HAUNTINGS TRILOGY

by J7339

In the process of being rewritten with more complicated content and hopefully a better story. Titles and 1st story will change a lot. New version will be uploaded as soon as I can with many additions and some changes (January 2020). Will be separated into individual stories again once updated.

2. RETURN OF OLD FOES

HAUNTINGS TRILOGY

RETURN OF OLD FOES

By Jules

PART TWO OF THE TRILOGY

A middle aged man with a reddish looking wig was sitting in the corner booth of a cafe on the strand. He thoughts wandered as he tried to work out how his plan would come into effect.

He unconsciously rubbed the spot on his face where the scar had been. There were other scars now, but they were well hidden under neath the shock of red hair. His skin now appeared smooth and unblemished.

His revenge would be slow, but memorable. His fists were clenched into tight balls as he remembered the teenager with blond hair who had caused him so much trouble, and now, had slipped through his fingers again.

It wouldn't be long he told himself. The plans were almost finished. He just had to put the finishing touches to them. Lucas Wolenczak would rue the day he heard the name Paul Sanderson.

The man got up from the table, leaving a dollar bill for the cup of coffee. He proceeded to walk in a westerly direction along the beach. He had on a long trench coat and dark sunglasses.

After a brief stroll, he was close enough to spot his intended target and observe from distance unseen.

The man slipped a small piece of paper into an old glass coke bottle and let if drift with the tide. With his task completed, he remained only for a few moments longer, not wanting to spoil his scheme and risk being seen.

---

Lucas Wolenczak was laying on his stomach, leaning over the edge of the jetty, trying to peer over the edge into the blue water below. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and his old sneakers.

He was making chirping noises and clapping his hands trying to signal his dolphin friend, Darwin.

The dolphin had swum around the other side of the jetty and now let his tail come down onto the water with a loud splash. The result was a large spray of water coming over the edge of the dock and soaking the teenager.

"Darwin, you rotten sneak," Lucas stammered whilst grinning hugely and trying to wring out the excess water from his clothes.

Captain Nathan Bridger had been seated on the porch of the small cabin at the end of the jetty and now laughed out loud at the sight of his young friend dowsed with the briny water.

Darwin disappeared for a few moments whilst his friend continued to yell fake obscenities at water.

The dolphin re-emerged after a brief swim away from the jetty and returned with something grasped between his beak. It was shiny and the sun seemed to gleam off it's surface.

"What have you got there, boy?" Lucas said to his fishy friend.

Bridger's view of the conversation between the dolphin and Lucas was obscured. He could not see the object Darwin had found floating amongst the waves.

Lucas bent over the edge of the jetty again and pulled the thing from the dolphin's mouth. Darwin readily let his friend take his surprise find.

"Look's like you hit the jackpot," Lucas said jokingly to the animal as he recognized the object as a beaten up glass bottle. He noted a splash of white inside and unscrewed the lid of the coke bottle. He shook the bottle a little and the object coughed up its contents into the teenager's open hand.

Lucas was now in a kneeling position on the wooden dock. He put twisted the lid back on the bottle and put it down beside him. He could see the small white item was a slip of paper. He thought it might be a lolly wrapper at first or a receipt from a store's cash register.

He unfolded the slip of paper and looked at the hidden surface to see what was written on it.

Lucas could not hide his gasp or the terrified look that contorted his face as he read the words written on it. This could not be happening again.

" NOOO !"

The only words now running around in his head now were 'This isn't over yet ... This isn't over yet!"

Lucas now jumped up from his kneeling position and ran down the jetty towards the house. He still clutched the piece of paper in his hand. He continued to run, right past his new dad Captain Bridger and didn't look back until he reached his bedroom and slammed the door.

He was now leaning heavily against the other side of the closed door. His breath was coming in strangled gasps and his eyes were wide with fright. He couldn't believe the man had gotten so close to him without being noticed.

The last three months had seemingly been free of demons and monsters. He could almost walk around without fear. He thought that his life and that of the Captain may be beginning to become normal again.

Now, after reading the note, he was sure that all the bad memories he had ever had were back with a vengeance.

He gingerly uncurled his fingers from around the piece of paper and again looked at what it read. His mouth was dry, his breathing got raspier and he felt like his legs would betray him at any moment. He slide down the door and now sat with his legs drawn up tightly to his chest. The words just seemed to dance around his mind. Torturing him to no end.

"I've been watching you, Lucas. I know where you are now. You can run but you can't hide." S.

When will this nightmare ever end...

---

Bridger had seen the teenager run through the house almost at the speed of sound.

He didn't know what caused the boy to run like that, but decided he had better investigate. He climbed the staircase in his house and reached the closed door to Lucas's bedroom.

The Captain knocked lightly on the door. At first there was no response. Lucas had heard Bridger at the door. He needed to come up with a plausible excuse that could be believed without actually telling him what happened.

Bridger was about to knock again with a little more determination this time when the door became ajar. He opened the door very slowly and walked inside.

Lucas had moved himself to the bed. He had managed to get his breathing under a little more control, but the tension in his neck and shoulders were still evident. Bridger was immediately suspicious. He knew that the teenager was upset about something, but what?

The teenager's emotions had taken a battering over the last three months. He had been kidnapped, beaten, tortured and God's knows what else. He wanted Lucas to share his feelings with him, but knew it was probably pushing to hard to ask.

Bridger just sat on the bed beside the young man and held him. He didn't want to force the boy to talk if he didn't want to and knew that Lucas would tell him in his own words in his own time.

"Captain, when can we go back to the SeaQuest?" Lucas asked as he still sat enveloped in the warm embrace. He needed to feel safe. He knew that the only place he probably felt a little safe was 100 feet under the ocean. Sanderson couldn't possibly find him there... could he?

"I talked to Jonathan this morning," Bridger said trying to answer the question without reading too much into it.

"Seems as though the repairs and routine maintenance maybe finished at early as two days away." He was hoping this news would perk up the teenager's mood. It only seemed to cause it to turn darker still.

Two more days... Two more days with him watching me. Two more days that he could get to me. Two more days until we can get the hell off this island. Lucas thought to himself. Two more days to feel very afraid.

Lucas had gotten his emotions under control, but needed to clear his head a little. He needed to get the thoughts and memories of Sanderson out of his mind.

"Would it be alright if I went for a ride this afternoon on your bike?" the teenager asked.

Bridger was a little apprehensive at first. He didn't know if he wanted Lucas riding anywhere at the moment in this frame of mind.

Lucas could handle the machine, there was no worry about that. Due to his lack of knowledge about the situation that was unfolding and fact that he was running out of reasons 'why not' he reluctantly agreed.

"Okay, but only down the dirt road at the back of the house towards the beach and back," Bridger said in compromise.

Half an hour later, Lucas emerged from his bedroom, fully dressed in his riding gear, helmet in hand. He held out his hand towards the Captain gesturing for the keys to the black motorcycle parked in the garage outside.

Bridger put the keys in the teenager's palm and held them there briefly, "You be careful you hear?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Lucas said. "Don't worry, I will take it easy."

Bridger watched his young son walk out towards his motorcycle ready to take his planned ride. Something was gnawing at his gut, telling him that something wasn't right, but he couldn't put a finger on it at the moment.

---

At first, with the wind at his back and the speed of the motorcycle underneath him, Lucas Wolenczak almost felt normal. Almost. He had pulled up outside a small shop a few kilometres away from his house to buy a drink before heading back.

Lucas almost felt relaxed, but failed to notice that he was the centre of someone's attention. On the other side of the shop were a few cafe style tables where people could enjoy a cup of coffee and a chit chat.

Sitting at the furtherest table away from Lucas, was the man with the red wig. He still had on his dark glasses and hid most of his hair under a cream coloured panama style hat.

Sanderson hadn't expected to see the teenager again before his plan was put into action. But looking at the opportunity that now lay before him, he couldn't resist. He wasn't in a position to take the boy yet, not just yet. Maybe he could just scare him a little more, like he intended to with the message in the bottle this morning.

Sanderson knew that the new game he had in mind for Lucas Wolenczak would be played on two fronts. Firstly, a physical one once the boy was back in his grasp and unable to escape.

Secondly and probably more rewarding was the psychological campaign. If he could weaken the boy's tough outer skin before his physical attack, so much the better. The man left some money on the table for his cup of coffee and snuck around the back towards a waiting vehicle.

Lucas had put his helmet back on and now started slowly back towards his house. He knew that his Dad would be looking for him soon. He headed back down the dirt track trying to lose himself in the soft hum of the machine.

About halfway back down the track, Lucas could see another vehicle in his rear view mirror. The vehicle was some distance away yet, but seemed to be quickly gaining. At first Lucas took no notice of it. Many vehicles travelled on the back roads of the island. It was the one positive thing about driving on the island, you didn't come face to face with the traffic problems of the mainland.

When Lucas readjusted the mirror's to get a better view of the vehicle, he noted that the car was now almost on top of him. The dust he was churning up behind him was now collecting in a plume in front of the grill of the vehicle behind him. Lucas looked back again and almost lost his balance there and then on the big motorcycle. The vehicle behind him nudged the back wheel of his bike. So much so that Lucas had to swerve in a hurry to miss a large rock in the middle of the road.

Lucas regained his balance, but now was looking back over at his shoulder, trying to understand why the vehicle had struck his bike. Without warning the vehicle struck his bike again.

The result this time was Lucas swerving off to the left hand side of the road and screaming loudly as he saw a large tree in front of him. He tried to avoid it, but managed to clip the side as he careered past uncontrollably.

Lucas felt himself getting separated from the bike. He felt the bark from the tree tear at the denim jacket he wore. Thankfully the jacket was thick, but Lucas thought he could feel stinging on the skin of his upper arm, signalling that in some places, the jacket had been torn away enough to expose naked flesh.

He felt himself cart-wheeling over the handle bars of the motorcycle. Every single breath of air was knocked from his lungs as he crashed ever so hard into the ground. His head hit the ground with a sickening thud and Lucas Wolenczak knew nor felt any more at that moment . He lay on the ground were he had fallen crumpled and bloody.

The car that had caused the accident, pulled up alongside the road and the driver now got out to survey his work. He walked over to where the bike lay. The bike had a few minor dents that were repairable. The front headlight had been smashed and one of the wheels was slightly buckled.

Sanderson now stood over the helpless teenager. He didn't need to worry about the kid recognizing him for the moment. The boy showed no signs of regaining consciousness. The jacket he wore had large tear marks down one side and blood now started to soak into the fabric.

The boy's helmet had been dislodged by the impact and now lay some metres away with a large dent on the side. The man could see a large gash on the side of the boy's head underneath his hair. This caused blood to flow freely down his face and soak into the collar of the jacket. Satisfied that he had done enough at this stage he bent down and placed a small slip of paper into the jacket's right hand pocket. He knew that the boy would find his little message eventually.

Sanderson quickly left the scene as he heard the sound of another vehicle coming. He couldn't risk being spotted. He still had work to do. He drove away and never looked back towards the injured teenager.

---

Kristin Westphalen had returned to the house a short time after Lucas left.

Bridger had told her about his strange mood and how he had let him go off on the motorcycle a little earlier. Kristin wasn't overly worried, she trusted Lucas and Nathan both.

Bridger just kept looking at the clock. The teenager had been gone for over two hours now. He will be back shortly Bridger admonished himself. You can't keep him chained up all of the time. Nothing is going to happen, just relax.

No matter how many times the Captain repeated those words. He couldn't really bring himself to believe them. During his thoughts, the video phone rang and Bridger answered it to find a young police constable peering at him from the other side of the screen.

If Bridger had been worried before, now he could feel his insides slowly knotting together in fear.

"Can I speak to Doctor Westphalen, please?" the constable asked. Kristin had heard the request and now stood in front of the screen. She had one arm on Bridger's shoulder telling him not to jump to conclusions.

"This is Doctor Westphalen," Kristin replied.

"Oh, Doc," the constable said. "Seems there has been some sort of accident down here. I was wondering if you could come and have a look at this fellow for me?"

"I don't think he is too bad off, but he has got himself a nice gash on the side of his head and some deep gravel grazes. I was hoping you will be able to tell me if he needs to be transported to the mainland for treatment. He was unconscious went I found him and I haven't been able to wake him up yet."

Kristin could feel hear own fears starting to gather, but tried to keep composed. "What sort of accident, constable?" she asked nervously.

"Got a young fellow here who has come off his bike by the look of things?" the constable replied and was about to go into more details when he saw the two people on the other side of the screen visibly pale.

Kristin was determined to push all bad thoughts out of her mind. There are heaps of young people on this island, Lucas isn't the only one.

Bridger piped up the courage to ask the next question for both of them. "Officer, did this fellow have any identification on him to say who he is?" He dreaded the answer.

"Yeah, I managed to locate a wallet on him," the constable answered. "Strange sounding name, something like Woodchuck, Woolenburg?"

"Wolenczak," Bridger pronounced for the officer. And put his head in his hands as he now regrettably knew the identity of the unfortunate rider.

"Yeah, that's it," the constable said with surprise "Do you know him, Sir?"

"His name is Lucas Wolenczak and he is my son?" Bridger stated. "How far away was this accident?"

"About ten kilometres from the little shop on the back road. Do you know it?"

"Yes, we know where it is, Officer, we will be right there," Kristin answered.

---

As Bridger and Kristin drove down the dirt track at the back of their island retreat, the accident scene was identified by flashing red and blue lights from the police vehicle parked nearby. Bridger pulled up alongside the police sedan and raced over to where the officer was standing.

Kristin had grabbed her bag as she exited the vehicle and now ran over to the place where Lucas lay beside the tree. She took a sharp intake of breath as she surveyed his body and saw the injuries. It took all of her professional training to put her personal feelings aside for the moment.

Bridger could not believe that the crumpled body on the ground belonged to the teenager that he had shared a conversation with not more than three hours ago. He could see a gash on the right side of his head just above his ear. It oozed blood still.

The blood was being to slow, but Bridger saw it had been quite extensive earlier due the to dried stain that covered most of the side of his face and further on down to his neck. Lucas's blond hair was caked with dried blood and was massed together with sticky clumps.

Somebody had placed a folded jacket underneath the youth's head for comfort. Bridger sat down on the ground and now caressed the uninjured side of Lucas's face. He was talking softly to the boy, telling him that it would be alright. He desperately wanted the teenager to wake and give him a smart comment, but there was nothing.

Kristin had pulled out some cotton gauze and now soaked the material with a small bottle of water that was passed to her. Once wet, she dabbed at the wounds on Lucas's temple. At first there was no reaction, but on the third passing of the cloth over the severed skin, Lucas gave a small, barely audible moan.

Kristin stopped what she was doing for a moment, trying to see if the boy moaned again. When he failed to respond again, she recommenced her dabbing, attempting to clean the dirt from the gash.

Lucas now moaned softly a few more times. He was trying to move his head from side to side. Kristin was admonishing him softly, telling him to lay still and let her help him.

The teenager's eyelids began to flutter. He was trying to open his eyes. It was an effort. They felt as though they were weighed down by some unseen force. He moved his head a few more times but this only resulted in a bad headache starting behind his eyes. He tried to lift his hand to his forehead to massage the pain away. His actions were rewarded with short stabs of pain from the deep grazes on his upper arm.

Kristin could see that Lucas was trying to regain consciousness, but knew it was becoming a task. She could see the pain etched on his face and the boy trying to open his eyes and find out why he was lying on the hard ground.

Kristin made the decision that Lucas could be better treated back at the house. She had much more equipment back there, and Lucas could rest a lot more. She didn't know what the extent of his injures were yet and she wanted to prevent him flailing around due to pain. Sudden or improper movements would only cause him more distress and discomfort.

Bridger kept trying to rouse the teenager. The Captain keep talking softly to the boy and reassuring him that he would be fine. Kristin was here and she would help him get better. It was times such as these, when Lucas was sick or injured, that the mightiest Captain in UEO waters felt helpless. All of his natural sense of what was right, what needed to be done and leadership qualities seemed to take a huge nose dive straight out the window.

The Captain had been cradling the boy's head in his lap so he could help restrict the movements until Kristin could examine him a little more. Lucas looked so much younger than his seventeen years.

"Nathan, I think it would be better if we could move him back to the house," Kristin said.

"I am going to give him a mild sedative and a pain killer before we lift him. That way he won't feel anything now or later on when I tend to his injuries."

Bridger just nodded his head signalling his agreement to the treatment. He watched as Kristin give Lucas the injection of the pain killer. The sedative came in a different form. It was a small container with a plastic black disc on the end. Kristin placed the disc against Lucas's uninjured arm and pressed the trigger.

