Previously…
– Sarah and Matt gave Landon a flash drive and a key to Tori and Zane’s apartment. They tasked him with getting information off Zane’s computer to prove that he had hacked Objection’s servers.
– Landon’s attempt to execute the plan was interrupted by Helen Chase, who brought over a pot of homemade chili for Tori and insisted on walking out with Landon when they discovered no one was home.
– Diane attempted to keep Zane busy at KBAY, but he left her a note saying that he was heading home to retrieve something.

Landon Esco sits in the driver’s seat of his car, fiddling with his iPhone — or, at least, pretending to fiddle with it — while casting frequent, anxious glances through his windshield. After what feels like forever, but is probably only a minute, he sees Helen Chase’s car pull away and drive off down the road. Only when he exhales does he realize that he has been holding his breath. He was already tense, knowing that he had a limited amount of time in which to pull off Sarah and Matt’s plot while Tori and Zane are away from their apartment, but Helen’s unexpected intrusion really threw him for a loop.

Feeling jittery, he once again checks his pocket for the flash drive and key that Sarah gave him and then steps out of the car. He makes his way back into the apartment building, using the buzzer code that Sarah also provided, and takes the elevator up to the floor where Tori and Zane live. 

He looks both ways down the hallway after stepping out of the elevator. A neighbor, a guy in his 30s with a proud Pacific Northwest hipster beard, is at the door of one unit to the left. After a moment, he lets himself into the apartment. Landon hears the door lock behind the man. 

“It’s now or never,” he says under his breath, and then he fishes out the key and moves quickly toward Tori and Zane’s door.

—–

“Looks like everyone is ready for dessert,” Matt Gray says as he pushes out his chair from the dining room table and stands. His mother-in-law, who is seated at the head of the table, reaches for Matt’s plate and stacks it atop hers.

“Paula, we’ve got it,” Matt tells her.

“Seriously. Let us,” Sarah Fisher Gray adds as she, too, rises from her seat. 

“I can help,” Tori Gray offers.

“Stay and talk to your grandma,” Sarah says with a gentle smile, which she hopes is adequate cover for the stress roiling within her.

“I won’t help!” Billy yells from across the table before bursting into a maniacal laugh.

Matt raises his eyebrow in his stepson’s direction. “You’ve only got a few years left of getting away with that, buddy.”

Paula lets out a contented sigh. “It really is nice to have all of you around one dinner table.”

“I agree,” Sarah says as she gathers the dinner plates. 

A moment later, she follows Matt into the kitchen. While he pulls the ice cream from the freezer, she loads the dishes into the dishwasher. She is just placing the last one in the rack when she feels her phone buzzing wildly in her pants pocket.

The dish lands in the rack with a clatter as Sarah scrambles to answer the call. Her heart rate only quickens when she sees that it is Diane calling.

“Hey,” she says as she holds the phone to her face. Matt looks up, intuiting from her tone that it could be something serious. Sarah holds up her index finger to tell him to give her a minute and then opens the sliding glass door that leads out to the back deck. The pleasant, nighttime summer air hits her in a refreshing wave as she closes the door behind herself.

“What’s up?” Sarah asks. 

“It’s Zane,” Diane says over the line. “He’s gone.”

“What do you mean, he’s gone?”

“I stepped out of my office, and I came back to a note saying that he was running home to get some— some thing he thinks will fix my computer.”

“Home?!” Sarah’s breath catches in her throat. “Are you sure?”

“That’s what the note said. You need to—“

“—warn Landon. I will. Thanks, Diane.”

“I’m really sorry about this, Sarah.”

Unsure how to respond, Sarah simply ends the call and then fumbles to pull up Landon’s info. She places the call and then waits, milliseconds ticking away with deadly intensity.

“Pick up,” she mutters. “Come on, Landon. Pick up.”

—–

Landon’s entire body trembles as he uses the key to let himself into the apartment. He stops just inside the door, glancing around to get his bearings, and then hurries toward the formidable setup of multiple monitors, a keyboard, speakers, and a slew of wires and ancillary tech items that he can’t totally identify — all on a large desk that takes up the space that is supposed to be the dining area. He manages to boot up the computer with only one minor misstep and then rapidly reviews the instructions that Sarah gave him before he inserts the flash drive into a port.

Once he is into the system, everything is far more straightforward than he thought it might be. He is clicking the mouse as quickly as he can when he feels his phone vibrating. The sight of Sarah’s name on the caller ID sends him into even more of a panic.

