Second Chances Part 2- The Trouble with Teenagers

Second Chances Part 2 - The trouble with Teenagers by Bethhawke

Chapter 5

Five minutes before the arranged meeting time Marella and Josh sat in Marella's car close to the school. It was very busy with kids just enjoying a Friday afternoon and it was impossible to tell if the kidnappers where watching the phone booth. At 1 minute to 5 o'clock Josh left the car and nervously walked to the phone booth. Just as his watch clicked onto the hour the phone rang.
“Hello?” Josh answered the phone.
“Have you got the money?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Take it to the mall parking lot. Near the north entrance you will see a Chevrolet parked under a broken light. Put the money in the trunk. Don't bother trying to trace the car, it's stolen.”
“What about my brother?”
“Just do as I say and you'll receive a phone call at the house telling you where to find him.”
“But.....”
“Do as I say or he dies.” The phone was hung up.
Josh ran back to the car, clutching the bag of money to his chest. Marella, seeing the stricken look on his face, asked him what was wrong.
“They're not planning an exchange. They want me to leave the money and they'll phone the house to tell me where Cody is.”
Marella hurriedly phoned Archangel who in turn contacted Airwolf.
“Hawke, are you tracking the money?” In the lining of the bag was a homing device which Dominic was tracking from inside Airwolf.
“The signal is clear. No problems this end.”
“Good, because they're not planning an exchange. We leave the money with them and then they contact us.”
“Hey, that's not playing by the rules,” an outraged Dominic exclaimed from the rear seat of Airwolf.
Hawke turned his head for a brief glance at his friend, “They don't have to play by any rules, they have the kid,” he said grimly, “suggestions, Michael.”
Michael debated for a heartbeat, “Play it out, Hawke. Just don't lose them.”
“Understood. Airwolf out.”


They tracked Marella's car, with the money inside, to the parking lot, then flew a little closer as Josh transferred the money to the trunk of the Chevrolet to get a clear scan of the car's registration. As soon as they had the information they moved away again, not wanting to arouse suspicion.
“You think they'll switch cars?” Dominic asked a quiet Hawke.
“Yeah, but it shouldn't be a problem as long as they keep the money with them in the bag.”
“And what if they don't? You thought of that?”
“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Just keep watching the monitor.”
“There's a kid's life at stake here, string!”
“You think I don't know that!” Hawke was getting exasperated at Dominic, “That's why I'm trying to concentrate. Like you should be,” he added pointedly.


Sitting in a car, just a few bays away from the Chevrolet, the kidnappers watched as Josh placed the bag of money in the trunk, got back into Marella's car and drove away.
As soon as they were out of sight Jack moved to open the door. Tony grabbed his arm.
“Where d'you think you're going?”
“To get the money of course,” his shook his arm, “get off me.”
Tony held on tighter, “They could have the cops watching the car. We wait.”
“For how long. That trunk isn't locked, anyone could steal the money!”
“Then keep watch. I'm going to have a walk around, if I don't see anything suspicious, then we get the money.”
Tony walked slowly around the parking lot, looking inside parked cars and up at the mall windows, his dark sunglasses obscuring his eyes. Then, ever so casually, he approached the Chevrolet, fully expecting the cops to came screeching around the corner. When nothing happened, he opened the trunk and took out the bag before returning to his brother-in-law.
Confident that they were not being followed, they drove a short distance before dumping the car and wiping it clean of prints. Marie, the kids and their belongings were already at the airport, all they had to do was get there and they would be home free; they had used the last of their savings on air fares out of the country.


Sitting in Airwolf, which they had landed in Johnson's large enclosed back garden, Dominic suddenly gave a shout.
“Hey, String, it's moving!”
Hawke ran to Airwolf, quickly donned his helmet and started her up.
They got to the source of the signal just in time to see the two men leaving the car and proceeding on foot. They rounded a corner and jumped on an airport bus just as it was pulling away from the stop.
“They are carrying half a million dollars and they get the bus!” a disgusted Dominic exclaimed as he traced the signal while Hawke kept them at a safe height.
“It's an airport bus, Dom. If they leave the country we may never see the kid again.”
“You don't think they'll keep their word?”
“What do you think,” his tone was sarcastic. “Contact Michael.”
Once connected Hawke wasted no time, “Michael, they're headed for the airport. You wanna send someone to follow them on foot once they get inside?”
“I'll send Marella and Elizabeth. Johnson has been in touch and is on his way home. I'll call his car and get him to go direct to the airport to back the girls.”


