Andrew Gross: 15 Seconds

This is it, Henry…

I thought about calling Carrie, but she would only tell me to wait, and my blood was pumping. So I went around the side, hugging the thick brush to stay out of sight. I got about fifty feet from the house, and didn’t see any lights. What I did see was a hefty Realtor lock on the front door, making me doubt that Hofer was inside.

I continued around to the back, searching for a clearing in the woods.

I saw a path leading straight from the weed-filled backyard, but I worried I might be spotted if I took it. There was a rotted-out jungle gym in back, and an aboveground pool, filled with crushed pinecones and weeds.

I crept around the side. Twigs crackled under my shoes as I made my own path through the woods, ripping branches out of my way. I didn’t know what I would do if I found this shed-only that my daughter was likely to be in it, as was the sonovabitch who had taken her.

You just go do what you have to do to get her back, Amanda had told me. The dead spark in her eyes was unmistakable. He’s got a host of hate inside him.

I pushed through the brush until I didn’t see any sign of the house behind me. My shirt, the one I had worn to the prison only hours earlier, clung to me with sweat.

Then I saw the tiny wooden shed deep in the woods.

No light on inside it.

No sound coming from it.

But I knew they were there. Call it a father’s radar.

My heart started to pound. It had a slanted roof and one window and what looked like a storage hut attached to it, as Amanda had described.

The door was slightly ajar, left open maybe in the hope of a breeze to ease the stifling heat. And I knew that’s where he was. With my little girl. Only thirty yards away.

I saw a rusted metal pipe on the grass. I picked it up. It was covered with moss and crusted rust.

As I held it, it occurred to me that we all have a certain capacity for violence if you dig down deep enough. If someone threatens what really matters in your life… If you went past fear and worry and dread…

And Hofer had dug down as deep as was possible in me.

I knew exactly what I would do with that violence if I got the chance.

I went back into the woods until I was sure I was out of sight and pulled out my phone.

I relished saying the words I’d wanted to utter since this whole sick and crazy business started:

“I’ve got him, Carrie.”

Sonovabitch…

Vance leaned against the window, smoking, and suddenly caught sight of Henry Steadman, not forty yards away, hiding in the woods.

Well, whaddaya know…

Vance was a man who could read you the name off a dog’s collar at a hundred yards at night, while Steadman probably wouldn’t know what breed it was if it was sitting on his lap. But there he was, nonetheless-Vance was sure of it-peering at him.

How the hell did he find his way here…?

Vance put out the smoke, went over to the storage closet, and unlocked the door. It was dark and damp in the cramped space, and the girl was both surprised and clearly frightened. She came out kicking and scratching at him. My, my,such a pretty little thing.

“What’s going on? No , get off of me!”

“No whimpering now, darlin’,” Vance said, pinning her arms. “You’re gonna get to see your daddy just like I told you. Only a little sooner than we thought.”

“Daddy!”

Her eyes stretched wide in surprise and Vance could see that she was just about to shout his name, so he hit her across the chin and her cute little eyes rolled backward, a stream of blood coming from her lip, and when she sagged in his arms, he picked her up, rolled off a length of heavy tape, and stretched it tightly across her mouth.

“Now scream all you want, angel. But your time’s up. This time it’s for real!”

He placed her down against a table, and grabbed the length of rope he had especially measured out, and wrapped the girl’s wrists, hog-style, so they were bound in front of her, and then sat her up, a leg on each side of the feeder bench of the circular saw, looping the rope through the winch on the blade’s axle and then tugging, making sure it was all tight.

He pulled the starter pedal over to where he’d propped her, slumped forward, and gave it a test run with a little pressure.

The jagged blade whirred and came to life.

Perfect.

He went back to the window and peered out again for Steadman. He didn’t see him right then. Which didn’t matter. Didn’t matter how he got here or who he brought along.

Or how many of them there were.

He was ready for them all.

He had separated all the chaff from however much wheat his poor life was ever going to produce. Thisis all for you, honey, he’d said to Amanda . I did what I said I’d do. I brought them all to their knees. For you. I punished them all who took away what was yours. Your life to live out. Your innocence. I took care of it, darlin’, the only way I know how.

I took care of it for you, Amanda.

He heard the girl moan slightly and start to come back to consciousness. Then he picked up his phone and punched in Steadman’s number.

You want to play it out, Vance thought with a smile, staring out at the trees, listening to the phone ring. He checked his gun.

All right, then, let’s play it out.

Itried Carrie twice-but she didn’t pick up. Maybe she was going through a stretch with no reception, which was easy out here in the boonies.

But just as I hung up, my own phone rang.

I was about to say, Carrie, listen…! When I saw the caller ID: HallieSteadman.

It was him.

I let it ring, nervous that control of the moment had been wrenched from me, not certain what I should say.

Then I realized: Hedoesn’t know I’m here!He’s calling to tell me where to go. I had the advantage after all.

And I was going to hear my daughter’s voice again!

I pushed the green button. “Yes.”

“Hey, Doc, how’s the weather where you are?” Hofer said with a chuckle. “I said I’d be back in touch. So I’m ready for you now. You want your little girl, don’t you?”

“Let me talk to her,” I said. “You touch a hair on her head, and I’ll kill you myself, Hofer. Put her on.”

“In a minute. In a minute…” he replied. “So where are you now? I think it’s time we meet up again.”

“Doesn’t matter where I am,” I said. “Put Hallie on.”

“Well, I hope you’re not too far away,” Hofer said with a drawn-out sigh, “ ’cause you’ll miss all the fun. It’s starting now, Doc. As we speak. I was sure you’d want to hear…”

“What?” I felt my insides gnash together with alarm.

“Yeah, you heard me. Now . Here, say something to your daddy, honey. He wants to hear that you’re okay… If you can even hear her, over this damn saw…”

I heard a chilling, whirring roar start up that sounded like nails being ground up and spit out.

“Daddy!” Hallie’s voice came on. “He’s going to kill me, Daddy! Daddy, you have to help me, please…”

“Hallie, you just hold on!” I shouted back, my guts wrenching. My fingers wrapped around the metal pipe.

“Hear her, Doc?” Hofer came back on. “She’s saying you better get here quick, ’cause all the fun…” The saw blade started to whir again, and Hofer elevated his voice above it. “It’s happening now!”