“Hey,” he says as he answers, trying not to miss a beat as far as copying the files he was sent here to find.

“Are you done yet?” she asks, her voice crackling slightly over the line.

“I’m doing it now. I got held up—“

“Get out of there.”

“What? I’m almost—“

“Zane is on his way home,” Sarah says with grave seriousness. “Diane just called me. He left work to go pick something up.”

“Shit!” Landon clicks the mouse a few more times and then waits — watching the files’ progress move with excruciating slowness — as the needed files transfer onto the flash drive.

“Just go!” Sarah shouts, and then the line goes quiet. It takes Landon another moment to realize that she hung up. He shoves the phone back into his pocket and then double-checks the flash drive.

“I got it,” he says to himself as he ejects the drive and, clutching it in his sweaty palm, shuts down the computer. None of his limbs seem to be moving at the same rate — some slow, some moving too fast for him to control — as he rushes back to the door, opens it, slips outside, and sticks the key in the lock to leave it just as he found it.

He finishes locking the door and is testing the knob just to be sure when he hears the voice behind him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Landon’s stomach sinks, and he turns to see Zane Tanaka standing there, glowering at him.

—–

When Sarah reenters the house, she finds Matt at the counter, transferring the rhubarb pie from its box to a serving plate. He stiffens up as soon as she returns.

“What’s going on?” he asks in a hushed voice.

In a whisper, she responds, “It was Diane. Zane left the station randomly. He said he was headed home.”

Matt’s eyes widen with alarm. “Did you…?”

“I called Landon. He was getting out of there.” She breathes in through her nose and then exhales heavily. “I just hope he moves fast enough.”

—–

“Zane. Hey,” Landon says, doing his best to project cool even though his entire body is vibrating with nervousness. “I, um—“

“Were trying to break into my apartment? Right?” Zane asks, folding his arms. His biceps bulge intimidatingly through his long-sleeved, grey t-shirt. 

“No! No. I was— I came by to ask Tori a question, and I knocked and thought I heard someone, but then there was no answer, so I thought— well, I was worried something might be wrong, so I tried the knob, and—“

“I want to know what the fuck you’re up to,” Zane demands as he takes a step closer to Landon. “Start talking.”

“I just told you…” Landon wants to cower or try to run away, but he knows that his best bet right now is to act as nonchalant as he can. “I’m sure it didn’t look— I’m sure it looked like something else, but I was just seeing…”

“What is this? Are you stalking my girlfriend?”

“Stalking?! What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to figure out why else you’d be here at night, trying out the doorknob to see if you could get in.”

“Zane, I’m sorry. I meant what I said—“

This time, Landon is interrupted by the sudden shock of Zane’s fist connecting with his cheek.

“Shit!” he cries out as he staggers backward, hitting the door as his hands reach for his already-stinging face.

“I’m fucking serious,” Zane says, lumbering over Landon as he crunches against the door, pain radiating from his cheek through his eyes and all over his face.

“I’ll go. I promise, you won’t see me around here again,” Landon says. He makes a move to slip past Zane, but then he feels a strong hand grab him and roughly force him back against the wall.

“I don’t want to ever — ever — see your face again. You hear me?” Zane says. “I could call the cops right now.”

Realizing how relatively lucky he is that Zane only caught him outside the apartment, Landon gasps, “I was only outside your place. I never— I didn’t—“

“Shut up!” Zane says, and then his hands are around Landon’s throat, and despite his squirming, Landon feels his breaths becoming more and more difficult. He strains to meet Zane’s eyes and is terrified to find them full of unbridled rage. 

“Let me go!” he croaks.

But all he can feel is Zane’s iron grip, and all he can see is the fire in Zane’s eyes. Landon tries to kick his legs in desperate hope of escape, but he doesn’t make any progress.

And then he hears something he never expected to hear:

“Get your hands off him!”

Landon hears the strangely distant sound of a thunk, and then he sees Zane’s face go slack. A millisecond later, Zane’s entire body follows suit, and his hands release their hold on Landon’s throat as Zane slumps to the side. 

When his body falls over, Landon stares in shock at Helen Chase, proudly holding her dish of chili with both hands and sporting a stunned but satisfied grin on her face.

END OF EPISODE 1081

Is this the end of the line for Zane?
Did Landon get the necessary information?
Will Tori discover what her parents and Landon did?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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