Simon "Deacon" Temple's Story

The road that led to Cartwright Falls snaked through the woods in confusing turns, weaving around hills rather than plowing over or through them. Thomas Barton supposed that was a good thing for the car's fuel economy, but not so much for his arms. If he had to slow down for a gradual U-turn again, he had half a mind to drive the car straight off the end. Not that that was a good idea, or one he would ever follow through on. However, he was to say the least a bit irritated.

He was glad to have a partner with this case, however. He hated being stuck having to handle all aspects of the investigation. The thinking, the diagramming, the mapping, all of those he could handle, but talking to people was not necessarily his strong suit. He preferred to observe and think. He did well on the last case, long and painful though it was. He didn't have to talk to many people after the initial phase, but was instead preoccupied with observing and following the suspect, noting abnormalities, and gathering evidence, before finally presenting the evidence and attaining an arrest warrant. The trial for that sick individual was set to begin soon, but Barton would be unavailable to testify. His notes were among the primary evidence.

In the distance, Barton noted a sign ahead. Welcome to Cartwright Falls, it read. He smiled. "We're almost there, Simon," he muttered to his partner. "Time to find the Sheriff. We might make the autopsy if we're lucky." Barton checked the time on his watch. Nine-fifteen. What time would they run an autopsy, and how long would it run? He didn't know, he had to admit that. Better to stop by the Sheriff's office first rather than jump the gun. They had primary jurisdiction here, but Sheriff—Carter—was their primary link to the local area, and right now their first priority.

The Sheriff's office was easy enough to find, with a sign clearly marking it. Barton eased the car into one of the many empty spaces and parked it. He exited the car, pulling his coat tight around him and grabbing his hat from its resting place. The clouds boded ill for rain, and knowing Washington, that meant rain was imminent. He would not be caught in the rain without his coat and hat at least.

He walked briskly up to the office, hearing Temple behind him. Quickly Barton entered, seeing the receptionist, and walked up to the desk. He fished into his coat for his badge and flashed it as he spoke. "Agent Thomas Barton, FBI. Agent Simon Temple is behind me. We're here to see Sheriff Elijah Carter." He enunciated the name carefully.

"I'm sorry, Sheriff Carter's out right now," the receptionist responded crisply. "He's at the autopsy. He should be back in a moment."

Barton quirked his lips in irritation, before nodding and leaving with a curt word of thanks. Outside, he found Deacon speaking with another man, wearing a khaki uniform. This man must be Sheriff Carter! Barton smiled a moment as he left, then walked up to the conversation silently, prepared to listen primarily, as Deacon had probably introduced them both already.

When it came to the team dynamic, it was a simple one that the two had worked out in very short order.

The very first thing they had worked out was the car. The former Green Beret wasn't much of a fan for long-distance driving.

He would talk, Thomas would drive. It was a fair enough trade.

After having been flown across almost the entirety of the country, the two of them had picked up the car that the Bureau had left for them. At Simon's insistence, they had already made two stops prior to even reaching the small town of Cartwright Falls. The first had been in the city before heading out in to the countryside, while the second had been at about a general half-way point to their destination. The reason had been quite a simple one. Still tired from jet lag, the former Green Beret was tearing voraciously in to yet another doughnut from the box that sat between him and his partner, and breaking his rather eager manner of eating with a deep gulp of his coffee now and again. When he hadn't been doing either of those things during their trip, he had been spending his time either idly staring out the window, or simply sleeping. As they had gotten closer to their destination, Simon had finally decided it would be in the best interest of his sleep cycle if he were to try to stay awake for the time being, and had been watching the curves of the road as they had gotten closer.

"We're almost there, Simon." He heard his partner mutter.

He said nothing, just watching as the surrounding trees, and open country changed to -- more trees and open country. Except now there were buildings to keep his eyes busy on the scenery. It was a small town, of course he had seen smaller in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it was still a bit too small for his liking. He watched the buildings that they passed. The residential, convenience stores, gas stations, a high school, the elementary, a small cafe, and not long after that cafe (see, right next door) they had found the sheriff's department. Without needing direction from Simon, which wasn't much of a change from the rest of the trip, Thomas had pulled in to the parking lot. They came to a stop and had gotten out. Dressed in a lighter colored suit, with a black button-up undershirt, and a heavy leather trench coat on to block the rain: Simon had followed in step behind his partner. He, however, stopped just inside the lobby, and had held his position at the door. Even at that distance, though it was hardly much of a distance to speak of, he could still hear the exchange. Not one he liked, either.

The Bronco he saw pull up in to the parking lot, however, was something he welcomed.

"SHERIFF" emblazoned on the side let him know who it was.

One last glance at his partner and Simon headed out the front door again. He moved to intercept the Sherriff as he stepped from his truck, with Simon retrieving a badge from underneath his coat.

"Sheriff Carter, I presume?" He began, "My name is Special Agent Simon Temple. I'm with the FBI. My partner and I are here on orders to investigate the recent case that happened here in town involving one Julian Bishop. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

Carter parked the Bronco in his space in front of the Sheriff’s Department and glanced at the car he didn’t recognise parked to the left. At the top of the small set of stairs in front of the Department stood a man in a suit without a tie who Eli could feel looking at him.

“Sheriff Carter, I presume?" The man began, "My name is Special Agent Simon Temple. I'm with the FBI. My partner and I are here on orders to investigate the recent case that happened here in town involving one Julian Bishop. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

“Pleased to meet you, Agent Temple. I’m Sheriff Elijah Carter but everybody calls me Eli. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you guys. I’ve set up a room for us in back. If you want to get you partner and meet me in the conference room.”

While the FBI agents made their way to the conference room Eli looked for one of his Deputies but most where still out with the search parties. He noticed the back of Hayden’s brunette head which was buried in some paper work but he guessed she wasn’t really reading the page in front of her. It was no secret Hayden wanted to get out of Cartwright Falls and a couple of time she’d expressed interest in the FBI.

“Hayden I need you in the conference room. You’re gonna be babysitting one of these suits.”

#

Once everyone had found a seat after getting a cup of coffee and a donut from the buffet Justine the receptionist had left out Eli grabbed a long ruler and started pointing to a collection a photos, maps and documents pinned to a board in the front of the room.

“Uh… Morning everybody. Sorry I wasn’t here to welcome our guests but I was at the Preliminary autopsy of Julian Bishop. We’re still waiting on Toxi… Toxiacal… the uh… science stuff.”

He cleared his throat and pointed the ruler to the map.

“We found the body here, and have search groups in these areas. To be honest given how far away Julian was found it’s unlikely they’ll turn anything up. Gives the locals a purpose though, you know stop ‘em worrying.”

He swallowed hard and continued.

