Author's Note: I'm not sure if this story will be liked but my reputation as an occasional Everwood fanfic writer won't be hurt anyways. This three-part story takes place in the summer after the season finale. I'll continue the story if I get some positive feedback.
Part One – Crime Wave
Ephram sat hunched in chair; his face buried in his shaking hands. He sat alone in the corner of the police station, better known as their "visitors' area." A hand fell on Ephram's shoulder. He looked up to his dad, Dr. Andrew Brown, standing firmly by the bed.
Tears began to form in Ephram's dark eyes. "It's all my fault…I should've been there…"
Andy shook his head. "There's nothing you could've done, Ephram. The police will find her. We'll get her back."
Anger burned into Ephram's mind as he recalled what had happened. He was out taking Delia to the ice-cream parlor when it happened. He had stopped at the bookstore to pick up this month's Batman from the comics rack. Delia had happily agreed to wait for him and made her way to the Mrs. Melving's nearby fruit stand to buy a bag of cherries. That was when it began – the kidnapping. A van sped out from around the corner and smashed into the fruit stand, breaking it apart and knocking it down. Mrs. Melving had fallen unconscious by the impact of the hit, and lay motionless in the pile of debris. According to witness reports, two ski mask-clad men jumped out from the side door. One grabbed the cashbox from the trashed fruit stand while the other grabbed the terrified Delia. Disappearing back into the van, the culprits sped off into the distance in a matter of seconds.
Andy left Ephram to go talk to the sheriff. The shadows of two people approached Ephram, causing him to look up. Standing in front of him were Amy and Rose Abbott.
"Ephram. How are you holding up?" Rose delicately asked.
Ephram rubbed his eyes, getting rid of the last trace of tears. "I'm all right…"
Rose gave him a heartfelt nod of concern and pulled out a handkerchief as a few tears rolled down her eyes. "I'm so sorry. This has never happened before…excuse me." Rose went off, wiping her tears away as she approached Andy and the sheriff.
Amy sat next to Ephram and patted his back gently. "Are you okay?"
Ephram tried not to make eye-contact with her. "It's all my fault…"
"No! No it wasn't, Ephram," Amy lulled, hugging Ephram. "Don't worry, Ephram. They'll find her."
Ephram looked at her and nodded. "You're the last person I expected to come." Amy hadn't spoken to him (nor anyone else really) after Colin's death a month earlier.
"Of course I came. Ephram, you've always been there for me, regardless of how I treated you. Now it's my turn to be here for you," Amy answered, placing his hand in hers.
Ephram tried to smile and found it a lot easier when Amy smiled back.
***
"I can't believe this is happening…Everwood CAN'T be having a crime wave!" Rose cried as Chief Roger read through various witness reports.
A week earlier, the Everwood Bank was robbed for the first time – by masked man reportedly using the same van seen earlier today. Days later, Herb's Discount Store was broken into and looted. The rumor was that these mysterious criminals were ex-members of an infamous inner-city Denver gang. The police station was running double-shifts to catch the culprits, but not one officer could determine where these criminals were hiding.
A deputy approached Roger's desk and placed an envelope in front of him. "This just arrived in our mail chute, Chief."
Roger snatched the envelope and carefully opened it. His eyes quickly scanned over and sighed, handing it to Rose. "One million in unmarked bills to be left in a brown paper bag at the base of Deerfall Canyon. If they see anyone sticking around after the package has been delivered, they'll kill the girl."
Rose covered her mouth in shock. "This is turning into one of those lousy ransom movies."
Roger stood up and headed for the door. "Come on, let's call Dr. Brown."
***
Ephram slammed his fist against a wall as the armored van sent from Denver rolled in front of the Browns' house, carrying with it one million dollars in unmarked bills.
Andy held the large paper bag and watched as two men exited the van carrying the heavy metal box that was holding the money. "Just be grateful we have the money to cooperate with kidnappers."
Frustration burned in Ephram's mind as shook his head. "This is stupid. Whoever these guys are, they're doing everything by-the-book."
Andy turned to his son, clearly not understanding what Ephram was getting at. "What are you trying to say?"
"The ending of the book is always 'kill the hostage.' Once we give them the money, they'll just kill Delia!" Ephram yelled.
Andy's fury mirrored Ephrams. "And what would you have me do then? Don't you get it? Ephram, WE HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE! We either give them the money and take the slim chance that they'll give her back or we don't do anything and let her die!" Tears began to well-up in Andy's eyes.
"The police should be doing something! They shouldn't be telling us to just cooperate with these bastards so they can take the money and kill my sister! They should be out there, hunting for these guys and -"
"THEY CAN'T!" Andy hastily yelled back. "I hate being powerless in this crap just as much as you do, but YOU need to understand that the police are just as powerless as we are!"
Ephram shook his head and stormed out of the room. "YOU and those badge-happy pigs outside can all go to hell, but I'm getting Delia back."
***
Ephram slid the black turtleneck over his shirt to match the black pants he had on. After cramming his backpack full of equipment, Ephram looked around the room one last time. His eyes fell on the copy of this month's Batman lying on his bed.
"You had it easy. You had belt full of million-dollar gadgets, a herd of sidekicks, and a bulletproof costume."
Not interested in continuing his conversation with a fictional ink character, Ephram slipped the black ski mask over his head and slung the backpack over his shoulder. Looking outside the window, he saw that all the cops and his dad had left to go to the police station.
