Chapter 9: Rescue

Hell bent on reaching his family, John wrapped his hands firmly around the steering wheel as he guided the car to the remote location of Kyle Winters' mother-in-law's home. It had been left to him upon his wife's death and in fact had still been in his wife's name. John's gut was telling him that his family would be there.

They had been constants in his existence for the past few years, he couldn't, wouldn't think of life without them. As his old CIA partner had said, they were the dark. And he had believed her, at least, until he was given a purpose by Harold and until his girls were born. In his dreary existence of gray areas, their presence alone brought the vibrancy of color and the brilliance of light. They were proof that something good could come from him and that they were a form of redemption for past sins.

The ring of his cell phone brought him out of his dark thoughts. "Yes," he answered.

"John! What the hell is going on?" Joss asked, anger and frustration evident in her voice. "Finch called and said you were on a tear. I'm about twenty minutes behind you, don't you move without me."

"Joss, I'm not sure I can wait," John replied.

"If you value the lives of your wife and baby girls you will. Damn it, John! You know better than to go in without backup. You don't know how unstable this yahoo really is."

"He has my girls, Joss!"

"I know that John. What good would you be to them dead? You need to calm your ass down, do you hear me? Wait . . . for . . . me!" Joss commanded.

"Twenty minutes, Joss, that' all I'm giving you, after that, with or without you, I'm going in," John growled, before disconnecting.

Turning his attention back on the road, John resumed his search for the correct turnoff point. Reaching up, he grasped Zoe's rings. He had threaded them through the links of his St. Michael's medallion Zoe had given him one Christmas. "Hang on girls. I'm coming for you." He whispered.

Spotting his turnoff point, John maneuvered the car carefully on the gravel path, he turned off the car lights and coasted down towards the house and pulling to a stop several hundred yards away. Slipping his gun in the back of the waistband of his trousers, John let his eyes wander as he scanned the area for anything threatening.

Reasonably sure that he hadn't alerted the inhabitants of the home of his presence, he climbed out of the car and made his way into the woods. John stealthily made his way through the woods wanting to scout around and make sure he knew what was in store for him when he and Joss went in.

As the trees thinned out, John was surprised to find himself on a neatly maintained lawn. From the information he had gathered, no one had been living here for quite some time. Yet it appeared as though the exterior of the large brick home as well as the front lawn was well maintained. Reaching behind him, he pulled his gun from the small of his back and checked the clip. As he was making his way towards the house, he happened to look up and saw Zoe standing at the window looking out, seemingly right at him. She sensed him, even though she couldn't see him. He wasn't surprised; he often sensed her presence before actually seeing her. Sending her silent reassurances that he was there, he continued taking stock of the home. Once satisfied that he knew the lay of the land, he quietly made his way back to his car through the woods to wait for Joss.

Zoe stood by the window looking out. Staring out the outcropping of trees, she KNEW he was close.

"Girls, I need you to listen to me," Zoe said in a whisper, as she knelt down in front of them. "I want both of you to go into the closet and don't come out unless I or Daddy tell you to come out okay?"

The girls perked up. "Daddy's here?" Relief evident in their voices.

Though relieved at the thought that their Daddy had come, she could tell that the girls were still frightened. "But Mommy, what about you?" Gracie asked as their mommy led them to the closet.

"Don't worry about me sweetheart, I have to stay out here in case Mr. Winters checks on us okay? He'll notice me missing but he may not notice if you girls are," she said as she knelt down in front of them after settling them in the closet. "I love you!"

"We love you too mommy, please be careful."

Hearing the commotion downstairs, Zoe quickly shut the closet door. Spotting the heavy wooden tray Winters had brought their food in, she picked it up and shrunk into the wall. Taking a deep breath, she waited. The door opened and she was ready to use the tray as a weapon.

Joss pulled over and parked the car as John finished loading the guns. "Am I correct in assuming you went ahead and checked out the house?"

John looked across the hood of Joss' car and nodded. "Winters is in the kitchen, Zoe's upstairs in the front bedroom. I'm pretty sure she knew I was here," He paused as he continued to scan the area. "I didn't see any surveillance, I don't think he'll know we're coming."

"What if he does?"

"Let's just hope he doesn't," John replied back, trying to reassure Joss. John handed Joss one of the guns he was holding. Before setting off for the woods, he commented, "Give me five minutes once I enter the woods." He was about to step out when Joss grabbed his left arm, forcing him to stay put.

As John gave her a questioning look, Joss explained, "You're okay to do this right? I don't have to make sure you don't go all kamikaze on me?"

"I won't jeopardize their safety," he rasped softly; scanning the area one more time. Finding nothing amiss, he looked back at Joss and said, "Good luck."

Joss flashed him a weak smile. "You too." With that, John was running off into the woods.

After waiting five minutes, Joss got back in her car and headed towards the house. She could feel the apprehension growing as she got closer to the house. As the house loomed before her, Joss eased on the gas, slowly coming to a stop. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she opened the door and got out.

She slowly walked over to the front door and knocked. As Kyle Winters opened the door, Joss carefully taking in his appearance. He looked cool, calm, as if he didn't have anything to worry about. "Detective Carter, how can I help you?"

Every instinct in her body was telling her to grab her gun from her holster, but she didn't want to spook the contractor. "I'm sorry to bother you, this late Mr. Winters. I tried to find you at your home, but your neighbors said you were probably here," she offered him a smile. "May I come in, I just have a few questions for you."

