Chapter 5 - The Struggle in the Dark
The impact sounded like a crack of thunder in the quiet bedroom.
Thorne was thrown backward into the doorframe, his head striking the hardwood casing with a dull thud. The auto-injector slipped from his gloved hand, skittering across the floor and disappearing beneath the dresser.
Daniel pushed forward, intending to pin Thorne against the wall and apply wrist restraints, but the older man was surprisingly fast and trained in close-quarters combat.
Thorne brought his heavy leather bag up violently, striking Daniel across the side of the face. The thick leather corner caught Daniel along his jawline, sending a flash of white heat through his vision and knocking his flashlight from his hand.
The flashlight rolled across the floor, its beam spinning wildly across the ceiling, casting long, frantic shadows against the walls.
Daniel stumbled back, his weapon dropping to the floor as he wrestled for control of Thorne’s wrists. The two men crashed into the heavy cedar wardrobe, shaking the frame so hard that brass coat hangers rattled inside.
Thorne growled, reaching into his coat pocket with his free hand, pulling out a heavy, tactical folding knife. The blade snapped open with a sharp, mechanical click.
"You're out of your depth, cop!" Thorne hissed, driving the blade downward toward Daniel's neck.
Daniel caught Thorne’s right wrist with both hands, stepping inside the strike, using his weight to drive the knife back toward the ceiling. The blade cut through the shoulder of Daniel's heavy police jacket, slicing through the thick cloth but stopping short of his skin.
With a surge of adrenaline powered by the image of Emma crouching in the knee-well of his desk, Daniel brought his knee up hard into Thorne’s midsection.
Thorne gasped, his breath blowing out in a sharp ragged burst, his grip on the knife loosening.
Daniel twisted the man's wrist sideways, forcing the joint past its natural range of motion. The knife dropped to the carpet. Daniel immediately hooked his leg behind Thorne’s knee, sweeping him off balance and driving him face-down onto the floor.
Before Thorne could push himself up, Daniel dropped his full weight onto the man's shoulder blades, pulling Thorne's arms behind his back and snapping his heavy steel handcuffs tightly around the federal agent's wrists.
Click. Click. Click.
Thorne lay breathing heavily against the floor, his cheek pressed into the carpet, his hat lying two feet away.
"You just assaulted a federal officer," Thorne rasped, spitting a thread of blood onto the floorboards. "You're done, Reed. You'll spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security penitentiary."
Daniel stood up, catching his breath, his chest heaving as he wiped a line of sweat from his forehead. He picked up his flashlight from the floor, pulled his sidearm back into its holster, and retrieved his knife and Thorne's auto-injector from under the dresser.
He reached into his jacket, touched the smooth leather cover of the red notebook resting safely against his ribs, and looked down at Thorne.
"You forgot one thing, Doctor," Daniel said, his voice icy and steady.
Thorne turned his head slightly, glaring through one swollen eye. "What's that?"
"You're in my jurisdiction," Daniel said.
He grabbed Thorne by the lapels of his raincoat, hauled him to his feet, and marched him down the stairs just as the sound of multiple sirens echoed down Maple Street.
Outside, red and blue lights illuminated the front lawn as four local police cruisers pulled up, blocking the driveway, followed closely by Detective Vance in an unmarked sedan.
Vance stepped out onto the porch, her coat unbuttoned, holding an official document bearing the gold seal of the State Circuit Court.
"Got the warrant signed, Daniel!" Vance called out as Daniel pushed Thorne out onto the porch. She stopped in her tracks, looking at the restrained federal agent. "Who’s your friend?"
"Dr. Aris Thorne," Daniel said, walking Thorne down the steps toward the waiting patrol cars. "He came to clean up the evidence. He's got an auto-injector in his bag that matches the compound found in Olivia’s system."
Vance’s eyes went wide. She looked at Thorne, then at Daniel, a look of profound respect flashing across her face.
"The state attorney just revoked Michael Carter's bail," Vance said, stepping up to Daniel. "And we got an emergency protection order signed for Emma and Olivia. They're safe, Daniel. They're officially in state custody."
Daniel let out a long exhalation, feeling the crushing weight of the last four hours slowly lift from his shoulders. He pulled the red notebook from inside his jacket and handed it to Vance.
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"Here’s the rest of it," Daniel said. "Every dose, every date, every symptom. He wrote it all down."
Vance took the book, holding it with care as if it were made of glass. "This is it," she whispered. "This puts him away for life."
