Crack the whip|| Newsies

Chapter 5

When Race entered the Lodging House he found Tommy Boy sitting on the couch. He was pale and hadn't responded to his entering. There were a few other newsies who came back at the same time and had seen him too.
"Go check up on Sniper. I'll talk to him." Race told them and they all nodded.
"Hey Tommy Boy what's tha matter?" Race said while he knelt before him. He didn't respond so Race laid one hand on the young boy's knee. His head shot up and he look at Race with tears in his eyes.
"Jack..." he began, but a sob stopped him.
"Did someone take him?" Race asked. He was already preparing for the worst. Tommy Boy nodded.
"He said to tell ya that you is in charge." He managed to get out before starting to sob, full force. Race wrapped an arm around him and began making circles on his back. He'd done that for Jack too when he had the nightmare and noticed that it helped relax them.
"Race!" Race shot up from where he was kneeling and headed upstairs to the bedroom. Sniper was awake.
"Where's Jack?" He asked while looking around. He looked scared.
"He's not here." Race said softly while sitting next to him. When did I become a mother hen? Thought that that was Davey's thing. He thought.
"Snyder wants him!" Sniper began to stand up and wanted to head out to look for Jack.
"I know." Race replied.
"Then what are ya watin' for?" Sniper looked back and saw a tear coming in Race's eyes. The other boys saw it too.
"Race. Where is Jack?" Albert asked.
"The Spider has 'im." He said softly while the boys' eyes widened.
"When?" Romeo asked.
"Tommy told me that Spider had grabbed him to get to Jack and that Jack had gone with Spider willingly."
"He protected me." Tommy Boy added. He had come up to see what was going on. There was still a tear on his face. Elmer wrapped an arm around the boy.
A loud bang told the boys that also the last part had come home. They all headed downstairs. When the second group, consisting of Davey, Les, Crutchie, Mike, Ike and Finch, saw the distressed look on their brothers' faces they stopped laughing. Race stopped somewhere on the stairs so he could see everyone as he began to talk.
"Jack has been taken." Race said getting right to the point. "Snyder has him. He escaped prison a few days ago and the police hasn't found him since." He heard a few shocked boys whisper to each other, but that didn't matter to him.
"Jack told Tommy Boy that I'm in charge, so here's what we is gonna do. Crutch, you go to Katherine to tell her. She needs to know. Davey, you and Les are go to the police and tell them what happened. If we wanna find 'im we need all the help we can get. Even if it is from those guys. The rest of us is going in pairs of two or three to search Manhattan. If he isn't here we go further, but we need to do it step by step. I want everyone back at sun down. That means two hours." Everyone nodded in agreement. Race and Crutchie made eye contact. Crutchie was just as stressed as Race. They knew what was going to happen if they couldn't find him. They all stormed out. 

Race went with Romeo and they searched a part of lower Manhattan. They can by some pretty ladies, but Romeo wouldn't even try to flirt, so Race knew how serious Romeo took it and he was glad. He couldn't handle a flirting Romeo in this crisis. They entered a road with all old houses and started looking into some of them. Race took the ones on his left and Romeo the ones on the right. 

After a minute Romeo stopped walking and grabbed Race's arm. He pointed at an old abandoned house. Through a window he could see Jack and Snyder. Jack was sitting on the ground and Snyder held a belt in his right hand. Without saying a word, Romeo started to run into the house and Race followed him, but they should have been quieter. When they opened the door where they saw Jack, they were hit by a belt before they could even fight back. They both fell to the ground in front of Jack's feet since it wasn't a big room.
"STOP IT!" Jack yelled when Snyder raised his hand so he could hit the boys again. Snyder smirked at Jack and brought down his hand and hit the boys again.
"Kelly, see what you've done. It is your fault that these boys are hurt." He grinned. He knew what Jack was thinking and how he could make it even worse.
"Stop it!" Jack yelled again. One more hit with the belt made both boys pass out.
"Well Jack we can't have them know where we are, can we?" Snyder took Jack by the handcuffs and dragged him out of the house. Next to the house was an old police carriage with a horse in front of it. He threw Jack in the carriage and hopped on the driver's part himself. They left the street in a matter of seconds. Jack looked around and saw the name of the street. The house was on Columbus Ave.

They were riding full speed to Brooklyn Bridge. On the way there he saw Finch and Albert. He knew what to do.
"COLUMBUS AVE!" He yelled. They both looked up at him.
"JACK!" Albert yelled.
"COLUMBUS AVE!" Jack repeated. They shared a look and Finch began to run the other way while Albert started chasing the carriage, but he lost track of it somewhere near Brooklyn Bridge. Jack sighed. At least the boys find Race and Romeo and they know a little to where I might be heading. Jack thought. He just hoped the boys were fine.