“The autopsy was the damnedest thing. Bastard cut up the boy pretty bad.”

Eli reached over and pressed the intercom button.

“Justine could you bring those files from the Doc.”

“Yes Sheriff.”

Justine entered seconds later with multiple copies of the transcript from Doctor Lawson’s preliminary autopsy. As she handed Agent Barton his file she smiled faintly.

“That’s fine Justine.” Eli said gently knowing the old woman had taken a shine to out of towners before. Last thing he needed was the FBI picking up a stalker in their first hour. She was harmless enough just a little screwy.

After they had read the report Eli introduced Hayden.

“I was thinking we should split up to cover more ground, one Agent and one Sheriff. Most of my people are out on the search teams but the tired looking one there is Deputy Hayden Montgomery, she’s one of our brightest, even going to school to be a head shrinker. She can take one of you round town while I take the other.”


He finally set the ruler down and took a swig of his coffee.

“Now the way I see it we need to conduct more interviews with family and friends. Maybe you guys can shake something loose. We need to learn more about those markings on Julian and wait for the rest of the autopsy. There’s also a bar called Choppers that’s popular with Truckers I’ve been going up there most nights and asking the freight jockeys if they saw anything. So far no cigar but I’ll keep trying.”

Eli sat in his seat and took another swig of coffee.

“Whadda you guys think?”

“Pleased to meet you, Agent Temple. I’m Sheriff Elijah Carter but everybody calls me Eli. I can’t tell you how good it is to see you guys. I’ve set up a room for us in back. If you want to get you partner and meet me in the conference room.”

The former Green Beret spared a small smile, "Well, Eli, we tried to get here as soon as possible. Sorry it couldn't be sooner."

With that, he turned, and gave a small motion of the hand to Thomas to follow the Sheriff. He took up a position on the Sheriff's right flank until they had the conference room pointed out to him, and at that point he had headed there with Thomas. Stepping in to the conference room, he took up a position just down the wall from the door, leaning slightly against the wall as he waited. He and Thomas were left in the room to their own devices for all of a minute, tops, before the Sheriff had returned, and a young woman had entered behind him. Early 20s by the looks of her, dark hair, slim stature, and around -- 5'9? Her nameplate read "Montgomery" and he could only assume that she was one of his Deputies. They had both made themselves comfortable in the conference room and the Sheriff didn't waste much time in getting started, which was something that Simon appreciated. The secretary from the front desk had arrived with copies of the files and within moments all those in the room each had a copy of the coroner's report, as well as other important pieces of information about the investigation. Simon read along silently as Sheriff Carter had read through everything to them.

It was a bit -- gruesome.

To make matters worse, it brought back memories.

On the Mexican-American border, on those drug raids years back. They had been going after one of the local cartels in Mexico who had been smuggling their goods across the border. It had been in Phoenix, working with local police authorities and the FBI, and they had found out the location of one of the cartel's safe houses in that area. With FBI assets preventing communication in to our out of the safe-house, the surrounding area had been sectioned off by Arizona's finest, and an eight-man team of Green Berets with Simon acting as the senior NCO had gone in. Minimal enemy resistance, with only about fifteen members of the cartel in the place. They had tried to fight, of course, because they always did, but eight dead drug runners convinced the rest of them to surrender rather quickly. Questioning those that had surrendered had led them to an area of the safe house down in the basement where they were packing the drugs for transport. Simon had been the first man through the door in to that -- slaughterhouse. Bodies. They were planning to use bodies to move the drugs. Young, old, women, or children. None of that seemed to really matter to them. Cut open, stuffed with coke, and sewn back up. There had been blood everywhere, bodies lying about stuffed with narcotics. For whatever reason, Simon found his mind drifting back to that sick place was he looked at the coroner's photographs.

Who would want to do this to somebody? A kid, no less?

What kind of messed up freak were they dealing with?

His thoughts were interrupted, rather rudely, as his ears picked up on something. Noises, faint, from just beyond the door. Possibly female, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. As the closest person to the door, he doubted that anybody else -- and then she had come through. Simon's reaction was remarkably sober as the young woman had come barreling through the door. He didn't even say anything as he watched her hurriedly explain herself . . . and then leave. Then, with that mess taken care of, he heard Sheriff Carter's plan. With it, he looked to Thomas.

"Well, Barton. What do you think? Deputy Montgomery and I can look around town, while Sheriff Carter and you go to that truck stop. Or do you have another idea?"

Barton had kept quiet during the information dump, preferring at this point to observe. He had worked with local law enforcement before, and by and large they did good jobs without undue intervention. Barton could tell when coaxing was necessary to get the full story, and this was not one of those times. He took the autopsy file when it was offered, and read it silently. Sheriff Carter wasn't kidding about the details. They reminded Barton of an older case, one of a torture-murderer called the Shrike, who gradually disassembled his victims after propping them up someplace. They had never found some of the bodies, so keenly had he taken them apart and hidden them. The final death toll had to be estimated from those who had disappeared, and had exceeded 30 killings over five years.

That itself brought Barton back to his latest case. He shuddered briefly at the highly unpleasant memory, before realizing that Deacon was addressing him. He had been listening in the back of his mind to the Sheriff, enough to know that he would be going with the Sheriff to "Chopper's," a trucker bar. He hadn't been to a place like that for an investigation in a year or two. "That sounds workable," he responded smoothly, shoving the memory of his last case to his subconscious. "I haven't done that sort of thing in a while. Be a good change of pace," he continued. "Should we get on our way, Sheriff?"

A moment later, he realized that he never had introduced himself to this group. "Incidentally, I'm Agent Thomas Barton," he muttered, almost as an afterthought.

The young woman was rather startled when she heard Eli call to her. “Hayden I need you in the conference room. You’re gonna be babysitting one of these suits.” Hayden's face broke out into a rather large grin as she made her way into the conference room.

She listened intently as the Sheriff relayed the information that the coroner had told him. Hayden found herself thinking about how disturbing the amount of torture that Julian must have gone through. The words 'sadist' popped into her mind as she read over her copy of the report. Still, from a psychological point of view, there wasn't much to go on. The killing could have been personal, exclusive to the couple, or it could be that beginnings of a serial kill. All were too soon to tell at the moment.

“I was thinking we should split up to cover more ground, one Agent and one Sheriff. Most of my people are out on the search teams but the tired looking one there is Deputy Hayden Montgomery, she’s one of our brightest, even going to school to be a head shrinker. She can take one of you round town while I take the other.” The young woman sheepishly smiled at the compliment, it was nice to hear every once in a while. She had to shake her head slightly at Eli's use of the term 'head shrinker' though.