Although Lucas had been trying to regain consciousness, the sedative quickly reversed that and soon the two adults watched the boy's eyelids flutter closed. They didn't reopen. His head turned slightly to the side in Bridger's lap and he was asleep. Kristin put her stethoscope to his chest just to check on his breathing. It sounded okay.

The young constable had been watching Kristin's medical administrations and now helped the man present to place the sleeping young man into the back seat of their car. He had not had any formal introductions at this stage. He had been told about Dr Westphalen's abilities and this was the reason he contacted her in the first place, not knowing that the young rider was related to him.

When he was introduced to Captain Bridger, he couldn't believe his ears. Almost everyone had heard of the invincible Captain Nathan Hale Bridger of the SeaQuest. The vessel was supposed to the best the UEO had to offer. Here he was standing in front of him.

The constable found himself lost for words. He wondered why this most famous of famous sea Captain's was held up on a near unpopulated island away from the public eye. He didn't ask the questions he had in his head and didn't receive any explanations from the person himself.

Kristin was busy getting Lucas settled in the back seat of the car. Although it was only a short trip back to the house, she didn't want to cause him further pain or discomfort. They had brought a number of blankets and pillows with them as they dove out the door earlier.

Kristin now went about tucking the blankets in around the teenager to prevent as much movement as possible on the way back. She placed one of the soft pillows under his head. She brushed the hair from his eyes and looked down at him fondly in this private moment alone with him. Why was it always the innocent ones that suffered? Why this child? Why Lucas?

Whilst Kristin had been tending to Lucas in the car, the constable and Bridger decided to take a closer look at the roadway to try and determine the cause of the accident. There were no skid marks to speak of. If Lucas had been travelling too fast and tried to brake fast, there should have been some marks on the road to show is path of travel.

There was another set of tracks on the road, but it was assumed that these were from the police vehicle travelling in the same direction as Lucas when he come across the accident. They examined the tree that Lucas had collided with and found only a few pieces of missing bark to show where the teenager had struck the tree. Both were scratching their heads. Lucas was not an experienced rider, but there was no evidence present to indicate that he had trouble enough to cause him to come off the motorcycle.

Soon, Kristin was telling Bridger that they needed to make a start back home to attend to Lucas. Bridger said his goodbyes to the police constable and thanked him for his help and assistance.

Something in the back of Bridger's mind told him he should send Commander Ford and a couple of other crew members from the SeaQuest to come and take a closer look at the accident scene. He made himself a mental note to contact the boat later on that day.

---

Bridger was the one to drive home. He actually wanted to sit in the back seat with Lucas, but assigned that role to Kristin due to her medical expertise.

When they got back to the house, Bridger alighted from the vehicle and opened the back door ready to take Lucas out of the car and upstairs for treatment. He hoisted the teenager in his arms and grunted a little bit at the surprise dead weight the boy carried.

Lucas normally a skinny teenager and not much too him, but obviously the good living whilst on the island had done him some good Bridger thought to himself.

The sedative continued to do its job and Lucas did not stir in the slightest as he was taken inside the house and up the stairs to his bedroom. Bridger laid him on the bed and started to remove his riding boots. The helmet he was wearing had been taken off at the scene by the constable.

Thankfully it took most of the impact as he struck the ground, but looking at the crumpled helmet and visor now, Bridger realised how lucky Lucas had been. The injuries he sustained could have been a life more serious or even life threatening. Bridger tried to force thoughts like that from his mind and he tried to focus on the teenager lying on the bed who needed him at the moment.

He took of the denim jeans Lucas had been wearing. They were still intact and would see another day. The denim jacket on the other hand was a different matter. Bridger decided that he would need Kristin's help to remove it from Lucas. Some of the material was stuck to the deep grazes on his upper arm and he didn't think he could remove it on him own without hurting the teenager.

By the time he had gotten Lucas a little more comfortable on the bed, Kristin appeared with her full medical kit. She had bandages and alcohol, scary looking instruments that Bridger thought were better left alone and other bits and pieces she needed to treat their favourite patient.

Kristin rechecked Lucas's breathing and heart rate. She looked at the damaged jacket and pondered on the best method of removal. With a little hesitation she decided that it would need to be cut, at least a little. Now she actually was glad that the teenager was asleep and could not see what she was about to inflict upon his favourite riding jacket.

Eventually she was able to compromise slightly and was able to get the jacket off of Lucas by removal of only the sleeves. Maybe he could wear it as a vest type thing she said as she lifted it into the light to see her work. Bridger took it from her and laid it over a chair in the room. Lucas could decide later if he wanted to keep it or not. They could buy him a new one for his birthday in a few weeks time in necessary.

Kristin used a small pair of tweezers and a little alcohol on a cloth to clean the abrasions on his left arm. The tweezers were used to pull small fragments of denim from the wounds. The alcohol would stop any infection.

The wounds were not deep but looked very angry and would still hurt a great deal over the next few days. She left the head would until last as it needed to most attention. She once again used the alcohol to clean the dirt and other debris from the gash.

The gash on Lucas's temple took five stitches. It had been a little deeper than the abrasions on his arms and would need to be closed artificially in order for it to heal properly and show little scarring later.

After Kristin had finished her doctoring, she told Nathan that it would be probably morning before Lucas awoke from the sedative. His body needed to rest after the pounding it had taken.

Bridger and Kristin had left Lucas's room for a short time and had a very sparse evening meal together. Both sets of eyes fell on the vacant chair in front of them.

---

Before the Captain returned upstairs to Lucas for the night, he decided to make that call to the SeaQuest and inform the crew of what had happened.

The video link was answered by Lieutenant Tim O'Neill who was Chief Communications Officer aboard the vessel.

"Captain!" Tim said with the sound of surprise in his voice. He had not expected to hear from the man for another day or so. He knew that Lucas and Bridger had been taking time off to recover over what had happened with the guy that had hurt Lucas.

"Lieutenant," Bridger said formerly in return. "Could you get the senior officer's together for me in the Ward Room, please?"

"Aye, Sir," came the reply.

O'Neill dreaded what the Captain was about to say. The only time the Captain ordered his senior crew to the Ward Room was when something was wrong. He did not relay his concern to the others. He switched the link to the room as directed. He informed Commander Ford, Miguel Ortiz, Chief Security Officer Crocker, Ben Krieg and Katie Hitchcock that they were required for a meeting by the Captain in the Ward Room.

All involved made their way to the agreed destination and saw that Bridger was on the video link in front of them.

"What's up, Cap?" Ben Krieg asked for everyone. Commander Ford just rolled his eyes at the lack of respect in the Lieutenant's greeting. When will he ever decide to take his job seriously? Ford asked himself.

"Commander," Bridger acknowledged and then gave an informal greeting to everyone seated in the room. What he had to tell them wasn't going to be easy and making it into a formal meeting wouldn't help the matter.

"Everyone," Bridger began nervously, "I don't like having to tell you all this, but there has been an accident here today," he waited in silence but read the reaction on everyone's face before they said anything.

"Lucas...," and he tried to say the name as calmly as possible, but everyone immediately hitched in their breaths in a collective gasp "Was involved in a motorcycle accident today on the island."

Before anyone else had the chance to respond, Ben Krieg was jumping out of his seat and was yelling at the Captain through the screen, "What! What Happened? Is he alright? Where is he? Can I talk to him?"

Katie Hitchcock put a restraining hand on the shoulder of her ex-husband, "It's okay, Ben," she said soothingly.

"I'm sure the Captain will tell us everything." Ben looked doubtfully at her but back down in his seat.

Everyone on board knew about the relationship between the young Lieutenant and Lucas. It was almost as strong as the one between Lucas and the Captain. Everyone had a special place in their heart for Lucas. He was just a sweet innocent teenager.

Bridger tried to go easy on Ben. The Captain had not had a high opinion of him when they first met, especially from some of the stories that his son Robert had to tell him. Robert Bridger and Ben Krieg had gone through the academy at the same time.

But that opinion had changed quite a long time ago, and Ben's friendship to Lucas was more than welcomed after what had happened over the last three months.

"Lucas is sleeping at the moment, Ben," Bridger told him.

"He got a nasty gash on his head and some deep grazes to his upper arm, but Kristin has patched him up fine. I'm sure he will be sore for a week or two, but after that he should be back to normal again. Kristin has given him some pain killers to help him sleep a little tonight".

"The main reason I was contacting you, apart from giving you the bad news about the accident, was that I wanted a few of you to come and look at the accident scene. I had a quick look at it today, but wasn't able to tell much. Something deep down tells me that this wasn't an accident at all."

"You mean you think that somebody deliberately tried to hurt Lucas?" Commander Ford now asked. He was a man born and bred in the military and had seen the best and worst men could do to a fellow human being, but the thought of somebody deliberately hurting a child, especially Lucas, made his blood boil.

"I don't know exactly," Bridger continued.

"There are no skid marks to show that something was in Lucas's path to make him swerve like he did. Lucas isn't the best rider around, but something tells me that he didn't just fall off his own bike".

Ben Krieg asked the question that everyone was thinking but was too afraid to ask, "Do you think Lawrence might be involved, Captain?"

"I'd hate to say so directly Lieutenant," Bridger answered. "Wolenczak is still in jail, but there's nothing to suggest that he couldn't find somebody to do his dirty work for him. He has both the money and the contacts. I wouldn't put anything past Lucas's so called father".

"Commander Ford," Bridger addressed his second-in-charge, "I was hoping that the team would include you and Mr Ortiz there."

Both nodded their agreement to going to the island and checking out the scene. Commander Ford was confident in leaving Katie Hitchcock in command whilst he was away. She was a very experienced officer and very much a military officer like himself.

"Would you mind if I tagged along too Commander?" Krieg asked.

"I think that's a great idea, Ben," Bridger answered for Ford. "I'm sure Lucas would appreciate some company over the next few days whilst he is recovering."

"I'll check in with you at about 9.00 hours then Captain," Commander said and discontinued the video link.

Everyone remained in the room for a moment and pondered what they had been told. All knew that they would make sure somebody paid for deliberately hurting their young friend if the evidence pointed in that direction. If Lawrence Wolenczak was involved, they would make damn sure that he paid for his crimes.

---

At precisely 9.00 as arranged Bridger answered the knock at the door which signalled the arrival of his selected crew.

Bridger opened the door and greeted the black Commander with a handshake and uninteresting Good Morning.

Ben Krieg barged his way through past the pair of them and looking around for any sign that his young friend was downstairs already.

Kristin could sense the tenseness in the young Lieutenant and told him that Lucas hadn't awoken this morning yet. It may be a little while before he did. There was no need to wake him any earlier until his body was ready. The more rest he got the better.

Bridger offered everyone a cup of morning brew and all sat down in the living room to talk about the plan of action in searching the accident site. Commander Ford and Ortiz said they would go after they finished their cuppa.

It almost two hours later before Lucas started to stir upstairs. He opened his eyes and looked around. He tried to remember the events of the day before. The last thing he remembered was riding back from the shop on the other side of the island.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was immediately rewarded with great pain shooting down his shoulder. He looked at the area causing pain and noticed that it was heavily strapped. He put his hand to his head. At the moment he didn't know which hurt worst, his shoulder or his head.

Upon waiting a few more seconds, it was clearly evident that his head would win this contest by a landslide. The pain was intense and constant. He put his hand up towards the offender and felt that he had a heavy piece of gauze over his temple region. He had given out small grunts of pain as he surveyed the damage to himself. These involuntary gasps of pain had alerted the people downstairs to his wakefulness.

Bridger sat down beside the teenager and placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder, "So, how are we feeling today, kiddo?"

Lucas turned to Bridger to answer the question and screwed his face up at the pain that this caused. He opened his eyes once it subsided and looked at the Captain with eyes that imitated road maps.

"Uhg," was the only words that escaped his lips as another wave of headache went through his head. He put his hands to either side of his head, waiting for the imminent explosion he thought would come.

Kristin had bent down in front of the teenager and asked him if he wanted something for the headache. He just nodded his agreement and regretted the movement again. He face contorted and showed the discomfort he was experiencing.

He vision and focus seemed to clear a little after a few more minutes and he felt well enough to go downstairs. Kristin was not entirely happy about the idea, but decided that the boy was okay enough to venture into the living room for a short while.

Lucas made his way towards the staircase. Thankfully Bridger had been holding onto one arm as he guided him down the steps. Lucas didn't think he could have made it alone. The stairs seemed to move on him each time he tried to take a step and he had to correct his balance for continuing.

Once downstairs safely, Lucas was guided to a comfortable armchair in the living room.

Ben Krieg had waited there whilst the others went up to Lucas. As soon as the teenager was seated in the chair, Krieg went about asking him a million questions.

"Are you alright? What happened? Is there anything you need? What can I do? Are you alright again?"

Lucas just answered the best way he knew how, by looking straight at his friend and giving him in no uncertain terms with a 'Don't mess with me at the momentBen' look.

"Let Lucas get his bearings a little first this morning Krieg before you start the interrogation," said Ortiz who was watching the whole episode from the other chair in the room.

He could see that Lucas was less than fully awake. He could see the etching of pain that came over his young friend's face at various intervals. He noted the heavy bandaging on Lucas's shoulder and the stitches in his head. The teenager looked less like their young genius at the moment.

Lucas just gave wane smile towards the Cuban to thank him for his intervention before Ben picked him to pieces about the accident.

Bridger was almost as impatient as the Lieutenant to find out what had happened yesterday. He too held back a little whilst gauging the young man's demeanour.

Kristin had brought a small plate of breakfast to Lucas and placed it in front of him. Lucas had said his thanks but doubted he would eat much of it, even being a small helping. A glass of juice had been put beside him on the coffee table and he was happy just to sip at that for the moment.

He could feel four sets of eyes on him. He could sense that they wanted to know what he remembered. What had happened before the accident? He doubted that he could have delayed the inevitable much longer.

He looked up at them and tried to give them his best innocent smile, "I feel a little better guys thanks," he told them. His voice was still a little thick from the effects of the pain killer and sedatives. It even sounded a little on the husky side.

"Do you think you could tell us what you remember know, kiddo?" Bridger asked softly.

"I don't remember much at all actually," Lucas said truthfully.

"All I remember seeing was this car following me and then that tree just before I head butted it."

"WHAT CAR?" they all cried out in unison. Lucas just about jumped over the chair at the question everybody yelled at him.

Bridger put his hand on the boy's knee, "Sorry about that Lucas. I guess we are all just a little concerned."

The teenager relaxed slightly and tried to answer their question by going back a few more steps.

"I vaguely remember buying a coke at that little shop on the other side of the island. I remember riding back along that dirt track towards the house here, when suddenly I could see a car in my rear view mirror. At first it seemed to be some distance back, but then when I looked back again it was right on my tail. I felt it nudge the back wheel of my bike."

All in the room gasp collectively as the truth about what really happened came out. Somebody had tried to hurt Lucas. The only question now what 'who'?

"The car hit my back wheel for a second time and I couldn't control the bike," Lucas finished off.

"The next thing I know is that I wake up here this morning with a headache to rival Sylvester Stallone after Rocky IV."

"You didn't recognize the driver at all, Lucas?" Bridger asked.

"No sorry Captain, the windscreen was kind of dark, maybe tinted slightly," Lucas answered.

"Let's talk about something else for now shall we?" Kristen suggested. Lucas was giving all the correct signals about wanting to avoid the current conversation as much as possible.

Lucas gave the doctor a look that said 'Thanks.'

---

Jonathan Ford and Miguel Ortiz decided now was a good enough time to leave for the accident. At least now they actually had something more substantial to go on.

Ben didn't attempt to go with them. He just kept Lucas company. He found the remote control and turned the television on and started searching for a watchable channel. Much to Bridger and Kristin's disgust he finally settled on a foreign channel with subtitling at the bottom of the screen.

Lucas excused himself and took himself upstairs briefly to get a few pillows from his room. His shoulder was beginning to bug him more and more and if he was going to spend the afternoon watching mindless TV, then he wanted to be a little more comfortable.

Kristin had offered to go and get the pillows for him, but Lucas was determined to at least do a few things for himself. He had some injuries yes, but that didn't mean he had to be waited on hand and foot. He had enough of that over the past few months.

He entered his room and grabbed the two pillows from his bed. On his way out, he was distracted by the remnants of his riding jacket hanging over the back of the chair where the Captain had left it.

He put the pillows down and looked at the torn jacket with displeasure. He would have to buy another one if he ever wanted to go riding again. Not that Bridger would let him going riding anytime soon he reminded himself.

"Might as well throw it out now," he told himself. He started digging around in the few small pockets of the denim jacket to make sure he hadn't left anything important in it.

When he reached into one of the side pockets, his hand came upon a small slip of paper that was inside. His heart already started to pump a little harder. He remembered back to the other day when he had received a small slip of paper by an anonymous author. As it had turned out the author wasn't so unknown after all.

