by K. J. Dahlen
"Ok." Lonnie took off at a fast pace, but when he got to the corner he saw the younger man crossing the next corner. He had to jog to catch up but he was a half a block away when he saw Nick waiting at the corner. Lonnie hung back and watched as the younger man following Nick ducked into a doorway. He watched and waited for Nick to make his move. Lonnie waited too.
~ * ~
Sam had been sitting across the street from the station when he called the bomb threat in. He saw the chaos just moments before the car blew up. He called Shawn when he saw Sable escape and told him the direction the van was traveling. Sam had seen Nick walk off and followed him.
Lonnie wasn’t looking at Nick as his cab drove down the street; he was watching the young man across the street as he made a phone call. A few minutes later another cab came by and picked Sam up. Lonnie reached for his cell phone to call Captain James.
Ken James immediately called Nick’s cell after Lonnie’s call. When he had reported what Lonnie told him, Ken was concerned. When his phone rang again, the worry only increased. The officer on the other end had checked out Scott Black’s home and found officers still on the scene. Ken only hoped that Nick knew what he was up against and would wrap up this case before anyone else died.
Chapter Twelve
Forty minutes later Sable was waiting for Nick at the safe house. Before he closed the door she checked around the neighborhood. She turned the lock on the door and glanced at Nick. "What happened to you?"
"I was followed when I left the station. I had to take the scenic route in case I was followed here. Is everyone ok?"
"We arrived with no problems."
"I don’t think they followed us, but we have to be alert to anything."
Sable glanced at the clock on the wall. It read two p.m. "The day is half gone. They are running out of time. Whatever they are going to do is going to happen soon. They still have to find us before they can do anything."
"Captain James will let us know if anything happens on the outside, but I think we should just wait them out."
"They won’t stop until they are stopped by us. They could hold the entire city hostage if they wanted to," Sable told him.
"Guys, you might want to hear this." Max popped his head into the kitchen. He jerked it back to the living room.
Sable and Nick joined Max, Emma, and Gabriel in the living room. "What is it?"
Gabriel stood looking at them. "I think we should just give up. Maybe if Sam and Shawn can take out their rage on us it will be over."
"No, you can’t do that," Sable argued.
"My dear girl, I am an old man and Emma is an old woman. We’ve lived our life. We aren’t afraid to die. This killing has to stop."
"What did you do?" Sable got a knot in the pit of her stomach.
Emma raised her head. "I called my son and told him where we are."
Sable felt sick.
"Come on, we have to get you out of here," Nick growled.
"No sir, I respect your authority but this is something, probably the only thing we can do to stop the boys from killing anyone else." Gabriel tapped his cane on the floor twice.
"Gabriel, you don’t understand. Sam and Shawn are not going to be happy just killing you. They want so much more than that now. They are going to discredit you and everything you believe in and only after that will they end your life," Sable told him.
Gabriel smiled. "My dear, anyone who knows me knows what the law meant to me. My true friends will never believe the lies those two boys concocted and the rest doesn’t matter."
"I still can’t let you do this," Sable insisted.
"But why not?" Gabriel asked.
"We uncovered Micah’s master plan. It called for everyone to die by his hand, including the boys and myself. I’m not ready to die, and I don’t think the boys are ready to stop killing. Not now that they have developed a taste for it. Shawn has already told me once they leave here they’ll turn up somewhere else in six months and continue with Micah’s plan. They won’t stop until someone like me stops them."
"But Greg said they would stop with Gabriel and me," Emma insisted.
"I can’t take that chance," Sable spoke softly. "They can’t leave me alive because they know that wherever they go I’ll follow them. I won’t stop until they are dead. I guess there is a little of Micah in me after all."
"There is a little bit of me in there too somewhere." Gabriel turned to look at Emma, "Well mother, what do you think?"
"I think we should move again. If she’s right, they won’t stop no matter what Greg says." Emma had tears in her eyes but when she stood, she stood tall. "I thought we raised him right."
"You raised him with values and morals, and he chose to disregard them. Sometimes you have to face the consequences of your own actions," Sable told them.
"I think if we are going to go before they get here we should probably leave now," Max suggested.
"Let’s go," Sable said.
Before they were in the van, Emma slipped a cell phone into Sable’s hands.
"Greg gave me this phone the other day before you separated us. This was how I got a hold of him earlier today. I don’t want it anymore."
Sable took the phone and flipped it over. She snapped the back off and removed the battery. She didn’t want them to be able to trace where they were going. She threw both the battery and the phone into the brush at the back of the alley.
They drove down the alley very slowly. As they turned down the street, they saw Greg and Sam walking up to the house, while Shawn slipped around to the back of the house. Max continued down the street then turned left at the next corner. After he turned the corner he gunned the engine and drove down to the end of the street. He parked in the alley. From there they went from the alley to the back door of another house.
