He finished buttoning his shirt and was putting on his shoes. He grabbed his shoulder holster with his nine millimeter in it and said, “Just because you feel safe with me doesn’t mean that we should keep this going. I love you, too, but you know that when push comes to shove we’re oil and water, babe. I had a great time...” She interrupted him mid sentence, “Then let’s work with this from the great time aspect. We both have something the other wants.” He stopped fastening his holster and looked at Barbara with curiosity. “Okay, I’m listening.” He sat down on the window ledge as she walked over and sat near him. “We agree that we still love each other, right?” He nodded. “We also agree that we both have physical and sexual desires that we want fulfilled.” He nodded again. “I also agree that we were definitely oil and water when married, but last night proved we are still best friends, and we have a lot of years between us, and we know each other like the backs of our own hands. So, I propose, and I want you to think about this, that you move back into the house with me. I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks. You can have the guest room, and I will keep this room. We’ll come and go as we please, and we’ll see whoever we please, but when the day is done if we’re home together and there’s no one else in our lives, and we’re in the mood, we’ll have sex!” He started to laugh, “So, friends with benefits, fuck buddies!” She frowned at him, which drew a smile out of his otherwise sullen expression. “No, we’re not fuck buddies. We’re old friends who know each other and… can live together without conflict…provided that you keep your bad habits in your room.” She laughed.
“Look, Barb, you make a compelling case, and to be honest I was laying here with you this morning concerned for your safety. But given our past, do you really think this is a good idea?” She stood up and dropped her robe then laid back down on the bed facing away from him, “You tell me!” He pulled hard on his holster and stood up, “Oh hell, woman…you flash that ass at me and then ask me to turn you down? I don’t need to think about it, just give me a goddamn key and the alarm code, so I don’t get my ass shot coming into the house if you’re not here.” She smiled and jumped off the bed like a little girl. She ran over to her nightstand and pulled out a white envelope. She handed it to him. He looked down, and it had his name on it with the words ‘Welcome Home’ underneath. “Well, you have been giving this some thought.” He opened the envelope and there were two house keys, a remote for the garage, and a piece of paper with the alarm code. There was also a product label inside, ‘Anal delight, light lubricant.’ He looked at her with a strange face. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know I love it, and so do you. So, if I’m going to be back with a man, I want this lubricant! He laughed out loud, “Where do I get this stuff?” “It comes from Europe. I’ll email you a web link, so be a doll and order two large bottles.” “Hey, why do I have to pay?” “Because it’s my ass that’s taking the pounding, baby!”
He laughed and Barbara grabbed him and laid a big kiss on him while he was putting on his jacket. He shook his head, “Fuckin’ women…you can’t live with ‘em, and without ‘em you have to jerk off.” He was walking toward the bedroom door when he yelled back, “I’m keeping my fuckin’ apartment!” “You’re goddamn right you are,” she hollered. “If I get tired of your shit, I can kick you to the curb again!” As he walked out the front door and headed to his car, he stopped halfway across the walk and went back inside. “Hey Barb…” “Yea.” He had a serious tone in his voice, “Listen…keep the doors and windows locked and set the alarm when you’re here alone.” She came to the top of the landing, nude and striking a pose, “Why Detective O’Brian… are you worried about little old Barbara Spencer?” She had a little southern twang in her voice. He looked up at her standing in the early morning light. “Yes,” he said softly. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before. “Yea…I’m worried about you, especially after everything you told me last night.” A half-hearted smile crossed her face as she thanked him. “I’ll do everything in my power to protect you, Barbara, but you’re going to have to do your part.”
She agreed. “Set the alarm when I leave; you don’t want to fall into the hands of The Eagle.” She turned toward the bedroom but stopped and called to him before the door closed. “Jim…you’ve been trying to nail this guy for nearly ten years. Killing Jill was WAY out of this guy’s norm. Do you really think he will come after me?” Jim looked around the house and said yes and no. “The Eagle, with the exception of killing of Jill and Barry, has only killed other killers, and, between you and me, I don’t have a problem with it. I also think Jill and Barry were killed for reasons we may never know but were related to something really bad. I think that if he feels or knows that you have an idea of who he is, yes, he will come after you. And if he does, he’s not getting you without getting me. But I think you’re safe as long as he feels that you don’t know his identity.” He closed the front door, and she heard the key turn the deadbolt lock. She went back into the bedroom to take her shower and set the alarm to “stay,” so that the motion detectors were off in the house. Everything else was armed.
