Unexpected Repercussions - Chapter 9

“Abruzzi!” Michael yelled out in horror. Immediately dropping to his knees, he scrambled towards the edge of the cliff. Once there, he carefully shined his torch down.

Abruzzi was lying on a ledge about twenty feet down, his face twisted in pain. Michael noted with a sinking feeling that the junction of the man’s arm and shoulders was bent at an unnatural angle under him.

Struggling up into a sitting position, the petrified man said shakily, “Give me a hand up, man. The rocks are crumbling under my feet!”

As if on queue, the sound of falling rocks reached Michael’s ears followed by a sharp intake of breath from Abruzzi. Grimacing, Michael said, “We got to climb down to get you, Abruzzi. A hand won’t help. You’re too far down and you’re not in any state to climb.”

Scrambling to his feet, Michael turned around to face the rest of the escapees, all of them looking at him with various expressions, uncertainty being the predominant one. “I need some help here,” Michael said in a level tone.

C-Note shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding, Fish. I’m not going down there,” he exclaimed incredulously, a frown marring his forehead. “No. Definitely not for him. This is it, man. I’m out of here.” With a brief wave, he started to pull himself up the cliff using the rope they had secured earlier.

Michael shifted his gaze towards Sucre and Lincoln.

As C-Note had done before, Sucre shook his head at Michael. “No. I’m sorry, man. I’m not risking myself now that we’ve got this far. I’ve got my kid and Maricruz to think about,” he said regretfully before he turned and followed behind C-Note, heaving himself up the rope. Then, turning to look back over his shoulders, Sucre said meaningfully, “Take care of yourself for once, Scofield.”

Michael looked at their departing figures. He understood their position. After all, Abruzzi had given them no reason to help him. The old mob boss had gone out of his way to make enemies of them.

He sighed wearily as his eyes met his brother’s, his one and only hope in his quest to help Abruzzi. “Linc, we can’t leave him here.”

“What are you waiting for?” Abruzzi yelled from below. A pause followed, and then, his tone displaying his uncertainty, he asked, “You’re not thinking of leaving me here, are you?”

“Shut up, Abruzzi!” Lincoln snapped down the cliff. Then he turned to Michael with a frown. His voice was harsh when he said, “I can’t believe this. You’re talking about a guy who beat you up with double-D batteries in a sock and then cut off your toes. And now you want to risk your life to help him?” Lincoln shook his head disapprovingly. “C-Note and Sucre got the right idea. Forget it, Mike. Just let him rot down there.”

“Come on, guys,” Abruzzi called out, the desperation in his voice now clearly distinguishable. He had obviously heard Lincoln’s words. “Scofield? I was desperate at that time. I told you what the deal with Falzone is.” Then he paused and then called out, “Sucre? C-Note?”

Lincoln let go of his rope and crawled to the edge of the cliff, looking down. “C-Note and Sucre already left,” he informed Abruzzi icily.

The unsteady smile on Abruzzi’s face showed how nervous he was. “Burrows. Help me up. Please,” he pleaded.

“I can’t do this alone, Linc,” Michael said to his brother’s back. He knew how much his brother hated Abruzzi, but he needed Lincoln’s help to get Abruzzi up. He was just not ready to leave the old mob boss to die.

Lincoln ignored Michael and shouted down, “Why should we help you up? We know what you’ve done with Veronica. That wasn’t part of the deal, Abruzzi. The deal was between you and us. Not Veronica.”

“I know. I know. I get it. We have a new deal now. Veronica’s out of the picture. I promise. Come on, anything you say, guys. Just help me up!” he said desperately.

“You know what? I don’t trust you,” Lincoln declared stonily.

 

Abruzzi let out a frustrated exclamation. “Why not? I didn’t hide anything from Scofield, Burrows. I told him I was holding on to that woman Veronica’s photo for insurance. I just needed to make sure you keep to your end of the deal, Scofield. Look at it from my end. How do I know you won’t just run off with Fibonacci’s location once we’re out? That’s all. What else have I done, huh? I’ve been busting my guts to push things along in this escape.”

“Yeah?” Lincoln said sceptically. “How?”

Abruzzi gestured wildly, his agitation causing a few more rocks to crumble down the cliff. His anxiety was clear in his expression when he responded, “I had a blade to my neck when Scofield said there were too many of us. I took one for the team.”