At the airport, Jack and Tony located Marie and updated her on the situation, waving the bag of money around without a care.
“You'll phone them now?” she asked the jubilant men.
“What! No way. Maybe when we get out of the country but not yet,” her brother was adamant.
“But he's been locked up for two days without food, water or a toilet!” Marie stated in horror, “you can't just leave him there. He could be dead by the time they find him.”
“Oh, he'll be OK. And shut up before somebody hears you.”
“No!” it came out as a sob, “he's someone's son.” she turned to her husband, “Jack, talk some sense into him. Imagine if it was our son.”
“Who'd kidnap our son,” Jack didn't quite get her reasoning, “we don't have anything to give.”
“We do now!”
“Yeah, we're rich. Let's keep it that way. I'm with Tone on this.”
Marie shut up. She knew when she was beaten and besides she had noticed a beautiful woman, dressed all in white, leaning nonchalantly against the wall near the book stand. She remembered what she had learned about Cody's father and the people he worked for, both from the confidential school files and from eavesdropping on Cody and his girlfriend, and wondered if they had somehow followed the men. Glancing around she spotted another woman in white buying coffee.
“I'm going to buy a book. With any luck the kids will sleep on the plane and I don't want to talk to you two.” She stormed off to the shop.
“Hurry up,” her brother called after her, “they've called our flight.”
Marella saw her coming and quickly opened the book she was holding and pretended to read.
Marie stopped next to her, “Good choice,” she told Marella, picking up a book and pretending to read the cover, “it's about a boy who gets kidnapped and locked up in his school.”
Marella looked at her in amazement and despite her training quietly swore out loud.
Confident that this woman did work for Johnson, Marie slipped a key into her hand, selected a book, paid for it and returned to her family.
“Hurry up then,” she said, as though it hadn't been her holding them up.


Walking towards the departure gate, Marie glanced nervously around, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone stopped them. When her husband and brother had started making plans to kidnap Cody for money, she had gone along with it, thinking they would hold the kid for a day or two, feed him and keep him well before letting him go in exchange for a large amount of money.
She realised now that she had been naïve; both men were cut from the same cloth, drunks who couldn't hold down a job and would do anything for money no matter who they hurt in the process.
As they left the building and walked towards the plane she saw Johnson waiting up ahead. She slowed down, holding tight to the children's hands and let the men go on ahead. Someone bumped into her back and as she turned to apologise Marella spoke quietly to her, “Turn around and come with me.”
She obeyed without hesitation.


Outside on the tarmac, Johnson and a security team surrounded Jack and Tony and took the bag from them. Johnson opened it and confirmed it was the money. “Arrest them,” he demanded.
“Hey, we've done nothing. Get your fuckin' hands off me,” Jack struggled but was pinned to the ground by two bulky guards wielding guns. He surrendered.
Despite the hopeless situation Tony put up a fight. Kicking the man holding him, he tried to make a run for it but the security team were too well trained and all he got for his efforts was a gun held at his head.
“Make one move and I'll shoot,” Tony raised his eyes to see Johnson looking at him intently and he had no doubt that the man meant it. Deflated, Tony surrendered too.