Chapter Sixteen
‘The lights suddenly came on in the unit,
and the doors opened. He was back!’
The hills were dry in the San Fernando Mountains. Southern California was in the midst of a severe drought, and there hadn’t been more than ten inches of rain in almost three years. For Angelinos, it was just another summer. For the mountain residents, it was a whole different story. The mountain folks lived with the very real danger of fires in a way that the city folk didn’t. There was a tug of war between the two; the mountain people needed their tourist dollars but not the risks they posed to the forests they called home. Every year, without fail, a city dweller would wander off into the forest, get lost, get cold, start a camp fire, and inadvertently start a forest fire.
Despite that potential danger, The Eagle had really taken a shine to Francis’ set up. It was private and quiet, and he could move around without the need for stealth while doing the work of ‘Justice.’ The Eagle had moved some of his personal effects into Francis’ house and set up a new surveillance system, so he knew what was happening on the property when he was on and off premises. There were also a few modifications to the container, so that Francis’ medieval booby traps would no longer be necessary. The Eagle had the container set up so that once he brought a victim into the unit, there was only one way out, and that was in whatever manner and condition that he saw fit. There were also several escape routes set up in the event he needed to evacuate quickly due to fire or other unforeseen circumstances. The Eagle burned his emblem into a large piece of oak he picked up while hiking in the surrounding hills and proudly displayed it on the back wall of the container. Its wings were crimson and black, and its talons gripped a cluster of arrows and the scale of justice. Red lights beamed from its eyes, and the crimson colors glowed ominously.
The Eagle had also replaced Francis’ primitive torture items with more state of the art equipment, as well as a surgical table for what he referred to as “Extra Special Procedures.” Billy had learned from The Eagle who Francis was and what he had done. He heard Francis’ confessions in multiple torture sessions, as well as from Francis directly when The Eagle wasn’t around.
It was the beginning of August, and The Eagle had had Francis for nearly two weeks and Billy a week less. Billy was feeling confident that he was building a bond with his captor, so he was picking up more formal language when addressing him. Billy, while still restrained, had been allowed down off the wall and had access to a cot that The Eagle had put down in place of the straw. Since he had rendered Billy’s penis useless by removing the head after circumcising him, it was now only a matter of time before The Eagle decided how to dispatch him. He had left the urethra intact so Billy could urinate, but he would never get sexual satisfaction again, assuming The Eagle would allow him to keep what remained. He told Billy that he hadn’t decided
if he was going to remove the whole thing or not as punishment for his crimes. Billy had hurt a lot of women and girls, and The Eagle told him, “Rape is devastating. You took something from those people that they can never get back: trust, a feeling of safety, for some their virginity, and many others their lives.”
The Eagle asked him about Janet’s killing on the first day in the container. “I swears, Mr. Justice, I didn’t kill that white girl…I raped her, yes sir I did, but I didn’t kill her. I grabbed her in a parking garage. I saw her drive in and park, so I waited until no one was round, and I hid under the driver’s side of her car. When she came back and opened the door, I grabbed her feet and pulled her down. I took her keys and drove down to the port, and I raped her on a picnic table. She didn’t fight. I thought she was into it. When I was done, I dropped her off near the Pike. I seen her walking toward the Pike entrance, Mr. Justice. I swear…when I dropped her off she was alive and fine.” The Eagle told Billy while he didn’t kill her outright what he did to her caused her death, and as far as he was concerned he killed her. Billy tried to justify her death by telling him that if she had that birth defect she was going to die anyway, so he didn’t see it as his fault. He even told Francis that he felt that Mr. Justice was going to let him live.
Francis was being kept alive and tortured twice daily on a sadistically ritualistic schedule. The Eagle had destroyed Francis’ body but gave him IVs and medications to keep him alive. On one particular evening when the two had been left alone, Francis was very alert as he had been given a high dose stimulant to make sure he was wide awake and acutely able to feel the torture he was having inflicted upon him. Francis talked about the excitement of killing, how he enjoyed the screams of his victims, and his desire to clean the river of the filthy Swine who tainted it. “I have to tell you, Billy, there’s just nothing more exhilarating than holding that saw blade over the Swine after I have placed the tourniquet on the body part to be removed and hearing the pleading and praying to me. Oh…Billy, it’s heaven…I love it. In that moment, I am God. I love to hear the Swine pray to me, to beg me. Those are the moments that make life worth living. I never raped anyone. I’ve heard The Eagle talk of what you’ve done. You’re just a filthy rapist. I would do more to you than he has done. I hate rapist Swine.”
