15% of readers voted for option A: Luke should stay and start talking to Governor Baines and hope Bryce doesn’t knock any more teeth out. The more Luke talks to Baines to closer he can come to figuring out what’s going on and how Jack Holley is involved.
85% of readers voted for option B: Luke should opt to be interrogated by the Cobbler and hope he doesn’t end up with nails in his feet. The Cobbler may be a deranged lunatic but his history with Luke could be his only chance to escape.
Stay tuned next week to find out how Luke's confrontation with "the Cobbler" unfolds!
***
Annie peeked through the closed curtains of her sister's small living room to the street beyond. It was dark out and the streets were deserted. Except for the soldiers of course. A truck approached and Annie let the curtain fall back. She held her breath as the truck slowed. A moment later it rumbled by without stopping and Annie allowed herself to breathe again.
Annie knew they were no longer looking for Luke. He overheard a pair of soldiers talking excitedly about how they could be going back to barracks to get some sleep now that Haggert had been arrested.
But they hadn't left. From what Mickey told her, Jack Holley had set them up to make it look like Luke and his gang had kidnapped some woman from the train. Stupid! How could Luke let Jack Holley get the best of him again? And why couldn't he have stayed hidden like Annie told him?
Since the kidnapped woman obviously wasn't with Luke when the soldiers caught him, they must have assumed she was still with members of Luke's gang hiding somewhere in town. Annie looked over her soldier and saw Mickey pacing in the darkness, biting his nails.
Things were unravelling fast. It was only a matter of time before the soldiers kicked down their door and dragged them out. Eyewitnesses had seen Annie attack Jack Holley in the town square and Mickey throwing Jesse through a window wasn't very conspicuous either.
Another truck could be heard bouncing down the cobblestone street toward their hideout. Annie held her breath again and waited for it to pass by. The truck slowed, its headlights piercing the curtains and brightening the room momentarily. Annie looked to Mickey who swallowed hard and looked back with wide eyes.
The truck slowed and finally came to a squeaky halt right outside the front door. Annie closed her eyes and steadied herself. Mickey drew his gun from his vest. They could try and hide back in the cellar but they would be cornered if they were discovered. Angry voices came from soldiers down the street followed by the sound of quick footsteps. They found them and there was no way out.
But then, over the truck's rumbling engine and the boots on cobblestone, Annie heard something else. A whistling coming from the truck of a very familiar tune. Annie spun around to meet Mickey's excited gaze who had heard the whistling too.
Mickey threw open the door with his gun drawn and sure enough, there behind the wheel of a beaten-up truck was Dalton Lane. The soldiers must have realized that the mangled truck Dalton was driving was clearly not one of their own and were now sprinting toward him with their guns drawn.
"You two coming or not?" said Dalton as he revved the engine. Annie and Mickey dove into the back of the truck and Dalton threw it into gear. Annie peaked over the side in time to see three soldiers dive out of the truck's path in the nick of time. A dull thump indicated to Annie that a fourth soldier hadn't been so fortunate.
For something so battered and rusted, the getaway truck picked up surprising speed as Dalton weaved expertly through the streets of Gladstone. "How'd you find us?" shouted a delighted Mickey over the roar of the engine. Annie didn't care. She hung on to the side of the truck for dear life and hoped that Dalton would be able to get them out of this mess and back to Luke Haggert.
Not because she was worried about him, but because she wanted to kill him for getting her involved in this mess in the first place.
"Brace yourselves!" said Dalton as the truck picked up speed. Annie ducked down and covered her head as the truck smashed through the road block the soldiers had set up on the outskirts of town. Annie looked back at the carnage they had left behind. The headlights of a couple other trucks could be seen speeding toward them.
Where ever Dalton was taking them, Annie just hoped they had enough gas to get there.
Chance
Will Dalton have enough gas in the tank to outrun the soldiers who are pursuing them?
Possibility A: If the price of oil goes up on November 14, 2007, then Dalton will not have enough gas in the tank and the soldiers will catch up with them.
Possibility B: If the price of oil stays the same or goes down on November 14, 2007, then Dalton, Annie and Mickey will be able to make a clean getaway.
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