The Gatlinburg Chronicles: Manhunt

Chapter Four

Meanwhile, Pierce and Clara were on the outskirts of Nashville. Pierce asked Clara, "Mrs. Lieberman, can you explain the plan one more time?"

"Sure," said Clara, "The policeman calls your mom, Vicky answers the phone, and you talk her out of hiding."

"Okay," said Pierce.

"The policeman will explain what you need to say. We'll have her out in no time," said Clara.

"If she's here, of course," said Pierce.

"I think she is, if you want my opinion," said Clara, "We searched every inch of Gatlinburg and she wasn't there."

A few minutes later, Clara's theory was confirmed when she pulled up to the address that Pierce gave her and the SWAT Team was already there. She asked, "Well, is Vicky Buckley here?"

"Yes," said the Nashville police chief, "She is. She barricaded herself in the house and is holding her aunt hostage. Who's this young man?"

Clara said, "This is Pierce Buckley. He's Vicky's younger cousin. He thinks he might be able to reason with Vicky."

"In that case," said the police chief, "I'll call the home phone number and get Vicky to answer. I'll take whatever help I can get to bring Vicky to justice."

Clara said to Pierce, "Pierce, this is your time to shine."

"Okay," said Pierce.

The police chief handed Pierce his cell phone and said, "Okay Pierce, to start out just have a nice conversation with her."

"Okay," said Pierce, "Hi, Vicky! Remember me? It's your little cousin Pierce!"

"Oh, hi Pierce!" said Vicky, "Have you come to save me?"

"Sort of," said Pierce, "How's it going? We never had that Halloween party!"

"Of course we didn't! The little voice in my head told me to take the Omega Rings instead!" said Vicky.

"Why don't you come out," said Pierce, "And we can plan for a Thanksgiving party! We can play with the Omega Rings together! And you won't have to go back to that looney bin ever again!"

"NO!" screeched Vicky, "You just wanna get me put in the asylum again!"

"No I don't!" said Pierce, "I love you! You're my favorite cousin in the whole world!" That technically wasn't a lie, as Vicky was Pierce's only cousin that he knew of.

The police chief then whispered in Pierce's ear, "Pierce, ask her if she can let your mom go!"

"Okay," said Pierce, "Vicky, I know you're mad at my mom, but can you let her go please? I love her and I need her!"

"You want your mommy back?" said Vicky, "Then come in and see her! I won't bite!"

Pierce said, "I can't just show up without Mom's permission! Why don't you let her outside for a minute so I can ask for her permission!"

"Sounds reasonable," said Vicky, "I'll let her out for a minute."

"Yes!" said Pierce, in a quiet but excited way to the police chief, "My mom's comin' out!"

The police chief radioed everyone with the good news. Pierce's mom ran out into the front yard, where she was swarmed and rescued by SWAT Team members.

The SWAT Team leader came up to the police chief and said, "Okay, the hostage is freed. We're sending a team in."

"Don't hurt her!" screamed Pierce, "She doesn't know what she's doing!"

"We won't hurt her!" yelled the SWAT Team leader.

Pierce got back on the phone with Vicky. He said, "Vicky, the cops are coming in! Put down whatever weapon you've got, and they won't hurt you!"

At that point, Vicky broke down. Her last words to Pierce were, "You traitor! I'll kill you!" She got out her gun and started randomly shooting through the wall. The SWAT Team leader threw a flashbang through the front window of the house as a last ditch effort to disorient her, which worked. A SWAT Team member was able to disarm and arrest her.

"Good job, Pierce!" said Clara, "I'm really proud of you!" She gave Pierce a hug as the police wrestled the half-unconscious Vicky into the back of the SWAT van.

Pierce walked up to the SWAT leader and asked, "What's gonna happen to her? She's insane, please don't send her to jail!"

"Jail? No!" said the SWAT leader, "She's crazy! She's goin' right back to the asylum."

"Thank goodness," said Pierce.

Pierce's mom rushed to Pierce's side, picked him up in her arms, and gave him a big hug (a difficult task, because he was pretty tall for a nine-year-old, even taller than Mike and Matt, and she wasn't a very big woman). She said, "Thank you, Pierce! You're the best son I could ask for!"

"You're welcome," said Pierce.

"How you convinced Vicky to let me go, that was genius, Pierce! You should become a police negotiator someday!"

"Thanks!" said Pierce.

Meanwhile, Mike, Miles, Matt, and Edwin were watching all this on TV from Erwin's house. Mike said, "I can't believe Pierce was able to do that, and nobody got hurt!"

Edwin said, "He's a real smart boy, that one. And Vicky, they'll lock her up in a looney bin till she rots!"

"I hope so," said Miles, "The way she killed that butler, that's an Among Us level kill there! They should yeet her out an airlock. Or into lava, or just throw her from somewhere high up like MIRA and the Airship."

Edwin said, "I like your idea, Miles, but legally you can't do any of that if she's insane."

Just then, Bill came into the living room, having slept for about five hours since he'd stayed up hovering over his kids the previous night.

Miles ran towards his dad and said, "Dad, they caught Vicky!"

"Did they?" asked Bill, "Where was she?"

"Nashville," said Miles, "At Pierce's mom's. She took her hostage."

Bill said, "Well, I'm glad they caught her. You guys want to go home or sleep over here?"

"Stay here," said Matt, "We're playing a pretty intense Monopoly game that might take two days to finish."

"Okay," said Bill, "I'll pick you up tomorrow evening."

"By the way," said Miles, "I don't have to wear pull-ups anymore. Grandpa gave me a pill that stops that from happening."

Bill said, "I don't want to take any chances just yet. Tell you what: If you have four dry weeks in a row, you can stop wearing them."

"Okay," said Miles.