"Where on Earth is Lauren Ridgemount?"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Those of you looking for some action, you've come to the right place! Let's get this chapter started!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Stoked' belong to Fresh TV, Inc., Teletoon, and Cartoon Network.
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Chapter Five - The Escape (01.24.11)
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Lo was in a difficult position. Her left arm was gripped tightly by Fargo Hope, the hotel mogul who was willing to do what it took to get Lo's father, Mr. Ridgemount, to sell him the Surfer's Paradise Resort. The only person who could keep her from trying to convince her father to sign over the resort was Jack, the spy.
The same spy that laid before her on the ground, about 15 feet away, bleeding, battered, and bruised in what seemed to be a failed rescue attempt. And to make matters even worse, one of Hope's bodyguards was pointing a gun right at his head.
"Last chance," warned Hope. "Tell your father to sell me Surfer's Paradise... or have the death of this man on your conscience!"
Lo looked down at the receiver, where she could just barely make out her father shouting her name. She then turned her attention to Jack, who was gasping for breath as he held his hands over the spots where his biggest cuts were. He was attempting to slow down his bleeding, but that seemed to be the least of his problems given he was seconds away from being assassinated. Finally, the heiress glanced over her shoulder and back at the mogul, whom she could see was growing more impatient by the second, waiting for her response.
"Fine."
Hope raised an eyebrow in befuddlement, not quite sure what decision Lo had made. Seeing this hesitation, Lo spoke up again, making her choice more profound.
"The resort means everything to me. I don't care about him."
"What?" Jack coughed in surprise.
"Do whatever you want to him... because I'm not gonna let Daddy sell the resort! To you, or to anyone!"
"Very well," accepted Hope.
He then nodded at his guard, who then pushed the barrel of his gun into the left side of Jack's skull.
"Looks like I'm not the only greedy person in this room," the mogul laughed.
He released his grip on Lo's wrist, leaving her to favor it as he stepped out from behind the desk to get a better view.
"A lesson for you, super-spy! Next time you pick up a girl... make sure she's willing to do anything for you."
"Heh."
Hope noticed a smile form on Jack's face.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Jack quickly brought his hands together, palms facing each other, and thrust them upwards, underneath the barrel of the gun. The hastily assembled force was more than enough to knock the weapon out of the top of the guard's hand, despite his finger sitting right next to the trigger.
It flew a few feet straight up into the air, flipping end over end. Thinking quickly, Jack separated his hands, then reached up with his right one and plucked the firearm out of the sky. All before the guard could even react. Or any of the others, for that matter.
He then quickly grabbed the aforementioned bodyguard, wrapped his free arm around the front of his neck as he pulled him alongside, and then he took the newly acquired gun and placed it against his captive's right temple. The other guards pulled their assorted guns out of their holsters.
"What?" Hope gasped. "How did you?"
As he stood there stunned, Lo took this opportunity to let go of the phone and run over to Jack. She made it to his side without any attempt by Hope to impede her. And he wasn't happy about it.
"And what are YOU doing?" the enraged adult asked Lo.
"She ran to the safest place in the room," Jack answered for her. "Behind my back!"
Lo grasped the side of Jack's stomach with one hand and squeezed his opposing shoulder with her other as she stood behind him, only sticking her head out to glare at her former captor.
The guards all cocked their guns, and were about to fire...
"Don't shoot!" Hope shouted. "You might hit the girl!"
"That's right!" Lo smirked, blowing the mogul a raspberry for good measure. "Without me as a bargaining chip, Daddy will NEVER sign the resort over to you, you jerk!"
"Ahem," Jack coughed again. "I'm the spy. I'm supposed to say that."
"Oh? And aren't spies supposedly... um... not look like you stumbled down a mountain to get here?"
"Do you want to be rescued or do you want me to leave you with the money-hungry psychopath?" grumbled the exhausted spy.
Lo didn't need to stop to think of a reply, as she released her grip on Jack and made a beeline for the back door. Jack followed her, walking backwards with his hostage still acting as a shield.
"You'll never make it out of here alive!" Hope shook his fist in rage. "Never!"
"We'll see about that."
"The moment you drop my guard," the villain pointed out, "my men will drop you faster than a fly swatter comes down on a fly!"
"Ugh," Lo rolled her eyes. "You couldn't think of something better?"
She opened the sliding door, and ran out into the backyard. Jack backed all the way there, and watched the guards' eyes as they slowly advanced on him, their firearms still drawn. As they all squeezed into a single file line in preparation for stepping through the doorway, Jack saw his opening.
