Thank you for all the splendid reviews people, I am one very happy bunny.

Not beta-ed as my wonderful little beta is away on vacation at the mo. waves to beta.

The Accidental Hero

Chapter 5

Sandy paused outside Seth's room, he had had his hand raised to tap on the slightly open door when he heard his son speaking to someone inside. His voice was muffled and he sounded like he had a cold as he gave a loud sniff.

"Summer, what if they don't find him…what if he's…. dead?"

Sandy shut his eyes as Seth spoke aloud the words that he himself hadn't wanted to voice. Sandy felt the hollow fear echo around his stomach.

"But where is he then Summer…if he's alive where is he, why isn't he here?"

Sandy heard a long pause before Seth continued.

"…. I want to believe that Summer, really I do but I know what the police think. I overheard some cops saying that in cases like this…"

Another pause and another sniff sounded, then a subdued laugh.

"Summer do you really think that...do you think that Ryan is this immortal who will battle his way out of everything like Highlander…. Yeah, I know…Kid Chino…but…."

Sandy rested his head against the door jam. He wished he could believe that it was true. Summer was right, Ryan had spent his life fighting his way out of situations, his life had been one big battlefield and he had always managed to survive but Sandy had the dread that this was Ryan's Pearl Harbour. This was not something that he had prepared for …the enemy was unknown to him…they had advanced on them in a sneak attack and Ryan was now missing in action.

"I'm not being negative Summer…I'm being realistic…. for once in my life I'm trying to face this thing head on and not bury my head in the sand."

Sandy wished he could do the same.

"You don't have to come over, the house is still full of police, it's not a great place to be…if you're sure…and Summer…. thanks."

Sandy heard Seth replace the phone. Sandy knocked and pushed open the door. Seth sat bolt upright on the bed a mixture of apprehension and hope on his face.

"Sorry Seth, still no news."

Sandy watched as Seth sank back down on his bed.

"Summer's coming over. Is that O.K?"

"Yeah…I'll let the police know to let her straight up."

Sandy wanted to say more…he wanted to say something that would help his Seth through this but the words stuck in his throat, he just nodded at his son and retreated, shutting the door softly as he left.

It was now three hours and ten minutes.

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Ryan walked along the beach, he knew what they were doing, they were trying to get as much distance between them and the house…for what purpose he could only guess at but he had a pretty good idea.

"So… you've been inside." Cody questioned.

"Yup."

"What for?"

"Car theft and arson."

"Ha… a big shot then." Pete spat out.

"Never said I was." Ryan answered softly.

Pete was worrying him, he knew that all that was on his mind was payback and Ryan wondered when it was going to happen.

"Where you from slick?" Cody asked.

"Chino."

"Chino…how the fuck did a punk like you end up living such a sweet deal?"

Ryan wondered about that everyday. He ignored Pete's question and continued to walk.

Pete grabbed his shoulder and swung him around.

"Hey, I asked you a question, what you doing there boy…you servicing that fine lady? Is that why you spoilt my fun? …. does she like a bit of rough, that it?"

Ryan was getting pissed off with the whole situation. He didn't like the fact that they were toying with him, making threats, then getting him to walk for miles up a deserted beach with a gun at his back. If they were going to kill him he wished that they'd just do it and get it over with.

Pete's comments about Kirsten had lit the blue touch paper and he went with the flow.

" I guess you'll never know…the woman has taste." Ryan pushed his face up close to Pete's, the gun rested on his abdomen.

"You little…"

"You haven't the balls to shoot me."

"Don't test me."

"What…you said that I was dead…here's a good a place as any…do it 'cause right now I couldn't give a shit one way or another."

Ryan stood back and raised his hands, not in submission but to goad Pete.

Pete lifted the gun. Cody grabbed at Pete's arm and jerked it down.

Ryan looked at Cody; he couldn't read him at the moment.

"You're from Chino right…so you know the rules?"

Ryan kept his face impassive.

"You keep your mouth shut and we let you go."

