A Child's Courage.

The Bayou

That evening, at the old river boat, Emily and Tim both stepped out onto the first floor walkway near the gangplank with Joey close behind them. He stepped up to Tim and shook his hand, then he turned to Emily and gave her a strong hug.

"It should be me going out, Joey." Tearfully, Emily said. "Thanks for taking my turn again." She hugged him again, sniffling. "Good luck out there."

"Thanks, Emily." Softly, joey replied. "I will make it through and find some help, you’ll see."

He held back a sob but then Tim placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "We'll all run for it this time." Serious, he said. "That way, at least one us will get through. He looked back at the river boat, then said, "We better hurry, though. I overheard Dr. Jerk talking on the phone. That witch, Morgana will be coming back soon."

Joey shivered at the thought before nodding and running off into the thick brush of the swamp with Tim and Emily quickly following. After they were out of sight of the river boat, they paused to the sound of a sickeningly sweet call. It was Morgana.

"Children!" Cooing, she called again from the river boat, "Where are you hiding?"

"Oh no!" Frightened, Emily whispered. "She's back!"

"Forget about her!" Quietly, Tim ordered. "Worry more about her two body guards! They could be anywhere out here!"

The three scrambled through the thick brush, occasionally stumbling over a root into the water, all breathing heavily with fear.

“Emily?! Tim?!” Irritated, Morgana called. "Joey?! Answer me!"

"Don't listen and don't stop!" Urgently, Tim whispered. "Keep moving, hurry! If luck is with us, we will all met on the other side of the bayou! Good luck!"

The three split up, taking different paths with the hopes of one of them finding help in the bayou. On the river boat, two large, muscle bound men emerged from the main entrance, looking protectively about with Morgana, a tall, ragged woman wearing all black walking between them. "Jerk!"

A tall, slender man in all black, with a white lab coat covering it all hurried out onto the second floor walkway and looked down, over the railing at her through gold rimmed glasses with cold, calculating eyes. “The children have escaped, Morgana!” Fuming, he called. "All three of them this time!”

“I know that, you idiot!" cursed Morgana. She then turned to the two thugs. "Bronx, Gruesome, track them down and bring them back! Don’t dare return without them!"

The two henchmen nodded then walked down the gangplank and wadded into the water in search for the three children while Morgana turned to Dr. Jerk. "Turn on the spot lights we had installed in the swamp, they won't get far!"

With that, she jumped onto an air boat and sped away while Jerk ran up the pilot box where he threw a switch turning on a number of large lights around the swamp.

"That's something new." thought Tim aloud, seeing them come on all around him. "Those lights are not going to make it easy for us to escape."

He froze to the sound of a motor and submerged himself into the cold water behind the weeds as Morgana passed a mere ten feet of him on her small air boat. She slowed to a crawl near a patch of tall weeds where she had spotted something moving. It was Joey. He had looked up from the weeds to get his bearings, but ducked down upon hearing her approach. Morgana shined a small spotlight along the weeds to search the shore. Joey peeked around a small tree to see if she had left, then quickly moved back just before the spotlight fell upon him.

"Oh, please!" Terrified, he thought. "She didn’t see me, she didn't see me!"

Morgana quickly moved the light back to the tree Joey had ducked behind then slowly drove away, continuing her search elsewhere. Joey let out a low sigh of relief then quickly moved on, in fear that she may decide to come back his way. On another path, Emily ran through the marsh and around the trees, trying to stay on dry land as much as she could.

"This swamp is a maze." Worried, she whispered to herself. It’s going to be a pain to find my way out of..."

Then, she ran head on into Joey and the two fell back, onto the wet ground. Emily half rose, then heard Morgana's air boat and quickly pushed Joey flat to the wet ground and held him there just as it passed, the spot light shining just above them.

"Are are you alright?" she asked after the boat had passed.

"I think so." Whispering, Joey replied. "Morgana got real close to me in her swamp boat when I was hiding in the weeds back there but I don’t think she saw me. I just hope she didn’t find Tim."

"So do I." Wincing, Emily said. She cautiously looked about then added, "I think it'll be better if we stay together for now. What do you think?"

