LOST AND FOUND - PART IX
DESPERATION
Chapter 75
Adam sped down the front stairs at top speed with his father following closely behind. He burst out of the front door, leapt down the steps, and raced up the front walk. The gate was open and he kept going as people on the sidewalk hurried to get out of his way. He whistled for Onyx and the horse came running, meeting him at the end of the drive.
Ben finally caught up with him as he swung up into the saddle. Adam leaned down to grip his father's shoulder, hard, and spoke urgently, his voice roughened by fear and fury.
"Pa, I have to go NOW!"
"What happened?" Ben asked breathlessly.
"Don't let anyone follow me, if they do Thomas is dead."
"Thomas?" the older man echoed, going cold all over with sick dread.
"Albrecht took him," Adam answered through clenched teeth and spurred Onyx into motion.
Sensing his master's dark rage, the horse poured every ounce of his strength into running flat out and Ben was still standing there staring when they quickly passed out of sight.
Then he slowly turned and made his way down the drive toward a group of men who were standing in a circle. They were all looking down at something large, lying on the ground. When he reached them, Roy stepped back and he saw that it was a dead body. The corpse's face was covered in soot and slightly burned by the fire, but Ben had no trouble at all recognizing Hugh, Thea's "first" husband.
"Damn it," he said low and Roy gave him a sharp look.
"Do you recognize him?"
Ben reluctantly nodded. "Yes."
"Well, who is he?"
Moving back, he motioned for the sheriff to follow then quickly explained when they were far enough away from the rest of the men. He told Roy everything, how Thea's father had forced her to marry Hugh, how the man had been declared dead years later, and Adam's foresight in having the marriage annulled.
Roy shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell happened here today, Ben?"
"Evil came after our family in the form of Simon Albrecht and you can be sure that Hugh was working with him. How they met, I don't know, but all of this is Albrecht's doing." Both men looked up when Matt came toward them.
"He didn't die as a result of the fire, he was shot in the back of the head," he said to Roy, and then turned to Ben. "Where's Adam?"
"He went after Thomas.Albrecht took him," he said flatly and both men were clearly appalled.
"By himself?" Roy asked.
"Adam had to. He said if anyone else showed up Thomas would be dead."
"Dear God," Matt breathed, his face blanching white while Roy's turned a deep red.
"I hope Adam kills him," the Sheriff said without thinking, and then looked quickly away, sorry he had let his true feelings out.
Matt was staring at the ground, his arms folded when he softly agreed. "I do too, and I hope that monster burns in hell."
Ben nodded. "I guess that makes it unanimous...the man deserves to be drawn and quartered."
The three fell silent for a moment, each one praying in their own way that both Thomas and Adam would come home unscathed.
Roy was the first to speak and break the silence. "I guess we better move the body and continue the search for the guards Adam hired."
"If they're smart and want to keep breathing, they're miles from here and on their way out of the country," Ben said grimly while moving toward the back door with Matt as Roy went to take charge of the body.
Ben went in first and as soon as he came through the door the twins burst into tears, slid out of Dylan's lap, and ran for their grandfather. He bent down to pick them both up and stood, looking across the room at Mike, who was holding Benjamin, and John, who had Matthew.
"Where's Thea?" he asked, surprised that the deputies were taking care of the children. The three men glanced at each other before Dylan answered.
"Thea's been injured, Mr. Cartwright, and we think she must have walked in on whoever took Thomas. Ted's working on her right now, but we haven't heard anything about her condition yet."
Without a word, Matt rushed out of the kitchen through the doorway that led to the front hall and Ben closed his eyes for a few seconds as he tightened his hold on the twins. Alexander and Annalise had stopped crying and they didn't protest when he gave them back to Dylan. He kissed each one on the top of the head, promised them he would come back, and then hurried from the kitchen.
Hoss and Nate were pacing back and forth in front of the examining room door, but they stopped when they saw the older man coming.
"How is she?" Ben asked, not liking the bleakness of their expressions.
"Haven't heard yet Pa, but it looks bad," Hoss answered, shaking his head.
"Do you know what happened?"
