"Wow! I knew you had guts, but I didn't anticipate you being this reckless. Now, I absolutely have to take you in."
"Were you ever going to let us leave?" Carl asked.
"No… no, I wasn't. What I just said was a figure of speech. Don't dwell on it too much," Adam replied, his tone growing more serious as he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to surrender to me?"
"No, I can't."
"It could have been so much easier for both of us if you had just surrendered, you know," Adam said.
Carl began to sense that Adam wasn't deceiving him, and indeed, he felt a strong urge to just give in. It seemed like a far better option—one that would spare everyone from getting hurt. Right now, all he wanted was for this ordeal to end, to be granted a second chance. If surrendering meant there was even a sliver of possibility for that, it might be worth considering.
