Blood Thrill

by David Swinden

  I could see an individual trying to move away as I got closer. He was wearing jeans, shades, a cap and white sneakers. He began walking fast towards a black SUV that was located closer to me than to him. I began running at whatever speed was possible on the beach towards this new entrant. He was also running straight towards his SUV. I was going to intercept him, he couldn't outrun me. He tried his best to avoid me, but I was going to crash into him. I made it look like an accident as we tried to avoid each; in the skirmish however he received a strong headbutt from me. He flew backwards with the force and in less than 30 seconds, his camera and phone were in my possession. I got some water very quickly from one of the restaurants and splashed it on his face. ‘Shut the fuck up,’ I said. ‘Walk toward the car.’

  I assured some concerned individuals that this was under control. Taking his keys, started the SUV and sped away from there. I drove for a bit before reaching a lonely spot much further down the road. He still seemed a bit shaken from the recent headbutt graciously delivered by me. Pulling the SUV off-road continued to drive for a bit before stopping and pulling him out. He now stood facing me, as I turned sideways and kicked him under his jaw. He fell-over backwards and tried to look back at me before he got another cruel kick to the forehead. Not wanting to draw any blood from him just as yet, I growled. ‘Who do you work for?’ ‘I… I… err, don’t know, ugh.’ ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Patrick, Pat, people call me Pat. I’m just a photographer.’ ‘Oh yeah, and now you’re going to tell me that someone called and gave you this assignment.’ ‘How did you know, but, but, that’s correct.’ ‘Who called you, what’s their number?’ ‘It’s on my phone, check it, and please… please… just check.’

  His phone was in my right-hand-side pocket, which I now pulled out. Checking his phone and turning around slightly I noticed that there was another black SUV, pulling onto the path we had followed. ‘Fuck me for being so stupid, he was just a decoy.’ Here they come; the actual people connected to Snake, or was this Snake himself coming to settle scores.

  They were getting closer - looking around I found a nice big stone, this I picked up and began running. Running straight towards them, they were not expecting this kind of aggression, as the SUV approached speeding and had reached to about 10 feet away from me, I flung the stone straight into the windshield; it smashed the glass and landed inside. The SUV now swerved and turned to get away from this very aggressive person. I quickly ran back to Pat and told him to get inside the car. Starting it I began to give chase, but the SUV was too powerful off-road and began getting away. They reached the road before us and made a run for it. It was of no use trying to pursue them, there were two individuals sitting in the front. Driving back to the beach and keeping the photographers phone with me, told him, ‘Go to the cops and I will find you and I will kill you.’ Getting out I reached my car and speed away from there. I tried calling the phone number that was used to engage the photographer, it kept ringing without any answer. No doubt this must have been a burner cell, but I was expecting to speak to the owner. Finally there was an answer ‘Go ahead; what’d ya’ want?’ ‘I want to speak with Snake.’ ‘Why?’ ‘That’s between him and me.’ I said ‘What’s your business?’ He replied once more.

  Knowing full well that I was in no position to command or demand anything I simply said, ‘I’ve got the money.’ There was silence at the other end of the line. ‘Where have you kept the money?’ ‘Go fuck yourself, why would I tell you.’ ‘How much of it do you have?’ ‘All of it.’ ‘Prove it.’ ‘Once again I would like to repeat myself, at the expense of sounding certifiably deranged, fuck you.’ The person on the other end of the line was mighty sure that this was no lie. He was sure by now that I did indeed have the money. All those bags of money were stashed away at the farm. I was in mood to let it go and had no intention of giving it back to these killers. But I had to draw them out; I had to draw Snake out. Fuck knew into which godforsaken hole in the ground he had slipped into. ‘I will call you again on this number,’ he said. ‘What do you want in return for this charity?’ ‘I want you to take the chief of police out.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Hey if you want the money, this needs to be done. No kill no money.’ ‘Wait for my call at 9 pm,’ he said before disconnecting the call. I hadn't counted the money but was pretty certain it might have been somewhere close to 3 million at least, all those crisp hundred dollar bills, and I liked having all that money in my collection.

