‘That’s the problem with killers like you; you live fast and die young. Unknown to you, your services are needed. Look at it this way, we are problem solvers. We take care of a lot of the shit in the city. We put an unnatural stop to everything we touch. Don’t you realize how special this is?’ ‘No I don’t, not as yet though.’ ‘One more thing, I don’t like how unprofessional you are, just running around helter-skelter killing people, with no focus, no goals and no aim. Sooner than later, you are going to make a mistake… then they’ll take you down and serve you up with a lethal injection.’
Snake was actually trying to educate me, seeing that I was so young, maybe he had something else prepared for me. ‘One thing both of us have,’ he continued ‘Is focus. We are much focused when we decide on a kill. Like a snake, like a wild animal, you could kiss a snake on the hood, when it was hunting, and it wouldn't know, absolute focus - Kill Focus. I love that, hunting and getting to my victim and then the kill, oh sweet… sweet… release. Do you have cannibalistic tendencies?’ ‘I don’t think so… am not too big a fan of food. I like the God play. It’s like a need that comes from somewhere deep inside, and it can only be gratified when blood begins to flow.’ ‘I know that feeling, there was a time I used to feed on the human heart. It used to give me magical abilities, learnt that on one of my tours of Africa. There was this guy he was a rebel, he used to kill young people you know, and then eat their hearts. He would then do this weird voodoo shit and tell people that he could fly.’ ‘So could he fly?’ ‘No, I figured that if he had all this power, then I could make a shortcut and eat his heart; you know… a shortcut to all his power.’ ‘Did you get his power?’ ‘Yeah sure… now I know what he meant, by flying he did not mean literal flight, but a flight of mind and heart. Yeah it was truly magical, now I have the ability to fly, the cops and FBI will never catch me. I’m like a superhero, you know like Superman or Batman or something. There are magical potions stored within the human body, but the meat would need to be virgin, a non-smoker and a non-alcoholic person. You get the magic only if the body’s pure, that’s why a young virgin. You know the Incas and the Aztec and all those rotten fuckers, they were like us. They killed, raped and plundered. All for some bullshit magic from the gods and some fuck-all city El Dorado - it was all about the money and chicks man.
Each warrior got the best babes to fuck; sometimes after fucking them they killed ‘em and ate ‘em, talk about relish. We are much better than they and we are much more civilized than them. We are anomalies of nature; we are the lions, keeping everything clean and clear.’ He was laughing now, not a loud laugh, but a very careful and controlled one. ‘I want you to learn. Stop being such a baby and get in on the big kills… the exciting ones. No point in working and not gaining, don’t waste your talents. Not everyone is as gifted as you, why do you think I’ve invited you up here? I’ve been searching for someone like you for a very long time. All those other shits, drinking themselves silly after each kill, dumb fucks, but someone like you… innocent, fresh, and pure. You must join me - if you do, I will get rid of everyone else and there will be only the two of us from now on. I handle all the public relations and you handle the kills. We split everything straight down the middle, fifty-fifty. ‘Was he making me an offer I couldn't refuse?’
‘How can I trust you?’ ‘Did you find the sixth knife in your room? I could have taken it and killed the chief with it, No… I left it for you. You can do whatever you want with it. You could have killed me with it and this whole thing would have ended long ago. I am not motherfucking playing games, so don’t go there. If you want to sleep now, go. We have different rooms in the cabin. I am going to go for a walk. Hopefully when I see a bear, I’ll tear its heart out and we can have a nice soup on the morrow.’
I slowly walked to my bedroom, I thought I had aggression, but this Snake was totally different. Nothing made him stop, absolutely nothing. He was a killer through and through, always wanting to draw blood. He had, and maintained absolute control at all times.