He gingerly took the piece of paper out and unfolded it out. His fears had been right. As he began to scan the words written on it, they began echoing in his mind.

'Found you ... you can run but you can't hide ... S'

The teenager found his breath was coming too fast. He had let go of the jacket and now groped at his chest to stop the full scale panic attack that threatened to engulf him.

He could barely believe it.

If this note was in his pocket, it meant that Sanderson had been close enough to touch him after the accident. There was no doubt now as to who had caused the accident. His friends had suggested that his father Lawrence was involved when they were talking downstairs. But Lucas now knew that they were talking about a whole new type of enemy.

His skin broke out in goose flesh from the mere thought of him being within Sanderson's grasp again. He had to come up with a plan of escape. He had to find somewhere safe to hide.

He thoughts were immediately brought back to reality when he heard Ben yell up to him if he got lost or something. He knew he had to compose himself enough to return downstairs without giving his fear away.

He wiped the sweat away from his brow. He calmed his nerves as best he could. At least he wasn't shaking he thought. That was a blessing. He reached back for the pillows on the bed and strolled out the bedroom putting on his best pretend face.

Bridger had smiled at the teenager as he re-emerged from the bedroom. Something in Lucas's eyes told him that all was not right with the young man. He was about to say something about his suspicions when Lucas told Ben to find a better channel.

"There's not much on today, Lucas," Ben told his friend.

Krieg had failed to notice the paleness of Lucas's face since his journey upstairs and Lucas was grateful for small mercies.

---

Half an hour later, due the tiredness his body felt and the comfort he felt fully stretched out on the couch with a pillow under his head, Lucas fell back asleep. It was now mid afternoon. Ben, Kristin and Bridger kept things quiet as possible in order for Lucas to stay asleep.

Ortiz and Ford had come through the back door a little while later ready to give their view of the scene. Kristin and Bridger both shushed them and pointed to Lucas sleeping on the couch.

Ben joined everyone else in the kitchen so they could talk a little more without disturbing the teenager. He seemed to be sleeping soundly enough. Little did they know that Lucas's dreams were being invaded by enemies from long ago.

"So, Jonathan," Bridger asked his second in command "What did you find out there today?"

"Not much, Captain," Ford said sadly. He didn't want to dash anybody hopes of finding out who did this, but the evidence was hard to come by.

"We found some tire tracks from a vehicle which seem to indicate that somebody was indeed tailing Lucas's motorcycle as he travelled down the dirt road. After that though, is pretty much up to assumption. There is nothing to identify the driver or even the make of the car that was involved."

"That's for your help anyway, Commander," Bridger said in defeat. They were no closer than yesterday to identifying Lucas's assailant. Although Lawrence Wolenczak was still at the head of everyone's suspect list.

"You know," Ben started, "Lucas over there still seems too tense for my liking."

"How bout we, and he pointed to himself and Ortiz take him out tomorrow for a while.? There won't be another chance after tomorrow for three months, and I dread to think what sort of grizzly bear he will turn out to be if cooped up for that length of time in his current state of mind"

"I think that it a great idea, Ben," Bridger agreed.

"Maybe he can buy a new jacket to replace the one upstairs. You can ask if when he wakes up if you like. As for his state of mind, after what had happened over the last few months, I think he is entitled to feel a little uneasy and scared."

"We just have to try and be there for him when he decides he is ready to face what happened. You know he has barely said a word to anyone about what happened to him. Bottling it all up for too long will only cause him greater anxiety."

Lucas had woken up just long enough to hear the last three or four sentences of Bridger's speech.

How little you really know Captain, he thought to himself.

The real enemy is still out there, he is still out there...

---

The next meeting that was about to occur between Lucas and Sanderson was put together by pure chance. It happened something like this ...

"Captain," Lucas said in exasperation, "I really don't want to go to the mainland today."

"It will do you good for you to get out for a while, Lucas," Bridger replied. He knew that the boiy didn't want to go, but he knew that being cooped up on the island wasn't helping the situation either.

Bridger was still worried about the physical injuries Lucas was still carrying from the accident a couple of days ago. He had been forced into this position a little by Kristin and the other crew members.

If he could just think of a good reason 'Why Not' then he would take the suggestion back in a heart beat. He knew they were right in trying to get Lucas to feel a little more confident out in public, but it still didn't make him feel any better.

Lucas was more worried about what was to come. A public gathering was the last place he wanted to be. But maybe with Ortiz and Ben there to protect him, he would feel a little safer. He doubted it.

Lucas was trying to put the accident out of his mind. He was trying to squash any fears that were beginning to manifest themselves within him. He was truly scared inside. He had every right to be, but he had to hide it from his family and fellow crew members. He did not want them getting involved again and being hurt because of him. He couldn't live with that on his conscience.

"Come on Lucas, your going and that's final," Ben Krieg said trying to sound stern.

"You're going even if we have to drag you kicking and screaming."

Truth was that Ben was worried about his young friend as much as anybody else, but his solution to any problem was to inject a little humour into the situation before everyone went bonkers.

Miguel Ortiz was trying to come up with a comment that would encourage the teenager to accompany them to the mainland.

"Maybe you could get some new computer parts before we go back onboard tomorrow Lucas. It will be another three months before you get a chance!"

Lucas thought about the idea and just shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He couldn't fight them all off. Maybe there was nothing to worry about.

He would make it back safe okay and tomorrow he would be back on board the SeaQuest and safe from any attempts by Sanderson.

MAYBE....

---

For the next half an hour Kristin checked Lucas wounds and made sure that they were bandaged enough to avoid further injury. She gave Lucas two aspirin that would see him through the aches for the rest of the morning. He would be back by lunch time for the next dose.

The rest of the time was spent by Bridger and Kristen explaining the DO's and DON'TS of the planned trip.

'Do look out for Lucas, Ben and Miguel.'

'Don't wander off alone, Lucas.'

'Do stop and return home if Lucas gets too tired.'

'Don't go chasing girls at the mall.'

Directed at mainly at Ben and Miguel:

'Do return back to the island on time.'

'Don't come back without Lucas - or don't come back at all.'

Miguel looked and Ben who looked and Lucas and all three rolled their eyes in unison feeling like three year olds going on their first excursion.

Ben decided to inject a little of that abject humour to the situation

'Don't go running in front of a truck.'

'Do hold hands crossing the road.'

'Don't go trusting old ladies with knitting baskets.'

'Do make sure that you are wearing clean underwear in cast of an emergency so that you can be identified by the name written on the label.'

Lucas and Miguel were now laughing good naturedly at Krieg's remarks. Ben always seemed to know what to say.

Bridger and Kristin just gave them all a warning look but had to hide smirks of their own at the statements. They did sound like parents letting their teenager son out on his first date. Even Commander Ford had a slight grin on his face.

---

By mid morning the trio of Miguel, Ben and Lucas were on the boat on their way to the mainland. All seemed relaxed.

Lucas was standing at the rear of the boat letting the salt and the wind whistle through his blond hair.

After a short ferry ride, they hailed down a cab and headed to the largest shopping mall they could find. All had a few dollars in their pockets. Lucas had quite a few more than the other two. He intended to replace that torn jacket and buy himself some of that equipment that Miguel had hinted at.

As they walked into the busy shopping centre they were immediately struck by the noise that was inside that they could not hear outside. If was as if everyone had chosen this one particular day to attend the shopping mall. The crowd was very big. The escalators were packed. They were packed into the lifts by the dozen.

Lucas was a little apprehensive upon entering and almost bailed out of the whole idea. He didn't like crowds at the best of times and today was not an exception if not worse.

Ben had seen the nervousness in the reluctant teenager and kept propelling him through the automatic doors to the centre. There would be no backing out once inside. It would take them at least an hour to get back out again.

On the other side of the shopping centre another man was entering the same centre. He had a wig made up of a shock of red had and a panama hat. He was wearing a long trench coat and dark glasses.

The first half an hour went smoothly enough. The trio had made their way past the hordes of people with shopping bags. They had been pushed and pulled in all directions. They had even been bumped and bruised a number of times by the over zealous crowd.

Lucas had to inwardly hold back a number of muffled squeaks of pain as people had accidentally brushed past his injured shoulder.

On the third occasion, he had stopped all together and was now standing out on the edge of the crowd. He was rubbing at his bandages. His shoulder was really beginning to ache. The aspirins had worked at first but were now beginning to wear off and the bumps from others had not helped the situation.

Lucas had just paused for a brief period of time, but now noticed that Miguel and Ben were nowhere in sight. They had been swallowed up by the crowd in front of him.

"Just great," Lucas muttered to himself. He was imagining the ear bashing he was going to be on the end of when his crew mates eventually found him.

He spotted a shop that was advertising computer equipment and wondered if this was the same one Ortiz had spoken about.

Paul Sanderson had made his way through the crowd and was not looking anywhere in particular until his vision settled upon a blond head not to far away. He couldn't possibly be this lucky could he. A chance meeting in a venue on mutual ground to them both. He grinned to himself. He knew that the boy wouldn't be able to recognized him immediately, but this added to his devious plan for later.

Lucas had made his way over to the store window and peered at the various displays. His eyes were surveying all the new neat equipment he could spot.

He made a mental note of them all and would write them done later for a future wish list. For now he would need to settle for something small and compact in order to be able to take it back on the boat tomorrow.

Something, and he couldn't explain what made Lucas begin to feel increasingly uneasy.

He stood up and looked about nervously. The hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand on end. His fears were beginning to re-emerge but he couldn't put a meaning to it. He couldn't see the cause for the moment.

Sanderson could see the teenager looking about apparently looking for something or someone. He grinned to himself because he was thrilled that his mere presence could cause such a reaction in this young man.

The man knew it was him that caused it. He didn't intend to make his identity public just yet. He still had more preparations to make.

This would have been an ideal place to snatch the unprotected teenager now. Sanderson could not see anyone else with Lucas. He appeared to be alone. Unfortunately, the opportunity would need to arise again, but at a time of his choosing.

---

Lucas was still looking around at the crowd. He started to look at each individual face as the crowd passed by. A couple of girls had given him a flirty wink, one old lady had given him an angry stare in return, he still had to locate the cause for his fear. His gaze finally settled upon a middle aged man that stood some twenty-five metres away from him. There was nothing too unusual about the man to make him a suspect.

The red hair certainly stood out. The man had notice the teenager's investigating stare and simply gave a false smile in return. The man had briefly removed his glasses in order to see in the artificial lighting of the shopping centre.

Lucas could see the eyes, his own gaze seemed drawn to them in particular. His brain was telling him that something was terribly wrong but he couldn't place a finger on the reason. His brain made a mental note of those eyes and then made the boy turn away from the piercing site.

Ben and Miguel had been frantically searching for the missing teenager whilst all of this staring was going on. They had noticed Lucas missing a short time ago and were dreading returning to Kristin or Bridger to tell them that the teenager had indeed gotten lost in one of the largest shopping centres in the city. They would search every nook and cranny in this huge shopping centre first.

Ben had almost shouted out aloud in relief as he spotted the familiar blond head in the crowd. He had walked up behind the teenager and touched him on the left uninjured shoulder.

Lucas now spun around and was about to let off a very loud yell at the touch on his shoulder. He had not heard anyone approach him from behind due to the dull continual roar of the crowd. His breathing was coming in sharp pants and he looked at though he was scared half to death.

"Ben! Don't you ever do that again," Lucas managed to get out through strangled gasps.

"Sorry, Lucas," Ben apologized sheepishly. He noticed how nervous the teenager seemed to be from his silent approach. He was truly sorry for scaring the teenager so badly. He had only been worried about him when they lost him in the crowd. He didn't want anything happening to his best friend.

Lucas just waved a hand at him to signal he was okay. He was still trying to get his breath back under control. His gaze again wandered back to where the man he had been staring at intently, but the spot was now occupied by a large woman with a pram and three little children. She didn't take kindly to the stare from the young man and gave a look right back to him that was none too pleasant.

Miguel and Ben had seen him staring at the woman and wondered why Lucas found her so interesting.

Lucas just blushed bright red and tight to divert his gaze to other places.

Lucas couldn't understand why he had felt so uneasy just a few minutes ago. He was looking into the crowd to see where the man with the red hair had disappeared to.

Something was still not right.

He down played his fears to Ben and Miguel by just saying that his shoulder was too sore and his headache had returned. Both were not exactly a lie. His shoulder was protesting at the treatment it had received earlier and his head had a dull ache at the back of it.

Lucas decided to just play the 'little injured boy' role for the rest of the morning. Hopefully it would only seek to get Ben and Ortiz to go back home where he felt secure. Tomorrow he would be back aboard the boat and worry free for a time.

Ben and Miguel had started to worry slightly at Lucas mentioning his shoulder and headache and had no trouble at all in shortening their trip. They remembered the words of Kristin from that morning and decided to err on the side of caution and take the teenager home.

From behind a advertising placard on the other side of a store, the man in the red hair and panama hat watched to trio walk back out of the same entrance way. Both men seemed to be protecting the boy for the time being. Ben had looked over his shoulder once but failed to see the man watching them.

---

The return trip was clouded by silence and distant thoughts. Lucas stood in a similar place at the rear of the vessel as he had earlier that morning. But now his thoughts were troubled and dark. He couldn't get the feeling of dread from his mind.

Ben and Miguel sensed that the teenager's mood had darkened somewhat over the last couple of hours. Maybe it was due to the pain Lucas said he was having from his injuries and his headache, maybe not.

Ben walked up to stand beside the young man and tried to pry into Lucas's mind and find out what he was thinking about. This time he made his approach not so silent so as not to frighten the teenager as before.

Lucas acknowledged his friend's approach with a curt nod and then returned to his distance gaze out over the horizon.

"Something up, Lucas?" Ben asked honestly. He decided that the frontal attack was the best in this situation.

"No Ben, not really," he lied.

"Just thinking about going back to SeaQuest tomorrow. I am really looking forward to going back. You don't know how really glad I am to be going back Ben. I need to get back to the boat and feel safe again for a while."

"Feeling a little homesick are we?" Ben enquired.

"Yes and No," came the candid reply.

"Yes because SeaQuest is the only home I have ever really known. No because I really enjoy living with the Kristin and the Captain as my new Dad on the island."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Ben said.

"I have this love and hate relationship towards the SeaQuest too if you didn't already know."

Lucas just looked questioningly at his friend. Did Ben really understand how he felt about the boat and his crew family?

"You see, Lucas," Ben began, "I love the SeaQuest for the great perks my position offers. And No, I hate the thought of having to go back to work. Besides when I go back I am back under the Command of my lovely ex-wife Katie."

Lucas gave a small smile to Ben's self preservative attitude. It was true that Ben often talked about his grudges towards his ex-wife. Truth be known as it was to Lucas, that the Lieutenant was still madly in love with Katie Hitchcock. Always had been and always would be.

Miguel had heard the last part of the conversation and now added, "Oh come on Ben, you never do any real work on board anyway."

"I'll have you know that Morale Officer is a very important position, Mr Blips and Radar Reader," Ben said in mock disgust.

"I take young officers like Lucas here and make them feel welcomed and loved aboard that vast tin hull."

"You make them feel at home Ben by offering various sources of contraband and other illegal activities," Ortiz retorted back. "It's a wonder we still have nice, clean uncorrupted crew members like Lucas."

Lucas had tried to laugh a little at the funny rebuttal between the two of his friends but his mind kept wandering. He just wanted to get back to the island and relax a little before back on duty tomorrow.

He made a mental note to make sure Commander Ford had enough chores organised for him when they got back to the SeaQuest. If he had enough to keep him busy, maybe the demons and thoughts of Sanderson could be kept at bay.

---

When they reached the jetty on the island Lucas was the first one to disembark.

The teenager headed towards the UEO transport waiting parked a short distance away and walked straight past Commander Ford and his Captain Bridger and proceeded to take a seat in the back of the vehicle without so much as offering a 'hello' to anyone. He barely mumbled something about his shoulder aching too much before sitting in his seat in silence on the journey back to the house.

Bridger and Jonathan Ford just raised an eyebrow each at Ben Krieg and Ortiz as they shortly followed their young friend. Both of them gave a look that said, 'We will talk later.'

Bridger was sure that something had happened on their little shopping trip, but it looked as if Lucas was very reluctant to talk about it. He could see the dark mood threatening to engulf the teenager.

He had thought that the trip to the mainland might cheer Lucas up before heading back to the boat tomorrow. He could see that he had been very wrong. It looked as though the situation had been made worse.

Lucas just stared out the window using the same vacant stare he had used on the ferry trip back.

Bridger had wanted badly to talk to the teenager and find out what was troubling him, but left it until a later time. Lucas had told him that his shoulder had been aching some and he had a rotten headache.

