Chapter Twelve

"Get over there," the man growled. His arm was outstretched, his hand grasping Matt's shoulder, the rifle barrel to the boy's head.

"Okay," Sara gulped, trying hard to remain calm, her eyes fixed on Matt whose knees were shaking, his lip trembling. She sidestepped over towards the other three, Lauren resting on her hip. "J-Just don't shoot him." Sara stammered.

"Get!" He moved the gun barrel from Matt's head for a split second to wave it at Sara, who scampered quickly over into position, her breath catching in her throat. "There…that's better, like a lineup." A smile crept across his face, revealing teeth that were beginning to yellow. "Now that everybody's here," The man shoved Matt's shoulder, causing the boy to stumble forward and run to hide behind Catherine and Greg.

"Now…I know one of you…" he muttered, his gaze shifting around at them all. "But I'm not so sure about the rest." He narrowed his eyes, examining each of them in turn. "Let's start with you," He pointed the rifle at Catherine. "What's your name?"

Catherine stood straight, her head raised very slightly. She took in a deep breath, then said, "Catherine Willows." She did not blink as the man stared her in the eye, and she did not shift when his gaze drifted.

"Well Catherine, is he yours?" He nodded at Matt, cowering under Catherine's protective arm.

"No,"

The man bent down to Matt's level and tilted his head. "Where is your Mommy, kid?"

Matt looked away, not saying anything.

"Leave him alone," Catherine snapped, "I don't know who you are, what you're doing, or how the hell you got here, but leave him alone!"

He straightened up, his attention on Catherine once more. "Feisty," he stated simply. He rubbed his stubbly chin with his forefinger and thumb then said, "I'll tell you who I am, as soon as I figure out who you all are. Just gimme a minute. You?" He continued using the weapon as a pointer as he waved it in Sara's direction.

"Sara," she said quietly.

"And the girl?"

"Lauren."

"Hmm…are they yours then?"

"No,"

He sauntered over directly in front of them, one hand behind his back, the other carrying the gun. He planted his feet evenly, then took the gun barrel and put it directly under Sara's chin.

"Who are the kids related to?"

Sara's breath came in shudders, and her lower jaw trembled.

"Th-Their parents were on t-the plane."

"Good. Now answer this, what do you work as?"

"I'm a-an analyst. I…er…analyze things to help…just, help the community." For some reason she felt the need to be unspecific. Maybe it was the gun to her head, but she was definitely feeling the need to be unspecific.

"Uh-huh…so in other words, you're a CSI?"

Sara gulped. Then said lowly, "Yes."

"And what about Catherine?"

Sara turned her eyes toward Catherine, who was watching them carefully, her mouth closed and her nostrils flaring slightly, as though she were trying to steady her breathing.

"Uh-uh-uh…" the man muttered, pushing the gun harder into Sara's chin. "You're talking to me, not her. Is she also a CSI?"

"Yes."

"And who's the younger man?"

Sara's eyes fleeted to Greg who seemed to be standing on pinpricks, ready to act at any second, should the opportunity present itself. Then she remembered not to do so and she quickly looked back at the man.

"Greg…"

"And does he work with you?"

"Y-Yes."

He narrowed his muddy eyes at her, then asked in a low voice, "Do you have a stutter? Or do I scare you?"

Sara didn't answer as the man pulled the gun off of her skin. She breathed a sigh of relief and took in another shuddering breath.

"I'm going to tell you a little bit about me now, and maybe a certain someone can help me out." He glanced pointedly in Ecklie's direction, sending everybody's mental gears turning. Of course, it was Ecklie's fault.

"Let's see…where to begin…where to begin…Let's start with the Jen Franklin case, shall we? Do you know about that case Catherine? Sara? Greg? I know Conrad knows about it. He's quite the expert on it."

Ecklie was not looking at the man. His hands were on his hips, his head hanging.

"Now, do you remember the evidence you convicted the 'murderer' on? Do you? A single hair, just one hair and BAM! Death penalty for Andrew Porter, wasn't it? But don't forget, there was more evidence than that, wasn't there? Eyewitness accounts, Andrew going into Jen's house with some flowers. He came running out on his on own, no flowers, no Jen, isn't that right?"

The man paused and took in a small breath, running his index finger up and down the barrel.

