"Hey," Worawut said as he answered the phone.

"We're encountering some issues here. We need you and number 5 to come up," said the voice on the other end.

"On our way," said Worawut as he stuck his head in the room and called out, "Number five, we're needed elsewhere. Come now."

Fah heard the sound of someone leaving the room and then two people walking away.

"Come on, please remove our blindfolds. It's already hot, and these make it worse." Fah wouldn't stop pushing their captors.

The sound of three people whispering came from the front of the room. Finally, Fah felt hands on his head as someone untied the blindfold. He blinked several times as his eyes adjusted. Looking to his side he saw Run's blindfold was off. He watched as Mint and Tin had theirs removed.

"Thank you," said Fah. Ton often complained when people didn't show respect to their captors. Fah never tried to explain to Ton why people wouldn't feel the need to be respectful, he just filed it away as another way criminals thought differently.

"You look familiar, who are you?" asked Kiat.

"Me? I'm someone who was at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Fah. Mint, Tin, and Run scowled at him. None of them understood why he wanted to provoke their captors.

"Shut the hell up. What's your name? Your real name?" Kiat wondered if they had another person on the judge's level of power. Kiat was sure he'd seen this guy somewhere before but he had no idea where. Fah didn't answer. "Oh, Mr. Big Mouth won't answer now?"

Fah whispered to Run while bowing his head. He didn't want their captors to be aware they were communicating.

"Run, I have a knife in my belt and another in my shoe. When they're distracted you need to help me so we can cut these ropes." Run looked surprised but said nothing, he merely jutted his chin in agreement. Another phone began to ring. Kiat answered it as he walked into the hall. They heard him speaking and then he returned.

"Number Seven, wait at the door. The rest of you come with me. We need to help Numbers one, two, and five with something. We'll be back soon."

Turning to face Fah and the others, he said, "Don't get any ideas, we're in the hallway so if anyone tries to be a hero, you're going to end up being sorry." To emphasize his word he lifted his shirt to show the gun in his waistband. Tin saw and cried out for his mother.

"Shut the kid up!" yelled Tao, now the only one left in the room. He knew they must be thinking that he was small and easy to overtake. "Like he said, don't get any bright ideas!" Tao lifted his shirt to show that he also had a gun. Everyone in the room sat quietly.

After five minutes of silence, Tao walked to the doorway to try and hear what was going on with the others.

Seeing his chance, Fah whispered to Run, "Lean towards me and try to use your hands to reach my belt in the back. I've been using my hands to rotate it so the buckle is now in the back. If you can, try to undo it. I'll use my hands to hold it up and in place."

Immediately the two went to work. After a few adjustments in their body positions, Run was able to grab the buckle. He worked his fingers pulling the leather upward until there was enough leeway. Using his index finger and swinging his bound hands into Fah's back, he was able to get the leather strap free of the metal prong. Dropping the prong, Run grabbed the leather and pulled. At the same time, Fah tried rotating his body away from Run, and little by little they succeeded in pulling the belt out of his pants.

"Run, very carefully, and while holding tight onto the leather, try to move your hands to the belt buckle and place the buckle in my hands."

They both were dripping sweat and concentrating hard while still keeping an eye on Tao. Finally! The belt buckle was in Fah's hand.

"Run, hold onto the leather as tightly as possible, and pull it away from me. I'm going to pull the buckle out. It's a knife so it springs free when you pull hard enough."

The two pulled against each other and suddenly it pulled apart. Run had to stop himself from almost falling over in the opposite direction. After regaining his balance he leaned towards Fah. Together they cut the ropes that bound their hands but kept their hands behind them. They didn't want anyone to know their hands were free.

"Let's do our feet. Don't pull your feet apart or the rope will fall in front of us and it will be obvious," said Fah.

They took turns and freed their feet. Fah told Run to take the knife and free Mint. They weren't sure about Tin because he might not be able to keep his hands behind him if he got scared.

Run was furiously cutting Mint's ropes now as Tao disappeared into the darkness of the hall. The silence in the room was broken by the sounds of many feet walking and Khun Adi's voice demanding to be let go and cursing his captors.

"I don't think you'll still fight us once you see what we have in this room, Judge!"

Fah recognized Lom's voice and was immediately overcome with nausea. Was this what Lom had become? Not wanting Lom to know it was him, Fah stared at his lap and shook his hair so it covered as much of his face as possible.

"Guess who we have here, Judge - the whole family!" Lom noticed an extra person at the end and added, "It looks like we have a friend of the family's as well! Now, are you going to cooperate like your colleagues have, or do we need to shoot your family members to convince you"?

Fah blinked back the tears building. His hope that Lom would abandon Ton and become his lover, a dream he'd kept secretly in his heart over the past year, was shattering. His heart felt as if it would burst. He bit his lip and dug his fingers into his palm. He'd be damned if he'd let Lom see him cry.

How fitting that if I'm to be murdered, Lom should be the one to do it. I bet it will give Ton and Nara their greatest happiness, Fah thought.

Next to him, Run realized something was wrong with Fah. He wasn't sure what, but he couldn't understand why someone so well-prepared and level-headed a minute ago looked as if he was falling to pieces right now.

Run stared at his father who had his hands bound and was held onto by two men. The one that had been talking was standing behind him.

"Who's that, Judge? Is that your oldest son? I believe I read his name is Run. Shall we shoot him first?" said Bank.

"NO! You bastards! Leave my family out of this, don't you touch my son!" At this, the Judge leaped forward toward Run and his family as if to protect them.

As he jumped, Tao and the others tried to hold him back. The judge's hands hit Tao's side and the gun fell out of his waistband and slid across the floor right in front of Fah who didn't move.

Assuming everyone was still bound securely, none of the abductors rushed to grab Tao's gun. They were more concerned about getting a better grip on the judge and getting him under control.

Bank repeated his threat to kill Run. He made sure everyone else held the judge securely. "I'll shoot his arm to begin with. I'll give you three chances to cooperate. The next shot will be his thigh, final shot will be his head. We will work our way through your family until you say yes." Bank stepped forward and aimed his weapon at Run. With everything that was happening, Fah knew it was up to him.

"Well, what'll it be? Are you going to cooperate or not?" asked Bank.

"Dad, don't agree!" screamed Run. The judge said nothing, he spit at Bank.

"Oh no, not the right response. I thought judges were supposed to be smart. Now look what you're making me do," said Bank as he released the safety on the pistol.