All he wanted to do was get home and take a pain killer and lay down for awhile. What he wanted to do was dive head long into the deep void of sleep that would be dreamless and memory free.

As soon as the vehicle pulled up in front of the house, Lucas got out and walked towards the front door of the house.

Kristin greeted them all at the door and was about to ask how the shopping excursion had been when she saw that Lucas was not in a talking mood.

She could see that he was holding his head slightly and grimacing at the dull ache in his shoulder. She put her doctor hat on and gave him the pain killer he had been craving earlier. She escorted him upstairs and helped him get comfortable on his bed. Lucas closed his eyes and just lay there.

Kristin knew that he wasn't asleep, but he soon would be with the pain killer at work. She decided to leave him be and get the rest he requested.

---

"What happened, Lieutenant?" Kristin asked firmly as she eyed Ben. She had just descended the stairs from Lucas's bedroom and headed straight towards the living room where the rest of the crew were seated.

Ben felt the piercing gaze of his fellow crew members and thought that somehow he was going to get the blame for Lucas's sombre mood.

"I'm not sure what happened, Captain, really!" Ben said with a genuine tone.

"We went to the shopping mall just as we said we would. The place was packed, but that was nothing too unusual. Lucas was a bit apprehensive about going inside, but we managed to persuade him to go inside."

"You managed to persuade him?" Bridger asked warily.

"Okay, maybe we were pushing him through the doors more than persuading him," Ben admitted.

"But once we were inside he seemed just fine. For a while we just wandered around looking at all of the stores. Lucas seemed to be getting bumped accidentally by people in the crowd and he said his shoulder was beginning to bother him."

"Go on," Kristin told the Lieutenant, not taking her locking gaze off his explanation. Miguel was watching and listening to the story Ben was giving and was just glad that it wasn't him in front of the execution squad.

Ben started the next line with a little bit of nervousness, "At some point ... we got separated," it was almost a whisper and he thought he would have to repeat it a little louder. To his surprise and dread Kristin and Bridger had heard every uttered word of that sentence.

"You got separated," they both shouted at the Lieutenant.

They were both giving him the evil eye and threatening him with various forms of punishment if he didn't start explaining that statement a little more satisfactorily.

"Like I said, we got separated," Ben continued, "When we finally found him, I seemed to be out of it."

Kristin and Bridger had relaxed slightly as the found part but know were looking at him with curiosity written all over their faces.

"What do you mean out of it?" Bridger asked Krieg.

"Well he seemed to be staring at somebody in the crowd. When I touched him on the shoulder from behind, I thought he was going to flip out right there and then he went so pale. He was plain scared. I was really sorry for frightening him like that, but the more I think about it, maybe it was something else that he was afraid of."

"Who did you see in the crowd?" Kristin asked with a degree of nervousness.

"All we saw was some fat lady with a bunch of screaming kids," Ben replied.

"Honest Captain. She didn't look too impressed about being stared at either." Ben was now looking at Miguel to back up his story.

"He's right Captain, Lucas looked as though he had seen a ghost. But all we seen was that lady and her kids."

"On the trip back on the ferry," Ben added, "I tried to ask him if anything was bothering him, but he just talked about looking forward to going back aboard SeaQuest tomorrow."

Ben also told them the line about enjoying living with them on the island. He hoped that a happy statement might quell their worries a little.

"Maybe he was just hurting a little too much," Kristin commented trying to rationalise the explanation in her own mind. It was the only plausible one at the moment. They doubted that even when Lucas was awake he would openly share his feelings with them.

---

The next morning saw Lucas wake up with a whole new outlook on the day.

He was almost back to the old Lucas Wolenczak that everyone was so fond of. The others suspected that part of him at least was trying to hide what had happened yesterday. And although this was partly true, he was genuinely excited and happy to be finally going back to the SeaQuest.

The afternoon found the atmosphere very hectic on board the vessel. Commander Ford and Bridger were overseeing the new crew members to their allotted cabins and work stations.

Chief Crocker and Katie Hitchcock were busy ticking the endless load of supplies of a check list.

Ben Krieg was busy checking the non- essential items on his own tick list. Ortiz and Tim O'Neill were working together testing out the new navigation and communications systems that had been installed on the Bridge.

Lucas found that he mostly had the entire afternoon to himself. He had taken the first few hours and tried to set up his new equipment in his own small cabin. He had thought about helping out the other Senior Officers, but soon discovered that he seemed more of a hindrance than a assistant to any of them.

He had even tried to help out the Captain, but only got short grunts of reply or acknowledgment that he was even in the same room. He wasn't totally upset by the lack of attention he was receiving. He knew that Bridger was busy. Lucas took himself back to his cabin and tried to amuse himself once again with his vast array of computer components.

Lucas had spent some time trying to get into a few low level classified files. At some point be became bored again. You could only do this a few times before it was like old hat. He needed some new challenges.

Wolfman had not sent anything new to him in weeks. He still felt exhilaration at the puzzles or games that his friend often sent him over the internex. Wolfman was the one person that Lucas could connect with on the same intellectual level. The two of them had been friends for a few years now.

Wolfman was into computers and hacking as much as his friend Frankie, or Frankenstein as he was sometimes referred to. He would talk to his friend online later that night and check up on the latest gossip on the web.

Lucas was about to call it a day. He was starting to feel a little cramped up from sitting in the same position for the last hour. He was just about to head out to the moon pool and find Darwin when he noticed a small envelope in the right hand corner of his computer screen.

He clicked on the symbol thinking that Wolfman had indeed come through for him again. He was terribly mistaken.

At first he didn't recognize the sender's e-mail address. There was no subject heading to indicate what the message was about. He ran his normal anti-virus software over the message before opening it.

Costly viruses from the past had taught him to make sure he scanned every incoming message. Anonymous ones only heightened his awareness to the dangers of viruses from unknown sources.

Once the anti-virus completed it's assigned task, he clicked on the attached message and was about to read the contents. At first his vision just scanned over the contents of the mail. It wasn't until he noted the mark at the bottom of the page that he understood who the author was.

The letter at the bottom of the page was the unmistakable symbol that had appeared on the last two handwritten messages he had found back at the island. The S now stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the message.

He made himself scroll back up to the top of the letter and read the entire contents of the letter from Sanderson. This message was more than the couple of words the other two had been.

'Saw you yesterday. I know you saw me. Remember me now?

'I amd watching you, waiting for the right moment. You won't get away so easily this time.'

'If you think your friends will protect you again you will be sadly mistaken. Being at the bottom of the ocean in the biggest Naval vessel only makes them a sitting target.'

'Agree to come quietly and unaccompanied, then I might spare your friends any harm.'

' You on the other hand ... I cannot make the same guarantee.'

'I will make contact again real soon ...' S

Lucas now jumped back from the screen with fear written all over his face. He almost felt as if Sanderson could reach out and touch him from within the message.

He saw the words. He could sense the threatening overtures. The teenager took note of the warnings against hurting the people he loved and cared about.

The boy's mind now kicked into gear and he now remembered with dread the eyes that had held his attention back at the shopping centre yesterday.

The eyes ... yes, why had he been so blind. The wig and panama hat had served their purpose to throw his guard down at first.

Why hadn't he seen it before? Lucas mentally kicked himself for the grave error in judgment.

Now as he saw those eyes again, he couldn't believe that he had been staring right at the very man who caused him so much pain and suffering. The eyes had been burning black pools of hatred. Hatred meant entirely for him. Meant to hurt and possibly kill him this time.

The teenager's breath was beginning to trouble him again as he lost it to fear. His hands were trembling and was thankful that he was alone in his cabin. He subconsciously started to rub at the scar on his thigh. The scar that Sanderson had caused. The scar was the only visible reminder of their last encounter.

He knew that Sanderson was right.

If he stayed aboard the SeaQuest, then he would still be found. The biggest vessel in the world might have sounded safe enough at first, but it was unable to become invisible or hide under a rock on the sea bed. If he stayed on board, he would be putting the lives of the people he loved most at risk.

Lucas didn't want that. He had similar thoughts back on the island and this new message and these fresh threats from Sanderson only seemed to strength his words to himself.

He would need to get away. Get away and keep those he loved safe from his enemy. He didn't know where he would go. At the moment his only thoughts were on Sanderson and how to escape the SeaQuest before anybody could stop him.

He had to get away...

Lucas spend the next hours trying to look normal aboard the board, but actually trying to work out what to do.

He walked about with his hands in his pockets trying to hide his shaking hands. He had deleted the suspect e-mail before he left his cabin. At least it wouldn't be discovered by anybody else in the crew.

He walked onto the bridge where his fellow crew members were. Normally he liked being here. His attention was nearly always drawn by the array of flashing lights and the blips from the radar and the information generated by the W.S.K.R.S. system.

Today he just looked about the helm nervously. He couldn't keep his attention on any one thing today.

He had walked over towards the Captain without realising it. Bridger seemed to recognize the distant look on the teenager.

"Thought you'd be too busy trying to find out what new systems you can hack into," Bridger said.

"Nah, just felt like getting out of my cabin for a while," Lucas replied.'Get out my cabin and away from the dangers that lurk within' he added silently.

Bridger had a questioning look on his face, it was unusual for the teenager to be so distracted.

If was as if something else was on his mind. From experience Bridger doubted that Lucas would share his feelings with him.

Lucas tried to come up with an excuse for leaving. In the end he just left without saying a word to anyone. Even the senior crew members seemed to notice the lack of spunk in the teenager today. Something was definitely not right in Lucas land.

---

Bridger though about following him, but decided against it. He would check up on the teenager after his shift. Lucas would just think he was overprotective as usual.

He didn't want to start this tour off on the wrong foot. There was still three months together. If things got into an argument on the first day between them, it would be a very long three months.

Lucas made his way to the mess hall. He decided instead of lurking around the ship trying to avoid everyone, he really needed to start getting prepared to leave.

He had made the decision back in his cabin to escape silently away in the Stinger. It was the fastest way and it could only take one passenger. If he asked for a shuttle craft, everyone would immediately be suspicious about what was going on.

He didn't know where he was going. He just knew that he had to get away from the SeaQuest. He couldn't put his friends and family at risk. He would escape in the Stinger and decide from there where to go.

The ocean was a big place, maybe Sanderson would lose track of him and he could start a new life somewhere on his own. He did not relish the idea of starting a new life or being on his own at all. But if it would protect the ones he loved the most, then he would do it no matter what the cost.

By late that afternoon, unbeknown to the rest of the crew, Lucas had gathered his meagre rations and supplies. The one disadvantage to the Stinger only being built for one person was that it lacked the usual luggage space needed. He packed two days food and enough drinking water to last him until he reached dry land somewhere.

He packed one change of clothes and a small compass for navigation. The Stinger was equipped with its own navigation instruments, but once he was on dry land, he would be on his own. He would have to find his own way about.

By the time he was satisfied that the Stinger was ready, his shoulder was starting to protest again. It ached and told him that he needed to rest a little before taking on his big journey.

He went to see Kristin about getting some more aspirin. She gladly gave him two as he carefully watched where she kept her medical supplies. Maybe he could get an extra couple of tablets to take with him in the Stinger later. It couldn't hurt to have some.

Bridger had finished his shift and was about to go an find Lucas like he intended. He thought he would return to his cabin first and change into something a bit more casual first.

When he reached the door of his cabin, he noted that the door wasn't locked like he had left it that morning. He was puzzled and wondered for a moment how the door was unlocked.

When he stepped inside he immediately saw the culprit. His heart began to weigh heavy and he truly knew that something was wrong with his teenage son.

Lucas was stretched out sound asleep on his bunk. Bridger knew it wasn't usual for Lucas to seek out his father's cabin unless he was worried about something or sick.

Bridger walked over to the bed very quietly and put a probing hand on the teenager's forehead to feel for a phantom fever to indicate that he was indeed sick. There was no heat to feel.

The teenager didn't stir at the Captain's gentle touch and continued to give the impression of being deeply asleep. Bridger heard a knock at is door and went to open it before it woke Lucas.

Kristin had been standing on the other side of the door when Bridger opened it.

"I just wanted to see if he was alright, Nathan," she said.

"He stopped by my office a little while ago still complaining about his shoulder. I gave him some aspirin, but he wasn't in his cabin just now when I went to check on him. I thought I'd try the next logical place."

"Is his shoulder still bothering him that much?" Bridger asked. He thought that Lucas had said his shoulder had been healing.

Bridger remembered the conversation on the island yesterday with Krieg and Ortiz about Lucas telling them at the mall that his shoulder was still a little tender.

"It seems to be taking longer than I expected it to heal," she answered honestly. She walked over to the sleeping teenager and gave him a once over of her own. She was satisfied that he seemed to be sleeping okay.

"I hate to ask you this, but it doesn't seem like he is going to wake for a little while yet," Kristin began "You don't mind losing your bed for a while, do you?".

"Not at all, I am not going to move him until he wakes if that's what you are asking," Nathan replied.

"If he wants to stay the night, that's okay with me".

"I know he means so much to you," Kristin said.

She could see both the worry of a friend and the love of a father emanating from the Captain with every breath he took. She felt as equally protective but with Nathan, the relationship between Nathan and Lucas was beginning to become something so special.

"More than you know," Bridger said as his gaze drifted back to is bunk.

"Come and join me for some dinner, Captain?" Kristen said with a twinkle in her eye.

"You bet little lady," Bridger said and put an arm around her shoulder as they left Lucas in peace.

---

When Lucas awoke from his deep sleep, he looked over at the clock and noted the time said 8.55pm.

"Damn!" he said to himself. He had wanted to wake earlier than this to make his escape in the Stinger. He wanted to get away while most people were eating dinner.

He got up and hurriedly put back on his shoes he had discarded at the base of the Captain's bunk. He wondered if Bridger had found him asleep in his bunk. Given the time of day, he had to assume so.

The teenager quickly wiped the thought from his mind, he had more immediate worries at the moment.

He got out a piece of paper and pen from the top drawer of the Captain's desk and began to write something on the blank sheet.

I am writing this to tell you Goodbye.

I don't know where I am going so don't try and follow me.

Hopefully I will make contact once I get set up a little in my new home.

Please don't worry.

I am not leaving SeaQuest because I don't want to be here. There are a few things happening in my life right now that I need to work out on my own.

Tell Ben and the rest of the crew that I will be alright and I will miss them terribly.

I couldn't say the words to you, just couldn't say them.

I love you and Kristin very much.

Please take care of Darwin for me.

Please don't hate me because of this. This is something that I have to do.

Lucas

He reread the note. He made sure that he didn't put to much explanation into it. He didn't want to come right out and tell them that the reason he was leaving was Sanderson.

The boy put the pen back into the drawer and left the note in the middle on the large desk for Bridger to see when he returned.

With that last task complete, Lucas now made his way down the vacant corridors towards the launch bays and the Stinger.

He had wanted to say goodbye to Darwin. But he knew if he told the dolphin he was leaving, then Darwin would go straight to the Captain and crew before he had a chance to get away.

No he had to get used to doing things on his own.

He positioned himself in the front of the console of the Stinger. He closed the hatch securely, looked briefly about the place he had come to know as home and reluctantly started the small craft ready for his journey into the unknown.

---

At about the same time as Lucas was kicking the Stinger's engine into gear, Bridger returned to his cabin with Kristin. Both were giggling slightly, but stopped once they reached the door for fearing that Lucas was still asleep inside.

Bridger felt good at the moment. Dinner with Kristin had been delightful, although a little crowded with the rest of the crew eyeing the two of them together. All they needed now was a brief night cap before retiring for the night.

Bridger opened the door and his eyes looked directly at the bunk expecting that Lucas would be still there.

To his surprise and that of Kristin, the bunk was empty. The sheets had been remade. The pillows replaced neatly at the head of the bed. It was as if it had never been slept in that day. Bridger looked puzzled at Kristin.

Kristin Westphalen had seen the bunk was empty, but whilst Bridger was trying to work out why the teenager was missing, her eyes spotted a white piece of paper placed deliberately in the middle of the desk on the other side of the room.

Something about that piece of paper made her heart miss a beat. She walked over to it and gingerly picked it up.

She didn't read the contents, she just noted that the heading read 'TO THE CAPTAIN' and she handed it to Nathan with dread written all over her face.

Bridger saw that Kristin was holding out a piece of paper to him. He had seen her walk over to the table and pick it up. His own fears were beginning to amass when he saw the look on Kristin's face and the heading that the doctor pointed out.

He read the note aloud to them both. He knew that Kristin wanted to hear what was contained in the note. He didn't need to keep secrets from her where Lucas was concerned.

When he got to the final sentence, he was trembling himself and finding it hard to hold onto the note itself. Kristin had tears of her own running down her face.

