Beca turned quickly at the sound of tapping on the glass window. She took one more look at the defiant smirk on Tom's face and quickly exited. Once on the other side of the door Beca followed Amy away from the room. She reached into her shirt and pulled the taped microphone from her skin and handed it over to Amy. "Everything's on there." Beca said.
Amy nodded. "There was a carjacking downtown about 45 minutes ago. Luke's motorcycle was recovered at the scene. The man gave a description to the responding officer and it matches Luke."
Beca nodded as she took in the information.
"All local and state law enforcement have been informed of the license plate and are on the look-out for the vehicle. We also have officers going through surveillance cameras of nearby businesses to see if we can track his movement or a direction he headed." Amy continued. "We are going to find her." Amy said confidently hoping to offer her friend a little comfort.
"Yeah" Beca said softly. She felt Jesse's hand on her shoulder. She didn't realize he was behind her but she knew his touch. "Maybe we should go home and wait Becs" Jesse said calmly. "There is nothing more we can do here."
Beca wanted to disagree. She wanted to go back in and force Tom to give her the information she needed. She wanted do whatever she had to, to make him talk. To make him tell her were Chloe was being held.
"I'll call you as soon as we have anything." Amy said agreeing with Jesse's suggestion.
"Anything?" Beca asked. "You promise. You will call me with any information. Even if it's unlikely. You promise?"
"I swear shorty" Amy agreed.
Chloe's face flashed in her mind. Her bright blue eyes. Her perfect lips and radiant smile. The sound of her laugh. The way she looked right before she fell asleep. Beca's heart hurt in her chest as she saw pictures in her mind of Chloe. Battered. Beaten. Crying. She knew she couldn't just sit around and wait.
"Do what you have to do Amy but I want to be updated with any information the police department gets." Beca said quickly. "I'm going to keep looking around town for Luke." Beca said as she marched determinately out of the hospital wing.
They had barely made it outside when Jesse and Theo caught up to her. "So what's the plan?" Theo asked.
"Take me back to the firehouse." Beca said as she climbed into the truck.
"And then?" Jesse asked.
"I'm going to get in my Jeep and find her." Beca answered.
"I'll come with you." Jesse replied.
"No. I want you to stay at the station. If a call comes in, grab my gear and I'll meet you at the location because I think something is going to happen soon." Beca replied.
"How do you know?" Theo asked as he looked back at her from the front cab of the firetruck.
She shrugged. "Something in Tom's voice. His eyes maybe? I don't know but I don't think this will be long and drawn out."
"What did Tom say?" Jesse asked.
"It's not about Chloe. It's all about me." Beca answered. "Now that they know I'm back in town they are going to use her to get to me."
"Why you? What connection do you have to Tom? And Luke?" Jesse asked.
"Tom is Chief Smith's son." Beca revealed.
"What? Are you sure? How do you know that?" Jesse asked skeptically.
"He told me." Beca answered. "Apparently Tom and I were close as kids but when his mother died Chief sent him away to live with his grandparents."
"What?" Jesse didn't believe it.
"I don't know Jess. I don't remember him but he believes it's true. Says he has pictures of us always together. And I guess it could be true. Our fathers were best friends." Beca shrugged as she watched the lights of the town pass by her quickly. "His mom died when he was young and Chief sent him away to live with his parents in Kansas."
"Wait" Jesse said loudly. "Kansas? As in hotel fire school group that never appeared Kansas?"
"That's the one." Beca answered. "He told me he moved back here 4 years ago hoping to reconnect with the Chief but the Chief never recognized him. Didn't even know his own son." Beca sighed. "Over the past four years Tom's been jealous of Chief and I's relationship. Said I had my father and his. So he wants to kill me" Beca deadpanned. "That's when he met Luke and told him all about it."
"And Luke's reason?" Jesse asked trying to take all the information in.
"He's just a fucking nut job." Beca answered quickly. "And he has Chloe."
XxXxXx
She had a plan. She was going to get out of this. She was going to escape when he tried to move her. When he tried to take her to whatever place he was going to try and execute his plan. She would kick. Scream. Bite. Scratch. Fight. Whatever she had to do, she would do. She would fight. She knew he was going to try and hurt Beca and she knew Beca would do anything to save her. Even if it mean sacrificing herself and Chloe wasn't going to let that happen. She was going to do whatever she had to do to keep Beca safe.
What she didn't plan on was to have to do it so soon. Her head snapped up painfully at the sound of a large car door slamming. It sounded different than the one from before. Hope flooded her system. Maybe someone else had found her. Maybe someone other than Luke would be walking through the door. She instinctively struggled to free her hands again but again failed. After being in the same position for the last several hours, she wasn't sure exactly how long, she barely hand any feeling in her hands. She could feel how cold they were from being held above her head for so long. She huffed frustratingly as she finally gave up on freeing herself. She didn't have the strength and she needed to conserve what energy she did have left for when it was time to fight.
