"Where on Earth is Lauren Ridgemount?"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Alright, so onto the third chapter! The previous installment left with a big secret being revealed to Lo. What's next?
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Stoked' belong to Fresh TV, Inc., Teletoon, and Cartoon Network.
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Chapter Three - So, Am I the Girl? (12.03.10)
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At the New York Botanical Gardens, a group of police officers had handcuffed the three kidnappers and were leading them to their patrol cars to be hauled off to jail. Jack was walking away from another after having given his statement, and he made his way over to Lo, who was sitting on a nearby bench, unhappy about everything that had just transpired.
"I think it's time we get out of here," Jack said as he stopped next to her.
Lo turned to look up and at Jack. She glared at him, making him very uncomfortable.
"I'm not happy with you right now."
Lo got up and started walking towards the gate, heading for the parking lot. Jack followed her, a few steps back, trying to explain his rationale.
"Just because I didn't tell you that I was a spy?"
"Yes! I mean... no! I mean... ALL OF THE ABOVE!"
"All of the above?"
Lo stopped and did a complete about-face, causing Jack himself to stop to avoid walking right into her.
"The thing I hate most about guys," Lo said as she jabbed her right ring finger into Jack's sternum, "is when they keep secrets! I don't like to be kept in the dark about anything when I'm dating!"
"I didn't tell you up front that I was a spy because no one's supposed to know I'm a spy! That's the number one rule about being a spy! Only people who need to know are told!"
"And I, your potential girlfriend, doesn't need to know?"
"I didn't know if I could trust you!"
Lo gritted her teeth angrily.
"That wasn't the right thing to say, was it?" Jack asked rhetorically, realizing his horrible mistake.
"I wanna go home," she suddenly demanded.
With that, Lo spun around on her heel and began walking towards Jack's car once again.
"Drive me back to the airport, and fly me home! Now!"
Jack ran up to Lo, grabbed her by the right wrist, and turned her back to face him, getting a hold of her other wrist as he did so.
"I'm afraid I can't."
"What?"
"You're not safe there."
"And I'm safer here? Yeah, right!"
"Listen to me, Lauren! Your life is in danger!"
"It'll be your life in danger if you don't let go of me in the next five seconds!"
Jack didn't think Lo was capable of killing him with her own bare hands. Not just because he thought she'd never be willing to live with herself if she succeeded, but that she wasn't strong enough to even hurt him that much. Still, Jack knew he couldn't have her completely turn against him.
So, he released her.
Lo pulled her hands back down by her side, then shot a mean look Jack's way. Then, she resumed walking back to the car. Jack sighed, then followed her.
Minutes later, they were back on the road, and Jack kept his eyes on the road as he drove, occasionally shooting brief glances at his passenger. And every time he did so, he saw Lo with her arms crossed over her chest as she stared out the passenger-side window.
Both sat there silently, the only audible noises that were heard either came from the car itself or the other vehicles around them.
Finally, Lo stopped looking out the window and turned her head to look at Jack, intending on breaking the silence.
"So... when were you going to tell me?"
She waited for him to respond. But he didn't, she asked him another question.
"Were you ever going to tell me?"
Again, she waited. And again, he delayed giving a reply. Then, just as she was about to push the issue even further...
"No. I never planned for it."
"You never planned on telling me?"
Jack sighed, then clarified his response.
"Being a secret agent is a dangerous job. Whenever I go out on a mission, I'm putting my life out on the line. And because of that, I have to be careful with whom I associate with. Anyone who knows me can be used against me. I have to be careful of how close people like you get to me. You could be risking your own life just by knowing my name."
"So, let me get this straight... you would've let me get killed before you'd ever tell me that you were a spy?"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
Lo huffed angrily once more.
"Look, I'm sorry for keeping my real job a secret..."
"What else have you lied to me about?" Lo asked. "There's the tossing of my phone, you being a spy. Next you're going to tell me that you were never in love with me and you were just using me!"
Jack went silent again. Lo gasped in dismay.
"You mean..."
"Yes! I mean, no! Well, yes and no..."
"Yes AND no? It can't be both!"
"Well, you see, I was sent up to British Columbia to find and protect you," Jack explained. "Those guys that kidnapped you? Well, I have reason to believe that they work for the deviously sneaky and notorious philanthropist of evil..."
"Captain Ron?"
Jack looked oddly at Lo.
"Captain Ron?"
"Yeah. He and Daddy compete in pretty much everything, including who can run the best beach resort. But... I don't think he'd ever resort to kidnapping."
"I'm not talking about a neighborhood rival from across the inlet, Lauren! I'm talking about a guy so vile and despicable, he once refused to help a little old lady cross the street."
"That doesn't sound so..."
"The little old lady was his own grandma."