  ***

  Brain and team were waiting in the conference room, when the chief walked-in with a smart looking woman dressed in a pantsuit, hair tied-up in a bun. She had glasses and was introduced by the chief as Agent Andrea. ‘Andrea is here with her team to help us get to the bottom of this. This case had become one of national interest; the only way to reassure the public is to get the Feds working along with our local team here. Andrea will not lead the team but only offer support in terms of research, analysis, and her lab will be open 24/7 to keep things moving along at a quick pace. I don’t want infighting, we are working for the same cause and no one is superior to the other, got that?’ Everyone nodded in agreement and Andrea now opened her juicy lips to speak. Brian was amazed and couldn't hide his interest in this hot agent now standing in front of him. He glanced sideways and noticed that Jackie hadn't been looking at him. He would have to hide this from her, after all he was not a playboy, or at least Jackie didn't know what a loose life he was used to leading before he met her.

  “We’ve started on our research as soon as the Chief requested the bureau for support. What I’m about to say is of top priority, I hope this is understood very clearly. Any leaks from this room will invite serious consequences; your willingness to continue with the PD will rest on your ability to treat confidential information as such. As long as we are here, please remember that every action of betrayal will invite appropriate corrective measures. Okay, now that we’re got that out of the way… let's carry on’

  ‘We have followed all these murders mostly from public records and what the chief finally made available to us. We’ve been able to uncover a pattern, a kill for hire if you may. This is the work we believe, of a contract killer who went out of business. He then took to the Deep Web and started offering his services. Depending on how much you were willing to pay, he would kill your enemies, coworkers, or just simple kill someone, for the fun of it. This attracted the attention of some devious individuals who wanted to kill for fun and were willing to pay for it to go down. To kill a prostitute cost literally nothing, and many of these kills have been paid for by people who were mostly, not based in the United States. The people ordering the kills are probably politically motivated and intended to disturb the proper functioning of cities in the United States. We are also aware that you guys have a Phantom, a kind of ghost on your scope. He is seen very lovingly by people as some sort of miracle worker. The bureau does not want to have anything to do with this, he needs to be apprehended and stopped. Anyway moving on, the head of this kill factory goes by the anonym of Snake, we get him and everything stops. We now have two targets in our sights - Snake and Phantom. We cannot have someone loafing around killing people. He must seem like a lifeline to many, but we have a job to do, vigilantes are not the need of the hour. We have our work cut out for us. I would also like to thank Brian for being so cooperative in helping to facilitate the working together of our teams. We have been scanning the Darknet also known as the dark web, to trace payments. We follow the money and get the individuals responsible for all this confusion and chaos. We cannot have our cities threatened by murderers and cheap lowlifes. We will prepare portfolios by the end of the day for everyone involved. Brain will be responsible for the direction of the team, which will receive constant inputs from us. Thank you.’