Hayden sat quietly for a second as the two agents talked about how'd they be splitting up. Once it seemed like the two were finished, she stood and made her way over to Agent Temple. "Nice to meet you Agent," She said, sticking out her hand in greeting. "Name's Hayden Montgomery." Sure the initial introduction by Eli had been made, but Hayden felt it was rude to not properly introduce herself. "Any place in particular you'd like to see first?"

Connor parked his cruiser in his designated parking spot in front of the Sheriffs department. Looking out the window, he raised an eyebrow, spotting Eli and Hayden's vehicles as well as one he didn't recognize. He stepped out of the vehicle, but continued to stare at the car as he made his way to the glass doors in the front, opening the door and stepping into the slightly warmer lobby, then after punching in his identification number on another door so that it would unlock, he made his way to the squad room in the back.

Upon entering the room, he heard Eli speaking to someone in the adjacent conference room, so after setting his uniform jacket in a chair, he moved to the Conference room door and knocked on it lightly before entering. The first thing he noticed were two men, one, obviously the member of some Agency from his apparel choice and the way he carried himself was speaking ti the sheriff, the other was talking to Hayden in another area of the room.
Eli and the sharply dressed man looked towards the door as Connor entered.
"The search party has been called off for tonight, Sheriff", Connor said. "Anything else you need me to do?".
Eli looked at Barton and the Deputy.
"Actually yes. This is Agent Barton from the FBI. He and his partner", Eli gestured over to the man who was standing with Hayden, "have taken over the investigation, and we're to help them with whatever we can. I need you to take Agent Barton down to Choppers and help him while I take care of some other things".
"Understood", Connor replied, then turned to the FBI agent.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir." Connor said, the "sir" being something he still hadn't shaken off from his time in the Marines, as well as the way he stood at attention as he lifted his hand to Barton in invitation of a handshake. "I'm Deputy Connor Adams".

While the two teams got to know each other Eli collected his notes and prepared to leave. He finally addressed the room one last time.

“Right guys keep me, and each other, posted with what’s happening checkins every couple of hours ok?”

He then made his goodbyes and offered to meet up with the teams later in the day.

Outside the conference room Eli made a beeline for his office where he dropped his notes on his desk. He glanced out of the window at the deeply wooded hills and thought about Karen Fellows, terrified and alone with whatever had mutilated Julian Bishop. A shudder ran down his spine and he quickly cleared the image from his mind.

“Someone walk on your grave Sheriff?”

Eli turned to see Justine standing in the doorway of his office.

“What?”

“You shuddered... It was something my mother used to say.”

Eli nodded, something about the saying had always bothered him so he changed the subject.

“I’m heading out to the Bishop place. I’m going to give Cassandra an update, tell her the FBI has arrived. Then I’ll swing by the Fellows.”

“Ok Sheriff I was just coming to see if you wanted a coffee.”

“Naw I’m jittery enough already.”

It was raining pretty heavily when Eli left the station and his knee was starting to ache. The snow would be falling pretty soon and Eli was glad the search teams were back. The woods could be unforgiving at this time of year. He remembered the story of the original settlers of Cartwright Falls who got caught out by the weather and started munching on each other when they eaten everything else. They said it was almost as bad as the Donner Party, people went insane and there were murders. Of course old spooky stories still circulated the town around Halloween that the town was cursed because of what the settlers had done to survive then inevitably someone would jump out of the bushes and everyone would have a good laugh. All towns had stories like that.

Eli was piloting the Bronco past Choppers when he saw Tiffany Swan sitting outside the bar obviously waiting out the rain. He liked Tiff and felt sorry that her Mom was lush but that wasn’t his problem, Tiff’s shoplifting was. He just hoped the Louis Lane stuck because he hated being a hardass with her.

The girl looked towards his Bronco and caught his eye. Eli gave her a I’m watching you gesture before driving off, always important to keep on top of repeat offenders.

Eli pulled up in front of the Bishop house, his knee was feeling tight so he popped a pain killer and swallowed it dry. He then got out of the Bronco and walked up the short path to the house. He rapped the door and waited for a response.

“I’d like to know more about the body, so lets go to the autopsy room. I want to know more about the symbols on the body. If there’s an occult angle to this the Agency can help out. They have profilers for this kind of thing. Usually some lonely nutjob but this feels like it might be part of something bigger. We might have a serial on our hands.” Deacon said to Deputy Montgomery.
“You drive.” He said with a smile as he shot Barton a wave.

Hayden and Deacon set off for the small town hospital.

#

Eli was getting paler with each passing second, he’d be unconscious in less than twenty minutes if he didn’t stop the bleeding but he had to get out of the situation first. Lots of things were being said around him but focusing on individual conversations was becoming difficult.

“Please don’t shoot me! Its Nat!”

‘Who the fuck is Nat?’ Was all Eli could think. Then he saw the Alexander kid.

"Father! Please, help!" Eli’s grip on the pistol tightened but then he realised what she meant. Not that Father, not dear old Dad.

“We need to think up something quickly, he shot out the power by the looks of the electrical box. We need to defend ourselves with what we have.”

"There's weapons and medical supplies in the basement, a couple of pistols and maybe a rifle. Nathaniel, are you okay?"

“Shhhhhh!” Eli said as he held his finger to his lips. “He can hear you.” Eli whispered.

“Do not go into the basement. He’ll have you cornered. If we go upstairs we can exit via a window. If it comes to that everyone run a different way. I’m going nowhere, he tagged me good. How you help me is by getting help. No offence but you guys aren’t exactly cut out for this. We need police with guns not the cast of the breakfast club.”

Eli groaned with pain that may have been from the gunshot wound or the lame joke as he pulled himself to his feet using the banister and staggered up the stairs. His trousers were soaking with blood and his legs felt heavy. Finally he made it to the top of the stairs. He found a table piled high with a mixture of medical books and high school texts. He pushed the table over lay down behind, it wouldn’t stop a bullet but at least it was some form of concealment.

#

“LITTLE PIGS LITTLE PIGS! LET ME COME IN!” Kyle Renner yelled with a laugh. He was walking around the perimeter of the house which had suddenly gone silent. They were either hiding or preparing something. Of course Kyle had an advantage over them, he wasn’t scared and wasn’t shot while at least half inside the house were both. He liked the fear and he could smell it in the air, it’s what drove him on. No need to sweet talk Kyle now, he was too strong.

That’s when an idea started to form.

#

In the car with Hayden, Deacon was feeling a little out of his depth. He was never that good with people and preferred to talk shop instead.

“You’re studying psychology? Do you think it’ll come in handy out here?” He regretted his words almost immediately they sounded arrogant and patronising. ‘Smooth move special agent’ Deacon thought.

