Casey lay on the couch in his house's living room, his head in Alison's lap. Both of them were uncharacteristically quiet in light of what had happened to Noah, not really in the mood for conversation. Casey was only due at the hospital in a couple of hours, and frankly, he had never looked forward to going to work more; he desperately needed something to take his mind off both the very subject of Noah's death, and his earlier meeting with Luke.

He had not told Ali anything about said meeting. He was not proud of what he'd done, far from it, yet at the same time he wasn't willing to take any verbal abuse for it. And he knew it would surely come; he loved Ali, but she wasn't the type to understand something like this, quite the opposite. She would berate him for enabling Luke to pursue such a dangerous course of action, and he was worried enough about the outcome of the situation without having her pile on the guilt as well.

He was distracted by the sound of his mother's heels clinking their way into the room. He and Ali quickly disentangled themselves from one another to avoid embarrassment, and looked up at Margo nonchalantly. Casey noticed that she was still dressed in the black suit she had arrived home in.

"Mom?" he addressed her. "Are you going back to the station? You only got here like ten minutes ago."

"I know, I just got a call - there's been… a development," she said slowly, picking up her purse. Casey realized that she looked shell-shocked. "I have to stop by the Snyders' house, then I'm headed to the station."

"Mrs. Hughes, are you okay?" asked a concerned-looking Ali.

"I'm fine," said Margo, "As a matter of fact, the two of you need to hear this." After a beat, she continued. "We've apprehended an associate of Col. Mayer's, a Dr. Timothy Lange, who's apparently been in contact with him since he arrived in town. He's being interrogated now. He hasn't given up Mayer's location yet, but he did tell us something else." She eyed them both apprehensively, clearly not knowing how to say whatever she was about to say.

Casey looked at his girlfriend in confusion, then back at Margo. "Mom, what's going on?"

*

Not a lot of people used Mill Road these days, Luke realized as he steered the wheel; the area was rather empty. Makes sense that Col. Mayer would pick a place like this. But he hadn't been careful enough.

Unable to find a parking spot, Luke parked his car illegally a few feet from the shed. Like he gave a shit about possibly getting a ticket right now. He turned off his engine, left the car and approached the shed carefully, glancing left and right as he did. There was no one around as far as he could tell. The shed itself looked old and grimy, like it had been abandoned for a long time. Again, this was hardly surprising.

Reaching the door, Luke took hold of the knob and turned it slowly. The door was locked, as Luke had expected. Fortunately, Damian – in protective mode after Luke was held captive by Zac and Zoe – had taught him a few 'survival skills', including how to pick locks; he'd insisted that it could come in handy someday. Also fortunately, Luke, knowing he'd most likely have some lock-picking to do here, had brought along a paper clip.

He fished it out of his pocket and began fidgeting with the lock. He took his time, doing it as quietly as he could; if he alerted the Colonel to his arrival, he was most likely dead before he started. After a minute or so, he succeeded in opening the lock.

Luke paused to pull out his handgun and insert the magazine, loading it. Then, after bracing himself, he pulled the door open in a slow motion and entered. As soon as he had closed the door behind him, making minimal noise in the process, Luke gripped the gun with both hands and began advancing inside.

It was rather dark; only one window across the room let in the daylight. His eyes slowly adjusting, Luke began to make out his environment, though it pretty much looked as abandoned as it had from the outside. The shed was filled with garbage, old and useless items of all sorts. No sign that Col. Mayer was using the place. No sign of the Colonel himself, either.

That didn't last long, however. The diminished sight only enhanced Luke's hearing – and he spun around as soon as he heard the door open behind him. He didn't need proper lighting to be able to recognize the figure standing at the entrance… the face he loathed so much.

"Well, well, well," said Col. Mayer by way of greeting, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

*

"Oh, come on!" cried Casey, honking his horn. The last thing he and Ali could afford right now was to get stuck in traffic.

Following the conversation with his mother, Casey immediately tried to call Luke, but to no avail. Left with no alternative, he decided to go after Luke – but Ali found him on the porch before he left, demanding to know what was going on. During moments like this, Casey hated the fact that his girlfriend knew him so well.

Not having the time to waste on deflecting her questions, Casey told Ali everything. She insisted on coming with him and, in the interest of finding Luke as quickly as possible, he didn't argue. Now the question was whether they'd manage it in time.

"His phone's still going straight to voicemail," Ali informed him in an anxious voice.

"Shit," he mumbled, ready to explode with frustration. After a moment, he shot her a wary glance; she was quietly fuming out of the passenger seat window.

