by Willow Rose
“That was some serious adulting right there, Matt,” she whispered, then disappeared into the bathroom.
Feeling prouder than ever, Matt went downstairs to clean up the kitchen when there was a loud and rapid knock on the door. He went to open it.
“Eva Rae?”
Matt closed the door behind him and came out toward her on the porch. His heart dropped at the sight of her. It was pouring down rain, and she had been soaked just from running from her car to his porch. The rain was drumming on the metal roof above them.
“What’s going on?” he asked when she didn’t speak. It was like she had to find the courage.
She took a deep breath. She was in obvious distress and seeing this made his pulse quicken. For a second, he worried that something had happened to one of the children.
Her eyes met his as she spoke:
“I need your help with something. It’s important, Matt.”
Chapter 50
The blue lights from Matt’s police cruiser lit up the palm trees next to us on the road as we took the exit leading to Fellsmere. Matt was literally flooring the accelerator, siren blaring. It had taken a few minutes to convince him to help me out and that I needed him. Driving there in his cruiser was the only way I would stand a chance to make it there in time. Matt had at first tried to call the sheriff’s office in Indian River County, but they couldn’t put him through to Sheriff Howard, they said. There was no other way than to get there, and hopefully in time.
“Are we ever going to talk about us?” Matt asked as he reached the end of the ramp, leaving I95. “About what happened?”
I cleared my throat and swallowed. “Not now, Matt. We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”
He ran a red light, making sure traffic was holding back for him, then floored it again. The cruiser jolted forward aggressively. Matt grumbled angrily at a car that didn’t move out of his way fast enough.
“Okay. I guess we aren’t talking about it then,” he said.
“You’re the one who left,” I said. “Just like that. Like you did when we were on Amelia Island too.”
“You didn’t exactly give me a reason to stay.”
“I thought we weren’t talking about it,” I said.
“Well, now we are.”
“What do you want from me, Matt?” I asked when he took a sharp turn, and I was thrown against the door.
“I want you to be there. I want to feel like I’m important to you,” he said. “I mean, I move in, and you hardly notice. I spend most of the time with your children and not you. I feel like you don’t want me there at all.”
I looked at my watch, my heart pounding in my throat. I really just wanted to get there fast and not deal with all this right now. I knew Matt was hurting, but people’s lives were on the line here. A pregnant woman and her husband.
Matt scoffed at my silence. “You’re not even trying to deny it.”
“What do you want me to say?” I asked and threw out my arms.
“Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me that you want to take our relationship to the next level. I want you to stop running and be here with me. Let us be a couple.”
“I’m not running, Matt. I’ve told you this a million times. I am trying to save someone’s life. I am trying to catch a killer that no one else seems to understand is out there, killing. That’s all it is, Matt.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You’re just too much; do you know that?”
“Well, if I’m that much, then why were you so eager to move in with me, huh?” I asked. “Why did we have to rush into it like this?”
“Is that how you feel? That we rushed into it? Because I thought it was about time and a natural move by now.”
I stared at him as he approached the address, bumping down a dirt road till we reached a small two-story house. There were a lot of things I wanted to say in this instant, but I didn’t because it would have destroyed us. It would have broken his heart. Instead, I opened the door as he parked the car behind the police blockade, and we spotted the many police cruisers surrounding the house in the driveway. Instead, I got out without a word, suppressing all my emotions like I was getting so good at.
Chapter 51
Matt ran up to the sheriff, holding out his badge to the deputies that tried to stop him, and I followed close behind him. The sheriff was standing behind his cruiser, his gun aimed at the front porch. I could see the SWAT team’s wagon had arrived. Heart in my throat, I wondered if they had made their move yet. Everything seemed quiet, and I assumed they hadn’t.
“Sheriff, Detective Matt Miller,” he said, running up behind him, waving his badge. “I need you to stand down. We have information that your situation is a swatting call and not a real hostage situation.”
Sheriff Howard didn’t move. “No can do, I’m afraid, Detective.”
“Please, sir,” I said. “Just tell your men to stand down, and we’ll explain everything afterward.”
“This is Eva Rae Thomas,” Matt said.
“The rogue FBI profiler? Yeah, I heard about you. What are you doing here?” Sheriff Howard said without looking at us. His focus remained on the front door of the house.
“I’m working on a case,” I said. “Please, tell your men to…”
“As I told Detective Miller, there is no way we can do that,” he said. “We have drone footage from inside the house, showing the man holding a gun to his pregnant wife’s head. Now, if you’ll please get out of here before either of you get caught in the line of fire.”
Matt and I shared a look. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You say you have footage of this?” I asked.
Finally, the sheriff looked at me. “Yes. We sent in the drone close to the window as we arrived, and it captured it all on video.”
Matt glared at me. I shook my head. “But…it can’t be.”
“Would you please stand back, ma’am?” Sheriff Howard said.
