"Where on Earth is Lauren Ridgemount?"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Lo hasn't seen her friends in a couple days. Time to fix that!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Stoked' belong to Fresh TV, Inc., Teletoon, and Cartoon Network.
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Chapter Six - The Heiress, the Friend, and the Don (02.28.11)
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The next day...
Lauren Ridgemount had only been in Venice, Italy for a few short minutes, but in her mind she was ready to declare it as the best city she had even been to.
"O... M... G..."
Jack looked at her, noting that Lo was so ecstatic was so stunned that she could barely get letters to come out of her mouth, much less words.
"Aren't you loaded?" he asked her. "You mean your father never took you on vacation to Europe?"
"There was one time Daddy went to the UK to meet with a foreign investor who wanted to open up a beach resort as a franchisee. But that was a few years ago... and Daddy and the guy never could agree to the terms."
"What happened?"
"The resort still got made, but the investor decided to open as an independent. It didn't last... the place shuttered last year, I heard. Sigh... so was looking forward to one day sunbathing in the English Riviera."
The two walked further into the city, along one of its many narrow footpaths. As they trotted along, Lo marveled at all of the famous landmarks they passed, such as Saint Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, and...
"The Ponte di Rialto!" gasped Lo.
Lo was standing on the inner-city's most famous bridge, which passed right over the Grand Canal and was over four centuries old. She was entranced as she saw numerous gondolas passing under the bridge. Most belonged to locals and merchants, who found it easier to get around by traveling along the water. But a few were specifically reserved for tourists, who had paid handsomely to see Venice from a different point of view.
"Gondola rides are SO romantic. I SO have to go on one!"
"We're not here for sightseeing," Jack told her. "We're here to meet with some friends."
Lo became miffed upon being reminded of the purpose of their visit.
"I don't understand why we had to come here. Couldn't your friend have come to us in Africa?"
"No. No, they couldn't. Besides, I also came here to pick up an item that can only be found in abundance here."
"So you get to pick up some Italian knickknack in the real world, and I get to dream about riding in a gondola! That sounds totally fair."
"Enough with the sarcasm," Jack hushed her. "My friend has arrived."
Lo looked past Jack down to the end of the bridge and saw an superbly beautiful woman walking their way. She had jet black hair, which shined brilliantly in the sunlight even as it was weaved so close to her head that it looked as all her locks had been painted on. And she was wearing a yellow strapless ankle-length sundress that showed every single one of the perfectly-shaped curves on her body.
"Wow," Lo gasped, stunned. "I hope that's what I look like when I'm her age!"
But she was speaking loud enough for Jack's friend to hear her comment, so she decided to humor her.
"I'm sure you'll grow into a beautiful woman!" she told Lo. "You still have some growing to do. You're, like, twelve, right?"
"Twelve?" Lo grunted. "I'm fifteen!"
"Oh my!"
She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card, which she then gave to Lo. It read 'Adriano Carpaccio, Plastic Surgeon.'
"Not pressuring you or anything, but as a last resort... my older brother REALLY needs the business right now."
"Ahem," Jack coughed, grabbing both of their attentions.
"Sorry, Jack," the woman apologized.
As she stepped towards Jack, Lo looked at the card, then promptly ripped it in two and tossed it over the side of the bridge. She then crossed her arms over her chest as she glared into the woman's back.
"Now I know how she got that bod," Lo muttered under her breath. "Stupid artificial Barbie."
She stood there for about a minute, not paying attention to the conversation the woman and Jack had started up. They ignored her too, albeit briefly, before realizing that she should be included.
"Where are my manners?" Jack spoke up as he walked over to Lo. "Jemma, I'd like to introduce you to Lo Ridgemount, heiress to the Ridgemount hotel chain!"
"Ah!" Jemma squealed. "So THIS is the little girl you were charged to protect, Jack! I did not know you were in to the young, naive, and... small-chested!"
"Ugh!" screamed Lo. "At least MINE are real!"
The two of them glared at each other, looking as if they were ready to tear each other limb from limb right there and then on the bridge. But before anything could happen, Jack intervened and pulled Jemma away.
"I see you two are getting along," he quipped sarcastically. "I suppose our conversation should stay between the two of us..."
With that, Jack and Jemma moved towards the other end of the bridge. Lo did not seem to care being left alone as she turned and resumed staring out to the canal below, sulking as she rest her chin on the palms of her hand.
"I liked it better when I was the only girl in his life," she mumbled.
Her eyes scanned the canal, looking for something to take her mind off of Jack's unpleasant friend. When she couldn't find anything interesting, she turned around, walked across the bridge, and did the same thing on other side.
