5:32 AM

It took two weeks. I searched and traced every possible lead. I found nothing until I finally received another note giving me a place and time for a meet up. I left a second note for my family in case I don't come back. They are to call the police and send them to the specified address if I'm not home by eight o'clock. I'll be back by then. I'll be a changed man, but anyone linked to my siblings' death must pay for it.

6:53 AM

They said they'd be here at seven o'clock sharp. I'm here early. They said something about a 'surprise'. I have one for them too. It's called a gun. And I plan to use it.

7:00 AM

I watch a grey van pull up and calculate how long it will take for them to get to me. A man steps out and walks over to me, taking his sweet time. I glare at him, my gaze hard...

"Well, well, well." He drawled. "To be honest, I didn't think you'd show up, Hardy. You never struck me as the vengeful type."

"You never struck me as a murderer, Teegan."

He smiled at me. After all he'd done, he had the nerve to smile at me. I drew my gun and pointed it at him. His smile widened.

"Don't you want to know what our little surprise is, Hardy?" He taunted.

"Unless it's you standing still so I can end your pathetic excuse for a human being's existence, no."

"Tsk tsk. Touchy."

Teegan pulled a little walkie-talkie from his pocket and spoke into it.

"Bring them out."

"More of your friends?" I asked, an eyebrow raised, "Maybe the one I heard on the call with my sister?"

Teegan smirked.

"On the contrary, Hardy. I think you'll quite like this surprise."

Four more men exited the van and my heart nearly stopped. There was one man on either side of a captive pulling the two captives out of the van. There was a brown potato sack over each captive's head, but I knew their clothes, however tattered and bloodied they were. I nearly dropped my gun in shock.

"Surprise."

The bags were ripped away and I held back tears. My siblings looked awful. I had let them get hurt again. But this time I could do something about it. Joe lifted his head and caught my eyes, quickly becoming first to speak.

"Frank!" He cried, "Get out of here!"

"No." I said evenly. "I'm bringing you both home."

Joe was struggling for consciousness, but he still insisted.

"We'll be fine. Save yourself from this. They're playing with your mind; driving you over the edge. Look at you! You're prepared to kill a man! That's not the kind of justice dad taught us. He taught us to let true justice take its course."

I looked him in the eyes, tears forming for us both. I was wavering now, but it was Karen who sealed Joe's handiwork.

"Please…" She whispered.

I looked from Karen to Joe. All three of us had tears in our eyes. I lowered my gun.

"What do you want?" I asked Teegan, still training my eyes on my siblings frightened and worn faces.

"Now we're getting somewhere." He paused. "Nothing."

My head whipped towards him and I snarled, clenching my fists, "You did all this for nothing?!"

"On the contrary, Frankie. I'm having a delightsome time watching you squirm like a worm on a hook."

"All this to get at me?!"

"Now you're catching on."

Karen and Joe looked much more awake now, though for how long I wasn't sure. Joe had a long trail of blood down the side of his face, the source of which was a mark I knew to be from the heel of a gun on his right temple, and Karen's hair was flat to her head, sticky with blood.

"What do you want?" I repeated forcefully.

"You to be in pain, Frank Hardy. After all, you were the one who hacked back into the camera system after I disabled it, you were the one who identified me, and you were the one who tackled me down before I could get out. This is all your fault. Look at them." He walked over to Karen and held her face in his hands, moving her head to meet my gaze roughly.

"Don't touch her." I snapped.

"Just look, Frankie. See how scared she is? You did that."

"No you didn't, Frank!" Karen shouted, "Don't believe him!"

"Don't believe a word he says," Joe agreed, "He's a liar!"

"And as well as he tries, your brother is plenty scared too. See?"

Teegan approached Joe and pulled a fakeout punch. Joe flinched, anticipating the blow that, to my relief, never came.

"Leave him alone." I growled. I couldn't stand the thought of this man having such control over my siblings, especially when it all boiled down to the root of the problem being me. Out of nervous habit, I checked my watch.

8:23 AM

I bit back a smile and stood still and silent for a moment. I could just barely hear the sirens. I had to keep Teegan distracted and my siblings safe until the police could get close enough to secure the perimeter. Karen appeared to have noticed the noise, winked at me, and began swaying, as if she was going to faint.

"There's my distraction," I thought.

Joe heard them now too, as he cried out dramatically, "Karen! What's wrong? Are you losing blood? Are you okay?"

She also bought into the dramatics and started acting sick, the whole works, including fainting onto one of the goons, who caught her from sheer reaction, but because he was startled, threw her at, or rather to, me. I held her close the second she came into my arms and stepped back a bit, pretending to stumble, when in reality I just wanted to move her away from them, sick or not. Joe took our act as an opportunity and rammed into the goons on either side of him, running towards me. Teegan and his men grabbed their guns and pointed them at the three of us. Karen had by now dropped the act and was positioned behind me, much to her dismay. Joe stood by my side and we got ready to fight when we heard a familiar voice cut through the air.

"Hands up! Police!"

All of our heads turned towards the owner of the voice.

I grinned at Chief Collig and the other officers a lifetime of working alongside my father had made me well acquainted with.

8:34 AM

"You're late," I joked to my father as he pulled in, "My note said, 'If I'm not back by eight.' It's well after eight now."

Collig and his men had already loaded Teegan and his buddies into the squad cars and left.

"You're grounded." he quipped back, (At least at the time I thought it was a quip, we did actually get grounded.) "You two for making us think you were dead, and you for sneaking off to meet criminals at six in the morning."

"Seven." I corrected.

He rolled his eyes, but smiled.