Nate spoke up. "Looks like Albrecht threw her up against the wall, and then kicked her twice when she was on the floor." The deputy's face was etched with harsh lines of fury when he continued. "Ted thinks she was probably facing him when he kicked her the first time, but she curled up to protect the baby. Then she must have turned over, so the second kick hit her in the lower back, on her spine."
"And then he took Thomas..."
Nate nodded, "We know, we found the note in Thomas's crib, and if Adam isn't back here in the next couple of hours we're going to have to go after him no matter what it said."
Ben nodded, understanding the deputy's reasoning and was about to answer when the examining room door opened and Ted came out. He closed the door firmly and held up a hand to stave off their questions.
"She has a mild concussion from the back of her head hittin' the wall, so I'm not greatly concerned about that injury. The child she's carryin' seems to be fine at the moment, and I'm hopin' there won't be any lastin' effects there, but the blow to her spine has caused swellin' that is pressin' on her spinal cord. This has caused diminished feelin' in her legs right now, but I believe that will disappear once the pressure is gone."
Ted leaned back against the door and ran a hand through his curly blonde hair as his leaf-green eyes sparked with fury. "Gentlemen, I swear that as a physician I believe in the sanctity of life, but right now I hope Adam kills that bastard and sends him to hell where he belongs!" Hoss and Nate were nodding as Ben responded quietly.
"We all do, Ted. We all do..."
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Adam's heart was beating so fast he could barely feel it, and when his hands and feet started to tingle he realized he had to calm down, his son's life depended on it. He clenched his teeth, and then began to take deep, slow and even breaths. Soon his head began to clear and he found himself seeing Thea in his mind's eye, curled up against the wall, blood matting the hair at the back of her head. He heard Matthew and Benjamin crying pitifully again, calling out to him, and he saw the note Albrecht had left in Thomas's crib.
Come to the old Sayers farm by sunset,
and come alone or the boy is dead.
The note was unsigned, but there was no doubt in Adam's mind as to whom it was from. He felt the furious buzzing sound start up in his head again and he firmly reined his thoughts in, focusing on getting to Thomas with fierce concentration.
The bottom edge of the sun was just about to touch the horizon when he turned Onyx into the lane that led to the farmhouse. When they were near the barn he reined the Morab in, pulling him up so abruptly the horse almost sat down. Every muscle in Adam's body was hard and tense, shrieking to go into action, but he forced himself to sit there and to listen through the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. Then he heard Thomas crying and the sound was coming from the other side of the barn.
He vaulted from the saddle and ran, but skidded to a stop as he rounded the corner and Albrecht came into view. The man was standing next to a well holding one end of a long piece of rope in one hand. The other end of the rope had been thrown over the horizontal crank pole and was tied to a large basket that dangled over the well opening. A wave of pure, unadulterated hate broke over Adam and he almost cried out with the pain of trying to suppress it.
Albrecht was smiling, the livid, puckered scar deepened into a hideous dimple in his one cheek as he laughed. Adam took an involuntary step toward him, but the other man held up one hand.
"Don't come any closer," he said in an amused tone. "You wouldn't want me to become alarmed and let go." He tugged on the rope, jiggling the basket and the baby shrieked with fear.
Adam's face went stark white and he had to close his eyes for a second, his heart clenching so painfully he thought it might burst. Albrecht laughed again.
"All right, first things first.toss the gun belt and throw that handcuff case over here," he ordered and Adam forced his eyes open and did, resisting the urge to throw the case as hard as he could at the man's head. It landed right at Albrecht's feet, a puff of dust coating his boots.
Simon bent down to pick up the case, carefully keeping his eyes on the other man. He opened the case, took out the handcuffs, and tossed them back.
"Handcuff yourself to that ring in the barn wall," he ordered and Adam desperately tried to think of some way out. But he quickly picked them up when Albrecht jiggled the basket again and Thomas cried out.
He went cold all over as he obeyed, locking one cuff around his left wrist and the other to the iron ring set in the barn wall. Then he tugged on them, hard, to show the other man they were locked.
"Good boy," Simon laughed mockingly and tossed the keys down the well.
"What do you want?" Adam asked through clenched teeth, shaking all over with suppressed rage, feeling as though the top of his head might fly off at any moment.
"You want your child, I want mine. Tell me where that woman took them."
"She took them to San Mateo for two days then brought them back to the city and to the orphanage," was Adam's prompt answer and the other man shook his head.
