St Louis, Missouri, Olive Street Adult Detention Center, 2019

Adrian Williams flashed his federal badge at the line of cops holding off the group of reporters already gathered outside the detention center. Somehow word had leaked out about the capture of one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitives.

Adrian was relieved to say the least, but more than a little bothered he'd not been the one to find Snyder. That had been Marsh's doing; and the deputy director was back in Washington already soaking up the glory. Adrian still had no clue as to how Marsh knew where Snyder could be found.

And Mayer was still on the loose.

How did that happen?

The one thing Adrian had learned over the past few days was that Snyder and Mayer stuck together like glue.

Adrian was greeted at the door by the center's superintendent, David Truman. The two men quickly paced down a vast hallway.

"He's been processed," Truman said. "Any news on the other guy? Mayer, was it?"

Adrian shook his head. "Nothing. But I wager he'll turn up soon. He's alone now. Nothing left to run for."

Adrian hoped he was right about that. Marsh might be happy to have apprehended one half of the duo. But the pressure was still on to locate the other 50 percent.

"Nobody's questioned him yet, right?"

"Nope," the super assured him. "Not beyond the standard crap usually asked during possessing. Funny… kid doesn't seem like some tough criminal or nothin'! Been crying like a baby most of the time. He's pretty messed up, if you were to ask my opinion."

"Yeah, well," Adrian chuckled. "...his day is about to get worse!"

They reached a security gate where Adrian was made to confirm his credentials and leave his weapon, before being shown to an interrogation room.

"I'd like to talk to him alone, please," the federal agent requested.

Truman nodded, slipping a key in the lock and letting Adrian into the room.

He stopped and waited for the door to shut behind him before moving forward and taking a seat at the small metal table, directly opposite one of the men who'd taken him on a cross-country jaunt.

Luke Snyder looked finished; beaten down. With one wrist cuffed to a metal ring atop the table, he rested both arms on the surface. His head lolled forward; hair partly hiding a face, pale and drawn.

But when he looked up, his sad and swollen eyes still held that light of defiance Adrian recognized from Wisconsin Rapids.

Yeah. You're not quite done yet. Are you?

"Morning, Luke," Adrian said with a satisfied smile.

Luke simply glared at him without answer.

Adrian shifted, getting comfortable in the chair; trying to give the impression he had all the time in the world to wait for Luke to open up. "You got me into a lot of shit, Luke."

"I'm sorry about that."

Adrian paused for a moment. Snyder's apology actually seemed genuine. Adrian cleared his throat. "As I'm sure you must know, Luke, we have a few questions for you. Now, I know from experience how slippery you can be. So I'll say this…" Adrian leaned forward on his elbows. "...we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. But you will tell me where Noah's headed and-"

"How's my son?"

The question stilled Adrian. He should have expected it, but his focus was on finding Mayer. He wasn't sure what to tell Snyder, and he was hesitant to lie. He had the distinct impression this guy would know if he did.

Luke seemed to have the ability to look right into Adrian's soul. It was actually a little unnerving.

"I don't know." Adrian settled on that. It wasn't a lie because really, he didn't know. He didn't know where the boy was at all, even though every police force in the area was on the lookout for 12-year-old Leo.

Luke laughed. It was a painful laugh. So much so that Adrian thought he felt the burn transfer to his own gut. Two fat tears escaped the blonde's lower lids.

"You know," Luke said. He took a breath as though the words he needed to say tasted bad in his mouth. "I knew you were a heartless bunch of assholes but… this…"

"This?"

"Keeping information from me about my son!" the man angrily growled, scratching at the orange jumpsuit he'd been made to wear. "…when he's only 12 and in the hospital! And you knowwhat that must be doing to me! I've asked and asked and nobody will say anything!" Snyder's gaze dropped to a spot on the wall and he swayed as though dizzy.

"Maybe you should have thought about all that before you stole him."

Snyder's head whipped back up to glower fire at Adrian. It was obvious he was unsettled to discover the FBIi knew the truth about Leo. "We rescuedhim! He would have died with her!"

"That's not how the law sees it."

"Yeah? Well… from experience? The law sees what it wants to see and fuck anything or anyone else! We didn't do anything wrong! We neverdid! The law destroyed our lives!"