After the examination of Julian's body at the morgue Hayden and Temple had agreed that maybe a visit to the library would be beneficial to their investigation. The librarian had a bit surprised to see the pair enter the building, commenting how she hadn't seen Hayden in a few years. The young deputy had tell the elderly woman that she was in the middle of an investigation with Temple in order for the lady to leave them alone. Of course it took more than one attempt for the librarian, Mrs Smith, to actually get the hint which Temple found to be a bit amusing.

They split the work accordingly; Temple taking the research of the symbol since he already had experience in this department, and Hayden dredging up every last bit of info on the history since the founding of the town.

"This sucks." Hayden muttered to herself as she flipped through another book. She had just finished raiding through a copy of an original settler named 'Ellie Finnegan' and was rather disturbed by what happened at the beginning of Cartwright's founding. Cannibalism had always been an interesting topic in psychology and cultural studies. There were really only two reasons humans would begin eating each other, religious purposes or starvation, and considering the writings of the woman from the late 19th century it was stated why it had been done. Even still, Hayden could never see herself eating another person, but as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Find anything interesting?" Temple asked has he made his way over to the deputy. His search had come up fruitless for the weird symbol. He couldn't find it on any occult websites or the FBI databases. There was no record of it beyond Cartwright.

"More like creepy..." Hayden said, closing the book she was skimming through. "The only thing I could actually find was a supposed name for the area before it was settled by the original town founder, something like 'The Forest of Eyes'. That was it though, you know beyond the crazy of the first settlement group. Apparently they were murdered by Natives and the three survivors were found insane, all of which happened after they succumbed to cannibalism because of starvation." She had also read repots by a Captain Dale Cooper who discovered those still alive in Cartwright.

"That's…nice." To Temple it would appear the sunny, good ol' American town of Cartwright held more secrets than one would thing. Suddenly Hayden's walkie talkie went off, a flutter of static and loud voices. The library was dead silent at this time of the day and the words spoken by Deputy Adams were clear. Within moments the two were out of the building and into Hayden's cruiser.



By the time the duo arrived at the Bishop household the scene was filled with people; firefighters, police, and even curious neighbors. It was chaotic and loud, the smell of smoke filling the air as the firefighters continued to combat the blaze.

Hayden rushed ahead of her assigned FBI partner and all but interrogated one of the other officers on the scene. Apparently when the Sheriff came to interview Juliet there was a shooter and the two, along with another teen, were forced to seek cover in the house before the assailant essentially blew up the house and fled the scene. After a few more moments of talking, Hayden decided that she was going to the hospital; to interview the victims and check up on Eli. She'd have to give Justine a call as well to make sure the woman was doing ok considering what was happening.

"You okay?" Temple asleep as the two made their way back to her car.

"I'm fine…it's just things like this aren't supposed to happen in Cartwright." She sighed heavily as she plopped into the driver's seat. The brunette rested her head on the steering wheel, her eyes closed as she took a deep breath. Temple frowned.

"Not to sound like a jerk kid, but you need to get yourself together. You have a job to do and this isn't the time for you to lose focus." Temple said seriously as he watched Hayden. The car was silent as he sat in the passenger seat and the deputy didn't move. When he was about to say something else she sat up and looked at him before giving a nod and started the car back up.

As she was pulling away they were flagged down by Agent Barton. Hayden rolled down her window and asked the man if he needed what was wrong. "I just need a ride to the police station." The five minute right to the police station was quiet, but as Barton left the vehicle Hayden spoke. "I just wanted to say thanks, for helping the sheriff." The silence continued for another fifteen minutes as they drove to the hospital.

The Cartwright hospital was never a chaotic place, but with the explosion there was a little more activity than usual. Temple was silent behind her as Hayden made her way to the from desk. "Hello, I'm Deputy Montgomery and this is Special Agent Temple of the FBI. I was wondering where we could find the two kids brought in from the Bishop house. Also, is Sheriff Carter alright?"

The nurse gave her wide eyes and nodded her head. She was young and petite, her black hair up in a neat ponytail "Of course officers, right now the sheriff's in surgery so I don't have the most up to date information on his condition but Juliet and Nathan are this way." The nurse stepped out from behind the counter, leading the two down a hall to where the two teens would be.

Barton sighed and licked his lips nervously as he watched the ambulances arrive. They had hardly been here a few hours and already things were escalating. This couldn't be completely related, however: torture murderers and shooters, no matter the public perception, were not similar. Whoever had killed Julian Bishop had not been the same culprit as the one behind this shooting. And whoever was behind this was clearly very well-armed, as no ordinary handgun could have shot out an electrical box so easily. He and Adams had investigated the remains of the house and found a wallet. Inside was a driver's license for a "Kyle Renner," at an address in Los Angeles. In addition, there were several receipts, or rather parts of receipts, partly burned, for several stores. The items included general camping gear, and...ammunition. To be specific, 9mm pistol ammunition and .22 Long Rifle. Barton hardly needed to tap into his detective mode to make the connection. He had scribbled into his notebook a reminder, "Kyle Renner call LAPD". If things quieted down for a second, he would make that call.

He glanced around, and saw Deacon and Deputy Montgomery leaving in the Deputy's car. In a flash, he realized: He only had his Glock. Against a man armed with a hunting rifle and a pistol, he needed more. Deacon had his AR-15 and Barton had his Ruger...and both of them were at the police station, in their car. Sonofabitch, Barton thought to himself before running up and flagging the car down. Deputy Montgomery poked her head out, confused, and asked him what was wrong. Barton shook his head quickly. "Nothing's wrong, I just need a ride to the police station." He slipped in quickly, and was quiet as they rode over. When they arrived, he tapped Deacon on the shoulder. "I'll get your rifle, and I'll have mine. The shooter had a rifle; we need to be ready for him." He heard the Deputy as he left the car, but ignored it for the moment, and quickly retrieved Deacon's rifle and spare magazines from the car. He gave Deacon the unloaded rifle and magazines, then addressed Montgomery. "It's all in the line of duty. You can think me by making sure he stays alive. I'm going to follow you in my car in a few minutes."

He returned to the car, and retrieved the black case that held his own rifle and ammunition. He stopped under the awning of the police station and outfitted himself, loading a magazine into the rifle but keeping it uncocked for safety's sake. He then strapped on the small belt for the other magazines, and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He then glanced in, and saw the receptionist. He decided to stop in and ask about any information the Sheriff had that he didn't. Something new might have come in. He stepped inside, removing his wet hat and shaking it briefly onto the rain mat before walking up to the desk. "Agent Barton, FBI. You might remember me," he said tersely. "Listen, with the Sheriff out of commission and this being an FBI case now, I just need to know if there is any information the Sheriff has that we don't. Or if anything—anything—has come in since then." It was a shot in the dark, but it could work.