As soon as she did, she spotted a gondola unloading its passengers nearby. She saw three people, all about her age, being helped off of it and onto dry land. Two guys, both dark-skinned, got off first. They then turned around and extended their hands out to help the third, a red-haired girl with tanned skin, disembark.
Upon seeing the girl, Lo's jaw dropped in shock. Believing her eyes were playing tricks on her, she rubbed them with the back of her hands, then looked again, this time squinting to sharpen her focus.
Pink short sleeve shirt. Pink short shorts. Hair tied in a ponytail. Pearl necklace.
"It can't be..."
"Thanks for the tour!" complimented Emma, waving goodbye to the gondolier.
With that, the gondolier turned to give transport to another threesome waiting for a tour of Venice by water. Emma walked a few feet away, over to Johnny and Broseph, who were having a small conversation.
"Some romantic ride..." sighed Johnny.
"Chill, bro," Broseph said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Summer's still young! You'll get plenty more chances."
"What are you two talking about?" Emma asked, having not heard any bit of the boy's chat.
"Nothing," they said in unison.
Emma was suspicious, but she decided not to pry any further. After all, it seemed like an innocent chat, and she had far more important things on her mind.
Such as finding her long lost friend.
"I can't believe Lo's not here either!" she exclaimed, lowering her head in disappointment. "I thought we'd find her here for sure!"
"That tip Mister Ridgemount gave us must've been phony," concluded Johnny. "And he was so confident after paying for plane tickets for us to come here."
"Too bad the waves here are far from choice," commented Broseph. "I would've loved to hit the surf, European-style."
"Well," sighed Emma, "I guess we have no choice. We've gotta call Lo's dad and tell him we came up empty. Oh... he's SO not gonna be happy with us."
"What can we do?" Johnny consoled her. "If she's not here, she's not here..."
The three started to walk off...
...but not before Lo had gotten a good look at them and realized who they were.
"Emma!" Lo shouted, trying to get her attention. "EMMA!"
But Emma and the boys were too far away for them to hear her, especially in the middle of the day in one of the busiest areas of Venice.
Yet Lo kept trying.
"Emma! Johnny! Broseph! CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME?"
Soon, they were out of sight. But Lo wasn't going to give up. She had to let them know that she was okay.
"Don't worry, Emma!" Lo thought. "I'm coming!"
Lo started running towards the other side of the bridge. Along the way, she passed back Jack and Jemma, who were still in the midst of a conversation. One that ended promptly when they saw she was leaving without them.
"Lauren!" Jack called after her. "LAUREN!"
But she ignored him as she came to the first intersection after getting off of the bridge and turned right. At that moment, Jack had a revelation of his own.
"You don't think she..." he thought aloud.
Lo quickly sprinted three city blocks, stopping in her tracks upon reaching that point. As she bent over and caught her breath, she glanced to her right and saw the opening leading to the place where Emma and the others had gotten off their gondola.
"That's where they came from," she thought aloud. "The question now is... which way did they go?"
She had two options. Continue going straight, or turn left. Lo attempted to get her bearings.
"They were just on a gondola, so they probably have already searched the city. That means..."
Lo gasped in joy having figured out.
"Lo, you sun-kissed genius, you!"
With that, Lo made a left and started running, concluding that they would be heading to higher ground... and in the direction of the airport to head back home.
She ended up running another two blocks and was about to start on a third when she caught something out of the corner of her eye.
Broseph's golden afro!
She skidded to a stop, then began to make the turn.
"Bro-"
But the full pronunciation never came out, as someone grabbed her from behind, tugging her back around the corner. The stranger had one hand around her waist, and the other over her mouth, trying to keep her quiet. Lo desperately struggled to fight back, and was about to retaliate with her 'last resort' when her attacker turned her around so she was facing him.
To her relief... and disbelief, the guy who had grabbed her was Jack. Lo forced herself from her grip, prepared to give him a piece of her mind.
"What was THAT all about? Your friend wouldn't let you touch her fake boobies, so you try and cop a feel of mine?"
"Shhh!" Jack shushed, ignoring her unfounded accusation. "You want Fargo Hope to find out we're here?"
Lo gasped. "The man who wants to buy Daddy's resort? He's here? And YOU brought me here, on purpose? Whose side are you on anyway?"
"I don't know if he's actually here in Venice. But he has a summer home here. And that..."
He peeked around the corner, and so did Lo. They spotted Emma, Johnny, and Broseph, all with their backs towards Jack and Lo. And they were surrounded by three tall, burly men in suits. And two of them had guns pointed at their heads.