15. Sideways
I lay in bed for a long while before deciding to sleep. It was apparent to me now that he was not coming back from the night walk; he had just set-off on. I wasn't sure if this was the last time I would be seeing him. Waking up early next morning, walked over to the fireplace, under the tiny bottle of blood was a note, neatly arranged. Beside which was a small transparent plastic bag, which contained a tiny piece of an organ. He had very kindly left me a piece of the chief’s heart. Opening the piece of paper I now began to read what was written on it. ‘Mayor Derrick Carpenter - place his head in the same hollow. Payment will be arranged. Please follow protocol and don’t deviate. Use the sixth knife.’ It was time to get the fuck out of this place, but I was in no hurry, now that I had the entire place to myself. The car was also left outside. Searching around the log cabin revealed nothing about Snake. ‘Fuck this slinking creature.’
***
Brian was standing in front of the team as they huddled in a close circle around the table. Andreas’ team had picked up chatter on the internet that Snake had disappeared or that something or the other had happened to him. All calls of interest from the mayor’s phone had been investigated and it had revealed one very startling link - someone had been threatening him to pay up or else…
‘We can’t wait any longer - Andrea and I will be bringing in the Mayor today for questioning. The DA has agreed that in order to stop the madness, we needed to get to the bottom of this. I hope everyone’s got their assignments for the day. Any significant leads that are found are to be reported back to me immediately.’
Mayor Derrick Carpenter was pissed off while being led into interrogation. He was seated politely with Brian and Andrea. The DA and deputy Chief Ellen watched through the one-way mirror. The rest of the team where watching on CCTV in their private room.
‘We apologize that it had to go down like this Mr. Mayor,’ Brian Explained. ‘Please allow me to introduce you to special agent Andrea; she’s here to help as a consultant.’ ‘Pleased to meet you Mr. Mayor,’ she said. ‘Enough with all of this badinage, let’s get down to business.’
‘We wanted you in here, due to the sensitive nature of the case.’ Brian began. ‘We have reason to believe that you’ve been contacted by an individual known as Jones May, we are also led to believe that he has been making threat calls to you.’
‘But how do you about Jones May?’ ‘We know he also goes by the street name Crab.’ ‘Oh I see, is that what he’s known as? You see this Crab has been calling me for a few days now and demanding that I pay him a ransom.’ ‘What was the reason for the ransom call?’ ‘Something about the Chief… who was supposed to have owed him money - which he now wanted to collect from me.’ ‘Were there and other reasons given?’ ‘He said that if I didn't pay then the whole city was going to suffer, apparently with the elections around the corner, he was going to spread terror and spoil my re-election chances.’
‘How much did he want you to pay?’ ‘The first time he called was a few days ago and he wanted me to pay him a ransom of 5 million dollars. He knew that I was a man of old money and demanded that I pay, or the city was once again going to spiral down a rabbit hole.’
‘The Mayor is definitely hiding something,’ Andrea mused as she sat and watched the entire proceedings. ‘Mr. Mayor,’ she interjected. ‘When and if you did pay this ransom, what was he going to give you?’ ‘He said that he was going to leave the city alone and not spread any more terror.’ ‘But you know that we don’t negotiate with terrorists.’ ‘Listen I get a lot of threat calls, given my political position on a number of issues. How could this call be any different? I still think that these calls were from a deranged lunatic and nothing to be worried about. Please people; let’s not get carried away by all of this. Get the evil maniacs who killed the Chief and I’ll personally come over and handover medals to the both of you. If we’re done here, I would like to leave; there are many more pressing concerns for me to look into ri
ght now. The next time before calling me in and wasting my time, please be thorough with your homework’
Andrea was about to protest that they were not finished as yet, but was stopped by a look from Brian. Once he had left, the DA signaled that the four of them needed to talk. ‘Look, there’s something serious going on, but I’m not convinced that the Mayor has anything to do with it. Keep looking y’all and call me when there’s something concrete and the proof goes beyond reasonable doubt. Keep searching, eventually something will show up.’
‘Alright you heard the man; I’ll see the two of you in a while. I need to have a late breakfast with the DA.’ Ellen was saying.