It did. "Actually, yes, we got a report from searching the woods for campers. It's in the Sheriff's office," the receptionist replied.

Barton smiled. "Thank you." He meant that. He entered the Sheriff's office, and found the paper there, in a manila folder. He opened it, and read quickly. They had found only one person out there, a guy out camping and hunting, a Kyle...Kyle Renner. Barton snapped the folder closed in his surprise. "Oh Christ," he muttered, then hurried out. He'd make that call the moment he got to the hospital. Deacon and the Deputies had to know about this. He hurried out, quickly placing the rifle in the empty passenger seat before firing up the car and driving out at a speed probably unsafe for rain. He clicked windshield wipers on and made his way to the hospital. Wasn't hard in a town as small as Cartwright Falls.

He was a sight as he burst into the hospital, aggravated, wet, and with a rifle slung on his shoulder. He fished his badge out as quickly as he said, "There's another FBI Agent here along with a Deputy, maybe two. I need to see them immediately." He was pointed down the hall, where he recognized Deacon's bald head and distinctive clothing immediately. He jogged up to them, tapped Deacon on the shoulder, held up the manila folder. "This was in the Sheriff's office. They searched the woods around Cartwright Falls, I guess for possible witnesses. They found a Kyle Renner out there, camping and hunting. We found a wallet belonging to Mr. Renner in the ruins of the house. He lived in Los Angeles, California. His wallet also contained receipts from hunting and outdoors shops, and has evidence of ammunition purchases. Whatever you were doing just now, do it; I need to phone the Los Angeles Police Department right now."

He left as suddenly as he had arrived, returning to the front desk of the hospital. He removed the rifle from his shoulder and placed it on a chair nearby, then did likewise with his coat, before re-slinging the rifle. He then turned to the front desk. "Is there a telephone I can use, with a phone book? I have some calls to make."

An intern guided him to a phone in another room. Barton thanked him tersely, then started flipping through the phone book quickly. Slowly, he enunciated to himself, "Los Angeles Police Department." A few moments of silent looking. "Here!" He muttered, then dialed quickly. He put the headset to his ear quickly, biting his lip nervously. There had to be something about Renner in the LAPD records. Maybe he stole the guns he had used.

Doctor Lawson looked down at the unconscious Eli Carter and frowned. The Sheriff was covered in bandages and tubes connected to an array of machines and bags. The shot had ripped out some of Eli’s intestine which had caused the dramatic blood loss, he’d also broken his right ankle and a couple of ribs in the explosion in addition to suffering a perforated ear drum that Lawson assumed was due to the percussion wave.

The Sheriff was a very lucky man Lawson thought as he patted the plaster on his forearm. It wasn’t the first time Lawson’s O Negative blood kept someone in the game. He checked Eli’s charts and shook his head slightly.

“Gonna be a couple of months till you’re back on your feet.” Lawson sighed and replaced the charts.

At least Lawson had gotten him a private room, he figured someone like Eli wouldn’t have wanted to be seen in his current condition. Of course that didn’t stop people calling anyway. Lawson had made it clear they were to be turned away until Eli regained consciousness.

#

Temple and Montgomery were looking at a pair of beat up teenagers and trying to piece together what had happened. The boy Nathaniel Alexander was destined for small town hero status after his efforts to get Eli Carter to safety also he was a new member of the I’ve been shot club and like Falco said Chicks dig scars.

So far the story seemed pretty sketchy, a guy just pulled up and started shooting cops and blowing up members of the clergy. There had to be more.

“Did the guy say anything? Maybe one of you got a look at him? Did you recognise the weapon he was using? Even if you think it’s stupid maybe that’s the thing that can help us.”

He worried he’d come on too strong and now the kids found him intimidating. He wished he’d left the rifle in the car but by the time he realised he was still holding it he was introducing himself.

He looked at Montgomery with a pleading look, perhaps the heavily armed FBI agent wasn’t the one for to be speaking to two traumatised teenagers. He hoped Hayden had been paying attention in her classes.

“Is there anything you would like to add Deputy?”

Before Hayden could speak a nurse entered the room. She had coffee coloured skin and a beautiful smile or at least Deacon thought so. Her hair was held in a loose bun and she carried herself with a happy go lucky demeanour. Nice smile or not she was interrupting his interview.

“Uh... excuse me, we’re conducting an interview here.” Deacon said to the intruder.

“Don’t mind me just have to give Mr Alexander his pills.” She turned to Nathaniel. “Painkillers sweetie, you’re going to need them later. Remember no more than two every four hours.” The woman’s voice was wholesomely sweet the kind of voice you don’t get in cities. “You’re free to go now... I mean from Hospital... not the FBI.” The nurse smiled awkwardly and left.

“Unbelievable.” Deacon muttered while he rubbed his eyes. “Deputy Montgomery, anything else you’d like to add?”

#

The nurse made her way down the corridor towards reception.

“Excuse me, can I speak to you for a moment?”

The Nurse turned to see Doctor Lawson hurrying after her.

“Yes Doctor.” The nurse said with a smile as Lawson approached.

“I’m sorry I don’t think we’ve met.”

“We haven’t Doctor I’m Emily Dempsey. I was sent to help pick up the slack after the accident.”

“Oh I see, so sorry I didn’t introduce myself. Doctor Joseph Lawson, Joe.” He always wished people called him Joe but nobody ever did. He clocked it up to an age thing.

“Pleased to meet you. Is there anything else you need Doctor Lawson?” She asked while inwardly Doctor Lawson sighed, he’d even settle for Doctor Joe.

“Oh no I just like to make a habit of checking out any strange nurses wandering around the hospital.”

“Rightly so, you never can be too sure about people.”

#

She spoke for a few more moments with the Doctor but left before running into anymore staff. She trudged through the snow to the black jeep sitting in the parking lot. She got into the passenger seat beside a man with goatee.

“Do it?” He asked.

“Done it.” She replied in a voice completely devoid of wholesome sweetness.

“I don’t like this. It’s unstable. Are you ok with going off the plan?”

“I’m ok with being paid. They want it done this way I do it this way.”

“Fair enough.” He said with a shrug before turning the key and setting off into the night.

“You really took a beating didn’t you son?” The doctor said as he examined Nathanial. “But under the circumstances you made out remarkably well.”
Nathanial smiled at the doctor as he too looked over his injuries. “Considering that I managed to survive it is a miracle in itself… I am just worried about Juliet and the sheriff; they looked worse off than me.”