Ephram checked his watch. "Two-sixteen. Three and a half hours until dawn."
Sliding his window open, Ephram climbed out and braced himself before jumping off the roof. Landing a little more firmly than his previous attempt several months earlier, Ephram chuckled to himself. "Getting better at that."
***
Ephram leapt off the tree and landed silently on the ground, his eyes scanning around the area for several seconds before he spotted the dim lights coming from the windows of a secluded cabin just forty feet away. Took me two hours to find this place. No turning back now. Ephram crouched low as he saw three figures leave the cabin.
One of them hollered in a half-drunk voice, "Wer goin out ta find us some cigarettes from the –hic- van. Don't let yer eyes offa that girl."
Ephram smirked at his luck. I passed that van some time ago. I'll have a few minutes before they get back.
Ephram waited for the three men to disappear from sight before sprinting towards the cabin. Hiding by the cabin's generator, Ephram pulled a wirecutter from his backpack and clipped the clipped the wires feeding electricity into the cabin. Seventy-two seconds.
Crawling forward, Ephram hid behind the cabin door. Trying to hold back his fear, he forced himself to think about what he had to do next. Voices from inside the cabin began cussing questions as the lights suddenly flickered off. Breaking through the window's too unpredictable. They're probably right by the door. Sixty-five seconds.
To Ephram's surprise, the door burst open. A beefy man stormed out of the cabin and looked around.
"What happened to the power?" the thug roared.
Now was Ephram's chance. A hook and sweep should do it. Ephram jumped from behind the door and hammered his fist into the man's face. A loud crunch filled the air as Ephram heard the man's nose shatter. Dropping to his knees, Ephram hurled his right leg outward and swept it behind the man's ankles, dropping to the ground in an instant. Pulling the struggling thug aside, a chloroform-soaked cloth was already in hand as he placed it over the man's face. Seconds later, the man blacked out. Thirty-three seconds.
Ephram spun around as the second man, a pale and gangly one, cautiously walked out of the cabin, flashlight in hand. The intense light caught Ephram before he could slip into the shadows.
"Who the hell are you?" the nervous brute screamed out.
"Sean Connery, but only on weekends," Ephram joked, trying to mask his fear.
The man turned even paler and began to pull a revolver from his back pocket. Ephram hurled a handful of damp dirt into the man's eyes, causing him to give off a loud shriek. Ephram kicked the gun out of the man's hands and elbowed him in the ribs. He followed with a series of wild punches that sent the man falling to the ground. Pulling a short utility rope from his backpack, he tied the man's hands behind his back and slammed the side of his head with a small baseball bat, also obtained from his backpack, knocking the pale thug unconscious.
Ephram dashed through the open door, pulling out his flashlight. Spotting a room at the end of the cabin, he sprinted over and charged into it, damaging the old lock and cracking part of the door. Damn that hurt. Sixteen seconds. Shoving the door open, Ephram peered in. "Delia!"
The girl sat frozen, tied to a chair with a blindfold on. "Who…are you?"
Not answering her question, Ephram pulled a knife from his pocket and cut the ropes, freeing his stunned sister. A yell bellowed from behind him as footsteps clapped right behind him. They're back…I was off by seven seconds.
Spinning around, Ephram hurled the bat at the nearest man, sending him bolting into the wall. The other two men ran down the hallway, charging at Ephram. I'm really starting to wish I'd stayed home longer and thought this through. Feeling reckless and desperate, Ephram grabbed the nearby chair and smashed it into the single window in the room, shattering it open. Slinging his screaming sister over his back, Ephram jumped out of the window and sprinted into the forest. Gunshots rang through the air as bullets whisked dangerously by him. One bullet skimmed through his ribs, cracking two of them as they went by. Ephram staggered, lowering his sister.
"Get out of here. Just keep running," Ephram yelled, falling down.
Delia nodded but hesitated for a split second. Terror washed through her face as she began running as fast as her legs could carry her. Ephram crawled away and hid behind a tree, blacking out seconds later.
***
Harold Abbott nearly spit out his morning coffee, shocked at what his wife was telling him. "Lemme get this straight. A masked vigilante finds the kidnappers, saves Delia, gets injured, and sends her running away."
Rose nodded. "Exactly, and we don't know who this 'hero' is. Delia barely caught a glimpse of him the entire time and doesn't remember much of what happened. She found herself running for her life before even realizing where she was going."
Harold set his slice of toast down. "Rubbish. The girl obviously managed to escape on her own but became too delusional to realize how, so her mind synthesized this Saturday-morning cartoon story." Taking another sip of his coffee, Harold continued. "So where's Delia now?"
Rose took her plate to the sink. "The police questioned her for an hour as Dr. Brown gave her a complete check-up. Right now she's resting at the Brown's house. Davenport's postponed the printing of today's Pinecone until this afternoon, so he can get more information about Delia's rescue and this mysterious hero."
***
Through the chaos of the past eighteen hours, Andy just now realized that he hadn't seen Ephram all morning. In fact, Andy wasn't even sure if Ephram knew about Delia's rescue.
"Ephram?" Andy whispered, knocking on his son's door.
Opening the door, Andy walked in to find the room empty. A cold breeze whisked through the open window. "Where hell did he go?"
TO BE CONTINUED