But I didn’t move. I stood like I was frozen, a million thoughts rushing through my head. I couldn’t understand how this was possible if this was a swatting call. Had I chosen the wrong person? Had I been wrong about the connection between them?
Matt grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away.
“I don’t…understand,” I said.
“You had me drive here for…this? You had me barge in and use my name to try and stop something that seems to be a legit hostage situation?”
I shook my head. “But it’s not. It can’t be.”
Matt threw out his arms. “They have the footage to prove you wrong. How do you explain that?”
I couldn’t. If my theory of the Swatter was right, he sat somewhere else in the country, far away, and called these events in, then let the police do the rest. If the man really had a gun placed against his wife’s head, then maybe…it was real? Maybe her husband had lost it and was trying to kill his family?
But how could it be?
What if he…
I stared first at Matt, then at the house with a small gasp.
“What?” Matt asked. “I don’t like that look in your eyes, Eva Rae.”
I spotted the SWAT team as they crawled closer to the house, popping up like roaches. The operation had begun.
“Eva Rae?”
I stared at Matt.
“Eva Rae?”
“He’s here,” I said. “He’s in the house. He knew he had to make it look legit this time. He knows I’m onto him, so he had to make sure I looked like a fool, that no one would believe me. He’s here, Matt. He made sure they got that footage somehow. I need to…”
Matt shook his head. “Oh, no, you don’t. You don’t need to do anything, Eva Rae.”
He reached out to grab ahold of me, but it was too late. I had already taken off and was running toward the house.
Chapter 52
“STOP!”
The voices yelling behind me were all drowned out by the sound of the blood rushing through my veins, pulsating i
n my ears. I stormed toward the house and onto the porch, knowing very well that they might shoot me, but it was my only chance, the way I saw it. I couldn’t live with myself if Susan Johnson and her unborn child were killed or if her husband was without me at least doing what I could, even if it meant being shot on the way.
I stumbled on the first step, but bounced off the fall with my hands and shot across the wooden porch. I passed a couple of SWAT officers on the way. One of them reached out to try and catch me, but I was faster than him. I had always been the fastest runner in my team at Quantico, but that was a long time and several extra pounds ago. It was good to know that I still had it in me.
“STOP, or we’ll shoot!”
They were still yelling behind me, but I didn’t listen. I blocked it all out, and as the shot fell, I jolted forward while I could hear Matt screaming behind me. The shot missed, and I thumped against the front door and leaped into the house, slamming the door shut behind me, gasping for air.
Nostrils flaring, my heart threatening to burst, I fell to my knees on the tile inside, then looked up and spotted Susan Johnson and her husband.
She was kneeling on the floor, bending forward, crying, while he was standing behind her, holding a gun pointed at the back of her head.
Just like in the video.
But there was something else, something no drone camera could have caught.
He was crying too, sobbing loudly and shaking heavily in fear. I reached for the gun in my ankle holster and pulled it out, then pointed it at him.
“Put the gun down!” I said, getting up on my feet. “Sir. Mr. Johnson. I need you to put the gun down now.”
Come on. Come on. Just do as I say before they swat the house!
“Sir?” I said and approached him cautiously. “I need you to put the gun down. Or you’ll get shot. They’re coming in any second now. Please.”
He was shaking heavily. “I…I c-can’t.”
“You can’t? Why not?”
“H-he’ll see me.”
“Who? Who will see you?” I asked, suddenly focusing on my surroundings, pointing the gun toward the open doors behind them. “Is someone here?”
He nodded nervously. “He’s watching us.”
I turned around and walked behind them, then walked into the kitchen, but found no one.
“No,” the man yelled as I came back. “He’s watching us from there.”
He nodded toward an open laptop placed on the chair next to them.
“Please,” Susan Johnson said. “He told us to stay in this position.”
I stared at the small camera on the computer, then grabbed the lid, but they stopped me.
“Don’t close it!”
“Why not?” I asked, hand still on the lid.
“If we move or close the lid so he can’t see us, he’ll kill him.”
Chapter 53
Matt couldn’t breathe. He had seen Eva Rae jolt for the house, then heard the shot being fired, and that was when his heart stopped. Now, he felt like his chest was so tight that no air was being let in. As far as he could tell, Eva Rae hadn’t been hit by the bullet, as she had continued into the house and slammed the door shut. He was pretty sure she was okay, but for how long?
Panic had spread where he was standing, and the sheriff had no idea what to do next. He had told the SWAT team to stand down, then looked at Matt and asked him what the heck Eva Rae thought she was doing.
“Is she trying to get herself killed?”
“I think she’s trying to save the situation,” Matt had replied. “Somehow.”
“Save it? Save it?” Sheriff Howard had shrieked. “I’m gonna have to have her arrested for this.”
“She believes it’s a set-up,” he said. “Give her a minute. Just a minute.”
Sheriff Howard had looked into Matt’s eyes deep and long, then told him one minute and one minute only.