"And now he sounds like a jerk."
"His name is Fargo Hope. Very rich, a hotel mogul like your father, but on a grander scale."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Lo interrupted. "His name is Fargo Hope?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Lo started to laugh uncontrollably.
"What? What's so funny about that name?"
She quickly dialed her chuckling down so she could explain.
"Well, don't you British spies have enemies with names that have puns in them? Y'know, like Dr. No. Or Goldfinger. Or Scaramanga. And even Octopussy!"
"That only happens in the movies!"
"Oh."
"Anyway, as I was saying... Mr. Hope wants to become the richest and most powerful resort owner in the hotel business! And he's willing to do anything to achieve that. Including kidnapping you and holding you for ransom!"
"He's using ME to get money from Daddy?"
"More than that. He wants all of Surfer's Paradise and was going to use you as leverage to get your father to hand over the deed to the resort. If he succeeds, then he achieves his goal of world domination of the hotel resort industry!"
"Well, tell him good luck for me! Daddy's not going to go down without a fight!"
"But that's the thing, my dear. If your father won't agree to giving up Surfer's Paradise willingly, Hope will be more than satisfied to just wipe it off the map."
"You mean..."
"Yes! He means wiping it out of existence!"
"But... but... I live there! The resort's my whole life! Past, present, and future! He can't take that away from me!"
"Oh, but he can and he will!"
"So where do you fit into all of this?"
"Well, my superiors have reason to believe that Hope plans to do more than hold you for ransom."
"More. Like what?"
"We're not exactly sure. But my mission is to find and keep you safe from any attempts by Hope or his men to capture you."
"Okay. What about all of your flirting?"
"Oh, that? Well..."
"You did that just to gain my trust, didn't you?"
"Well, to be frank..."
"So none of it was real?" an exasperated Lo threw her hands up as if surrendering. "Figures."
"No, Miss Ridgemount. Well... not at first..."
"I don't wanna hear another word from you the rest of the way back to did you say not at first?"
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain..."
Lo was surprised and intrigued by this sudden turn of events.
"You mean... you actually like me? LIKE like me?"
Jack didn't issue a response, not wanting to misspeak again. Yet Lo kept pushing it...
"Since when?"
She looked at him, pressing for an answer with her eyes. Finally, he decided to give one.
"The moment when you got kidnapped."
A confused look formed on Lo's face.
"When I saw those goons grab you, just seconds after you got out of the car. At first, I thought it was just my natural spy response. I was supposed to protect you, I let you fall into enemy hands, et cetera, et cetera. But then I realized how much I liked it when you impressed with me and my suit and my car and how much that delighted you and made you look beautiful in the night..."
"In other words, the reactions from me you were expecting!"
"Yes, but it's more than that. It's... just... something about the way you look tonight. It... it took my breath away. I've... I've never met a girl that's ever done that to me before."
This time, it was Lo that was finally stunned speechless. Jack decided to leave it at that, dropping the subject as he exited the freeway and made a turn-off... towards somewhere other than the airport.
"You're late!"
Jack had pulled off to the side of the road somewhere in the borough of Queens, leaving Lo alone in his car as he walked up to his contact, a brown-haired man in his late 20s, wearing a black trench coat over his own tuxedo. He also had a lit cigarette that was being held in-between his left index and middle fingers.
"Someone's crabby tonight," Jack said in response.
"Oh, stuff it, Ford!" the agent shot back.
"Fine, fine."
The smoker reached into his right coat pocket and pulled out a small white envelope, which he indiscreetly handed to Jack. Jack took it, then opened it right there and then. But all that was in there was...
"Two plane tickets to Johannesburg?"
His contact nodded in confirmation.
"I didn't know you knew I was a football fanatic, 321."
"I didn't," Agent 321 responded. "A said that sources tell us that our villain du jour is planning to attend the world championship game there. A thinks he might be up to more than we originally thought, and she wants you to find out."
"But doesn't Hope want the Ridgemount girl? What good does that do all of us unexpectedly bringing her straight to him?"
"I dunno," 321 shrugged his shoulders. "Like I've ever been able to understand that old bat."
"Now..." Jack said as he looked back at his car, "how do I convince her to fly there with me?"
"Oh," his friend smiled slyly. "You're a suave, international spy. I'm sure you'll find a way to convince her... wink, wink."
"She's underage, FYI! Though... that gives me an idea of how to get her to sign on..."
Exactly 18 hours later, Jack and Lo were walking through customs at O. R. Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg, South Africa.
"I've never been to South Africa before," Lo admitted aloud after receiving clearance from the customs officer. "It's so... so... so... not as third-world as I thought it'd be."