Andrea and Brian were back in the room, when she was suddenly struck by a brainwave. ‘Okay people, I'm going to think out loud. We have software that can imitate the mayor’s voice. We can also show that the call is coming from his phone number. Let’s find out what time he sleeps and once his head hits the pillow, we can remotely control his phone, and then place a call to Crab and set-up a meeting with him. We promise to hand over the money, and when he shows, we take him.’
‘I think she’s right,’ Brian added. ‘This guy, who calls himself Crab, is definitely not as smart as that Snake. In fact I think this is going to be much easier that we can expect. I think Snake and his Factory of Murder have finally begun to fall apart. Let’s have Greg outside his home tonight, an hour after his bedroom light gets turned off, we take over his device and bring in Crab. Fuck, just saying this makes me want to laugh.’
Later that night Greg was stationed outside the mayor’s residence. His bedroom light was extinguished only after 11 pm. ‘Fuck he sleeps late for an old man,’ Brian was cursing. ‘Okay team, time to get to work.’ The techie Dave from Andreas’ team was on the go. He had his high-speed laptop opened and was fiddling around with the software and another gadget attached to it. He took over the mayor’s phone, and placed a call to Crab. A speaker attached to his machine was now broadcasting the call for all in the room to hear. ‘Yeah, answered crab, Dave had the mic from his headphones close to his mouth as he began to speak. ‘I don’t have the five million, but I’ve managed three.’ ‘Fuck you I want five million, or I fuck you up.’ ‘Take it or leave it, if you call after this, I am going to the cops.’ ‘Fuck you and fuck those pigs. I told you I need the money, fuck you.’ ‘Give me a weak and I’ll get the other two okay. Take this for now.’ ‘Do you have what I asked for?’ ‘Yeah, but you ain’t getting it until you pay in full.’ ‘This is the only time I have to get away from people. Meet me in an hour outside the Airport; I’ll be parked towards the exit on the left. You now my car, don’t you?’ ‘Yeah, you got nice wheels man, that big black RAM… will see you in an hour.’
The exit to the left was rarely used and the team would now have to use all their available skills to pick him up. Jackie had a black Ram, which was going to be used and Greg was going to be disguised as the mayor, sitting with a hoodie inside the RAM. The team swung into action as they spread their cars all about, at all the entrances’ and exits. The whole team staying connected over the radio. Around 12:30 am, they saw a suspicious looking van pulling in and driving about.
The van drove up slowly and began to pull up alongside the RAM. Brian’s voice was heard over the radio and the earpiece of some of the crew. ‘Jackie will slip in from under the RAM and attach a tracking device under this vehicle. Remember this might be a decoy. We will track this van and wait for the next vehicle.’
As the van pulled up alongside the RAM, Jackie rolled out from under the standing vehicle and stuck a tracking device below the undercarriage of the van. As Brian had rightly guessed, this was just a decoy. Crab was known to send out scouts first, after which he would then make an appearance. The driver of the van being satisfied with what he saw revved the engine and then drove off. One of the agents began tracking the van while another person from the team, began to tail the van from a safe distance. The van kept going and going, past the park and down towards the lake. It was now driving in circles around the lake. All of a sudden the van began to pick up speed and it now looked like the front was pointed directly at the water. Steven from uniforms could now be heard over the communication system, ‘Alert - Alert - vehicle being abandoned and crashing into Lake Wild Heaven. Two individuals are seen fleeing the vehicle, requesting immediate backup.’ Brian had to think on his feet now - Crab could be one of the individuals fleeing or, maybe not. After all his boss was Snake, this could have been a brilliant move and so he decided to stay. ‘Greg, Jackie, both of you stay, the rest of the team need follow up and come back with both of them. Andrea, Susan, Matt and me, will wait and continue to finish this operation. He was not wrong this time and in about 15 minutes, another pimped out car rolled into the parking area. It sped straight to the ram, and a laughing Crab stepped out of the vehicle and began to open the door of the RAM. He opened the door with gun in hand, shoving it into Greg’s face. ‘The fuck is this,’ he spat on the ground. ‘The fuck you think you are.’ ‘Don’t shoot, take him alive.’ Brian commanded over the radio. Jackie who was hidden under the vehicle, now in a swift rolling motion, locked Crab’s feet between her own and took him down. He fell hard and fast, hitting his head on the tarmac, losing consciousness. The rest of the team sprung into action with sirens blazing. Crab was swiftly lifted into one of the vehicles and they were out of there in no time at all. The whole effort must not have lasted for more than three minutes. The cops split from there, before anyone had a damn clue as to what was going on. The team had well-trained professionals on their side, and when the situation demanded, their obvious professionalism became glaringly apparent. The other two individuals had also been successfully picked up.