  13. 9 pm

  I switched on the phone just before 9 pm, having previously switched it off and removing the battery from the phone, drove to a part of the city that I was not familiar with, this was done to avoid any sort of tracking that Snake might h
ave implemented, to geo-locate the position of the phone and by default find out where the handler of the phone might be stationed. A few minutes after 9, the phone began to ring. Answering the call was when this really deep and terrifyingly poisonous voice began to speak ‘You have caused me enough trouble. Why do you want the police chief dead, what’s your connection to him?’ ‘I am not in the mood to be interrogated. Do we have a deal or not?’ I replied in a voice that had now turned to steel. ‘I would also like a list of all your services and prices.’ ‘I will send that to you, but first, we need to meet,’ he said. ‘Why?’ I questioned while trying to sound surprised. ‘You’re like a slippery eel, I need to see you and know that you’re for real.’ He was calling me a slippery eel, look at the chatty calling the kettle black you know, the pot calling the kettle black. Talk about hypocrisy. ‘Hey Snake,’ I continued, ‘I think you’ve got my name wrong, its King Snake.’ ‘Do snakes have kingdoms, I thought they were loners.’ ‘Nice, I like humor, it amuses me.’ ‘I’ve got more from where that came.’ ‘I am very creative myself, that’s why no one’s ever heard of me.’ ‘I hope you know that there are many people who are looking for you on the internet.’ ‘Well… that’s just a trap… they will be searching for years and be led to some poor fucking European nation. That trail leads down a vortex… a deep black web-hole that you get lost in. I am King Snake…’ He was laughing now, a condescending supercilious laugh. I remained quiet for a minute; processing the information that I had just been given. This motherfucker liked to talk, after having remained hidden in a deep dark world; he was now willing to talk. ‘It must get rather lonely for you,’ I said. ‘Living in that dark virtual hole of yours?’ ‘Yes I am very lonely, will all of these skulls keeping me company. It would be nice to add yours too; you know… we could talk for hours then.’ ‘I’m not in the habit of offering up my head to killers, I would rather find them and you know… stab them in the throat. Personally I practice the art of silence on a daily basis; it gives me strength and motivation.’ ‘Stop dancing, I’ve heard enough… you’re beginning to sound silly.’ ‘I respect your work, and from one killer to another, hats off to you.’ ‘I don’t know your work as yet, so no comments from me at this time.’ ‘I like parks,’ he said, ‘and that’s where we’ll meet. You will have five hundred thousand for me in a briefcase - consider this consultancy and advance fees.’ This motherfucker was a lonely bastard; all the blood on his head was killing his soul daily. He had so many people killed, all for financial gain, now wanting to take his money back from me. I don’t know where Nick and Jen got that money from, but it was apparent to me, that it came from King Snake; they had managed to rip him off, or were maybe hiding it for him. When I get my hands around his neck, I would need to find out more about all that money, and also how much more was stashed away in banks. He was running a mad operation, and quite good at it. He was selling murder on a large scale and I hoped that this was not going to become a style or fashion statement. Some rich bitch somewhere boasting that they had murdered someone virtually. They had paid for it and by natural extension had been responsible for offing someone. After all these rich people, having enjoyed everything still felt that life had more to offer, this offer to get rid of someone must have been just too tempting for weak and vile minds. If you’ve got the money, someone's got your disease.

  It’s also been estimated that about 4% of the population are sociopathic in nature. Some researches raise this percentage number to as high as 15 or even 20. But then, where are all the bodies? Not all sociopaths are able to go around killing people for many and varied reasons. Some are scared of getting caught and don’t actually have the nerve to pull-it-off, while others remain rational enough to accept their limitations, the deepest trait of a sociopath however is to be manipulative in nature. A common career choice for a serial killer is to try and become a CEO. This way they can continue their art of manipulation. So when you see someone climbing fast up the corporate ladder, you know what kind of tendencies they might have. Look around at some of these guys who run the world’s largest companies, or some country presidents, or anyone in a place of authority, like a priest. It’s not very difficult to point out a sociopath. I was sure that many of these humble sociopaths were ordering some of these murders, all just to play out those deeper darker fantasies that just never leave their souls in peace. Good serial killers are always out there without ever getting caught. Those who get caught mostly want to get caught or are just plain stupid. The good ones are always out there, and are just too smart to get caught. Checking the national registry on the number of missing persons, will stagger any mind. How do think so many people just vanish into thin air every year?

  ‘9 am at Southwest Park, near the west hotdog stand’ I could hear him say. ‘Only if you will show-up personally, I will not be dealing with one of your baby snakes.’ ‘Oh Yeah… expect me’ He said while cutting the call.