Joey opened his mouth to respond, but he instead froze in terror as one of Morgana's body guards appeared from the fog behind Emily.

Seeing his expression, Emily became fearful. "What's wrong?"

She turned quickly to see the man advance towards her with the intention of grabbing her by the collar. She gasped and moved to run with Joey, but the other thug blocked their path, laughing.

Not too far away, Rick, discretely struggled against the ropes holding his hands behind his back, sat in the middle of an air boat. His two captors on either side of him, one of which at the helm. The three turned to a commotion on the shore, only a few meters away and strained their eyes against the darkness. Presently, Jon spotted a small boy and girl, both vainly struggling against a pair of roughens.

“Over there.” Quietly, he announced. “I can see two kids.” He smiled. “It looks like they didn’t die after all.” He looked further up river and spotted two other kids approaching the scene in a small speed boat. “It looks like they're about to have some company. This should prove interesting.”

It was at that very moment that Rick finally managed to wriggle free from his bonds. “More interesting than you think.” he said.

The two men turned to him, curious only to receive a hard fist to their throats. the move caused them to cough, gasping for air. The effect only lasted a moment, but one moment was all Rick needed to jump into the water, and vanish into the darkness. Jon opened his mouth to announce Rick’s escape but stopped as they saw Rick running towards the struggling kids. “This should be good.” Quietly, he said.

“Aren’t we going after him?” Curious, Hank asked.

"There's no need.” Calmly, Jon said. “The Stone boy is not going anywhere, he's too wound up on getting to the bottom of our little operation. Also, if one of those brats manage to get away from Morgana, it'll be their skins, not ours."

Hank nodded in agreement. "We’re not being paid to chase after escapees, we were ordered to acquire one Rick Stone and deliver him to Morgana.” He motioned to Rick quickly approaching Morgana's guards. “The boy has been delivered, our job is done.”

Jon handed Hank a pair of binoculars. "Good; now we can focus on finding out exactly what Morgana and Jerk are up to before we report their activities to Mr. Grim.”

On the small island, Joey threw a number of futile punches at the muscle bound brute, trying fight back. "Put me down!” Screaming, he demanded. "Leave us alone!"

"Let go of me!" Desperate, Emily yelled. "Let go! Let go!"

Just then, Rick arrived on the scene and landed a heavy kick to Bronx's shoulder, throwing him off balance, surprising him enough to release his grip on Joey.

"Okay ugly!" Strongly, Rick announced. "Let's dance!"

Joey rolled away from Bronx and looked up, surprised to find that the boy attacking their captor was almost a mirror image of himself. A swing of Bronx's fist reeled him back to his senses and he turned to Emily, who was still caught in the guard's iron grip. "Run, Joey!" Urgently, she screamed. "Run! Get help!"

Joey, not wasting a second, ran off, down the path as Rick kept the roughen at bay. He delivered a bone crushing blow to Bronx’s stomach, causing him to fall to his knees, coughing. He then turned onto Gruesome with a series of furious kicks and chops, forcing him to release his captive, Emily. Unfortunately, Bronx was not as stunned as he had hoped and Rick was lifted from the water by the belt and roughly thrown against a nearby tree. Rick had a lot of strength and endurance, thanks to his dedication to the martial arts, but with his fight against Hank and Jon, not to mention the drugs they had pumped him up with when he had lost to them, his strength was greatly drained. The force of the blow, which would have normally merely phased him, drained the last of his endurance.

“You want to play rough, kid?” asked Bronx, “Fine with me!”

Emily, momentarily free of her captor's grasp tried to make a run for freedom, but she was quickly caught by the blurry body guard. “Just where do you think you’re going, kid?” Angrily, he demanded.

"Get away while you can!" Crying, Emily yelled to Rick. "Run!"

Rick desperately tried to get one last hit in, hoping to force Bronx to loosen his grip, but he was again thrown hard against a tree, nearly rendering him unconscious.

“I should’ve known better!" he thought, more angry with himself. “Never turn your back on an opponent! He will get you every time!”