“I am sure they will be fine, we have our best looking after them.” The doctor said with a reassuring smile. “Now I am going to freeze you side and I can get this wound stitched up.”
---
After some time the doctor took a step back. “There we go, that’s the last of your cuts, thirty six stitches in the bullet wound, four in the arm, and about ten in all the other nicks.” The doctor offered a hand to help Nathanial off the table. “Most should heal without any noticeable scarring, most are dissolvable but I’ll need to remove the ones in the arm and in your hip myself.”

Nathanial thanked the doctor as he left the room and took a drink from the glass of water that had been left for him, after about a minute a nurse entered the room.
“How are Juliet and the Sheriff? Can I see them?”

The nurse gestured for Nathanial to follow her. “The sheriff won’t be taking visitors right now, but Juliet is up, ill take you too her.”
---
After the nurse brought Nathanial to Juliet’s room she continued on down the hall leaving the two teens on their own. Nathanial sat on the end of the bed that they had been treating Juliet in. He forced himself to smile at her and let out a sigh of relief.

“We are ok, we made it!” Nathanial said to her in disbelief. He then looked to the ceiling and ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t think that we would be able to get out of there…” He then turned back to her. “How are you feeling now? You look pretty good for someone who was almost blown up.” He said while flashing a smile.
---
After a bit longer the young deputy and an intense looking man walking in together, they introduced themselves and deputy Montgomery and Agent Temple. The two stood in the doorway examining the teens until Temple finally spoke.

“Did the guy say anything? Maybe one of you got a look at him? Did you recognise the weapon he was using? Even if you think it’s stupid maybe that’s the thing that can help us.”

Nathanial took a second to think.
“Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in.” Nathanial repeated the words that the assailant had yelled at the group in the house. “That’s all I remember him saying, pretty sadistic if you ask me. I wish I could say that I remember anything else but my back was turned when the shooting started and from that point on I was either ducking my head so I didn’t get shot or I was already in the house and out of a good view point.”

Temple nodded “Is there anything you would like to add Deputy?”

Before the deputy could speak a nurse entered the room.

“Uh... excuse me, we’re conducting an interview here.” Deacon said to the nurse.

“Don’t mind me just have to give Mr. Alexander his pills.” She turned to Nathaniel. “Painkillers sweetie, you’re going to need them later. Remember no more than two every four hours.” The woman said. “You’re free to go now... I mean from Hospital... not the FBI.” The nurse smiled awkwardly and left.
Nathanial downed the pills with a quick swig of water and turned to look over at Juliet with a reassuring smile.
“I don’t mind staying until you’re allowed to leave as well.” He then turned back to the deputy and Agent Temple who was looking after the nurse with a frustrated look on his face.

“Unbelievable.” Deacon muttered while he rubbed his eyes. “Deputy Montgomery, anything else you’d like to add?”

''Got lots of information on Kyle Renner. Not only does he appear the most likely candidate to be the shooter at the Bishop household, thanks to the wallet we found, but he's also wanted back in Los Angeles, as the prime suspect in the murder of Tanya Renner and Chris Avalon. Tanya was seeing Chris behind Kyle's back. Their bodies were found in the Renners' bedroom closet; she had been strangled and he had been bludgeoned. They were found by the cleaning lady two days after Kyle had left, and three days after their deaths. He told friends he was going up to hunt by here to clear his head, not mentioning the double murder, of course." Barton explained to Connor, tossing his hat on his folded coat.
"There's not much we can do now except watch out and hope to catch him before he gets away again. More importantly, we need to figure out if there's a connection with Julian Bishop's murder. Right now the only connection we have is that the shooter—probably Renner—struck the Bishop household. He could have been stalking the Sheriff, or he could have picked the place at random. Right now...we just have too many damned variables. And a shooter out there. I hope you guys have rifles; if those receipts are accurate, Renner has .22 Long Rifle, and that shit has range.".
Connor nodded, taking in all the information and running through his head before opening up with a response.
"Well, if he's out in the woods...I know that there's an abandoned Mine out next to Hunters Clearing...the clearing is a popular spot for tourists and hunters out in the woods. I know how to get there, my dad and I hunted out there a lot before I went into the Marines". Connor said.
"It can't be a coincidence that this Renner guy's wallet was found at a crime scene, and if it is...well then we can hand him over to your agency and get him nailed for double homicide". the Deputy continued.
"As for weapons, I think I have something better than a .22", he said, a small grin on his face. "I'm a damn good shot with the 30-06, and we keep three of them in the armory up at the station, their powerful, and they have range, the only draw back is the bolt-action style." He said.
"So, Agent Barton. What do you say we grab you're partner, Hayden and a few other volunteers, gear up at the station and head out on a man-hunt?".

Hayden looked Agent Temple and thought the man looked tired, the case was having that effect on everyone. She could only imagine how it must have felt for the FBI agents tasked with clearing up the mess.

“Deputy Montgomery, anything else you’d like to add?”

Hayden looked at the two battered kids and tried a half smile.

“Guess you two must be pretty tired? The other deputies are trying to organise some accommodation for you and your Mom, Juliet. It looks like she’s going to be tied up here for some time though.”

“Yeah and wherever you end up we’re going to post two deputies in a Bronco out front. Just until we understand what’s going on here.” Temple thought it looked like the girl was about to protest. “This is non-negotiable, at the moment your safety is paramount.”

Hayden produced a large brown paper bag. “I figured you’d want a change of clothes so here’s some stuff we were able to scrounge from around the station. It’s all Sheriff’s Department stuff so don’t expect it to be terribly flattering but I suppose you’ll want to get changed.”

“Alexander, best for you to go home and when you do move bring someone along with you.”
Temple produced two business cards from his wallet. “This has my pager number. Feel free to page anytime day or night. If it’s trouble add 911 to the page and I’ll get to you as soon as possible. Obviously call the Sheriff’s Department first.”

Hayden patted her uniform and found a pen she scribbled the Sheriff Department’s number on the back of Temple’s business cards before handing them over to the kids.

“Remember call me day or night if you remember anything.” Temple said with a forced smile. Witnesses weren’t really his thing.

“Deputy, lets go.”

#

Hayden and Temple approached the Reception just as Adams was finishing up his plan.

“…what do you say we grab you're partner, Hayden and a few other volunteers, gear up at the station and head out on a man-hunt?".

“Man hunt? You have a lead? Those kids didn’t see much, guess they were too busy trying to survive.”

Hayden returned to the group as she had been speaking to Justine to organise the Deputies to look after Juliet.

“They’re pretty shook up. That poor girl.”

Temple nodded. “So what’s the story Bart?”

Before Barton could answer Doctor Lawson emerged from behind a pair of double doors.

“Ok folks it’s starting to look like an NRA meeting in here. Can you take it outside? We need some room.”

#

The city was a dot in the distance now and all Blake could see was miles of wilderness below.

