Chapter 10

Alyson pulls her car off to the side of the road behind Tyler's car. She stares out at the trail we left behind. "At least we have a trail to follow," she says as she steps out of the car.

"Do you have a plan for when we get there?" I ask, an uneasy feeling settling in my chest.

"I'll figure that out when we get there," Alyson says numbly. "We just need to focus on finding him right now." She walks toward the trail as she says, "Let's go." I glance at Avi who looks back at me with a nervous expression before following Alyson.

I let out a sigh as I catch up to Alyson. "Aly, I'm not so sure this is a good idea. He stabbed Tyler, what makes you think he won't hurt you? Or one of us?"

"That's why I'm going to go in alone," Alyson says. "He probably would hurt one of you but I'm hoping the rapport I've built with him in the ten years Tyler was gone will help."

"Going in alone?!" Avi almost yells. "The whole reason Michael even let you come was because we would be with you."

"If he knows you're there, he's probably not going to talk," Alyson says, her eyebrows furrowing. "I need answers. I need to know why he did this. If not for me then for Tyler…I may deserve it but he doesn't and he took all the blame the first time."

"What if we can figure out a way for him not to know we're there?" Avi asks. "Let us be close enough to stop him if we need to but hidden so he thinks it's just you?"

"That could work," Alyson says. She gasps as we approach the drop off, seeing again the amount of blood Tyler left behind. She shakes her head, "Unless he tries to kill me, don't stop him. Give me a chance to get answers from him."

"Even if he hurts you?" Avi asks. Alyson nods. Avi looks at me anxiously as we continue to follow Alyson.

Night falls as we approach the end of the blood trail. Off in the distance is a small log cabin. Avi shifts to better see the trail. "The trail goes all the way up to the door," she says. "This is it."

"Can you climb up in the tree and see if you can see any sign of him outside?" I ask.

Avi climbs up into the tree and surveys the property. She shakes her head, "I don't see any sign of him. The front door is open and it looks like there is a large section of glass on the roof."

"Do you think it can be opened?" I ask.

Alyson nods, "It should be able to."

"Should Chloe and I climb up there to hide?" Avi asks. "It should be too dark to see us from up there. And then I should be able to fit through the opening and jump down when you need me to."

Alyson pauses for a minute before nodding, "Don't jump down until I tell you to. Wait until I give you a nod." Avi nervously nods as she jumps down from the tree. "I'll go through the front door. You guys climb up."

"Be careful," I say as Alyson makes her way toward the door. I glance over at Avi and follow her around to the side of the cabin. She leaps up and then reaches down to carefully grab my shirt and pull me up. We crawl toward the window and I point to a handle. "That should be your way in," I whisper. "I'll open it when it's time and you can jump through." Avi nods. I pull out my phone and shoot a text to Michael. "Eddy needs to be on his way," I whisper to Avi who nods in agreement.

"Tom?" Alyson calls out as she walks into the living area under us. "Anyone there?" She walks forward into the center of the room, cautiously looking around. Before any of us can react, a hooded figure walks up behind her and plunges a knife into her thigh. I put a hand on the handle and Avi crouches to pounce.

Alyson lets out a cry as the figure says, "I thought the other Ronan would be by here sooner or later." He pulls the knife out and shoves her onto the floor. She shakes her head and I release my grip on the handle.

"Tom?" Alyson whimpers as she presses down on her thigh. "What are you doing?" I notice her carefully reaching into her pocket and a small red light shines through. It's recording, I think to myself, she's going to nail him.

"I just want to make sure you can't get away so easily," Tom says with a chuckle. "I figured you would come out here to talk about that article."

"So you did write it?" Alyson growls, trying to hide any pain or fear.

"Who else would have that information?" Tom says, turning to walk toward his computer.

"How did you get it on the news site?" Alyson asks. "It has a completely different author on it and Eddy said that one of his friends who works for it said they had no idea how it got there."

"That's the thing," Tom says, grinning. "Most people have no idea that I took computer classes in college. Most people would think I'm your typical old man who doesn't know the first thing about computers, but I do. I don't privy most people to that information. So I simply wrote the article and hacked into the site and locked it so they couldn't take it down from their end easily. And once they saw the attention they got from that article, I'm sure they were hard pressed to try taking it down."

"But why would you do this?" Alyson asks, pain in her voice. "We didn't tell anyone that you were our father. You said you wouldn't let this out if we agreed to keep our secrets to ourselves."

"Who's to say you wouldn't just let it slip out one day?" Tom says. "I plan on running for office again and I can't let something like this get in the way of that. So I figured if I ruined your reputations first, it would make any accusations against me invalid." He walks back over to Alyson, "Besides, no one knows of the time I spent with your mother. If anyone had to guess who your father was, they'd guess Sam. Your accusation would hold no weight."