The one who wasn't, and was standing just in front and to the left of Johnny, was the largest of them all. He was black hair, but only on the sides, as his head was completely bald. And he was the one that Jack began to point at him.
"That is Rinaldo De Luca," Jack identified him. "He's the leader of the De Luca Italian mafia syndicate. He also happens to be Fargo Hope's second-in-command and right-hand man."
"That guy? But, but... he's gigantic!"
"And deadly. We're lucky he wasn't at Hope's ocean stronghold. I believe we'd no longer be along the living if he was there."
Lo gulped.
"But I don't understand. What does that goon want with Emma and the others?"
"We haven't quite figured that out yet. Regardless, if he takes them hostage, Hope would no longer need you. He'd just use them as a bargaining chip to get your father to give him Surfer's Paradise."
"We can't let that happen! The only person that can rightfully claim Surfer's Paradise other than Daddy is me!"
"Agreed."
Jack then proceeded to pull a few things out of his tuxedo jacket. A Bluetooth earpiece, a small Phillips screwdriver, a sealed white envelope, and an Italian flag pin, and put them all on the ground in front of Lo.
"Kind of a weird time to be giving me gifts. Not that I'm complaining..."
"Put the earpiece and the pin on," he commanded. "Quickly."
Lo nodded. She slipped on the earpiece over her left ear lobe, then attached the pin to her shirt, just underneath her right shoulder.
"Good girl."
She then handed him the screwdriver and the envelope.
"Listen to me very carefully... I'll only have time to say this once. Run back the street the way came down here, two blocks. Make a left, then a right down the first alley. That leads you into a street that dead ends right at the canal. Go there and hide until I call you with further instructions."
"You want me to... wait, what are you going to do?"
"Rescue your friends. That's all you need to know. Now... go!"
"But..."
"GO! Before we're discovered! And don't stop or look back until you get there, no matter what!"
Lo had no choice to comply. She started running, back across the street entrance, in complete view of Rinaldo De Luca for a brief second. The sound of her shoes clicking on the stone road drew the attention of De Luca and his two cronies.
"Is that..." De Luca uttered.
He peered past his captives and noted somebody running by. His eyes went wide went he recognized the purple flower in the passerby's hair.
"That... that was the Ridgemount brat!"
Emma, Johnny, and Broseph all gasped as they looked at each other.
"Could it be... LO?" they all shouted in unison.
De Luca pointed at one of his cronies and motioned for him to give chase. He complied, leaving only one henchman with his gun trained on the trio.
"Run, Lo!" Emma suddenly screamed. "RUN!"
Lo was just in range to hear her friend's loud plea, but she did not dare take a second to question her decision to follow Jack's orders. Instead, she kept running, as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Quiet, you!" De Luca shouted at Emma.
Emma, in fright, quickly wrapped her arms around Johnny's waist.
"Of all the times," Johnny thought, having finally succeeded in having Emma all over him, but knowing this was not the time or place to be proud for that.
"Can't we talk about this?" Broseph appealed. "Like over beaver tails or somethin'?"
But De Luca did not seem pleased with that friendly offer.
"You eat the tails of beavers? You Canadian teenagers are what is wrong with the world today!"
"Huh?" Broseph scratched his head, not getting the connotation that the mafia don had come up with. "But they're really good, man."
"ACK!"
The odd conversation was interrupted by the yelping of the man that De Luca had sent to chase after Lo. De Luca got even angrier at this new development, and reached into his inner shirt pocket to pull out his own handgun.
"It must be the guy that the boss said is with Ridgemount," the man thought to himself.
He quietly motioned for the other henchman to start making his way down the street to investigate. De Luca trained his gun on the teenage trio as he began to shout down the alleyway.
"I know you are there, you stinkin' spy!"
At the word spy, Emma slowly loosened her grip around Johnny, unsure of why their captor was shouting at the top of his lungs. And not at them, but at someone else who she figured was in hiding nearby.
"Mister Hope is not happy about you tearing up his island fortress! He is not pleased that you took away his bargaining chip!"
He went silent briefly, as Emma and company tried to figure out what he meant by that, while De Luca's henchman sneaked closer to the alley intersection.
"I know the Ridgemount heiress is with you! So you better turn her over to me! As much as I'd like to offer Hope these three to take her place, there's no guarantee that they have the same amount of value. And if they end up worthless to my boss, then they are worthless to me! So..."
The second henchman was only a few steps away from the corner.
"Give me Ridgemount now, or else!"
Emma, Johnny, and Broseph, with their backs turned away from where the henchman was heading, were not sure what was happening. That is, until...