"What does it mean?" Bridger asked. He had read the contents. He heard the pain and the uncertainty in the words. He just didn't know why Lucas wrote it.

What could be bothering him so much to make him want to leave his family and friends? They had failed to see all the signs over the last few days. He had been moody and withdrawn, but they thought that was due to the attempt on his life from the accident.

Kristin made the move before Bridger did. Now that it seemed Lucas intended to leave, she just hoped that they had found out before the teenager made his escape. She hit her Comm Link and got immediate access to the staff on the Bridge and Commander Jonathan Ford.

"Commander," she said without saying hello, "Seal all of the outer doors to the launch bays please, right this minute!"

"Excuse me doctor?" Commander Ford said a little confused at the tone in her voice.

"Lucas is attempting to run away, seal all of the outer doors to the launch bays, NOW!" Kristin yelled.

Commander Ford didn't know it what Kristin was saying was true or not, all he and the rest of the Bridge crew heard were three little words - Lucas, Running Away.

"You heard the lady, Mr Ortiz," Commander Ford ordered, "Seal all outer doors now!"

Too Late. Lucas had heard the Comm Link just as the tail of the Stinger reached the ocean outside of the SeaQuest.

He had a terrible pain in his heart. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to his family, but he knew he couldn't. For their sake anyway.

---

During this brief interlude Bridger and Kristin had run from the Captain's cabin to the Bridge.

Nathan now pushed in front of Ortiz pushing the Comm Link button and yelling pleas at the teenager into it, "Lucas, come back, please!" he beseeched.

"Whatever it is we will work it out son. Please don't leave. Lucas, Lucas!"

A crackled reply came through from the Stinger, "Sorry Captain, I can't. I can't explain why for the time being, I just have to go. Please understand."

"Lucas?" Bridger yelled back in reply.

"I've got the Stinger on radar Captain," Tim O'Neill shouted through the conversation.

"He's travelling away fast. He is already some 20 nautical miles from the SeaQuest".

"Thank you Mr O'Neill," Bridger whispered. He was almost at wits end as to what to say in order that the teenager would have a change of heart and turn around.

Lucas was about to reply to that statement. Tears threatened to stream down his face, but he fought hard to keep control. For one brief minute, he was even willing to stop and listen to Bridger's desperate pleas.

Lucas's train of thought was interrupted by a different sounding crackle over the Comm Link. The static became very loud and Lucas almost put his hand over his ears at the noise level.

"Captain?" Lucas said into the Comm Link. There was no response.

"What happened, Lieutenant?" Bridger shouted at Tim O'Neill.

"I don't know sir, we seem to have lost contact with the Stinger," O'Neill replied. Tim and Ortiz tried on their headsets to raise the Stinger and it's occupant.

"Is anybody out there?" Lucas now said into his own Comm Link. Again there was no response.

"Just great, Wolenczak," he now said to himself in harsh self retribution. "All set to go out on your own big adventure and your radio dies two miles out of Gotham City."

The SeaQuest crew were still trying to get through to the Stinger. They could hear Lucas on the other side but he apparently could not hear them. Something was jamming the signal from the Stinger to the SeaQuest.

"Alpha Romeo Foxtrot," came a voice over Lucas's Comm Link

The message coming through from the Stinger could be heard on the Bridge of the SeaQuest, but they were not able to reply to the unidentified person.

Lucas felt his blood run cold. He had only heard those three words but the voice was unmistakable. He knew who the unidentified person on the Comm Link was. His breathing started to change with the fear that was threatening to overtake him.

"No, you can't be here," Lucas said in an almost whisper.

Everyone, including the mystery guest heard the voice and noted the fear entrenched in it.

"Oh, but I am, Lucas," the voice said and began to laugh over the radio. "The time has come."

Captain Bridger and the Bridger crew were listening with fears of their own to the voice talking to Lucas. They had not heard Sanderson's voice very often and didn't put two and two together immediately.

It wasn't until they heard the next few sentences in the conversation that they realised with horror who the unidentified party was.

"I see your trying to leave the party a little too soon, Lucas," the stranger said. "Now it wouldn't be nice of you to ignore your old friend would it?"

"You are no friend of mine, Sanderson," Lucas shouted back. He was unaware that the SeaQuest crew could hear his entire conversation.

The SeaQuest crew collectively gasped as they heard the name Sanderson. They all had fresh memories of what that particular man had done to Lucas.

It was only a few months ago that Lucas had been taken by force from a hotel and tortured and shot. They had also been told about the events of two years ago and the meeting that Lucas had with Sanderson and his friend Alison.

Bridger was shouting down through the Comm Link but no one else could hear his words. He was warning Sanderson to leave his son alone or there would be hell to pay.

He couldn't let that madman get his hands on Lucas again. He just couldn't.

---

"Tell me Lucas, did you keep our little communications between each other to yourself?" Sanderson said. "I bet you never even told your friends about the message in the bottle the other day while you were on the island."

"What about the note left in your jacket after that most unfortunate accident? Yes, I know that they all think your father Lawrence was to blame, but we both know different don't we, Lucas ?"

Bridger and the other just looked at each other with dismay. They hadn't known about any communications between Sanderson and Lucas.

Bridger thought back and everything now made perfect sense. The day Lucas ran into the house for no apparent reason. The nervousness he displayed by looking out through the curtains every five minutes just to see if someone was there.

It was all so clear now. The motorcycle accident hadn't been an accident at all. The driver had been Sanderson. Lucas apparently knew this. Something about a note in his jacket. Bridger and Kristen had not even thought to look at the jacket. Both thought that it was ready for the rubbish dump.

"You didn't tell anybody about our meeting at the shopping mall yesterday either did you? Sanderson jeered.

"You didn't tell them about the e-mail I sent this morning, am I correct?"

Lucas didn't make any remarks to the comments of Sanderson. He knew everything he was saying was true. He hadn't told anybody about anything. But he was too paralysed with fear to make anything but a few small whimpers. He put his hands over his ears to try and block the voice. He didn't want to hear anything this man had to say. Something almost compelled him to listen though.

Bridger just shook his head again in regret. What kind of father was he? Here was his son who had been terrorized by a madman from his past a few months ago, and the first signs that something is wrong, he just tries to come up with another excuse.

Kristin just let hear silent tears fall. She couldn't bear the thought of Sanderson hurting Lucas again. She tried to shout into the Comm Link herself, hoping somehow she would get through to the teenager.

Ben and Miguel had been mentally kicking themselves over the shopping mall incident. Why hadn't they noticed how scared Lucas was, they had seen him nervous, but had believed his story about just being tired and sore.

All the time they were looking for him, he had been within distance of the man who had hurt him. Now it looked as though the man was back to try again.

Ben though about the reaction he had received from placing his hand on Lucas's shoulder. It had been a similar reaction to the one he got the day Lucas ran into his room.

'God he was so stupid!' he mentally kicked himself again.

---

Sanderson had noted that there was no words coming from the teenager in the Stinger. He was able to monitor his position in relation to the SeaQuest with a small portable radar instrument of his own. He was sufficiently far away for the crew to be able to help him once he put his plan into action.

"I guess you're wondering where we go from here, Lucas," Sanderson said with little emotion, but conviction in his voice.

"If you look out your port side you should see another old friend nearby."

The crew aboard the SeaQuest held their breath, dreading what was about to happen.

It didn't take long for them to hear Lucas's strangled reaction.

Lucas had nervously turned his head and looked out through the Perspex windscreen of the Stinger. He was greeted by the sight of a face leaning up against the other side trying to look it.

He yelled in fright as he recognized the face. It was the same man that had been responsible for his attempted abduction aboard the SeaQuest the first time and the successful attempt the second time at the hotel.

The man could see the teenager through the glass. He grinned devilishly at the boy's plight. The boy couldn't go anywhere. He was trapped in this one man submarine with nowhere to go. Taking him from the Stinger was going to be so easy.

Sanderson had also heard the boy's reaction to his hired hand. He knew too that the boy was helpless. It was what he was praying for.

Out in the middle of the ocean with nobody to help him. He couldn't have scripted it better himself.

"And now if you will agree to accompany my friend to the appointed destination, Lucas," Sanderson explained.

"We can get on with the matters awaiting us. Oh, and if you think about trying to out run him, don't. If you choose not to co-operate, my friend has a nasty looking spear weapon in his left hand that he will use to immobilize your mini-sub."

Just for emphasis, the man could not hear the conversation inside the mini- sub, but held the spear menacingly in front of the terrified teenager.

Lucas was trying to back away from the man outside. He knew he couldn't go away but he was trying to curl up into a ball and make himself invisible. Suddenly with all the courage he could muster he shouted back into the Comm Link for the first time

"Go to hell , Sanderson!"

The man outside had not heard the words but noted the angry look on the teenager's face and guessed that the ultimatum that his boss had delivered had been unsuccessful.

With a great deal of force he suddenly started pounding the clear Perspex trying to crack the surface.

The Bridger crew couldn't see what he was doing, but they could hear a faint banging sound through the Link. There own blood ran cold as they heard the pleas from Lucas for the man to stop.

"NO! You can't you'll put a hole in the windscreen and flood the whole sub," Lucas shouted at the man.

"If you flood the sub I'll drown," the teenager pleaded with fear radiating through his voice.

Bridger heard what Lucas was saying and although he didn't know what was happening, he could hear Lucas saying that if whom ever it was outside Lucas's sub didn't stop, then he would drown.

The crew felt helpless. O'Neill was telling them in the background that they were approximately 19 nautical miles from the mini-sub.

"I see you've decided to take the hard option," Sanderson said with little surprise. "Oh very well, I guess that you just have to test your skills against mine then."

"Don't fret now, when I finally get my hands on you shortly, you won't believe the little game I have got organized for us to play."

With that Lucas heard the crackle from the radio subside signalling that Sanderson was no longer in contact with the mini-sub.

The man outside in the scuba gear continued to pound on the glass. Without too much more effort Lucas saw a small crack appear in the surface and the whole windscreen threatened to collapse and allow the ocean in.

"NO! PLEASE STOP!" Lucas shouted.

"Please stop, you will crack the surface. The whole thing is going to burst. PLEASSEEEEEE STOPPPPP!"

The crew and Bridger could hear that Lucas was now very scared. They could hear the teenager trying to bargain for his life. They knew that he was in imminent danger. What could they do?

Just as Lucas thought he was going to drown in the sub. The man outside took the sharp looking spear weapon in his hand and held it just this side of the flexible tail of the sub.

Then in a split second he had pierced a very angry looking gash in the tail. The sub no longer had any rudder control or steering capability.

The Stinger was equipped with a flexible tail that moved like a shark's tail. The material on the outside was specially designed to move like the scales on the tail of a real fish.

If the man pierced that outer, the sub would start to manoeuvre out of control with no hope of regaining it. The sub wouldn't stop until it ran out of fuel or crashed into something solid on the ocean floor.

"Captain, I don' t know if you can here me," Lucas shouted through the Comm Link, he didn't know if anybody could hear him now.

"I am at 12 degrees east and 43 degrees north approximately 4 nautical miles from the shore of a small uninhabited island, Please Help, I don't know if you are there, but PLEASE HELP!"

---

Before he got a chance to utter any more clues as to his position, the man outside did the unthinkable and pieced the Stinger's tail with the barb on the end of the spear gun.

Campbell swam away quickly just in time to see the sub start to spin out of control. Where it would land he didn't know. He had instructions to follow the disabled craft and bring the young driver inside to his boss's appointed hideout.

Lucas tried desperately to gain control of the sub. He was spinning and spinning. He was glad he had slept right through dinner as it would have come back up by now. He was screaming through the Comm Link. He was getting turned upside down and inside out.

The teenager didn't know how much longer he could hold on before the sub crashed into something. He had visions of his body exploding into a million pieces and scattered all over the ocean floor.

Without warning, the sub did hit something hard. A sand bar not far off the shore of the deserted island Lucas had indicated to the crew. As the craft struck the sand his head smashed into the Perspex. He lost consciousness. The disabled craft didn't have the power to go anywhere else.

Sanderson's sidekick swam up to the Stinger and peered in. He could see the bloody face of the teenager inside. He managed to use his bulk and strength to drag the stricken vessel into shallow water. Once satisfied it was on the beach enough he broke through the Perspex cover to reveal the unconscious youth inside.

The man could see a wound on the boy's temple. He didn't realize that Lucas had ruptured the wound on his head from the motorcycle accident. There didn't appear to be too many other injuries. He noted that the teenager couldn't make any effort to defend himself and Campbell easily dragged the unconscious teenager from the Stinger without protest.

As he dragged Lucas onto the beach he could see the boy had a few more bruises and scratches forming from the crash. They didn't look too bad. There seemed to be a few older healing wounds on his upper arm that had been torn open and the was a small amount of blood oozing from the arm and his head. He suspected that it would be sometime before the boy awoke.

---

Back on board the SeaQuest, Captain Bridger had to sit down. The only thing going through everyone's mind was the voice of Lucas yelling through on the Comm Link.

At first he had been pleading with somebody to stop damaging the Stinger. The next thing they could hear was Lucas screaming in terror as the sub careened out of control. They did not know about it crashing onto the sand bar near the island.

They had to find Lucas. They just had too. Nobody wanted to think about what Sanderson might do to Lucas this time around.

---

Lucas came around slowly from his unconscious state. At first he didn't try to open his eyes. He licked his lips and noticed how incredibly dry his mouth felt. The need to find something to drink forced him to open his eyes and survey his surroundings.

The first thing he noted that he was lying down on a small bunk that was bolted to a cement wall. He tried to use his hands to help him into a sitting position and seen that his wrist was handcuffed to the bed. He was still dressed in his Marlin's shirt and jeans. Somebody had taken his sneakers. His feet were now bare of any footwear.

All of the fears that had been with him in the sub now returned as he remembered who was responsible for him predicament. He managed to make in into a sitting position and saw that he was in fact being help captive in a jail cell.

The strange thing about it was that although his hand was handcuffed to the bed, the cell door was wide open. He looked through the bars and could some sort of scientific laboratory going on the other side.

His mind was beginning to wander to much and image all of the hideous plans that his kidnapper Sanderson had in mind for him. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of somebody's voice talking to him.

"Ah, I see that you have finally woken up," Sanderson said very calmly. He knew that his mere presence was enough to instill fear into the boy, so he didn't need to masquerade behind any false displays.

Lucas just looked at the man with every muscle and nerve fibre in him screaming fear. He couldn't hide his feeling of helplessness. He was chained to a bed and being kept in a dungeon. What the man planned to do only made him tremble more at his impending fate.

"What do you want?" Lucas whispered. He knew the question sounded silly given the circumstances he found himself in, but he asked it anyway.

"Like I told you in the sub, Lucas," Sanderson explained, "I have planned a little game for you and I. I am sure you're going to participate to the best of your abilities. I am looking forward to the challenge."

"What makes you think that I will co-operate with you at all?" Lucas said now with a little bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Notice how your body doesn't ache at the moment, Lucas?" Sanderson asked simply.

Lucas stopped and thought for a minute. Sanderson was right. He had awoken up still having some healing injuries and no doubt fresh ones from the crash of the Stinger. But at the moment he felt fine, well fine in the sense of no pain.

Anything above that was infinite at this stage. There was the utter dread, the fear, the anguish, the wishing for the Captain and his friends to come and help him, but other than that he felt surprisingly good.

Sanderson could see the young man's mind ticking over, taking stock of his various injuries and noting how at the moment they didn't ache or cause pain like they should.

Lucas wasn't so sure he wanted to hear the reason why he didn't hurt. He looked up at Sanderson with the question already formed on his face.

Sanderson saw the look and answered the unasked question, "While you were knocked out, I took the liberty of giving you a quite unique and unusual pain killer."

Lucas looked down at both of his arms but failed to locate any injection site obvious to the naked eye. He had no false representations though, this was a man who was very intelligent and had been fooling around with genetic engineering for a long time. If he said he had given Lucas something unusual, he was telling the truth.

"What did you give me and what is so unique about it?" Lucas asked with hesitation.

"Well it's something I have been working on since our last meeting, Lucas," Sanderson said.

"It's major side effect is it's ability to act as a very good pain reliever."

Lucas didn't think he wanted to ask this question, but he did. "What it the major function of this substance?"

"It's main purpose or maybe its advantage is that in large enough doses it is a very effective poison," Sanderson said with a evil grin.

Lucas heard the word Poison and was now feeling the placebo like symptoms of such a word. He was sure that every vein and artery in his body was about to turn green at the thought of a poison being in them.

The word keep echoing in his mind like a bad movie cliché. He found himself swallowing harshly at the mention of being poisoned at the hands of this man. His pulse rate increased dramatically and sweat started to bead on his forehead from the uneasiness he felt.

