ON MY OWN



When they got back to the motel, they were careful to look around before opening

the car door and displaying their little unconscious friend. Danny opened the door

to the room and then motioned for Biff to bring Lucas quickly into the room before

they were seen.

The boy was heavily under the effects of the Chloroform and didn't stir in the slightest

as being thrown roughly onto the small single bed in the room.

"Do you think we should tie him up" Biff now asked his partner in crime as they

looked down at the unconscious teenager.

"Nah, he'll sleep for hours. That stuff pretty potent. He won't be going anywhere

in a hurry." Danny answered as he settled himself on the other bed in the room.

Biff grumbled as he found himself having to take up on the beaten up old couch in

the room. There were only two single beds and an aluminum chair in the room for

furniture.

Both of them decided that they needed to get some sleep before the morning. They

would probably move out pretty early in the morning to avoid being discovered.

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

About three hours after Lucas's kidnappers had gone to sleep in the motel room,

Bridger, Kristen and Ben and the rest of the crew were travelling along the road

towards Bob and Sandra Stevens's service station.

They found the right place easily enough due to the Steven's having the place lit

up like a beacon in the night. They had been keeping an eye out along the road

for about the last 50 miles, just in case they spotted Lucas along the way.

When they pulled up, Sandra had tried to convince the searchers to come inside

and rest a short while before heading out again in search of the missing teenager.

It was pretty much a unanimous decision though as the crew all agreed to start the

search as early as possible with the trail at its freshest.

Bob had offered them all a place to stay for the night and now jumped into one

of the two vehicles as they set off in search of Lucas.

After about an hour of searching up and down the deserted highway, they all returned

dejectedly to the service station without their missing charge. The depression that

they all felt was like a disease that engulfed them all. None of them wanted to stop

searching, but it was becoming impossible in the dead of night, even with the high

powered lights they had brought with them. They needed to get some rest and hopefully

pick up Lucas's trail in the morning.

Bridger had been the one to protest the loudest at halting the search for the night, but

after lots of careful persuasion and then outright threats to have him sedated in order to

rest, he reluctantly agreed to go back to the service station and start first thing in the

morning. He knew that sleep wouldn't come easy tonight as he thought about the one

he loved all alone on the highway in the dead of night. He whispered a silent prayer

as he laid awake staring at the ceiling waiting for the night to turn into morning so that

they could start searching again.

Earlier in the night, Bridger and the rest of the crew had learnt about Lucas's brief

stay at the service station with Bob and Sandra Stevens. They had laughed about the

encounters Lucas had with some of the not so nice customers at the petrol pumps.

The all had a profound sadness about them as Bob explained that Lucas had told him

that the kid thought he was now all alone in the world. He had mentioned to them

about him telling them a false name to protect his past and literally clamming up each

time something about his past was asked about.

They all just had to hope and pray that he would be found safe and sound tomorrow

so that some much overdue explanations could be given about the conversation he had

overheard.



Back at the motel, it was just before two a.m. that Lucas began to stir from his drug

induced slumber. Danny and Biff remained oblivious to the fact that their captive

was now waking up.

Lucas turned his head from side to side, trying to clear the fog in his brain. The movement

only seemed to make the fog move about inside his head, not disappear. He tried to open

his eyes and found that his eyes were so heavy that he could barely get them open.

He laid there for a few moments with his eyes still closed, trying to figure out where he

was. The fog in his brain didn't bring it all back to him at once. He remembered being

at the Stevens's place and waving them goodbye. He recalled some of his walk down

the deserted highway.

His mouth felt particularly dry and it was only upon discovery of this fact that he remembered

what had happened. He remembered running into Biff and Danny again along the road.

He remembered the punch to his stomach and now ran his hand over his abdomen, checking

for any signs of injury. There was none that he could feel immediately. It was then that he

realised with surprise that he was not tied up.

He could recall the drug soaked rag being brought down on his face as he was held by

Biff. He didn't remember much after that but assumed that he had lost consciousness and

must have been brought somewhere as a hostage.

He now managed to open his eyes and look about. He noted with surprise that this was

the same motel room that he had stayed in a few nights ago before stumbling across the

Stevens's service station.

Carefully, he turned his head to one side to see where his kidnappers were. He could

see Danny the furthest away asleep on the single bed. Biff was snoring on the couch

closest to the front door.

