ON MY OWN



The next morning when the Stevens awoke, they were surprised to see the Lucas's

bedroom door already open. It was very early and their first thoughts were ones

of fear that the teenager had already fled without so much as a goodbye.

Their fears were relieved a little when they walked out the back door and spotted

Lucas sitting down on the concrete driveway, talking and patting to MAC.

The dog seemed to be lapping up the attention and he showed his appreciation with

a few stray wet licks towards Lucas's face.

The Stevens's had laughed silently as they watched the antics of the huge playful

dog and the teenager. On a few occasions, Lucas had been successful at ducking

and avoiding the wet tongue that came his way, but on one such occasion he was

to slow and received a very sloppy greeting from the dog.

Lucas face immediately turned into a scowl of disgust as he wiped his face on

the sleeve of his t-shirt. He could be heard to say a few stern words towards the

dog about what would happen if he did it again. The dog took Lucas's chastisement

as another invitation and without warning, planted another very wet lick on the

boy's face.

Sandra and Bob could barely contain their laughter and their muffled giggled made

the teenager turn around at the sound. He smiled back with he saw the mirth in their

eyes at the dog's affection towards the teenager. Up to now, the dog had only shown

such playfulness towards his master Bob. Somehow, this teenager that had only been

in the place for a day or so had charmed the big dog's heart and made him a faithful

companion.

This morning when Lucas joined his newly made friends at the breakfast table, MAC

settled himself under Lucas's chair instead of Bob's.

"Looks like you've made a new friend" Bob joked with the teenager.

Lucas had returned the false grin but inwardly wondered if it was his destiny to only

have animal friends for companions. Lord knows that the human kind had let him down

often enough in the past.

"Want to help out on the petrol pumps again today Lucas?" Bob asked the teenager.

Since last night, the teenager had withdrawn back into himself again. Bob hoped

that even though the job wasn't the greatest in the world, maybe it would make the

teenager stay, only for a little while. This would make him and his wife Sandra very

happy.

"Sure, if you want me to?" Lucas replied. He liked working with Bob. The man

was very easy to talk to. Very casual and good natured. Almost like Captain Bridger

sometimes. Lucas admonished himself silently and told him that he needed to keep

himself busy to forget about his past. But somehow, those memories of the past kept

creeping back in.

"Can't be any worse than yesterday" Bob said with a grin.

"I'm gonna hold you to that" Lucas replied as they got up from the table and headed

out to the garage. Mac became awake at the sound of the two of them leaving and

quickly followed behind.

The first few customers in the morning had been quite pleasant for Lucas. He was

actually beginning to enjoy the job. It wasn't until one of the last customers for the

afternoon that made him feel like he was utterly useless again.

Bob and Lucas had heard the car coming before they saw it. It was an old beat

up Cadillac with a hard roof. There was paint missing in a few places and the

windows looked as though they hadn't been cleaned in five years of dust storms.

The car came into the driveway at a speed. When it pulled up, it let out a loud

screech from the back brakes, signalling that they needed to be replaced. The driver

at the wheel had honked the horn loudly and after a few seconds of no response,

did it again for longer.

Lucas could see problem written all over this vehicle before he even got within ten

feet. He tried to put on his best smile and walked around to the driver's side and

greeted the short rough looking man with the words "Can I help you Sir". The words

didn't seem to fit the customer though. The man looked anything but a SIR.

"SIR" the man said with a sarcastic tone. "Now Biff, that's a title that fits me just

right" he said to his friend seated in the passenger seat of the Cadillac.

From where he was standing, Lucas got a look at both men and had to hide the laugh

that was welling up inside him at the vast differences between the two travelling companions.

The passenger got out of the vehicle and now stood next to his friend. The first names

that popped into Lucas's head at seeing them standing side by side was ROCKY and

BULLWINKLE.

The driver looked like ROCKY with his short stature and his beady little eyes that

looked out of the dark glasses. Just like the squirrel from the cartoon show on television.

