She turned on the cold water, swished it in her mouth and spit it out into the sink, then brushed her teeth.
Her cats, now awake, demanded Blaze's attention as Meow Mix rubbed against her legs and Tiger Lily scurried to her feed bowl.
From across the hall, in his lair, the puppet-master controlled Blaze’s leg as she kicked her cat out of the way. It reminded him of the first souvenir he kept from his first victim.
“Whoa. I only took one sleeping pill and some wine. What a way to start my birthday.”
She stumbled to the kitchen humming the Happy Birthday song, retrieved the envelope and peeked inside. “What! I’m rich.”
She pulled the gold embossed share certificate from the envelope and held it high toward the light. “Yep, it’s the real deal. I can't believe it, one hundred thousand shares in Dimension Global in my name. I’m rich.” Her eyes flushed. “Thank you, Daddy.”
***
Milo sat naked Indian style on the floor under his favorite framed souvenir and devoured a meatloaf dinner ration for breakfast while Sam guarded his every move. He looked at the glass display case. Instead of crawling into that casket, I should cover the floor, ceiling and walls with glass and use mylar for insulation. He understood the most effective means to avoid thermal imaging scanning included enclosures by glass with the added protection of a mylar blanket to disguise his heat signature. Milo had nothing except time on his side tucked away in his lair. This is paradise compared to the fucking cell. Sorry Red. No killing today. I have something else on my mind and need your help. Are you ready for some fun?
From one hundred and thirty-one miles away, Red connected his mind to Milo’s for their secret communication.
***
Hidden across the street of the Greenberg home, Matthew maintained a constant watch on Judas’ home. He waited and maintained his position as he watched the video of Judas’s actions from the night before. I have to break in and determine what the hell happened in there.
Judas stepped out the front door. He looked left and right before he glanced across the street.
Oh shit! He saw me. His worry left when Judas strolled toward the park.
Matthew had to make a quick decision. Do I follow him or break in? He snuck around to the side and looked over his shoulder. He stopped at the first window and jerked it. Damn, it’s locked. He shattered the window using the tip of his revolver and knocked out the remaining glass before climbing through entering the master bedroom.
Matthew tiptoed progressing forward into the living room. He reached the garage entrance side door in the kitchen and turned the knob. Damn it! It’s locked too.
He looked around. Okay, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Pulling open several drawers he retrieved a hammer and a screw driver and used them to jimmy the hinge-pens from the door until it fell.
Matthew entered the command center. “Welcome Matthew.”
“Deedra, you were expecting me?”
“I was informed you’d be dropping by. How may I be of service?”
“Deedra, by who?”
“I’m sorry Matthew. I do not have permission to provide you with that information.”
Matthew eyes widened. He swallowed hard as he observed the activity on the nine monitors. “What the fuck?” He looked at the monitor and watched Liz sitting on her couch reading a case file. No way. This can’t be right. He looked at the monitor displaying Kelly cleaning his apartment. “Deedra, what is this?” He glimpsed at the monitor of Blaze dressing.
“I’m sorry. I do not understand the question. Please clarify?”
“What program are you running?”
“This is Transcendence developed by Dr. Judas Greenberg.”
“What is Transcendence?”
“Based on the framework of the emergence of superiority and validation of knowledge, the Transcendence program assigns extra-categorical attributes of beings in the fourth dimension to those in your dimension who have the genome SNP-IT-C6/11 by applying the principal of Stephen Hawking’s M-Theory and bridging alternate dimensions with other parallel universes.”
“Deedra, put that in laymen’s terms, please.”
“For individuals who have the DNA mutant genome, SNP-IT-C6/11, the genome allows them to see and hear from those in another dimension.”
“Like time travel?”
“The physics behind Transcendence and time travel have nothing in common.”
“How many people carry this genome?”
“Search parameters commenced. Please be patient as this will take time.”
“Cancel search. How many people have this genome who live in the New Orleans metropolitan area?”
“Including yourself there are twelve others encompassing less than point zero one percent of the population.”
“Name the twelve other carriers.”
“I cannot complete this command as you are not authorized.”
“Is my sister, Livia Lynn Raymond, born, May thirteenth twenty thirty-three a carrier of the genome?”
“That is affirmative. She shares the identical pattern to her twin sister, Blaze Alyson Angela, born, May thirteenth twenty thirty-three, who is also a carrier.”
“Wait! Blaze Angela is her twin?”
“That is affirmative.”
“Where is she?”
“Please specify Livia or Blaze, Matthew?”
“Livia Raymond.”
“Your sister resides in the fourth dimension.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“I cannot help you with your inability to comprehend Matthew.”
“Why do I remember Livia when no one else does?”
“You carry the genome SNP-IT-C6/11. Any person with this genome, in this dimension, maintains the mental ability to remember carbon units in the fourth dimension although data about their existence is deleted.”
“Is Blaze Angela my sister?” A chill zapped down his spine as he absorbed the information.
All monitors flickered and changed into a single image of his mother dusting her living room. In a fit of rage, he bolted for the keyboard and pressed the ‘End’ key. “No! Stop this.”
