Author's Note: As always, read and review!
Chapter 29: Lose-Lose Situation
Mike and Davy were incredibly restless in the hotel room all by themselves. There were cops out front guarding the place, but they pretty much left Mike and Davy alone. The cops had brought them card games and a few board games and there was a TV, but all Mike and Davy could think about was what could be happening to Peter and Micky. It was killing them not knowing what was going on and not being able to help. Despite all attempts to distract themselves, all they could think about was the horrible things that could have been befalling their friends while they sat around and did nothing.
"This is driving me insane," Davy burst suddenly making Mike jump. Davy had been pacing the hotel room for quite a while now and Mike had been sitting in one of the chairs trying to write out lyrics for a new song, but failing. "Why are we just sitting here!?"
"We promised Agent Mukada we would stay here," Mike tried reasoning. "Besides, we don't even know where to even begin to look for them."
"It's been hours and the police don't know anything yet!" Davy exclaimed. "They could be dead by now!"
"They aren't dead, Davy," Mike said trying desperately to keep his friend calm, even though he wasn't sure he believed himself.
"How do you know that?" Davy protested.
"I just do," Mike lied and looked Davy squarely in the eyes. "Look, Peter and Micky are smart and resourceful. They'll figure a way to keep each other safe. And besides, whoever took them needs them alive to either find Marcy, Patty, or…"
"You," Davy finished for Mike since he couldn't bring himself to say it anymore.
"I don't like being here any more than you do, Davy," Mike said averting his eyes to the floor. "But what can we do? We don't even know where they are."
"Why are we sitting on our butts waiting to find out?" Davy argued.
"Because we don't have the faintest idea of where to look," Mike answered getting annoyed, though not so much with Davy, but the situation. "And there's still a nice, shiny, red target on my back and I'm not going anywhere with you until it's gone. If anything happened to you, I'd…I'd never forgive myself for one thing."
"Nothing's going to happen, Mike," Davy said as Mike turned away unable to look at his best friend. "Besides, what if it is your dad who took them? And he's waiting to lure you out but he gets impatient and kills one of them and leaves the body for us to find?"
"I'm more inclined to think the Tork's took them," Mike answered trying to push the image of the dead body of Micky and Peter from his mind.
"Why?" Davy asked.
"Because only the Tork's could have the kind of pull needed to secretly slip someone out of a hospital surrounded by cops, FBI and security," Mike answered. "My father doesn't have near that kind of weight to throw around. He's nothing more than a low-life murderer."
"Didn't you say he was working with the Tork's though?" Davy asked.
"Davy, it wasn't my father," Mike snapped jumping up and turning angrily on his friend.
"I'm sorry," Davy said shrinking back a little. "I just don't like sitting here not doing anything."
"I know you don't, Davy. And I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just…I'm scared."
"Me too."
"There's nothing we can do, Davy. Agent Mukada is right. If we go out there and try and find Peter and Micky and end up getting hurt or killed, neither of them would be able to forgive themselves."
"I won't be able to forgive myself if they get hurt or killed while I sat around and did nothing."
"Davy…" Mike sank onto the edge of one of the beds in the room with a heavy sigh unsure of what to say. He felt the same way, but he always put his friend's needs before his own. If they died, he'd have to personally deal with the guilt of doing nothing. But if he died trying to help them and they lived, they'd have to suffer and he didn't want that either. But looking at those realistically, both options were unacceptable. He could not let his friends die but he couldn't let them suffer the guilt of his death either. Either way, it was a lose-lose situation. The other options were that they'd be rescued by the police and everything would be ok, but that was looking much more unlikely as the hours ticked by, or Davy and Mike figure out a way to save Peter and Micky and get out alive. But that option seemed unrealistic from the start; with so many people out to kill them, they were bound to run into trouble. Then again, that seemed to be what they all did best. They always ran head-first into trouble and somehow always managed to come out of it.
"Mike, can I ask you something?" Davy asked finally sitting down next to Mike on the edge of the bed.
"Sure," Mike answered.
"Was it just me, or did Micky seem…did he seem to be ok to you? In the dune buggy, when he was dying. I don't really know how to explain it, but he seemed like he was ok emotionally. Like he was ok with dying. Was it just me? Am I going crazy?"
"No. You're not crazy. I saw it, too. And I think he was. I think that when he was trying to get some of the thugs to leave, he knew he was doing it to save us. He knew he was evening the odds for when we came and tried to rescue him. And he knew he'd get hurt the more he said to them, but I don't think he cared."
"He was willing and ready to sacrifice himself to save us," Davy said.
"Yes," Mike answered thinking he knew where Davy was going with this.
"If he could do that for us, why can't we do that for him?" Davy asked pointedly. Mike didn't answer right away.
"Davy, you know I would die for any of you in a heartbeat," Mike finally said. "But again, we run into the fact that we don't even know where to start looking for them."
"Why don't we find out? Ask the cops what they know? We can give them a call and ask what they know."
"I don't know, Davy. Not sure that's such a good idea."
"Why not? We need to figure out where they are so we can rescue them. Do you know of any other way to figure it out?"
"I doubt they're going to just tell us."
"No, but they may give us enough information to figure it out. It's worth a try, isn't it?"
"I guess." Mike crossed over to the room and picked up the phone. After he dialed the number that Agent Mukada had given them, he waited for the agent to answer.