Michael frowned. “What happened?”

Turning his eyes upwards, Abruzzi admitted, “I was trying to persuade T-Bag to drop out when he sliced me.”

Michael exchanged a surprised glance with Lincoln. He had always wondered what had caused Abruzzi’s almost fatal wound. And he had suspected T-Bag of having something to do with it. But now he knew for sure.

Michael sighed. He knew he had to help Abruzzi, no matter what he said. There was no way he could forgive himself if he let Abruzzi plummet to his death hundreds of feet down the cliff. Not even Abruzzi deserved that kind of fate.

He looked up to find that Sucre and C-Note had already disappeared into the night. Out of Abruzzi’s earshot, he tapped his brother’s shoulders and asked softly, “Linc, can you go up and drop me one of either Sucre’s or C-Note’s rope? I need to lengthen my rope to get down to him.”

Lincoln’s lips compressed in disapproval. “Mike. This is not a good idea. It’s too dangerous for you to go down. Not to mention he’s not worth all that trouble.”

 

Abruzzi’s voice reached them. “Scofield. Help me up and we’re all clear. I swear I won’t be after you for Fibonacci’s location or anything else.”

Michael stilled. He heard the underlying meaning of Abruzzi’s words. “But you’ll be after him,” he stated flatly.

Abruzzi growled in irritation. “What do you expect, man! He put me in that hole!” he snapped impatiently.

“Drop Fibonacci and I’ll help you up,” Michael stipulated coldly.

“I have a score to settle with him, Scofield!”

Michael adopted a nonchalant tone. “I guess I’ll just leave you to it, then,” he said with a shrug.

“No! Wait!”

Silence ensued.

For a tense moment, Michael thought that Abruzzi had fallen.

And then he heard it.

“Okay. OKAY! It’s a deal,” came a grudging answer from Abruzzi.

Michael smiled in satisfaction. Abruzzi had so far never gone back on his words. Mad as it seemed, he trusted the ex-mob boss to keep his promise.

“He’s lying, Mike,” Lincoln declared with a frown.

“I can’t just leave him here, Linc,” Michael insisted. “His words had been good in the past.”

“You’re going to trust him?”

“He has given me no reason not to.”

Lincoln sighed, rubbing a hand over his head in a show of exasperation before he started walking towards the face of the cliff. When he walked past Michael, he muttered, “This had better be worth it, Mike.”

Michael did not answer. Instead, his eyes followed Lincoln as he pulled himself up the rope.

“Scofield?” Abruzzi’s hesitant voice came from below.

He went to the side of the cliff and looked down. “Hang on, Abruzzi. We’ll get you up.”

“Look, I want you to know that I didn’t plan to harm that girl,” Abruzzi explained. “She’s just for leverage. Just in case.”

“Just remember our deal. That’s all I ask. Don’t come after me or anyone close to me or Fibonacci. You’ve got the money. You can start over again. There’s no need to chase the past.”

Abruzzi fell silent.

Michael moved away from the cliff edge, leaving Abruzzi alone to deal with the idea. A few minutes later, Lincoln’s head and shoulders jutted out of the side of the cliff. When Lincoln swung another rope closer to him, he stretched his arms out. As his hands closed around the knotted end of the rope, Michael nodded up at Lincoln and the rest of the rope dropped down. Rapidly, Michael tied one end of the rope together with his other rope and then around his waist. He tugged it, testing its strength.

Satisfied that it would hold, he began to lower himself down the cliff. When his feet touched the ledge, Abruzzi’s uninjured hand came up to grab hold of the rope.

“You okay?” Michael asked, his level voice masking his concern at the distended shape of the upper part of Abruzzi’s right arm.

“It just popped out of the joint, that’s all. I don’t think it’s broken.”

Remembering that Lincoln had once reset his shoulders when he dislocated it as a kid, Michael said in an offhand manner, “Linc might be able to help.” He untied the rope from himself, and then retied it around Abruzzi and himself.

Abruzzi snorted as he checked the knots. “Yeah, he would rather throw me down the cliff.”

Michael arched an eyebrow. “Can you blame him?” Grabbing hold of the rope, he said to Abruzzi. “Hang on tight.”

