"Where on Earth is Lauren Ridgemount?"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Hey... six months later, and I'm finally back to finish this thing! Good, too, because I believe last time, I left you all on a major cliffhanger.
Anyway, this is Chapter 7. There are two chapters left after this one, and you'll see them both next week. If any of the cast gets through this ordeal in Venice, of course!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Stoked' belong to Fresh TV, Inc., Teletoon, and Cartoon Network.
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Chapter Seven - Italian Incident (08.22.11)
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Johnny, Emma, and Broseph had just escaped from their captor, Italian don Rinaldo De Luca. But one of his men were right on their tail, and he would surely bring their lives to an end if he found them. But the trio, having followed the instructions of the man who had helped them escape, even though he was the same guy they believed kidnapped Lo, had just hit a dead end.
A dead end made of a tall chain-link fence.
"What now?" Emma asked. "We're dead! Literally!"
"I knew this wasn't a good day to get out of bed!" remarked Broseph. "Now, I'll never see my bed ever again!"
"Stay calm!" Johnny told them. "We're gonna find a way out of this!"
Lo was hiding in the shadows, trying to stay out of sight in case any of De Luca's men had chased her. Suddenly, she heard a voice in her ear.
Jack's voice.
"Lo! Can you hear me?"
Lo snapped to attention and responded.
"I'm here! Where are you?"
"Never mind that! Remember the screwdriver I gave you?"
Lo glanced down in her left hand and saw the item in question.
"Near you there's a drainage grate that leads into the canal. Do you see it?"
Lo quickly scanned her surroundings. It did not take her long to find the grate in question.
"Yes! I see it, Jack!"
"Good! Use the screwdriver to undo the screws. Your friends are on the other side!"
"They're WHAT?"
Like a madman, Lo began unscrewing the grate as fast as she could. Once she had pulled out the first screw, she yelled into the pipe.
"EMMA! EMMA!"
"EMMA!"
Emma's ears perked up upon hearing her name.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME, EMMA?"
"Do you hear that?" Emma asked aloud as she tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. "That's Lo's voice!"
"What?" Johnny gasped in surprise.
"EMMA!" Lo yelled again.
Emma eventually pinpointed that Lo was shouting from inside a nearby draining pipe, to which there was no cover. She got down on all fours and took a peek inside.
"LO! ARE YOU IN THERE?"
On the other side, Lo felt as if she wanted to jump for joy. But she knew she did not have time for it now... especially if she wanted Emma and the others to survive.
"EMMA, QUICK! FOLLOW THE SOUND OF MY VOICE! HURRY!"
She then set to work to undo the other screws on the grate...
"Guys!" Emma looked at the boys. "This way!"
She began to crawl into the grate, and Johnny and Broseph gathered on either side of her.
"Dude," Broseph quickly observed. "I don't think me and my fro's gonna fit in there."
"It's going to have to!" Johnny shouted. "We don't have any other options!"
Once Emma was all the way in, Johnny motioned for Broseph to go next. He put his hands over his head to keep his fro as flat as possible, then began to crawl into the pipe.
"Just relax and keep your legs moving forward!" advised Johnny. "If you keep moving, you won't get stuck!"
"Got it, guy!" Broseph said in response.
"Come on, come on!" Lo kept telling herself. "What good are friends if they're dead?"
She had just finished undoing the third screw and had moved on to the last one. She got it about halfway out, then tossed the screwdriver aside and just pulled the grate out of the wall. She then got down on all fours and leaned forward to stick her head inside to see how close Emma and the others were.
"Em- OW!"
But she ended bumping heads with Emma, who was right there at the exit. Lo immediately pulled back out, rubbing her forehead with the fingers on her left hand as Emma started crawling out on that end of the pipe.
"Unh!" groaned Emma, before looking up at Lo. "A little help?"
Lo bent down, grabbed her friend by the arm, and pulled her the rest of the way out. Once Emma was up and on her feet, the two girls shared a hug.
"Oh, Lo! Am I glad to see you again!"
"Me too! When we get out of this, we SO need to catch up on the last few days!"
Back on the other side, Broseph was almost completely in the pipe when Johnny began to hear footsteps coming their way.
"Crud! He's coming, he's coming!"
Johnny began crawling into the pipe, almost directly behind Broseph, trying to get out of sight before their pursuer could see their escape route.
"Go, go!" Johnny shouted, pushing on the upper part of Broseph's legs.
"Dude, watch the hands!" Broseph shouted, feeling very uncomfortable.