He could see that the front door was locked and then had a security chain in place across

the top of the door. He surveyed the distance between the bed where he lay and the

front door. He had to guess whether or not he could get to the door in time and escape

before one of them awoke to his moving about and prevented his getting away.

He decided that this was as good as an opportunity as he was going to get. He started

to sit up but then laid back down briefly when he realised the mistake he had made

about sitting up too quickly. His head began to swim badly again as the residual effects

of the chloroform had yet to wear off completely.

He waited a few minutes and then tried to sit up again, but much slower this time.

The dizziness was still there, but not quite so bad this time. The other thing that he

was able to note was the fact that his knee was only slightly aching at the moment.

Hopefully it would enable him to get a little bit of speed once he made it outside into

safety. Maybe he could manage to make it back to Sandra and Bob's place and call

for help.

When he was sure that the dizziness was bearable, he now swung his legs over the edge

of the small single bed and let his feet touch the floor silently. All the time he was moving

he was keeping one eye on what he was doing and the other on his two kidnappers. The

last thing he wanted was for them to wake up and see him trying to escape.

He now got his leg muscles working and made himself stand up from the bed. Once he

got into a standing position, he had again to wait for the giddiness to pass before attempting

to take a step forward. All of this was taking up precious time, but he couldn't afford to

be too complacent about his unsteady gait and risk falling into an embarrassing and loud

heap on the floor for his kidnappers to hear.

There wasn't anything to hold onto to keep his balance, so he just had to take a chance

and put one foot in front of the other and trust his feet to keep him upright.

As he took the first two steps across the floor, he held his breath, too afraid that even

those small efforts might be heard by his captors. The snoring that Biff was making

was loud enough to wake the dead and hopefully muffle any of his attempts at escaping.

So far so good he said to himself as he managed to get halfway across the floor without

disturbing the sleeping beauties in the room. He had lost his wallet and Wolfman's backpack,

but he had to forget about those material things for the time being.



He had one or two silent steps to make it across the room and to the front door and to

safety. His back was now to Danny and Biff and he couldn't see that a fly had begun to

buzz around Biff's face making the man swat his hands into the air in an attempt to kill

the pestering insect.

His first few attempts missed completely and he found the insect to become even more

bothersome. He now opened his eyes, ready to actually sight the little blighter before

closing his eyes in sleep again. He opened his eyes a crack, but it wasn't the sight

of the buzzing fly that caught his immediate attention. In the darkness of the room,

he could make out the silhouetted shape of the blond haired teenager, trying to creep

across the floor to the front door and escape.

"DANNY, HE'S GETTING AWAY" he screamed at his slumbering partner as he dived

off the couch and lunged towards the fleeing teenager.

Lucas had jumped a little at Biff's loud announcement and now made a desperate attempt

to get to the front door. Just as his hand enclosed around the handle of the still bolted

and chained door, he felt Biff's rough hands grabbing at his hands and around his waist.

He could feel the man trying to get a decent hold on him and drag him back from the door.

By this time, the screaming from Biff and the scuffing noise in the room had awakened

Danny sufficiently for him to gasp out in alarm at the boy's attempts to escape. He

could see his friend trying to get a hold of the struggling teenager.

Danny had poked around in his pockets again and drawn out the bottle of chloroform and

rag from earlier.

Lucas had turned his head towards the man and noticed his movements to soak the rag

with the drug again. The fear inside him started to rise again and he heard himself

starting to yell for help again.

Biff had now managed to pull the struggling teenager away from the door again and now

clamped his hand over the boy's mouth again, trying to silence him. The boy attempted

to keep kicking and fighting the man off to get away. His actions were less co-ordinated

this time and somewhat weaker due to the effects of the chloroform.

Biff screamed out in pain of his own as Lucas tried to get the hand away from his mouth.

"You little BASTARD" the man cried out angrily and now slapped the boy viciously across

the face and then clamped the hand back over his mouth again. This time he tightened

his grip so that the teenager struggled to drawn in oxygen to his starving lungs.

"He bit me" Biff said in disbelief to his friend Danny. "The little bastard actually bit me.":

"Don't worry, I'll get him" Danny said as he now grabbed a hold of the still struggling

teenager himself and slapped the drug soaked rag back over the boy's mouth and nose.