Abruzzi grabbed him around the waist. Michael grunted heavily as he heaved himself up on the rope. The rope swung unsteadily in the air. Gritting his teeth, Michael gripped it tighter and used his legs to stabilise them. The chords in his neck stood out prominently as he strained with the effort of supporting both weights. His muscles screamed at the abuse, but he could not afford to stop until he reached the top. It was much further this time and he had a dead weight on him.

Their ascent seemed to have taken forever, but he finally grasped the edge of the ledge in his hand. The sweat from his forehead dripped down, stinging his eyes, but Michael just ignored it. As he began to heave himself over the edge, another pair of hand grasped his wrists, pulling him up.

“Thanks, Linc,” he said gratefully as his brother helped both him and Abruzzi up to the ledge outside the cave.

Abruzzi nodded at Lincoln. “Thanks, Burrows.”

Still panting, Michael gestured in the general direction of Abruzzi’s arm. “You think you can do anything about that, Linc?” Noting his brother’s reluctance, he added, “Look at it this way, he’ll be on his way sooner if we don’t have to look after him.”

With a look of resignation, Lincoln went to Abruzzi and inspected his arm, pushing the man’s backpack strap to the side. “It’s dislocated,” he diagnosed. Then he looked at Michael. “Needs resetting.”

Before Michael could answer, Abruzzi replied tightly, “Do it.”

Holding on to Abruzzi’s shoulder in one hand and his dislocated arm in another, Lincoln warned, “This is gonna hurt.”

Abruzzi expelled a muffled groan as Lincoln cracked the bones back in place. He then staggered back unsteadily when Lincoln released him. “Thanks, Burrows,” he grunted, and then added with a scowl, “Enjoyed that?”

A grin broke out on Lincoln’s face. “Feel a little better now.”

Abruzzi snorted, but did not say anything.

Michael clapped his hands together. “Time to split, guys.” He held out his hand to Abruzzi. “Good luck.”

Abruzzi clasped his hands. He shifted his eyes uncomfortably. “Look, what you did down there? I won’t forget it.”

Michael just nodded. He was about to walk away when he was halted by a hand on his shoulders. He turned around to see Abruzzi looking at him, an unreadable expression on his face.

Then, in the most sincere tone he had ever heard the mob boss use, Abruzzi said, “If you need anything, find me.”

Surprise rooted him to the spot as Abruzzi turned abruptly and headed in the opposite direction. That was definitely the last thing he had expected Abruzzi to say to him, Michael thought as he stared at the other man’s retreating back.

The sky was inky black when they finally found a motel. Bikes of all shapes and sizes, with rough looking men standing around drinking beers out of cans, dotted the front of the establishment. Michael and Lincoln exchanged an uncertain glance with each other.

Then Michael remarked, “Look at it this way, it won’t be any worse than Gen-Pop.”

A grin grew on Lincoln’s face. “Yeah. Now that’s what I call reassuring,” he said dryly before they made their way to the entrance.

The bikers gave them a passing glance, and then immediately went back to their drinking, obviously having decided that the two of them were too insignificant to bother with.

Michael pushed the door open. Chomping lazily on one end of a cigar, a bored looking old man at the reception nodded at them when they stepped in.

“What can I do for ya, boys?” he grated out in a rough voice.

“A room for tonight. Twin beds,” Michael said.

The old man peered at them with watery eyes, and then nodded. “That’ll be forty five dollars.”

Michael handed him the money wordlessly.

The old man scribbled something on the book in front of him before he pushed it over to them. “Fill ‘em blanks in,” he instructed as he reached back to snag a key hanging from the board behind him. “Here,” he said, handing the keys to them. “Ground floor, third door to your right.”

A moment later, Michael and Lincoln found themselves in a small room with an en-suite shower and toilet. The furnishings had seen better days, but at least the place was reasonably clean, Michael thought as he began to remove his disguise.

“I don’t think I’ll be sorry to see the last of this cushion,” Michael muttered as he placed the cushion on the bedside table next to his backpack.

Lincoln stripped off his disguise and tossed his top onto the back of a chair. Then he laughed. Really laughed for the first time in month. Loud guffawing, full-throated laugh. “I can’t believe we pulled that off,” he said amidst his laughter.

Michael grinned at his brother. “It’s all in the preparation and planning. And a little faith, as someone used to tell me.”

“I’m glad you remembered that.” Lincoln sighed as he flopped onto the bed. “I’ll never take beds for granted again.”

“Quite a change from what we’re used to, huh?” Michael remarked with a small smile.

