Reprisal

Chapter 2

The first thing when I got out of prison was calling in a favor from one of my father's old friends, a private investigator called Hank Farman. I had told him everything about the circumstances that led to my arrest, and no more words were needed to convince him of helping me to find Billy and bring him to justice; Hank himself had run into a few troubles with Billy in the past, who he called "an insanely clever kid with just the right amount of screwed up, double-crossing genes".

Soon after I hired Hank, he was able to provide me with Billy's current whereabouts, some little town called Woodcrest, which was only 50 miles away from where I was living - so apparently he had decided to stay as close to his old home as he could afford. Talking about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, I guess.

Ever since I knew where to find him, I had been slowly planning my revenge, providing myself with a gun that a friend of Hank's got me. I had also written down the fastest route down to Woodcrest, considering all the detours along the way, all the possible spots where the police might be showing up before I got my way with Billy. It took me two weeks to go over my now set plan over and over again, and it still wasn't as perfect as I thought, but due to Emma getting more and more suspicious with every day that passed without me making a step into the direction she waited for me to do, I had no other choice but striking now.

Looking at her picture stuck to my rear view mirror, I gave myself one last chance of a change of heart. To let it all go. To let Karma sort it out, like I had told her.

But the moment my eyes caught sight of her beauty, something inside me clicked and I knew he would never stop haunting me, no matter how hard I tried to forget him. In the future, there would be some way he'll find me and destroy everything I've worked so hard for. So there, in the front seat of my car, I made a decision.

I took my phone out of my pocket and went through the list of numbers. When I reached the name I was looking for, I took a deep breath and dialed the number, waiting. A niggling little doubt shoved into the back of my mind the second it reappeared.

"Chicago Police Department, what is your emergency?"

I swallowed, my voice momentarily strained. "Uhm, yes, hello? This is Max Harding, can I speak to Chief Bernardo, please?"

"I'm sorry, but Chief Bernardo is very busy at this time, what is this about?"

"He's expecting my call."

There was a short, insecure silence on the other end as the officer put his hand on the mouthpiece of the telephone and spoke in a hushed voice to someone in the background. Either he was a rookie who didn't know the right protocol for case like this, or he was an overachiever eager to please his boss by keeping any kind of unnecessary disturbance away from him.

I drummed my fingers on the dashboard of my car, waiting and getting nervous by the second, and all the time I heard mumbling in the background, getting more and more agitated.

Then all of a sudden, the booming voice of Chief Richard Bernardo rang in my ears as he picked up the receiver.

"Mr. Harding!" he said, anticipation in his voice. "Thank you for finally giving me a call! I assume you got our offer?"

"Yes, sir, thank you," I replied, feeling worse with every passing second. "It was a very kind offer, and I appreciate you giving me a chance."

There was silence on the other end and I knew that the Chief realized the reason for my call was a different one than he expected.

"But...?"

"I'm sorry, but I have to decline." I sighed, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "There has been a family issue down south. My father's really sick and I am afraid I have to move to help my mother preparing for the worst."

I waited a beat, and even in the dead silence, I knew that no matter how convincing I had sounded, there was no way the Chief believed a word I just said. After all, he was a cop at heart, and a cop always knew when someone was bullshitting him.

So I waited for the inevitable "Cut the crap" speech, frantically searching for something else to say to get out of this, when Bernardo said: "I'm sorry to hear this, Mr. Harding, but of course I understand your circumstances. I was looking forward to have you in my team, and I hope that whatever you'll find down south, you'll find it. All the best for your future, young man." His intonation of "down south" made it clear he knew I was lying, but for some reason, he decided to let it go. To let me go into whatever I had chosen in favor of this second chance in life

One last time, I felt my resolve waver, but as my eyes caught sight of the picture of Emma once again, I shook it off, my decision as clear as it had ever been.

"Thank you sir, I hope so, too," I said, ending the call before either of us could say something that would change my mind. Then I stared at my phone's display for a long time, subconsciously waiting for the Chief to call me back, to keep me from walking into doom. When it didn't happen, I shook my head, clearing it of any last specks of doubt I had. I took out the map on which I had encircled Billy's address, started the engine and slowly made my way to end my 5-year nightmare.