Hilda's point of view:

The day after we spoke to Arden, the three of us were on our way to the address in Washington. Max would be waiting for us at the end of the street. I was glad he agreed to help us since Jack couldn't do it, not with his leg. He was no doubt disappointed that he couldn't help with such a threatening job, but I informed him that Max would be doing it for him and he felt a little better about it, protection wise. He still wished he could've been there though, so we could be a team again.

After explaining all that to Jack, Harry and I went to the address. Emmaleigh wanted to stay back, overwhelmed by the sudden danger to her life if she would have continued with us. She said she was better off spending time with her father anyway. Harry and I didn't push for her to come, in fact we didn't even argue. I didn't want another one of my daughters putting themselves in danger. Not to mention Jack certainly needed some company, and Emmaleigh was glad to fill that space in.

Harry parked the car at the other end of the street in which the house was located. When we saw it, I almost felt that killers lived there. The house was in terrible condition, white and chipped from maltreatment. Windows were all covered with old, wrecked blinds from the inside, and the porch had a small, dirty table at the left side of it. There was also a broken porch swing that looked as though it hadn't been sat on for years. Bugs could be heard even from the distance Harry and I were at. The wings of moths, the clicking of the assorted beetles that crawled there, the webbing of spiders. It was absolutely disturbing.

Harry and I noticed Max's vehicle come up from the corner and park at the end of the street. I took a shaky breathe as he stopped the car and left it, closing the door as he moved over to where we were. He walked towards the passenger window where Harry was sitting and he knocked on the window. Harry rolled it down when I nodded at him to do so.

"Hilda, how are you darlin'?" He asked me. I tried my best to smile at him. He was such a good friend to us all. To just drop everything and go help someone in such a dangerous situation. I hoped my son and his would be the same kind of man Max was. Save for the two adult illegitimate children he had that his wife didn't know about.

"I'm alright. Max, this is Harry Gladwin. Harry, this is my old friend Max Keller," I introduced them. Harry and Max shook hands and said their hellos.

"Alright. So I suppose this house across there is the one we're lookin' for?" Max asked. I nodded and we watched the old and decrepit home a few metres away from us.

"That's the one. How do you suppose we should do this? We can't just knock and expect to be given information," I asked. Harry's arm hung over the edge of the car door, the open window letting warm air into the white Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Jack bought me for my birthday this year. I loved this car, it was one of my favourite gifts Jack had ever given me.

"You're right, we can't just ask to go in. Which is why we have to force ourselves in there," Harry replied. It had been a while since I had been in such an intense situation. I remember the Second World War, that was when I had done the most violent things towards people. Now it was time for me to come back just one more time. If it was for my daughter, I would ruin the lives of anyone who crossed my path. Hell hath no fury like a mother without her child.

"Let's go, then," I replied. I opened the door of the car and shut it as I stormed to the house. Max and Harry shared a look and then followed me across the road. I felt my gun hiding under the dress I wore, strapped to my thigh as Jack taught me to do years and years ago. I took the gun off the belt, lifting my dress up to the top of my leg and loading it, ready to be shot. Max and Harry were ready as well, Max lending Harry a gun in case he needed it.

Once I had my gun ready, I backed up a couple steps, and took a long, deep breathe. Within a few seconds I kicked the door down hard, letting out a grunt as it literally broke off its hinges. The door fell to the floor and as the dust of the chipped wood surrounded the air, I walked into the house like no one lived in it at all. Max and Harry followed, and Harry had a terrified look on his face after he saw me kick the door down to the floor. Max was smiling in approval, laughing at Harry's expression of amazement.

When we came into the house, we were greeted by an empty, poorly kept living room and attached kitchen. There was a staircase leading to a second level, but no one was up there either from what we could see. If someone was in here, they were hiding. They knew we were coming. There was a wrecked car in the driveway that looked like it just barely worked, which meant someone was here and had retreated.

"Come out here!" I shouted at the whole of the house as I pointed my gun in front of me. I moved into the living room to see if there was anything there I could find. There were many things on the coffee table, including drug paraphernalia. There were rows of what seemed like freshly bought cocaine on a glass surface, a couple American dollar bills as well. There were also some pills, some I could tell weren't bought from a regular drug store.