He looked like the smartest one of the two of them but that wasn't saying much.

The passenger, with his somewhat larger frame, almost double his partner, would be

threatening in the wrong situation. But now looking at him close up, he could see that

his almost had this child like quality as well. Big and Dumb to match were the first

impressions.

Lucas could see the two men looking him up and down and snickering at his shaggy

blond hair and his baggy clothes that hung loosely on his thin frame.

"You know, for somebody who looks like a reject from the college fraternity, you've

got yourself some manners kid" the first man now said to Lucas.

"Would you like me to fill up your tank?" Lucas said now embarrassed about the

comment about his manners. He wished he could have just told them to rack off before

they even had gotten out of the car, but this was a job he was trying to do well at and he

couldn't afford to shirk his duty no matter what sort of Riff Raff the place attracted.

"Yeah and would you take a look at the radiator there too" the man said "It's been

getting hot all day and I need somebody to take a look at it."

Lucas had placed the nozzle of the pump into the opening in the tank and while it was

filling up, he had tried to look under the bonnet of the car and look at least like he might

have an idea about cars.

It soon became apparent to Lucas, but also to the two men that the teenager had little

or no knowledge about the internal workings of a motor vehicle's engine.

"Look's like it's real hard to get good help around these days Biff" the first man said

sarcastically.

"Yeah Danny" Biff had replied. At least now Lucas knew the first man's name.

He was getting frustrated about the man's snide comments towards him and he tried

his best to ignore them, but the feelings of self doubt and failure from the previous

day began to creep in again.

"I'll go get the owner for you, he might be able to help some more" Lucas tried to

say without shouting at them to shut the hell up. This was his first real job. He couldn't

be expected to know everything after the first day.

"Better go and run back to your mother little boy" Danny now shouted after the teenager.

"You should leave the big toys to the big boys."

Lucas just walked past Bob in a huff and grumbled some inaudible profanities as he

headed towards the back door with his head hung low. He had been shot down in flames

again by a less than polite customer and it was beginning to take a toll on his nerves.

When they drove away a few minutes later, still with their busted radiator, they were

unknowingly headed towards the same motel room a few miles down the road that

Lucas had stayed in a few nights ago. They had no idea at this stage that their paths

would soon cross again.



It was about this time that no matter what other things awaited him down the road over

the coming weeks and months, Lucas had decided that being a Service Station Attendant

was not the job for him. He dearly wanted to help out Bob and Sandra and repay them

for their kindness, but he had made up his mind that tonight he would start back on his

way to his new future again.

Around the dinner table that night, Sandra and Bob tried to think of every trick in the

book to try and get the depressed teenager to stay. They hoped that even if they could

convince him to stay one more night then they would be able to formulate a new plan

tomorrow.

Sandra was on the verge of tears when Lucas went into his temporary room and gathered

together his few measly belongings and stuffed them into Wolfman's borrowed backpack.

"You really don't have to go right now do you" Sandra asked, trying to hide her tears

and knowing that she was grasping at straws to find an excuse to get Lucas to stay.

"Yeah, I'm afraid I do" Lucas said trying to hide his own feelings inside. He knew

that if he stayed any longer, he would start to become attached to these people. Just

like he had become attached to the people and family aboard the SeaQuest. His heart

still hadn't even begun to recover from that blow and he didn't want to take the chance

and start becoming close again. Part of him wanted to stay, maybe for a good while

to come in the future, but another part of him spoke sternly to himself and told him

about what happened last time he let somebody love him. It had happened too many

times in the past not to take notice of.

"I'm sorry, but it has to be this way" Lucas said. He gave Sandra and awkward

embrace and Bob a hearty handshake. He looked down at MAC who was giving

him the sad puppy dog eyes look. He grinned at even the dog's attempts to get

him to stay. He gave the black dog a brief pat and started walking towards the back

door.