"Oddness later! Trying to stay alive, now!"
"We saw that guy who kidnapped you!" Emma told Lo. "For someone who's a grade-A jerk and a sleaze ball..."
"I promise to explain the sitch later," Lo cut her off, "but now's not the time!"
"A little help, betties?" Broseph's voice interrupted.
The girls looked down and saw Broseph's fro beginning to emerge, as well as one of his arms. The other, well...
"I think I'm stuck!"
"AAH!" the girls screamed. "Not good, not good!"
Lo and Emma reached down, grabbed a part of Broseph's arm, and started pulling as hard as they could.
"Pull!" shouted Emma. "PULL!"
Inside the pipe, Broseph felt the girls pulling on his arm, and at the same time, Johnny trying to push Broseph out by using his own hands, which were pressed against his butt cheeks.
"Come on!" Johnny shouted. "I don't wanna die in a drainage pipe halfway on the other side of the world!"
With the trio's combined efforts, though, they succeeded in freeing Broseph from the pipe. Well, at least enough so that he got his trapped arm unstuck and he could crawl the rest of the way out under his own power.
"Eeeewww..." the girls winced, seeing that there was dirt and mold and perhaps other things now on his hair, having been picked up as if his fro was a mop.
"What?" Broseph shrugged in confusion. "Something in my hair?"
"A LOT of somethings," pointed out Emma, prior to covering her mouth in an attempt to keep herself from gagging.
Once Broseph was clear of the exit, Johnny crawled out with ease.
"Lauren!" Lo heard Jack's voice from her earpiece. "Make a break for the pier! Jemma's waiting for you!"
"Got it!"
As Johnny got to his feet, Lo grabbed Emma by the arm and started pulling her in the direction of the pier.
"We've got to go! Now!"
Emma let her friend pull her away, and the boys followed them without question.
Meanwhile, their pursuer, Armand, had found the open pipe which they had crawled too. He immediately recognized that he was too big to fit in, so he started running back out of the dead-end alley, having to take the long way around to catch his prey.
The four teens turned the corner, returning to the pier where Emma and the guys had gotten off their tour gondola earlier. And sure enough, Jemma was waiting for them in a white speedboat. The boys ran ahead and hopped in first, and then they turned to help the girls aboard. Once all four of them were on, Jemma quickly reached for the throttle lever and pushed it all the way forward. The boat took off like a rocket, reaching its top speed in just a few seconds. Jemma took hold of the wheel and guided the boat into the tight, narrow waterways.
"I can't believe it!" Johnny shouted with relief. "We're alive! We're alive!"
"Don't get too excited," Jemma warned them. "As long as we're on their turf, we're not safe."
"I'm just glad to see you safe and sound!" Emma said, as she wrapped her arms around Lo and hugged her again.
"And so will Mister Ridgemount," added Johnny, "once we tell him that we've found you!"
"Yeah, guys," Lo stopped him there. "About that..."
Before she could explain their situation, their waterway merged with another, and out of that side passage emerged Jack, riding a jet ski that he had happened to borrow in order to escape. He was wearing an all-black safety vest, which he proceeded to unbuckle with one hand while keeping his other on the handlebars.
"Lauren!"
"Jack!"
The two water vehicles were now side by side, running the same speed as they continued to traverse the waterways.
"Jump!" Jack shouted at Lo. "Hurry!"
"What? Are you serious?"
"Is he serious?" repeated Johnny.
"Couldn't we stop first?"
"We don't have time for that! Jump!"
Lo gulped, then glanced to her friends, then back at Jack. Ahead, they were barreling towards a T-intersection, where they had to turn left or right. Lo was debating what to do, and that worried Emma.
"You're not seriously thinking of..."
"Tell Daddy I'll be home soon."
With that, Lo jumped from the deck of the moving speedboat and onto Jack's still-in-motion jet ski. She landed on her butt, just behind the seat, and almost slid right off. Jack had reached back in the nick of time to save her, and with one arm, he pulled her back up. He then had to redirect his attention to driving, as the intersection was upon them. The jet ski turned left, while the motorboat went right.
"LOOOOOOO!" Emma screamed from the back of the boat.
Lo looked back with worry, seeing her best friend scream her name. But she was quickly out of hearing range before she could mount a response.
"Don't worry," Jack reassured Lo. "Jemma will get them to safety. Besides, now that De Luca knows you're here, he'll forget about them and send all of his men after us!"
"Man," groaned Lo. "For once, it sucks to be the desirable one!"