"What orphanage?"
"The Sarah Lightfoot Home."
Albrecht let out a bark of harsh laughter, "You're taking all the fun out of this for me Cartwright, I figured I'd have to torture you for a while to get that out of you."
"Are you really that surprised?" Adam ground out, glaring at the other man with contempt. "Do you really think I wouldn't do anything to save my son?"
Simon gave him a nasty smile. "You're a sentimental fool," he said with disgust. "You'd even get down on your knees to beg me for his life, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," was Adam's quiet answer and the other man shook his head.
"So that nosy bitch took them to that orphanage named after your half-breed wife's mother...very clever," Albrecht said with some amusement. "Who is she?"
"I don't know, nobody knows."
The other man waved his free hand dismissively. "Well, that doesn't really matter. I'll find her eventually and she'll pay too," his eyes sparkled with malice, his attention diverted for a few seconds when Adam caught movement out of the corner of his eye near the well.
"What now?" he asked in an attempt to keep Simon's attention focused on him and was filled with sick dread then the man laughed again.
"I was just going to kill you both, but after that nauseating display of fatherly love I think I'll take Thomas with me." His voice rang with insane cheerfulness. "If I let you live and take the boy you'll be tortured every day of your life, wondering what happened to him. There are a lot of places I can leave him where his life will be anything but pleasant." Laughing, he tugged on the rope again and the baby screamed out his terror.
"Stop it!" Adam shouted and instantly regretted losing his control when Thomas called out for him.
Albrecht grinned with dark humor. "On second thought, maybe I'll just keep him with me and raise him as my own," he was saying when Adam saw a dark shape suddenly rise up from a long shadow being cast by the setting sun. The weakening light glinted off the knife in the dark figure's hand and everything seemed to happen at once.
Simon drew his gun and turned, squeezing off one shot that went wide, hitting inside the stone wall of the well, and the second shot hit the dark figure in the chest as the knife arced down, penetrating deeply into the man's shoulder. Reacting instinctively, Adam pulled the two-shot Derringer from the small of his back, and as the knife sank into Albrecht's flesh he took careful aim and shot the man in the back of the head.
The two went down at the same time, and as Simon let go of the rope, the dark figure grabbed it and the basket danced madly over the well.
Turning away quickly, Adam took aim at the rusted iron ring the one cuff was attached to and carefully squeezed the trigger. The bullet deeply nicked the ring and he began to pull on it frantically to get loose.
"Adam hurry!" A woman's voice, tight with pain, called out to him.
"Hang on Joan!" he shouted and put one foot up against the old, cracked wood to pull as hard as he could. The splintering sound of the wood giving way almost drowned out the sickening snap of breaking bone and he landed on his back.
Scrambling to his feet he rushed over to the well and grabbed the rope with his left hand. Leaning over very carefully he stretched his right arm out and snagged the handles of the basket. Still being careful, he set it on the ground and quickly untied the rope that held it shut. He flipped the lid back, and then groaned, "Oh God..."
Joan tried to raise herself up to see into the basket but couldn't and fell weakly back. "What?" she gasped.
"He's been shot in the head..." Adam choked out as he carefully reached in and lifted Thomas's small body out. He cradled the baby in his arms and felt for a pulse in his neck.
"Is he alive?" Joan asked urgently, her voice deeply rough.
"Yes..." Adam weakly answered, closed his eyes, and held the child close as the angry buzzing noise filled his head again. She reached out to dig her fingers into his ankle.
"You take that baby home to Thea right now! Do you hear me?" She squeezed tighter when he didn't respond. "Adam! Go! Go right now!" Her nails digging into his skin finally got through his shock.
Gently laying Thomas down, he reached for the handcuff case and opened the false bottom to pull out another key. He quickly released the cuff on his badly bruised left wrist, shrugged out of his jacket, and wrapped it around his son as he stood.
"I'll send someone back for you as soon as I can," he said, looking down into her white face and burning eyes.
"Go," she breathed weakly and he whistled for Onyx as he hurried away.
She lay there listening to the hoof beats fading into the distance and stared into the brilliant colors of the sunset as they began to fade.
"Why does sunrise always pale in comparison?" she softly murmured to herself, and then sighed deeply as her eyes fluttered closed.