"Lucas, you really shouldn't be walking these roads at night time on your own" Bob

said as he followed the teenager out the door. It was the father figure in him that

was emerging and trying to protect the teenager from the fear of the unknown.

"You're knee still hasn't healed properly Lucas" he added.

"I'll be fine" Lucas said. He wanted so badly to turn back and let himself be taken

in by these two new friends, but he just couldn't. His leg was beginning to ache already,

that was true, but he just couldn't.

"You'll always have a place to stay, if things don't work out Lucas" Bob said finally.

"You're welcome anytime. You take care of yourself now you hear." He had to

accept the fact that the teenager was determined to walk out of their lives. For a brief

shining moment, Lucas had begun to stir feelings in him and Sandra that they hadn't

felt since loosing their son Gavin. They would give anything to let those feelings

continue on a little longer.

Lucas nodded and flashed his best smile at them and turned his head away and

started to walk down the road before they could see the tears that were running

down his face.

*******************************************************************

Later that evening, in the living room, Sandra and Bob had sat down to watch the

news together on the t.v. and try and console each other after Lucas's departure.

There was an ad and then before the news reader continued with the day's events,

he announced an important broadcast.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls" the reporter began "This station has been

asked to display the image of a missing teenage boy. The boy has ben missing

for almost a week now and his family and friends are desperately trying to seek out

any information on his whereabouts."

Sandra and Bob looked at each other and both had the fear of dread that they already

knew the identity of the missing teenager before they even announced his name. The

both turned back anxiously towards the t.v. and watched another figure appear in

front of the screen.





There were two people who appeared on the screen actually. One was a distinguished

looking gentleman of middle age. He had on an official looking military uniform of

some description. His posture and face however told the audience that he had not

slept in many days and his emotions were getting the better of him. The other person

was a women. With fire red hair, she was of a similar age to the man, maybe a few

years younger. She also had a official looking uniform on in the form of a pair of

sky blue coveralls. Sandra and Bob could see the uniforms displayed a patch on

the front of them bearing the initials U.E.O.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" the silver haired man started "My name is Captain Nathan

Hale Bridger. This is my colleague and close friend Doctor Kristen Westphalen.

We are both members of the United Earth Oceans Naval submarine, the SeaQuest."

This introduction at least confirmed why they both were wearing military uniforms.

"Approximately four days ago, a young member of our crew suddenly disappeared.

Up until now we have not been able to contact him or locate his whereabouts. We

think he might be reluctant to come back, he might even be sick or injured. We are

asking everyone out there to keep an eye out for him, and if anybody has seen him

over the past few days, for them to contact us immediately on the number displayed

on your screen." Bridger spoke into the microphone.

"We are offering a $100 000 reward for any information leading to us being able to

locate and find this missing boy. His family and friends miss him very much and

want him home more than we can say." Kristen now added.

"His name is Lucas Wolenczak" Bridger stated "In a few seconds, we will display a

photograph of him to try and trigger people's memories that might have seen him.

At the moment he has no known mode of transportation and we have grave concerns

for his safety."

"Please, if you have any information, no matter how trivial or how limited the details

might be, please phone. We are waiting for you call. Don't forget to have a good look

at the photo to refresh your memories. Thank you and now you will be returned to

your regular programs."

Suddenly the photograph of the mysterious missing teenager was displayed for all to

see. Bob and Sandra knew their fears had been confirmed as they saw the smiling

face of their young friend on the screen. He had been here only a few hours ago.

Sandra told herself that she had known the boy wasn't telling her the truth about his

real name. Now, she just wanted to get in contact with these people and let them

know that he was alright. She didn't know how she was going to tell them that

he was gone again, but it might be a start. He couldn't have gotten too far just yet,

in such a short space of time. These people sounded very distressed about his

being missing. They must really love him and miss him. She wondered what had

made the boy leave such a loving family in the first place.

While Lucas walked along the dark and deserted road again at his snail pace, while

Sandra and Bob and the rest of t.v. land watched his picture being displayed on their

t.v. screens, two other men in a motel room had also been watching the report and

saw the photograph of the missing boy.

