-Epilogue-

Trooper Kent Dixon was at the wheel and Trooper Angie Winger was in the rear seat with Ren.

Ren never saw the mountains, she was blind to the forests, the rivers and the sweeping valleys as their patrol car made its way to Seattle. She never heard Winger emphasizing that Ren was not at fault for hitting the two men on the road and was unlikely to be charged.

The only thing Ren saw was Lee, Eileen and the kids smiling at her from the picture on her phone, which she held tenderly in her hands.

I should’ve been there. I should’ve been with my son.

By the time the troopers had gotten Ren to Harborview, Lee had just come out of surgery. The medical staff allowed her to join Eileen to be with him in his room as he recovered.

Lee hadn’t yet awakened from the anesthesia and in addition to the oxygen tube under his nose, he had several other tubes coming out of him at his collarbone, his arm and stomach.

“We’ll take most of those tubes out in the next few days,” Doctor Linda Halverson told Eileen and Ren. “Lee’s surgery went well. All indications are good. But it’s early.”

Halverson said the next few days would be critical.

In that time they had monitored Lee’s fluid intake and urine output, as well as his blood pressure and blood creatinine level. All of his numbers were good.

After two weeks, Lee was released.

Another week beyond that, Lee was in a federal government building in Seattle working with the FBI. They had brought him into a fortified, secure but barren room where he sat at a table across from a man in a prison jumpsuit. The man was shackled with chains at his ankles, wrists, with handcuffs locked to a bar on the table.

Robert Lazarus Yacine.

Two large agents positioned the unique spider tattoo on the back of Yacine’s hand so Lee could see it.

Yacine’s cold eyes assessed Lee, who had no fear of him.

Lee leaned forward, inspected the tattoo, the intricate design was burned into his memory instantly pulling him back to that day in the bank lying on the floor . . . the gunmen shooting . . .killing people . . . screaming, crying . . . one of the killers reaching down for the kid’s cell phone . . . exposing the spider tattoo on the back of his hand . . .

The tattoo Lee was staring at now.

He nodded to the FBI.

“That’s the tattoo,” Lee said.

Later, Lee’s testimony at Yacine’s murder trial, proved to be key to convicting him and Yacine was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

As more time passed Lee’s new kidney continued working well with the doctors growing confident as every indication pointed to a good transplant.

Lee would live a long, happy life with his family.