Huddled in the corner of the locked room Cody was beginning to wonder if he would ever be rescued. He had restricted himself to looking at his watch every four hours, or what he estimated was four hours, so he didn't run the battery down by using the light too much. He remembered his excitement when Josh had given him the watch for his last birthday; he had used the light all the time and the battery had gone flat within two weeks. Josh had used all his savings to buy the watch that he knew Cody had been coveting for weeks. The tears started again as he thought about his brother. Josh was a great older brother, he was everything that Cody wasn't; clever, disciplined, good looking and fashionable but he still had time for his younger brother.
If he had timed it correctly it was now Friday evening. Earlier he could hear a constant buzz as the school was filled with noisy teenagers and the boiler was switched on providing hot water. Now it was silent, the school shutting down for the weekend. He couldn't bear to think about the weekend ahead, when the school would be empty and no amount of shouting would bring help. At least when the school was occupied he had hope. He still had no idea why he was here but was sure it must be connected to Captain Hawke and his damned helicopter! Was it really less than a week ago when he and Katy stumbled across it?
He let his thoughts drift back to that night which was special in more ways than one. Not only had he found a top secret helicopter, but he'd also lost his virginity. Katy didn't know that of course, he had pretended he had done it before, but truthfully he had been terrified that she would be able to tell that it was his first time.
Katy had been cold, having worn next to nothing as usual and when they had found the cave she had wanted to take shelter as much to get warm as to smooch with Cody. They had searched the cave, just using light from his watch and Katy's keyring, which had a tiny bright light that made finding the keyhole easier in the dark. They had found blankets and a pile of plastic that turned out to be the sort that had lots of bubbles that was used for packing.
They used the plastic as a bed and covered themselves with the blankets. Groping under the blankets they had only removed the necessary clothing which turned out to be a blessing as any exposed skin was sticking to the plastic and making the bubbles pop. Cody smiled at the memory.
Neither of them had any experience and it was sheer luck that they could find themselves around each other's bodies in the dark. For him it had been a very satisfying experience but he wasn't sure about Katy. She said she had enjoyed it but she didn't make any of the noises that his friends said she would.
Cody wrapped the jacket tighter around himself and, with the events of Sunday night fresh in his memory, he fell asleep.


Marella quizzed Marie, wanting to know where in the school Cody was being held. Marie talked; she wanted to tell her everything but for now all Marella wanted was the location.
As soon as she had the information she rushed to Airwolf. She ran past the security guards and through the departure gate, waving her Firm ID at anyone who tried to block her way. The key was clutched in her left hand.
Archangel had declared an emergency and the airport security staff had cooperated by clearing a runway so Airwolf could land safely. Hawke saw Marella running towards them and climbed out of the cockpit, calling to Dominic to start her up. She was out of breath and struggled to speak.
“Key,” she handed him the key, “school basement. Locked door. Two days no food or water. Hurry Hawke.”
Hawke jogged back to Airwolf and as soon as they were in the air he called for turbos.


Landing on the school sports field, Hawke rushed towards the school building with Dominic close behind. As they got to the main entrance a car pulled into the car park and a man in his fifties climbed out. He was dressed smartly and looked angry.
“What's this all about? I got called away from a charity function that I'm supposed to make a speech at.”
“No time to explain, just open up and take us to the basement,” Hawke took an instant dislike to the man and wasn't in the mood to be civil.
“Your boss must be pretty important to be ordering me about. I really must insist on an explanation,” he demanded haughtily.
“Fuck this!” Hawke exclaimed, grabbing the keys out of the man's hand and unlocking the door himself.
“Well! I'll have to report you to your boss. This is my school.”
“He's not my boss,” Hawke pushed open the double doors while the older man pushed past him to disable the alarm, “and if this is your school, how the fuck did you manage to let a kid be locked up for two days and not notice? Now show us where the basement is or do I have to force you at gunpoint?”
The man backed down instantly as Hawke and Dominic both pulled out their guns, and he pointed down the corridor.
They ran through the deserted corridors, the principal only talking now to gave directions. Finally in the basement Hawke asked where the locked door was.
“At the end, just keep walking.”
When Hawke reached the room he crouched down, his mouth near the keyhole.
“Cody. You in there?” when he received no answer he shouted louder, “CODY.”
“Hello? Hawke?” Hawke and Dominic both breathed a sigh of relief; he was alive.
“Cody, could the door be booby trapped?”
“What?”
“The door. Did the men do anything to the door after they locked you in?”
“I don't think so,” Cody called back, “I think they left straight away. I haven't heard anyone since they left. Hawke, get me out of here, please.”
“OK. Stand back just in case.”
Cody moved to the back of the room and shouted back, “OK!”
Hawke placed the key in the lock and turned it slowly. He heard the lock click and he pushed down on the handle. The door swung open to reveal Cody cowering in the corner, his arms covering his head.
Hawke motioned Dominic forward, remembering what Josh had said about Cody being scared of him. Dom helped him to his feet, “You OK kid?” he asked gently.
Cody nodded and let Dominic help him out of the room.
Hawke patted him on the shoulder, “You're safe now,” he said as Cody burst into tears.