Both of them recognized the smiling teenager's face, but the thing that caught their

attention the most was the money offered for information leading to his return. They

both looked at each other with dollar signs in their eyes and grinned devilishly.

They got into their vehicle and started driving back towards the service station.

"Just think Biff" Danny began "If these people are willing to pay a hundred grand

for information about him, think what they would give for his safe return. I see this

as a blessing and an opportunity to help that poor lost boy out and return him to his

family, don't you?" he said with a laugh.

"Yeah, Danny, but that don't mean they get him back straight away do it?" Biff said

as he realised that his partner was preparing to actually kidnap the teenager and hold

him for ransom.

"Only after they add another zero to that figure" Danny said as his brain ticked over

with a scheme. "Biff, take a look in that glove compartment for me would Ya"



Biff leant forward and opened the beaten up glove compartment, the only thing that

could be seen straight away was a few unpaid traffic tickets. It was only until Biff

reached his hand in and started moving it about inside that his hand came to rest on

a completely different item altogether.

He pulled it out and saw that it was a small brown bottle without a label. "What's

inside Danny?" he asked without opening the contents.

"Just get your hanky out and hide them in your pocket until I say so" Danny replied

"It's just something to keep him quiet. Once we get him, we don't want him yelling

for help before we make arrangements for them to drop the money off somewhere."

Back at the Service Station, Sandra was dialing the number she and Bob had seen

displayed on the screen. She waited nervously for someone to pick up the phone

at the other end.

"Hello" Sandra said as a voice appeared on the other end of the line. "I want to

speak to that lady and that man about the missing boy Lucas" she said too fast.

"Hold a minute please" was the response and Sandra heard the person at the other

end put the phone down briefly.

"Doctor Kristen Westphalen" Kristen said as she picked up the phone.

"Hello, you don't know me but my name is Sandra Stevens. I was just watching

your broadcast about the missing boy Lucas. I wanted to get in contact with you

and tell you that we have seen him."

"Where and When" Kristen said. She thought she heard some harshness in her

voice at this person trying to help, but the caller didn't seem to notice.

"He came here two days ago and has been staying with us and helping us out

in our small garage. He only left tonight. We tried to get him to stay longer, but

he said he needed to go. I just hope that he's okay, especially with that injured

knee of his." Sandra didn't realise that not everybody knew about the teenager's

injury.

"How did he hurt his knee" Kristen said with concern. She was busy trying to keep

Nathan from getting to the caller on the other end and barraging them with questions.

She tried to convey everything Sandra was saying to Nathan as calmly as possible.

It wasn't working though, Nathan was hanging on every word as Kristen spoke.

"Don't know, he turned up here in the middle of the night. Bob went out to investigate

a noise outside and nearly scared him to death. We told him to stay the night and

then said he could stay as long as he liked, but he told us he had to go and meet a friend."

I wish I could tell you some more."

"You've already been most helpful" Kristen assured the woman. "How long ago did he leave?"

"Only about two hours ago, and that knee of his slows him up some. We could go in our car

and look for him if you'd like." Sandra suggested.

"No, that won't be necessary. What I need you to do is stay there, if you don't mind. If he

is injured, he might not get very far at all and try and come back to where you are." Kristen

assumed. "Could I impose on you that much and help us out?"

"Oh by all means, he's a really nice boy. As I said, we tried to get him to stay, but he was

trying to hide his feelings about where he came from and where he was going. I want to

see him reunited with his friends and family."

"Thank you if you'll just give us directions to your place, we will continue on from there

and try and locate him." Kristen said.

Sandra explained to Kristen where they were and how to find them. "We should be there

in about three hours" she said and hung up so they could get on their way.

Nathan had been concerned as Kristen when he heard about Lucas's injury. He was

fearful for the boy's safety with him walking around in the dark on his own. He was

having exactly the same concerns as Bob and Sandra Stevens.

