by Lane Hart
Ben's eyes softened for an instant as he looked at me before they turned him around, leading him down the hall. I wrapped my arms around myself to cover my chest that I remembered was still only covered by a bra. I didn't want Ben to go so willingly, but I didn't think there was any other choice. I had no idea what they were going to do to him once they left this house, or if I'd ever see him again.
I wanted to scream for them to stop or do something, but I couldn't. Agent Rhodes still had his gun out and pointed at me, while Agent Barnes and some other agent left with Ben.
I was doing pretty good holding it together until Agent Rhodes spoke through his earpiece.
"Agent Jones, is the boy secure?"
That was it. I lost it. I screamed as I ran for Lucas's room. I vaguely heard a commotion in the living room as I fought with Agent Rhodes trying to get out of our bedroom. "No!" I yelled. "You can't!" Then there was an arm around my neck choking me, and I felt metal on the side of my face.
"I can and will take down anyone who gets in the way of us securing your husband and son. Don't think I won't do it. Stop fighting. He's already gone."
I couldn't do anything as I sobbed and screamed in his grip. I felt a tug as he grabbed my arms, pulling them behind my back and putting handcuffs on my wrists.
I could hear words here and there from agents talking through the earpiece Agent Rhodes was wearing. It sounded like someone was saying something about Ben flying off and what were the orders. I wasn't sure if that was good news or not. They had Lucas and Ben would get killed if he tried to find and stop them,
Agent Rhodes told Barnes that he and the other agent should follow Jones to make sure the boy was secure, and that he'd secure and bring in Ben. I could hear the argument that followed and I wanted to laugh even in my hysteria. If it came to it, he wouldn’t have a chance bringing in Ben by himself, and Ben had to be long gone by now anyway.
"Barnes shut the hell up and do what you're told. I've got his wife. He's going to come in without a fight. I guarantee it," he said before pulling the transmitter from his ear and throwing it down.
With the gun still to my head he grabbed a handful of my hair with his other hand and pulled me to my feet. He pushed me in front of him and told me to start moving toward the living room. I thought he'd make me go out the front and I paused as he started dragging me toward the back door.
"What ... what ... are you doing?" I tried to gasp out through the sobs.
"I'm securing your husband's cooperation," he growled so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face.
I assumed Ben had left to try and find Lucas, but he may not even know they have him yet.
Agent Rhodes let go of the hold on my head long enough to open the back door and push me outside in front of him. Did he really think Ben was still around?
"Mr. Hunter!" he yelled. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
There was nothing but the normal silence of the night.
"Mr. Hunter," he said again but softer. "Your wife is a pretty little thing and I'd much prefer to take her with me instead of you."
Cold chills spread from my head to my toes, and I was suddenly ever more aware of the fact that my chest was almost bare. The creepy bastard could have given me my shirt back before he put the handcuffs on.
"I could have a lot of fun with her," Rhodes said as he let my hair go. His right hand still held his gun to my head but his left hand was rubbing its way down my cuffed arm and I started to panic.
"He's gone ... you idiot," I told him.
"Oh, I really hope you're right," he said as he rubbed his hand back up my arm. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better," he said as he brushed the hair from my shoulder and rubbed his hand down my neck and to my breast.
"Stop it!" I yelled. "Get your hands off of me!" I started struggling but he pressed the gun into my temple harder and pushed me against the patio table.
"You've got ten seconds to surrender in human form or, well, your wife and I will get real acquainted."
"Ten. Nine." Rhodes's hand moved from my chest and then I heard the sound of his zipper. Oh God. I felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't move as I felt him push against the back of my pajama bottoms. My mind was completely paralyzed and I had no idea what to do.
"Eight. Seven. Six." He counted, the gun pressed firmly against my head. I quit breathing when I felt his hand was on the back of my waistband jerking my bottoms down. I cried out for him to stop, even though I knew it wasn't going to do any good. Ben was gone and Rhodes knew it and didn't care. Maybe if I yelled loud enough one of our neighbors would hear me.
“Shut up!" he said before he put his arm around my neck, cutting off my air.
Suddenly there was a ground shaking growl from across the patio. Agent Rhodes hands jerked away from me as he yelled, "Jesus Christ!"
I sunk to my knees and looked over to where the sound had come from. There was a giant brown grizzly bear standing on two legs and coming toward us. Its teeth and claws were bared, and it was the most ferocious thing I'd ever seen.
Chapter Five
Even though I knew the bear was Ben I was still terrified. He was heading for Agent Rhodes and I knew I needed to get out the way. I tried to crawl under the patio table to the other side but it was tough to move while my hands were still cuffed behind my back.
I jumped when I heard a gunshot, followed by another. I turned my head back around just in time to see Ben rip out Agent Rhodes's throat. I should have been appalled or sickened, but all I felt was relief. I was more worried about whether or not Ben had been hit by one or both bullets.
I watched as Ben went down to all fours legs then shifted back to normal. There was blood splattered all over him but I knew most of it wasn't his. It looked like his left shoulder was bloodier than the rest of him but otherwise he looked okay.