  Both of us had been recording the other’s call, of that I was sure. So I now had a lot of work to be done in preparation for tomorrow's meeting. I had no intention to get the police chief killed; it was done just to draw them out, and more specifically to get Snake to talk to me. Figuring that his gang of murderers’ were used to making cheap kills, this might be one of the first major assignment that they’ve ever received, there was really no way he could pull this off as it was just too big for King Snake. The temptation to make a few million dollars however, all for a night’s work must now have been enticing him. It was only now that his whole operation began to make a lot more sense to me, as long as they were discreet and tactful at avoiding the authorities; they were pulling in a few million bucks every other week.

  The next morning was bright and fresh as I made my way to the hotdog stand. The owner was still busy setting-up everything for the day. I was standing beside his cart when he gave me a smile. I nodded back and waited for whatever instruction might have been left for me. Scanning the area around me, noticed a small piece of paper stuck to the bark of a tree nearby. Walking up to the tree, noticed that it was a map, roughly drawn with pencil. Studying the sketch was surprised to learn that this was meant for me. The hotdog stand was there, and a tiny arrow pointing to a large tree onto my left. From there another arrow pointed to a clump of bushes that led away from the walking and jogging track and more toward the center of the park. From here, the arrow followed a trajectory that cut into a semicircle, leading towards a pond further away from the walking trail and park benches. This was one of the lonelier parts of the park; the arrow was now leading me to a large tree which had a deep hollow at its base. This was giving me a very creepy feeling deep in my gut. I had to compose myself before daring to look into that hollow. My senses were warning me that something deadly awaited me. This deep-seated feeling kept telling me that as soon I looked inside, things would never remain the same again.

  Finally making-up my mind that no matter what - whatever gift was left there for me, I was the master of gifting and will someday soon return the kindness by giving Snake an even better gift. When I looked inside, my senses had not been wrong in warning me. The severed head of the chief of police was now greeting me with a grotesque smile. Snake had cut the chiefs’ head off and then pulled his skin to form an eerie and troubling smile. There was also a small note in his mouth which I pulled out. Scribbled on the note with pencil was ‘Welcome motherfucker, thanks for the money, as promised, we delivered.’

  My mind for more than a minute was in total turmoil. The money I had stashed away at the farm. Could he have found me and knew who I was, this would need to be checked out. This motherfucker was a creep, a snake, a damn cunning slithering reptile. I did not think that his reach was this long. The chief was well protected and it would have been really difficult to have reached him, and then killing him… cutting off his head. He had played a very cruel joke on me and had maybe in his own way… spared my life. I could now see that money was the main motivating factor.

  From here I had a long drive
that awaited me, as reaching the farm was of utmost importance now. Driving as fast as possible, reached the farm a little before noon. True enough the front door was left open, rushing in and quickly kicking open my bedroom door revealed that the bags of money had been taken. I needed to think now; he had beaten me at my own game. I was sure that he was trying to throw me under. Surprisingly, the knives in the room had not been touched; the sixth knife that I had well hidden was also there. How stupid the mind becomes when it gets greedy for money. I was determined now to butcher his heart in two and feed it back to him. This motherfucker was a cunning venomous serpent and that was why all those other people had been so scared of him.

  Brian had later received a call from a burner, telling him that a head had been discovered in the park. Brian took Jackie with him and went as soon as possible to the spot. While all on the way, he sent a dispatch over the radio that he was on the way to discover a possible homicide. Uniforms close by were also requested to backup his call. He was the first to reach the place and almost pulled back wanting to puke. Jackie held his shoulders as she tiptoed over to see what had troubled him. She was shocked to discover the head of the police chief. She knew that this was going to put the entire team on edge. The information was also passed on to special agent Andrea. Whoever had done this, did not care about the consequences. Who could have been so bold, so as to pull off this kind of terror? He was risking the entire police force hunting him as a single unit hell-bent on revenge. The case had now gone on to a place that no one could have ever imagined a few days ago.