XxXxXx
Beca winded her Jeep through the streets of Hidden Hills. She didn't know what kind of car she was looking for but that didn't keep her from looking for anything suspicious. She'd already driven by all the previous sites of the fires trying to find a clue. Trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Trying to figure out where he may be holding Chloe. Something with concrete floors. Like the warehouse she thought as she drove past the sight where Benji lost his life. The look of sadness in his parent's eyes that day in the rain was a look that Beca would never forget. She'd seen it before. She'd seen it in her mother's eyes the day they walked behind the firetruck that held her father's casket. The day that Chief Smith held her in his arms and promised to always be there for her. The day he told her of the promise he'd made to her father, to look out for her. To make sure she was safe. She knew it wasn't his fault but she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to blame him for what was happening so as soon as the firetruck had arrived at 72 she climbed directly into her Jeep and took off. Beca pulled into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. She turned off her truck and sat with her headlights shining on the structure. Grey concrete walls. Graffiti all over them. Chloe had to be in a warehouse. It's what Stacie had described. Beca closed her eyes and listened. She didn't hear anything. No noises. No cars. No smells. Beca climbed out of the Jeep and made her way towards the abandoned building making up her mind to check every single one in Hidden Hill's large rundown warehouse district. The front doors had a large pad lock and heavy chain wrapped around the handles to keep trespassers out. She pulled hard but the doors didn't budge. Beca made her way over to the side of the building and found what she needed. She picked up the old brick and found a first floor window. She threw the brick through the glass shattering it. She used her elbow to clear away broken shards of glass before climbing up and pulling herself through the window. It didn't matter that she cut her skin and that she was bleeding. She'd do it as many times tonight as she had to. She'd do it until she found Chloe.
XxXxXx
The tiny amount of hope she had that someone else had found her disappeared immediately when she saw his shadowy figure walking towards her. But something was different about it. It wasn't the same as when he left. It wasn't as confident.
Luke kicked the full water bottle that still sat at her feet across the room. "You didn't enjoy your dinner?" He teased.
Deciding it was time to push back Chloe spoke. "Fuck you Luke." She spat.
His eyebrows shot towards his hairline. He knelt down in front of her. "You'd like that wouldn't you?" He said leaning towards her. "One more time? For old time's sake?" He winked.
Chloe shook her head in disgust. "Why are you doing this?" She asked angrily.
He leaned back until his butt hit the concrete across from her. "It wasn't my idea." He answered. "But I figured it would be good material for my book. The one I told you about?" He asked thinking she was interested in him enough to remember.
"Why me and Beca?" Chloe asked.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I meant what I said. I really didn't think someone like you would ever get involved with Beca. So you weren't part of the plan but you seem to be one of the few people she cares about so you kind of just fell into it." He answered. "Rough luck."
She looked at him with hate in her eyes. "Why Beca?"
He took a long deep breath. "My friend doesn't like her." Was his simple answer.
"Really?" Chloe snapped back. "You're doing all this because you're friend doesn't like her?" She asked.
"I honestly don't care for her either. Never really have but he" Luke paused. "She took something from him."
"What?" Chloe demanded. "What did she take to deserve this? To have her friends die. To have innocent people killed because she took something from someone?"
"She took his place." Luke answered. "It's kind of poetic actually. I really couldn't have wrote it any better." Luke laughed. "She took his place. Took his father. She became the one he cared for. The child he watched grow. The child he looked after. And now, when she's gone"
A chill ran through Chloe as Luke spoke about Beca in the past tense.
"He will take her place. His father will notice him. He'll love him. He'll remember how much he missed him. How much he needed him. It's a love story." Luke replied. "The things we do for love."
"You're doing this for love? You love your friend?" Chloe asked.
"No" Luke laughed. "He's my best friend but he's already done. The cops will get him, if they already haven't."
"So why are you doing this?" Chloe asked again.
"I was bored I guess." Luke answered with a shrug. "Then I met Tom. He was so angry and it didn't take much to motivate him. He came up with these ideas to hurt his dad. Not like physically hurt him" Luke clarified, "but he wanted him to feel like he felt. And Beca was the obvious way to hurt him."
"Tom Evans?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah. After some research on the internet about chemical bombs and incendiary devices it all kind of came together. It's going to make a great story. Best seller for sure." Luke smiled.
"So you plan to kill Beca to hurt Tom's father?" Chloe asked.
"Yep" Luke replied.
Luke wasn't withholding any information so Chloe took a chance to ask, "how?"
"It's going to be amazing actually" Luke beamed. "I'm going to trap her. Make her choose. Make her choose between the things she loves the most. And in the process the fire" Luke's eyes looked dangerous again. "The fire will hunt her. The fire will trap her. It will claim her. And she will burn. Until there is nothing left."
AN: Closing in towards the end of this story. Tell me what you guys are thinking.