By the time he was able to stop the bleeding, it was a quarter past midnight. Ethan knew this because he was staring at the cuckoo clock his grandfather had made when he was still alive. His father had inherited the cabin from his father, who in turn inherited it from his father. The cabin had been the family's heirloom for years, and now he had inherited it too after his father passed away.

He had plans to pass it down to Ronnie when he was no more. He didn't want any of the family's legacy to vanish in the wind. But none of his plans would be executed if they found this place. He had to act fast and find Terry.

He struggled to his feet. Terry had almost killed him. Groaning, he gripped a pillar and using that as support, he lifted himself from the blood-filled floor. Then he staggered to the door. The pains were excruciating as hell, but he had experienced much worse in the past, so he felt sure he could handle it.

He checked to see if the gun was in place, in case he was faced with anybody who would get in his way. He hoped he wouldn't have to kill anyone with it. He wasn't a murderer and he didn't want to be one.

Descending the staircase was no small task, but he made it in one piece. Earlier when he had gone to town to get the ingredients, he had ditched Terry's car and replaced it with a stolen one. Terry was on foot and he doubted she had covered a tremendous distance. But he wouldn't underestimate her, especially after she had attacked him and left him to die.

He intended to get into the stolen car and go on a hunt for Terry, but he knew that wasn't happening anytime soon when he heard footsteps in the cabin. Someone was inside his sanctuary. They had found it but how?

His mind raced with possibilities. The only one that made sense was if Terry made contact. She couldn't have gotten far to reach out. Besides, telephone booths were rarely seen here. If she made it out of the cabin, she was likely to be wandering in the woods feeling marooned and exhausted.

If Terry brought these strangers to the cabin, then it meant she had a phone on her all this while. Damn! He hadn't noticed the device. Perhaps, he had gone too easy on her. He should have used the skills he acquired in the navy to get her into telling him what he wanted to know, but instead he bound her, asked her questions, and she bullshitted him in his face-even outwitted him at some point, and all he had done was fed her like a baby.

He let his guard down and now he was facing the consequence. He shut the voices chiding him and focused on how to handle the new problem. From his vantage point, he saw two men in dark suits prowl around the fireplace, each was heavily armed. He could easily take them down if he wasn't wounded. And all thanks to the Judge.

Two against one. He was outnumbered in resources and manpower. Attacking them was suicide. In the navy, he learned to attack when the enemy was unaware. He had the element of surprise-which would have been good leverage if he wasn't wounded. All he could do was watch and wait.

He watched them like a predator studying the prey. The only difference between this moment and the many other moments on the field was that, he wasn't readying to attack. For the first time, Ethan felt defenseless.

The strangers furtively moved around the place. One of them signaled the other and whispered, "Check upstairs! I will take downstairs!"

"Copy."

Ethan watched them split to check the rooms. He heard doors banging. All he could do was hide while they ransacked his cabin. They took forever in tearing the place apart. They were experts-Ethan knew that-because after they had scattered the place, they made sure to put everything back. They didn't want to leave a trace of their presence there. A good killer never leaves a trail, Grandpa had once told him.

Nothing made any sense. If Terry thought her life was in danger, why would she call killers to her rescue and not cops? He got confirmation they were killers when he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"No sign of him or Judge Terry," one of the men said to his employer.

"Did you check the cabin well?"

"Yes."

There was silence on the line. "Terry's gone to the cops and she's angry. She thinks I'm keeping secrets from her. She can't be trusted anymore."

"What do you have in store?"

"She's become a liability. Kill her."

"I'd do it in a heartbeat. And Ethan?"

"He's relentless. Kill him too. He's in the woods somewhere," he said. "I just got words from the FBI. Terry's in the custody of the state troopers. Their station is not far from the cabin. The feds will be ten minutes late, which gives you the opportunity to end this nightmare once and for all. To extract Terry from the station will be difficult. You need heavy weapons."

"You want us to hit the station?"

He scoffed. "What does it sound like? They'll not just hand you Judge Terry, and there's no time to pose as federal agents. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Contact me when it's done," he said.

"Got that."

"And remember, I don't want loose ends."

"You hired experts. We hate loose ends."

"I'm counting on you." Then he hung up.

He stuffed the phone in the pocket of his jeans and said, "Well, Crow, you heard the boss. Let's move it!" They stormed out of the cabin.

Ethan couldn't believe his ears. He came out of his hiding place and rushed out of the cabin. He had to find Terry before those men did.

* * *

Terry had just finished giving her statement to the state troopers who found her in the woods. She was sitting behind a desk in the precinct, showing the cops the location Ethan had kept her hostage from the map that had been splayed before her.

"This is the creek," she said and glanced up at them, "the cabin should be here somewhere." She pinpointed the exact spot from the map.

Lieutenant Conor marked off the section with a pen.

"He's armed and wounded. You might still find him in the cabin if you leave right now."

Conor looked at her bloodstained dress and said, "You hurt?"

She wondered why he would think that until she followed the direction of his eyes. "Oh, this? It's not my blood. It's his."

Conor looked relieved to know she was unharmed. A middle-aged woman in police attire huddled around them. Her name tag said Commander Heartny.

"I just got off the phone with the FBI director. He's dispatched two agents down here." She looked at her wristwatch. "They should be here within approximately eight minutes."

Terry ran her disheveled hair backward. "Thank you, Commander. I appreciate all your efforts to keep me safe."

"Your safety is our only priority. I'm glad you escaped from that fugitive."

