"He-llo!" Adam sang to himself as he slid down in the car seat.

His experienced eye recognised the pincer attack before it even happened. The four men in the two black Mercedes Benz cars quickly dealt with the police cruisers, leaving their occupants sprawled, dead and bloody over the roadside.

During the gunfight, while their colleagues kept the police busy, two men entered the house from the rear and escorted their stunned prey down the path, shoving them quickly and unceremoniously into the back of a black SUV.

Adam dialled his phone, "Boss!"

"What is it Adam?"

"They've grabbed your nephew and his friend! Just bundled them into a black SUV! I'm in pursuit as we speak!"

"Alive?"

"For now…"

"What about the cops?"

"Dead! All of them!"

"That little shit! What the hell is he playing at! Call me the minute you have a location!"

...

Despite being packed full of crates the cargo ship's hull had a strange echoing quality to it, making it feel as empty as Luke's stomach. Whatever happened he had to maintain a clear head, but to be honest he was terrified.

He wondered how Noah was feeling as they were frog marched together by two burly dark haired men with guns. Not only were THEY in quite a predicament, but they were fearful for Nicholas too. They worried about what Michelle would do to him. It was agony to even allow his brain to go there. He briefly brushed Noah's hand with this own, hoping it would give him some courage and they allowed their eyes to meet for just a second. It was amazing how much they could communicate with just a second's look… it was clear that Noah was just as apprehensive.

He supposed that as terrible as Michelle could be to the child at least she would never kill him. At least he hadn't been in the house when Gianni's men attacked. Luke wouldn't put it past them to hurt or even kill a child if he got in their way.

Hopefully somebody would have reported the gunfire at the house and the police would be on their trail. He just hoped.

He wondered how the hell things had come to this! One minute they had been deliriously happy, even after the whole issue with Oliver, and the next they were target's for one of LA's top crime families. He felt sick. It was all his stupid fault! And now Noah was in danger because of it!

"Finally!" said a stocky man with a rifle who stood waiting for them to show up. "Took you guys long enough!"

"What does Gianni want from us?" Luke blurted out. He had gotten no response from the other two men during the drive over and he was frantic for an explanation.

"Boss hasn't decided what to do with YOU yet!" the man replied, before eyeing Noah up and down, "Him? He's already dead!"

The prickle of quivers that ran up Luke's spine left him iced up with shock, "What?"

But the man ignored him. "Boss wants 'em in 'ere!" he said to their two escorts and Luke and Noah were pushed with some force into a strange cavity between two Grimaldi crates.

Both of them stumbled into the back of the space and fell to their knees; and before either of them could stand up a third crate was closing in on them.

"Wait!" Luke yelled, making for the rapidly decreasing crack of light, "What did you mean by that?"

But darkness descended as the crate slammed closed. It was pitch black and all they could hear was the sound of their own heavy breathing. He stifled surging panic, keeping his mind on track by counting his breaths. "Noah?"

"I'm over here…" His voice was shaky. Luke knew how much he feared absolute darkness.

Luke stretched his arms out and used them to search the air in the general direction of Noah's voice. Was this what life had been like for Noah when he was blind? Everyday like this! For months! Believing he would be that way forever… He ached at the thought of what it must have done to him mentally.

"Luke?"

Noah's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He continued to search until his fingers brushed the buttons on Noah's open shirt and he grabbed the material pulling the man over and into his arms. They shivered into each other. He could feel Noah's heart beating fearfully and his long arms returned Luke's desperate hug.

"I don't think we're going to make it through this, Luke."

Luke's mind raced to find an escape. "Yes! Yes we will! Just like we've made it through everything else!"

"And Nicky? We promised him! We promised him we'd fetch him! If we don't make it what's going to happen to him?" Luke felt the man jerk with a sob. "He'll end up in social care or worse!"

"Noah, the police will find us! We have to believe that!"

"How? How will they know where to look? Even if they knew we were on a ship how would they know which one? They're going to kill us before anybody even knows we're missing!"

"We can't think that! Whatever happens we have to keep calm. There's a way out of this… There just has to be!"

As they held each other in the blackness, Luke tried to remain outwardly strong for Noah's sake, but inside… inside three words repeated themselves over and over,

"He's already dead…"

...

Adam's phone rang just as he was pulling into a dockside parking space. A huge cargo ship was moored just to the side and he was only metres away from the parked SUV. He could see a couple of men halfway up the ship's gangplank.

"You there?" Anton asked as soon as Adam pressed answer on his phone.

"Yes, dockside. They've boarded one of your ships. There were no security checks when we entered. All the gates were up so I'm assuming they paid somebody off."

"Which ship?"

