Chapter 1
Judge Martin was awakened by a loud boom that echoed through her lavish courthouse apartment. At first, she thought it was simply thunder from the storm that had been raging for the last hour, but then she heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming down the hall. The boom had been the large outer doors being hurriedly slammed shut.
Turning on a bedside lamp, she climbed from the bed and slipped on a robe that was draped across a nearby chair. She was about to go out and see what was going on when there was a knock at her room door.
“What is it?” she yelled, actually trying to sound annoyed.
The door creaked open and one of her aides stepped inside. “Judge, there has been an incident at the holding facility.” The aide, although a large woman was a husky smoker’s voice, sounded timid as though afraid to speak.
“What kind of incident?” Catherine Martin was now raising her voice. Her eyes squinted to see the woman in the dim light as if to judge her by her features.
“There’s been an escape attempt, ma’am.”
“An escape attempt – how? Did anyone get out?”
The aide took a step back into the doorway. “Yes, ma’am. The doctor and the police chief have escaped. But we stopped one of the others!” she added quickly.
The judge’s face suddenly turned red. “Then it wasn’t an attempt, was it!” she yelled. Drawing the belt of her robe tight, she started for the door.
“Who did you stop… I want him brought to me!”
The aide lowered her head, “I’m sorry, Judge, but it was the old man, Jake Perry. I’m afraid he died in the attempt.”
Catherine Martin stopped short. “Died? What about the boy, Jason?”
“Oh, he’s fine. He didn’t even try to escape.”
The judge thought for a moment, then asked, “How did Perry die?”
“He was shot, ma’am,” the aide said, still staring at the floor.
“Shot!” Catherine Martin screamed the word making the aide jump. “Who shot him?!”
“I don’t know, Judge. It was dark and I wasn’t there when it happened.”
“Where were you?” the Judge demanded.
“I was securing Jason’s room door.”
Realizing the woman had actually done the right thing at the time, this calmed the judge for a moment.
“Okay, done is done. What we have to do is get a search party out and find those who have escaped.”
“We are already organizing for the search now.”
“Good,” Catherine Martin nodded. “Also, find my sister.”
“She’s already being held, Judge. She may have helped in the escape.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me at all,” the judge confided. “But that’s okay. She’s going to get an opportunity to redeem herself. Tell her I want the boy, Jason, fixed so he won’t ever try an escape. Tell her I want him hobbled.”
The aide gave a questioning look. “Hobbled?”
“That’s what I said, hobbled! Crippled! Hobbling him won’t interfere with our needs, will it?”
“No, ma’am, I – I guess not.”
Good! Have my sister take off one of his feet. She’s a nurse… she knows how to do it without killing him. Should have done it with all of them!”
“Judge, I don’t think Robin will do that.”
“She will. You tell her to hobble him or she won’t see her daughter again,” the judge warned with a glare.
In less than an hour, the judge had everyone awake and in the cafeteria of the holding facility. A chair had been placed behind one of the long lunch tables for Catherine Martin to sit in, but she was too worked up to sit. She had not said anything up until this point, simply glaring at the crowd before her. Finally, she asked for the facility administrator she appointed.
“Where is Diane?”
Her question was at first met with silence, then Catherine’s sister spoke up, “She is in the infirmary unconscious. She took a bad blow to the head.”
Seeing her sister, the judge pointed a finger at her and mouthed the words, come here. Robin stepped forward, her face expressionless.
“Where did they go?” the judge said, almost in a whisper.
“I have no idea.”
Catherine Martin nodded. “But you knew they were going to escape?”
“No,” Robin answered honestly with a shake of her head.
The judge hesitated for a minute and then said flatly, “but you did help them.”
Robin looked into her older sister’s eyes, “Yes, I helped them. You can’t keep people locked up like they are animals.”
The judge lowered her eyes and shook her head slowly.
“I thought you understood what I was doing here. Without us protecting them we could be without any men at all. I thought you understood this? You agreed to help the doctor look after the men… what happened?”
“Nothing happened. I didn’t agree with it then and I don’t agree with it now. I only did it because the doctor needed help.”
“Fine,” the judge said, turning away from her. She started to walk off but then turned back. “Well, now you are going to help me.”
“And how is that?”
The judge leaned in closer so only Robin could hear.
“You are going to help me by hobbling the boy, Jason. I don’t want him trying to escape.”
Robin opened her mouth, but no words came out at first. Even for her sister, this was lunacy. Finally, she found her words, “Are you crazy! I will do no such thing!”
“Not even for your daughter?”
Robin’s emotions were running wild. She swallowed hard and shook her head. She could not believe what her sister was asking of her.
“I can’t, Cat.” her eyes beginning to fill with tears and her lip quivering slightly.
“Fine,” the judge said flatly. She then motioned to one of her guards holding a shotgun to step closer.
“Jason, come here.” She called the young man, almost cooing. He had been standing in the back of the room with a girl no more than sixteen. Slowly he made his way up to the front.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this, Judge,” he said almost pleading. “I didn’t even know they were going to do it!”
“I know, Jason,” the judge said with a slight smile. “I just don’t want you to get any ideas about leaving.”
“I won’t, Judge. I promise,” he pleaded, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “I – I like it here.”
“I know you do, Jason… but there is always that chance.”
Catherine Martin extended her hand, and the guard released her shotgun to her without question.
“I just have to be sure.”
Dropping the barrel down, she placed it almost point blank on his right ankle and fired. The buckshot tore through his leg, almost severing his foot, save for a little skin and cartilage.
When the most of the screaming had died down, the judge looked at her sister and calmly said to her, “I believe you have a patient to care for. Please give him the best of care. After all, he is an endangered species.”