The two men then returned to the water, taking him and Emily with them, back towards the river boat, talking among themselves about Joey’s escape due to Rick. “Morgana is going to have our heads for letting that boy escape.” Frowning, Gruesome said.

“What are you talking about?” Grinning, Bronx asked. “The kid didn’t go anywhere, he’s right here.” He motioned to Rick.

Gruesome smiled, following his friends reasoning then frowned. “Morgana is not a fool, do you really think she'll buy that?”

Bronx leaned menacingly towards Rick. “She will, as long as our hero plays along!”

Rick and Emily frowned, defiantly and Bronx struck Rick hard on the back, forcing him to stumble forward. “You’ll play along or your friend here will pay the price.”

“The same goes for you, girl!” Threatening, Gruesome barked. He twisted Emily’s arm, forcing her to yell in agony. “Do hear me!?!”

Rick snarled and, in a move neither Bronx or Gruesome could follow, jumped up and twisted his body in midair to deliver a sharp kick to both of their heads. The move came as such a surprise that they released their grip on him and Emily as they fell flat onto their backs. They were both quick to return to their feet, however, and slowly advanced towards Rick with hatred in their eyes as they each retrieved a handgun from a holster under their jackets. Emily let out a fearful gasp, frozen in fright, but Rick did not even flinch.

“My hands and feet are registered as deadly weapons in the state of California.” Despite his exhaustion, he warned. “I can take you two down, guns or not.”

Bronx snorted. “Somehow, kid, I don't doubt it.” irritated, he said. “Fine, as long as you play along, no one will harm your new friend."

"Just remember, in case you decide to try anything cute, very few people are faster than a bullet.” Softly, Gruesome added. With that, he returned his gun to its holster, picked up Emily and threw her onto his shoulder.

“I'm keeping my gun out.” Serious, Bronx warned. “For every wrong move you make, the girl gets a bullet in her leg.” He then struck Rick viciously in the back of the neck with the butt of his gun, sending him to the wet ground, unconscious.

Moments later, Bob and Luke reached a small marshy island with their speed boat, and quickly stepped out onto the wet land. There was no sign of the three children or the two brutes. Bob threw his friend a worried glance and opened his mouth to speak but Luke hushed him silent and pointed out into the bayou. Bob looked out into the darkness then turned back to Luke and nodded. The two returned to their boat, quietly piloted out to another small island further upstream where a small boy was waving them over.

"What could those two barbarians possibly want with them?" asked Bob, after the two had walked onto dry land.

"They will not kill them... yet." Darkly, the boy replied. "The men were both hired to capture and return the three kids back to the old river boat if they ever tried to escape." Pausing, he added, "I'm Joe. Are you the two the ones I talked to over the ham radio?”

Luke nodded. "We are. I'm Luke and this is my friend, Bob. We came out here as fast as our boat would carry us when we found where Emily was calling for help."

“Same here.” Nodding, Joe said. “I got here yesterday afternoon and was lucky enough to bump into Emily herself. She was out here keeping those two buffoons busy while the youngest tried to make a run for it.”

“He didn’t make it, did he?”

Joe shook his head. “I don't think so. But Emily managed to give me a basic idea of what is going on around here.”

“Fill us in then.” Softly, Luke said. “It'll save time.”

The group fell silent hearing the sound of a motor quickly approaching. The three boys ducked down behind the thick overgrowth. looking passed the foliage, they saw Morgana in an air boat, scanning the edges of the water with a small boy lying up front, unconscious.

"Who's she?" Whispering, Bob asked.

"Mona Morgana." Ice in his voice, Joe replied. "She and her partner, Dr. Nathan Jerk are using those three kids to dig something up for them. Morgana’s two muscle bound body guards, Steve Bronx and Jack Gruesome, are to keep them in line.”

After a moment, Morgana turned the boat around and drove off to another part of the swamp. Once she was gone, the three stood back up “It looks like she caught one of them trying to make a run for it. But it's the first time she's turned on those search lights."

"That means they all must have all ran." Serious, Luke said. "How many do you two think she has right now?"

"There's no telling until we get closer." Serious, Joe said. "So far, I've barely managed to keep myself from being caught myself. Still, all of the information I had been able gathered should come in handy."