He released his grip on his hostage and pushed him forward as hard as he can. The men had no time to get out of the way, as the captive had been pushed so hard, he knocked them all of his feet, and a few guns out of their hands in the process. By the time someone could get to their feet, ready to shoot, Jack already had a good head start.
Seconds later, gunshots were being fired out of the house. Jack kept his head low as he ran away. At the same time, he was trying to stay out of the lights hanging above the now-empty pool area, as well as scan the area for Lo... who had disappeared from his sight.
He made it around the corner without getting hit, but he could hear both footsteps and flying bullets not far behind. He leaned against the wall, catching his brain and trying to ignore the pain he was feeling as all that running had made his open cuts widen.
"Damn it," he cursed. "What if she ran the other way? How could she have given me the slip? Doesn't she have people do everything for her? She shouldn't be fast enough to run away from me!"
Suddenly, Jack felt like a deer in the headlights. Literally.
He raised his gun-carrying hand to divert enough light away from his eyes so he could see what the source was.
It was a green all-terrain vehicle. And Lo was waving at Jack as she sat ecstatically in the driver's seat. Jack gritted his teeth as he made his way over and he hopped into the passenger side.
"Do you know how to drive?" he asked her.
Lo chuckled. She was an ace at operating motor vehicles.
"Do I know how to drive, he says."
She was about to start the vehicle when she came to a startling realization. She didn't have the keys! And to make matters worse, there didn't seem to be a keyhole in the side of the steering wheel, either.
"Where's the thing you put in the keys to start this thing? And the keys, for that matter?"
"Mother of Pearl... the dashboard!"
Jack didn't have time to wait for Lo to look for what he was trying to point out, so he lifted up his left leg and slammed the heel of his left shoe onto an unmarked, four-inch red button in the center of the dashboard. Upon hitting, the engine roared to life.
"It's a push-button start, lass!" Jack scolded her.
"Neat!" Lo exclaimed, missing Jack's snippy comment. "I should get Daddy to buy me one of these."
"Drive, woman, DRIVE!"
At that moment, the first of Hope's men turned around the corner. Upon seeing the headlights, they opened fire. Lo immediately shifted the car into reverse and slammed her right foot down hard on the accelerator. Jack was nearly thrown into the dashboard, but had put his hands out in front of him quick enough to prevent that.
Once Lo had backed the vehicle all the way out to the driveway, she spun the steering wheel hard, making the ATV spin around 180 degrees. The instant it was facing down the road she had been taken up earlier, she floored it once again.
"I think we're gonna escape!" Lo shouted.
BANG!
A bullet whizzed by, just mere inches from her left ear, and hit the side mirror, shattering the glass instantaneously.
"Keep down!"
Lo complied, letting her body slide down in the seat as far as she could while still being able to see over the steering wheel. Jack reached underneath, and as he expected, there was a mini-submachine gun taped to the dashboard's underside.
It was already loaded, so all Jack had to do was turn around, find a target and fire. He did the first and noted that they were being followed by three jeeps, each loaded with a driver and two shooters. He immediately opened fire on the closest one, aiming for the gunmen. The two ducked down to avoid getting hit, but the driver wasn't so lucky. Four bullets had gotten him, all in the right shoulder, and that was enough to cause him to shift his focus towards the excruciating pain he was feeling. No longer concerned with driving, the jeep drifted off the road and into a tree head-first.
Its engine exploded a couple seconds later.
"What's going on?" Lo asked as she kept her eyes forward.
"I'm saving your butt! Don't worry about it!"
Before Lo could take offense, Jack ducked down to avoid getting pelted by a constant spray of bullets.
"Saving my butt? Then how come I still feel as if my life is flashing before my eyes?"
Lo turned the steering wheel hard right, traversing a sharp curve without losing any speed. She heard the two jeeps behind her a few seconds later navigate that same turn without incident.
"Now you know how I feel after you were willing to let them KILL ME!"
"Oh, come on," Lo lightly chuckled. "I didn't mean it! You're a spy... you get out of hairy situations like this all the time?"
Jack glared at her.
"Alright, fine! I was being selfish! I put my life ahead of yours! Happy?"
Another round of bullets was fired from the trailing vehicles.
"Look, can I make it up to you later? IF WE'RE STILL ALIVE!"
Jack smiled, then got up on his knees on the seat so that he could return fire. By aiming not at their pursuers, but at the right front tire of the closest jeep. With just one shot, he took it out, resulting in the driver losing control and sending the vehicle off the side of the road, tumbling down the hill.
"Two down... one to go."
But before Jack could take aim at the last chaser, he got a taste of his own medicine when one of the remaining shooters punctured the right rear tire of the ATV.
POP!
