Donald opened the door by pushing it aside, but only enough for him to squeeze through.

Sheriff held up one hand, fingers spread wide for a countdown, giving Donald plenty of time to reach his car.

Slowly, it went five fingers, four, three, two, one, fist.

Then Sheriff spoke, "Donald Dunlap, place your hands in the air and turn to face away from the barn door. This is the Wolfe Springs Sheriff’s Office, and we have you surrounded."

Donald froze mid-step and started to laugh.

"Well, well, well, looks like the bitch was right. The backwoods sheriff did run to her rescue. I'll just bet you're out there, too, huh, Cowboy?"

Sean visibly flinched at the nickname. Regret once again flew through his heart. As a unit, nineteen people stepped out of the woods, surrounding the barn. All but Sean had guns drawn. The two visible men in black carried wicked-looking guns that looked like they could bring down a charging rhino in milliseconds.

Donald's confidence from a moment ago fled him, and he froze.

In the few seconds he could not move, two officers moved into position between him and the barn door. By the time Donald unfroze enough to run to the barn, there was no longer a place to go.

Donald no longer looked like the wealthy executive he presented to the outside world. Gone were the manicured nails and the one-hundred-dollar haircut. Before them stood a filthy, broken man. His slacks ripped and stained, a tie hung limply from his neck, and his shirt covered in blood.

When he started to bolt again, the sheriff spoke up, "Donald, just lie down on the ground, no sudden movements, and let me cuff you, man. This does not have to turn ugly. Your daughter is waiting to see you. She's right down the road."

"Man,” the demented Donald snarled, “my daughter is a traitorous bitch just like the rest of them. She can go to hell, for all I care."

As he spoke, he reached behind him under his jacket. Seeing that, something inside Sean snapped, and he charged Donald with everything he had.

Sean could hear the others yelling at him, but he was impervious to them all and bent at the waist as he approached Donald, who was pulling the gun around and getting ready to aim it at him. Before Donald could get a round off, Sean tackled him at the waist and took him down to the ground, causing the gun to go flying. As soon as they made contact with the ground, Sean took advantage of the wind being knocked out of Donald momentarily, and quickly moved so that he was sitting on him, holding him down, and he started to rain punches down as the older man groaned and tried to cover his face with his arms and wiggle from side to side in an effort to cause Sean to lose his balance.

The punches did not stop until Devon raced up behind him and bear hugged him from behind, trying to drag him off the other man. Since everyone was momentarily distracted, it took a moment to realize that Donald had crawled his way to his pistol while Devon tried to calm the struggling and blindly angry Sean.

Finally, one of the men shouted, "Donald, please do not move! We will shoot you!"

Donald began to laugh hysterically. "Let them!" he shouted gleefully as he leveled the gun to where the two men had just been struggling, and aimed it straight at Sean. "He goes with me."

Only five people heard the whispered, "I've got a clear shot."

Only four people saw the quick nod giving the sniper permission.

Back in the police car, Claire still listened on and, unable to see the nod, waited in anxiety for someone to speak, but her heart dropped at the next sound.

As Donald steadied his gun on Sean, perfecting his shot, he never even heard the silenced gunfire as one bullet went through and through. A perfect shot through the heart. He never even had a chance to feel pain.

No sooner did the body hit the ground, than Sean was up and running. He never stopped as he bounded over the now dead Donald. He didn't think of the consequences as he pressed the barn door wide open, and never acknowledged the shouts from all around him.

The heavy black rubber that had blocked the doorway and made it impossible for Katherine to determine where she was almost knocked Sean down as he struggled to get in.

He managed to catch sight of her tied to the chair and slumped over before the mat fell back into place, plunging the interior of the barn into darkness once again.

Sean ran straight to her, begging her to be alive, his eyes burning as his heart clenched in his chest.

"Oh God, Katy, wake up! Please? You cannot do this, Peach, come on. Come on, you stubborn girl. We did not come this far for you to die on me. Katherine, you have to answer me, dammit!"

Sean was shocked to find himself squeezing her arms while not so gently shaking her. Releasing her, he sank to his knees and in the darkness missed her the flutter of her eyelids.

"Peach, I promise you that if you don't wake up, I'll go home and shoot myself. Yeah, right between the eyes, and it will be your entire fault. No, dammit, I will not. Do you know what I will do? I will go back and marry Courtney. We’ll have three kids, and I will name them all Katherine. Every single one of them, boy or girl. Oh God, Katherine." During his tirade, he didn’t hear her speak, but as he fell silent, burying his head in her lap, he heard what could only be called a croak.

Immediately, his head jerked back up. "Peach?"

In response, she groaned.

"Hold on, baby. Help is coming. You just have to hold on, OK?"

Once again, she groaned.

"Oh, Peach, never again, OK? Never again are you getting out of my sight. I love you so damn much."

In the darkness, unaware or uncaring of the dirt and grime covering her, he rained kisses all over her face, each punctuated by a vow of love and a promise to never let her go.

He was determined that she would know exactly what she meant to him every day for the rest of their lives.