seemed to have been and accident and some one was shot."
"Oh god." Kristin whispered.
"You need to get out there and find them!" Ben demanded.
Officer Oswalt held out a calming hand. "I wish I could. With the storm this bad, anyone we send to the marina would be in danger." He brought his hand back down and looked uncomfortable. "I am truly sorry, but we will work with the Port Washington Police Department to find them as soon as we can."
"In the mean time, one of our friends is out there bleeding to death or they're all downing." Ben was trying to control his fury, Officer Oswalt looked guilty but didn't reply. "Fine," Ben spat, "I'll go out there and find them my damn self."
Author's Note: We have a Blue Banana shop here, I always thought the name was a little odd. It works for story though so I'm ok with it.