Your son for Mine

chapter 19

None of this would be happening if you weren't so psycho, Abraham Leby. Lucas closed his eyes and willed his brain to go somewhere else for a while. He didn't want to listen to the monologue, the psycho's ramblings anymore. He looked up again. Leby had picked up a broom. He looked at Lucas, then back to the broom. The man brought his hand up to the top of it and stroked it down the length as his mouth turned up in a wicked smile.

"Oh, yeah, this is going to be fun."

The last thing Lucas saw was the broomstick arcing.

towards his head, then he felt a sharp pain, and finally, he felt nothing and sunk into blackness.

Where the fuck are you, lucs? Mario looked down at his phone and then out into the stretch of dirt road that was closer to a hiking trail ahead of him. Nothing but the Wisconsin wilderness on either side of him. Lucas was here somewhere. He was close. The tracker indicated he was within a half mile, though it was only accurate to about a hundred yards. Mario kept scanning as the SUV bumped along. Come on, come on.

Two hours ago, he'd just gotten out of the shower when his phone buzzed at him. He picked it up and his heart sank when he saw it wasn't a call he was receiving, but the tracking beacon. Lucas had activated it. Thank Christ he still had it. Mario had been out the door sixty seconds later. He texted the FBI when he'd gotten into the car. The tracker had Lucas north of Naperville and that's where he started, following along as the location refreshed and changed until it finally came to a stop, in the middle of Wisconsin's back woods.

Mario felt like crawling out of his skin. His nerves were on end. Lucas was close, the
tracker said so. The only things visible were trees and darkness. His knuckles were white where they gripped the steering wheel. Bumping along the road, he saw it. The tiniest of lights shimmered in the dark. Mario switched off his headlights and drove a bit further until he could make out the slight outline of a barn, still some distance away. He pulled over and turned off the ignition. He climbed out, grabbed his gun, and slid it into his waistband.

He patted his ankle, making sure his knife was still there before closing the door ever so quietly. He took a second to text the FBI; they'd be pissed but fuck them, he wouldn't need to be here if they had done their jobs, to begin with. He turned and headed towards the light.
Mario heard Abraham Leby before he saw him. He crouched low and slowly approached the closest window. It was dirty with years of grime, but through it, he could see a broad man pacing and gesturing towards the back wall. He could only assume that was where Lucas was. There were no other people visible, no other voices beyond Leiby's. Mario stayed in his crouch as he approached the front of the barn. He needed to confirm who was in the barn and figure out the best way to go in.