"How do you expect me to complete this little game of yours if I am dead from your poison?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, don't worry, there is an antidote," Sanderson said.

"And the poison is slow acting so I should say you have approximately twelve to fifteen hours left before your completely dead," he continued whilst looking at his watch.

"Of course I couldn't exactly say when the poison will start acting on your body. I would think it would kick in long before then."

Sanderson started to explain the game without waiting for Lucas to make further comment about the poison he had been given.

"The game is simple enough," he began.

"A little contest, me against you. If you win you find the antidote and get to live. On the other hand if you don't find the antidote or run out of time, you die. You will be given a walkie talkie to communicate with me but nothing else except your wits and what you have on you now."

"The object of the game is that I let your escape from this little hideaway. You get clues as to where you might find the antidote hidden. Your task is simply to find it to save yourself."

"What's the catch?" Lucas said. The game sounded oddly stacked against him anyway, but he doubted he was getting the whole story.

"There is no catch, Lucas," Sanderson said. "You find the antidote, you live, just like I said. Oh, but I forgot to mention that I will be out there looking for you," he said with a devilish grin.

"Me and old Sheila here will be hunting you down to prevent you reaching your goal."

"Who is old Sheila?" Lucas asked with dread.

Sanderson was hoping he asked that question and now reached behind a table and grabbed out a very menacing looking cross-bow. It was black in colour and looked deceptively compact.

Lucas had no qualms that in Sanderson's hand it could become a formidable weapon. In the right hands it could be very accurate with deadly consequences.

"I even had special arrow heads designed with you in mind, Lucas," Sanderson told the frightened teenager.

He took out a small wooden box which displayed a series of screw able tips and matching arrow shafts. The tips had very sharp looking barbs protruding from them. They would be able to slice through muscle with ease.

Lucas didn't want to play this game at all, but it looked at though he didn't have much of a choice. He thought he had better find out about this clue that was supposed to save his life.

"What is this clue I am supposed to hear?" Lucas asked.

"The clue is in the form of a riddle," Sanderson explained. "You only get to hear it once. Are you ready to hear it?"

Lucas didn't think that his mind was in any condition to start taking on board any extra information at the moment but he found himself slowly nodding his head to the question. He thought about the part about it being a riddle.

He hated riddles. He was supposed to be a genius but he had always failed at riddles whilst attending Stanford Univerrsity. They just never seemed to make any real sense to him:

'Be guided by one eyed jack in your quest.

He will lead you down the path of no return.

You will come across the bent old man with leathery skin.

He holds what you seek in the palm of his hand.'

Lucas listened intently to the words. At the end of the paragraph he just shook his head.

It sounded like something O'Neill would say. He couldn't make head nor tail of it.

He slumped in posture a little when he thought that his only life line in this whole messy affairs was a bunch of words that didn't make sense at all.

"The game starts as soon as you are ready, Lucas," Sanderson said. He walked over to the teenager and unlocked the handcuffs from around the teenager's wrist.

"You are free to go whenever you like," Sanderson said. "I will give you about a twenty minute head start."

"Oh Gee, your too generous," Lucas said snidely.

"I try to do my best," Sanderson said in reply.

"What about my shoes?" Lucas said looking down at his bare feet.

"Only what your clad in, I believe was the rules," Sanderson repeated. He placed a small black radio looking device on the bed beside the boy.

"It's already tuned into the only frequency available," Sanderson said, "You'll only be wasting time if you try and fiddle with it."

Lucas's hopes of fooling around with the radio like he had done on the raft with Kristin, Ben and Commander Ford during that hurricane were quickly dashed.

Better get a move on Wolenczak, if you want to live, Lucas told himself. He stood up and took small steps towards the doorway. He knew that Sanderson would be counting to twenty minutes exactly.

The game was about to begin...

---

Back on board the SeaQuest, Captain Bridger and a number of his senior crew were pacing the Bridge trying to come up with a rescue plan.

First things first, they had to find where the Stinger was. Once they found the mini-sub, they would be halfway to finding their lost young friend.

Bridger was so out of his mind with worry for his teenage son that it took all of his concentration skills just to keep focused on the task ahead. He could barely bring himself to think about Lucas in the hands of Sanderson again. The man had caused him unspeakable pain on the last occasion.

Ben Krieg also let the fear for his friend show evidently on his face. He swore that when they got Lucas back this time, he was never setting foot off the SeaQuest alone again. If they got him back.

Tim O'Neill suddenly thought of an idea used in the past to help find the crippled Stinger.

"Captain," O'Neill shouted in triumph. "What if we did a Max Scully to find the Stinger?"

At first Bridger just stared at the Lieutenant not fulling grasping what he meant by Max Scully.

Commander Ford had understood O'Neill's excitement and now explained it to everyone on the Bridge.

"That's a great idea Tim. We can analyse the nearby seawater and see if we can detect any trace elements from the fuel of the Stinger in the water."

Bridger's and Ben's eyes lit up with a little bit of hope. It was a good idea. When they had been looking for Max Scully that time, they were looking for a Russian submarine that ran on diesel fuel.

By using the sensitive equipment aboard, they were able to detect minute particles of kerosene in the water, indicating the presence and location of the missing sub.

Ortiz hadn't added any words to the conversation, he was too busy punching the various buttons on his control panel. He was already trying to see if the idea was feasible. On the first two sweeps of the water, his and everybody's hopes were dashed slightly as he shook his head showing a negative answer to his tests.

The Stinger was nowhere to be seen on the radar. They had lost sight of it on the screen shortly after it started to spin out of control and they could hear Lucas's desperate screams.

He tried another attempt. And when he got the results back, reran them through the system just to make sure.

"Captain, I'm getting something here," he said excitedly.

Bridger and the others crowded around the young Cuban man waiting him to confirm he had found something.

Bridger was whispering silent prayers up above that they had indeed had something to go on.

"Come Mr Ortiz, don't let us or Lucas down," Bridger said softly. He knew that he was putting unnecessary pressure on the man, but he was hanging on with hope by sheer threads at this point in time.

"I'm getting 0.2 parts per million, Sir," Ortiz said. "The sample is low, but it is consistent. The concentration is at is highest along a shallow sand bar off an unchartered island."

"Captain, let me use my probe," Katie Hitchcock asked. "We will be able to scan shallower waters better using my Hyper Reality Probe".

Without waiting for the approval to use her invention, Katie started to put on the strange looking gloves and secure the red coloured glasses over her eyes. The Hyper Reality Probe was just one of the many hundreds of changes that had been included in the final fitting of the SeaQuest. It was never in the original plans that Bridger designed. But it had proven it's worth many times over in the past.

"Okay, baby, show me where to look," Katie whispered to herself as she started to search the shallow waters Ortiz spoke of.

The images were a little out of focus, but they appeared in three-dimensional form. It would make spotting the wreckage of something small like the Stinger easier.

Wreckage. Katie felt herself force a lump down her throat as he thought they were looking for pieces. She could only hope that they found the Stinger mostly intact. That would be the only way Lucas could survive any sort of crash.

Katie keep her eyes on the images in front of her for a time. Then let out a small gasp as she saw something on the beach. She went back over the area carefully, making sure of what she had seen.

"Captain, I think I've got something," Katie said with a little dread in her voice. She didn't know if she could describe the grim details she was seeing through the probe's eyes.

The Captain walked over to stand behind Katie's console and watched the picture Katie provided. He also gasped, but a little louder at what he could see on the beach. They could make out the outline of a crumpled mini-sub on the sandy shore. The was a huge hole in the Perspex windscreen with horrible diagonal cracks that ran the length of the glass.

The tail section of the craft had been almost completely torn off by the crash. It lay at a twisted angle still barely attached to the cockpit. The was no mistaking the shape and marking of the craft on the beach. It was the Stinger, or was the Stinger.

"Commander Ford, I want co-ordinates of where that island is immediately. I want a hand picked team ready to go in 10 minutes. Make sure they have all the correct equipment for a beach assault operation. Set all weapons to stun only," Bridger demanded.

He made sure that he had everything he needed, including a small handgun which he tucked into his boot and then covered with the trouser leg of his pants. He was going to be prepared to anything.

---

Approximately twenty minutes later, rather than the requested 10, the hand picked team from Commander Ford waited to receive their final instructions and embark on the shuttle and head to the mysterious island to rescue Lucas.

The hand picked team included, Commander Ford, Miguel Ortiz, Ben Krieg and Kristin Westphalen. Tim O'Neill asked to be included, but was told that he could play a much more important role back on the SeaQuest by manning the radio. Kristin had been selected for her doctoring capabilities.

Five people were now on their way in the shuttle, ready for anything. All had various thoughts running through their heads on the journey to the island. The team was kept small for the time being.

If Lucas really was in grave danger, then they would need to sneak onto the island undetected. The rest of the SeaQuest crew would remain out to sea, but within range should they be given the signal to help out.

"Make sure your weapon's are set for stun only," Bridger repeated. If that madman really has Lucas, there's no knowing what condition he is in or where he is being kept. I don't want Lucas getting caught up in any cross-fire."

"And remember, that the primary objective at this stage is finding Lucas. I want more than any of you to kill that bastard if he has hurt Lucas in any way, but we need to get Lucas to safety first," Bridger said.

Bridger could see Ben clenching his fists trying to keep himself calm. He felt sympathy for the young Lieutenant. He knew how Ben felt towards Lucas, he knew he wanted nothing more than to kill Sanderson very slowly and painfully, but they had to worry about Lucas first.

Ben would just have to keep a cool head for the time being. Commander Ford's on-land military expertise would be heavily relied upon for this exercise. They had clues as to the terrain on that island. They had no idea where Lucas was being kept. They would need to be stealth like in their actions.

They reached the island safely and all got out of the shuttle and walked onto the beach. They could see the Stinger's wreckage up a little bit further and almost ran to it to see if it had any clues. When they got there, the ruined sub was more devastating in real life than it appeared on the Hyper Realty Probe.

They could see the jaggered tear in the tail section that had caused the Stinger to careen out of control with no navigation or manoeuvrability Bridger ran his hand over the large hole in the windscreen and noted with fear that there was small spots of dried blood on the shattered edges.

Commander Ford look towards to trees in front of them and noted a shadowy figure standing beside one of the huge trees. The man had apparently not heard the rescue teams arrival onto the beach. He had his back turned and looked as though he was talking through a small hand-held radio.

Jonathan now moved silently up behind the man and grabbed him before he could get away. At first the man's size had been dwarfed from the view from a distance. Now he was closer, he could see that the man was a great deal bigger then himself. He thought he might have bitten off too much on his own, but then saw that the rest of the team were now standing with him, ready to back him up.

"That's the same guy that kidnapped Lucas last time," Ben Krieg blurted out. The man simply scowled at having been caught so easily. He was about to try and make a run for it and warn his employer when he heard Captain Bridger speak.

"Not so fast, my friend," Bridger hissed. "Where is he?"

The man grinned slightly and replied, "Where's who?"

He knew who the man was talking about, but wasn't about to give any details away. Before he could say anything more, he felt a hard fist smash into his guts, taking his breath away. Bridger now grabbed a handful of hair and used it to yank his head back.

"I said, where is he?" Bridger repeated a second time. He was not about to ask a third time.

"By the time you get to him, it will be too late anyway," the man said and started laughing in Bridger's face.

Ben Krieg had had enough of this conversation that wasn't going anywhere. He was getting ticked off at this man's attitude. He had seen this man treat Lucas like a rag doll on more than one occasion. He walked up to the man and without asking permission, gave the man a small burst of energy from his weapon.

The weapon was set to stun as he was instructed and the man gave a startled cry and then sank to the ground without another word.

"Krieg," Ortiz yelled at his friend. He couldn't believe that Ben had just knocked out the only person who could have given them information to Lucas's whereabouts. He was ready to give Ben what for. He too was full of frustrated emotions at the moment.

"It's okay, Miguel," Bridger said to everyone's surprise including Ben's.

Krieg hadn't really been thinking about what he'd done until the man fell unconscious on the ground. Now looking down, he realised that he was in big trouble. He wanted to find out like the other about where Lucas was being held captive, but when the man had started laughing at them, he just lost it.

"I don't think this man was going to be very co-operative anyway," Bridger stated. He gave a wane smile to the Lieutenant to signal that he didn't hold an grudge against him for his actions.

Kristin had been silent all through these events. She had barely spoken a word since boarding the shuttle. This was very unlike the doctor. She was known for her volatile personality, but she was just too worried about Lucas at the moment. She bent down and picked up the small radio that the man had been speaking into. She saw that it was set to a particular frequency.

"Campbell, are you there?" came the crackled voice over the walkie talkie.

Everybody held their breath as they recognized that the speaker was Sanderson. He was trying to communicate with his assistant. Bridger and the other's didn't know about Lucas being free at the moment. If Sanderson knew that somebody else was on the island trying to rescue the teenager, Lucas might be put further at risk.

Ortiz now grabbed the radio from Kristin's hand and pressed the speak button on the radio ready to communicate with Sanderson.

"Yeah, Boss," Ortiz said in a strange sounding accent. He was trying to sound like a tough hood, but was failing miserably.

"You make sure you keep an eye on that beach front," Sanderson said. "I want to know the minute anything looks suspicious. Our little friend is on his way now," he continued. "And Campbell...?"

"Yeah, Boss?" Ortiz answered.

"Get something for that dreadful cold you have, out," Sanderson said.

The rescue team let out the breath they had been holding in. From the conversation that had taken place, it could be assumed that Sanderson had been fooled adequately for the time being.

"What do you think Sanderson meant, Captain?" Ford now asked cagily

"I don't know Commander," Bridger said honestly "It sounds like Lucas has escaped somehow. But that means he is on this island all alone. Sanderson won't leave it like that for long. He will be out looking for Lucas. We have to find him first."

---

On the other side of the island, Lucas was just making his way outside. He got to the door and said to himself before he exited Could be worse you know!.

He opened the door and stepped out to find that the sky looked ominously like rain. Could be worse he repeated. He drew the thin material of his Marlin's shirt closer around him at the coolness of the air. He hated the rain. By looking at the dark sky above it looked as though he would be soaked in no time.

He looked in either direction, trying to decide which way to go. He looked to his left and saw that way probably led back towards the beach. The right hand path led towards the dense canopy and undergrowth of the island's interior.

When he weighed it all up, Sanderson would soon be tailing him. If he had the choice of being seen out on the sand in the open, or amongst the dense forest where the trees might offer some sort of protection from Sanderson's sight, he took the latter route.

Just as he hit the tree line, the rain started to fall in large drops from overhead.

He grasped his walkie talkie and was about to tuck it into the waist band of his jeans when he heard Sanderson speak.

Bridger and the others were making their way from the beach and also had the walkie talkie with them. They all listened to the message from Sanderson to Lucas.

'Come out ... Come out whenever you are. Ready or not here I come!'

Lucas and Bridger both picked up their pace at these words, but little did they know that they were headed in opposite directions to each other.

For the next two and three quarter hours, Lucas trudged through the dense trees aimlessly trying to solve the riddle Sanderson had given him.

By now his clothing was completely soaked. The rain had stopped about twenty minutes ago but there were numerous puddles of water on the ground as Lucas walked through the undergrowth.

The branches of the trees were wet, the leaves constantly dripped fat droplets of rain. He was genuinely miserable. His head ached and his still felt as though he could feel the poison from Sanderson coursing it's way through his weakened system.

Lucas found that he was tiring very easily due to the cold air and the worry he carried about the poison in his body. There had been several occasions when he had fallen over due to the muddy ground.

His jeans were now caked with mud and feeling stiffer and stiffer with every waking minute. His hair was completely saturated and hung over his eyes so that every now and then, a droplet of water would fall onto the bridge of his nose.

If he wasn't so scared about being Sanderson's play toy, he would be totally ticked off. He rarely showed his temper, but felt like he could throw a good tantrum with the best of them right at this minute. He was getting nowhere fast and the time was ticking down to solve the riddle and find the antidote.

The walkie talkie in his waist band was set up similar to the radio in the Stinger. He could hear Sanderson's voice.

Bridger and the others could also hear Sanderson. Lucas could talk and communicate with Sanderson. But Bridger and the crew could not communicate with Lucas.

With every step Lucas took, Bridger and the other's could hear his unhappy mutterings and swearing.

"God Damn it!" he said loudly to no-one.

"This riddle makes about as much sense as Krieg's theory of supply and demand."

Bridger had to smile a little at the words coming from the less than happy teenager.

Ben had a look of mock disgust at Lucas's comment. Kristin's thoughts were along the lines of having to have a discussion with Lucas about his swearing. She had rarely heard him utter a unkind word to anyone, but he was certainly making it up now.