Lincoln’s eyes fluttered shut. “Yeah,” he mumbled before promptly falling asleep.

Michael switched off the lights and laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He was glad that things had gone smoothly that day. Now that they had the money, it was going to be much easier for them to buy their way around.

His last thought before he fell asleep was that he had to find a way to get to Sara.

The excitement of the day before had taken its toll on their tired body and minds. Michael and Lincoln only woke up when the sun was already high in the sky. They wasted no time in reapplying their disguises and then promptly left the motel.

Michael soon found that if one had an abundance of money, things seemed to move a lot quicker and with fewer questions. Purchasing a bike took them almost no time at all when the salesman realised that they were paying for a brand new bike in cash. The salesman’s eyes practically popped out of his sockets when Michael handed him the stack of money and in his excitement, had barely looked at the forms they had filled in.

Lincoln took the keys from the beaming salesman, who then led them to the sleek black Honda.

Thanking the salesman, they mounted the bike and roared off onto the road, heading for the highway.

As they sped eastwards past the barren landscape, Michael lost himself in his thoughts.

He hoped that Veronica really had something that would help in Lincoln’s exoneration. They could not keep running. The only other thing they could do was to put his other plan in action and head for Mexico. They should be safe there if they continued to lay low.

He knew that Lincoln would not like the idea of leaving Veronica and LJ and he had prepared himself for the inevitable quarrel that would no doubt ensue if he broached the subject with Lincoln. Disappearing in Mexico was a good idea on many counts.

The problem was, Michael was not sure he wanted to do that anymore. Sara was now in trouble because of something he had asked her to do. And he needed to make sure that she was alright before he disappeared somewhere. The specifics of how he was supposed to achieve that, however, were unclear to him. Being on the run himself, he had no idea what he could do to help Sara. But he had to try. He had to think of something.

In the distance, Michael spotted a phone box by the side of the road. It reminded him of another thing he needed to do.

“Pull over. I need to make a call.”

Lincoln frowned as he slowed down. “This is not a good time, Mike. Unless it’s something which can’t wait.”

“It’s a short call.”

“To who?” Lincoln asked as he stopped by the phone box.

Michael did not answer. Instead he jumped off and headed straight for the phone box. Picking up the receiver, he inserted a couple of coins and dialled a number from memory.

When the call was picked up, a voice greeted, “Hello?”

“It’s me.”

He heard a sharp intake of breath before Nika’s hesitant words came to him. “Are you alright? The news…”

He interrupted, “I know. Listen, I have to make this short. Remember what we discussed about the papers?”

“Yes. Is it time?” Nika asked uncertainly.

Michael nodded even though she could not see him. “You need to do it now.”

A short pause followed. “Okay.” Then he heard a sigh. “I hope you know what you’re doing out there, Mike.”

Michael smiled at the concern in her voice. “Don’t worry about me. You just take care of yourself, alright?”

 

“Thank you for everything. And I wish you good luck.”

“Bye, Nika,” he said, his voice containing a tone of finality.

“Bye.”

Michael hung up and looked at Lincoln. He sensed that his brother had questions to ask, but for some reason, Lincoln was not voicing his queries.

So he volunteered the information. “Nika and I signed our divorce papers before I held up the bank. I just asked her to hand it in to our lawyers.”

Lincoln’s face cleared in understanding. “She okay with it?”

“She knew that the marriage wasn’t real. And now that she can stand on her own two feet, I think she’ll be fine. It makes it easier for her to meet someone for real as well,” Michael explained as he got back on the bike.

Lincoln exhaled a heavy breath. “Look, Mike. I don’t even know how to begin to thank you for everything you’ve done. You-”

Michael interjected quickly. “It was my fault in the first place. If you hadn’t borrowed all that money for me, you wouldn’t be anywhere near Fox Rivers.”

“I wanted you to have a better life.”

His expression pained, Michael shook his head. “Not at the expense of your own, Linc. Don’t get me wrong. I’m really grateful for all you did. I have… had a good life. But now, the important thing is to get to the bottom of things and to clear your name. We need to find Veronica.”

“We will. When we need to get to the cabin,” Lincoln said resolutely.

With a short nod, Michael said, “Let’s go.”