Turning his attention from Joss, Kyle glanced behind her. "Come in, please."

Joss hoped she could pull this off. Part of their plan was for her to distract the contractor, while John would come in through the back door and stealthily locate the girls and Zoe, thus avoiding the use of guns if they could.

John made it to the back of the house before Carter arrived. He was able to confirm that Joss and Winters were in the front living room; leaving the back clear for him. He jogged his way towards the back door and was able to quietly pick the lock. Getting the door open, he remained in a crouched position for a few beats, expecting a home alarm to go off. Grateful that nothing did, he took his gun out and slowly walked through the kitchen towards the back stairs.

As he made it to the upstairs landing, he headed towards the front room where he had seen Zoe. After a few seconds checking the rooms as he went, he finally made it to the front room. Checking the door knob, he started to work at picking the lock. He paused, listening for any clue that Winters was headed upstairs, but couldn't hear anything except the soft conversation coming from the living room downstairs. Turning his attention back to the lock, he worked for a few more beats before he was successful.

Carefully, he started to walk in before he felt a whiff of air. Instinctively, he lifted his arm as a wooden object came crashing down. Acting on pure adrenaline, he blocked it and wrestled the with the assailant until they both ended up on the floor. John suddenly recognized the feel of the body beneath his. "Zoe?"

"John?" He watched as Zoe instantly bolted up, and scooted away from him. Finally focusing on his face and voice, Zoe visibly sagged. "Oh Jesus, I'm so glad you're here . . . "

John quickly walked up to his wife. Putting his hands up in defense he said gently, but urgently, "Listen, we need to move fast, our little scuffle probably alerted Winters. Where are the girls?"

"Daddy!" Jossie screeched as they bounded out of the closet.

"Jocelyn Elizabeth! What did I say about coming out?" her mother said exasperated.

"But Mommy, we heard Daddy . . ."

"We have to get out of here . . . the window, quick," John said as they heard thumping up the stairs and it was clear that running out the door and into the hallway was not a choice at the moment.

John took the lead and opened the window. He got out first, then held his arms out to the girls, silently thanking Taylor for teaching them the art of tree climbing. Though Zoe was not pleased when she found torn tights and stained silk dresses, Taylor, much like his mother was, easily forgiven. When both girls were finally on their way down the tree and Zoe was just stepping out of the window, their luck run out.

Kyle Winters came through the door with his gun drawn aiming right at Zoe. Behind him, Zoe could see Joss, her own gun drawn. "Mr. Winters, I need you to put the gun down . . . "

With a hint of hysteria in his voice, Kyle shook his head and said, "No, she can't leave me, we're supposed to be together. We were going to take the girls and run away together . . ."

Keeping her gun on Kyle, Joss tried to reason with him again. "Kyle, you need to let Zoe go. She's not your wife."

"Kyle please, let me go. . . if you let me go now, that will be the end of it. We won't press charges, we won't come after you . . . " Zoe held her arms up in defense, trying to reason with him.

Kyle shook his head, not believing her. "But, I thought you cared for me. That you wanted us to be together . . ."

"We can't be together Kyle, my girls need me . . . and I'm . . ."

"Zoe, we have to go. . . " John said from the ground.

Upon hearing John's voice, Kyle panicked fearing that he would lose Zoe for good. He aimed to fire a warning shot.

"Kyle, put the gun down," Joss demanded.

Kyle wasn't going to give in . . .

For a mere fraction of a second, Zoe hesitated. Her lean frame was already prepared for escape out the window. A few more seconds and she would have been out the window and to freedom. But something stopped her. John could see her indecision as she looked back into the room, then down at him and the girls.

"Zoe, we have to go . . ." John urged her from the ground, even as he suspected that Kyle Winters was in the room with a gun pointed right at her. He was just hoping that Joss wasn't far behind. He could hear muffled words, from Joss, from Kyle, then from Zoe.

Everything from that point on seemed to happen so slowly and nothing else around him seemed to exist. John heard two distinct gunshots, the girls were screaming, he saw Zoe jerk back a split second before she started to fall out the window. He could only stand there and watch as the scene played out. The force of the bullet propelled her out the window. There was nothing for her to hold on to, he knew that.

He couldn't close his eyes to the foreseeable; something he couldn't recognize forced him to watch as she continued to fall. Somehow, their eyes met. Her eyes bore into his with such intensity; even from the distance he could see the fear in those brown pools. Her eyes had always been so expressive. When he couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling, all he had to do was look into her eyes and witness a range of emotion. All he could do was stare back, unable to breathe. It felt like minutes though he knew in reality it was no more than a few seconds.

Expecting to hear a thud when her body made contact with the ground, he was surprised when instead he heard the crunch of breaking branches followed by words that his daughters shouldn't have heard coming from their mother's mouth. "Motherfucker! That hurt like a son of a bitch! Jesus H. Christ, Joss you better have gotten that asshole or I swear to God I'll castrate him myself and feed him his balls!"

Looking towards his wife, John was amazed that she was still in one piece. A huge evergreen bush had broken her fall and clearly, she was absolutely fine but for the graze of a bullet on her shoulder.

"Oooooh, Mommy's going to have to put a lot of money in the swear jar!"