"And what was she shot with? A…rifle...I believe?" He leered at Ecklie's flushing face. "And didn't Andrew's house have a gun case in the garage? Locked up nice and tight, only his fingerprints on and in it? And don't forget, those footprints of his in the blood pool. Didn't he leave his footprints in the blood?"

He was obviously expecting Ecklie to respond, though he did not.

"Well? Answer! Isn't that right?"

Slowly, Ecklie nodded.

"Good…well, let's see…so at my brother's trial, you slaughtered him. Hair, witnesses, the weapon, the footprints. And he was convicted to the death penalty for the brutal shooting of Jennifer Franklin, wasn't he?"

"Yes." Ecklie said stiffly.

"And he got the needle on the 21st of January three years ago, didn't he?"

Again, Ecklie replied with a 'yes' through clenched teeth.

"But of course, now you know. You were wrong. Even though you looked so confident up on that witness stand, you were all wrong. Andrew Porter? I think not. It was Dan Porter. Before Andrew went to lovely Jennifer's house that night, I had a little proposition to make with Jen dear."

"And what would that be?" Ecklie snapped.

"Uh-uh…I recommend not speaking unless I ask you to." He raised the rifle up to Ecklie's face, and when he spoke again his voice broke in several places. "I shot Jen, after she refused my offer to leave my brother. Straight through the eyes." He placed the edge of the gun right in between Ecklie's eyebrows. "Right there. And her brains flew everywhere. And then my brother came to the door. I let him in. He saw Jen, and ran to her. I'm sure that's how the hair fell. His footprints through the blood,"

He lowered the gun and Ecklie let out a heavy breath.

"Now the rest is simple, and perhaps if you had bothered with me, this," He gestured at their surroundings, "Would not have needed to happen…I would hope you remember the event. After court let out, and the defense had me as a witness saying oh how my brother loved Jen, and how he would never hurt her and that he hated guns. But the jury didn't listen, did they? They only heard you."

He glared at Ecklie through narrowed eyes, rubbing the gun barrel again.

"Now after court, do you remember? I ran up behind you and asked you, 'Is there anything I can do to help bail him out? Anything to get him only jail instead of death? Anything?' and do you remember what you said to me?"

Ecklie slowly shook his head.

"Nothing! You ignored me completely because you were too busy talking to the press! Too busy explaining how my little brother killed his girlfriend! And then do you remember what happened? After getting fed up with you ignoring me, I shouted after you. Do you remember?"

Ecklie shook his head again.

"Pig!"

Dan's eyes looked crazed, his hands clenching tightly to the rifle. His shoulders heaved as he tried to steady his breathing.

"I wanted to put it behind me. After attending my brother's execution I left. I moved to Hawaii. Restarted my car dealership. Bought a ramshackle little house to live in with enough lawn for an airstrip and my own small airplane, for a hobby. Took piloting lessons. Continued to practice with guns, sharp shooting etcetera. I wasn't even planning to use the skills to do anything. I picked them up as a hobby, to distract my mind. And when I found out about your little Australian seminar, I knew that I could finally get my revenge. Finally, after a whole three years I would be able to get my revenge.

I spent months planning, calculating the speed of your airplane, your flight plan, and then I spent hours counting the number of planes flying overhead Hawaii. Do you know how painstaking that was? And all because I wanted you to pay. Maybe I was crazy. Maybe I still am. But really, it was all worth it when I followed your airplane and shot it, once, twice. I thought you were dead. I was glad you were dead. But there was a storm coming from the northeast. I couldn't head back to Hawaii because I knew that the airplane had communicated with them, informing them about the unidentified aircraft. I would have been arrested.

So I landed on this island. Cleared a mighty good path through some trees, but I was all right. I felt like I had accomplished something. I had succeeded in killing the one person that I thought could help me, but refused to even acknowledge me."

They were growing uncomfortable. He kept talking about killing Ecklie, wanting to kill Ecklie. What was he planning to do with them now?

"I had finally found my new life. I could live on this island, live off the land. I had a gun, I could survive. I wasn't stupid. There was no law here, I wouldn't be arrested or anything. But when the storm died out, and I went out for something to eat, how do you think I felt? I see a boar, just waiting to be cooked over a fire, and what should happen? I shoot it, and I hear somebody scream! Who screamed?"

He pointed the gun at each of them.

"Lauren did." Sara finally said.

"Now why did you scream Lauren? Am I scary?" Dan asked, walking over to Lauren and putting on a baby voice. "Do you think I'm scary Lauren?"

