\chapauth{Swanky} \chapter{Gold Ribbon} ``Those things will kill you, ya know'', Percival growled, spitting up blood onto his rope-bound hands. ``Don't worry; they're filtered'', Bavarious coyly said as he blew smoke into Percival's battered face. Luke Bavarious wiped his hands of blood, as he had spent the better part of the past six hours trying to coax the safe combo out of this man. The night before Bavarious received a clean manilla envelope on his doorstep. Inside that envelope was a picture of a boy, inside a large safe, a bandana in his mouth with the words ``Wednesday, 8 PM 50,000 in a duffle bag at 1st and 1st or he runs out of oxygen''. Bavarious knew he was a go-to guy, but nothing got his gib like an innocent kid whose life lie in his hands. Especially little Johnny Powell, a doe-eyed kid he knew through a local Big Brother's, Big Sister's program he used to participate in. Johnny loved to talk, and just ramble on about science and school. He was one bright kid. He might as well have been his own brother. Or even his own son. Percival didn't have the money, and he knew that if he went to the police that kid would be as good as dead. This kid wanted to be a scientist when he grew up. Not a ball player or astronaut, but a guy who does experiments. He was just a kid, after all. He recognized the handwriting of the note, and the brown shag carpeting on the bottom of the picture clenched it. It was Percival Johnson's house. Timmy Johnson's father. A good man, a family man, but who knows what was going on in his head. Could have been just money problems or even something worse. But that doesn't matter. What's important is that he knows the guy behind that picture. And where he lives. Shortly after receiving that picture, Luke got in his black, tinted-window sedan and scoped out Percival's house. The plan was to camp out near Percival's home, then when Percival was coming home from work, catch him while he's getting undressed. Luke had his trusty sidearm and no regrets, save for what poor Timmy might see. Scarring one life is better than ending another, he repeated to himself. Once he made his break into the house, everything was a blur. Percival was shocked, but gave up a curiously easy fight. Bavarious' heart was beating out of his chest as he dragged the man, having been pistol-whipped and dazed, towards his basement and that unmistakable brown shag carpet. Sure enough, as he threw Percival down the stairs, he could see the safe out of the corner of his eye. He just hoped poor Johnny was still alive. He dragged Percival's laughing and oddly limp body over to the safe, bound his hands and started a routine of inquiry as to the combo of the safe. He put the cigarette out on the shag carpet. ``I'm running out of patience, and soon my knife will begin to ask questions. And he makes me look like a gentleman.'' Percival began to come to a bit out of whatever stupor he seemed to be in. ``Wait, what? Where{\ldots}where am I?'' ``You're a few minutes away from losing your life unless you give me your safe combo, pal.'' ``But I'm{\ldots}oh, god, I'm so sorry{\ldots}okay, 35{\ldots}35, 29, 53'' Luke looked at Percival like a lost kitten covered in flour, but he had no time to ask why this man suddenly came-to. He propped up Percival against the wall, but wondered if there was something even more fishy than he originally thought. He positioned himself near the safe expecting his journey to be nearly over. He tapped on the safe like a father-to-be gently tapping on the pregnant belly of his wife. ``Don't worry buddy, I'll get you out soon''. He heard nothing. ``35{\ldots}29{\ldots}53''. Click. He turned the handle and opened the safe. Just as he was about to look inside, expecting a sense of relief unlike anything he had heard before, something happened. Thud. Luke slowly came back to consciousness, he found himself sitting next to Percival, his hands, legs, thighs all bound very tightly with wire. His head was pounding to hard to try to move, but he knew he knew small, nimble fingers tied those knots. As he struggled to raise his head to see the two figures coming towards the lit part of the basement, he noticed it was little Tommy holding a clip-board and, perfectly healthy, holding a wrench, was little Johnny. ``Johnny{\ldots}what is this?'' Luke whispered, his eyes begin to tear with his inevitable realization. ``Tommy and I are doing our science fair project, remember? He was testing the effects of his mother's pills on Mr. Johnson. We ground it up in his orange juice.'' ``But{\ldots}what{\ldots}about{\ldots}'' ``Part of my experiment was testing the effects of fear on head injury'' ``{\em Part}?'', Percival asked, his tone ever more hopeless. The unmistakable sound of a dentist drill could be heard in the background. ``Yes, Mr. Bavarious. Part.'' Bavarious wept uncontrollably.