Without much further convincing, they quickly told the senior crew members about the

information from the Stevens's and told them to get a transport and meet them out front

in ten minutes.

It was more like half an hour late before two vehicles were heading down the highway

in search of Lucas. They just hoped he was alright when they finally found him. They

hoped that he would be willing to forgive them and come back home with them.

*********************************************************************

Because Bob and Sandra's service station hadn't been lit up, and due to the darkness

of the night, Biff and Danny had swore and cursed aloud when they had realised that

they must have driven past the service station a few miles back.

"What do we do now" Biff said as he saw Danny curse out loud and punch the

dashboard with his fist at their carelessness. They knew that they couldn't just walk

up to the place and ask about the teenager. The man had seen them there earlier in

the day and he would be able to point the finger at them later if something went wrong.

They would just have to wait in the darkness and hope that the boy took a stroll on his

own at some stage.

Before they had a chance to turn the car around and start heading in the other direction

again, the headlights on the car shone on a lone figure walking some distance ahead.

They could see the silhouetted figure was somewhat cumbersome in his gait and looked

very slow in his progress.

Danny and Biff couldn't believe their luck. They hadn't expected that the teenager would

be walking out this late at night all alone. The road was deserted. There was nobody

to stop and help the teenager and he wouldn't be heard if he screamed for help.

This was going to be easier than they thought.

Danny put his foot down a little on the accelerator and began to travel a bit quicker.

Although the road might be empty now, they couldn't take the chance and be caught

in the act when a stray truck came past and saw what they were about to do.



Lucas had turned his head and looked behind at the sound of a car coming behind him.

He had almost not turned around due to concentrating on his aching knee. It had really

begun to trouble him again over the last kilometre or so and he almost hadn't bothered

to look around.

He rolled his eyes when he saw the beaten up Cadillac coming his way. He wasn't afraid

of them yet. He just knew that they would probably cause some trouble for him and

make fun of him like they had earlier today.

For a moment he thought his luck had changed as the car looked like it was going

to go right past him, but then regretfully, he saw the car stop about fifty metres

ahead of him, blocking his path.

As he approached the car, Biff and Danny gave no indication about what they had

in mind.

"Well look who it is Biff" Danny said with another note of sarcasm. "It's the little

mechanic who knew so much about fixing our car today".

Lucas was now alongside of the car. Danny had walked in front of the teenager as

he spoke, and Biff had gone behind him. They still kept their scheme to themselves

for a few moments longer.

Lucas was in no mood for idle chit chat. He was just hoping to get a few more miles

down the road for the night and bed down somewhere to rest his leg for awhile. With

him not having to mind about customer protocol out in the middle of nowhere and the

pain starting to gnaw away at him, he felt the need for a comment of his own to match.

"Thank you Beavis and Buthead" Lucas snapped back. "Get out of my way."

Danny gave a curt nod to Biff and Lucas now found the big man behind him grabbing

his arms painfully from behind to subdue him. They were flush up against the door

of the Cadillac and with Danny in front of him and Biff holding onto his arms, there

was no where to go.

"Hey, let go you jerks" Lucas demanded. "I didn't do anything to you, let me go".

While Biff had pinned his arms to his side, Danny now dug his hands into the boy's

jeans pocket and extracted his black leather wallet. Lucas had tried to get free

and stop the invasion of privacy, but he couldn't free himself from the big man's

powerful grip.

"Now let's see just who we have here " Danny said as he opened up the wallet

and looked at the photo identification inside.

"Kind of flash looking ain't it" Danny said as he showed Biff Lucas's official

U.E.O. identification. He looked at the name on the front and knew he had to make

a joke at the boy's name.

"What kind of girly name is Lucas?" Danny said out loud and both he and Biff then

started to laugh at the teenager's expense.

Lucas felt angry at the moment. He didn't like being restrained and he definitely didn't

like them fishing around in his personal possessions. He thought of what he knew about

them and commented back.

