"So Adam drowned himself and escaped, managing to evade the patrols," Jo said. "He'd then go somewhere he could get some help."

"To someone who could give him some dry clothing, food, shelter," Henry added.

"Tarrytown!" he and Mike simultaneously exclaimed.

"Lindsay," Jo breathed out in a desperate whisper.

vvvv

A worried Ken Halsey hadn't long hung up from the NYPD Detective, Jo Martinez. He'd then quickly drove to the hospital and picked up his daughter, Lindsay, per Jo's instructions, then driven to the local police station. All the while, Lindsay questioned the urgency of his tone and behavior.

"It's Peter, isn't it?" she asked. "He's back!"

"We'll be safe here in the police station, honey," he assured her, patting her hand. "And his name, apparently, really isn't Peter Cooley," he told her. "Those two detectives said that he calls himself Adam."

"Adam," Lindsay repeated just above a whisper, shaking her head. "How could I have thought for one second that he was - " She stopped speaking and covered her face with her hands.

"He fooled us all ... at first," Halsey reminded her. Just long enough for him to gain a foothold here and make it almost impossible to get rid of him. But I think they got a plan. We just might be able to rid ourselves of him once and for all."

They pulled up in front of the station and were met by Deputy Brenda Myers before they could exit the car. Myers let them know that they'd received the alert from Lt. Reece about the escapee who might be headed in their direction. She accompanied them into the station house past the booking desk and back where the holding cells were. Just as Halsey was about to turn around and question Myers about bringing them there, she hit him over the back of the head, knocking him down. Right before losing consciousness, he heard Lindsay's muffled sobs and Myers' voice hissing at him.

"You know better than to work against Peter. We all suffer. I can't let that happen."

vvvv

Halsey didn't know how long he'd been out. His head pounded as he managed to get to his feet. Looking around, he realized he was lying on the floor in between the cells and Lindsay was nowhere to be seen. Struggling to his feet, he then stumbled to the open door at the end of the short hallway. A breathless male deputy bleeding from the right side of his forehead met him as he rushed out.

"My daughter! Your deputy knocked me out and took her somewhere!" he anguished. The deputy nodded and told him that Myers had knocked him out, as well.

"She's not a deputy," Deputy Gavin Meyers told him as they rushed and got into a patrol car.

Halsey noticed the similarity in his and her names. "She related to you?"

"My wife," Gavin lamented as he wheeled the car toward the edge of town. "She's loyal to that little creep."

"Sorry," Halsey told him, genuinely sympathetic to what the man must be going through. "All this time I thought it was just my daughter and me. You seem to know where you're going. Someplace your wife's taken my Lindsay?"

"Yeah," Gavin replied as they shot down the narrow, winding road outside of town.

"How are just the two of us gonna handle - ?"

"We got help comin'," Gaving assured him, finally allowing relief to govern his features. "The NYPD."

They drove about five miles further and took a road that led into the woods and to a log cabin near a clear, blue lake. With the snow-capped mountains as a backdrop, the scenery would have been breathtakingly beautiful except for their reason to be there. Gavin dipped his head toward a black VW Jetta parked in front of the cabin. "That's my wife's car," he said. "They must be inside."

"Why did she snatch Lindsay?" Halsey asked.

Gavin gripped the steering wheel, not wanting to reply. But he did after taking in a deep breath and releasing it. "Bren said that Peter had chosen her." Casting an apologetic look at Halsey, he verbally apologized.

"Not your fault," Halsey told him.

"It's all our fault!" Gavin yawped. "We should have fought harder against him, not ... knuckled under all the time like we did."

"Well, I'm gonna fight now," Halsey asserted as he unbuckled his seat belt. The door locks didn't work, though, and he pounded on the inside of the door demanding to be let out.

"Sorry, Mr. Halsey," Gavin told him. "We wait for back up. They'll be here soon." At the sight of his passenger's troubled expression, he added, "They're not going to hurt your daughter. Remember ... he chose her."

"All the more reason for us to get in there, Deputy," Halsey grimly stated.

Then Gavin admitted that he had known about him and his daughter all along but hadn't known what to do to help either of them. "How do you defend yourself against someone who doesn't stay dead?" Gavin asked, not really expecting a reply.

Right at that moment, his cell phone rang and he answered it, identifying himself to Lt. Reece and exchanging information with her while Halsey listened anxiously. He and Halsey were fine, he told her, despite having been attacked by one of Adam's minions. His own wife, he sorrowfully reminded himself.

"They've got my daughter, Lindsay!" Halsey leaned over and yelled into the conversation. Gavin attempted to shush him and repeated the information to Reece in a calmer, more professional voice. She reassured Halsey and him that help was only moments away and everything would be done to safely recover Lindsay. "Copy that," Gavin said and ended the call, pocketing the phone.

"There's a back way in," he told Halsey. "A back road."

"Okay, let's check it out," Halsey eagerly proposed.

"No. You're a civilian, not a cop," he pointed out to him. "We wait for back up."

They both breathed a sigh of relief when sheriff deputies from Westchester County and state troopers converged on the scene, their tires scrunching the vehicles to a stop in front of the cabin. None of them emerged from their cars, though.

"What are they doing, why are they just sitting there?" a confused and impatient Halsey asked.

"I, I don't know," Gavin replied, just as confused.

"Shouldn't they be getting out of their cars a-and shooting or something?" Halsey asked.

Gavin was at a loss for words, unable to explain the odd behavior of his fellow peace officers. Then, a troubling realization struck him. They weren't there to help. They were more of Adam's minions. He turned on the ignition and put the car in reverse when they finally got out of their cars and turned to stare at Halsey and him.

"C'mon, you two," a state trooper called out to them. "Get out of the car."

"Wha-what are we gonna do?" Halsey asked, his voice shuddering. "They're with him!"

"Hang on," Gavin said. Slamming on the accelerator, the car screeched away from the scene while taking on a barrage of gunfire. At least one of the bullets found its mark, he was sure, from the fiery pain in his left shoulder. No, his chest? Don't think about it, he ordered himself. Just drive. And drive, he did. Gritting his teeth in pain, he managed to steer with his right hand and swerve the car back onto the main road, gunning it toward the neighboring town of Greenburgh. It wasn't clear to him if that was the safest place to go but for sure, he was going to get him and Halsey away from Tarrytown. Halsey. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the man slumped forward against his seatbelt. Taking a quick look at him, he realized that a few more of the bullets had also found their marks. Lindsay's father appeared to be dead.

The road ahead blurred from the tears he was desperately blinking back at the thought of his wife, Brenda, willingly doing the twisted Immortal's bidding, and from the increasing lightheadedness from blood loss. He closed his eyes one last time, probably not even seeing the large tree as the car veered off the road and smashed into it.

Notes:

Information about the village of Tarrytown found at wiki pedia