"Jesus!" Max exclaimed quietly as he saw all the drugs surrounded on the table. It was then that I noticed a small handgun beside the substances as well. I picked it up and checked to see if it was loaded, and there were bullets in it. I stole it for myself and placed it in the hidden holster under my dress. I then turned my head to Harry and Max at the entrance of the living room.

"Where do you think they went? You think they might be in the house?" Harry asked. I shrugged and shook my head as I sighed, relaxing the gun I had pointed in my hand. They had to be here, someone did. They wouldn't just leave all this unattended. Someone had to be placed here to watch over it while the actual people were fleeing from us.

"Yes, someone is here. They wouldn't just leave all this, even if they had to get out. If they had to leave everything they would've thought to take their drugs with them. Unless they have someone watching it for them while they're gone," I replied. Max nodded in agreement and walked to the kitchen to see if he could see anything. Just when we thought all we would have to do was look for someone, Max cringed in grotesque disgust as he looked into the kitchen.

"What's wrong?!" I asked as Harry and I made our way to the kitchen. When we went in, we saw something so very vulgar that I almost threw up right as I stood. Good thing my stomach had become strong since I married Jack and entered the army. One needed to be able to be exposed to things a little on the foul side.

All three of us were face-to-face with the dead, rotting body of Julius. I knew it was him based on the picture Harry had shown me when he first told me what had happened. It looked like he had been dead and lying there for at least a few days. This could only mean that Harry found that note a few days later than he was supposed to. He had all these marks on his heinous corpse, which meant he was killed violently and slowly. Whatever had happened to him, I knew he had been betrayed.

"Dear God," Harry said. He went down to Julius's dead side and struggled to be near it. Harry began to cry as he saw the mangled body of what would have been his best friend. I leaned against the wall as I shut my eyes to keep from being sick. It wasn't just the sight of it, the smell was devilishly overwhelming. That was mostly what had me scared to see if I had to vomit. Nothing compared to the shocking odour of a dead body in the midst of decaying.

"I could have saved him, if I had found that note sooner. He wouldn't be like this," Harry said as tears fell from his fair eyes. I shook my head and covered my mouth with my hand as I looked away from the corpse. Max ran his hand through his thick, dark hair and sighed as he placed his free hand on the back of Harry to assure him.

"There wasn't nothin' you coulda done. One step into this house and the man was already dead," Max replied. Harry didn't reply as he continued to mourn for his friend. I tried not to cry as he did. Every time someone who I cared for suffered I wanted to cry their tears for them.

"He must have been the one they asked to watch the drugs. That's why we had no trouble getting in," I observed. Max nodded in agreement and walked away from the body. Harry stood up and cleared his throat. He stared down at Julius and I watched him, to see what he was going to say. All I saw was pure heartbreak in his eyes.

"Can we at least bury him before we go today? We can search the house first, but he deserves a proper burial. He had no idea what he was doing," Harry said. I nodded and told him we would do that as soon as we were done looking around the house.

As we left Julius for a few more minutes, we went off to look around the rest of the house. I took the upstairs while the boys took the rest of the lower level. I decided to check the first and what seemed to be the master bedroom of the small house. Nothing here seemed nice enough to have a name like 'master bedroom'. There was barely anything in the room either. A queen sized bed and a dresser, a little TV sitting on top of it. Torn curtains on the window sitting on the side of the wall. There was a picture frame with a painting of a fishing landscape on the main wall.

I stood beside the bed and looked inside the nightstand. I opened up the open drawer and dug around for something to find. Most of it was discarded coins and pieces of wrappers of assorted things, a lot of them condoms. I could definitely tell what went on in that bed beside me and I didn't plan on sitting on it anytime soon. So I just crouched onto the floor and dug around in the drawer.

I didn't find anything in that drawer so I moved to the next one. When I went to open the drawer, it stopped right in the middle, and as I pulled it it wouldn't budge. That was when I realized there was something under the drawer that had been placed there. So I pushed the drawer up and pulled it out of the nightstand. I left it on the floor as I took out what I discovered to be a manilla file folder.