DESPERATION
Chapter 75
Adam sped down the front stairs at top speed with his father following closely behind. He burst out of the front door, leapt down the steps, and raced up the front walk. The gate was open and he kept going as people on the sidewalk hurried to get out of his way. He whistled for Onyx and the horse came running, meeting him at the end of the drive.
Ben finally caught up with him as he swung up into the saddle. Adam leaned down to grip his father's shoulder, hard, and spoke urgently, his voice roughened by fear and fury.
"Pa, I have to go NOW!"
"What happened?" Ben asked breathlessly.
"Don't let anyone follow me, if they do Thomas is dead."
"Thomas?" the older man echoed, going cold all over with sick dread.
"Albrecht took him," Adam answered through clenched teeth and spurred Onyx into motion.
Sensing his master's dark rage, the horse poured every ounce of his strength into running flat out and Ben was still standing there staring when they quickly passed out of sight.
Then he slowly turned and made his way down the drive toward a group of men who were standing in a circle. They were all looking down at something large, lying on the ground. When he reached them, Roy stepped back and he saw that it was a dead body. The corpse's face was covered in soot and slightly burned by the fire, but Ben had no trouble at all recognizing Hugh, Thea's "first" husband.
"Damn it," he said low and Roy gave him a sharp look.
"Do you recognize him?"
Ben reluctantly nodded. "Yes."
"Well, who is he?"
Moving back, he motioned for the sheriff to follow then quickly explained when they were far enough away from the rest of the men. He told Roy everything, how Thea's father had forced her to marry Hugh, how the man had been declared dead years later, and Adam's foresight in having the marriage annulled.
Roy shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell happened here today, Ben?"
"Evil came after our family in the form of Simon Albrecht and you can be sure that Hugh was working with him. How they met, I don't know, but all of this is Albrecht's doing." Both men looked up when Matt came toward them.
"He didn't die as a result of the fire, he was shot in the back of the head," he said to Roy, and then turned to Ben. "Where's Adam?"
"He went after Thomas.Albrecht took him," he said flatly and both men were clearly appalled.
"By himself?" Roy asked.
"Adam had to. He said if anyone else showed up Thomas would be dead."
"Dear God," Matt breathed, his face blanching white while Roy's turned a deep red.
"I hope Adam kills him," the Sheriff said without thinking, and then looked quickly away, sorry he had let his true feelings out.
Matt was staring at the ground, his arms folded when he softly agreed. "I do too, and I hope that monster burns in hell."
Ben nodded. "I guess that makes it unanimous...the man deserves to be drawn and quartered."
The three fell silent for a moment, each one praying in their own way that both Thomas and Adam would come home unscathed.
Roy was the first to speak and break the silence. "I guess we better move the body and continue the search for the guards Adam hired."
"If they're smart and want to keep breathing, they're miles from here and on their way out of the country," Ben said grimly while moving toward the back door with Matt as Roy went to take charge of the body.
Ben went in first and as soon as he came through the door the twins burst into tears, slid out of Dylan's lap, and ran for their grandfather. He bent down to pick them both up and stood, looking across the room at Mike, who was holding Benjamin, and John, who had Matthew.
"Where's Thea?" he asked, surprised that the deputies were taking care of the children. The three men glanced at each other before Dylan answered.
"Thea's been injured, Mr. Cartwright, and we think she must have walked in on whoever took Thomas. Ted's working on her right now, but we haven't heard anything about her condition yet."
Without a word, Matt rushed out of the kitchen through the doorway that led to the front hall and Ben closed his eyes for a few seconds as he tightened his hold on the twins. Alexander and Annalise had stopped crying and they didn't protest when he gave them back to Dylan. He kissed each one on the top of the head, promised them he would come back, and then hurried from the kitchen.
Hoss and Nate were pacing back and forth in front of the examining room door, but they stopped when they saw the older man coming.
"How is she?" Ben asked, not liking the bleakness of their expressions.
"Haven't heard yet Pa, but it looks bad," Hoss answered, shaking his head.
"Do you know what happened?"
Nate spoke up. "Looks like Albrecht threw her up against the wall, and then kicked her twice when she was on the floor." The deputy's face was etched with harsh lines of fury when he continued. "Ted thinks she was probably facing him when he kicked her the first time, but she curled up to protect the baby. Then she must have turned over, so the second kick hit her in the lower back, on her spine."