"Noooo" Lucas tried to muffle through the rag, but due to having some disorientation

from the earlier dose, it took less time for his head to start to swim again from the sweet

smelling liquid. The boy soon fell unconscious again, but Danny held the rag in place

even longer this time.

"Drag him back over to the bed, but this time make sure he can't get away" Danny

said. He briefly looked out the curtains of the room to make sure that the boy's screams

hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. When he was satisfied that nobody was about

he laid back down on the bed and went to sleep again.

Biff had carried Lucas over to the small chair in the room and now made sure that the

teenager wouldn't be able to escape when he awoke from the chloroform. With the

teenager in the chair, he was able to sprawl himself out onto the single bed that Lucas

has occupied earlier. The two kidnappers slept in peace now that their captive was

unable to escape.

The next time that Lucas awoke, it was almost midday the next day. The two kidnappers

had planned to leave earlier that morning, but due to them both oversleeping, it was

now late in the day and they couldn't risk taking him out to the car in broad daylight.

They would have to wait until it got dark again before trying to sneak him out of the motel

room.

When Lucas awoke this time, he knew that he wasn't lying down on the single bed. This

time his muscles ached from the upright position he found himself in sitting in the chair.

He tried to put his hand to his head as it throbbed out a headache from the second dose

of chloroform, but he found his hands were tied to the arms of the chair. He tried to move

his feet about to get some circulation back into his arms and legs, but they were tied to

the legs of the chair. He twisted and pulled at the chafing ropes around his wrists and

ankles, but the rope held strong and he could get himself free no matter how much he tried.

"You can pull on them all you like kid, you won't get free this time" Danny said as he

watched the teenager tugging on his bonds.

"Let me go" Lucas demanded as he scowled at the two men sitting in the room watching

him fight with the ropes around his hands and feet.

"Don't think that will be happening anytime soon" Danny replied. "Like I told you before

kid, you're worth a lot of money to us and we aim to collect."

"You even think about yelling kid and I'll make you think twice about it" Danny now

stated to his young captive. Out of the pocket of his shirt, he produced a serrated steak

knife and openly displayed it to the teenager to make sure he knew that they meant

business.

Lucas swallowed hard at the sight of the knife and knew for the first time that these

two men meant to hurt him. "Please, just let me go. I promise I won't tell anybody

about you two. Just let me go and I won't say a thing."

Before Danny or Biff could reply, they all could hear somebody approaching the

front door of the motel room.

Danny motioned for Biff to move behind Lucas and keep him quiet while he answered

the door.

Once again, Lucas felt Biff's hand slapped over his mouth, preventing him from calling

for help.

Danny opened the door a crack to see who the unwanted visitor was. Standing outside

was a man with a black coloured military uniform. Danny moved in front of the opened

door, preventing the man from gaining a look inside the room.

Lucas was dragged out sight while still tied to the chair, but he heard the voice at the door

and his hopes soared with the thought of a rescue. All he had to do was signal somehow

to the man outside that he was being held inside against his will.

The man at the door was none other than his friend Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg.

"Good Morning Sir" Ben started the conversation. "My name is Ben Krieg. I am an officer

with the U.E.O."

Lucas tried to scream through Biff's hand at his friend. "BBBEEENNMMPH" came the

muffled call. This only resulted in the hand tightening over his mouth again and silencing

him even more.

"What can I do for you officer" Danny said to Ben as he tried to give the impression

of indifference to whatever it was the man was doing here.

"I'm looking for a missing teenager. He went missing about a week ago and we have

received some recent information that he might be in the area. I was wondering if you

wouldn't mind taking a look at this photo and telling me if you might have come across

him in your travels lately?"

"Sure I'll take a look, but I don't recall coming into contact with too many young people

over the last week" Danny lied.

Ben displayed the smiling photo of Lucas that had been shown on the television and

waited for the man to take a good look at the teenager's face.

Danny kept up appearances and looked at the photo for a minute or so and then

replied "Sorry, I haven't seen him. I'll be sure to keep my eyes out for him though."

"Thank you Sir, I will leave you this photo and there's a number printed on the back.

If you should spot him or anything, just call that number and let the people on the other

end know. We are much obliged for your assistance in this." Ben said and then started

to walk away once he handed Danny Lucas's photograph.



