Luke shut the door to their room, and leaned back against it. He
hated the whole situation. Although he knew it would be unlikely, he was
really hoping this Marco guy would just come right out and tell him just
what was going on. No such luck. He let out a sigh, and walked over to
where Laura was tending to their son, who was sound asleep. Luke wished
he could go to sleep, but he knew he had a long talk ahead. Once Laura
was finished tucking the toddler in, she followed Luke into their bedroom.
They quickly changed into night clothes, and sat down on the bed.
"It wasn't THAT bad, was it?" Laura asked, almost timidly. She wasn't exacly sure what she thought yet. It was a beautiful place, and the man seemed indifferent to them - rather than hostile. Could this mean he would be easier to sway into helping them, or did it just mean he was holding back to plot revenge?
"Well, it was better than I expected, but not as good as I had hoped. As of right now, I think our best bet is staying on here for a little while. We can try to find out exactly what the Wicked Wtich wants this time, and not have to be any where near her. I'm guessing that she wants to take revenge eventually - but we're not TOP priority right now. It'll be easier to pick up on things if we aren't constantly under surveilance - and we can always run if things heat up. I'm going to have money, fake IDs, passports, and credit cards ready for us in a safe deposit box at the local bank. We'll always keep a bag packed, and be ready to go at a moment's notice - but we won't use it unless it's an emergency."
"How are you gonna get all that done while we're supposed to be staying on that property?"
"It shouldn't be that hard to sneak off once we settle into a routine there. From what I can tell, it looks like Marco is out there working just as hard as his employees, so he should be pretty busy. I didn't notice a huge number of guards, and I've always been pretty good at disappearing."
"What about our son? I think he shouldn't have to stay cooped up in the house all the time, but I don't want him just toddling around. We have to make sure one of us is always available to watch him. It's not like we're going to have family and friends to watch over him from time to time. It's going to be just the three of us."
"You're right baby. We're going to have to depend on each other for everything. I think it's safe to assume that we aren't going to be worked. Marco made it a point to tell us we would be provided for - so I don't think having free time will be a problem. In fact, it's probably the best we could have hoped for, cause that'll give us time to snoop around."
"I guess it's decided then. When do we leave.?"
"I'm pretty tired now," Luke answered. "Let's sleep now, and get up early to pack up all our stuff. We need to be over there again by 10, so we should probably get up no later than 7."
"Fine by me, I'm exhausted." With that, Laura pulled her top over her head, and pulled on her night dress. They were both changed in less than a minute, and asleep withing the next five. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
The Spencer family turned up on the front porch of the hacienda at 9:30 the next morning. Once again, they were greeted by Alejandro Marco himself. "I see you've decided to stay with up. Splendid, I'll show you to your quarters." He led them through to what appeard to be a home within a home. "This is the northeast corner of the house. You shall have this entire section to do whatever you please with. This is your home now, and no one will be able to enter without a key or permission. Likewise applies to my family's section of the home. My daugher and I reside in the area adjacent to the main room - the one we spoke in last night. You are to treat that section of the house as if it were a neighboring building. You may not enter without explicit permission. Other than that, feel free to use any of the main rooms in the center of the residence. You should find everything you need already and waiting for you. You make take today to settle in, and I will be by tomorrow morning to tell you what is expected of you. Good day."
Marco closed the door behind him, and headed back to his study to place a phone call. "They arrived yesterday, and are just getting settled in now..............No, they don't have any idea why they are here.................Yes, I'm sure..............Don't worry. Everything will stay perfectly under control. As long as you return my wife and daughter to me, we shouldn't have a problem..............No, it's not a threat. A simple statement of fact.............I'll keep in touch."
Back in the northeast corner, Luke and Laura were busy setting up home. They made sure everything they needed most was accessible, and ready to move quickly. Luke set up a make shift alarm by placing a cowbell on the doorknob. While not very sophisticated, it would alert them if anyone came into their home. Laura unpacked half of the clothing, and left the other half in suitcases. By the time they were finished, the home looked as if they were preparing to move - which is just what they were aiming for. There was a kitchen, living room, dining room, two bathrooms, a study, master bedroom, child's bedroom, and a play room spread out over three stories. A sprialing staircase ran all the way through the center of the home. Laura could hardly believe they had this much space. It reminded her of being held in Greece. While she had so many places to wander, she was still a prisoner. But this time, she had her family by her side. She decided that of all the places they could have wound up, they definitly could have done worse.
"You finished, darlin'?" Luke asked as he peeked his head into the playroom.
"Yeah, cowboy here should have enough toys to keep him busy until he's ready for high school. I can't beleive they did all this for us!"
"I know what you mean. Did you happen to notice that there is a private hottub on our lower balcony. We'll have to check that out - later," Luke said, raising his eyebrows. Laura giggled and blushed a little thinking about that.
"But don't let all this fool you into believing we're on vacation," Luke said turning serious again. "This may look like the lap of luxury, but we were summoned here by the Cassadines for who knows what reason. Don't think they're doing this as an act of goodwill. They're after something, and its our job to figure out what."
Laura nodded in agreement, but then the corners of her mouth turned up, and she said, "but that doen't mean we can't enjoy what we have while we have it."
"You're right about that," Luke replied as he rushed up to Laura and swept her up into his arms. Laura laughed as he carried her into their own bedroom. That night, Luke and Laura christened their new "home" with the love which would keep their family thriving through this crisis.
