They all headed down the hall to the staircase again. Lee groaned Looking at the stairs.
Just at that moment when they were contemplating their next move Lee's phone rang. Surprised that it was able to get service in the building, Lee answered and put the phone on speaker.
"Stetson here"
"Bukhari here, how are you, Stetson? I imagine you must be on your way to the Pentagon" he sneered through the phone.
"I'm here in the building. You better not have hurt my daughter or I'll rip you to shreds he warned"
"My my I'm sure the great Scarecrow has figured out by now what my intentions are"
"I got an idea," Lee growled as his jaw clenched.
" And who else is here with you?"
"Just me and Hundreds of Federal agents swarming the building," Lee lied.
Bukhari laughed. "I'd say you are lying. Come find me and your daughter. I'm keeping her alive so I can kill you both together. It will be such a pleasure. My Uncle will be so pleased. But since your wife is not with you I will have to take care of her separately. I left a calling card at your house which should take care of her, and your other daughter's apartment. By the way, I left my regards at your son's restaurant too!" he taunted.
Bukhari turned to Mattie and snapped at her.
"Say something to your father Mattie, and be careful what you say or you won't be able to speak again. I will break your jaw."
Mattie swallowed hard and spoke haltingly into the phone "Poppy... I'm ok.b-b be careful!"
"That's enough!.. Stetson come and find us. We are on the fifth level of the food court area. I have looked forward to this for quite some time"
"You son of bitch!" Lee cursed as the phone went dead.
Amanda gasped. "He doesn't know that there are three of us so we have an advantage"
"True, so we have to somehow surprise him,'' added JJ."
Lee groaned "We have to go up to the fifth level. My damn knee."
"Don't worry sweetheart, you can lean on me" Amanda assured him.
"Yeah, Papa I can brace you on the other side." JJ offered.
They paused at the elevator and Lee shook his head. "No that will tip him off if we use that"
They started slowly to the staircase. It was slow going but when they finally reached the right floor Lee sighed in relief.
Amanda observed, "We haven't seen any other defense people so they must be all out of the building."
"I hope so but people could be hiding or hurt somewhere." JJ countered.
"Ok according to this map there is a food court down the hall and to the left. Now it looks from this map that you can go down corridor three and I will go down corridor two and we can surround him. Again he doesn't know that JJ is here so you can cover me. Amanda, you can cover JJ. When I get to the area I am going to call him out."
"Yep, that's where Mattie and I had lunch." JJ nodded along with Amanda.
Their guns drawn, JJ and Amanda went to corridor three and Lee limped down to two. When Lee got to the end of the corridor he went behind a table and called:
"Ok Bukhari I am here"
A shot was fired in his direction.
"So where are all the agents Scarecrow?" Bukhari jeered.
"They're here, you think they are going to show themselves?! They are just waiting to get a good shot at you Bukhari!"
"Oh they won't" he ranted "because I have got your girl remember! "
Bukhari came out from behind a counter of one of the food services with Mattie in front of him. Her hands were tied behind her back and another rope was around her neck so he could control her movements as he held onto it tightly. She looked like she was having a hard time breathing with the rope very tight on her neck. Amanda gasped softly when she saw Mattie. JJ placed her hand on her mother's arm to remind her to be quiet.
"Stetson get out here and let me see you! Hands up and throw me your gun"
Lee stood up and obeyed.
During this time JJ motioned for Amanda to stay where she was and cover her as she started to crawl around the perimeter under and around tables so she could surprise Bukhari from the back.
"Now you can beg for your daughter's life and yours!" the Terrorist yelled.
"I won't give you that satisfaction Bukhari. You and your kind are cowards. Your Uncle especially. He used women to get what he wanted."
"Shut up! You sure are asking to die soon. But I am going to let you see your daughter die first!"
Bukhari put his gun up to Mattie's head and then suddenly JJ placed a kick that made Bukhari's gun go flying as he fell to the floor. Lee lunged for Bukhari and as he did he fell and heard a terrible crack in his knee and tumbled six feet short of tackling Bukhari and hit his head on a table. Stunned and in great pain he lay on the floor unable to move as Bukhari went after JJ who's gun had also fallen unseen when she kicked Bukhari. He let go of the rope that held Mattie and she ran to the aid of her father. At the same time, Bukhari overpowered JJ and hit her, and knocked her out. As Mattie sat stunned next to her father on the floor Bukhari turned and jeered at Lee and said "Watch your daughter die a slow death" He grabbed the rope which she was tied to and dragged her across the floor to him. Bukhari turned toward Mattie and whipped out a knife that had been hidden in his pants. As he was poised to make his mark a shot rang out, hitting him in the chest. Lee and Mattie both turned to see Amanda with her gun drawn still frozen in position.
"Amanda" Lee yelled
Amanda dropped to her knees paralyzed over what she had just done. Lee was finally able to get up, his knee still not working correctly, and hobbled over to Mattie and untied her. Mattie fell into his arms crying. Amanda was finally able to come back to reality and ran over to Lee and Mattie and hugged them both. She then ran to see JJ who was beginning to sit up dazed as she regained consciousness. "Wha..t happened...Mom…Papa?"JJ looked around quickly to assess the situation which made her dizzy and she fell back down.
"Oh my gosh! Lee. I-I-I killed him!" Amanda's voice cracked as the full reality of the moment hit her.
" Mom you saved us all" Mattie declared, hugging Amanda.
Lee gathered Amanda in his arms as she stared at the lifeless body of Bukhari. He turned her around so she could not see the corpse.
"Amanda, look at me!" Lee took Amanda's face in his hands and stared into her face.
"You are the best, bravest, most amazing woman! I love you!"
"Oh, Lee I can't believe what I did." Amanda declared sorrowfully.
Lee stood holding Amanda's face in his hands making her look at him in the face."A-Mand-A, listen to me. It was the one time that counted! You killed him because you had to. There was no other choice! If you hadn't, our family would have been destroyed! Our worst nightmare has ended!" He kissed her repeatedly on her forehead, temple and lips.
The family rode the elevator down to the main floor and as they exited the elevator security forces swarmed around them. Ignoring them all, Lee cradled Amanda in his arms as the four of them walked from the building into the sunlight.