by Willow Rose
Hunter grabbed the controller in his hand and started up the PlayStation when there was a knock on his door.
He looked at the clock. It was five to nine. Who could it be at this hour?
Maybe Grandma forgot her key.
Hunter chuckled when thinking about how forgetful his grandma had been lately, then opened the door. But it wasn’t his grandma who stood outside; it was a man, a big man wearing a hoodie.
“Yes?”
The man smiled. “Can I come in?”
Hunter shook his head. “No.”
The man looked like he wasn’t going to go away and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Hunter tried again.
“Listen, mister, I don’t know who you are, and it’s late so…”
He tried to close the door, but the man placed a hand in the opening and pushed it open. As he stepped into the light, Hunter suddenly recognized him. It was that guy from the cooking show, the one who yelled at everyone and was meaner than his grandma when she got angry at Hunter.
“That may be,” Liam Berkeley said, “but I know what you’ve done.”
Chapter 97
I stared into the small dark room. Liam had opened the door and forced me to look. Five huge computer screens, a desk, and an office chair. On the chair sat a young boy, probably no more than the age of Olivia. He was gagged and tied to the armrest. His fear-struck eyes stared back at me, and he groaned behind the gag like he was trying to warn me.
“Hunter, meet Eva Rae Thomas. Eva Rae Thomas, this is Hunter Perry, also known as DeVilSQuaD666, back in the day.”
Liam dragged me inside and slammed the door shut behind us. I stared at the young boy whose eyes glared back at me like he wanted to scream at me to get the hell out now!
“Now you’ll know him as FaZeYourFeaRs,” Liam continued. “Hunter here does all the work for me. He’s the one who records the calls and makes sure no one can track them. He’s the one who taught me everything I needed to know, including who the important people are in the world of gaming, who has the most followers, and so on. The thing is, Hunter did something bad one time, and he knows that if he doesn’t do as I tell him to, I’ll tell the police what he did. It was Tim who told me he even existed. He had heard about this guy who would swat people for money, or call in a bomb threat at your school for money. He told me this over dinner one night after Anna had passed away. It caught my interest, and I had Tim help me write to him. So I started chatting with him, calling myself FanTAUstic345. I followed what he did with great interest as he would often brag about it afterward in the chatrooms. I then told him I’d pay him to swat someone for me, and he did. The guy ended up being shot by the police in his own home. And the best part was that it wasn’t even the right guy. It was someone completely random.”
“And that fit your mission perfectly, I suspect,” I said, wincing in pain. He was holding my ponytail so tight it felt like a screaming headache.
“It gave me the idea,” Liam said, “of how I could tell the world about the injustice being performed constantly by our very own law enforcement. This was my way of breaking them down. Keep swatting till they messed up, and boy did they mess up. Again and again, it was beautiful. I kept at it, knowing that if this continued, the anger toward the police would get me the result I wanted, what we all needed. A revolution.”
“Are you really so crazy that you would sacrifice your own son for this cause?” I asked as he finally let go of my hair and I could fall to my knees.
Liam smiled. “Tim wasn’t really my son. He was Anna’s when we met. I adopted him, but never cared much for him, and the feeling was mutual. He hated my guts.”
“You called it in on him to prove a point. You sacrificed him. He was dispensable to you. Did he really mean so little? The son of the woman you loved?”
“I didn’t know he’d get killed. I didn’t know what would happen. That was the beauty of it. They might as well have killed me on that night. But yes, his death became a means to an end. Swatting myself and losing my step-son sure made headlines. It also served as a way to keep the focus away from me. I had a feeling I was being watched—that someone was onto me, and the day you came to me, I knew I was right. It was also the time I learned that Hunter here had been going behind my back.”
“You didn’t know he was playing Call of Duty with the victims?” I asked. I looked at the boy. “Because he was trying to warn them. That was why.”
“Yeah, well, he tried to chat with them in the game and tell them they were in danger since he knew I would never see it in there. But you told me this when I came to you, and I put a stop to that. Instead, I used it to get you to where I wanted you. But he endangered the entire mission.”
“And so did I,” I said. “That was why you kept close to me. You kept showing up at my house, wanting to be close to the investigation. I should have seen it then. You were only there to make sure I wasn’t getting too close to the truth. And you arranged all the bombs before Orlando happened. But who shot at the police if you were in my car?”
“It’s not hard to find help when you’re fighting injustice,” Liam said. “I have a network of people online who have joined the revolution. They helped me shoot in Orlando, and they helped me start the revolt in D.C. After what happened to Amal Bukhari on the airplane, it wasn’t hard to recruit people.”
“Did you shoot her?” I asked. “Amal Bukhari? Was it you on that rooftop?”
“Yes,” Liam said. “I wanted to do that one by myself. It was so important, like the shot that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo in 1914, that started the First World War. I wanted it to have the same significance. I wanted the world to look back at the shot as the beginning of the revolution.”
“And since you served two tours in Afghanistan, I read this in your files last night, you knew about explosives and were a trained sniper,” I said.
