The Hunger Games - Surviving The Storm - book 3

Chapter 13

My husband and I laid in silence the entire night. I was too stressed to sleep and so was Jackson. The moment the first hint of morning came we were up out of bed and getting on with the beginning of our days. In turn our day was nothing but talking about how to fix this situation of Finnick killing me.

"What do we do?" I spoke as I sat beside him outside in the graveyard.

I was sitting beside the grave of Katniss Eamon and Jackson was sitting beside Tierney's. We both avoided looking too long at either of them so we could keep focused on the task at hand.

"Maybe we can out him for extortion and murder." Jackson suggested.

I looked at him and shook my head. "That is punishable by death are you sure you can kill your brother?"

If it was me and my brother was the culprit I was uncertain if I could rat him out if I knew that he would be killed for his crimes. Then again my family was my life and I was closer to my brother than Jackson was to his.

"If it's the right thing to do." He replied. "And the last time I checked it was."

He was right. It was the right thing to do. We had a family to protect and I would go to the ends of the earth to protect them. Jackson would to and that was one of the reasons why I loved him. He knew how to show his love for me.

"So where do we start?"

Jackson rose to his feet and moved to grab the telephone before he began dialing a few numbers. After a few seconds he began talking.

"Yes this is Jackson Ripper and I'd like to report a series of crimes." A few moments of pause from his end. "The highest level of offense is a class 13." another pause. "Yes murder. The criminal is President Finnick."

After a few more minutes of conversation over the phone Jackson hung up and moved to the closet where he threw me a dress before he grabbed his suit and started dressing.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as I was putting on my shoes.

"L&P Head Quarters." He said as he fixed his tie.

L&P - Law and Punishment. This was where the crimes were disected and confirmed and those guilty were sentenced. The official sentencing was done in the city square for all to witness. This was to show the citizens of the Capitol what would happen if they commited a crime.

We were picked up by the Head Quarters hover craft and delivered to the top of the 30 story building. The top 15 stories were where people went to report a crime and have it officialized. The bottom 50 was for court purposes, filing and prosecution.

The moment we got our feet on solid ground we were escorted by peace keepers inside the building where we were sat in an office. I waited nervously in the chair beside Jackson. Two peace keepers stood on either side of the door with weapons at their sides. A few minutes later the doors opened and in walked a man.

His plaque on his desk stated his name was Willard Martin. I couldn't picture him having his name because Willard sounded like a old mans name from decades ago but this man was youthful. He looked to be in his early 30's. His hair was light an white like the snow and his eyes were a piercing blue.

Willard sat before us on the other side of the massive mohagony desk and read the papers. He looked up at us with his blue eyes and spoke. "Do you know how serious these charges are, especially against someone as important as the President. If nothing can be prooved you both will be sentenced to death."

"That isn't even all of it sir." I spoke up. "I also heard him talking about setting up my murder and taking my child so he could keep his place in the Presidency"

Willard looked at me before he rose to his feet. "Well than lets go to level 8 so we can get those tapes."

I had a bad feeling that someone like Finnick would surely cover his tracks. I imagined he probably had someone working on the inside of the L&P that edited the tapes and got rid of the proof of his crimes. This would be bad for me and my husband and our unborn child. For once I was happy to not have listed any witness' to these crimes because if they tesitified and no proof was found then they would be punished as well.

We made our way down to the 8th floor and into the records office. The moment I entered the office I looked around. Several people were staring at monitors watching several scenes. I glanced from one screen to the next in disbelief. This was unbelievable. Now I knew what was about to happen.

On the screen before myself was me and Jackson. We were talking about the terms of the marriage. Making it believable. In less than a second I was flanked by two peace keepers and dragged from the room. Where was Jackson?

Then I heard him as he began shouting my name. Several scuffles were heard before he made his way out into the hall.

"She's innocent, he threatened to kill us if we didn't do it!" He shouted as he watched me being pulled away.

I was going to die I knew it. They were going to execute me slowly and the entire Capitol was going to watch. Then entire capitol including my mother, father, Cinna and Jackson. That is unless they sentenced Jackson too.