"It's the Maria of Madeira. She's a big one!"

"Yes I know it, she sailed in yesterday. Okay. Keep your eye on them! I'm sending backup your way."

"Yes Sir." He hung up and quickly holstered his weapon before grabbing a pistol he kept in the glove box and slipping into the holder attached to his ankle.

He exited his car and, keeping low, ran up the length of the ship to reach the gangplank, currently guarded by one armed man. He marvelled at how the entire ship and dockyard appeared deserted. He was sure that to achieve this, the Di Alberto's must have bribed the ship's captain, getting him to dismiss all hands for the day, as well as some shipping authority. It was incredible what could be achieved with money. If you were lucky enough to possess it…

The guard didn't notice his approach until Adam was right on top of him. An elbow to the man's face broke his nose, knocking him out, but before he fell to the ground, Adam swiftly grabbed his rifle before twisting the body around and pushed hard, so that is landed with a loud splash into the murky seawater below.

He needed to keep his presence quiet for as long as he could. At least until Anton's men arrived. He waited a few minutes, just in case somebody heard the splash and came to investigate, and then made his silent path up the gangplank. The two suits were hanging around a doorway. Quickly he ducked behind a white painted funnel. Cautiously he peered around the width of the funnel to watch as they disappeared through the doorway he assumed lead down into the bowels of the ship. Making sure the coast was clear he stealthily followed them.

...

It was at times like these that Betty really hated her job. The screams of panic and terror that erupted from the poor child, when he awoke to find himself surrounded by strangers and secured into the seat of an airplane, were enough to make a stone statue cry. He fought and struggled and kicked and bit her until she was black and blue. His little fists balled in anger… no not just anger... fury…

People on the plane began to question her authority over the child, convinced that she must have snatched him from his parents, which deep down she felt she had done. It had become quickly obvious to her that the two men loved the boy dearly and that they were trying to protect him. She had also witnessed the behaviour of enough children in her time to know the boy considered them as fathers. She felt sure that when she finally did arrive in Branson to hand over the boy to his mother, she would find a despicable woman, just as Mr Snyder had described her.

She could never understand those types of people. It was obvious they didn't want the responsibility of their children and yet they would fight tooth and nail to keep them. It was as though they counted their kids as possessions and, since most of them owned very little, were hell bent on holding on to them.

Betty was often left powerless. Sometimes the laws worked and sometimes they didn't. As much as congress and governments tried to force each and every case into a square box, it was impossible! She had learnt quickly over her career that each case was completely different.

So as she drove up to the tattered house in Branson, the boy still crying, though much quieter now, she sighed deeply before opening the car door and struggling up. She peered into the back seat and watched how the wide blue eyes stared straight ahead at the house before him. His tiny hands gripped the child seat in which he sat. This was not the right place for him. She knew it and yet procedure had to be followed.

The front door to the house opened and a skinny woman in a yellow sundress made her way down the wooden porch steps, "Baby?" she yelled, holding her hands up to her chest. "Is it you? Are you really home?"

Way to experienced to immediately buy into the woman's act of motherly concern, Betty leaned into the back seat and unfastened the straps from around the boy's body. He didn't fight her this time. It was clear he was too afraid to move.

As she pulled the boy free from the car, the woman grabbed him from her and hugged him tightly. "Oh thank you so much! Thank you for bringing back my little 'un!"

The tiny body was as tense as a plank of wood. Betty narrowed her eyes. "Mrs Harris, I presume?"

"Yes. That's me."

"I have a few questions for you and I'll need you to sign some papers."

"Of course. I understand. Please come in."

The house was simple, the furniture plain and over used, but it was spotless. It smelt like lemon and pots of daisies adorned the surfaces. A few of the kitchen cabinets were missing their doors, but the contents inside were neatly arranged. They looked well stocked with food supplies. The place was no more then a studio apartment disguised as a house and she could see the bed in the back behind a half closed sliding concertina door.

"Where does the boy sleep?" She enquired.

"Why with me of course. He always has. Since the day he was born."

Betty felt a pain for the two men who loved this little boy. It was going to prove harder then they thought to win custody. This woman was a sly one.

"Shall we sit down Mrs Harris? We have a lot to discuss."

...

It was boiling hot inside the black cavity between those crates. Luke had a roaring headache and was thirsty as hell. Both he and Noah were soaked with sweat, but it didn't stop them from clinging to each other in the gloom as they sat up against the harsh metal of the crate. He was feeling weaker and weaker with every minute that past. He had no idea how long they had been trapped in there but it felt like a lifetime, and he didn't know how much longer they would last. He had a terrible feeling they were running low on oxygen.

Noah hadn't moved for a while, "Noah?"