The person who went by the street name of Crab was in interrogation at 3 am in the morning. Andrea and Brian were in the room to play good cop, bad cop.
‘State you name and age.’ Jackie was starting the normal good cop routine.
‘Fuck you, you stupid bitch.’ ‘Not a chance in hell. State your name and age for the records.’ ‘Go fuck yourself.’ ‘I’ll repeat this only once more. State your name and age for the records.’ ‘Crab - I am protected… so fuck you. Snake is going to protect me. He’s my shell, my protector, my exoskeleton. Can’t nobody touch him - he’ll torch you, light you little shits up, fucking stupid cops.’
‘The game’s up.’ Brian said moving in sternly. ‘Snake has abandoned ship, he’s gone. You’re all alone, and I'm a’ whip your ass. So sit up straight and answer the lady. ‘He will come for you, do you know that? He’s a hooded snake, king Snake man. Don’t play with him.’
‘What did you want the five million for?’ Brian continued. ‘The body man, your dumb police chief… Snake killed him. I’ve got the body, what the fuck, you only have the head. That dumb fucking head. And you,’ he said pointing to Brain. ‘Your head’s next. You dumb motherfuckers - Snake is coming for you.’
It was beginning to get more and more conspicuously apparent to everyone that this individual had been brainwashed by Snake. Brian and Andrea exchanged knowing glances and decided to charge up the game a little.
‘How do you think we’ve been able to pick you up so easily? Snake told us about you.’ Brian said, while sitting down beside Andrea, both of them realizing that to make him talk, a different strategy was needed. This Snake character was much more masterful and deviously cunning than had previously been expected.
‘You see, there’s no escape for you this time. Both of you’ll are going to be put into a hole, with no chance of escape for the rest of your dark, miserable, and evil lives. We are here to listen to the both of you and work things out.’ ‘Go fuck yourself man… Snake is coming. He’ll knock out your police force… all of us hate you… motherfuckers robbing the poor and supporting those rich bastards. FUCK YOU!!!’ He said as he leaned forward to spit on Brian and further took a shot at Andrea. After which he sat back and began rocking back and forth. He was in some sort of trance, swaying back and
forth, all the while muttering something to himself.
‘Scared much?’ Andrea asked. ‘Afraid to talk?’ ‘Shut the fuck up bitch,’ he shot back. ‘Can’t you leave a man to pray alone?’ He was actually rocking back and forth, all the while murmuring some sort of intercession.’ ‘Tell us about your religion.’ She casually asked. ‘Snake is my God, I’m praying to him. He said that whenever I needed him, to pray, and he would come and rescue me.’
Brain was thinking about how powerful Snake was, he had actually been creating a religion. So this must have been how he had gotten his followers to go out and murder, all the while charging for each kill and keeping the money to himself. This interview was not going anywhere and no information was being divulged.
‘Tell us where you’ve kept the body?’ Andrea asked. ‘Don’t worry… don’t worry… its refrigerated and safe.’ ‘Why did the mayor want the body?’ ‘The chief’s family wanted a funeral. You see, this is the case in point; without a body how can you have a funeral. What fun is there in burying just a head? Headless needed a body. I’ve got the body, but there’s no heart. Snake took it - he does some weird religious shit with it.’ ‘What does he do with it?’ ‘He cooks it and eats it; all of us get a taste.’ Do you like the taste of human body parts?’ ‘I don’t care when Snake offers me something to eat; it’s actually divine manna from heaven.’
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