Liam smiled. “I can do more than just cook, you know.”
Chapter 98
Liam grabbed an office chair and rolled it toward me. Then he grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up from the ground. Blood and spit were dripping from my broken lip onto the floor. I slid into the seat, and he tied my hands to the armrests using black strips.
He then walked to the desk and found a piece of paper that he handed to me.
“Here, read this. I need you to know it well before we record it.”
“What is this?” I asked, looking at what was written. The letters were dancing, and I couldn’t focus properly on the words.
“I wrote this before it all began, and I want you to read it while I record it,” he said. “Go ahead.”
“Liam,” I said, staring at the text. I blinked and blinked, but it made no sense. “I…I…can’t…”
“READ IT!” he screamed directly into my ear. It sent a spike of pain through my head and down my back. The scream was followed by a punch directly on my nose. My head was yanked backward, and I felt dizzy, fighting not to pass out. As my head bopped back up, Liam gave me a look.
“Read it.”
I stared at the paper. More blood dripped from my nose down onto it. I cleared my throat and tried to say the words, sounding them out, almost like a Kindergartener before cracking the reading code.
“I…It’s t-time…t-to…”
Liam pulled the paper from my hand. “It’s time to create…” he said, reading it. He continued:
“…a substantial change within the American police force.”
He looked at me like it was the easiest thing in the world, which it was to him, but not to me. Not in my condition.
He handed me back the paper. “Read it again.”
I looked down. The words seemed clearer now. Liam grabbed his phone and began recording me. I glanced briefly at Hunter. He was crying behind the gag. I wanted to tell him I was going to get us both out of there, but I was no longer convinced myself. Liam slapped me again, and it burned my cheek and eye.
“Read it.”
I blinked a few times again
, then started all over.
“I-It’s time to c-create a substantial change within the American police force. The big problem is that people don’t believe a revolution is possible…” I paused to catch my breath, biting back the pain, then continued. “And it is not going to happen precisely because they do not believe it is possible. To a large extent, I think the Black Lives Matter movement has achieved many great things, but I don’t think they’re going far enough. They need to go further if anything is to change. I think what has to be done is not try to persuade the majority of people that we are right. I believe we must try to increase tension in society to the point where things start to break down and finally collapse. To create a reality where people get angry and scared enough that they’re going to rise against the injustice being done to them. The question is, how do you increase those tensions? How do you reach that level of anger in a population?”
I looked up at Liam, who tapped on his phone, then smiled. “There you go. Now the whole world will think you are the one who started it all, that you are the Swatter. I’ve left a written confession on your Facebook and Instagram profiles along with this audio file that I just recorded and will upload…now. There we go. Now, it won’t be long before the police will look for you, and when they do, they’ll track your phone that I’ll leave right here on the desk. Once they get here…guess what?”
“What?” I asked, spitting out blood.
He leaned forward, putting his face very close to mine.
“Kaboom,” he said. “All gone. You, Hunter, all the police officers who come in here looking for you. All are gone. They’ll think I died here too. Blown to pieces like the rest of you.”
Chapter 99
I stared up at him, nostrils flaring. I felt so stupid for not seeing this earlier, for trusting this guy. Matt had been suspicious of him from the beginning. I should have known better than just to brush him off as being jealous. I should have at least figured it out when he found Jamal at the restaurant. I was the only one the boy had told where he was, and Liam was with me when I received the text. He could easily have read it while I was doing something else or when I briefly left the room.
“Tell me one last thing.”
“Yes?” he said.
“Why the atheists? Why did you prefer them? You’re not religious yourself.”
“I’m not, but Anna was a devout Muslim. She always said that atheists had no honor. To her, religion is the foundation upon which family, community, morality, and identity are built. I chose them to honor her. It’s as simple as that.”
Liam shrugged. He leaned forward and came close to me, placing his hands on the armrests of the chair. He stared down at me, breathing heavily.
“It’s too bad you’re one of them, you know. I was quite attracted to you. It was the first time I’d felt drawn to a woman since Anna. And I know you probably won’t admit it now, but I had a feeling you were quite attracted to me as well, am I right?”
He was right about the part that I would never admit it; that was for sure. I didn’t say anything. I just stared at him; every part of my body throbbing in pain. His eyes locked with mine, and he bent forward further, leaning in for a kiss.
Big mistake.
I moved fast. I lifted both my legs in a V shape. Seeing this, Liam tried to pull away, but I was too fast. My strong legs wrapped around his neck and held him tight, holding him in a Triangle Choke. I then squeezed as hard as I could, holding him tight, making it impossible for him to move. Liam’s face turned strained; a vein popped out in his forehead. He sputtered and coughed and grabbed my legs while trying to pull them apart, but with no such luck. I kept him in this position till his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness. Then I let him slide to the floor and, panting for air, I pushed my chair to the desk where my phone was. Pushing it with the tip of my nose, I managed to get it close enough to my hand so I could grab it with the tips of my fingers. I tapped it a couple of times and managed to make a call.
“Eva Rae?”