The ride to Mill Creek West Virginia was a long one. They had been on the road for the last four hours, stopping frequently for refuel breaks and to stock up on supplies. With their disguises and the helmets obscuring their faces, no one paid them any particular attention. When they swapped places on the bike for the third time, Michael estimated that it would take them another four hours before they reached their destination.

The long journey continued. The sun had already set in the sky when they finally sped past a sign on one side of the road which displayed Mill Creek.

Lincoln, who was at front this time, turned back over his shoulders briefly. “We’re almost there.”

“When is Veronica meeting us?” Michael yelled over the wind.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see.”

Lincoln killed the engine about a mile before they reached the cabin, explaining to Michael that it would be safer just in case something went wrong on Veronica’s end. As they began to move, the dried twigs and leaves crunched under their feet and the bike tyres, alarmingly loud in the relative silence of the night.

Michael cautiously scanned their surroundings as they walked, his posture tense as his eyes darted around in the darkness. Although his eyes had begun to acclimatise, it was still hard to make out what was in the shadows. Not being able to see clearly was definitely a disadvantage that he did not care to have at that moment in time. But he realised that the darkness also served as a cover for them.

Ahead, a small, single storey log cabin slowly came into view. Michael could make out a red door and windows with wooden shutters on either side of it. A small path overgrown with weeds led to the door.

Lincoln stopped in his tracks. “Looks empty.”

Michael looked at his brother out of the corner of his eyes. “Veronica’s not here,” he remarked unnecessarily.

Lincoln glanced around. “We should go in.”

Michael nodded, but he could not help feeling apprehensive. He knew what the problem was. Previously, he had been the one doing the planning, and hence could make sure that everything tied in and ran as smoothly as it could. This time, not having the luxury to plan ahead meant that the uncertainly factor was higher, and it was making him nervous.

But it was necessary for them to be here if they wanted to see Veronica. He would just have to deal with the surprises when they occurred, not unlike what he had been forced to do in Fox Rivers.

Steeling himself, Michael followed his brother to the door, pushing the bike along beside him. Lincoln then moved to his right, off the path and started fingering the bottom of the wall. A moment later, he straightened with a key in his hand and opened the door.

The interior was dark, with a faint musty smell that came with any unoccupied building. As Michael stood in the doorway with their bike, Lincoln felt his way towards the fireplace to start a fire.

A short while later, the logs began to burn, bathing the room in flickering rays of light. Michael pushed the bike in and closed the door behind him. After parking the bike in the kitchen, he walked back, latching the door securely before he stepped up to a couch in front of the fireplace.

A cloud of dust puffed up when he sank into the couch, making him cough.

“How long has this place been empty?” he asked, clearing his throat.

Lincoln shrugged as he walked to the couch. “I don’t know. It belongs to one of Veronica’s high school friends.” He sat down beside Michael. “I hope Veronica gets here alright.”

Michael leaned back against the couch. “We just need to wait.”

………………………………..

They had waited four days but there was still no sign of Veronica. And there had been nothing on the radio to suggest that anything had happened to her. However, that did not mean much.

Michael had toyed with the idea of calling her, but then promptly dismissed it. Calling her from their meeting point carried too much risk. Whoever that was listening to them might be able to trace the call to their location, and that was the last thing Michael wanted.

It was night again when a rustling sound outside the front door caught their attention. Michael and Lincoln immediately tensed, exchanging a glance full of mixed feelings between them. There was no way of telling if the person out where was Veronica or someone else. They had to assume the worst.

Michael nudged towards the back door and gestured for Lincoln to follow him. Carefully, they hunched down and crept their way to the kitchen.

Just as they reached the back door, Michael heard a series of soft taps on the door. Followed by a soft, “Hello?”

He closed his eyes and let out the breath he was holding. Beside him, Lincoln’s expression mirrored his.

Straightening, Lincoln rushed to the door and yanked it open. A bright grin broke out on his face as he reached out to hug Veronica.

Michael stood a short distance apart from them, a smile playing at the corner of his lips as he allowed them some privacy for their reunion. Lincoln and Veronica deserved to be happy together. But Michael also knew that for that to happen, they needed to clear Lincoln’s name.

When Lincoln and Veronica broke apart reluctantly, Michael stepped forward, preparing to greet her.

But before he reached Veronica, he suddenly halted in his track. His jaw went slack and his eyes widened in astonishment as someone stepped out of the shadows. The air became charged with his emotions.

“Sara,” he breathed out disbelievingly.

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