Swan Song
In retrospect, everyone missed the warnings of bad things to come, or rather they somewhat noted them, but failed to process them as threats.
Despite protection from the Federal Witness Protection Program and the safeguarding, security, and fortification Tony provided, the enemy infiltrated the family's Athens home just four months after its creation.
Unwittingly, Ethan provided the key to their discovery. Just a couple of weeks after school began his social studies class embarked on a field trip an hour away to Atlanta, the state's capitol city. While there the boys and girls investigated the government offices at the gold domed capitol before touring the Dr. Martin Luther King Center.
After lunch the group made its way to the Carter Center, where some construction still remained on the museum area chronicling the former President's tenure. As the students viewed a short documentary in the video area, Ethan slipped away to use the restroom, but veered into the wrong direction upon his return. Wandering through a maze of halls he began to panic.
Then to his relief he heard voices approach. President Carter and a reporter interviewing him for a local paper strode towards him.
Grinning broadly when he spotted Ethan, the President- both a father and a grandfather- stopped and spoke with the boy, then placed a comforting arm around his shoulders and escorted him back to his class.
Savvy to the emotional appreciation of the story of a little boy lost rescued by a former President of the United States, the reporter snapped pictures, interviewed Ethan, and promised a story.
The stunned teachers could not get over the spectacular attention paid Ethan and his encounter with President Carter, and congratulated him all the way back to Athens. The other students treated him as a conquering hero, and two female classmates who already had crushes on him seized the opportunity to kiss him.
The reception at home proved just as jubilant, and as soon as the story printed, Tony framed the newspaper photo and article and hung it in the family room, claiming Ethan was a rock star.
Of the five children Ethan still held himself aloof in his relationship with Tony, neither relaxing his guard enough to surrender his well being nor joining the others in referring to Tony as Daddy.
Nevertheless, great progress had transpired and Ethan had softened enough to display bursts of genuine affection towards Tony and the other children.
So despite Ethan's non-committal response when consulted about hanging the article, Tony privately congratulated himself for the display idea- several times he came across Ethan straightening the frame.
That innocent and celebratory incident, however, signaled the family's undoing.
Incredibly, the story of the little boy and the President charmed readers within the state, and wire services picked it up and circulated it nationwide. Within forty eight hours the Black Widow Cartel recognized Ethan because of the scar above his eyebrow and associates of the drug lord were sent to investigate. Not only did they identify Ethan and recognize a witness protection setup, but like dominos, they discovered the four other children.
In those first weeks while Tony safeguarded the kids in Athens, Law Enforcement had delivered as promised, initiating raids and crippling the Cartel's network so badly that only two key players remained, The Black Widow's founder and his son. However, those two kept minions on the payroll, underlings eager to prove their mettle.
Hence, the three hired guns, one woman and a man, headed to Athens for a reconnaissance.
Since the elementary school had received mention in the story of Ethan and President Carter, the trio simply conducted a stakeout of the elementary school. Within three days they had pinpointed Ethan, and when that led them to Levi and Ava, then to Elijah and Vivienne, they celebrated their bonanza by getting drunk at a downtown bar. They toasted the financial windfall which awaited their delivery of the children to the Black Widow's kingpin, congratulating each other upon the creative ways they had confirmed the identities of the kids.
Research had shown that Tony drove the children to school weekday mornings, except once a week when the Navy School conducted early morning faculty meetings.
They planned to snatch the kids once Tony left and had procured a passenger van for the job, a dependable one large enough to seat eight.
And so it went.
The second Tony's brake lights disappeared down the road the trio moved into position around the house.
Oblivious to the danger around the exterior of the home, Talia hurried into the carport trailing Vivienne and Elijah, already climbing into their carseats for the brief ride.
Bronson of the burly muscles and crewcut grabbed her from behind and slapped a rag soaked with ether across her face. When her legs buckled he dragged her backwards through the carport and den door and deposited her onto the floor before unzipping his backpack.
He pulled out rope and a bandanna and effectively immobilized her by tying her to a chair. For good measure he stuffed a bandanna into her mouth.
She was collateral damage.
They had not come for her.
In the melee of Talia's attack, Elijah, who had just settled into his car seat, recognized the photographer who had snapped so many photos days earlier. He caught the gist of the struggle in the carport and jumped from the seat and grabbed Vivienne's hand. She had not yet crawled into her own to await buckling before Elijah pulled her from the vehicle.
He started running towards the edge of the house, not certain what had happened but instinctively trying to protect Vivi.
Small legs straining, Vivienne struggled to keep up the pace.
Levi and Ethan had just finished breakfast and had wandered onto the screen porch to watch a neighbor's cat chase a chipmunk into his hidey hole when they witnessed Bronson dragging Miss Talia across the carport.
Placing a finger to his lips Ethan motioned silence and pointed to the backyard.
When he and Levi flew out the door and into the backyard they collided with Donna, the blond woman who had accosted Ava at the grocery store. All three hit the ground hard, but Donna was the most disadvantaged. The encounter slammed her on her back and momentarily took her breath.
In those crucial seconds Ethan and Levi scrambled to their feet.
Ethan shoved Levi and gasped, "Remember what we're supposed to do! Go!"
But Levi stood rooted.