'ONE EYED JACK" Lucas asked himself. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Kristin furrowed her eyebrows again at the foul language, but she was trying to work out the phrase.

---

Lucas had been walking through the bushes and plants trying to work out this problem. When he felt so angry he could explode he took a swipe at a small bush that was planted beside a large tree.

The teenager wanted to take his frustrations out of something. If he had have been in the right frame of mind, he would have recognized that bush instantly. It wasn't until he took a few more steps past that the plant took its revenge out on the unsuspecting teenager.

All of a sudden Bridger and the others, including Sanderson could hear Lucas yelling out in pain. He was grabbing at his left forearm and trying to quell the stinging sensation.

The pain was intense and relentless. Lucas had brushed up against a stinging nettle plant. Lucas took his hand away and saw that angry red welts were now forming on his forearm from the elbow to the wrist. The stinging didn't subside. Lucas was biting at his lip trying not to yell.

He looked about and noticed that there was a small stream on the other side of the trees. He immediately ran towards the stream while it still stung. It was as if he had been stung by a hundred swamping bees all at once. He threw himself down on the small embankment and submerged his stinging and burning arm into the water.

Initially, the water made no difference, but thankfully and much to Lucas's relief the water was freezing cold and started to douse the fire that ran through his arm. He went to put a small amount of water in his mouth for a drink, but spat it out before he could swallow it. It was salt water. The stream was too close to the beach to hold fresh water.

Bridger and the others had heard Lucas's gasps of pain. They didn't know what had happened, but it was obvious that something had caused Lucas harm.

Lucas took his arm out of the water once the stinging subsided. The arm looked very red. The angry raised welts had become bigger and now covered his forearm in a hive looking rash.

The walkie talkie's began crackling into life again. Sanderson was some distance away from his intended target, but upon hearing Lucas's screams of pain, guessed at what had happened.

"I suspect that you've come into contact with some of the more vicious forms of plant life on this island, Lucas," Sanderson said with malice.

"There are bushes on this island called Stinging Nettles. If you don't touch them, they are harmless. However, if you come into contact with them or brush up against the leaves, they cause a great deal of discomfort. Don't worry, the stinging only lasts for a few minutes, but it can be very painful."

"Go to hell, Sanderson!" Lucas yelled back into his walkie talkie. He was tired, aching and in no mood for comments from this man.

"You're wasting precious time, Lucas," Sanderson reminded the teenager.

"By now, that poison has been working through your body for a number of hours. It will only be a short time now before you start to feel it's effects. You'd better hurry up and solve that riddle if you want to live."

Ben Krieg was about to yell through the walkie talkie that Commander Ford had possession of. He had forgotten that he couldn't talk to his friend. He had heard Sanderson say something about poison and immediately felt very nervous for Lucas.

Kristin and Bridger had paled slightly at hearing Sanderson mention the word poison.

Bridger thought back over the conversation briefly and noted the description Sanderson gave of the surrounding flora. If Lucas had bushed up against any sort of bushes, then he and the rescue team were heading in the wrong direction. He quickly halted from their current path and voiced his opinion to the rest of the crew.

All agreed that Bridger was probably right and very perceptive. There not many bushes or trees to speak of in the direction they were heading. They turned around and started heading north. Valuable time had been lost now. They had to pick up their pace if they were to get to Lucas and help him in time.

---

After a further two hours of walking around without success, Lucas tiredness had reached dangerous levels. He was barely able to stay erect on his feet. His mental attitude to the whole situation had taken a battering also. His thoughts sank deeper and deeper into depression. He soon found himself talking to himself as he walked, not realising that anybody else was privy to his conversation.

"Face it Wolenczak, your licked," all heard Lucas say.

"Your pathetic efforts to try and match Sanderson are useless. He's got you right where he wants you. Just like the last time. You couldn't help to save Alison and it doesn't look like you can help yourself now either. You should just give up and let him kill you and get it over with. You can't even solve a simple little riddle to save yourself. You're pathetic."

Bridger and the others heard Lucas's harsh self retribution and momentarily stopped their trek through the island's foliage.

The Captain knew that if Lucas gave up on himself now then Sanderson would win without much of a fight.

Lucas had moved away from the little stream, still holding his arm closing to himself. He now leaned up against a large tree trying to catch his breath. He found himself coughing slightly from the cold air. His chest felt restricted and tight. He was bone weary. He didn't know if he could take another step at the moment without falling flat on his face.

The teenager was trying to assess his injuries and aches and pains. His feet were bruised and sore from the walking without shoes. The headache had gotten slightly worse. The stinging from his forearm had disappeared but much to his displeasure had been replaced by a God awful itchiness.

Lucas had scratched and scratched at the red welts, making some of them bleed. The stinging had been painful, but anything had to be better than this itch. It was driving him to distraction.

Lucas had been too caught up in looking over himself to notice somebody standing about 50 metres in front of him.

The figure moved behind a tree to disguise his presence. He smiled to himself as he watched the teenager leaning heavily against the tree. He could see the boy nursing a bleeding arm and looking ready to collapse.

Sanderson put his backpack down on the ground and opened it. He pulled out OLD SHIELA and the small wooden box to match it. He pulled out a long slim arrow shaft and then selected one of the screw on tips. When he finished putting his weapon together, he put the walkie talkie to his mouth and pressed the button to speak.

"LUCAS!" Sanderson said in a calm voice.

Lucas just about jumped out of his skin. He had forgotten about the walkie talkie briefly, but now the sound of Sanderson's voice made his skin come up in goose flesh from the fright,

Bridger and the others had been making their way through the trees. They did not know how far they had come or how far they had to go, but they knew that they had to keep going to help Lucas. They heard Sanderson's voice over the radio again talking to the teenager.

"Lucas," Sanderson repeated, "Look straight ahead of you."

Lucas didn't want to do Sanderson's bidding, but found his gaze wandering around the trees. He let out a gasp of fright as he spotted Sanderson standing not more than 50 metres in front of him.

To his horror he could also see the cross-bow and gleam from the tip of the arrow that he had seen earlier.

The Captain heard Lucas's cry of fright and wondered what was going on. He guessed that Lucas must have seen Sanderson to be making a strangled cry like he had. He pressed his finger on the button of the walkie talkie he held and tried to speak to the madman.

"You leave him alone, you sick son of a bitch!" Bridger roared. "If you so much as harm a hair on his head, you'll be sorry".

This was the first time that Sanderson had heard somebody else on the radio frequency. He noted the words spoken and realised who was talking. Lucas also looked down at his walkie talkie and recognized the voice that spoke. He sagged with relief that Bridger was somewhere nearby.

"Captain, help me please!" Lucas yelled through the radio. "Please, he's going to kill me. Help me please."

The teenager's was close to losing control of his emotions. The hoarse sound of his voice was replaced with a coughing fit. He had to steady himself against the tree for support.

Bridger had talked back to Lucas through the walkie talkie, but the teenager couldn't receive his messages on his set.

Sanderson had heard the Captain's words of comfort and worry, "Oh, doesn't that just sound sweet. The Captain is missing his little lost boy."

"Sorry to disappoint youCaptain Bridger, but your little lost boy is going to be very dead soon."

Lucas had heard Sanderson's reply and now yelled angrily back at his tormentor, "Sanderson, you are scum, do you hear me, scum. You won't get away with this."

"Captain Bridger and the rest of my family are here to rescue me," he continued. He didn't really know if Bridger was alone or with some of the crew, but he decided to take a punt and assume that there were other's there to rescue him as well.

"The Mighty Captain Bridger and his friends will be too late, Lucas," Sanderson yelled back. His voice was full of hatred towards the teenager. He suddenly noted the boy leaning up against the tree and smiled devilishly.

---

"Gee, looking at how you are standing against that tree, Lucas," Sanderson said.

"You look just like William Tell. You know, the kid who's father shot the apple off his head with an arrow. I've got the arrow, but I'm afraid we will have to do without the apple. I am sure that the arrow will pierce your body just as easily as an apple."

Kristin now yelled loudly in unison with the others as they heard Sanderson threat to shoot Lucas with an arrow of some sort.

Lucas tired mind couldn't really remember who William Tell was for the moment, but he guessed at Sanderson's meaning. He could see the cross-bow in the madman's hand. He knew that he was in danger. He wanted to run but would only make for a moving target if he did.

"You know, Sanderson," Lucas started, "You are nothing but a coward. Oh sure, you act tough, but underneath, you are just yellow. Otherwise you wouldn't be here threatening somebody like me."

He knew how the words sounded as they fell out of his mouth. He didn't care. If he was going to die, he wanted to make sure Sanderson knew exactly how he felt.

"Brave words, young man," Sanderson remarked, "Let's see how brave you are with this through you."

He took aim at the vulnerable teenager. He didn't want to kill him, not just yet. The game had only just begun. He shifted his aim slightly and let go of the trigger on the bow.

Lucas found his body smashed back against the tree with terrific force. He knew that the arrow had hit him. Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever you decided was better, the arrow had struck him in the left shoulder. It entered just below his collar bone and the arrow head now protruded out the other side through the fleshy part of his shoulder.

Blood was oozing slowly out from the wound. The fact that the arrow was still embedded in his body, prevented the blood flow from being any faster. Lucas was trying to get air into his lungs. The pain was almost unbearable.

The barbs on the sides of the arrow head had sliced through the tissue on it's way through. Lucas screamed and screamed. The pain was so intense and totally overwhelming. His body lost it's ability up stay upright and he now fell on his rump underneath the tree.

Bridger felt like it was him that had been stabbed. He could hear the screams from Lucas. He knew that Sanderson had fired a projectile at the teenager and found it's mark.

The Captain's face was now a scarlet red. He felt more anger at this man Sanderson than he had ever felt towards one man in his entire life. Even the anger he felt at Marilyn Stark did not compare to the hot blooded fury he felt now.

Bridger looked at the rest of his crew. He saw the exact same emotion played out on all of their faces. They all started walking again through the trees. None of them knew what would happen once they got a hold of Sanderson. It wasn't going to be a warm get together.

They were out for blood.

Blood that Sanderson had spilled from their young friend. Even the military born and bred Commander Jonathan Ford had a look of absolute teeth ripping anger. How could someone do something so cruel to Lucas?

Sanderson wanted to keep the challenge going for a little while yet. He could see the teenager slumped against the large tree.

The boy's eyes were closed and his face drawn with lines of pain and fatigue. How much more could Lucas take. It would be interesting to find out.

He quietly slipped away from his vantage point into the dense undergrowth. He would reappear again at the appropriate time.

"Remember the riddle, Lucas," Sanderson said as he faded into the darkness.

"Yeah right," Lucas told himself. He was barely able to keep a comprehendible thought in his mind at the moment due to the waves of pain that washed over his battered body. There wasn't a part of him that didn't ache or hurt in some form. The arrow wound was the most serious. Lucas knew if he didn't act quickly then the wound might become infected and swollen.

He tried to force himself into a standing position, but quickly fell back on his haunches. His muscles just wouldn't work properly. With a grimace he started crawling inch by inch on his hands and knees to the small stream he knew was only a few metres away.

Only a few metres to anyone else, but to Lucas who was injured, sick, tired and just totally fed up with his situation, it felt as though he was taking on the climb to Mount Everest. At the moment, he didn't know which challenge he would have relished the most. Trying to climb Mount Everest at least sounded safer.

---

After about thirty minutes of crawling through the leaves, the twigs and muddy soil, Lucas found himself on the bank from earlier. He had to put all of his efforts into getting enough air into his lungs at the moment. The pain was robbing him of any strength he managed to sustain. He was running on pure adrenaline.

He looked at the shaft of the arrow embedded into his shoulder. He tried to twist his head around as far as he could to get a look at the head protruding through his back. Something stirred in his memory, and he was suddenly reliving the scene from inside Sanderson's hideout.

He remembered that the tips of the arrow's were screwed onto the shaft. If he could turn the head the other way, maybe the head would come off and he would be able to pull the shaft out this side.

He didn't have any medical supplies, or anything else to assist his doctoring of himself. He tore a small piece of fabric from his favourite Marlin's shirt and dried the sweat and blood from his hands. He needed to grip the arrow head securely in order to make it turn in the opposite direction to the shaft. He placed one hand on the shaft to steady it. He used his left hand to reach over and turn the head.

On the first attempt, he almost gave into the pain that emanated through him. He was sure for a moment that he might be sick. He tried again, slower but firmer and although he gnashed his teeth together. He gave a small cry of relief at the slight turn the head made against the shaft. He tried again, the blood making everything stick together and make it more difficult. His faced was a picture of utter misery. His eyes were squeezed shut ever so tightly and his teeth were gnashing together like the jaws of a steel trap.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lucas felt the arrow head come away from the shaft. The first part, and easiest task was complete. Now came the gut wrenching part, pulling out the shaft from his shoulder.

He gave himself a few minutes to recover from the pain. His veins felt like they had fire travelling through them inside of blood. The shaft had pulled on the severed tissue of his shoulder and pressed against the bone slightly. Lucas's skin colour had turned from slightly pale and wane to being gray and ashen.

He knew that the next part was going to be tough. He grimaced and thought that it was better to be quick then too let it linger on any longer. He grabbed a small twig about an inch in diameter and placed it firmly between his teeth. He knew that the pain he was about to feel was like nothing he had even experience before.

The twig in his mouth would prevent him from biting down on his tongue during the torturous task.

He gripped the long shaft with both hands in front of him. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything else but the arrow coming out. He position himself so that he was sitting up with his legs crossed beneath him.

He counted 1... 2...3 and then pulled. Tears of pain streamed down his face and he let out the most pitiful moan he had ever uttered. Nothing could have prepared him for the pain he felt.

Even feeling his leg opened up by Sanderson with a knife couldn't compare. He felt every nerve ending and every muscle fibre as he pulled the razor sharp barbs back through his flesh. He felt as though his shoulder was on fire. He barely had any strength left.

The adrenaline rush he had been using was now dried up entirely. His shoulders slumped and he felt defeated. He gave one more determined pull on the shaft and felt it loosen it's hold on his shoulder. He looked down at the arrow shaft that he held and the noticed the blood covering his hands. It was everywhere. When he looked down at the horrible looking slash in his shoulder he could see more blood.

He threw the shaft away as far as he could, but it landed only a few feet away. He tore another clean piece of material from his filthy shirt and soaked it in the icy cold water of the stream.

He had taken the piece of twig from his mouth and tossed it aside too. The twig had dried out his mouth considerably. He dunked the fabric in the water and then squeezed some of the water into his mouth. The water was good. It eased his red raw throat and quelled the cough that had been caught in his throat.

Again he dipped the rag in the cold stream and then wrung the excess water from the cloth. He then proceeded to press it firmly against the wound. This time there was no twig to prevent his howls of pain. He let out a mournful cry of anguish like no other. The scream echoed through the trees and startled a few bird from their nests.

Lucas had no more to give. His body could not go any further. He felt the world before him tilt on an impossible angle and he lost whatever slim grasp he had on consciousness. He fell back against the muddy and sodden bank and lay still while the breeze ruffled his sodden baggy clothes and dried his wet blond hair.

He didn't realise that his screams had been heard by others.

---

Sanderson had heard the scream and knew it came from Lucas. He smiled slightly thinking that the teenager had probably be screaming his last cry before death.

He was a little regretful that it had ended so soon. He was looking forward to battling his own wits against somebody called a genius.

He had walked some distance away from Lucas by this time. He decided that he needed to see that the boy was indeed dead. Sort of some symbolic gesture on his part. He would look at the kid's unseeing eyes and know that he had won, maybe not fairly or gallantly, but won none the less.

Bridger and the rescue crew had also been fairly close to the teenager when he pulled the shaft from his battered body.

Bridger had never heard somebody scream like that before. It sounded like a wounded animal in it's last throws of agony. He dreaded to think that it might have been Lucas that made that sought of noise.

He leant on Lieutenant Ben Krieg briefly as the blood drained from his face and threatened to engulf him in blackness. Little did he know that Ben and Kristin were also on the verge of collapse themselves after hearing screams of pain.

Ben closed his eyes and clenched his fists in rage until they were white, "He has hurt Lucas," he said with venom in his voice.

"I will personally carve my initials into Sanderson's sorry behind."

Kristin tried to put a restraining arm around Ben, but was fighting her own emotions at the thought of Lucas being in great amounts of pain. She had dealt with some cold and calculating people in her life time.

People such as Reuben Zeller. But she doubted that even Zeller would resort to such cold and callous treatment of a vulnerable and innocent teenage boy like Lucas. But he admonished herself, knowing that Zeller was responsible for mass murder, including her brother. At the moment she had to keep focused on helping Lucas, someone else she loved dearly.