“Pretty big eh?” The pilot crackled in his headset.

“Yeah lots of places to hide.”

“Telling me. I work with the Volunteer Mountain Rescue team that works the woods. Lost hikers are like a needle in a hay stack.” He was complaining but he
sounded cheery.

“Mountain Rescue eh? What’s your name?”

“Bradley Vickers pleased to meet you.”

“Yeah likewise. Bradley do you know what a secondment is?”

“Uh not really.”

“It means you work for me now, Brad. How long ‘till we arrive at Cartwright Falls?”

“About Twenty Minutes.” Bradley said the cheeriness gone from his voice.

Juliet was just sitting up when the door opened and Nathanial came in. She smiled weakly. "Hey." "We are okay, we made it! I didn't think we would be able to get out of there." He smiled at her. "How are you feeling now? You look pretty good for someone who was almost blown up." Juliet laughed. "Okay, considering I fell out of the second story window, nearly passed out, and had my house blown up, I'm great, thanks."

Two officers came in then, saying they wanted to take their statements. Juliet spoke up. "I saw him from over the sheriff's shoulder. He had a rifle - I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with firearms - and was driving this large silver car." She ran a hand through her hair nervously. She was upset that she couldn't provide more information. "I'm sorry I can't really give you much, Sir. I just - everything was such a blur, I don't really remember much."

A nurse entered and passed Nathanial some pills. Juliet wondered if she'd have to take some too. The doctor said she was lucky. Although she'd hit the ground pretty hard, there wasn't a concussion. Small wounds from the explosion were easily treated, however she was in shock. Juliet didn't feel like she was shock - she just felt numb. No fear at all, just numb.

Juliet answered the deputy. "Uh, yeah. There's nowhere to go back to, unfortunately, so I guess I'll just be staying here. Me and Mom both." "Yeah and wherever you end up we're going to post two deputies in a Bronco out front. Just until we understand what's going on here." Juliet frowned, but he interrupted. "This is non-negotiable, at the moment your safety is paramount." Juliet said nothing, but resented him silently for putting her in such a situation. All privacy would be compromised, and she wasn't even sure when this would end. Something very wrong was going on in Cartwright Falls.

She accepted the clothes from the deputy, thanking her quietly. Tucking the business card inside a pocket, she headed for the toilet to change into the clothes. Coming out, she turned to Nathanial. "Thanks for everything. Take care of yourself, okay? I'm going to look for my mother."

Barton nodded slowly at the idea. "Ordinarily I would not recommend a full-on manhunt, not in this weather and at this time, but-"

"Okay folks, it’s starting to look like an NRA meeting in here. Can you take it outside? We need some room.”

Barton shrugged as he turned to Temple. "Let's get outside, then I'll fill everyone in." He quickly removed his rifle, donned his coat and hat, and re-slung the rifle before heading out into the rain. He stayed under the awning as he spoke to the others. "In short, Deputy Adams and I found the wallet of a Mr. Kyle Renner right near one of the windows. Presumably he dropped it at some point. It had receipts stuffed in it for outdoor supplies and ammunition, Parabellum and .22 LR. I did some talking with the LAPD Commissioner, and it turns out Renner's wanted down there now for double homicide, killing his wife and her secret boyfriend. As far as his friends knew he was just coming up here to hunt, which he's done before. He's driving a Toyota Hi-Lux, gray, and has a .22 LR caliber rifle and a pistol. He is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Deputy Adams here says you have thirty-aught-six rifles at the station. I move we pair off, one Agent one Deputy, to have a balance of armaments. I can get us all over to the Station to get the Deputies armed, then two take the FBI car and two take a Deputy's car, and we start combing the town. I don't know this town as well as you two," he said, gesturing to the Deputies, "So I'll leave the routes to you for the time being, so long as we get the town covered."

He breathed for a few seconds. Two long monologues in as little time. "Right, let's get going, then." He led them to the FBI car, and they piled in. He drove as quickly as seemed safe, his eyes darting around, watching as much for a Toyota Hi-Lux as for where he was going. As they arrived at the station, he quickly established a shooting position of sorts near the front of the Station, watching for any unwanted visitors. He saw one only a few minutes after he settled in. However, this was not a car, but a helicopter. He quickly left the station, standing under the awning as the chopper's passenger disembarked and approached the station. He recognized the fairly infamous face immediately, one that he connected to the Michelle Halpert case and the FBI, much the same way one connected Richard Nixon to Watergate. Professional infamy aside, Barton had no love lost for the man he now addressed stiffly. "Good evening, David. Hell of a way to make an entrance."

“Why so glum Partner?”

Eli turned on the stool to see a tall man wearing what to Eli looked like a brown Stetson or other type of cowboy hat and a long black duster. The hat obscured the man’s face with shadow. His dirty, naked feet were resting on the table in front of him, muck seemed to ooze from the man’s pores and land with thick splats on the table. He produced a cigarette along with a lighter seemingly from thin air and while he lit the smoke his face was illumined showing a craggy face with dark eyes that seemed to suck in surrounding light.

“I’m having a strange night.” The man’s bizarre appearance put Eli on edge so he turned back to the bar.

“I suppose you are, Eli.”

Eli spun in his stool and faced the man.

“How’d you know…”

“Eli please, let’s not ask stupid questions.”

Eli didn’t know what to say it was like the cogs in his brain were barley turning.

“You’re dying, what does that feel like?” The man was talking to Eli but also thinking aloud.

“I’m not I’m…”

“Ticket sir.”

The man with the “Staff” badage was standing beside Eli with his hole punch at the read. “It’s time to punch your ticket.”

Eli handed over his ticket and with a quick click the bald man punched a hole in Eli’s Ticket.

“If you’ll follow me sir your party is waiting.”

“My party?”

“Yes Miss Elizabeth Button.”

“Lizzie?”

The car crash and the girl with the flame red hair came flooding back to him.

“Little lizzie? She finally got invited to the big party. I had fun with her.”

Eli looked at the man in confusion.

“You were there when I came for her. How she screamed your name.”

“Sir please.” The bald man said as he gently took Eli by the elbow. “Just follow me.”

Eli stood and followed the man toward the Dining room. The large imposing doors swung open and Eli found himself engulfed in a white light.

#

Lawson was moving as soon as the siren started to beep and the voice over the PA system announced a code blue in room 142.
Eli’s room.

“Jesus I need a crash cart. 142! 142!”

Lawson took the elevator as he knew his old bones would be much slower on the stairs. By the time he made it to Eli the nurses were already starting in intubate
and Lawson immediately took over. Eli was asphyxiating on his own vomit which was pouring out of the Sheriff’s mouth. Lawson needed to get past that open and airway or else the Sheriff would surely die. Time was critical as the longer Lawson took the less of Eli’ mind there would be left to save.