Instantly, the ATV lost all rear traction, and Lo immediately felt the steering wheel jerk her hands to the left and off of the road. The off-road vehicle flew off the side of the road and started tumbling down the steep, tree-filled hill. It turned end over end as it descended into the flora and fauna and disappeared from sight.
The last surviving jeep stopped at the point where the ATV had gone off the road, and its occupants looked over the side to see if they could see if Jack or Lo were still alive.
After a few seconds of not being able to see any signs of life...
"There's no way those two survived that drop," one of the gunmen remarked.
The jeep then started backing up the road, towards where the first jeep that had crashed had gone off the path.
Lo finally felt herself coming to. There was a stinging sensation in the left side of her forehead as her eyes opened to the sight of a familiar face, though the lack of light made it difficult to see.
"The lass is alive!" he exclaimed, shouting to someone else in the area.
"It's... it's..." blabbered Lo.
"Well, hurry the bloody up, then!" shouted Jack from nearby. "Hope's men will be on us in two shakes of a dog's tail!"
"Alright! On your feet, my dear!"
As Lo was helped off of the ground, her eyes came into focus... and she finally remember the name of the muscled man pulling her up by the arms.
"Bruto! The, the... the fisherman from the boat!"
"Aye, so you remember my name?"
"Yes..."
Once Lo was standing upright, she forcefully pulled herself from Bruto's grip.
"The guy who watched me get handed off to some crazy psychopath who wants Daddy's resort AND just had his men try to kill ME? YOU?"
"Yeah..." Bruto replied sadly, as he looked away.
"And now you're trying to help me?"
Bruto sighed. "Look, this is hard enough as it is! Plus, I walked out on the only job I've had my entire life to take a boat and come and rescue you because your nagging ate away at my soul like a chomping piranha! Don't you think I feel bad enough already?"
Lo peered deep into Bruto's eyes, which were wavering a good bit. Very unlike a rugged outdoors-type like him. Upon seeing those, she could tell that he was being truthful to her, and her disdain for him floated away.
"I'm sorry," Lo apologized. "I know what it's like to lose everything you've ever had. Sure, getting kicked off of a boat isn't the same as being thrown out of the penthouse, but..."
Before she could finish her thought, which was starting to elicit an odd reaction from Bruto, she was cut off by an explosion. Bruto quickly tackled her to the ground to keep her from being hit by any airborne flaming debris.
It wasn't until Bruto got off of her a few seconds later that she realized that the explosion had come from the wreckage of the ATV that she suddenly recalled she had been driving just minutes ago. It also was the only source of visible light in the dark night.
"When did THAT get on fire?" Lo pointed at what was left of the ATV. "And how come no one's putting it out?"
"I'm a fisherman," deadpanned Bruto. "Not a fireman."
Suddenly, Jack walked up to the two of them, just as Bruto was pulling Lo to her feet for the second time in as many minutes.
"If you two are done having your little 'tea party,'" he glared at them, accentuating the last two words with air quotation marks, "surely those buggers have heard that explosion and we best be getting off of this island!"
"Right," Bruto agreed. "Let's go!"
Bruto led the way away from the wreckage, followed by Lo, and lastly Jack, who brought up the rear with his gun in hand.
It only took a few minutes to wrestle through the island's mini-jungle and arrive at the shoreline.
"Wait," Lo noted observantly, "this isn't the docks?"
"Of course not," Bruto said to her. "The docks are swarming with guards. You think I would've even gotten to you if I had landed there?"
Bruto then made his way to an abnormally large pile of seaweed and humongous tree leaves and started to tear it apart.
"What are you doing?" Lo asked as she walked over to him.
But after only working for about five seconds, it became instantly apparent that Bruto was uncovering a motorboat that was buried underneath the pile.
"Let's go," he prodded her vocally. "Ships don't unbury themselves!"
"But that's not how seaweed is used!" Lo exclaimed. "You put it on your skin to purify it! Not to hide dingy boats!"
"They're the same seaweed," grumbled Jack as he backed up beside Lo, with his gun still drawn. "Now help while I stand guard! We don't have much time!"
Lo gave in as she trotted over and helped remove the wet and slimy seaweed, as well as the moist human-sized tree leaves, from the boat. To help expedite the process, Jack dropped his guard and ran over to assist as well.
Once all of the leaves and seaweed had been taken off, Jack and Bruto lifted the boat off of the sand and carried it into the water. As they placed it down into the sea, Lo quickly spotted that there was only room for two people to sit.
A fact both men were well aware of.
"Go!" commanded Bruno. "I'll try to distract them!"
He tossed Jack the keys. The spy caught them, and moved to start the motorboat.
"Wait!" Lo tried to object. "You're not coming with us?"
