He left the windows open on purpose before he entered the interior of the room to take his wallet. When he came back into the room, he surveyed the driveway of the safe house from the window. Two cars had been parked in the driveway. He didn’t spot any one of the federal agents. Eddie knew it was time.

     He backed off from the window and walked to the large bed where Gabby slept with one hand around her teddy bear and the other under the pillow. He watched her sleep like an angel, then tapped her gently on the lap. She didn’t wake, and Eddie got cold feet.

     After the phone call with his wife, he’d mulled over the plan. Eddie trusted Terry, and if she had said their lives were in danger, then she meant it. But Eddie didn’t want to leave the safe house in the middle of the night and with Gabby to some unknown destination.

     Perhaps, his wife was being paranoid. He’d shut the voices in his head that fed him those ideas. On second thought, Terry could be making a fuss, which made sense looking at her current situation. Being kidnapped and held hostage by a man she’d handed down the death sentence and escaping from him was no small burden for anyone. What if she had been overwhelmed by what had happened and she was overreacting?

     Eddie had pondered over that too, but found no easy answers. In a situation like this one, he knew he had to trust his wife and get out of the safe house. Gabby tossed over. Her eyes sprang open and she yawned. When she saw her Dad’s face looming over her, she smiled.

     “Is it morning already?”

     “No, sweetie.”

     “Then why’re you up?”

     “We’re leaving to see Mommy.”

     Her eyes widened. “Really?”

     “Yes.”

     She jerked from the bed and set the bedspread aside. “I wanna see Mommy.”

     Eddie smiled at her as he reached for her shoes and jacket on the table. He scooped her up and deposited her on the couch. He put her small legs into the shoes and said, “Mommy can’t wait to see you too. We both miss her.”

     Gabby nodded as he placed her arms into the jacket, pulled her blond hair backward, and buttoned the garment.

     “There we go,” he said and lifted himself from the floor.

     He took her hand and they walked to the door. Eddie opened it halfway. That’s when Gabby remembered she’d left something.

     “Daddy! My teddy bear!”

     “All right, stay here. I’ll go get it.”

     “Uh-huh.”

     Eddie ran into the room. Gabby stood on the threshold, toying with the straps on the jacket.

     “Hello, Pretty girl. Where’s your Daddy?”

     Gabby looked up to see one of the federal agents who had brought them to the safe house. She chirped, “He’s going to get my bear.”

     “Okay, pretty one. . .”

     “My name’s Gabby.”

     The agent smiled wildly. “All right, Gabby. Why don’t we wait in the car for Daddy while he gets the teddy bear?”

     She shook her head. “Daddy said I should stay here.”

     The agent ruffled her hair and purred, “You want to see Mommy, don’t you?”

     “Mommy!”

     “She’s outside waiting for you and Daddy. She wants to surprise you.” The agent opened his hand and Gabby took it.

     “I want to see my Mommy.”

     “Then let’s go.”

     Eddie returned from the room and found the door ajar as he’d left it. But he didn’t see Gabby behind it. Thinking that the girl was hiding somewhere, he said, “Sweetie, this isn’t a good time to play hide and seek. Come out now, Gabby.”

     He heard nothing. No motions—no sounds—just echoes of his voice. His pulse quickened. “Gabby! Darling! Where are you?”

     The tires of a vehicle screeched loudly. He dashed out of the room and into the driveway, he found the SUV hurtling onto the street. In the rays of the strobe lights, he saw Gabby sitting in the front seat. He yelled, “Gabby!” and went after the car only to watch it vanish into the darkness.

#.  #. #

     The state trooper held his gun close to his head, feeling a compulsion to pull the trigger. He had no intention of letting the fugitive flee. He looked at his gun and said, “Drop it!”

     Ethan didn’t comply.

     He cocked the gun and said, more firmly, “Drop your weapon.”

     He let go of his gun, not because he was afraid he might pull the trigger and kill him. Steady mentalization told him he could take him down in less than a minute. All he had to do was parry his hand before he pressed the trigger, place an arm around his neck and crack it. And that was it. Like he’d done on battlefields. The trooper was inexperienced and young. Even from the angle he held the gun was evidence. But Ethan didn’t want to put up a fight and display his skills, especially in front of the Judge.