"And then he took Thomas..."
Nate nodded, "We know, we found the note in Thomas's crib, and if Adam isn't back here in the next couple of hours we're going to have to go after him no matter what it said."
Ben nodded, understanding the deputy's reasoning and was about to answer when the examining room door opened and Ted came out. He closed the door firmly and held up a hand to stave off their questions.
"She has a mild concussion from the back of her head hittin' the wall, so I'm not greatly concerned about that injury. The child she's carryin' seems to be fine at the moment, and I'm hopin' there won't be any lastin' effects there, but the blow to her spine has caused swellin' that is pressin' on her spinal cord. This has caused diminished feelin' in her legs right now, but I believe that will disappear once the pressure is gone."
Ted leaned back against the door and ran a hand through his curly blonde hair as his leaf-green eyes sparked with fury. "Gentlemen, I swear that as a physician I believe in the sanctity of life, but right now I hope Adam kills that bastard and sends him to hell where he belongs!" Hoss and Nate were nodding as Ben responded quietly.
"We all do, Ted. We all do..."
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Adam's heart was beating so fast he could barely feel it, and when his hands and feet started to tingle he realized he had to calm down, his son's life depended on it. He clenched his teeth, and then began to take deep, slow and even breaths. Soon his head began to clear and he found himself seeing Thea in his mind's eye, curled up against the wall, blood matting the hair at the back of her head. He heard Matthew and Benjamin crying pitifully again, calling out to him, and he saw the note Albrecht had left in Thomas's crib.
Come to the old Sayers farm by sunset,
and come alone or the boy is dead.
The note was unsigned, but there was no doubt in Adam's mind as to whom it was from. He felt the furious buzzing sound start up in his head again and he firmly reined his thoughts in, focusing on getting to Thomas with fierce concentration.
The bottom edge of the sun was just about to touch the horizon when he turned Onyx into the lane that led to the farmhouse. When they were near the barn he reined the Morab in, pulling him up so abruptly the horse almost sat down. Every muscle in Adam's body was hard and tense, shrieking to go into action, but he forced himself to sit there and to listen through the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. Then he heard Thomas crying and the sound was coming from the other side of the barn.
He vaulted from the saddle and ran, but skidded to a stop as he rounded the corner and Albrecht came into view. The man was standing next to a well holding one end of a long piece of rope in one hand. The other end of the rope had been thrown over the horizontal crank pole and was tied to a large basket that dangled over the well opening. A wave of pure, unadulterated hate broke over Adam and he almost cried out with the pain of trying to suppress it.
Albrecht was smiling, the livid, puckered scar deepened into a hideous dimple in his one cheek as he laughed. Adam took an involuntary step toward him, but the other man held up one hand.
"Don't come any closer," he said in an amused tone. "You wouldn't want me to become alarmed and let go." He tugged on the rope, jiggling the basket and the baby shrieked with fear.
Adam's face went stark white and he had to close his eyes for a second, his heart clenching so painfully he thought it might burst. Albrecht laughed again.
"All right, first things first.toss the gun belt and throw that handcuff case over here," he ordered and Adam forced his eyes open and did, resisting the urge to throw the case as hard as he could at the man's head. It landed right at Albrecht's feet, a puff of dust coating his boots.
Simon bent down to pick up the case, carefully keeping his eyes on the other man. He opened the case, took out the handcuffs, and tossed them back.
"Handcuff yourself to that ring in the barn wall," he ordered and Adam desperately tried to think of some way out. But he quickly picked them up when Albrecht jiggled the basket again and Thomas cried out.
He went cold all over as he obeyed, locking one cuff around his left wrist and the other to the iron ring set in the barn wall. Then he tugged on them, hard, to show the other man they were locked.
"Good boy," Simon laughed mockingly and tossed the keys down the well.
"What do you want?" Adam asked through clenched teeth, shaking all over with suppressed rage, feeling as though the top of his head might fly off at any moment.
"You want your child, I want mine. Tell me where that woman took them."
"She took them to San Mateo for two days then brought them back to the city and to the orphanage," was Adam's prompt answer and the other man shook his head.