Sable went from one window to another checking the perimeter. She knew they weren’t far away from the first house. She wouldn’t put it past Sam or Shawn once they found Gabriel and Emma missing to start looking at every house in the neighborhood. She turned away from the window long enough to see Emma and Gabriel sit down on the sofa. She glanced over to Nick and when he caught her eye, she wanted to say something but she didn’t.
Sable turned back to gaze outside. She missed seeing Sam duck behind the garage. Her eyes didn’t see what was there as she was worried about how Micah was controlling the situation from beyond the grave.
"What are you thinking about?" Nick asked from behind her.
Sable shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t know." She ran her fingers through her hair. "So much has happened. I wouldn’t know where to begin." She turned to look at her boss. "I thought when Micah died, I could put all this crap behind me, but I can’t. He’s still out there in the form of his sons, and he’s still looking to murder his entire family."
"He won’t get to them," Nick assured her.
"You don’t understand. No matter what happens next Micah has already won. He lived and planned for what’s coming next. Something happened a long time ago that poisoned his mind and killed his sense of right and wrong. He had no empathy for any of the lives he destroyed. All he could think about was destroying his own family. He somehow got it into his head that his grandfather destroyed his life. Where he got the idea I don’t know. Gabriel has probably made any number of mistakes in his life, but we all have. It’s how we deal with those mistakes that makes or breaks us. We checked back forty-eight years and couldn’t find anything Gabriel did all that wrong," Sable told him.
She turned, looking at Gabriel and Emma. "Look at them," Sable told him as she motioned her hand toward the sofa. She turned back to Nick, "Micah still wants them dead, but why? That’s the question we have to find the answer to."
"Micah was crazy. We both know that," Nick reminded her.
"No, he wasn’t crazy. As mind boggling as that thought may be, he wasn’t crazy. I don’t know if it was Richard or his childhood or something else that turned him into a monster but something did."
<
br /> "What are you saying?"
"Think about it for a minute. Micah focused on seven cases in Gabriel’s career that due to a fluke were either dismissed or Gabriel got his clients off. It didn’t matter if his clients were guilty. The prosecution failed to meet the burden of proof. The courts turned his clients loose. Micah found them and he murdered them. Now he plans to use those same cases to bring down his grandfather. He’s going to twist the truth to suit his own purposes. Micah wanted to take away his grandfather’s reputation and then take away his life. When Micah died, the job fell to his sons."
Max popped around the corner of the kitchen. He was grim as he told them, "I think you guys should watch the news."
Sable frowned. "Why?"
"I received a call from Michelle Lever. She said to watch the news. She said we would be interested in their lead story."
Sable walked to the living room and turned on the television. Michelle Lever was introducing the news for the evening.
"We have a story tonight that both disturbs and titillates us. Retired Judge Gabriel Reardon has been charged by someone close to the family with enabling murderers, wife beaters, arson resulting in the death of another, and fraud. Our source reveals what he believes are at least seven cases in Judge Reardon’s career when he allowed seven men to escape justice. He claims these seven men went to court and were allowed to get away with their crimes because of lies and deceit on the Judge’s part.
"The District Attorney is reviewing the cases, and we will have their report when it is available."
Sable turned to look at Nick then glanced over at Gabriel. Gabriel was shaking his head. "The D.A. can look over those cases all he wants. It wasn’t me that screwed them up. It was the prosecutor. He rushed to trial before he was ready."
"This is a diversion anyway," Sable told him. "This humiliation is to keep your mind off what’s coming. It doesn’t mean a thing."
"Doesn’t it?" Gabriel asked sadly. "Micah knew what this would do to me."
Sable frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I told him time after time your reputation is all you have. If you’re an honest man, then people know it. An honest man doesn’t have to remember what to say because he always tells the truth. A dishonest man will tell you what you want to hear and his story changes the more he tells the same story. He has a harder time because he has to remember what he told people in the first place. I taught Micah to always be truthful because your word was your bond."
"But what does that have to do with this?" Sable asked.
"Micah is using the results of those seven cases to prove I used deceit to win over a jury to set those men free," Gabriel said. "Most of the evidence in those cases was circumstantial at best. The only one that might have been guilty was Malcolm Donald. He was free on bail when he murdered his daughter. The way he died was a fitting end for him, but I had nothing to do with his death and I wasn’t sorry to hear how his life ended. When he was allowed to get out of jail during the trial, I wanted to argue he should be locked up but I couldn’t. I was his attorney; it was my job to help him, not condemn him."
"Surely the D. A. will see that," Sable argued.
"If Sam and Shawn have their way the result won’t matter. I won’t be here to defend myself," Gabriel said.
Sable glanced over at Nick and found him looking back at her.
~ * ~
Outside the house Sam waited for his brother and grandfather to meet him. He had turned his head at the last minute to see the green van slowly reach the corner and accelerate through the intersection.
Sam turned to Greg. "You and Shawn check the house. I’m going to check on something else."
Greg glanced at the young man who looked a great deal like the son he once knew. He turned and watched as Sam disappeared through the houses across the street.
Greg entered the house and began searching the rooms. When he met Shawn in the kitchen, he shook his head to let him know he found no one there. Neither of them had found their prey.
