10:46 am, September 10th, present year.
Hunter seemed to tower over us. Nobody moved. The moment he removed his mask, Mom yelped, Dad inhaled sharply and I didn’t make a sound.
“Detective Hunter!” Dad exclaimed.
Hunter grinned sinisterly. “How observant! Now we can skip over the dreadful introductions.”
“I thought…” Before I could finish, he shushed me.
“Where is the littlest child? Riley? I don’t see him.”
None of us replied.
“Riley, come on down! Mommy and Daddy want you!” Hunter’s voice echoed through the house.
I heard movement upstairs, and then the steps announced the arrival of my little brother, Riley.
Riley came up to Mom and Dad and said, “What do you want?”
Hunter answered instead. “Riley, sit down next to your parents please.”
Riley looked back at Hunter, and smiled. “Hey, you’re the policeman that helped Chase! But why aren’t you wearing your uniform?”
“Well Riley, I’m not wearing it because I’m not a policeman, and I’m not here to help Chase.”
Riley looked confused. “Then why are you here?”
Hunter stared at me, his eyes digging into my heart. “I’m here to kill Chase.”
* * *
Chief Myrene’s phone jingled.
“Kristen Myrene,” she quickly answered.
“Chief, we have a girl who was just admitted who apparently met Chase while he was in Fahlstown. Her report states that she has family in Prackersburg, but doesn’t say who.”
“And…?”
“She might have seen the person who dropped Chase off last night.”
Myrene contemplated it.
“Keep her available. I’m not sure if she’s useful now.”
“Will do.”
Myrene hung up, and snatched the megaphone again.
* * *
“What do you mean? Kill Chase!” Riley started to cry.
“Oh hush, hush. You won’t have to watch.”
Before anything else could be said, a female voice filled our ears.
“This is Chief Kristen Myrene of the Prackersburg Police Department. Come out with your hands in the air. The longer you stay in there, the worse this will get.”
Hunter turned to Terri and flatly said, “Get them off my back.”
She nodded, and then grabbed Riley by the back of the collar. She dragged him toward the front door, with his eyes overflowing with tears and wails escaping his mouth.
Mom stretched to hold him, but Hunter kicked her arms back. Dad stood and faced Hunter with a determined look in his eyes.
Hunter gazed right back at Dad with the same ferocity, and calmly ordered, “Sit down.”
“Don’t hurt my boys.” He stayed standing.
“And I won’t hurt Riley, if you sit down. If you continue to stay standing…”
Dad resumed his seat on the couch, but kept the stare on Hunter.
Mom and I watched Terri pull Riley out the front door.
* * *
Not thirty seconds after Myrene used the megaphone, the front door began to rattle.
“Don’t fire unless I tell you too!”
The door opened, and Myrene immediately recognized Terri Johnson, the convict they were looking for, and Chase’s little brother, Riley.
“Put Riley down, Terri!” Myrene yelled, with the help of the megaphone.
“Don’t try and come inside, unless you want four dead bodies, Riley here being the first. All of their blood will be on your conscious. Back…off.”
Then the two of them disappeared back inside.
Sophie came up next to Myrene.
“We could approach from the back, and they wouldn’t know it.”
“Maybe. We have no idea what’s going on inside.”
* * *
Terri came back in with Riley unhurt, aside from the crying.
“Pull back those shades,” Hunter said, pointing to the shades covering the kitchen windows facing the street out front.
Terri sat Riley down directly in front of the window, in plain view of the cops outside. She then pulled her gun and set it on the table beside Riley.
I got her point. I just hoped the police would.
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Mystery / ThrillerChase Mitchels gets an email from Facebook saying he's been tagged in a post by Unknown. The post says, "In 24 hours, Chase Mitchels will be dead." Who is Unknown, and why is he after Chase? As each hour passes, Chase must fight to survive while Unk...