“Isabella…I…”
I didn’t make it further before someone grabbed my leg and pulled me forcefully. I screamed as I jolted across the room, looking down at Liam, who was pulling on my leg.
“Eva Rae?” I heard Isabella yell.
Liam was on his feet, moving fast, and slammed a fist into my face. My head flew backward, and I heard a loud ringing in my ears. Liam grunted loudly and panted for breath while I fought to remain conscious. A sea of stars tried to lure me in, and it was hard not to give in. I blinked my eyes to see through it, then spotted Liam grabbing the gun. He walked to me and placed it on my forehead. I kicked him in the stomach, hard, and he flew backward, landing against the wall. Grunting angrily, he slid to the floor, but was up on his feet fast, storming toward me, finger moving on the trigger. I closed my eyes, waiting for it all to end here.
Chapter 100
My eyes were still closed when the door slammed open. Liam’s finger was still on the trigger, but the shock of the sound made him ease up. As the SWAT team burst into the room, they fired one shot, one that hit Liam in the shoulder, causing him to drop the gun. Boots and men in heavy body armor surrounded him. There was a lot of yelling, and Liam screamed in pain.
Meanwhile, I finally let go and dozed off into the unknown, letting the stars guide my way. I didn’t feel the hands on my body as they freed me and carried me off on a stretcher. I think I heard Isabella’s voice in the distance as I was rushed off to the hospital, but that’s all I remember.
Until the next day, late in the afternoon, when I woke up in a hospital bed. I blinked and reached for something to drink, feeling overwhelmed with thirst.
A hand made sure to guide mine to a glass and helped as I pulled it to my mouth and drank. Slowly as the liquid did its work in me, I woke up completely, only to see Matt’s gentle eyes looking down at me.
“Matt? Are you here?”
“Isabella called me right after they had taken you to the hospital. I took the first flight here early in the morning.”
I grabbed his arm and pulled it forcefully.
“Elijah,” I said. “What about Elijah?”
Matt’s expression changed. Tears welled up in his eyes, and my heart began to break.
Oh, no, please, no.
“It was all an unfortunate accident…” he said, “I know it wasn’t the guy’s fault, but…”
“What happened to Elijah, Matt?”
He lifted his glance and looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t stand seeing him tormented like this.
“He was shot in the right arm. They had to amputate it from the elbow down. Something about too many fractures and shattered bones. They said it…they tried, but they couldn’t save it.”
“But…he’s going to be all right?”
Matt nodded. “Except for the arm, yes.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I started to cry, now with joy. “You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. You have no idea, Matt.”
Matt reached out and hugged me, holding me very tight. He was crying too now and sniffling.
“I was so scared, Eva Rae. Within less than twelve hours, I almost lost both of the people I love the most.”
I swallowed and looked at him, then chuckled. “You still love me?”
“Of course, you silly,” he said, wiping his nose with his hand. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I haven’t exactly treated you well,” I said. “I haven’t appreciated you enough. I know I could have been better; I shouldn’t have been…I just felt so bad about Chad and what happened to him—about losing the only man who’d understand if I bragged about my kids, you know? I felt so guilty, and then I blamed it all on you, I guess. It was just easier, you know? And you were so right. I have been running. But it’s over now…I mean, I think I’m finally done running now.”
“Easy there, Eva Rae. I’m not blaming you. Not anymore. It was just as much my fault. I moved too fast,” he said. “I was so scared of losing you that I wanted t
o move faster than you were ready for. Elijah and I will move back in with my mom until you’re truly ready for us. It’s what’s best for all of us.”
“So, we’re good?” I asked.
He smiled and kissed me. As our lips parted, he whispered: “We’re very good, Eva Rae. We’re more than that. We’re perfect. Right now, in this moment, everything is just perfect.”
I kissed him again and closed my eyes when I heard loud voices coming from the hallway. Voices I knew a little too well. Matt chuckled, and I held his face between my hands.
“At least it was perfect,” he mumbled, “for a few seconds.”
“You brought the kids with you, didn’t you?”
“Of course. They insisted. I didn’t really have a choice.”
“You never do with them,” I said with a wry smile and let go of him as my youngest stormed inside the room.
“Mo-o-o-om!” Alex shrieked and ran to me. He jumped onto the bed and sat on top of me. “You got hurt again, Mommy.”
“That’s because she caught a very dangerous domestic terrorist, you doofus,” Olivia said, coming up behind him. “Don’t you watch the news? It’s all they talk about. Now, be careful with her. She’s in a lot of pain.”
“Well, actually, I think I’m on a lot of pain medication right now,” I said. “But as soon as that wears off, I’m sure to be.”
“The doctor said you’ll be fine,” Matt said. “Two broken ribs and a lot of bruises, but other than that, you should be all right.”
“I feel great,” I said as Christine grabbed my hand in hers. I sent her a smile and took a deep breath, enjoying this rare moment, feeling more blessed than ever. For just a second, I wished this moment would last forever and that there would never be any more evil in this world that I needed to protect my loved ones from.
Maybe one day. In a perfect world.
THE END