Now those sixty seconds had passed, and he was addressing him again, eyes determined.
“Time’s up. We need to go in.”
“Please,” Matt said, but he knew it was no use. For all they knew, Eva Rae had become a hostage herself.
Matt felt sick to his stomach as he heard the sheriff give the order over the radio. He had just said the words when someone yelled.
“There’s movement by the door. Someone’s coming out!”
“Stand down, everyone,” Sheriff Howard said. “SWAT team, stand down. We have movement by the front door. Hold your positions.”
All guns were pointed at the door, and Matt’s eyes were glued to it as it opened slowly. His heart was pounding in his throat as he watched the woman he loved so deeply walk out, arms held high above her head.
“Don’t shoot,” she yelled. “I am unarmed.”
“Step down from the porch slowly,” Sheriff Howard yelled. “Move slowly toward us, no sudden movements.”
Eva Rae did as she was told. Matt could tell she was shaking as she walked forward, knowing that one small movement could prove to be fatal, one arm falling below her waistline could look like she was going for a weapon. It could be so easily mistaken in a tense situation like this.
As Eva Rae took the final step from the porch and ended up in the driveway, Sheriff Howard yelled:
“Now, get down to your knees, hands behind your head.”
Eva Rae paused for a second, then did as she was told, keeping those hands up behind her head. Soon, she was surrounded by SWAT officers pointing guns at her, searching her, then taking her away from the scene.
As she was pushed forward against a car and cuffed, she yelled. Her voice was quivering, and it occurred to Matt that she was terrified.
“I need to talk to Sheriff Howard. Please. It’s important. There’s something you need to know. If you want to save the lives of those people in there, then please listen to what I have to say.”
Chapter 54
“First of all, it’s not a real gun. It’s a replica,” I said.
The sheriff had come closer and told his deputies to stand back. My hands were cuffed behind my back; I posed no threat anymore.
“The gun in Mr. Johnson’s hand,” I continued, still breathing raggedly in fear and agitation. “When I was in there, I got a good close look at it, and it’s not real. I guarantee you. I know my way around guns. It’s not real.”
Sheriff Howard gave me a stern look. “Why would he hold a replica against his wife’s head?”
“To make it look real,” I said. “They’ve been set up. They were told to stay in that position no matter what happened.”
“By whom?” he asked, still skeptical.
“By the same guy who called it in.”
“But the call came from the house—the man calling identified himself as Rob Johnson. He said he was going to kill his wife and unborn child.”
I nodded. “I know. I know. But it wasn’t him who made the call. Someone who wants to hurt them did this. He told them to sit like that, placed the replica in Mr. Johnson’s hands, and said that if they moved, he would know, he would see it. He has been watching them from his computer, he placed her laptop so it could record everything, and my guess is that it has been live streaming to Twitch all this time, so others could watch along. It’s what this guy does; he wants the world to watch it.”
“But why did they stay after he left?” Matt asked. “He couldn’t get to them once the police were here.”
I sighed. “Because she has a younger brother. He threatened to kill him if they didn’t do exactly as they were told. He’s thirteen years old.”
Sheriff Howard lifted his hat and rubbed the hair underneath it. “So, let me get this straight, I need to get the basics straightened out first. The guy is holding a replica to her head, right? He’s not trying to kill her? There is no danger?”
I shook my head. “No need for the SWAT team or even weapons. They’re terrified in there. They don’t dare to move. Not even when I was in there, but no one wants anyone to be killed.”
Ma
tt and Sheriff Howard shared a look. “And you can vouch for her, Detective? You know her well enough to stand behind what she’s saying? No matter how crazy it all sounds?”
Matt nodded. “Yes, sir. She’s been tracking this serial swatter for quite some time. She knows his ways. She might not always play by the book, but she is very good at what she does.”
Sheriff Howard nodded and signaled for his deputy to release me.
“All right, then. I’ll buy into it…at least for now. But you’ve got to help me out here. What do I do next? Do I arrest Rob Johnson for holding a replica to his wife’s head? Or what? The way I see it, if you’re right about all this, then we have a thirteen-year-old boy that we need to save. Because if this guy, whoever he is, was watching, then he must have seen you and know that it’s all been exposed.”
I exhaled, relieved, as my hands were once again free, then looked up at both of them.
“You’re right about that, Sheriff. And I think I might have an idea, but you’re probably not gonna like it.”
Chapter 55
Skyler sipped his can of CULT with one hand while the other still tapped on the mouse. He reached for a handful of chips and put them in his mouth and chewed. Austin, who was sitting next to him at the Gamers Respawn Gaming Café, stared intently at the screen in front of him and didn’t even notice that Skyler was looking at him. Austin was his best friend, and they had known each other since third grade when they sat next to one another in Mrs. Fischer’s class.
“Oh, man!” Austin exclaimed and threw the mouse down. He took off his headset in frustration and drank from his Mountain Dew. Finally, he looked at Skyler and made an annoyed face.