"Shut up, asshole." Lauren said, raising her head and sticking out her lip. Sara tried as best she could to turn her chuckle into a coughing fit.

Dan's face darkened. "Boy, you've got a colorful vocabulary don't you, Lauren?"

"Like hell." Lauren responded, causing Sara to sputter on a laugh once more.

Dan's face snapped to hers. "Do you think that's funny?"

Sara shook her head, keeping her lips pursed and raising her head. She was taller than him, by a whole head.

"I think you found that funny."

She swallowed and stayed silent. Dan glared at her for a minute, then returned to his long yarn.

"So Lauren screamed and I ran for it, because if this island wasn't deserted, I was in trouble. But then I discovered, after hiding in some trees, that there were at least three castaways on this island. Catherine, you're a mother? Leslie was it?"

"Lindsey," Catherine said angrily.

"I was hoping you and Sara would go at it. I could have used some entertainment, but I knew I had to hide farther away. So after that…hmm…what happened next…I believe what happened next was Conrad decided to go for a little walk by himself in the unknown, later that day. He thought an animal was chasing him, but it was really me, wanting to give him a few last words before he died. But when he landed in that quicksand, I thought that I should just leave him to the long and painful death ahead. This was also a bad idea. Because who should come along but Ecklie's loyal team, who worked together to save the day."

"We're not—" Sara began, but Dan swung the rifle towards her again.

"Don't speak unless you are spoken to."

She gulped down her words.

"What else…yes, while you were working at getting him out of the quicksand, I went to your little hut to gather up my hunting trophy and leave a little hint, to make myself heard. I'd have hoped you would have remembered, and that I had scared you, but you were clueless, weren't you Conrad? You had no idea."

Dan took in a deep breath.

"Before I left I plugged up your water supply and smashed all of your food. And yet you defied me, lobster and walking through the forest collecting water from the plants? You're quite the survivor Greg. And a romantic. Under the stars, the southern cross, where home is? I would have bothered to kill you and Miss Sara then as I watched from the bushes, but it would have been too easy, and what is the point of killing you if I'm haven't killed Conrad first? I want to be frightening. I want to look like a suspect, and that just doesn't work in nothing but moonlight. I'm on my wits end, here! And here I am now, crazy old me, instilling fear in all of you. Are you scared?" He aimed his gun towards Ecklie. "Are you all scared?"

They nodded slowly.

"Well, you're not scared enough. I want to see you really scared. I want you to have to endure the knowledge of 'the end is near' just like my brother did!"

A crazy looking grin spread his mouth wide as he moved the gun over his shoulder, like a soldier.

"I'm sure you're all aware; there is no way off this island." He smirked evilly at them, then lowered the gun from his shoulder, as if he wasn't quite sure which way was the most comfortable way to hold it. "Conrad, I believe it fit that you lead the way. I want to keep my eye on you all from behind. We're going that way," Dan pointed along the shoreline Sara had followed on her walk a couple nights ago. "I'll give you directions. Get moving."

Again he ushered them along with the threat of a bullet, Ecklie first, Greg, Matt, Sara and Lauren, Catherine, and Dan following in that order.

"Follow the shoreline." Dan commanded from the rear of the procession.

Ecklie did so slowly, walking just a few yards away from the curling, crystalline waters. A few scattered clouds passed by, shielding them all from the sun at random moments, though the heat and humidity were both high. Soon they neared a broad, sand-covered corner of the island and continued to follow the trail of beach as they were ordered. When they turned the corner however, they came across a breakage in the sand. It was instead replaced by a wide stone pathway, leading upwards slightly, trees growing along its left side. Along its right side, waves crashed against a cliff.

"Go up there." Dan ordered, using the rifle once more as a pointer. Ecklie stepped up to the cliff and began to walk the slightly steep slope up it. It narrowed and widened alternately, as if it had been randomly chiseled away. Greg gazed over the edge a few times as they ascended, catching sight of the crashing waves against boulders far below. Seaweed draped the rocks, and a few seabirds, squawking amongst themselves.

"And we're here." Dan declared. He had placed the gun against his shoulder again, with a shoulder strap. He spread his arms wide to show off where they found themselves, a small plateau at the top of the slope.

It was the highest point of the island, only a few feet lower than the tops of the trees running along it. They could see the bonfire, billowing a dark gray rather than black smoke now. They could see the ocean on the opposite end of the island, more waves curling beyond a layer of trees.