Suddenly Eli’s body was wracked with spasms and Lawson felt the tube tube slip from his grasp. The vomit turned red telling Lawson that the tube had damaged something. The nurses tried to secure Eli while Lawson prepared a muscle relaxant. The spasms were costing seconds that should be spent getting oxygen to Eli’s brain in addition to wasting whatever oxygen was left in Eli’s body.

Lawson cursed softly.

#

She was in a red dress and sitting alone stirring the ice in her drink with a muddler. The blad man showed Eli to his seat which he collapsed into.

“Lizzie?” He croaked as his throat felt scratchy.

“I wasn’t expecting you so soon but I’m glad you’re here.”

“Where is here?”

“Don’t be dense. Whats the last thing you remember before arriving?”

“Getting shot.”

“And now you’re talking to your dead high school sweetheart.”

“So I’m dead?”

“Oh yeah.”

Eli didn’t have any strong feelings about that which scared him.

“It alright though Eli you still have a job to do.”

“I thought heaven was supposed to be a relaxing place.”

“This look like heaven to you?”

She had always given him a hard time, in fact it was something he loved about her.

“So where are we?”

“Let’s call it Limbo. You met the cowboy out there?”

“Yeah he said he knew you.”

“That’s… We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about getting out of here.”

“Ok how do we do it?”

“Him, the Cowboy he’s keeping us here, we keep him alive but not well fed.”

“Fed?”

“Fear, he needs fear, but the dead provide much at least not here in Limbo.”

“So what’s he doing?”

“We have a lot to talk about before we can get into that.”

#

“Time of death 2015 hours.” Lawson said with a shake of his head.

Finally Eli was at rest. The spasms hadn’t stopped until the Sheriff’s heart had finally given out. Only a nurse remained scribbling some final pieces of paperwork
while Lawson cleaned up Eli. He closed the Sheriff’s eyes and wiped the blood and vomit from the man’s chin.

“Are you alright Doctor Lawson?”

It was Nurse Oldman, a young man with sandy blonde hair.

“I’m fine Tim. I knew his father, he was a good man like his son.”

Lawson turned and Tim noticed the red rims around the Doctor’s eyes. He knew Lawson found it hard to remain detached from his patients but he’d never seen the man so open with grief. For a brief instant Tim saw Lawson as an elderly man and not the brilliant Doctor with unlimited energy he usually saw.

“Doctor I’m going to call the on call. I think you shoul take a few hours it’s been a really long day.”

He thought Lawson would argue but the Doctor just clapped Tim on the shoulder and walked off toward his office.

Tim made his way to reception and after filing the paperwork related to Eli’s death he picked up the phone and punched in the on call Doctor’s Phone Number.

“Hello, I’m looking for Doctor Saunders.”

#

Adams was explaining how he had arrived at the decision to start a man hunt to Hayden and Temple when Blake and Barton entered.

“So Hank Phillips ran into a hunter out in the woods took his name and gave the list to the Sherriff. With… everything that’s happened the Sherriff never got to see the list. Agent Barton and I only discovered it when we got back here.”

The phone rang and Justine answered as Blake and Barton joined the conversation while Deputy Adams continued his brief.

“Ok so with the weather the way it is Renner will need shelter and there are a few places the Guy could have gone. There’s the mine not far from where he was found and the Saw mill is pretty close too. He’ll be wanting to keep off the roads because of the police presence so I reckon he’ll be hiding somewhere till the storm lets him make a move.”

“Yes he’s shot a cop there’s no way he’ll use the Hi-Lux again every badge in the state has that description.”

“Oh my God… Yes thank you, of course…” It was Justine. She hung up the phone and glanced over her desk and the assembled group.

“Sheriff Carter just died in Hospital.”

A stunned silence fell on the group and Blake recognised now was the time to introduce himself. He cleared his throat and addressed the room.

“The death of Sheriff Carter is a tragedy and we will avenge him but the way he would have wanted. I didn’t know the man but he died saving two kids and from what I’ve heard he was fine Lawman, he’d want this motherfucker brought to justice and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Renner will be taken alive and will face his crimes, there will be no reprisals against this man because it will fuck the case we clear here?” He let his words settle before continuing. “Remember we have a missing girl still out there.”

He nodded at Deputy Adams who continued speaking.

“So I think we should hit the mine first then try the Saw mill.”

Blake looked at the map Adams was using as a visual aid. “Ok make it happen. Barton and Temple liaise with the locals and go get this bastard.”

#

Cassandra Bishop watched her child stir in her sleep before she drifted off. Confusion was wracking her, she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep but she knew it wouldn’t come. For months her dreams had been invaded with dreams of Benson and the dark man, then Julian disappeared. She knew he was dead before they found the body Benson told her in a dream, he taunted her with the knowledge for how her child had died, in agony surrounded by dark figures.

Benson let her hear his screams.

Now all she had left was Juliet and nobody was going to hurt her.

#

The woman approached Nathaniel’s door and gave the door a quick rap. A short house keeper answered the door.

“FBI. I’m Agent Burrows and this Agent Martin. We need to speak to Mr Alexander.”

She flashed the bogus FBI ID and barged into the house. The housekeeper said something about the boy being asleep.

“Well go wake him.” Agent Martin said his goatee twitching with annoyance.

The pair remained in the hallway waiting for Nathaniel to show up. It was unfortunate the housekeeper had seen their faces.

It meant she would be the first to die.

Hayden listened intently as Adams explained what they were to do once they started the hunt for the crazed man on the loose. Hunters in the woods weren't exactly rare, especially at this time of the year but the name was unfamiliar to the young deputy. Obviously he wasn't a native of Cartwright.

"Sheriff Carter just died in the Hospital." Justine's sad voice drifted to her ears. Hayden's heart almost stopped in shock as she looked over at the older woman with wide eyes. It seemed like just moments ago that she was at the hospital, Hayden had never expected Eli wouldn't make it through everything.

“The death of Sheriff Carter is a tragedy and we will avenge him but the way he would have wanted. I didn’t know the man but he died saving two kids and from what I’ve heard he was fine Lawman, he’d want this motherfucker brought to justice and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Renner will be taken alive and will face his crimes, there will be no reprisals against this man because it will fuck the case we clear here?” He let his words settle before continuing. “Remember we have a missing girl still out there.”

"I know the Saw mill is easier to get to than the mines, it's a faster trip from the town to there. With the weather the mine could be dangerous, lots of mud and there are sometimes pockets of water that are deeper than they seem. Some places flood when it rains a lot." Hayden spoke up as Blake gave them orders of who should go where.