“I do not understand your command. Please rephrase your directive.”
Matthew pressed the ‘Delete’ key thirty times.
He watched the monitor as his mother dematerialized into a shimmering blue light. “You son of a bitch!”
“Is there something else you need clarification in which I may address?”
The monitors faded onto Blaze who lay on her couch barely alive. Blood splatter covered the area as it oozed from several stab wounds. Her long-bladed knife lay in her lap. Suicide exited the front door.
Matthew’s eyes teared as a blank stare rippled in his eyes.
Livia’s apparition hovered above Blaze. Blaze and Mag’s picture on the coffee table flew across the room.
The cube created blue electrical sparks jetting across the room striking the command center as it strengthened and erupted. It pulsated wildly, and the electrical current threw Matthew backward slamming him into the center of the table.
“Warning. Explosion emanate in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.”
As the countdown continued, Matthew bolted from the garage lab, through the side door, kitchen and out the front door as the house exploded behind him. The explosion knocked him thirty feet across the street. Sprawled motionless in a prone position on the ground, blood oozed from his forehead as a huge bump formed. His clothes covered in ashes and dirt as if he stepped on a land mine at Strawberry Hill. The world around him darkened.
The Greenberg home burned as the smoke peppered the sky. People of every age filled the streets looking at the billowing black smoke which filled the sky. Sirens blared as two men knelt over Matthew.
His ears rang from the blast.
“Are you all right, sir?” One of the Samaritans gave Matthew a wide-eyed panicky look.
Matthew, dimly aware someone spoke to him took a d
eep breath. The question reverbed in Matthew’s ears as if he wore ear plugs. His ears rang as he opened his eyes to an out of focused world. He tried to regain his composure. His memory of Judas last night flashed in his mind. He reached for his cell phone. An empty sensation overcame him; he frantically searched his pockets. “My phone. I need my phone. Please help me find it.” He kicked up from his back and balanced himself.
“Sir, I think you should stay put until the ambulance arrives.”
Matthew charged toward Blaze’s apartment.
***
Peterson and Debra creeped into Kenner City Park in the company’s white SUV. Peterson removed his hands from his ears. “That was a huge explosion. Look how black the sky looks.”
“What do you think it was?”
“Whatever blew, blew fast and hard. Sounded like a bomb. When the news gets ahold of this, we’ll have our answers.”
“Should we go investigate?”
“If Matthew did it, he wouldn’t still be on site.”
“Great observation. How do you know he’ll show up here?” He opened a can of Pringles.
“Where else would he be? It’s supposedly Livia’s birthday. So, this is the most likely place he would come. We’ll see what he’s been doing.”
“Isn’t that the idea of following him?” Peterson spewed chips as he talked. He pointed his finger toward Blaze’s apartment complex. “Which I suggest you do because he’s running that way.”
Debra watched Matthew. “Affirmative.”
The white sedan turtled along and maintained its distance behind Matthew.
Matthew rushed into Blaze’s apartment complex as Peterson and Debra observed his action.
Peterson tossed the Pringles can into the backseat. “We’ve lost him now. F’n fantastic.”
“Not exactly. I know this building. One entrance in the front and one in the back. Which do you want?”
“I’ll take the back. Put your ear bud in. We need coms.”
“Agreed.”
Peterson bolted for the back disappearing behind Morty’s shed.
***
Matthew banged his fist against Blaze’s door. “Blaze! Blaze! This is Matthew.” Putting his ear to the door he listened for movement or sound. He kicked the door trying to jar it open, break it or find a way in to no avail. “Son of a bitch.” Not considering the consequences, he drew his gun and fired at the door knob. It shattered into several pieces.
Matthew used his body like a battering ram against the door until it jarred opened. He entered Blaze's apartment pointing his gun. Where is everything? This is impossible. Everything couldn’t have vanished.
Matthew bolted to the front door bumping into Morty who blocked the doorway.
Morty twisted his white foamy slobbering mouth. “What do you think you are doing?” He wiped the slobber on his sleeve.
“What about the girl who lives here? She was here. I saw her. Where is she?”
“You must be mistaken. The last person to rent this apartment was an old widow, Ms. Flora I believe. She died in it over a year ago. No one wants to live where somebody died.”
“Blaze Angela lives here. Milo Evans broke into her apartment the other night. You were there.”
“Sir, I have no clue who you are referring to, but you don’t look so good. I think you might have been in that explosion. You need to see a doctor.”
Mortified, nothing made sense to Matthew as he recalled Deedra’s clarifying statements. I have the genome. “Thanks man. I’m leaving.”
“What about the damage to the door?”
“I don’t see any.”
***
Dr. Angela hid his evil side to the entire world who thought highly of him and respected his insane brilliance. He possessed the blue orb he retrieved from Mr. Hammer and the charm from Blaze’s bracelet giving him full control over Project Dimension. “I’m the most powerful man in the universe.” He held it in the palm of his hand. “It’s elegant and lethal with one touch.”
“Deedra, are the records pertaining to the birth of Blaze Alyson Angela deleted?”
“Search parameters commenced. No public records were isolated.”