"Pretty isn't it?" Dan said, "Not for long. Soon it'll be the home of lots and lots of death. I want you to line up, if you will." He pulled his gun down, once more, causing the group to straighten into a horizontal line like they had been before. "Are you still scared? Say you're still scared."

Again, the nodded their heads up and down.

"Good…I enjoy making people think I'm frightening. It's an adrenaline rush. Now how are we going to start this out…" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I want you to run. That's how I want this to start out. I want you to run as far and as fast as you can. I want you to try to get away from me. You won't. Like I said, there is no way off this island."

"Then what's the point of running?" Greg snapped, "You're just going to end up shooting us anyway!"

Instead of raising his gun like he had at Sara and Ecklie, Dan turned his head to the side and examined Greg for a minute.

"You want to know why you should run?" Dan stepped straight up to Greg, glaring him in the eye, his pupils an endless vortex of black, pure craziness, or pure evil, anyone could choose. "Because…if you don't…" He took a sidestep to Greg's left so he was in front of Sara and Lauren "Because if you don't, something very, very sad will happen to an innocent somebody who has sadly found themselves in the middle of this problem. Give me the girl."

Sara's mouth remained in a grim, straight line, and she only clutched Lauren tighter.

"Give me the girl, or I will only take her myself."

Sara remained firm, Lauren's face buried into her tangled mass of curly hair. Dan sighed heavily then muttered, "Women, they're so stubborn. First Jen, now you?" He suddenly shot out, grabbing Lauren by the armpits and pulling her roughly out of Sara's grip.

"What are you going to do?" Catherine shouted.

"I figure, if you're not going to run, this will be a little bit too gruesome for a little girl to see. I'll make sure she doesn't have to watch her darling Sara have her brains splattered all over the ocean."

"Let go asshole!" Lauren shouted, kicking her feet hard as she could with Dan's right arm tightly across her chest. "Put me down! Put me down!" she screamed, her face scrunched up and tears beginning to pour. "Put me down! Sawa!"

"Stop it you bastard!" Sara cried.

Dan made an 'ooh' shape with his mouth. "Naughty, naughty. You shouldn't swear in front of the children."

"Put me down you bastard!" Lauren cried.

"See, this is why. You have a little girl using words much too grown-up for her."

"Put her down!" Greg yelled.

"All right. I'll put her down." Dan backed away even further, still holding tightly to Lauren's struggling form."Right here. I'll put her down, right here." He stepped over to the very edge of the cliff. "Right here."

"Don't!" Sara screeched, taking a step forward.

"Uh-uh…" Dan swung the gun down from his shoulder and aimed it at Sara. "Don't do that. Who knows what could happen."

"Sawa…" Lauren whimpered, going slightly limp.

"Please…" Catherine whispered. "Don't, she doesn't need to die."

"Au Contraire, she has found—Yeow!"

Lauren dropped from Dan's arm as he crumpled the ground, clutching his groin and gasping. But she had been dropped too close to the edge, and slipped off the side, only to clutch desperately to the rock face, her feet scrambling to gain footing that was not there.

"Lauren!" Sara screeched, throwing herself at the sobbing girl, catching her around the waist and pulling her up to the cliff again all within a couple of seconds. She stood with a hysterically sobbing Lauren on her hip once more, only to freeze when she found the gun facing her head, bent from an angle as Dan continued to writhe on the ground.

"Run," he gasped from below. "I want you to run. I want you all to feel like there is no way out, just like my brother did. Because there is no way out."

Sara gulped under threat of death and turned to the other four, Matt, and Ecklie were already sliding down the very steep hillside, looking over their shoulder at the scene they had left behind them. Catherine was bent in a way that showed she was prepared to sprint off after the other three, but she was facing Sara, mouthing the words, 'I have a plan…'. And Sara knew…they would have to run.

A/N: I had a more evil cliffhanger planned for this chapter, but I figured you had already endured enough heart attacks by now, what with Matt having a rifle to his head and Lauren stumbling off the side of a cliff, only to thankfully be rescued by Sara. Just so you know, this will be the only story I'll be working on until it's finished.(I'm juggling 2 as of now) I kinda sorta felt bad about that cliffhanger I left you guys with. ;) Happy reading, as always! Also, I thought it was sooo funny when Lauren swore at that guy. Too cute! (Lauren is based off of my 3-year-old cousin, Maggie, cutest kid in the world!)