"So, you're not gonna kick my ass for my part in all of this?" he half-seriously asked.

She didn't look at him. "We'll have enough time for that later. Right now, we have to get to Luke before it's too late."
That they did. Casey stared back at the road ahead and grumbled, slamming his foot to the gas pedal.

*

With enormous effort, Luke kept his face blank and indifferent as he stared the Colonel down. He needed to stay calm, focused. He had a simple task – to kill this man – and he couldn't afford to get sidetracked by letting the Colonel get under his skin in any way.

"I think you know why," he said coldly, raising his pistol so it was pointing at the Colonel's forehead. "It's about time you were made to pay for your crimes."

"Oh, this is about Noah, isn't it?" said the Colonel, this tone perfectly conversational. "It must be awful… you have my sympathies, truly."

Luke could already feel his face contorting in rage, his grip on the pistol getting harder to maintain. The Colonel took a few steps towards him and Luke immediately backed up, keeping a few feet's distance between them. He'd watched enough action movies to know that if you were too close to the person you were holding at gunpoint, they could grab the gun out of your hands. He wasn't going to be that stupid.

The Colonel crooked an eyebrow. "So what are you doing here, Luke?" he thumbed his nose at the gun. "Surely, not trying to kill me?"

"Why, you're smarter than I thought," Luke sneered.

"You can't be serious…" To Luke's shock, the Colonel began laughing out loud. "I'm sorry, but this is hilarious… am I supposed to be intimidated? Beg for my life from some limp-wristed fairy who can't even handle a gu –"

His sentence was cut off by Luke putting a bullet straight in his left kneecap.

Luke was shaking all over, the fury flooding him making it hard to even stand up straight. He couldn't bear the thought that this piece of inhuman filth was the same flesh and blood as his beloved Noah, couldn't wrap his head around it. But as the Colonel fell to the floor, screaming and clutching his knee in pain, Luke suddenly felt more confident. He was in control now. It was immensely satisfying.

"If you change your mind about begging for your life, now would be a good time," Luke suggested, his eyes burning with contempt now.

"It doesn't – even – matter," the Colonel snarled, in between labored breaths. "You think killing me would make a difference? Nothing is going to change what you are, boy… you're nothing more than a pervert… a sick individual with no place in this world…"

"Right… noted," Luke spat out. "But what I still don't understand is how you could do what you did to Noah. It's one thing to be a murdering psychopath, Colonel, but your own son? How can anyone be that monstrous, that evil?" before he knew it, anger was taking over him again. "Tell me, dammnit!"

"I did it, because I had no choice," said the Colonel venomously. "I've always known when difficult choices had to be made, which is something people like you will never understand. You saddled Noah with the same sickness you have, and I saved him the only way I could… he's dead because of you! It's your fault that he became another pervert – another animal – "

"SHUT UP!" Luke yelled, before shooting the Colonel in the other kneecap.

The Colonel's screams of pain began anew, and Luke wasn't the least bit horrified by them. On the contrary - he found a sick, perverted pleasure in the man's suffering. Somewhere deep inside him, a voice was crying out that this was wrong, warning him that he was crossing the line to the point of no return, but Luke shut it out without hesitation. All that mattered right now was hurt him as much as possible… hurt him for what he did to Noah… hurt him until he begs for mercy…

"This is gonna end now," Luke seethed, steely-eyed. "Noah fell for you too many times… he let you mess with his head, because you were his father. I'm not gonna make the same mistake."

He stepped forward – no need to worry about the Colonel getting the gun when he was writhing on the floor – and looked him in the eye fearlessly. "You murdered the man I loved, and thought you could get away with it." He lip quivered, but only slightly. "Well, you thought wrong."

He pointed the gun right between the Colonel's eyes.

"Luke, don't!"

He froze at the sound of Ali's voice. Confused, Luke slowly swiveled his head around to spot Casey and Ali, who had just entered the shed.

"I don't understand… what are you guys doing here?" asked a befuddled Luke, following momentary silence.

"We came to stop you," explained Casey, "Luke, my mom talked to us – "

"There we go again," Luke cut him off, flaring up at once. "Another round of this good Samaritan crap. I'm supposed to just forget everything the Colonel did to me… I'm supposed to just let him go, because it'sthe right thing to do! You know what, Case, just tell me why…" he glared at the Colonel's pitiful form, still convulsing in pain. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill this son of a bitch right now!"

Casey took a deep breath before speaking. "Because Noah's alive."

Tbc…