Something about Snyder pushed a nerve with Adrian. He wasn't sure why, but he felt this urge to defend himself and to distance himself from the FBI; an organization which Luke obviously despised with a passion.

Am I feeling sorry for him?

This was a new sensation for Adrian. He'd interviewed many criminals over his career; and all of them had some sob story as to why they were right and the law was wrong. It was Adrian's job to hunt down criminals and the court's job to decide on the merits of guilt.

Adrian shook the feeling from his shoulders and broke the short silence between them. "Are you ready to talk?"

Luke smirked and leaned forward. "Okay, Agent Williams. You want to talk? Fine! Let's talk! Let's start with what reallyhappened in Oakdale back in 2008! That would be an excellent place to start!"

"I'm only interested in the now, Luke."

"Yes, of course! Because you're not interest in the truth at all! You call yourself a lawman, Agent Williams? But you sit there choosing to ignore what's right in front of you!"

That was like a slap across the face. Adrian didn't like his work ethic questioned. He frowned and narrowed his eyes at Luke, waiting a breath.

"Okay." He eventually decided to play along. Maybe he could earn enough brownie points to get Snyder to open up. "I'll bite." He sat back and folded his arms. "I'm listening. You tell me the story."

So Luke did. He told Adrian of that day in 2008, amid the smoke and the bodies. He told Adrian of the years since then right up until they were forced to leave their child in a Wisconsin hospital bed. He told his story carefully; without elaborating on any aliases they'd used or including the names of anybody who'd helped them over the years."

When he finished, Adrian laughed at him. "That's your story?" he scoffed. "It's the craziest thing I've ever heard! You want me to believe that Senator Marsden planned all of this? It's absurd!"

"But me and Noah gunning down a room full of people isn't?" Luke countered. "You must have read our histories, Agent Williams! You have to know the kind of people we were before that day! I'm not a murderer! And neither is Noah." He stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling for a second, a strange worried look on his face. "At least not yet… not unless you turn him into one because you leave him with no other choice!"

Adrian regarded Luke for a minute. "I've got no reason to trust anything you say, Luke. You haven't given me one."

"Trust?" Anger so deep flared up in Luke that he stood awkwardly in the chair, bent to one side because of his cuffed wrist. "How dare you talk to me about trust? Our lives have been fucked up for 10 years because of people like you! I haven't seen my family, my parents, my sisters! Hell! My brother was a baby, when we were arrested! He doesn't even know me anymore!" Luke fell back in the chair and it groaned under the force of his frustration. "The FBI set us up from the start… we had no hope from the start… And we have no hope now…" Luke stared right into Adrian's face with an earnestness that was breathtaking, "Do we?"

Keeping his expression neutral as he was trained to do, Adrian replied, "The FBI did their job, Luke. They followed the evidence as it was laid out. And that evidence, all of it, led to the two of you."

Luke nodded, breaking eye contact. "I'm tired now," he flatly said. "I don't feel like answering any more of your stupid questions."

Adrian watched Snyder closely and knew the man was never going to reveal Mayer's location.

"But…" Adrian raised an eyebrow as Luke continued to talk. "…I have a few questions for you."

"Okay," Adrian relented.

"It's obvious where you stand in all of this. We're guilty and you're gonna take us down no matter what I say. But I have to ask this… If Noah and I are so fucking brilliant at disappearing, why the hell did we come back to Illinois of all places? Why did we come out of the shadows and risk capture?"

It was a brilliant question and threw Adrian for a loop. When he left the room, Adrian knew it was a question he'd ponder over with Chief Blithe.

But at this moment, he couldn't allow Snyder the upper hand.

"Your father, Damian, was involved in helping you escape, wasn't he?" Adrian asked.

That got a reaction. Luke flinched only slightly and then got himself back under control.

"Like I said before," the blonde calmly stated, eyelids shadowed and totally closed off. "I'm tired now. I'm not talking anymore."

And it was true. Adrian tried to get Luke to talk for another whole hour. He tried every tactic in the book. But Luke Snyder might as well have been in another room. He was silent as the grave.

One thing was for sure, Luke Snyder was one of the most stubborn men Adrian had ever met.