Chapter
4
Luke paced the floor waiting for time to go. He had a few minutes left. He
couldn't understand why Frank Smith decided to come after them after all this
time.
Finally the clock read 11:30, he headed out to the truck.
"Please let her be all right," he said to no one in particular.
He drove the short distance to the Stoneybrook Ranch. He looked at his watch.
There was still a few minutes left, so he thought he'd check out the layout of
the house.
The front of the house was dark, so he walked around to the back. There Luke
saw a light in one room.
He crept up to the window, noticing the bars securing it. He looked inside and
saw Laura sitting on a leather sofa reading a magazine. She seemed to be fine.
He did not see anyone with her.
He walked to the door and knocked. No one answered. "Maybe they're not
here yet," he thought. He knocked again. There was still no answer.
"This may be my chance," he thought. He pulled out his lock pick and
opened the door. He walked through the house trying to find the room he had
seen Laura in. Finally he saw a room with light coming out from under the door.
He tried the door, but it was locked. He set to work picking the lock on this
door too. Finally he heard the lock click. He opened the door and walked in.
"Hey," he yelled as a vase crashed down towards his head. He fell to
the floor and rolled out of the way just in time to keep it from hitting him.
"Oh Luke, I'm sorry," Laura said running to his side.
Luke threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly to him. He looked around
the room and saw a man in the corner tied up.
He looked back at Laura and said, "What... How did... Laura?"
Laura laughed at Luke not being able to make complete sentences. "Well, he
made the mistake of untying me to feed me. I took a few bites and then
pretended to be really sick. He came to check on me and I jumped up and used
those martial art moves you taught me."
"Well, why didn't you call me and tell me you were safe."
"The phone isn't in this room and I was locked in. There are three guys,
the others have the key. I thought that was them coming back when you came
through the door."
Luke laughed. He was happy that Laura was all right and proud of her for the
way she had taken care of herself.
"Let's get you out of here," he said.
He grabbed her hand and they ran out of the house and jumped in the truck. Luke
started the engine and they headed home, not noticing the black car following
them.
Luke and Laura sat silently in the truck. They both knew how lucky they had
been.
Luke glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the car coming up behind them. He
tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Laura noticed the worried look on his
face.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"That car behind us. I'll give you one guess who it is."
Laura looked out the back window of the truck. "What are we going to
do?"
"I'm going to try to lose them," he said. He saw how scared she looked.
"Don't worry we'll be all right," he added trying to reassure her.
Laura gave him a weak smile.
The car behind them picked up speed and ran into the back of Luke's truck. Luke
tried to speed up to get away from them, but the car hit them again.
Laura looked out the back again and saw that the car was starting to go around
them.
"Luke! Look out!" she yelled as the car smashed into the side of
their car.
The force of the impact caused Luke to lose control of the car. He hit the
brakes, but the car skidded off the road and struck a tree.