"Agent Mukada," the agent said when he answered as a way of introducing himself.
"Hello, Agent Mukada, this is Mike Nesmith," Mike said. "We were wondering if you were any closer to finding Micky and Peter."
"We found a transfer of a large amount of money into Cyril's account, so it's safe to say that Cyril is the one who kidnapped your friends," Agent Mukada answered. "But we aren't any closer to finding where he may have hidden them. I'm sorry."
"Ok," Mike said dejectedly before hanging up. "Thanks anyway."
"Nothing?" Davy asked.
"Not really," Mike answered. "They know Cyril is the one who kidnapped them, but they don't know where he may have taken them."
"So now what?"
"I don't know, Davy. I don't know."
"How would I do that?" Peter asked with fear growing inside him as he stared at the gun pointing directly at his friends head. It took every ounce of strength for him not to crumble into pieces at the sight. He would do anything to save Micky's life, but at the same time, he would do anything to save his sister's. Making him choose between them was pure torture and Peter hoped that somehow there was something else he could offer his father in exchange for Micky's life. When his father mentioned that he could do something to get his mother out of jail, he perked up a little. He would, of course, do whatever it took if it meant saving Micky's life.
Peter had been asleep for the ride here. The last thing he had remembered was being told to sit down in Micky's rom and feeling a sharp poke on the back of his neck. He had woken up in this room with his father and Percy staring at him with smiles on their faces. It had only taken a few seconds to see Micky passed out still on his hospital bed with the IV's still attached to him. They hadn't actually taken the time to restrain Peter, but they had made it perfectly clear that if he tried to fight them or run away, they'd shoot him. Not that Peter had even thought about running away. There was no way he'd leave Micky here alone with his crazed homicidal father and brother and he couldn't very well run with Micky.
"Retract your testimony against her," his father answered. "Tell the police you lied and your friends lied. Then destroy that tape your stupid little English friend made."
"How do I destroy that?" Peter said ignoring the insult against Davy because he knew saying something would only make things worse. "I doubt they'll let me anywhere near it."
"You sneak in to the evidence locker, dummy," Percy snapped. "Once this is all over, that is. Until we get our hands on Marcy, you're staying here."
"Once she gets here, you find some way to destroy that tape," Toby added. "I don't care how you do it, but do it."
"I don't even know how to break into an evidence storage building," Peter said.
"Then I suggest you start thinking about it," Percy snapped.
"Peter, don't," Micky pled. His voice was rough and broken and his face contorted in pain as he spoke.
"Please give him the pain killer," Peter pled feeling himself start to tear up. "He's in so much pain. Please."
"He deserves to suffer for a while," Toby sneered.
"No, he doesn't," Peter argued. "He didn't do anything to you."
"He lied to me," Toby spat. "And you know how I feel about liars."
"That doesn't mean he deserves to be in pain," Peter argued still unable to take his eyes off the gun in his father's hand. "Please, I'll do what you want. Just don't hurt him."
"I won't kill him, yet," Toby said finally putting the gun back in his pocket. "But know the minute you cross me, he's a dead man."
"I won't," Peter said and he meant it. He wouldn't dare do anything to make his father or brother angry. He knew from experience what would happen if he did. His father seemed satisfied that Peter would stay put, so he, the nurse who'd kidnapped them and Percy walked out of the room, leaving Micky and Peter alone. The moment the door closed and locked them inside, Peter jumped out of the chair and rushed over to Micky.
"Micky," Peter breathed. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Micky answered. "Just hurts."
"Try not to move," Peter said sadly.
"Where are we?" Micky asked.
"I have no idea," Peter answered. "That nurse must have knocked me out in the hospital. I felt him poke me with a needle or something. When I woke up, I heard my dad talking to him. Congratulating him on a job well done. I guess they only meant to take you because they had no idea where I was. They thought I'd already been discharged from the hospital with Davy and Mike. Near as I can tell, my dad paid that nurse to kidnap you from the hospital to try and lure me out thinking I was already hiding somewhere else."
"Cyril thought I was alone," Micky said. Peter nodded remembering that Cyril had seemed very surprised that Peter was there when he came in to get Micky for his "tests".
"I guess when he saw me, he thought that he couldn't really leave any witnesses behind and took me too without realizing who I was," Peter agreed.
"You're sure Mike and Davy are ok?" Micky asked wincing a little in pain as he spoke.
"Yeah," Peter answered. "They were signing the discharge papers when I came to see you. My father hasn't said anything about them."
"Good," Micky said. "Peter, don't do it. Don't do what they're asking you to. It's going to get you in trouble. If they catch you, you'll go to jail."
"I don't care about that, Micky," Peter argued. "If I don't do it, they'll kill you. My dad held a gun inches from your head a minute ago. I was so scared he was going to actually kill you right then and there."
"Peter, it's not worth throwing your life away over," Micky argued back wincing again.
"You mean your life isn't worth it?" Peter asked. "Of course it is."
"Peter, just…" Micky trailed off. Peter could see that he was trying to stay coherent through the pain in his stomach, but was quickly losing the battle.
"Just relax, Micky," Peter pled placing his hand on Micky's to try and calm him down.
"Don't do anything stupid, ok?" Micky said. "We'll figure a way out of this. We always do."