"What orphanage?"
"The Sarah Lightfoot Home."
Albrecht let out a bark of harsh laughter, "You're taking all the fun out of this for me Cartwright, I figured I'd have to torture you for a while to get that out of you."
"Are you really that surprised?" Adam ground out, glaring at the other man with contempt. "Do you really think I wouldn't do anything to save my son?"
Simon gave him a nasty smile. "You're a sentimental fool," he said with disgust. "You'd even get down on your knees to beg me for his life, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," was Adam's quiet answer and the other man shook his head.
"So that nosy bitch took them to that orphanage named after your half-breed wife's mother...very clever," Albrecht said with some amusement. "Who is she?"
"I don't know, nobody knows."
The other man waved his free hand dismissively. "Well, that doesn't really matter. I'll find her eventually and she'll pay too," his eyes sparkled with malice, his attention diverted for a few seconds when Adam caught movement out of the corner of his eye near the well.
"What now?" he asked in an attempt to keep Simon's attention focused on him and was filled with sick dread then the man laughed again.
"I was just going to kill you both, but after that nauseating display of fatherly love I think I'll take Thomas with me." His voice rang with insane cheerfulness. "If I let you live and take the boy you'll be tortured every day of your life, wondering what happened to him. There are a lot of places I can leave him where his life will be anything but pleasant." Laughing, he tugged on the rope again and the baby screamed out his terror.
"Stop it!" Adam shouted and instantly regretted losing his control when Thomas called out for him.
Albrecht grinned with dark humor. "On second thought, maybe I'll just keep him with me and raise him as my own," he was saying when Adam saw a dark shape suddenly rise up from a long shadow being cast by the setting sun. The weakening light glinted off the knife in the dark figure's hand and everything seemed to happen at once.
Simon drew his gun and turned, squeezing off one shot that went wide, hitting inside the stone wall of the well, and the second shot hit the dark figure in the chest as the knife arced down, penetrating deeply into the man's shoulder. Reacting instinctively, Adam pulled the two-shot Derringer from the small of his back, and as the knife sank into Albrecht's flesh he took careful aim and shot the man in the back of the head.
The two went down at the same time, and as Simon let go of the rope, the dark figure grabbed it and the basket danced madly over the well.
Turning away quickly, Adam took aim at the rusted iron ring the one cuff was attached to and carefully squeezed the trigger. The bullet deeply nicked the ring and he began to pull on it frantically to get loose.
"Adam hurry!" A woman's voice, tight with pain, called out to him.
"Hang on Joan!" he shouted and put one foot up against the old, cracked wood to pull as hard as he could. The splintering sound of the wood giving way almost drowned out the sickening snap of breaking bone and he landed on his back.
Scrambling to his feet he rushed over to the well and grabbed the rope with his left hand. Leaning over very carefully he stretched his right arm out and snagged the handles of the basket. Still being careful, he set it on the ground and quickly untied the rope that held it shut. He flipped the lid back, and then groaned, "Oh God..."
Joan tried to raise herself up to see into the basket but couldn't and fell weakly back. "What?" she gasped.
"He's been shot in the head..." Adam choked out as he carefully reached in and lifted Thomas's small body out. He cradled the baby in his arms and felt for a pulse in his neck.
"Is he alive?" Joan asked urgently, her voice deeply rough.
"Yes..." Adam weakly answered, closed his eyes, and held the child close as the angry buzzing noise filled his head again. She reached out to dig her fingers into his ankle.
"You take that baby home to Thea right now! Do you hear me?" She squeezed tighter when he didn't respond. "Adam! Go! Go right now!" Her nails digging into his skin finally got through his shock.
Gently laying Thomas down, he reached for the handcuff case and opened the false bottom to pull out another key. He quickly released the cuff on his badly bruised left wrist, shrugged out of his jacket, and wrapped it around his son as he stood.
"I'll send someone back for you as soon as I can," he said, looking down into her white face and burning eyes.
"Go," she breathed weakly and he whistled for Onyx as he hurried away.
She lay there listening to the hoof beats fading into the distance and stared into the brilliant colors of the sunset as they began to fade.
"Why does sunrise always pale in comparison?" she softly murmured to herself, and then sighed deeply as her eyes fluttered closed.