“Deedra, check for any records on D-Net and the dark web for Blaze Alyson Angela. If found, delete them.”
“Deletion will be complete in two minutes.”
He looked at the picture of Blaze. “I’m sorry my princess.”
***
Matthew bolted out of the apartment complex colliding into Debra. Debra pushed him away. “Whoa! We’re here to back you up whatever your involvement. Besides, the way you and the sky look, you need our help.”
“Where’s Peterson?”
She pressed her com badge. “Peterson, I have the package. Come to the front.”
Matthew looked at her sternly. “I’m the package?”
“You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”
“I feel that way too. So, what’s new?”
Peterson bolted from the side of the building. He assessed Matthew. “What happened to you?”
“Long story. I can’t get to my car. Where’s the truck? Debra, take me to the office. I have to conduct research.”
“You’re a little demanding there Matthew. We will talk about this on the way.”
“Drive me to the damn office. I’ll explain everything later.”
chapter 52
Nemesis
The trip from New Orleans to Angola prison brought intense apprehension to Liz. Her aggressive thoughts about Red and the Commissioner wouldn’t stop. The Commissioner’s demand ate at her soul. “Liz, you don’t have a choice in this. The Consequences for you will be damning.”
Not being her idea, this visit would still be on her own terms. I will never relinquish my power. The more she deliberated about Commissioner Raymond’s demand, the more infuriated she became. She didn’t like not having control of any situation, much less being blackmailed to keep her identity a secret. I’ll eventually deal with him. Liz approached the security guard gate at the prison. It won’t be long now until I’m finally rid of Red.
***
After going through the check points at the prison, Liz waited in the visitor’s waiting room in the Red Hat building of Angola State Prison. Her stomach churned, and her cheeks hollowed from the stress. An hour passed, an eternity for her. She needed this visit behind her.
After receiving Red’s letter, Liz decided not to make the trip for his final day of life. He could rot in Hell. She never wanted or needed Red to say anything to her; especially the day before his scheduled execution. The courts should have ordered his execution years ago in her opinion. She wanted Red dead and out of her life forever. Secretly, she wished she had followed in her father’s footsteps and killed him like he trained her. Instead, she knocked him out and raced to the police. This thought confirmed what she always believed. She wouldn’t be in this face-off or most situations in her life if she would have killed him. It wouldn’t be the first time she committed murder. A guilt she never overcame.
***
Joe, the Lettenberg’s obese pedophile neighbor, lay naked on Red’s torture table bound by metal handcuffs at his ankles, chest and wrists. A mechanical sheath, a penis torture device, clamped around his genitals produced extreme pain for the pedophile.
Liz, age nine, and Journey, age twelve, stood at the end of the stainless steel table alongside Red as they watched him torture Joe. Red spun a black poi ball in his hand. “Journey, he should have never tested the waters when he raped you. You should have told me when it happened.” The whirling sound of the spinning poi whistled in the air.
“I couldn’t Red. He told me he’d kill me and Liz.”
Joe winced from fear. “It won’t happen again. I made a mistake.”
“A very big nasty mistake. I guess you didn’t know your neighbor was a serial killer either. Whoops. They say ignorance is bliss. That’s worth at least three lashings.” Red ejected a sputum wad onto Joe’s face and used t
he poi to strike Joe across his ribs as he counted. “One, two, three. No one touches my girls.”
Joe squealed like a pig as he received each lashing. Red marks blistered from the impact of the poi ball. “I didn’t know they were yours.”
“Do you think I’m fucking stupid? You live next door. You’re really pissing me off Joe, you’ve got to die for your sins against me. Now, shut the fuck up.” Red used the object in his hand and hurled it against Joe’s mouth splitting his lip. Joe shrieked as Red leaned over him and shoved the poi into his mouth and secured it in place with duct tape. The more Joe fought his captor, the more Red used his mental prowess to inflict pain somewhere in his victim’s body. “Don’t fight this.” He moved and stood between his daughters. “I’ll bring more pain. I guess you didn’t know I could do this either. Oh, what was it he told you Journey? Remind him what he told you sweetie.”
“I would like it.”
Red put his arm around Liz. “That’s why I’m proud of you for telling me he stuck his hand down your pants. I promise you Joe, you will like it. Won’t he Journey?”
“Yes, Red.”
Liz nodded in agreement. “Do it Red. I hate him. Kill him.”
“Liz, you get to have the honor. You spoke up bravely.”
“I can’t Red. I’ve never killed a person before.”
“Center your thoughts in your mind’s eye.” Red tapped the middle of her forehead. “It’s the same process I taught you. Keep your eyes open, roll them into the back of your head and project the pain you want to inflict to the person’s mind you want to destroy. Their brain will analyze your command.”
“Okay, Red. I hate him for what he did to us. He’s a nasty man. He deserves to die.”
“That’s my girl.”
Liz closed her eyes. “He’s your nemesis. This is your test.”
Liz focused hard as Journey bit her nails as she watched. She clenched her fists and tightened every muscle in her body. “Die. Die. Die! Die!”
The pedophile gasped for air.
The Keystroke Killer Page 43