Contents
Chapter 4: Thunder
Overview
Erwin Leffington, a DHS agent, visits jailed Steve Hodgson and connects his case to a Chicago bank heist orchestrated by Carolyn Sopaski and a likely accomplice, Lisa Garza. Before Erwin can act, a blood-soaked assassin storms the jail, murders multiple staff, kills Steve’s lawyer, abducts Steve, and departs, leaving Erwin alive and newly committed.
Summary
Erwin Leffington, ex–Army legend turned DHS agent, arrives at the county jail to question Steve Hodgson. After navigating awkward recognition and bureaucracy, he’s placed in the chapel to meet Steve alongside Steve’s resentful public defender, Larry Dorn. Erwin immediately signals he’s pursuing a larger case tied to Steve’s mystery woman.
Erwin reveals DHS findings: security footage of a Chicago bank robbery shows Carolyn Sopaski and another woman in a bathrobe calmly inducing tellers, including Amrita Krishnamurti, to fill a duffel with money while deliberately discarding dye packs. Matching fingerprints tie Carolyn to both the robbery and Miner’s house, yet public records for Carolyn and probable accomplice Lisa Garza vanish after childhood. A class photo and a newspaper snapshot suggest Carolyn and Lisa together, and a background child appears to be a young Steve.
As Erwin prepares to press Steve on the photo, screams and gunshots erupt. A shattered deputy (Rogers’s brother) identifies Steve to an intruder before the deputy is executed. A towering, blood-covered man in a tutu and flak vest storms in, toys with identities, then obliterates Dorn’s jaw and kills him with a chained spear.
Erwin stalls by invoking Carolyn and “Nobununga.” The killer recognizes Erwin from Natanz and pauses, then knocks Steve unconscious and carries him away. Erwin pursues too late through a slaughtered jail: staff and visitors are dismembered, the lobby is wrecked, and the attacker is gone with Steve.
Back in the chapel, Erwin smokes, processing the massacre and the photo linking Steve to Carolyn’s childhood. Thunder rolls as Erwin resolves to continue the hunt.
Who Appears
- Erwin LeffingtonDHS agent and ex–Army legend; interviews Steve, reveals Carolyn/Lisa leads, survives jail massacre, and pursues the case.
- Steve HodgsonFramed suspect; recounts meeting Carolyn, denies memory of Miner’s death; abducted by a blood-soaked attacker.
- Blood-soaked attackerGigantic, masked-in-blood killer in tutu and flak vest; massacres jail, kills Dorn, kidnaps Steve; recognizes Erwin.
- Larry DornSteve’s public defender; skeptical of Steve; graphically killed by the attacker during the assault.
- Deputy (Rogers’s brother)Jail staffer who idolizes Erwin; injured and then executed by the attacker at the chapel door.
- Carolyn SopaskiOffstage; identified by prints and video as Chicago bank robber; linked to Steve’s frame-up and erased records.
- Lisa GarzaProbable accomplice in bank heist; childhood classmate of Carolyn; adult records missing.
- Amrita KrishnamurtiBank branch manager; compliantly fills duffel during heist after brief contact with Carolyn’s partner.