"Emily!" he yelled.
"I'm here. I'm okay," I told him as I tried to stand up. I couldn't find the strength without my arms to push me up. Ben was beside me and pulling me up an instant later.
"Are you okay? Were you hit?" I asked him as I looked over his arm.
"It just grazed my shoulder, I'm fine," he said as he carried me back into the house through the backdoor. I intentionally avoided looking over to where Agent Rhodes's body laid with blood pooling around him.
"Where's Lucas?" he asked.
I shook my head and started shaking all over. "I don't know. They took him before you." I couldn't say anything more and was having trouble getting in air.
"I thought so. I started to try and find him but I just, I had a bad feeling. I didn't think I'd be able to get to him before they killed me, and I didn't want to leave you."
I nodded. He was probably right. Rhodes had sent the agents to guard Jones and they wouldn't have let Ben near that car. I shivered at the thought of what would have happened if he had left me.
"I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner. I had to shift back from the bird first before I could shift into the bear."
The waterworks had broken loose again. "They probably won't ... they won't hurt Lucas will they? Do you ... think ... he's ... okay?" I struggled to get out the words.
"He's just a baby. They're evil but I don't think they'll hurt him," he said. "I'm going to put you down and go back and look for the key to the handcuffs."
I nodded as my teeth chattered. Ben grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around me.
"We're going to have to move fast. They'll know something is wrong when they don't hear from him and they'll send backup. Emily, you know I didn't want to do that to him," Ben said as he clenched his jaw. "But after what he did ...," he shook his head. "I lost it."
"He ... deserve .... deserved ... it," I said through the chattering. I didn't blame Ben, and if my hands had been free, and there had been a gun within my reach, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have hesitated before doing the same thing.
Ben was able to get the handcuffs off of me and find clothe
s and shoes for us to both throw on, then we were in the car. He drove like a bat out of hell to his parents' house as I tried to get myself under control. We couldn't chance using our phones once again since they had been watching us.
As soon as we pulled up in their driveway we knew something was wrong. All the lights in their house were on, and his mom and dad were usually in bed by now.
Chapter Six
Ben barely stopped the car before he was out and running inside his parents' home. I tried to be more careful and looked around to see if there was anything or anyone suspicious lurking around. When it seemed clear I went in through the front door Ben had left open.
Susan was curled up in a ball on the couch crying and Ben was holding her. Not a good sign.
"Did they take him?" Ben softly asked her, but we already knew the answer.
"Yes," she said between sobs.
"Mom, I know how upset you are but we've got to get moving. They are going to come after me with everything they've got. I want you to go with Emily and get her parents."
"What?" I exclaimed. "You're not coming with us? What are you going to do?" I asked in a panic.
"Emily, I don't have time to argue or discuss this with you. Mom, I killed an agent-" he started telling her.
"No! Ben! How could you?" she asked him.
Maybe we should have waited to tell her. I didn't want to tell her they had Lucas either but she was going to figure it out soon.
"They are going to open fire on me if they find me, so I'm going to shift and stay in animal form. I've got to look for-" he stopped himself before he said Lucas's name, knowing full well she wasn't ready for that information yet.
"I'm going to try to find where they took dad. It'll be safer for me and the two of you this way," he said as he looked at me to agree.
"I can't believe this is happening," she cried.
"Susan, please come with me. I can't do this alone," I told her.
She looked up at me and then to Ben, figuring out what we hadn't told her.
"No! No! Not Lucas!" And she became even more hysterical. I felt the same way but we had to keep moving if we didn't want to end up in prison. There would be nothing for us to do for Lucas or David from there.
“Ben, how about you carry her out to the car and put her in the backseat," was my nice way of saying, "Throw her in the damn car so we can get the hell out of here".
He nodded, and I led the way to the car, looking around before heading out the front door.
After he shut her car door he hugged me and told me to be careful.
"Where should we go? How will you find us?" I asked him as I held on to him.
He let me go and shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe you should do what you wanted to from the beginning."
"What did I want to do? Oh! Jack?" I asked.
"Yeah I guess he's our only hope now. And I'm going to need an attorney if I live through this," he said solemnly.
"So you'll call me there and let me know you're okay and if you find Lucas and David?" I asked, as the flood gates opened again.
"Yes. I love you," he said as he kissed me goodbye.
"I love you too. Please be careful," I told him as I reluctantly turned away to get in the driver's seat.
Before I could get the car out of the driveway Ben had shifted into some sort of large bird and flew off into the night.
Chapter Seven
I wiped tears from my face the entire three miles to my parents' rental house, trying to clear my eyes so I could see the road. I was doing better than Susan at least. I checked on her at the few stoplights I came to. I was worried about her, but hoped she'd eventually pull it together so we could do what needed to be done to get them back.
I was somewhat surprised that they'd left her when they came for David, and that I hadn't really seemed to be on their arrest list either.
Thankfully all was quiet at my parents' house, but I was still nervous. The agents had to know they were living close by since they'd been watching the monitors at our house, and they probably knew where they lived.