"Nay. It's only a two-seater."
"But I'm sure..."
"You heard the man!" Jack shouted, trying to cut off any further debate. "Get in, Lauren!"
With that, Jack inserted the key into the ignition, and the boat's engine roared to life. Lo seemed determined to try and get Bruto to come along... but the burly man was having none of it, as he picked her up off of the ground and tossed her into the boat.
Jack responded to the act by reaching over to him with his gun, handle-first, sticking out.
"I trust you know how to use this."
Bruto nodded, then took the firearm.
"You're not seriously..." Lo began to scream.
"There's only two bullets left," Jack spoke over Lo, "so..."
"Last resort," Bruto completed the spy's thought. "Gotcha."
Bruto then ran back on shore, as Jack shifted out of park and slammed on the accelerator. The speedboat quickly pulled away, and Lo was powerless as she watched Bruto run back towards the jungle.
"He's a good man," Jack said aloud, snapping Lo out of her hopeless stare. "A good seaman. If anyone can survive out here, it's him."
"But Jack," propositioned Lo, as she tried to fight off tears, "what if... what if he..."
"He'll survive."
Satisfied but not completely confident in Jack's answer, Lo turned her head around and faced forward. Of course, given the darkness of night, the island quickly disappeared from sight, and both Jack and Lo began to think about their next move.
Eventually, the duo came across a cargo boat, whose crew was willing to give them a ride the rest of the way back to shore. A good thing, too, for when they learned they were several hours away from port, they began to thank the stars. There was no way there was enough gas on their borrowed speedboat to traverse that distance.
But at least they were safe and sound. And alive. For now.
The following morning, after getting some well-needed rest and nourishment, Lo was being treated by an underground, but trustworthy, doctor, who was carefully diagnosing her bumps and bruises.
As she received medical attention, Jack stood just outside the door. The door of a run-down shack, which lied in a very poor community filled with such dilapidated buildings. But their dismal surroundings didn't seem to bother either of them, even Lo, who was just glad to be back on land. And, more thankfully, safe from harm.
Jack, on the other hand, was in the midst of a phone call with his superior, as he was giving a rundown of everything that has happened so far. But before he could finish...
"Hold on there," Jack's boss, a British woman who sounded as if she was in her 60s, "I've just received a report from another one of our agents."
"What is it?" Jack asked. "Don't tell me... Hope managed to get Ridgemount to sign over the deed to Surfer's Paradise?"
"No... but it's the next worst thing."
"Next worst thing? What could that be, Nine-Nine-Nine?"
"Well, oh-six-seven... are you aware that Mr. Ridgemount has sent out Miss Ridgemount's co-workers out to bring her home?"
"I am now," Jack stated, both interested and appalled at this new development. "Why?"
"They had convinced him that they could find Miss Ridgemount and bring her home safely."
Jack quickly peeked around the corner, and saw that Lo's back was towards him. He started to walk away, making sure that she couldn't hear any of his conversation.
"Do they know the real reason I 'took' Lauren?"
"Negative," 999 replied. "They believe you kidnapped her."
"I see. Are they aware of the phone call between Ridgemount and Hope?"
"The agent we have tailing them believes they aren't. As far as we know, anyway."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you see... the transmission we just received was sent half an hour ago. That was also the last time we had contact with him. He went off the grid shortly thereafter."
"Not good. Alright... what was his last known location?"
"Venice."
Jack was a bit dumbfounded.
"How did the kids end up in Venice?"
"We don't know. But it gets worse."
"Worse? Blimey, how can it get worse?"
"Fargo Hope has a summer home there. And once he learns that Miss Ridgemount's close acquaintances are snooping around..."
"He's going after them," Jack quickly concluded. "I need two tickets on the next flight to Venice. First class."
"Already securing them. But, are you sure you should let Miss Ridgemount tag along?"
"It was my mission to protect her! Plus, you think she's safe if I leave her alone, even here under police protection? Besides, having been with the girl for a day plus, I'm sure she'll insist on making the trip to Venice."
"Very well. Good luck, oh-six-seven."
To be continued...
Author's Notes:
I'm inclined to think Lo is a good driver. After all, she wasn't the one who drove her jeep into the resort pool at that party she threw in the pilot episode. Besides, she has to be good at something. You know, other than spending her dad's money endlessly.
And I realize I screwed up when I didn't catch this last chapter, but the elder sailor's name is Bruto. For some reason, after a couple mentions in the last chapter, it changed to Bruno and just stuck. I don't know why I didn't catch that until a week ago when I had to finish writing this chapter and couldn't remember what his name was.
Chapter 6 next month! Other members of the cast show up! Yes!