Mackey Residence

  Saturday

  2:03 a.m.

  Madison stands up from the toilet. She pushes down the flush lever with one hand and shuts the toilet lid with the other. Straightening her nightgown, Madison turns toward the sink. A loud thud greets her ears just as she spins the hot water knob. Then, a muttered curse through the wall. Madison's stomach lurches. The voice sounds nothing like James. Someone is inside her home.

  "Oh my gosh," Madison whispers, fear seizing her heart and causing it to race. "Oh my gosh. Oh no. Jamie."

  The infant is asleep in his nursery, one room over. Madison begins to panic.

  "Oh no. Please no. Not Jamie. What is going on?"

  Opening the bathroom door, Madison glances around. No one in the bedroom. Yet. The intruder must still be in the kitchen or somewhere in the hallway. From the closeness of the man's hushed voice, he was definitely in the kitchen.

  Madison rushes to the opposite side of the master bedroom. She opens the top drawer of the nightstand and withdraws the sleek Glock 17 pistol James purchased for her birthday the previous year. She quietly opens the second table drawer and removes the false bottom. Retrieving a small case of bronze 9mm ammo.

  She had hoped to never have a reason to use the silly weapon. But someone is in her house. And James has yet to come home. With things going the way they are, she won't be taking any chances. Not after Aquarius. Not ever again.

  Loading the pistol as quietly as possible, Madison slips on her new navy blue bathrobe. She'd bought it the day she and Gabrielle went shopping, as a complement to James' beloved trenchcoat. That evening, he'd enjoyed peeling it off of her. But right now, the bathrobe makes Madison feel as if he is somehow with her. As if, just as during weapons training, his hand is also hovering near the trigger of her gun. With her mind's eye, Madison imagines James beside her. She takes a deep breath and walks stealthily towards the bedroom door.

  Opening the bedroom door, Madison is surprised to find no one. She glances over her right shoulder at the baby monitor. No sound issues from the monitor's speaker to warn her of danger in Jamie's room. Did she imagine the voice? Is there someone really in her house?

  Madison steps into the hallway, walking slowly and quietly towards the guestroom--which has become Jamie's nursery. Still nothing. No hushed male voice, no movement, no baby crying. All is silent.

  Madison is just beginning to doubt her sanity when a figure in dark clothes jumps out of the linen closet. Madison catches movement from her peripheral vision as the man leaps forward. Taking a backwards step, Madison levels the Glock.

  "Don't move another inch," Madison hears herself yell. "I'm warning you. Don't come any closer."

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  A sarcastic male laugh reaches Madison's ears and her entire body shivers. The laughter is that of an evil man. Not unlike the crazed man who had almost raped her in that damned hotel over two years ago--the man posing as the Aquarius Killer. This new man's laugh sounds almost just the same.

  "I'm not kidding," Madison screams. "I'll shoot you. I'll shoot you dead. Leave my house. I won't ask you again."

  The man steps closer, unfazed by Madison's threats. He crosses both arms over his chest and sneers.

  "Then, shoot me. And you'll never see your precious son again."

  "What?" Madison yells. "You leave my son out of this, you bastard! Just get out of here! Get out of my house."

  "Sorry. Can't do that. I'm being paid real handsomely to take that little boy off your hands. And to make sure you remember this night. Your husband has ruffled a lot of feathers. We all figured we'd better ruffle some back."

  "What? What the hell are you talking about?" Madison inquires, feeling more panic than before.

  "Your husband likes to dig where he shouldn't. Can't really blame him. He's still rather new to these parts. Doesn't quite understand how things are done around here. A few of the boys uptown don't like that much. He's gotten a bit too close for comfort more times than a couple. The big bosses have decided it's time for Detective Mackey to go away. One way or the other. You and your son are gonna go away now. The kid...He's going to a new home. And you? Well, you're going with me."

  "Like hell I am!" Madison says, raising the weapon.

  Madison fires the pistol. The bullet grazes the dark-clothed thug's left shoulder. He hollers out, slightly jerking to the left with the force of the bullet's impact. Regaining his composure, the goon takes on a football player's stance and rushes Madison. A second shot goes wild over where his head was once positioned. The man bears Madison down to the floor before she can fire a third shot. Madison writhes beneath the dark-clothed man, trying to get a clear shot into maybe his side or armpit. The man easily disarms her, smacking Madison across the left cheek. After only a brief second of shock, Madison continues to fight--thinking only of Jamie Junior.

  "Leave my son alone, dammit! You leave him alone!"

  The man tightly grips Madison's wrists and pulls them over her head. He presses her wrists against the floor, as he looks her over.

  "Your son will be well cared for," the man says. "The bosses have a new family picked out for him and everything. I think they live somewhere in the UK. Loaded as fug! Don't worry. Little James will be just fine. And the two of us? We're about to have us a real good time."

  "Ergh...You asshole."

  "That's what they tell me," the man laughs. "Haven't tried it myself though. Might have to give it a shot."

  "Nooo!" Madison screams, spitting into her assailant's masked face before squirming underneath him.

  The thug only laughs, pulling his mask up and over his face. A gasp escapes Madison's lips as she takes in her attacker's face. James. The evil man hovering above her is nearly a spitting image of her James. A second hostage-taker suddenly appears from within Jamie's nursery. The newborn is held tight to the second thug's chest, a soft whimper escaping his tiny baby lips. Madison squirms under her captor even more. She stares up at her infant child nestled in the kidnapper's arms.

  "Please, don't. Don't take him. Please. Oh no."

  "Finish up and come on, Numbskull," the second criminal whispers. "Someone may have heard those shots. We can't be here when the police show up."

  The second man departs, taking Jamie with him. The first thug watches him go and then turns back to Madison. He grins cruelly down at her before removing his left hand from her right wrist. He lowers his hand to the tie on her robe.

  "This is gonna be real nice," he whispers.

  Madison uses her freed right hand to remove James' old ballpoint pen which is holding her unkempt bun in place. She grips the pen tightly, and draws it upward--stabbing the thug in his left ear.