They reached another T-intersection, and this time Jack turned right. Good thing, too, because to their left were three jet skis, two of them being piloted by De Luca's men, and the third by the don himself.
"Take the bars, lass!" commanded Jack.
Lo quickly climbed around Jack and grabbed a hold of the handlebars. Once she was in front of her, Jack hastily undid the rest of the buckles on his vest and took it off. He then gave it to Lo.
"Put this on!"
Lo complied, putting it on one arm at a time while her other kept a hold of the bars. As that was happening, Jack turned around so that he was facing his pursuers.
"Kill the spy!" De Luca ordered, as he pulled out his handgun.
His henchmen also pulled out their guns, and immediately those two opened fire. Jack slid his firearm out of the side of his pants and started returning the fire. Lo instinctively lowered her head, keeping it down while continuing to guide the boat through the water.
"Take this!" bellowed Jack.
He shot one of the pursuers in the arm, and he was forced to let go of his handlebars and back out of the chase. But the other henchman fired a shot that zipped past Jack and hit Lo in her right side, just a few inches above her waist.
"UNH!"
"It's okay!" Jack told her without looking back. "You're wearing a bulletproof vest! You'll be fine!"
Lo winced, still feeling the pain of being shot even though the vest had done its job and kept it from piercing her skin.
"But what if one of those jokers hits me in the head?"
"Just keep your head down like a good girl and that won't happen!"
Lo gritted through the pain and drove them through a series of sharp turns, the distance between them and De Luca and his men great enough that they had lost sight of them. But once they had emerged from there, Lo looked back and saw them reappear once again. To make matters worse, they were coming into a wide-open area where there was a lot of gondola traffic, as well as other boats parked along the sides of the channel. Screams could be heard from locals and tourists alike as panic set in and they all fled the scene, to be replaced with machine gun-wielding, sharply-dressed mafia men.
"We're gonna die!" Lo began repeating upon seeing their dire situation. "We're gonna die!"
"OPEN FIRE!" De Luca shouted.
Without warning, Jack jumped off of the jet ski and forcefully pulled Lo off with him. Dozens and dozens of bullets rained down on the jet ski, many hitting the engine and killing it instantly. It slowed to a stop as De Luca came upon it. All of the henchmen in the surrounding area commandeered some nearby boats and made their way out to him.
"Find them! FIND THEM!"
A few dived into the water, not caring that in doing so, they were ruining suits that cost them several hundred dollars each, as they searched for Jack and Lo both above and under the water.
But just a couple hundred feet away, Jack emerged in a nearby side canal, swimming into it. He let go of Lo, as it was too narrow for them to proceed side-by-side. But she got the hint, and followed after him. They eventually reached a part where the water became shallow, so they got up onto their feet and walked the rest of the way out.
Staying along the back alleys, they eventually escaped from the city and out of De Luca's clutches.
The pair hitched a ride, with the help of another local contact of Jack's, and they made their way to the city of Verona, an hour and a half's drive away. They shacked up in a small, Romanesque apartment in the downtown area, though a few blocks away from the tourist-heavy areas.
Inside their third-story abode for the night, Lo was in the midst of washing of all of the sweat, dirt, and germs off of her body as she laid in a bathtub full of water. Her entire body was submerged with the exception of her head and the upper portion between that and her chest. Her head was resting against the porcelain top, her eyes closed as she faced up at the ceiling.
"I thought this day would never end," Lo thought to herself. "And all this because some pompous big-shot wants to buy out my... I mean, Daddy's, resort!"
She took a deep breath as she attempted to clear her head and recount the events of the day.
"And he was willing to have the mafia kill my friends to get to them? That's beyond low! I swear, when I inherit Surfer's Paradise, the first thing I'm gonna do is make sure lowlifes like him are run out of the business!"
Again, Lo took another deep breath. In doing so, she did not hear or notice the door to the bathroom open. Or Jack as he walked in.
"I wonder... how did Emma and the others know we'd be in Venice? Did Jack tell them? Or did they have someone help them? Speaking of which... I hope they're all okay."
As if he had heard Lo's thoughts, Jack answered them.
"Jemma got them out of Italy. She made sure they caught a flight safely back to Canada."
Lo opened her eyes and turned just in time to see Jack walk away from the nearby sink counter, having left some clothes for her to change into afterwards.
"All they know," Jack continued with his back to Lo, "is that you went with me of your own free will, and that I enlisted your help in taking down someone who has it in for your father. It's better this way... no need to endanger them any further..."
