There was another time when Cathy had a fever, and she was sending her to the hospital. She couldn't get a cab. Laura called somebody, and then five minutes later, a cab came downstairs…

"It is you who are always helping us, right?"

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k didn't deny, "I promised Tristan to take care of you and your child, so whenever you need help, don't hesitate to ask me."

Kate looked down to the floor and said, "I do need a favor from you."

"A big favor."

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k waited patiently. A few seconds later, she spoke with a very low but determined voice, "I want to save him out."

On sleepless nights of the past few months, she would go through Tristan's collection of VCDs and saw the movies. There was one she saw several times-The Shawshank Redemption.

It was not just the body that was freed, the soul was freed too.

The hero served a long time in prison. The dreary and desperate environment gave him quiet power and encouragement. She remembered the script, "Some birds are not meant to be caged…Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild…"

She recalled the time when she visited Sam in prison. It was half a year after Tristan got shot. All the persons who have been arrested were convicted. Sam was the one who got the longest term, life-time, but this was the best the highly paid lawyer could do.

When Kate saw him in prison, he was shaved, wearing an orange uniform, gloomy. He asked about his Boss and made no comment after Kate told him. Talking about Ed, he said it was good for him.

Kate didn't understand. Living was better than dead; like him, if he behaved well in prison, one day he could be released on parole.

Sam shook his head, "No. They are different, especially for Boss. Freedom and dignity are more important than life."

When the movie was over, Kate stayed up in the dark till the day broke.

The second day, she tried to avoid the surveillance of the police and called the number Jessie gave her. After some trouble, she finally got through to Chapman, who was abroad. He told Kate Tristan had an offshore account. When she heard the amount in that account, she was shocked. The only thing she thought of was money talks. With this huge sum, she should be able to save him.

The next step was how to do it.

Kate knew she didn't have the power. Chapman was abroad, and there wasn't much he could do. And the plan wasn't easy to carry out.

And then she thought of one thing.

Two years ago, Tristan brought her to a birthday party, and they had…

Afterward, she asked him what if there was a camera that captured what they did. You don't care about your face, but I care…He smiled and said, since he could do it, he was sure that the person could be counted on. And she thought about the way Tristan and Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k acted and spoke to each other. It seemed different from the others. No affected politeness or flattery. They were sincere to each other.

She then told Chapman about her thoughts. Chapman gave it a thought and then said this could be tried.

Kate didn't want to try. She meant to succeed.

After she had that idea, she became obsessed with it. She thought about it every day. What supported her was an abstract hope which had physiological help rather than real meaning, how the plan was real. Looking at her daughter, who was growing every day, she said inside, "Mama is going to get papa with you. We three have to be together."

Her resolution wasn't something others could understand immediately.

Like at this moment when Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k heard from her, he raised his eyebrows and paused a few seconds. He said, "I have kept an eye on Tristan's situation. To be honest, I am not optimistic about the plan. In his present physical conditions, taking him out is dangerous. He might die on the way. And even if he succeeds in getting out, the days ahead will be a huge challenge too. If he's physical conditions remain the same…"

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k's eyes fell on Kate, "Girl, you are no more than 20 years old and with a child. You think you can take care of him all the time?"

Kate didn't reply immediately. She thought about it and then said, "He could have a chance to leave, but he stayed for me, for our child. He knew what it meant to stay. He risked his life for me…"

Tears rimmed her eyes. She met the old man's sharp eyes directly, "Why shouldn't I take care of him all my life?"

"He said we three had to stick together. He did what he said." She tried to suppress her sobbing, "I promised him to give him a home. I have to do that. He is in a coma now. And maybe he will always be in a coma, but I know he has feelings. Being at home is definitely different from being in the hospital."

It is being watched by armed guards and confined in a space only a few square meters, what freedom is it?

All the basic activity is done by an unfamiliar nurse, what dignity does he has?

"I want to do all these things for him. I am his wife." Tears blocked her eyes, and in the mist, a piece of the gray handkerchief was given to her.

She accepted it, wiped her tears, and held it tightly in her palm. Her emotion had nowhere to vent. Only the hands wrung the handkerchief with so much force that her body trembled slightly.

Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k looked at her, and his eyes reddened too. He sighed and padded her shoulder and said chokingly, "He picked the right person."

The consensus Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k and Kate had was the plan was meant to succeed if it was to be done.

The success had to include eliminating all the trouble after getting out. Otherwise, on the run or being wanted or hiding with fright was not counted as being freed. It was another kind of imprisonment.

However, they had numerous obstacles to the plan.

After two major crackdowns on the criminals, LA was now in a much-refreshed look. The one who replaced Mayor Donald Harderson was a doer. He wanted to use Tristan's case to ring the alarm bell to all civil servants and the businessmen who tried to set foot on some gray area. Mr. Hitchc.o.c.k hence became one of the watched parties and had to keep a low profile.

So this plan had to be carried out slowly and prudently.

Luckily the society was still pursuing efficiency. Plans, powers, focus were always shifting. As time went by, some of the things faded out of public attention.

Kate got the news from Jessie that she got married abroad. Donald Harderson died one year after he left the States. And Jessie's husband met her and stayed by her side when she was having the hardest time of her life.

Jessie told Kate that her husband knew a Chinese doctor who practiced acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He had once woken up a vegetable by acupuncture and herbs. Of course, herb medicine sounded dangerous, but they might try acupuncture. Who knew a miracle would not happen?

After Kate heard from her about this, she became impatient.

Tristan had been in a coma for four years. There were a few times he had abnormal EEG, but after that short period of activity, he remained sleeping. It made her start to lose her faith. The more she cared, the more she scared and the more she expected.

And the time for the plan also became mature.

A few days before the plan was carried out, Kate went to the church. She looked at Jesus' portrait on the wall. God looked at her with pity and mercy. He seemed to see through her mind.

Yes, what she was going to do or even was doing was repeating what he did-

Using other's weaknesses or taking advantage of the loophole of the system to satisfy one's own d.e.s.i.r.e.

God will judge you for what you did. He did something wrong, and he was bound to be punished.

As she told Jimmy, if God wanted to take him away, she could not stop it.

She didn't say if God gave her a shred of chance, she could grab it.

She believed God took mercy on him.

So this was what others saw or heard:

The doctor issued a critically ill notice. Two weeks later, acute renal failure made the doctor issue critically ill notice again. And the patient's family signed the DNR (Do-not-resuscitate).

And thus Tristan was gone from this world.

The other actions followed the regulated procedures and also as planned.

A month later, a human vegetable was smuggled out of the country.

And with Chapman's or money's operation, the human vegetable had a legal identity.

And now the person who stood in front of Kate, hugging her tightly, to be more exact, was not called Tristan anymore. But he was her husband, the father of her child, the source of happiness and sorrow of hers, and also the faith of hers.