The Captain was on the verge of losing self control. It took all of Commander Ford's persuasion to get him to keep walking and keep focused on finding the missing teenager, no matter what condition he may be in.

Bridger felt numb all over. It was though he was losing Robert all over again. He felt his heart turn black from the notion that Lucas, the person who had brought so much joy into his life, might be dead.

"No, I won't believe it," he admonished himself.

"Come on everybody, we've got to find Lucas."

Everyone looked stunned at the Captain at first, but then took his words seriously and wiped away any of their own black thoughts and started to follow him further into the trees. Lucas was still alive, he just had to be.

---

The hoot of a barn owl made the unconscious youth stir from his restless slumber. He had lost lack of time and space but looked at the darkened sky and knew that his time was almost up.

If the arrow wound didn't kill him from infection, the poison must have worked it way through his system enough by now.

The teenager tried to sit up, but was lacking the energy. He rested a moment and just lay back watching the night sky with glazed eyes. He looked at the full face of the moon. He could see it's pearly white appearance against the black veil of night.

He could even see the large craters that dotted it's outer crust. Three big ones and a few tiny ones. The three of them almost made up a weird looking face.

It was only then, while in enormous pain and breathing shallowly that his brain triggered the words of the riddle in his head one eyed Jack.

Why hadn't he seen the answer before? It was so obvious it was silly. One eyed Jack was the moon.

With his body protesting strongly and aching from every orifice, he made it into the sitting position. The remainder of the words from the riddle now came into his head. The Old Leathery Man.

What looks like a leathery old man? He asked himself and looked around at the shadowy forest.

When Lucas was asked later, he would remember very little about his sense of rationality that had come from being immersed in so much hurt and misery. It seemed that his thoughts were more clearer the more his body hurt. The pain had opened up his sub-conscious mind to enable it to exist on another level.

It was difficult to see due to the darkening sky, but as Lucas looked back in the same direction he had come from he noticed something peculiar about the tree- line. He rubbed at his eyes and made himself blink a number of times before looking again.

He was looking at the giant old beech tree that was only about 10 metres away. Whilst it seemed to tower above some of the smaller saplings, it's trunk looked like kind of twisted. It had knots all over its surface and had curves and bends within it's structure that made it look like a very old man.

Lucas found himself stumbling and crawling towards the giant beech tree. When he finally reached it, he fell at it's base and tried to get his breath back. His body was trembling from its abuse and his shoulder was hurting like the devil.

One single thought kept Lucas's mind on the riddle. Maybe, just maybe he could solve this riddle and save himself with the antidote. Maybe he would live through this after all. He just had to find the missing piece to the puzzle and Sanderson's riddle.

Palm of his hand.

Lucas looked up and down the tree looking for a clue. The bark of the tree was marked and stained like that of a weathered leather hide. It was rough to the touch and felt slightly abrasive against the palm of Lucas's hand.

Lucas looked up at the top canopy, but didn't see anything that indicated a hand. He was about to give up in frustration again when his eyes looked at the sprawled root system on the ground underneath the tree. He altered his posture a little and took a few shaky steps back to look at them from a bit further away.

He gasped in surprise, when he looked at the twisted roots that came from under the tree and fanned away from it's base, the roots almost looked like outstretched fingers. Fingers looking for something to hold onto.

In the palm of his hand is what you seek!

Lucas forgot his battered and beaten body for a moment. His lost adrenaline rush was replenished suddenly by the thought of having solved the riddle and be within a hair's whisker from finding the antidote.

Lucas started digging around the roots furiously with his hands. He was bending down clawing at the ground and spraying dirt out in all directions. His shoulder was screaming with pain and oozing dark red blood from the open wound, but Lucas drove the pain from his addled brain and concentrated on giving himself a chance to live.

Within a few minutes, he felt something smooth underneath his fingertips.

---

Lucas failed to notice in his flurry that he was no longer alone. Sanderson now watched the teenager dig at the base of the huge beech tree in a driven frenzy.

Maybe this boy was up to the challenge after all. Yes he looked beaten and tired.

Sanderson could see the pain etched in the lines on his face. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy looking. But from the teenager's actions, he had obviously solved the riddle and was looking for the mysterious antidote. Maybe he had underestimated his opponent after all.

"Ah-huh," Lucas yelled in triumph as he pulled the object out from it's dirt covered hiding place. The teenager rubbed away the caked and wet mud. He held it closer to his eyes and could see a darkish blue liquid inside a small hour-glass looking vial.

He had found the antidote. The bottle looked to have a cap on it. All he had to do was remove it and drink the contents and he would combat the poison that had been in his system for almost ten hours now.

He uncapped the bottle and held it out slightly ready to drink the strange looking liquid in one gulp. Just as he was about to put the vial to his cracked lips, the glass vial shattered in his hand and the contents were spilt on the forest floor.

Lucas whirled around and spotted the reason for the vial being broken.

Sanderson. The man was standing only a few feet away and now laughing whole heartedly at the look on the teenager's face. He stopped and wiped the tears of laughter away from his eyes as he saw the boy watching him.

"I really had you going, didn't I, Lucas?" Sanderson said with the grin of a cat.

Lucas just looked at the laughing madman with bewilderment. Sanderson continued his story:

"You really thought I had given you poison and there was an antidote," the man said and set off again in whales of laughter.

Lucas just looked at the man in stunned shock. He had thought there was a poison inside him. Sanderson had told him that he had been given a poison. He had felt his body grow weaker and weaker hour after hour.

But now thinking back, all of the symptoms had probably been the result of fatigue and the bout of flu he was getting from the soaking ran. The aches and pains could all be explained away by some other sort of reason other than the use of poison.

He had been duped. Duped good and proper.

"You should have seen your face, Lucas," Sanderson said with giggles.

"The antidote you gave all your efforts into finding - It's only water. Plain and simple water with a dash of food colouring for effect. Got Ya! . Best gag I have pulled all year!".

Sanderson had been too busy laughing at the teenager to notice a change in the boy's facial expression. It had turned from being bewildered, to shock, surprise, and now it was turning a scarlet colour. Turning bright red from anger.

He was hurting so badly that he just wanted to curl up and die. He had been traipsing through these trees on this God forsaken island because he was told that his very life depended on it. Now he knew the truth, he was livid.

Lucas just stood still for a moment, gathering his feeble strength ready for the payback. He didn't care about the repercussions or the retaliation that might be returned. He had never felt this angry before. His blood boiled and surged in his veins. The increase in blood pressure caused his headache to kick into life again.

With all the strength he could possibly muster, Lucas walked calmly over towards Sanderson. He stood within a few inches of the man and waited for him to notice his presence. When the man looked at him in surprise at his close proximity, he coiled back his fist and let him have it.

Sanderson felt a fist driven into his unprotected face. He put his own hands up to his face in shock at the blow. It had hurt.

The man was about to grab the kid by the scruff of the neck and give him one back when he felt a second and third blow, this time to his chest and stomach areas. At the moment he couldn't do anything against the barrage but defend himself.

He had thought the boy beat. Battered and bruised, too sore or tired to give any sort of assault like his was giving. The blows were a little off target at times, but when they did connect with his body, they hurt.

"This one's for Alison," Sanderson heard Lucas say and then saw nothing but stars and another fist rammed into his face. It had hit him square between the eyes and he now fell in an untidy heap on the ground at Lucas's feet.

Lucas looked down at his tormentor and shuddered in the cool breeze. It was finally over. He had beaten Sanderson.

Now is was all over he could rest. He jerked around in fright at hearing another noise in the trees. He thought his eyes were playing more tricks on him as he spied five figures approach him from the dark shadows. They looked the Captain and his friends from the SeaQuest. But they couldn't be here.

---

Bridger and the others had been drawn to the spot by the sound of voices. They had heard words and then what sounded like punches. They picked up their pace and came across Lucas standing in the middle of the forest with Sanderson unconscious at his feet.

Bridger felt frozen to the spot for the moment at seeing Lucas. The boy was alive. He didn't look too crash hot, but he was alive.

The Captain was about to say something to his teenage son when he saw Lucas's body start to sway.

The last of Lucas's strength had vanished. He couldn't stand on his feet any longer. The wound from the arrow was now raised and swollen and showed the first signs of infection. The wound itself felt hot to touch. Lucas could sense the fever starting to burn within him and started coughing.

The coughing fit left him breathless. He looked at the face of his father and gave a small but genuine smile. The without another word, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell unconscious.

Ben had seen the teenager start to waver and now caught him by the slightest of margins. He lowered Lucas down gently to the ground and now started looking over his body to evaluate the extent of his injuries. He could see the head wound on his head had reopened but the blood was dry now.

He saw what looked to be some sort of strange rash on his forearm. But the wound that worried him most was the jagged hole that buried itself into Lucas's shoulder. The wound looked angry and red and swollen.

Ben put a hand to Lucas's forehead and noted the fever that was present.

Bridger and Kristin were now pushing their way in to get to the injured boy. Bridger and Kristin looked at dismay at Lucas's condition. The boy's eyes were closed and sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cold air.

Bridger stripped off his own warmer coat and now draped it over the shivering body of Lucas.

"We need to get him out of here and to a hospital quickly," Kristin instructed. She could see that Lucas's condition was very serious.

Bridger immediately went about trying to signal somebody from the SeaQuest on the walkie talkie.

Eventually he was able to patch through to Tim O'Neill and instruct a Medi-Vac helicopter to be flown in.

He ordered Commander Ford to make some sort of signal visible from the air as to the whereabouts of the party on the island.

Ben Krieg and Miguel Ortiz were looking down at the bruised face of Sanderson. Whoever had beaten him had done a good job.

"Lucas did all of that?" Miguel asked Krieg with some hint of pride. Not that he didn't believe Sanderson earned it. Looking at Lucas's injuries, Sanderson got off mildly.

"Good for Lucas!" Ben said bitterly.

"That pig deserved everything he got and a whole lot more. I wouldn't mind putting a bullet in him right now just for Lucas."

At bitter as they were, neither of them could bring themselves to complete such a task as cold-blooded murder. Even if is was Sanderson.

They would take him back to UEO headquarters and let him stand trial on charges of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm and assault with a deadly weapon.

The two of them now secured the unconscious man's hands behind him and roughly dragged him over to the rest of them and awaited the helicopter.

---

Bridger got up from the hospital chair and walked stiffly over towards the coffee peculator. He had just spent five hours waiting for somebody to tell him something, anything.

He was worried out of his mind at how Lucas was.

The boy had been flown from the island to the best hospital UEO had to offer. Upon arrival, there had been bright lights and people bustling about giving orders and telling others where to go and what they needed to do to help the unconscious teenager.

Lucas had never regained consciousness after Bridger and his team had found him. They had tried to rouse the youth on a number of occasions without success. But his body was too badly injured to take anymore. His body was trying to cope with the blood loss, exposure to cold and exhaustion.

Kristin had told Bridger that the shoulder wound was repairable.

Bridger wondered what 'repairable' meant. Would he have full use of his arm after it was healed? And what of the emotional scars and trauma after the physical injuries had been taken care off.

Bridger was strong and would be there whenever Lucas needed him. But being in this sterile environment, he felt something had been taken away from him. He didn't know if he possessed the skills needed to help his son get over this crisis. He hoped and prayed that he did.

Kristin had been the tower of strength among them all. She had given the orders in the forest of how Lucas should be moved and how to care for him until the helicopter arrived.

Her actions were concise and accurate. She gave strict instructions to those around her and expected them to be carried out without a word of argument.

Truthfully, if Nathan had asked doctor friend what she was feeling he would have been mistaken. She looked tough and rigid on the outside. But inside, her legs were like jello and she had to fight back the panic that threatened. She had been appalled as all of them at Lucas's mistreatment. There didn't seem to be an inch of Lucas's body that wasn't marred by a bruise or scratch of some kind.

Bridger looked up and saw Kristin walking towards him with another man beside her. The man was wearing a hospital issue gown and a funny looking hat on his head.

"He is going to be alright, Nathan," Kristin said softly.

"It is going to take some time for him to mend. But with lots of rest and the correct medication, he should heal just fine."

Bridger had to go back over her words again in his head before he would believe them.

Ben Krieg had been sitting on a chair in the corner near the Captain when he heard the good news. He leapt out of his chair with a whoop of delight and hugged everybody around him in happiness. He even gave the startled surgeon a bear hug and wet kiss.

Bridger smiled when he saw the other's mans reaction to Kristin's diagnosis. He actually felt like doing the same thing himself.

"Can I go and see him?" Bridger asked nervously.

"Yes, but he is still recovering from the heavy sedation he received in the Operating Room at the moment. He will be very groggy for the next few hours."

"We repaired the damage to his shoulder and stitched up the wound on his scalp, but we want to restrict any movements for the next couple of days or so. His body really does need a lot of rest to heal. He is going to be sore for quite a few months to come."

---

Bridger followed the surgeon and Kristin into a small private room down the corridor. Inside he found a single bed and lots of other medical equipment he couldn't identify. There were monitors beeping and making all sorts of funny noises. There was a tube running from Lucas's nostrils to another machine that was regulating his breathing.

The boy looked so still in the bed. He had a large swath of bandages wrapped around his shoulder and arm. The arm was pinned to his side to prevent any movement that would disturb the newly inserted stitches.

Lucas had another smaller and thinner bandage wrapped around his forearm from wrist to elbow where the welted rash had been. Lucas was laying on top of the covers and could see that the teenager's feet were also lightly bandaged. They too had taken a battering and sported various cuts and bruises on them from his ordeal.

Ben Krieg had come into the room with his Captain and boss. He didn't know what to say. How could you find the words to comfort your best friend that had been beaten and almost killed by a madman?

His own emotions were so mixed up at the sight of Lucas on the bed. He made a promise to himself to be there too if the teenager wanted it that way.

Lucas's eyes started to flutter open at the sound of somebody else in the room. He opened them a crack and saw through blood-shot eyes, his father and best friend standing by his bed. He looked around slightly and noted that Ortiz and Kristin were also into room.

He didn't know who the other man in the room was, but guessed that he was some sort of doctor. God, he hurt everywhere. If somebody were to ask him where it hurt, he wouldn't know where to begin the long list.

"Hi," he said in a whispered voice.

"Did I get him?" he asked and his eyes started to close again from the drugs and pain killers in his body.

"You sure did, kiddo," Bridger said as he grabbed Lucas hand gently to assure him that everything would be okay.

"Course you did Lucas," Ben Krieg said out aloud. He didn't know all the correct comforting words to use, so he injected his normal twisted sense of humour instead into the conversation.

"Miguel here, is offering five to one odds for you to win the next feather weight title at Madison Square Garden," Ben told his friend with a large smile on his face.

Everybody tried to laugh at Krieg's comment, but it was hard when they looked back and eyed the bruises and bandages.

"It is really over Dad?" Lucas asked with hesitation.

"Yes, it's over, Lucas," Bridger said as he put his arms around his slightly trembling son.

"Sanderson won't hurt you again, I promise!"

With that comment and the fact that he was very sleepy, Lucas fell asleep again. This time it was a deep healing sleep.

Yes, it would take time to heal, maybe more than people realized, but it was over and Sanderson couldn't get to him anymore.

---

On the other side of town, Paul Sanderson was being led handcuffed and shackled to his new cell. He had been tried on a string of serious charges for kidnapping, threatening and hurting Lucas.

Lucas hadn't needed to attend court. He was still recovering from his injuries in hospital.

They had used a closed circuit video link up to take documentary evidence of the injuries inflicted. Lucas had been able to pre- record his statement to the court to prevent any unnecessary stress that would be placed upon him if he was forced to take the stand in a criminal trial.

The jury had been appalled as anybody else at the extent of the young man's abuse and torture. They had retired for no longer than 30 minutes and reached a verdict of GUILTY to all counts.

The presiding Judge had sentenced Sanderson to five years jail. He had wanted to make it longer, but technicalities that were highlighted in by Sanderson's defence counsel prevented him from imposing a harsher sentence.

The guard stopped him outside the new cell he would call home for the next few years. He stepped forward into the darkened room as instructed and heard the electronic lock of the cell door kick in. He was trapped in this cage now. He would be looking through these bars now for a while.

"All because of some smart alec teenager," Sanderson swore bitterly as he thought of his fate.

"You too," came a voice from inside his own cell.

Sanderson hadn't noted anybody else in the cell when he stepped inside. He looked around and noted that somebody was standing in the shadows of the bunk beds in the room.

The man stepped forward.

Sanderson recognized him immediately, but knew that the other man didn't recall him. The man offered his hand in friendship and made the formal introductions to his new cellmate:

"Name's Wolenczak... Lawrence Wolenczak. ..."

END OF PART TWO