With that, Jack left the room, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later, Lo's face became flush with redness after coming to a startling realization.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
She lowered herself into the tub, covering her chest up with her arms and submerging it, leaving only her head above water.
20 minutes later, Jack was smiling as he sat a table, sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea. Not just because of the tea, but also because he loved the silk, navy blue chemise that he had picked out for Lo. The one she happened to be wearing as she stomped into the room.
"You look lovely this evening, Miss Ridgemount," Jack complimented her. "It fits you well."
Lo stopped in front of him, putting one hand on her hip and the other alongside it, running down her thigh. The bottom end of the chemise was fairly short, as it ended only a few inches below her thighs.
"What's the big idea?" she asked.
"What?" Jack shrugged. "You said you were an extra small, my dear."
"Not THIS! Although I like the fabric, genuine silk, and how it clings to me... but I'm talking about the bathroom! HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE?"
Jack let out a little chortle as he sat there, in a purple satin robe, before getting up with his cup in hand and starting to walk towards the hallway and to his bedroom for the night.
"You're inferring that there was anything to see, princess."
Lo gasped, taking that to mean he did see pretty much everything, so she picked up an empty teacup and threw it at Jack's head. But her aim was off, so it ended up smashing upon hitting the wall next to the doorway of his bedroom instead.
"Jerk!"
Jack closed the door behind him, and upon doing so, whipped out his cell phone. He got on speed dial to reach his desired number.
"You home?"
Jack waited for whomever was on the other end to give a response, and then he replied...
"Very well. I'll be there in 30."
Half an hour later, Jack drove a 2010 yellow Lamborghini Murciélago up a cobblestone driveway leading to a villa just a few miles outside of the city. He got out, lifting up the scissor doors to exit the vehicle, then closed them back down before heading for the front door. He had changed into an all-black tuxedo with a bow tie, and he was carrying a bouquet of multi-colored roses as he walked up the pathway to the front door.
"Alright," Jack told himself after ringing the door bell, "this should be just a simple information exchange and..."
He stopped upon hearing the lock on the door being undone. It then swung open, and he was greeted by the sight of Jemma, wearing nothing but a fire engine red negligee that left very little to the imagination.
"Oh, Jack," Jemma cooed, "aren't you a little overdressed?"
Jack playfully fired back. "Aren't you a little under?"
The two then locked lips, letting their emotions dictate their actions. They continued to do so as Jack picked Jemma off of the ground, carried her inside, and kicked the front door closed behind them.
Soon enough, they had made it to her bedroom, and Jack was already in the process of undressing, having already undone his bow tie and tossing it aside back in the hallway, as well as his jacket. He started to undo all of the buttons on his white dress shirt as Jemma lied down on top of her bed. She sat there, waiting for him to finish... but he decided to keep his shirt on after completely unbuttoning.
"It's no fun if I show all my cards at once," he said with a smirk.
Jemma giggled as Jack climbed onto the bed and positioned himself over her. His lips then met hers once again, as they continued their make-out session.
Lo opened her eyes, frustrated that she could not get to sleep. She pulled her left hand out from underneath the covers of her bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to her. She sat up, still dressed in the silk chemise that Jack had given her earlier - not that she had any choice - and thought about what she could do to pass the time.
She felt as if she wanted to call her parents back home. To assure them that she was fine and that she would be home soon. But she did not know if she could call long distance from where she was. Still, she tossed the covers aside and got out of bed, giving herself more time to contemplate her decision as she went to locate the phone in the apartment.
She exited her bedroom and started making her way to the kitchen. Once she got there, she saw a note taped to the refrigerator. Lo rolled her eyes.
"Sheesh! What does he think I am, a little kid?"
Jack's voice emanated in her head as she read the note to herself.
"Lauren... I'm going to an acquaintance's house to help us arrange for covert transport to the UK. My number's below in case of an emergency... do not go outside the apartment for any reason!"
She crumpled up the note and tossed it over her shoulder and onto the floor. She wandered over to the other side of the kitchen, and found the wall-mounted telephone begging for her to use it. But as she approached it, something else caught her attention out of the corner of her eye... and it made her gasp.
"What... is... THAT? EEEEEEEEEE!"
To be continued...
Author's Notes:
So what do you think Lo found? Something good? Or something bad?
Also, you're probably wondering... how come Reef and Fin weren't with Emma and the guys? You'll find out that answer in the two-part finale, which starts with a trip to the UK, and then... who knows? Well, I do, but the only way you'll find out is to check out the last two chapters of "Where on Earth is Lauren Ridgemount?" next week!