"Mmm"

"You still with me babe?"

"Yeah? How about you?"

"Oh, you know how much… I love the heat! I moved to LA because of it, didn't I?"

Noah laughed weakly at his side. "I thought… you… you moved to LA because you loved me…"

"That was," he chocked on his dry throat, "that was just an added bonus."

Noah suddenly tensed, "Someone's coming!"

Luke hadn't heard anything but he trusted Noah's senses, fine tuned during months of blindness.

Sure enough the third crate, the fake door to the smuggling cavity in which they lay, creaked open. Light quickly pierced the blackness and they both squinted under the cover of their elbows as their eyes adjusted to it. Before they could recover they were grabbed roughly by their shoulders and yanked back out into the main hull now filled with around eight of Gianni's men including the man himself.

Gianni stood before them with an air of smugness that made his usually puffed up face appear even more so.

"What the hell are you playing at Gianni?" Luke demanded, "I thought we had a deal!"

"You know nothing about the real world do you Snyder? So let me educate you a little. You and your Uncle have made a fool of me in front of my men, in front of my family and worse then that, in front of the streets!"

"That was my uncle! Not me!" insisted Luke.

"Oh, really?" Gianni countered. "So it wasn't you who fired me from Grimaldi Shipping? It wasn't you who hired Julius to play me like some chump! I am not a chump Mr Snyder! I made sure Julius learnt that lesson and now I think you're about to discover that for yourself!"

Luke could feel the dread deep in his bones. Things were not looking good.

"It makes no difference whether you ordered the hit on my father or not! What matters is reputation Mr Snyder! What matters is what other people believe to be the truth! That's the bread and butter of our organisation! So now I need to send your uncle a very strong message and we Di Alberto's just so happen to have a very special way of leaving our calling card!"

Images of Julius, bloody and broken, guts sprawling, flashed through Luke's mind and he struggled to control the tremors as realisation sank in. Was that to be their fate as well? He looked over at Noah and his heart went numb! "Gianni! Whatever your problem is, it's with me! Noah has nothing to do with it!"

"You're absolutely right!" He said it with a nasty level of condescension, as though Luke was doing him a huge favour by pointing it out. With just a nod of his head two of his men had Luke's arms pinned behind his back, while two more where dragging Noah a few metres away.

Luke had never heard of a person dying of worry but that was how he felt. Like the life was suddenly being sucked out of him.

"What?" Was his first response as his brain tried to comprehend what was happening, and then as comprehension dawned he screamed, "NO! NO! Please! STOP!"

From that moment on life was in slow motion.

Gianni's men shoved Noah to his knees. His eyes were wide with terror and he visibly held his breath as a gun was raised to his temple.

"Please!" Luke strained desperately against the hold on his arms. His throat burned from the pitch of his pleas. His heart was exploding. This wasn't happening! This wasn't happening! "What do you want Gianni? I'll give you anything! I'll do anything! Don't do this!" The level of panic in his voice rose with each emerging sentence. The gunman's arm extended and the hammer pulled back.

Luke's stricken eyes locked with Noah's. "I'll give you the company!"

Luke didn't even know where the words had come from. They were formed by some deep seated desperation rooted within him. But those five words… just five words… seemed to act like some kind of key in the strange workings of Gianni Di Alberto because, the instant they left Luke's lips, he held up his hand and the gun's hammer was mercifully re-cocked.

Noah's entire frame rocked up and down as he breathed hard from a potent mixture of fear and relief. The barrel of the gun was still pressed hard to his temple.

"What did you say?" Gianni asked.

"The company…" Luke gasped, "Grimaldi Shipping. I'll sign it over to you! All of it! Just don't hurt him!"

Di Alberto mused on this for a while, frowning. Then a slow smile stretched across his lips. "Hmm. I actually like that idea! I mean I'm sure killing a Grimaldi heir and blowing up a Grimaldi ship would definitely piss Anton off… AND it would send out a very serious message to my enemies, however, to gain ownership of a Grimaldi company?" He burst into fits of evil laughter as the idea took hold.

He clicked his fingers in Luke's general direction and the two men loosened their hold while the gunman by Noah lowered his arm, leaving an angry red circle on Noah's forehead. Luke dropped like a doll to the floor, wide eyed with astonishment.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed, his voice trembling and his body shaking with the shock of the moment. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. His glassy eyes were locked once more with Noah's stunned blue ones, both of them swam in relief that somehow, by some miracle; Luke had played a little game of high-stakes reverse psychology and, almost by accident, come up with the one thing that might just buy the time they needed.

"Put them back!" Gianni demanded, "It's going to take a few hours to get the paperwork drawn up!"

...

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