I sunk down onto the floor and opened up the file folder. Inside were a few pieces of paper, a small map of what looked to be Europe included. I left the map on the ground even though I saw a few red circles on it with writing. I left it because I noticed names that I knew, the name of my daughter and her new husband. They were plans to kill Flynn and Elora Nash, who had been newly married. They knew what happened, so that meant they were watching them while they were at David's.

I read the whole of the paper, and the plans were not to kill them right away. The plans were to let them think they were safe when they were being monitored carefully. After a while, the specific date of July twenty-eighth, they would strike and take them to the marked area on the map that corresponded with their names. That was when I took the map in hand again and looked to find their names on a specific place in Europe. When I read it, I swore quietly under my breathe. This couldn't be happening.

Elora/Flynn -- Berlin, Germany.

•••

Elora's point of view:

June 27th

I woke up in the morning quickly, my eyes bolting open as this twist began to churn in my stomach. I sat up quick and let my feet hang over the bed as I took in how I felt. Flynn was still asleep next to me, but I ignored him as I tried to breathe away the sickness. When it didn't work, I shook my head and ran to the adjacent bathroom, going to the toilet and expelling the contents of my stomach.

When I was done I fell back against the wall and sat down as I breathed myself back into normality. I ran my fingers through my knotty hair and swore under my breathe. That was when I heard the footsteps of Flynn making his way into the bathroom to see me on the floor looking like a total mess.

"What's wrong? Do you have the flu?" Flynn asked. I shrugged my shoulders and hid my face away from him. Flynn kneeled down to the ground and moved a piece of hair from my face and behind my ear.

"I must have eaten something from last night. What did we have?" I asked. He chuckled and shook his head. He kissed the side of my head and sat down next to me on the floor of the bathroom.

"We had salad last night. You couldn't have been this sick from that," he said to me. Then I had no idea what had made me so sick. There had to be a reason for it. One didn't just get sick for fun, as if their body was trying to do it to see what would happen.

"Maybe I am getting the flu. I didn't feel any other symptoms though," I replied. That was when Flynn froze in one spot and thought for a moment. He had this look on his face that made me alarmed. "What's wrong?" I quickly asked as I watched him stare off into the distance.

"When was the last you---had that time of the month?" He asked. I thought for a moment, thinking of the last time that was. I counted the days in my head, how long had it been? No, that couldn't be how long, could it?

"It has to be---four weeks. How did I not notice being a month late?" I asked. Flynn and I sat there in silence as we contemplated what this meant. It was like we didn't want to face it yet so we pretended we didn't know what this all told us. Four weeks has never happened to me before. That's too long for it to be just a skip, much too long. I can't believe it. I'm pregnant.

"You think it's---" Flynn said and then I cut him off.

"It might be. We need to check," I said. Flynn nodded, staying in his place as we silently drank in the fact that I may be having a child in the next several months. Now was not the time to be having a baby. I knew we were married and that was what was supposed to go on when someone was married, but as of now it wasn't safe. Not when I was being chased by the KKK around the whole of the country. What would become of a baby in this kind of time? I didn't want any child of mine being exposed to such horrendous approach.

"What if you are pregnant? What goes on then?" He asked. It seemed to me that this was the first time he was asking me the question and not the other way around. For so long I had been used to asking all the questions, depending on him for answers. Now that it was switched around it had me nervous.

"I wish I could tell you. I mean, with all this going on, is this the best time to be having children? What if something happens and I can't protect the baby? I would die if I knew it was my fault that our child is taken away," I replied. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly, a comforting warmth washing over me as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine, alright? I'll make sure that everything turns out good," he replied. I wished I didn't have to depend on him all the time. I wished I could have been more self sufficient, that I would not have to ask so much of him. I hoped that one day I would be able to fight for myself.

Just then, the door of the bathroom knocked, and we stood from the floor. Flynn opened it up and David was there, looking frantic. I crossed my arms around my chest and fearfully asked him what was wrong. It looked like he had seen a ghost.

"It's your mother. She's here, and you are both in danger," he replied.