"What's Danny short for, Danielle?" Lucas said wryly. Even Biff had chuckled at this

comment, but soon zipped it when he saw the less than impressed look from his friend.

"Oh you think you're real smart huh" Danny said and then let a punch go and drove it

into Lucas's unprotected stomach as Biff still held his arms.

Lucas doubled over from the blow and concentrated on getting his breath back.

His head was jerked up suddenly by his hair as Danny grabbed a hold of his blond locks

and yanked them upwards.

"Let's just see how much Mr Chuckles here is worth" Danny now said as he went into

the money section of Lucas's wallet.



Lucas hadn't been carrying much cash around with him and he had worked for nothing

back at the Service Station.

"There's only about fifteen dollars in there" Lucas said. He preferred to leave most of

his money in the bank for another day in case he needed it later on down the track.

Now Danny looked up at his captive with a gleam in his eye "Oh, but you're worth

much more than fifteen dollars my young friend." he said and then looked at Biff

with an evil grin.

Lucas hadn't seen or heard any of the broadcasts about his disappearance and therefore

didn't know about the huge reward offered for information that Bridger had promised.

"There's people willing to pay a lot of money for your miserable hide" Danny told Lucas.

"They think your worth at least a hundred grand".

"A hundred grand" Lucas scoffed. "You've got rocks in your head. Nobody would pay

that for me."

"Oh but your wrong, your going to make Biff and I here rich" Danny said. It was about

now that Lucas realised that these men meant to at least hold him for some sort of ransom.

Something made him think that they were trying to weasel money out of his real father,

Lawrence Wolenczak.

"My father won't give a red penny to anybody for me" Lucas said with a grin of his own

at these men trying to make money out of him. "He won't even give me the time of day,

so you've got next to no chance of getting any money out of him for me."

"Recognize the name Bridger" Danny now asked. Lucas gasped out loud and knew the

name alright, but after all that had happened he found it had to believe that Bridger would

offer $100 000 for him either. Why would Bridger offer that much money for him.

Danny had seen the look of recognition at the mention of Bridger and knew that the boy

knew the man. "You see, Biff and I think that not only will he pay $100 000 to get you

back, but we're gonna ask for ten times that much."

"You're going to ask for $1 000 000 for me" Lucas asked incredulously. He knew that

this was an inconceivable amount to ask for him in ransom.

Lucas glanced sideways and saw that Biff was dreaming of the money he and Danny

were going to make out of him. He looked forwarded and saw that Danny had also

been briefly distracted by the thought of instant wealth. He knew that he had to make

his move now or never.

With his left still so sore, he now silently brought his right leg up as high as he dared

without being seen and drove it back down again onto Biff's foot.

"YEEOOWWWW" Biff exclaimed as he let go of Lucas and started to dance around

on one leg while he tried to stop the other one from throbbing.

Danny had not been expecting anything either and now felt the teenager give him a

sharp shove as he tried to get past and away from his captors.

"Just don't stand there hollering, you big gloot" Danny shouted angrily at Biff while

he picked himself up off the roadway. "Give me that stuff and get after him."

Biff pulled the small brown bottle and the checkered handkerchief out of his pants

pocket and handed them to his partner as he started to pursue the fleeing teenager.

Lucky for them, Lucas's knee was still troubling him and causing him some pain.

When he had taken off at such a speed from a stop still position, he had put more

pressure on his injured knee than he would have liked. He made it about 30 metres

further down the road limping when he tripped and stumbled. He was able to

stop himself falling all the way to the ground and now rested briefly on his knees.

He looked around and could see the two figures getting close to him. He got up

and made another attempt to escape.

Before he could get very far, Biff had managed to chase him down and as he got

up and tried to run again, the big man had grabbed a hold of the teenager's shirt

tail and get a loose hold on the teenager again.

Lucas was struggling against his assailant. He had fallen on the roadway on his

stomach with Biff still trying to get a good hold of his legs. He started kicking

out with his legs and tried to inch his way on his stomach away from his attacker.