     He went on sabbatical after his retirement, and he felt sure he wouldn’t be thinking of murdering someone if they hadn’t framed him. The state trooper kicked the gun with extreme force. It clattered away.

      “Back off from her!”

     Slowly, he moved away from the Judge.

     “There’s a cuff on that desk.” He motioned to the commander’s desk which had spatters of dry blood everywhere. “Pick it and lock yourself.”

     No way he’d do that. The feds were likely to show up in less than three minutes. It would be a disaster if they found him in the station, cuffed to a desk in this bloodbath. The feds would chalk up this massacre to him and perhaps, cut the trooper some slacks for capturing him. Then they would shock him to unconsciousness and he’d wake up hours later on death row, looking into the eyes of a stern doctor ready to administer the lethal injection.

     He’d worked so hard to let everything go into shambles. To let his framers win. Ethan glanced at the trooper and said, “Look here, trooper, I don’t want to kill you. Put that thing away and let me go. I’ve got important places to be, and I can’t be arrested.”

     The state trooper didn’t take the threat lightly. “Shut up and do it.”

     Ethan walked to the table and searched for the cuffs. It lay between books and files. He picked a folder, placed it on top, whipped his head to the trooper and said, “There’s nothing here. A little help.”

     The state trooper looked suspiciously at him, his firearm aiming at his chest before he moved to his side. He sent one hand to the desk and riffled the files. When he saw the moment, he went for it.

     Quickly, he gripped the hand holding the gun and parried it. The trooper was caught off guard and his fingers pushed the trigger. Shoots were spewed, Ethan dodged them, and they struck the walls.

     Ethan twisted his hand and broke three fingers simultaneously. He yelled before he released the gun. Ethan was about to break another bone when Terry shouted his name. “You’re hurting him.”

     He brought out the manacle and handcuffed him. The trooper scowled at him as he made him sit on the floor.

     “When the feds arrive, tell them what happened. I didn’t kill these people, so don’t pin it on me.”

     “Oh,” he said surly, “the feds will definitely hear an interesting story.”

     Ethan smirked. “I bet they would.” He walked briskly to the section his gun had fallen, picked it up, and holstered it. Then he turned to the Judge. “Are you coming or you’re goin’ to take your chances with the feds?”

     Moments ago she’d have done that, but after what she had witnessed, she was left in a dilemma. The men who attacked the station were still at large, armed, and dangerous. If they had hit a whole station, what stopped them from hitting an FBI convoy? Chances were that they could attack the rescue team. But with Ethan, she thought differently. It was uncanny, and she wondered why she’d think that after everything he’d done to her.

     With a nod, she followed her kidnapper out of the station and they got inside the stolen car. They hit the road. Terry said, “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what she was sorry for. Perhaps, for not listening to him and letting those innocent people die. She still felt the guilt.

     “Sorry for what?”

     “I should have listened to you.”

     Truth was that he hadn’t expected her to have listened. And he understood why. After all the terror he’d induced on her, he didn’t even think she would come with him. There had been moments when he wished he hadn’t kidnapped her from her house. But then, he thought to himself that, if he had appeared out of the blue at her house, and had asked her calmly to follow him, she’d have hit him with a lethal object and called the cops. Fear inspired cooperation, and it was the only way he’d have gotten her attention, and it did work.

     Terry Lindsay hadn’t been his main target. After the convoy was attacked and he got away, he wanted to find the hired witness—perhaps kidnap him and coerce him into confessing. That way he’d have vindicated himself, and the whole of South Carolina would know he wasn’t a mass murderer.

     Everything went sideways when Jerry Hamilton was shot and his hopes were shattered. Ethan was gnawed by the incident, so he figured out another way to find out the truth. That was when the kidnap of Judge Terry dominated his mind. Initially he didn’t want to do it, but after he found out that all the news stations and papers were saying he was a mass murderer, he knew he couldn’t just sit on the fence. Ethan embarked on a journey to find the whole truth.