CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Five hours later…
Faison and Helena set, enjoying a late lunch when the telephone call arrives. Faison grumbles to himself and answers the call.
"Yes? What?! Are you sure it’s them? Ok. Sooner than I expected, but that’s ok. Get the chopper together. I’ll go get the boy. No the girl stays here. I don’t have room for her and I no longer have any need for her anyway. Just get the chopper ready," Faison hangs up the phone and rises from the table.
"Where are you going may I ask?" Helena follows him to the door.
"My dear, I’m leaving you here on this ship to wait for Luke Spencer to show up for his son. In the meantime, I’ll take young Spencer and flee. It’s been fun," Faison nods and is about to dart out the door when he’s stopped again by Helena.
"You can’t leave me here alone to face Luke! He’s already threatened my life once! He’s not one to do so a second time! Plus there’s my grandson! He’ll never trust me if I’m found here when you’ve been holding lucky!"
"My dear Helena, you won’t be alone. Miss. Webber ought to be adequate company and I’m sure you can come up with a story to get you out of trouble. Now I’ll say it again, it’s been a pleasure," Faison removes himself from her grasp and darts out, leaving Helena staring after him in shock, a jeweled hand on her throat.
Elizabeth and Lucky are both setting on her bed, cuddled close with one another. Elizabeth had had another nightmare about her rape for the first time in years and it bothered her. The rape was long behind her…she should no longer be having nightmares about it. Lucky of course was there to comfort her.
She was just starting to feel better when Faison barges in, gun drawn. Both Lucky and Elizabeth stand up, shocked by the sudden intrusion. It’s obvious something big is about to happen by the rushed glare in Faison’s eyes.
"You. Let’s go," Faison points the gun at Lucky.
"Where?" Lucky asked, not making a move. He was going nowhere with Faison in the state the older man was in. "And why?"
"Doesn’t matter. Now come on! Or do I have to use forceful measures!" Faison points the gun at a stunned Elizabeth.
Lucky takes one look at Elizabeth and another at Faison and nods. He takes one step towards Faison when she grabs his arm.
"Lucky no! Don’t go! I’ll never see you again! I just know it," Elizabeth begins to cry, clinging to his arm. Something deep inside told her not to let Lucky leave with Faison by any means.
Lucky takes another look at Faison, who’s still brandishing the gun and aiming for Elizabeth. He knew that Faison was serious. He’d shoot Elizabeth without a second thought if it got him what he wanted. Lucky knew then that he didn’t have a choice. He had to go or risk losing Elizabeth forever. At least this way, there was a chance that he could escape and return to her.
"Elizabeth…I have to go. I don’t have a choice," Lucky looks at Faison again, who’s growing more and more impatient by the second. "Listen, I have a feeling that my dad will be here soon. You’ll be rescued."
"No. Not without you. I’m not letting you go without me."
"You don’t have a choice here Elizabeth."
"Lucky…"
Lucky gently strokes her cheek. "I promise you this Elizabeth. I’ll come back to you. I promise."
Elizabeth sobbed, letting her tears drip to the floor. She knew she had lost. She just had to trust in Lucky and believe that he’ll keep his promise and return to her someday. "I love you."
Lucky smiles and kisses her gently. "I love you too."
Faison by this time has lost all patience. He roughly grabs Lucky’s arm and drags him away from Elizabeth. "I said come on!"
"Lucky!!!" Elizabeth cries racing after them.
Lucky takes one more glance at her before Faison slams the door shut and locks it. "Hope you enjoyed your time with your ladylove," Faison sneered. "Now come on!"
Ten minutes later, Lucky is shoved into a helicopter just as the helicopter containing Luke and company lands on the ship deck. A tear escapes as he catches the last sighting of his father and brother exiting the chopper, guns drawn. He silently sends a prayer that Nikolas will once again take care of Elizabeth for him. She was going to need him after this.
Luke steps off the chopper and curses under his breath as he sees another chopper lift off and disappear into the horizon.
"Faison?" Anna appears behind Luke.
"Probably. But my son may still be on this ship. Let’s look around," Luke disappears into the nearest door, not noticing that Nikolas was just standing in one place, staring into the space where the other chopper once was.
"Nikolas?" Annah asks concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Lucky. Lucky was on that chopper. I know it," Nikolas replied, his voice full of emotion. "We lost him."
"No. We don’t know that. Come on. Let’s search. We’ll stick together," Anna smiled reassuringly at the young man, leading him deeper into the ship.
Elizabeth lays face down on Lucky’s bed, clutching the pillowing, crying endlessly. Every once in a while sobbing his name. She’s unaware of the door unlocking and of the two people entering the room until they’re right up on her. Fear growing in her chest, she turns to meet Nikolas’s warm brown eyes, filled with tears of their own.
"Liz?"
"Oh Nikolas!" Elizabeth cried, throwing her arms around his neck. "He took Lucky! He took him away and there was nothing I could do to stop him!"
"Faison?" A brunette woman with a British accent asked.
Elizabeth sniffed and nods. "He pointed a gun at me and told Lucky if he resisted that he’d shoot me."
"And of course Lucky didn’t resist," Nikolas sighed.
"It’s all my fault Nikolas! If I wasn’t here there would’ve been no way that Lucky would let Faison take him away!" Elizabeth sobbed.
"No Liz. This isn’t your fault. None of this is. And don’t worry. We’ll find Lucky. I know we will," Nikolas rubbed her back.