"It's because it's the first-ever World Cup that the continent of Africa is holding," Jack explained. "It's a really big deal here, hosting the world's most prestigious football tournament."
"Oh... is THAT why there's so much security here? I thought it would be because that Hope dude is here."
"Well... he is a VIP. Just... not on the scale of the World Cup."
"Speaking of which... are you sure about this? Meeting with the man who wants to use me to get to Daddy? And under these pretenses?"
"Yes. At the end of the day, all he wants is your family's resort. And if we can make him think that we're giving him what he wants, we can lure him into a false sense of security. And that's when we'll have him..."
"And if we get this guy off of our backs," Lo concluded, "then I'll finally get to go home!"
"Of course. Granted, I'm surprised you decided to go through with this to begin with."
"Hey! Like I said, Surfer's Paradise is my home. It belongs to Daddy, and one day, he'll pass it down to me! No way I'm letting some money-flaunting outsider muscle in on my birthright!"
As they walked towards the airport exit, Jack pulled out a brand-new phone and used it to text Agent 321.
His message? 'Told you she'd buy into the spoiled right angle.'
Since it was already night, Jack and Lo went straight from the airport to their hotel, which happened to be aptly named The Fargo. As they made their way from the front doors, which were opened by uniformed bellhops/guards, to the check-in desk, Lo gasped in awe at everything she saw in the lobby. From the pure diamond chandeliers to the Renaissance-era paintings and traditional African decor, she was beginning to feel like she was a princess.
"This is like a palace!" Lo squealed.
"Nice, isn't it?" Jack said back, in a low voice.
"I should really get the name of their designer!"
The two proceeded to the front desk, where they were greeted by the female clerk.
"Welcome to The Fargo!" she said to them. "Checking in?"
"Yes," Jack said, pulling a credit card out of his vest pocket, which he handed to her. "The name's Black. Jack Black."
As the clerk searched for Jack's reservation in the computer, Jack noticed Lo shooting an odd look at him.
"Your last name is Black?"
"Heh heh..." he chuckled nervously, "of course it is... honey!"
"Honey?" Lo was taken aback by the spur-of-the-moment nickname.
The clerk looked up upon hearing the developing spat between the two of them.
"Honey?"
"Yes, Honey!" Jack said aloud as he clasped his hands over Lo's. "That's what everyone at work calls my partner here. Because she's so sweet."
Jack then gave Lo a 'play along' look, and she quickly obliged.
"Oh, yeah! That's me... Honey! That's what they call me!"
The clerk raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"The two of you?" she pointed at Jack, and then Lo. "Together. As partners? Seriously? But isn't she..."
"I assure you," Jack stepped in, "she's a very shrewd entrepreneur. You don't wanna get on the wrong end of my business partner here in a deal. She's a no nonsense saleswoman, she is!"
"Oh. Well, I guess I mistook you for someone else."
The clerk swiped Jack's credit card for pre-authorization, then handed it, along with two room keys, to him.
"Enjoy your stay!"
"I'm sure we will," Jack said with a smirk.
He and Lo then started heading for the elevators.
"Does everyone think you're always WITH the girl that's with you?" Lo asked him.
"It comes with the territory. Spies are well known for getting their mack on..."
"Well..."
Lo was getting her first look at the room that were staying in for the night...
"It's not the penthouse, but I suppose it will do."
"Well, it was last minute," Jack explained. "Getting a hotel room at all was quite the labor, I can tell you that..."
"And what is THIS?"
Lo had found something she wasn't happy with. The room only had one queen-sized bed in it.
"Well, Lauren, like I said..."
"Only a queen-size? You couldn't get a king-size one?"
"The size of the bed isn't important!" Jack exclaimed. "It's what we're going to do tomorrow that's important."
Lo sighed with disappointment before falling backwards onto the bed.
"You're right."
Jack walked past the bed and over to the window, as he pulled apart the curtains to look out towards the cityscape at night.
"So, here's what we're going to do..."
Jack turned around to start laying out the plan in detail, but silenced himself when he saw that Lo had already fallen fast asleep on top of the bed's covers.
"Ugh," he grumbled. "I feel like a babysitter right now. Not exactly how I envisioned spending a night in South Africa."
He then headed for the door into the hallway, deciding to let Lo sleep off her travel exhaustion.
The following morning, Lo rose from bed, refreshed and ready to take on the day.
"Yeah!" Lo giggled as she lifted her arms over her head as high as she could. "I feel like catching some waves today! Maybe I can sneak in a trip to The Office before work."
Lo made her way over to the curtains and pulled them apart to let the sun in. But, to her surprise, she saw a sprawling city before her, instead of the beach paradise she had been accustomed to her her whole life.
"Oh," she suddenly recalled, "that's right. That was my first night in a bed away from the resort. Should've figured something wasn't right when I didn't feel any cockroaches crawling on my arm."