"GOTCHA!"
The man, having reached the open end of the alley, turned to his right with gun drawn, pointing it forward. He stood there for a few seconds, but nothing happened.
"What's going on?" De Luca shouted at his man.
As De Luca put his focus on his crony, Broseph's eyes randomly darted upward and to the left... and he was shocked, to say the least, to see a man in a tuxedo crawling on the fire escape just above De Luca's head.
Broseph quickly elbowed Johnny in the side, getting his attention. Before Johnny could ask the reason why, he noticed that Broseph was looking at something, and his instincts told him to do the same. And upon seeing Johnny's head move, Emma also followed suit.
Soon, Johnny and Emma were seeing what Broseph was. Or, to be more precise, whom...
"Is that..." Johnny began to mouth.
"YOU!" Emma exclaimed loudly, pointing at the person up there.
"WHAT?" De Luca yelled.
He saw Emma's finger and quickly turned, ready to fire first and ask questions later. But the person jumped down before he could pull the trigger, and the two of them fell to the ground.
The tuxedo-clad man was Jack, and he had pinned De Luca's arms to the ground, including the one with the gun in it.
"It's you!" Emma remembered, pointing at him. "You're the guy who kidnapped Lo!"
"Quick!" Jack shouted at them. "Run! First left, then a right! GO!"
"ARMAND!" De Luca yelled down the alley.
The man at the other end of the alley looked back down, and upon seeing what was going on, immediately opened fire. Emma dived for the ground, hands on her head, just avoiding having the first bullet hitting her square in the noggin, which would have certainly killed her instantly. Johnny and Broseph had done the same, and they were lying on the ground next to her.
"GO!" Jack shouted again.
De Luca managed to clenches his unarmed fist and pull it upwards, where it connected with Jack's right cheek. The hard punch made Jack shout in pain, but it was not enough to knock him off of the mafia don.
Meanwhile, more shots were fired from the henchman, Armand, who was running back to help his boss. Johnny realized the dire situation they were in, as Broseph had followed Emma's lead and put his hands on his head, hoping to lay there and somehow stay out of the crossfire.
But Johnny, although he was scared as well, knew they had no chance at survival if they remained there. So he quickly got to his feet, pulled Emma and Broseph to their feet, and tugged them down the side street.
"Dude!" Broseph shouted, in a panic.
"Johnny!" Emma did likewise.
"Just RUN!" Johnny yelled.
Jack continued to tussle with De Luca, but he had more problems as Armand started firing at him. The spy jumped off of the mafia boss in the nick of time and quickly bolted for cover behind a nearby dumpster. De Luca raised his armed hand and fired two rounds, but both of them missed the mark as Jack reached the bin safely.
"Sir?" Armand ran over to check on him, with one eye directed on where Jack was hiding.
"I'm fine," De Luca pushed his henchman away. "Those three kids are getting away! Take care of them!"
"Right, boss!"
Armand turned his attention to the escaping teenagers, and saw that they were about to reach the next intersection. Broseph had taken the lead, running under his own power, while Johnny continued to tug Emma along, still too panic-stricken to keep pace without help.
Seeing the weakness, Armand again aimed for Emma's head. But just as he was about to pull the trigger, Jack peeked out from the dumpster and, having taken out his own standard-issue firearm out of his tux, fired one shot at the henchman.
Jack was going for a shot to the head, but his aim was slightly off, and instead, the bullet nicked him in Armand's shooting shoulder.
"Gah!" Armand winced, as he abandoned his own kill shot and instead run for cover, clutching the area he was shot at with his free hand.
As he saw his crony run one, De Luca went the other, ducking behind the side of the building across from Jack, giving him just enough cover to keep either of them from firing on each other without coming out.
"Armand!" De Luca yelled. "Go!"
De Luca then revealed himself and fired several rounds at Jack's location, giving his henchman cover fire so he could give chase.
Meanwhile, as instructed, after making a left, Johnny, Broseph, and Emma made a right. They continued down the alley, which had an awkward acute blind left turn at the end of it. The trio turned the corner... and gasped in shock.
The other end of the alley was closed off by a tall fence, leaving them trapped.
"Oh man!" Broseph shouted, turning to Johnny. "We're cooked!"
To be continued...
Author's Notes:
Bum bum BUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
If you were expecting a break after the previous action-filled chapter, you were wrong! Emma, Johnny, and Broseph came looking for Lo, and now they're probably wishing they had found her somewhere else.
So, what happens next? Can you guess? Do Lo's friends get out of Venice alive? You'll have to come back for the next chapter to see how it all plays out!