Heartny was staring at the photo of Ethan on the TV screen. Terry could see the hate radiating from her eyes. Right now she felt sure everyone following the story hated Ethan so much that they would wish him dead than alive. She didn't know what she felt towards him now that she was away from him. She hadn't believed anything he had told her, but upon second thought, she realized some of what he'd said might be true.

She watched the commander dissolve into the bustling police station with cops striding up and down the place. Heartny was addressing the team she had put together to hunt down Ethan. Terry picked the glass of water they offered her and sipped. From where she sat, she heard everything Heartny was telling the state troopers cradling huge firearms.

"Remember, the mission here is to bring in the fugitive. Don't engage until he engages. Shoot to kill if necessary," she said and Terry shuddered from her sitting posture. Part of her didn't want anything bad to happen to Ethan.

"Ethan Willows is a veteran navy commander with years of training and experience. That means he is not an easy target. This guy is a master. Act with caution. If possible, avoid bloodshed and don't show up without the fugitive. Dismiss!"

Terry looked at them as they dispersed. A minute later, they were out of the building. The station was less crowded now. She took out her cell phone from her pocket and made a call to Eddie's cell. She was happy to hear his voice.

"Honey, is it really you?"

"Yes."

"B-bu. . .but how? I thought you had been kidnapped."

Terry wished she could see his face and hug him forever without letting go of him. She choked back a cry and said, "I got away."

"Where are you? Are you safe?"

"Yes, yes. I'm at the police station. The state troopers found me after I escaped."

"Thank God. I was worried something might happen to you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

Terry couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Hours ago, she'd thought she was going to die and not see her family again. She cried uncontrollably. "I was scared, Ed. I thought he was going to kill me." She remembered when Ethan had broken into the house and taken her at gunpoint.

She stopped crying, but traces could be heard on his end. "I thought I wasn't going to see you again. . .and Gabby. How's she doing?"

"She's sad you're not here. She saw you on TV, but I was fast enough to send her away before she heard anything."

She was glad to hear this. God, it'd have been terrible if Gabby found out she was kidnapped. She pulled her fingers to her face and wiped off the streak. "I'm safe now, and we'll soon be together."

"What about him? Did the cops find him?"

She was reluctant to talk about her kidnapper with her husband. The nightmare was finally over and she didn't want to recall any of it. "Let's not talk about him."

Eddie understood why she didn't want to talk about Ethan. "All right, honey."

Terry heard a sigh on the line, followed by constant pacing. She could guess the desperation he was in.

"I spoke with the Attorney General. He was nice. Actually, he gave me reasons to hope for the best. Should I trust him?"

Terry didn't know what Clinton's endgame was or how he was connected with the story Ethan had told her. But one thing she knew for sure was that she couldn't trust him. At least for now.

"No, Ed."

She might have made him curious because he asked suddenly, "Why? He said you trust him."

"There's so much I want to tell you, but not over the phone. You have to get out of there. . .wherever you are. Clinton has been hiding things from me. Things about the man I handed down the death sentence."

She lowered her voice and scanned her surrounding. When nobody was staring at her, she returned to Eddie. "I think Clinton is into something criminal and he's not telling me."

Terry suspected a lot. She suspected Clinton had framed Ethan. She suspected Clinton had ordered the hit on Jerry Hamilton's life, but she had no way of proving it to herself or anyone for that matter.

Eddie was worried and the distress in his voice was evidence. "Are you sure of what you're saying?"

She understood why he would doubt her because she too did doubt her suspicions at first. Clinton was too nice to be true. "Very, Ed. I have reasons to believe Ethan is innocent."

It sounded absurd to him and for the first time, he gave a sharp retort at her. "Ethan? The man who kidnapped you?"

"Keep your voice down, Ed. Like I said, there's so much I want to tell you, but first you need to get out of that safe house."

"Why?"

"Because it's no longer safe."

He went silent and she thought he had hung up. "Ed? Are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Good. Get Gabby and leave the safe house. If Clinton gets-" She stopped herself from saying the dreadful words.

"I can't just get out of the safe house. It's already night here. I don't even know where we are, and I don't have my car."

Terry took a deep long breath. Like she feared, the news had overwhelmed him. Eddie had been able to handle tougher situations, but not this one because nothing was making any sense.

"Tell the federal agents Gabby's having a hard time sleeping and you're taking her to the park. Clinton said the safe house is in Virginia. Do you remember Esther?"

"Yes."

"She lives in Virginia. I will call her to get you once you're out."

He wasn't responding so she thought he didn't comprehend.

"Ed, please tell me you understand what I'm saying."

"I do."

"Good. You've got to leave the safe house. Your life's at stake." She hadn't said that to startle him. She had done it to emphasize the urgency of the situation.

"All right, I will call you when we're out."

"Take care of yourself, honey. And I'm sorry for bringing this upon our family."

"Don't say that. None of this is your fault."

She wanted to believe that, but she knew it wasn't entirely true. "Thanks, Ed." She hung up and set the phone aside. She had barely recovered from the trauma of the event when Heartny stepped forward with a telephone.

"Ma'am. There's someone on the line and he wants to speak to you. He says it's urgent."

Terry anxiously asked, "Who?"

"Eddie Terry."

Eddie Terry! Her husband? But that's impossible. She just spoke to him. "Are you sure?" Terry was looking dubiously at the commander. She doubted Heartny got the name right.

"Positive."

She reluctantly took the phone, certain it wasn't her husband, but someone who wanted her attention and had used his name. She put the phone to her ear and when the voice sank in, she gulped hard.

"Terry. It's me. Listen carefully. Your life is in danger."