"What have we done to deserve this?" Alyson asks, anger rising in her voice. "We kept your secret. I worked for you for years. You know the man who raised me. Haven't I at the very least earned your trust?" A tear trickles down Alyson's face as she looks up at Tom.

Tom shakes his head as he chuckles, "You really think I'd trust the biggest back stabber of them all?" He crouches down to Alyson's level, "Your mother was only talking to your brother. She said several times that she wasn't going to hurt him. And you just come running down from the house and shove those scissors in her back. You killed your mother without even bothering to see the details. And then what do you do? You let your scared, innocent brother who just had his mother chase him with a gun take the blame. He was sent away to live in a facility for ten years while you got to live free and happy with your uncle. That doesn't strike me as someone trust worthy, do you think Alyson?" Alyson's eyes widen and her breath quickens as Tom stands up and walks away to grab something off a table, "I tried to clear Tyler's name in the article but I'm sure he was dragged into all of this too. For that, I am sorry. He didn't deserve any of this."

"But he deserved being stabbed by you?" Alyson growls.

"If he had come in here a little more open and receiving, I might not have had to stab him," Tom shouts back. "He's always been a little too rash and quick to make accusations. It's why everyone believed he was the one to kill your mother. If he hadn't come in here threateningly, he probably would be fine now. Because you're right, he didn't deserve this. But the murderer that you are, Alyson? You deserve everything you'll get."

Alyson furrows her eyebrows, "Tyler is alive, Tom."

"Oh," Tom says. He pauses before muttering, "Well, that's just too bad."

"You tried to kill him, didn't you?" Alyson questions, venom dripping from her words.

"As I told you, I had no choice," Tom says, turning around with knife in hand. "I won't make that mistake again. I can't have you leaving here with what I told you. And besides, you deserve where you're going." He steps toward Alyson. I lift up on the handle and Avi flies through the opening with a roar. Tom turns just before the huge cat crashes into him. She pins him to the floor, snarling.

"I don't know what you think she deserves," Avi growls, "but I know where you deserve to go." Tom's eyes widen and his skin turns white. She chuckles, "Don't worry, I won't send you there. Let's just see what Eddy wants to do with you when he gets here." Avi turns to Alyson, "How's your leg?"

"It's still bleeding pretty bad," Alyson says with a shaky voice. "I might need a tourniquet."

"Good thing I know how to do one," Avi says. I carefully slide through the opening and land on the floor with a grunt. Avi turns to me and asks, "Are you okay?"

I nod, "Let's tie this guy up." I walk over to the side of the room where a rope hangs from a hook on the wall. I bring it over as Avi holds him down for me to tie his arms behind his back and his legs together. She bites off some of the rope as she walks over to Alyson.

She shifts back into human form as she crouches down to look at Alyson's wound. "The femoral artery is on the inside of your thigh so I don't think that's hit," Avi says. "But I don't know how far away Eddy is so I'm going to tie it off anyway. I don't need you bleeding out." She turns to me and says, "Find me a strong stick or piece of metal and a sharpie." I look at her confused before shrugging and running outside. I find a short rod and bring it back to Avi who has tied the rope just above Alyson's wound. She takes the rod from me and ties it into the rope as I walk over to Tom's desk to find a sharpie. I hear Alyson cry out in pain as Avi twists the rod to tighten the rope. "I'm so sorry, Al," Avi says softly, "I know this hurts." She secures the rod in place by tucking it under the rope as I bring the sharpie over to her. She looks at her watch before saying, "I need to write the time on your jeans so the doctors know how long the tourniquet has been on."

"Go for it," Alyson gasps, "these jeans are ruined anyway." She gives a small chuckle as Avi writes the time just above the rope.

I tilt my head to the side, "How'd you learn how to do a tourniquet?"

"School shooting training," Avi answers numbly as she puts the cap back on the marker. "Gotta love teaching, right?" Red and blue lights start to shine in the cabin and we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. "Help's here, Aly," Avi says, squeezing the other girl's hand.

"DCPD!" Eddy shouts as he and several officers flood the room. He glances over and makes eye contact with Alyson and rushes over to her, "Oh my God, Aly…what happened?"

"Tom stabbed me," Alyson croaks, tears now cascading down her face as she hugs her uncle. "He was going to kill me."

"Shh," Eddy says as he rubs her back, "I'm here now, Little Moose."

"I don't think it hit any major arteries but I wanted to tie it off just in case," Avi says. "I wasn't sure how long it would be before you got here and it looked deep."

Eddy releases Alyson and wraps his arms around Avi, "Thank you for saving her." He releases her and looks up at me, "Both of you." He turns to look at Tom, "As for you, it seems as though you'll have a new residence for a while. I don't have time to read the charges you may have against you." He looks at the other officers, "Can you take him back while I get Alyson to the hospital?" They nod as Eddy scoops Alyson up and walks toward the door, Avi and I following behind.