Ethan grabbed the younger boy and shook him and Levi's eyes widened in comprehension. "I know! Daddy said run and don't let anybody ever grab us!"
"Go!"
They bolted.
Darrell, the older man who had pretended to need guidance through the woods, rounded the corner of the house and gave chase. He managed to grab the back of Levi's shirt and yanked him so violently that Levi's feet left the ground.
Ethan skidded but righted himself and zigzagged towards the gate. His bicycle lay propped against its hinges. He grabbed his bicycle by the handlebars and burst through the gate into the side yard.
Ethan leapt onto the pedals at a jog and pumped furiously until he sailed off the curb and into the street.
Pulling herself painfully to her feet Donna staggered unsteadily into the house. Strategically tightening the gag around Talia's mouth Bronson yelled across the room at her, "Get to the carport and get those little kids from the car and into the van! We can't waste time here!"
She didn't bother to respond but followed the order.
Ava had just finished brushing her teeth when the attack began, and she had skipped out of the bathroom and all the way down the hall before she heard strange voices.
Sliding against the wall she paused long enough to recognize that these were voices from strangers.
They shouldn't be here.
They didn't belong.
She closed her eyes to block out the fear and at once Tony's voice flooded her subconscious. He had coached all of them with emergency instructions, and Ava recalled his voice reiterating over and over what he expected her to do should she sense danger. Stiffening, she opened her eyes and quickly weighed her chance of reaching a door to the outside without being spotted.
She couldn't.
Instead, she backed quietly down the hall and into Tony's bedroom, shutting the door quickly and engaging the lock. Through the side window she glimpsed a scary man chasing Ethan and Levi in the yard and she whimpered, momentarily unsure of what to do. Again, though, she recalled Tony's instructions and hurriedly grabbed the portable phone from the charger on his dresser and slipped into his closet, squirming as far in the back as she could.
Elijah had managed to hide with Vivienne in the shrubbery by the front porch. Because of the height of the landscape, it provided a place where they could stay unseen under the limbs. The little ones had explored the yard with the other kids as they identified all the best areas for games of hide and seek.
The toddlers regarded each other, and suddenly Vivienne's eyes filled with tears and her mouth opened.
Elijah reached over and clamped his hand onto her lips. "Vivi, we gotta be quiet until the Daddy comes and saves us." He grabbed her right hand and moved it towards her face before whispering, "Suck on your fingers."
She did.
Elijah's eyes filled then, and he wiped angrily at the tears. Catching Vivienne's gaze upon him he whispered, "We gotta stay quiet now. Daddy will find us 'cause he said if we see someone scary run and run away and he will find us."
Vivienne placed her free hand on his cheek and patted it.
Ethan's heart pounded and his leg muscles screamed but he shot out of the neighborhood and onto a main street, almost skidding into a car as he did so. A horn blared but he kept pumping, focused upon getting help.
A feeling of dread momentarily overwhelmed him knowing he would get into big time trouble for riding his bike on the main road. Tony would more than likely take the bike away from him completely as a punishment. He had been clear about rules and expectations, and Ethan had been warned more than once where his bike riding boundaries stood. Tony had parked the bike for two days just because he'd seen him race through a side street without looking, so no doubt this would seal his bike's fate.
But this morning he pushed the dread of losing his bike to the back of his concerns. Pumping furiously he shot through a major intersection and down a small hill before jerking the handlebars to the left.
Ethan zoomed through the ornate wrought iron entrance of the Navy School.
Darrell dragged Levi back across the yard to commands volleyed from Bronson. Levi fought every inch of the way, digging his heels into the grass and doing his best to squirm out of his shirt. Bronson fisted his hand through the back collar to tighten the hold on him.
Donna's tackle had left her battered. Clutching her right hand over an aching left arm, the woman searched desperately for Elijah and Viv, softening her voice and calling out promises of candy and puppies as she traversed the yard. Common sense told her they would stay in the vicinity of the house but they had managed to elude her thus far.
What a nightmare!
Elijah peeped between the shrubbery's branches then hunkered down beside Vivienne. "'Member, Baby," he reminded her, "Daddy said even if the stranger is going to let us have a puppy dog or kitty cat or candy run away."
Vivienne sucked her fingers and watched him, unblinking.
Bronson practically frothed at the mouth with rage. What should have been a quick snatch and grab of five brats he could turn into the cartel for bounty had all but blown up in his face. They should have been in the van already merging onto the loop and headed out of town. Instead his accomplices had turned the score into a comedy of errors he had to fix!
Just imagining reporting such a colossal failure to the Black Widow Cartel's boss sent chills through him.
The window of opportunity was slamming shut, and he had to get the kids and go.
Bronson stalked through the den. Talia still had not revived, and Bronson started a hurried room to room check throughout the house.
When he tried Tony's door and found the door knob locked a buzz of excitement surged through him. One of the brats had gotten the brilliant idea to hide inside!
Taking a step back, he lunged, kicked, and split the door down the frame.
Reaching through the splinters he disengaged the lock and slammed open what was left of the door.
Scanning the room silently he slipped into the bathroom. Satisfied that no kid had hidden in the obvious areas he stalked over to the closet and yanked the door open.
Clutching the phone in her hand, Ava glanced up and whispered, "He's here now."
An explosion of sound rocked the house.