"Indeed it will." agreed Luke. "You did good."

He took a small radio from his belt and hit the transmit button. “Meagan, this is Luke, I need you to get a hold of your ham radio pals to do a quick check on some people for me.”

“Sure.” came Megan’s voice over the speaker. “Read them off to me.”

“They are, Jack Gruesome, Steve Bronx, Nathan Jerk, and Mona Morgana. You got it?”

“I got it.” Replied Megan. “Call me back after a while, I should be have something on those characters by then.”

“You got it, sis.” said Luke. “And thank you.”

“Your sister has a real pretty voice” said Joe, with a smile.

Before Bob or Luke could answer, A heavy rustling was heard and the three again fell silent as Morgana’s two body guards came into view, carrying Emily and Rick on their shoulders. Both of the children’s wrists and ankles had been shackled.

"Thanks for trying to rescue us back there." said Emily. "I'm just sorry you got caught along with me. Are are you all right?"

"I've been better." his voice stressed, Rick replied. "Don't worry, though I’ll get us out of here yet!"

Upon hearing them speak, Luke could not help but gasp. "That voice... They have Rick! And that poor girl..."

"It's Emily." Angry, Joe whispered. "If they harm one hair on her head...!"

The two men then moved on, taking Rick and Emily with them, as they passed within mere inches of the boys’ hiding place. After they had left, Bob and Luke shared a firm nod. "Come on!" Whispering, Bob said. "We can't let them get too far ahead, we have got to find out where they are taking them."

"Easy, now." Calmly, Luke said. “Joe knows where they are going.” He turned to Joe who slowly nodded.

“They're taking them to an abandoned river boat about a mile away." Firmly, he said. "I can take you there right now."

Luke nodded. “I’ll go with you.” He turned to Bob. “You used to live in this neck of the woods, didn’t you?”

“I did, a few years ago.” Honestly, Bob said.

"Then you should know of a few people who still live out here. maybe they can offer us some support.”

Bob nodded. “I get you.” Serious, he said. “There is resort just north of the bayou. A few of my friends should still be working there, I'll round them up.”

"Bring them out here and wait somewhere near the river boat. We will signal you if we need them."

"What will the signal be?" asked Bob.

Luke frowned. "Trust me, you will know."

With that, Joe and Luke, sped over the waters of the bayou in Joe’s speed boat, leaving Bob standing alone with his own speed boat on the shore of the small island.

“Just what are we going to do when we get to the river boat?" Curious, Joe asked. "If those two goons managed to capture four kids, they'll make short work of us."

"Rick was foolish to take on those two at once by himself." Softly, Luke replied. "That, I believe, is the only reason he ended up being captured."

"So what do you suggest?"

"First, we sneak on board to get a better idea of the situation." Firmly, Luke said. "From there, we'll come up with some workable plan to get them out of there.”

Joe sighed. “I wonder what is really going on out here.”

Luke frowned. "We'll find that out when we get there."

The two rounded a bend and came to a slow halt as the river boat finally came into view but there was no sign of the two men or their prisoners.

Joe and Luke each pulled out a small pair of binoculars and began to scan the waters. Soon, Joe the two men not too far in the distance.

"There." Quietly, Joe announced. "They still have Rick and Emily." He chuckled. “Rick looks like he’s swearing up a storm..."

“I see them.” Calmly, Luke said.

The two men were just walking out from the lighted swamp, onto the gangplank of a half flooded, three level riverboat. Emily and Rick were still flung onto their shoulders, both vainly struggling against their shackles. Rick was barking something to the man who was carrying him, but they were too far away for him to make out what.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this..." Frowning, Bob said. "The security here is too tight to be some simple two person operation and those two goons are far too good be mere hired flunkies.”

Joe nodded in agreement. “Whatever is going on, they had to have traced Rick's ham radio signal and took him to keep him quiet.”

Suddenly, Luke turned to Joe, startled. “Megan...”

“We’re too close to the riverboat to warn her now.” Serious, Joe said. "Besides, she is waiting for us to signal her and a moving target is harder to home in on." With that, he pushed slightly the accelerator, moving their boat cautiously forward towards the old riverboat.