"Where did Sam go?" Shawn asked.
"He said he had to check something out. He didn’t say what it was."
Shawn’s phone began ringing and when he flipped it open, he heard Sam’s voice. He listened for a moment then disconnected the call. Glancing over at Greg Shawn told him, "They moved a couple of blocks away. Sam is waiting for us over there." Shawn paused for a moment. "Damn how did they know we were coming?"
"Let’s get this over with," Greg said.
Shawn stared at his grandfather for a moment and agreed, "Yes, it’s time to finish this."
Sam waited in the alley. When he saw them coming, he smiled. He had already found a way to get inside the house. It was time to set in motion his father’s master plan. When they walked up to him, Sam began outlining his plan of attack.
Chapter Thirteen
Sam and Greg climbed the branches of the tree in the back yard until they were level with the back porch roof. Sam had seen a window on the second level of the house they could get through. As they stepped up the roof to the window, Sam grabbed his knife and used it to pry up the sash. The window opened enough for Sam to get his fingers under it. He pulled the window open. Sam glanced inside finding a darkened bedroom. Climbing through the window he waited for Greg to gain access. He went to the door and opened it a crack to listen. When he didn’t hear anything, he opened it a bit more. Sam couldn’t see any movement on the second floor, but he could see lights from below.
He went to the top of the steps. Taking them one at a time he was on the fifth step before he heard anything. Glancing down he found Gabriel, Emma, Sable, and Nick in the living room. Looking beyond them he didn’t see anyone else. Sam motioned Greg to his position. Greg watched for a moment before Sam asked, "Can you get the drop on them?"
Greg glanced back at him nodding, "Not a problem."
Sam grinned. "It’s time to make our stand."
Greg took a deep breath. "Let’s do it then." He turned, descending the steps one at a time. When he stepped off the last step, he reached to his side for the knife he had in a sheath. The wicked blade gleamed in the fading daylight of afternoon.
With their backs to him, Greg walked up behind his mother. Their attention was riveted on the television. Greg paused to listen to what they were listening too. It was the report of Gabriel’s deception.
When Sable turned her head to look at Nick, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head a bit more and watched as Greg stepped in behind his mother. Sable moved her hand for the gun at her side but Greg reacted a second faster. He moved the knife he held under his mother’s chin.
Emma felt the cold steel on her skin and was afraid to move. Gabriel turned and panicked. He stood and reached for his wife, but Greg growled at him. "Don’t touch her."
Greg glanced over at Sable, shaking his head. "I don’t think going for your gun is a wise move, do you?"
Sable dropped her hand to her side. "No, I don’t suppose it is." She checked the rest of the room. "Where are the boys?"
Greg smiled. "They’re around here somewhere." He reached down helping his mother to her feet.
"So now what?" Gabriel asked.
"Now we finish what Micah started," Greg told them.
Gabriel tilted his head. "Micah was lost to us before he got these crazy notions about how the law worked."
Greg snapped his head to where his father stood. "Don’t tell me your opinion about my son. You lost that privilege when you ran him off."
"What do you mean when I ran him off?"
"Micah left home because he couldn’t stand the way you were around him," Greg told him. "You were always criticizing him or dressing him down for one reason or another. He couldn’t be like other boys. You made sure of that."
"What the devil are you talking about?" Gabriel demanded.
"Micah had his own dreams and you were pushing yours on him. Every day I had to listen to you preaching the law to him. You used to say that a career in
the law would make a man out of him."
"It would have. The laws we live by are the back-bone of our society."
Greg growled. "But you forced it down his throat from the time he could understand. Just because it means something to you, you can’t assume it means the same thing to other people. You pushed him away from his family with all your badgering."
Gabriel shook his head. "I didn’t realize that. I thought I was teaching him values and morals."
Greg grew enraged. "Not everyone wants to be told what to believe every moment of the day. The boy never had a moment’s peace around here. If he made a mistake, you hounded him relentlessly. Ever time he went out with friends you grilled him about what he was doing and who he was doing it with. You never let up."
Gabriel stood silent.
Greg jerked his mother back toward him and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Mom understood Micah but she was too much under your thumb to really help the boy. I had to stand there helpless watching as you degraded my son. Day after day you tore him down until he couldn’t take it anymore and he ran away. Then for the first time in his life he was free. Free to do what he wanted to with his life, free of your control."
"Yes, well look what he did with his freedom. He became a murderous monster preying on innocent people. He became a judge and jury and he didn’t care whether or not the people he was judging were innocent or guilty," Gabriel raged at Greg.
"He was so confused by you he didn’t know what he was doing," Greg yelled at his father.
"If he told you that, he lied to you," Sable injected.
Greg snapped his head and glared at her. "What the hell do you know about his feelings?"
"Micah sent me pages of his diary when he first came to town. I read the words he wrote down. He never mentioned feeling torn about what he was doing. In fact the opposite is true. He loved the feeling he got when he killed. Meeting up with Richard only intensified his total disregard for the law."