Lucas started screaming. He didn't know if anybody would be able to hear him

or come to his rescue, but he yelled for help anyway.

Biff finally managed to get a decent hold on the still struggling teenager and now

jerk him upright and pinned his arms to his side again like before. Lucas wasn't

giving up on getting away though and was still trying to kick out with his feet

at Biff.

"Keep him quiet" Danny snapped.

Biff now placed his large and calloused hand over Lucas's mouth and tried to muffle

the young man's pleas for help.

Lucas still tried to scream through Biff's hand. It wasn't as effective, but he screamed

anyway. The more he yelled, the tighter he could feel the hand's pressure over his

mouth.

By now, the shorter legged Danny had managed to catch up with the two of them

He had stopped briefly to pour some of the clear liquid from the small bottle

onto the handkerchief.

He put the rest of the contents of the bottle back in his pocket. He was sure that

they would be needing it again at some stage looking at the teenager's desperate

attempts to get away.

"Hold his head still Biff" Danny said as he started descending the offending smelling

rag towards Lucas's face.

Lucas was now on full panic alert and knew what was about to happen if he couldn't

get away from these two. He was trying to shake his head from side to side so that they

couldn't get the cloth anyway near his face. Biff grabbed his blond hair like Danny

had earlier and forced the boy's face towards the checkered cloth.

Biff had removed his hand so that the cloth could be administered and Lucas took this

opportunity to reiterate his yells for help.

"HEEELLLLPPPPP.!!!!!! Somebody help me please" Lucas managed to get out.

Danny now gruffly placed the cloth over the teenager's face. It covered his mouth

and nose. Biff could smell the pungent fumes himself and withdrew his head away

so that he wouldn't be influenced by the intoxicating substance.

Because the rag was absolutely soaked in the stuff, it didn't take long to make Lucas's

head start to swim badly. He stopped his struggling because he was too busy trying

to stop his brain from spinning. The smell was not unpleasant but overwhelming and

within a few seconds, Lucas could feel the fog start to invade his senses.

Without warning, Biff felt the teenager go completely limp in his grasp as the teenager

lost hold of consciousness. His body sagged, but Biff continued to hold him upright

while Danny held the rag over the boy's face for another few minutes. The longer

he inhaled the fumes, the better. They wanted him to sleep for a long time. If he was

unconscious, it would also stop any more attempts to escape.

Danny now removed the rag from Lucas's face. "Carry him back to the car and lets

get out of here before someone sees us." he said.

Biff now slung the light weight of the boy's unconscious and limp body over his shoulder

and started to head back towards the Cadillac that was parked back down the roadway.

The only light on the highway was that coming from the headlights of the car.

"What is that stuff?" Biff now asked his partner. Whatever it was, it certainly did the

trick to knock the boy out. He didn't look like he would be giving them any trouble

for quite a few hours.





"It's called Chloroform" Danny explained. "It's all rage at the moment with the druggies.

A long time ago it was used mostly as an anaesthetic. After a while, people started

experimenting and found that apart from making you pass out, if you actually drank the

stuff, then you got this utter feeling of exhilaration unlike no other. The high they got

exceeded anything already available on the black market. That's why it was so easy

to come by a bottle. I have tried it but don't figure it's for me. It burns your gut as

it goes down to your stomach. If you drink it too much it can cause all sorts of problems.

I've heard stories about addicts who have puked up their insides blood red after taking

too much of the stuff."

"We're just going to use it to keep him quiet. If he's asleep, he can't cause trouble

and we can move him around easier." Danny continued. "Let's just get him back

to the motel room for now and figure out the next step from there."

They had reached the car now and Biff opened the back door and laid Lucas down

on the back seat. He didn't even stir at the rough treatment or the jostling that he

received as he was moved around in the back of the car.

A few minutes later, a lone Cadillac drove down the highway with three people

inside. Biff and Danny sat in the front seats while the kidnap victim slept away in the

back.