Onboard, Mr. Jerk was waiting for the two men to return with their catch. “Well, well... yet another clever escape attempt down the drain.” Sarcastically, he said. “You should know better, Joey...”

“I’m your worst nightmare, laughing boy.” Frowning, Rick countered. He turned to Bronx, who was still holding him over his shoulder. "Put me down, stupid!"

Bronx chuckled. “Whatever you say, kid.”

The two men dropped him and Emily off of their shoulders like a sack of potatoes to the floor. Rick looked up at them, daggers in his eyes. "I will settle my score with you later."

The men laughed, although nervously, as they removed the children’s shackles.

“Brave words, Joey.” Irritated, Jerk said. “Now you two behave or, mark my words, you will end up becoming the boy's new play mates like the last few kids were!"

Emily gasped fearfully but Rick merely smiled and crossed his arms. “Oh ya?” Calmly, he asked. “I’m shaking... Do you see me shaking?”

Jerk walked up to Rick, fuming. “You smug little...!”

The two men growled and Jerk took a step back. “When are you going to learn that there is no escape!?!” Angry, he barked. “Get back into your room and take your smart mouth friend with you!”

"I'm only going to be away from you!" Defiant, Emily snapped. She choked down a sob, throwing one foot down, then turned and made her way up the stairs with Rick soon following her.

Meanwhile, outside, Joe gripped Luke’s shoulder in warning and he quickly brought the boat to a stop. “What’s up?”

Joe pointed out. “Over there, We have company."

Luke looked out and spotted four people sitting inside a small boat. They were watching the same riverboat he and Luke were from the dense overgrowth, where they were hiding. “I see them.” Whispering, he said.

“I wonder who they are.”

Luke frowned. “Let’s find out.”

As their boat crawled closer, they recognized one of the people in the other boat. “I see you already rounded up a few friends, Bob.” said Luke, quietly, as their boat pulled alongside his. “Good work.”

“Actually, they rounded me up.” Smiling, Bob replied. “These are Rick’s friends all the way from California. They came out here when they learned he was kidnapped.” He motioned to the three. “This is Michael Brave, Kelly Mathews and Race Powers.” The three nodded respectfully.

“I’m pleased to meet you all.” Politely. Joe said.

“Did you fill them in on what had happened thus far?” Calmly, Luke asked.

“Actually, they filled me in.” Serious, Bob explained. “That riverboat is just a small part of an intricate, illegal adoption ring.”

“So why haven’t those three been sent out yet?” Curious, Joe asked. “From what I had gathered, they’ve been here a full year now.”

“There is a woman here named Mona Morgana.” Serious, Race said.

“Yeah.” Frowning, Luke said. “We’ve seen her, what about it?”

“She’s been having those three kids digging up some large ruby crystals.” said Kelly. “From what we heard, they must be worth a fortune each.”

“I knew about the rubies.” Surprised, Joe said. “But I didn’t know about the adoption ring.” He grunted. “I guess it’s a good thing that, thanks to Rick, Joey managed to get away. He may be able to reach some more help.”

Michael nodded. “Joey is my brother. I wanted to go after him so we could find some help together, but Bob could not tell me which direction he had gone.”

“We’re not much help there either.” Serious, Bob said. "But now that we have more people on our team, we’ll go look for the little guy.”

“Why you?” Curious, Race asked.

“We know this swamp like the back of our hands." simply, Luke said. "Also, from the looks of three, you came a lot more prepared to rescue those kids than us.”

Kelly nodded. “Good point.”

“Luke and I will be heading to a resort just north of the bayou where we have some well connected friends." Serious, Bob said. "We'll be searching for your friend, Joey on the way."

Michael nodded, satisfied, then said, “We’re going to do what we can here." Firmly, he said. "Try to hurry, though. I have a bad feeling time is not on their side."

Luke nodded in return. “Give us a signal if you need any help.” With that said, Luke and Bob sped off into the shadows of the overgrowth of the bayou.”


“What now?” sighing, Kelly asked.

Michael frowned, serious. “We get to work.” he said.