"What the fuck Cody?"

"Shut it...Pete. Kid, you get to walk if you swear that you forget what we look like and what you've heard tonight."

Ryan wondered where the hell this was coming from.

"Cody…you can't trust him…you let him go and that's the end of this. We've worked too hard putting this together for us to fuck up now!"

Cody stared Ryan down.

"He's going to stay quiet because we know where he lives…and he's going to stay quiet because he can't protect his lady all the time. If he says one word to the police than we'll know about it and we'll finish what we started tonight…starting with the lady, then one by one the rest of the family… we'll make sure of it."

"Aww shit Cody…you going soft. Just kill him."

"Shut it Pete…. I'm warning you, if you hadn't let your dick do your thinking then we wouldn't be in this situation now."

Cody marched up to Ryan.

"So we got a deal Chino?"

Ryan nodded his head. He wasn't sure what had just happened but he still had a feeling that things were not as black and white as they seemed.

"I haven't seen or heard anything." Ryan eventually answered.

Cody gave him a slow smile. He reminded Ryan of kid that had just caught a fly and was just about to rip its wings off. His instincts weren't wrong.

The first blow knocked him off his feet as Cody's fist connected with his jaw.

Cody took great delight in kicking him whilst he was down; he punctuated each boot with a statement.

"That's for fucking things up tonight."

"That's to remind you that if you talk to the police …you know who pays."

He obviously liked the sound of his voice as he found more reasons to kick.

There was no point in trying to fight back…this was part of the deal. Ryan curled himself into a ball, he now protected his stomach but left his kidneys wide open. He bit his lip and waited for Cody to finish taking all his frustrations of the night out on him.

Now this he knew…quick anger burned itself out and although the feeling of kicking someone was satisfying, it never lasted that long, AJ had been the master of this. Ryan had learnt long ago that if he tensed all his muscles than the damage was usually manageable.

Cody stopped and stood panting.

Pete joined in on the fun and got a couple of kicks to the head in but they lacked any real power but were hard enough to give him an immediate headache. Pete knelt down and grabbed Ryan's hair pulling his head up sharply.

"You're not so tough now are you?"

He released his grip and Ryan let his head fall into the sand.

"Come on Pete leave him…lets get out of here. Remember kid, you know nothing."

Ryan unfurled himself and rolled onto his back. He was just assessing the damage to himself when Pete launched himself on one last offensive and kicked him hard in the area in which no man should ever be kicked. Ryan curled into the foetal position in record time and let out a curse then held his breath.

Pete spat in his face and laughed.

"That's for knocking me out and interrupting me on the job."

Ryan heard their laughter continue up the beach.

He took a deep breath and tried to quell the rising feeling of nausea that flipped and flopped around in his stomach. He crawled onto his knees as he lost his fight, bile rushed out of his mouth, the acrid taste burning his nostrils.

He flopped back down when his arms started to tremble and wouldn't hold him up anymore.

What the hell was he going to tell the police, he was the world's worse liar. He shook his head. …Shit, how did he get himself into these situations? He was still confused as to why Cody had decided to let him go. He had been convinced that he was the one to watch out for. Maybe they had been jerking his chain all along and when it came down to it they just didn't have the balls to turn killer but he wasn't going to take that chance when the Cohen's safety was at stake. He'd just have to make sure he got his story right in his head before he spoke to the police.

He lay in the sand and shut his eyes. He would wait for the cramps to stop before he made the long journey back to the Cohen's house.

All in all things could have been a lot worse. O.K so he couldn't actually stand at the moment and it felt like he'd been run over by a truck but he was alive, which is more than he thought he'd be an hour ago.

Tbc

Now I know I'm demanding... and this story will get written with or without reviews 'cause I hate the whole...'I will only write the next chapter if I getX amount of reviews' crap...but people the stats say that this story has had 2508 hits...and 105 reviews?...Hmmmmmm! Damn the stats...they are making me a review whore :0) Seriously, thanks for the great comments, they do make my day.