Chapter: 4
Author: Evidence
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Thanks to D and the Maple Street gang!
The night was dark now. All the goblins and ghouls were home in their beds nestled tightly and protected. At least they thought they were. Jack knew that complete protected was a myth. He had failed tonight keeping his daughters safe. Now he had only hope to guide him through this dark hour. And hope sat next to him in the passenger seat of the car in the form of Samantha Spade.
The Marsh's house on 123 Freemont Street loomed in front of them as Jack pulled to a stop. The gargoyle doorknob seemed to be laughing at agents and the predicament they were in.
Jack took the lead, heading to the door and pounding his fist against it. A woman opened it and was started by the man in front of her.
"Jack…"
"Where are my kids, Debbie? Tell me now!"
"What's going on here?" A gray haired man came behind the woman in the doorway. "Oh, Mr. Malone, long time since I've seen you."
"Enough with the bullshit. Victoria squealed. Now I want my daughters."
The couple exchanged a look.
"We don't know what you're talking about," Mr. Marsh said shrugging.
Jack grabbed at his shoulders. "I have nothing to lose. Got it. So tell me where my kids are."
Brent Marsh began to deny again but Sam broke in. "We know about Jarvis Green. One of our agents is looking for him now. And he'll find him."
A paler entered the once denying expression on Brent Marsh's face. "What Green does has nothing to do with us."
"You don't get it. We know that you faked Victoria's kidnapping and had her live with Jarvis Green in a cabin. We know you had Michelle kidnapped as well as Hanna and Kate Malone," As Sam said their names, she felt her voice shake. "We are here to arrest you. Now you have a choice to tell us where Jarvis has the girls, and face a lighter sentence or to just got to jail with no chance of ever getting out."
Brent Marsh ran a hand over his sweating face. Debbie stared at Jack.
"You made a fatal error, trusting that Victoria would keep your secret." Jack stared back with hatred.
"Okay, alright. Jarvis was taking the girls to Hoboken. He had a friend who ran a bar there, Miller's. He was taking them there." Brent put his arm around his wife.
Debbie Marsh continued her evil stare. "You should have never dumped me. I told you I would make you pay, remember? Well now you will pay the ultimate price: your daughters' lives…after Jarvis has a little fun with them."
Jack felt the breath leave him, he grabbed Sam's arm to steady himself. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this was a possibility but it wasn't something that he wanted to entertain as a real thought.
A car screeched to a halt behind them. Danny jumped out and ran up the stairs.
"Jack! Samantha! Martin thinks he has traced Jarvis…"
"What? Where?" Sam asked, holding on to Jack.
"Martin got an associate of Jarvis's to sing, Jarvis frequents a bar called Miller's. Martin's heading there now with some uniforms."
"That's where he is! The Marsh's confirmed it." Sam's heart was galloping like a thoroughbred reaching the home stretch.
"Call Martin, tell him we have confirmation. I need to head out there myself." Jack's voice was nearly inaudible.
"That's why I came. I'll take care of these two, you get back your girls."
Samantha took over the driving, her eyes darting back and forth between Jack and the road. He looked so empty. She had always felt warmly to the kids but now she realized how much she loved them and how lost they would both be if they weren't in their lives.
Sam took a corner fast…
Martin hung up the phone. "We have a situation here. Jarvis is most likely inside with the Malone girls. Block every entrance."
The Lincoln tunnel ushered them into eerie darkness…
Martin upholstered his weapon and entered the bar…
A squirrel ran in front of the car and Samantha just barely avoided it. Jack was crying beside her. She put on a hand on his shoulder…
"Where's Jarvis?" Martin yelled at the bartender…
"Will they forgive me for what I've done to them?" Jack asked…
"Upstairs," the young man replied.
"You didn't do anything!" Sam wiped away a tear with her sleeve…
Martin bounded up the stairs…
"If I hadn't had that affair, none of this would have happened…"
Martin's foot connected with a wooden door. He could hear their screams behind it…
"Bad things happen, Jack. The Marshes happen to be insane. Hanna and Kate will be fine. I know it." Jack reached over and held onto her hand.
"It's okay now, it's okay," Martin said, clutching the two girls.
Sam left the car running and they both proceeded at a run into the bar. Uniforms swam around it and on the stairs sat Hanna and Kate.
"Oh, God," Jack said running up and grabbing both of them into his arms. He held his precious girls tightly.
Sam followed behind kissing the tops of their heads and letting her tears flow.
"They are okay," Martin's voice cam from above. He walked down the stairs. "He didn't have a chance to…" he left the words out that they already knew.
"Thank you," Jack said, letting go of his daughters for a second to hug Martin.
"Whoa, there Jack," Martin said with a laugh. "Does this mean I get a raise?"
"You get whatever you want…not Sam, but anything else."
They all let out a laugh, a release of the horror they had just been through.
"Well, you should really be hugging Sam, she's the one who saved them."
Sam wrinkled her brow. Jack looked at her and then Martin.
"I hit him in the head with a lamp," Hanna said, breaking the silence. "Sam told me if I was ever in trouble and there was a lamp around to use it. So I did."
Jack smiled. "I guess I own you as well anything you want."
"I'll be sure to collect," Sam grinned, holding on to Hanna.
"Jarvis is at the hospital right now, nice blow to the head," Martin said, "I better be there when he wakes up."
"Yes, thanks again, Martin. I think I'll take my girls home with us."
"Our," Samantha said.
"What?"
"Our girls." Sam smiled at Jack and the girls. They were her family. Maybe not some perfect family with a white picket fence but a family that cared about each other.
"Our, I like that," Jack said, helping Hanna and Kate up and beginning to walk out.
His cell phone rang and against his better judgment, he picked it up.
"Hello."
"Hey, Jack," Vivian said. "I just wanted to inform you that the police found Michelle Marsh. She was in a garbage can, a few houses down from where she was kidnapped. It seems Jarvis never had the intention of keeping her at his cabin, like he did Victoria. He cut her throat."
Jack's eyes closed. "Thanks Vivian. I'll be in first thing in the morning."
"Jack, it's nearly morning now."
"Yeah, right. Bye."
"What's the matter?" Sam asked.
He shook his head to let her know that it was nothing to discuss in front of the kids. "Let's stop at mom's so she can see you and then maybe we can have a party."
"A party?" Hanna asked.
"Yeah, a party. We can turn the music up loud and dance."
Kate laughed. "You're silly, Daddy."
"No, just happy." He put one arm around the girls and the other around Samantha.
Lightening flashed in the distance and an eerie howling noise echoed around. The trick and treating was long done. And for one child there would never trick or treating again. Jack put the car in drive and started off, grateful for the gift he had been given and sure that tomorrow he would make a visit…a visit to church to say thank you.
The end.