I locked Susan in the car and went to ring the doorbell. I had a spare key but I didn't want my dad to attack me, thinking I was a burglar. It wasn't long before both of my parents were standing blurry-eyed in the doorway looking shocked from my late night visit and red teary face.
"Get some clothes on, grab what you walk by and get in the car," I told them without preamble. They didn't need me to repeat it, and they knew better than ask questions. They had been prepared for this scenario.
When we were all in the car I told them we were going back to North Carolina and asked how we should trade cars. My dad was not opposed to grand theft auto, but I didn't want to add to our list of criminal charges. I hadn't told them what had happened yet, and I knew not knowing was killing my mom. But one thing at a time was all I could handle.
My mom gave me the directions to a rental car place near the Orlando airport, and the three of us sat in the car and waited while my dad paid for a rental. I was hoping he'd pass through like any ordinary tourist. He looked so normal, and like any other brown haired sixty-year-old Caucasian man, they'd have a hard time ID’ing him later. Hopefully.
A couple minutes later we were heading down the interstate with my dad driving the rental, doing just a little over the speed limit to make sure we wouldn't get stopped. I had a moment of worry that there would be police road blocks out looking for us, but there was nothing to be done about it if there were. We considered getting off the main roads, but decided to stay on the quickest route to North Carolina.
My mom was navigating and I was sitting in the back with Susan, who was still inconsolable. Since I didn't have to concentrate on driving while I lost it, I went ahead and told them all the story. Susan even quieted down to hear what had happened.
"So, Ben came home early tonight and I knew something was wrong," I started. "He told me at dinner he had a bad feeling and thought it was time to move.” I tried to figure out how to say what happened next, and how much to share with Ben's mom and my parents.
"We were in the um, bedroom, and hardly dressed when the agents burst in with their guns pointed at us. We didn’t even heard them come in. They said they'd been watching our video surveillance cameras for days so they must have disarmed the security system." I took a deep breath.
"Ben let them cuff him and walk him out of the house, and I was left behind with Agent Rhodes. That was when he asked through his earpiece if...if they had Lucas," I couldn't help the sniffles that started.
"I tried to get to his room but the agent grabbed me, put his gun to my head and then handcuffed me. He told me it was too late. That he was gone,” I choked out.
“Oh sweetie. I’m so sorry,” my mom said between her own sniffles.
“I heard them say that Ben got away, and I thought he’d gone after Lucas, but Agent Rhodes was convinced he would still be near the house.” My eyes hurt and felt swollen as I wiped them again.
“Agent Rhodes held me at gunpoint and started, um, touching me and threatening to do more to try to get Ben to turn himself in. He said he hoped Ben was really gone, and then he made it clear that he wasn't just making threats. Luckily Ben did come back after he shifted into a bear and he killed the agent,” I finally finished.
There were gasps and the car swerved as all that information was digested by everyone.
“So that’s why he, that’s why Ben killed him?” Susan asked. It was the first words she had spoken during the past thirty minutes.
“Yes. He didn’t have a choice. If he would have been in human form Rhodes would have probably shot and killed him. He did shoot at Ben, and a bullet grazed his shoulder. I don’t know what I would have done if Ben hadn’t been there,” I told her so she know that Ben hadn't just merely lost his temper.
“I have to tell myself that they won’t hurt Lucas. The other agents didn’t seem as cold and heartless as Rhodes.” Then I remembered that they had David too.
“I’m so sorry Susan,” I told her as I reached out to rub her arm. “We are going to get them back,” I promised her. I hoped I was right.
“So did they arrest Ben?” my mom asked.
“No, thank goodness. We left our house and went to David and Susan’s. When we got there Susan was alone and David was gone. Ben knew that every law enforcement officer in the state would be looking for him so he’s staying in animal form trying to find where they took David and Lucas,” I told them.
“So why are we heading to North Carolina?” my dad asked. Oh yeah, I hadn’t really told them what our plan was.
“We’re going to talk to Jack. I hope he’ll know what we can do in court. I don’t know what else there is to do.”
“Okay, so we’ll head to Charlotte,” my mom said.
It was around ten p.m. so if we drove all night we might be there by ten o’clock in the morning. Since it was Saturday the office would be closed. We would probably be better off meeting with Jack at his house anyway. Less people would notice the four of us who were wanted.
Chapter Eight
I laid my head back against the seat, but there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. My stomach was in a knot as I worried about where my son was, who had him, and what they would do to him. I knew Ben could take care of himself, but I still worried he’d get hurt or they’d find him. His face was probably plastered all over the world by now – he'd killed a federal agent. Even under the circumstances it would be hard to convince anyone that it was in self-defense. As a freaking bear. Lord help us.
We stopped at several rest areas, but never for long, and usually only to rotate drivers. Mostly my mom and dad drove, but since I needed something to do other than think and cry I offered to drive the last stretch. After we passed Columbia I could barely contain my nerves.
What if Jack wouldn’t or couldn’t help us? I had no plan B. I was probably on America’s Most Wanted too, so our options were fairly limited.