Anna watched the young man, her heart going out to him. Not only did he just lose his brother again, but he was fighting some pretty intense feelings for his brother’s girlfriend. "Come on, let’s find Luke and Robert. Maybe they found some clues about where Faison took Lucky."
"Come on Liz," Nikolas helps her off the bed and follows Anna out the door.
They find Luke next door and Robert next door, both holding a gun on a livid Helena.
"Grandmother!" Nikolas steps forward, turning Elizabeth over to Anna. "What in the hell are you doing here and what did you do with my brother!"
Helena gulped. She was trapped and she knew it. There had to be a way out. Maybe if she played on Nikolas’s feelings…make him feel sorry for her. "Oh dearest Nikolas…I tried. I tried to stop Faison, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He refused to release your brother. It was a miracle that I got him to release Miss. Webber"
"What?" Nikolas asked, turning to look at Elizabeth who just shrugs her shoulders, not having a clue about what Helena was talking about.
"Faison told me his plan to escape with both Elizabeth and Lucky. I begged and pleaded with him…I even gave him money. I thought I had won when his face softened and he agreed to let Elizabeth go. But then he turned and said that Lucky would be remaining with him until he saw fit. I’m sorry Nikolas! I tried!" Helena forces tears to her eyes.
"Tried my foot!" Luke slams his fist on a near by table and scoots up into Helena’s face. "You didn’t try Helena! You probably sat back and watched what that bastard did to my son! You just set back and let him take off with Lucky in tow! Didn’t you! Admit it!"
"Nikolas you have to believe me!" Helena wailed.
"Enough!" Robert interrupts Helena’s weeping grandmother act. "This isn’t going to help us get Lucky back! Obviously Helena doesn’t know where Faison may be taking Lucky. How about you?" Robert turns to Elizabeth. "Did Faison say anything that can give us his future location or anything?"
"No," Elizabeth shakes her head. "He just barged in, grabbed Lucky and left. He didn’t say much. Just a bunch of threats."
"You poor dear," Anna strokes the teenagers hair. Elizabeth brought out Anna’s maternal instinct. She reminded her so much of Robin. Anna wondered what her daughter was like at this age and did she have a boy she loved like Elizabeth?
Luke looks up at Elizabeth as if he’s seeing her for the first time. He immediately goes to her and takes the girl into his arms. "Cowgirl. How are you holding up?"
"He just took him Luke. There was nothing I could do. He just took him," Elizabeth breaks into refreshed sobs. "I lost him again!"
"Shhh darlin’. We’ll get him back. I promise," Luke rocked her, trying to calm her sobs. "Robert, we’ll find nothing here. Let’s just pack up and get Elizabeth home and leave the hellcat here to stew in her own juices."
"Ok," Robert nods, before leaning down to face Helena. "If I ever find out that you are anyway responsible for this, I’m coming after you with both barrels? Got it?"
Helena nods then looks at her glowering Grandson. "Nikolas! Shall I be expecting you for tea next week? I can give you a full account of what I know about your brother?!"
Nikolas glares at her and steps up beside Robert. "Don’t count on it Helena. And if you did have anything to do with this, trust me, I’ll be joining Mr. Scorpio here when he comes after you, and there’ll be no anecdote for you after I get through with you."
"Oh I like this kid Luke. Are you sure he’s Stavros son?" Robert laughed.
"I think he’s getting more of Laura in him everyday," Luke laughed.
"Let’s get out of here. The sight of my grandmother is making me ill," Nikolas glared one last time at Helena before following Luke and the others out of the door.
Lucky stares at the ship floating in the middle of nowhere, all his thoughts with Elizabeth. Faison grins in satisfaction. The stage was set for the next phase of his plan. All of Lucky’s attention was projected on that ship and the girl he left behind.
"You do understand that it was futile that we got off that ship don’t you?" Faison asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well it was a meaning of life and death. Our enemies would have caught up with us."
Lucky looked at Faison, a weird gleam in his eyes. "But what about Elizabeth?"
"Oh yes. Elizabeth. She should be safe. They’re not after her. But then again…," Faison reaches behind him, where Lucky couldn’t see and pressed a button. All of a sudden the helicopter is rocked by a fierce explosion. Lucky turns and his eyes widen as he watches the cruise ship become a ball of fire. Debris was scattered everywhere. Faison was right. It was a good thing they were off that ship. There would be no way they would have survived.
But wait a minute. Elizabeth was on that ship! No! "ELIZABETH!!!" Lucky screamed in total heartbreak, helplessly watching the burning wreckage. "ELIZABETH!!!"
"Oh no. I was wrong. Poor girl. She did love you so," Faison lays a comforting hand on Lucky’s shoulder, who was now weeping openly. "You know what this means don’t you? You only have me now. Your family could care less about you or they would have saved you before this happened. And Elizabeth…the only one who truly loved you…she’s dead. Gone forever. I’m the only one who cares about you now Lucky. I’m the only one who’ll take care of you."
"Who’s responsible for this?" Lucky asked, fire in his eyes.
"What?"
"Who’s responsible for killing Elizabeth?" Lucky turns and glares at Faison.
"I don’t know Lucky…such information can be dangerous…"
"Tell me!!!" Lucky grabs Faison’s collar roughly.
Faison sighed and looks away from Lucky. "Okay. Since you’re so gung ho on the subject….your father’s so-called best friend. Robert Scorpio."