Lo glanced around the room as to reacquaint herself with her surroundings.
"That's right," she said as she massaged her eyelids with her right thumb and ring finger. "I'm... I'm in South Africa. With Jack. That guy... who I thought was boyfriend material, but it turns out he's actually a secret agent, sent to protect me from some hotel mogul jerk that wants to buy out Daddy! And he whisked me here in hopes of getting him to back off. Yes... now I remember!"
Lo bolted for the door leading out of the hotel room, but again, was halted when something else caught her eye. There was a note taped to the closet door, along with an envelope. It was from Jack.
"Lauren," Lo read the note aloud, "I trust you know how to dress to impress. Use this to buy yourself something elegant, then meet me in the hotel lobby at four. Jack."
Lo opened the envelope and found in full of 100 rand banknotes.
"Paper?" she said as she pulled one of the banknotes out and examined it. "I'm usually a plastic girl... but, hey, new duds on someone else's bill? I'm not complaining!"
Jack was sitting in the hotel lobby, tapping his foot impatiently as he sat there in a brand new tuxedo, occasionally running his hands down it to keep it from wrinkling.
"Where is she?" he asked himself aloud as he glanced at his watch. "I know the saying goes 'you never keep a girl waiting.' Well, that girl needs to learn that you should never keep ME waiting!"
"Ooh, thank you!" Lo's voice suddenly rang out, from the front door.
"Finally!" he scoffed as he got up from his seat.
He walked over to scold Lo for not being on time, but he stopped short when he saw Lo with a bunch of shopping bags draped over her arms. But what he paid most attention to was the simple, ankle-length light orange sundress, which matched well with her natural skin and looked absolutely dazzling on her.
"So?" Lo winked at him, "what do you think?"
To give him more time to gawk, Lo slowly spun around to give him the full view of her dress.
"I was surprised of the selection they had here," Lo readily admitted. "And everyone around here is so helpful! Including the men... whew! I've never seen so many guys fawn over little ol' me!"
Lo seemed pleased with her choice, but the frown on Jack's face showed that he didn't agree with her.
"You don't like? I picked out, like, five or six different dresses! You want more poofy? More African? Scandalously skin-tastic?"
"What is wrong with you?" Jack said as he got in her face. "I said dress to impress!"
"What are you talking about, silly? I'm impressed with myself!"
Lo squatted down to place all of her bags down on the ground, then reached into one of them and pulled out a small straw hat and a pair of stylish pink-tinted sunglasses. She put them both on, then stood up to see if the accessories would have any effect on him.
"Tell the truth," she goaded him, "I could pass for a movie star! That's the type of girl you fawn for, right?"
Jack grabbed Lo by the arm and pulled her forcefully towards the hotel main entrance/exit.
"Ow!" Lo winced in pain. "Hey, I bruise easily, y'know!"
"We don't have time for this!"
They came out of the building, and Jack tugged Lo towards the nearest taxi cab. Once next to it, he opened the passenger door with his free hand, then let go of Lo and motioned for her to get in.
"No need to get snappy! I did what you told me to do!"
"No, you didn't! Plus, you're 20 minutes late! Now, get in!"
Lo frowned, upset by Jack's boorish behavior, but she complied with his request and got into the back seat of the cab. Once she was in, Jack got in behind her and took a seat next to her.
"The soccer stadium," Jack said aloud, shouting to the driver through the glass barrier separating the front from the back.
The driver simply nodded, and pulled away the moment Jack closed the cab door.
"Well, I'm sorry my style doesn't turn you on!" Lo argued. "But you could at least be a gentleman about it and complement me anyway!"
"Look, we're NOT having this conversation right now!" shouted Jack. "We have a job to do, and once it's done, we can go our separate ways."
Lo was about to agree with him, but the two of them noticed pink smoke funneling from several small orifices in the cab cushions into the back seat area.
"It's a trap!" Jack yelled.
Jack reached for the latch on the door next to him, trying to get it open, but the cabin was already filled with smoke and he could feel himself losing consciousness. As his strength left him and he felt his body go limp as he slumped back down into his seat, he saw that Lo was also succumbing to the gas as well.
He tried to reach out to her to grab her arm in a futile attempt to keep her awake, but he conked out before he could get a hold of her.
"Mission accomplished, boss," he heard the driver say in perfect English, as he held a cell phone up to his ear.
To be continued...
Author's Notes:
Sorry if it feels like this story is going all over the place. It's gotten really hard to keep interest in this. But I'm trying. Maybe if I can just get some time to plan this out, maybe it will start to run smoother. And I can give you guys new installments sooner than once every five weeks.
Reviews help too, though, if you care!