Lucas tried to scream for help again as he heard Ben starting to walk away. Biff's

hand remained tightly over his mouth though and his pleas only became a whisper

at the most.

As soon as Ben had walked away, Danny had closed the door and relocked it. Lucas

now sank into depression. The one chance at his rescue had come and gone and he

was still tied to this chair. Biff removed his hand from Lucas's mouth, confident that

nobody would hear the kid if he yelled now.

Lucas was expecting Danny or Biff to make smart comments about him not being

heard, but instead the conversation about him turned serious as they started to discuss

when to take him out without being seen.

"We'll wait until it's just on dawn tomorrow morning" Danny explained. "It will still

be dark here and by the time it's light, we will be half way down the highway with

nobody even knowing where the kid is."

Lucas had become very tired again despite his uncomfortable position in the chair.

He had been listening to the conversation about his journey away from the motel the

next day, but somewhere half way through it he had lost his battle to stay awake from

the chloroform and he slumped lower in the chair as he fell asleep.

Lucas had slept along time in the chair and didn't awaken until he was being untied

from the chair ready to be taken in the Cadillac again to an unknown destination.

"Can I please have a drink of water?" Lucas asked with a croaky voice. His mouth

was now incredibly dry and he didn't have any smart comments to make at the moment.

He just prayed his kidnappers were merciful enough to carry out his request.

"Give the brat a drink Biff" Danny said in an uninterested tone of voice. "It will probably

be the last one he gets for today anyway. We don't want him dying on us just yet."

The water from the tap was hot and felt kind of gritty going down, but he drank it anyway.

Like Danny said it was probably the only one he would get for quite a while.

Lucas now watch in fear as Danny went around to the side of one of the beds and started

to tear a small piece of cloth from one of the sheets. With the small bit of cloth in his

hand Danny now walked closer towards the teenager seated in the chair.

He gave the boy a sneer as he held the cloth stretch between his two hands showing the

teenager his intentions. Lucas now realised that the man meant to use the cloth from

the sheet as a gag in his mouth.

Danny would have preferred to use the chloroform again, but they had already used it

twice in the last twenty-four hours and they didn't know how much was too much.

They wanted to subdue the kid but not kill him just yet. They would need him later

when they transacted the deal between the boy and his family for the ransom money.

The family would probably want proof that the boy was still alive when they handed

the money over.

Lucas was now untied out of the chair and had tried to rise and escape once more

before he was tied up again. He felt the back of his shirt jerked back savagely at his

attempts to rise out of the chair. Biff had a good hold on him again and held his

head still while Danny jammed the gag into his mouth and secured it at the back of

his neck.

The gag was particularly tight and bit into the soft skin around his mouth making it

difficult to take anything but shallow breaths through his nose.

Lucas then felt Biff's rough hands on his arms again as he was hauled out of the chair

and escorted to the front door of the motel room.

Danny opened the door and motioned to Biff to let him check that the coast was clear

before they dragged the teenager back into the Cadillac. He walked out of the room

and opened the rear door of the car and signalled for Biff to bring the kid out.

Lucas tried to get a good look at his surroundings as he came out of the room. It was

just before sunrise. The sky had taken on a funny colour in that few minutes from

complete darkness from the night before until the rising of the golden yellow ball in the sky.

Lucas could see that he was back at the motel he had stayed in a few nights ago, but before

he could take too many mental notes about his environment, his blond head was being

roughly forced into the back of the car. He tried to yell back at his captors about his

rough treatment and the bruises he would probably have later from them, but his words

only came through as muffled cries through the gag in his mouth. He was really thankful

for that glass of water earlier. Now with the gag in his mouth and the effects of the two

doses of chloroform, his body badly lacked moisture and his mouth was extremely dry.

Danny got into the front of the Cadillac and the driver's seat. Biff got in with the teenager

and made sure that Lucas was laying on the floor. He put his foot on the boy's chest

just to make sure that he didn't make any attempts at signalling for help.

The car started heading back in the direction of Bob and Sandra's service station. When

they far enough down the road they would stop at a payphone and send their ransom

demands to the boy's family.

Lucas heard the two men talking and decided that when the vehicle stopped the next time,

he would need to make his move to escape.............. no matter what the risks involved.

















































































































































































"