All conversation had stopped and the container was dark as the two men were sleeping as best they could. The lights suddenly came on in the unit, and the doors opened. He was back! They both wearily looked over at The Eagle. He had a certain intensity on his face. Francis knew that this was the end; at least he was praying out loud that finally The Eagle had come to finish what he started.
When Steve got to the office, he had several voicemail messages. All routine except for one. The voice on the message was the same voice he had heard in the dark alley near Coston Middle School when he and Jim found Roskowski’s body. The message was short and to the point.
“Good day, Special Agent Hoffman. I noticed that you have been spending a little more time at home the past several nights. It’s good to work on your marriage, keep the fire burning so to speak. The young lady who has been staying with you is very attractive, a relative I assume. I have a gift for you. Meet me at Legion Park tonight at eleven. It won’t take long. I don’t want to interfere in your personal life…too much.” There was a pause and the voice continued, “Oh…and I know I don’t have to say it, but I will…come alone.”
Silence followed. He saved the message and then sat down in his chair looking out the window. He looked at his watch. Half past five. The last time he was in Legion Park was when Barry’s body was found. He picked up the phone and called Jim but got his voicemail. “Jim, it’s Steve. We need to talk. I just received a message from The Eagle. Call me.” He called Molly and asked if they could have an early dinner. She was fine with it, so they met at seven instead of nine. The three of them enjoyed a wonderful meal and great conversation. Molly could tell that there was something going on with Steve but couldn’t put her finger on it. When dinner was done, he told the girls that he had some last minute business to clear up and would meet them at the house after midnight. As she waited for the valet to bring her car around, she asked him what was going on. He smiled and said, “Nothing, sweetheart. I have some clean up on Jill’s case that I need to get done, and the DNA evidence came back on the perp in Janet’s rape. The lab found a match in the database.” She looked at him closely, “There’s something that you aren’t telling me!” He shook his head as Phillip pulled up with her car. “You and Gail go home, relax, have a drink, and have one waiting for me when I get home.” She started to walk toward the driver’s side of her car, and he followed. “I know you, and I know that whatever it is is damned important for you to stand me and Gail up.” He smiled, “I’m not standing you up; I’m just going to be a little late, that’s all. Gail goes home in less than two days. Do you really think I’m going to miss out on the last few nights of fun?” She smiled as did he; she kissed him and pulled him close to her body and whispered into his ear, “Be safe, my love.” She could see the tension in his eyes. “You need to relax, mister. I’ll see you in a few hours. I love you.” “I love you, too. Drive safe.” He watched until her taillights disappeared onto the freeway onramp. He walked across the street and tried Jim’s cell again, but all he got was voicemail. He had two side arms, Glock 380s as well as two nine millimeter handguns in shoulder holsters under his jacket. “He didn’t say to come unarmed, just alone.”
Jim was sitting at his desk a little after ten when he realized that he had left his cell phone in his car. He had taken it out to input the cell number of the suspected Eagle and dropped it on the front seat when he went into his office earlier in the day. He gave the number to the department’s cyber crimes unit to do a cross on the phone to see who it belonged to. He had been in his office a little over an hour when he learned it was a prepaid phone registered to Mr. John Smith. All of the research led the department on a wild goose chase of P.O. boxes, beginning in New York and terminating at a mailing service in Salt Lake City, Utah. He cracked a joke with one of his investigators that the guy might be a Mormon. He could find nothing to connect the owner to the phone. But the one thing he hadn’t done was call the number.
He grabbed a cup of coffee and walked out to his car to retrieve the phone. He put it in his pocket without looking at it. He took out a smoke and lit it in the hot night air. He stood leaning against his car when his cell rang. The caller ID was blocked, and he was just about to put it back in his pocket when he saw that he had a voicemail message icon on the phone from a previously missed call. He flipped the ringing phone open and said, “If you’re a fuckin’ telemarketer, screw off. If you’re a charity, I gave at the office, and if you’re a bill collector, go fuck yourself. I don’t pay my bills.” He heard Steve say, “Nice way to answer the phone, asshole!” Jim laughed, “What’s up, Casanova?” “Jim, it’s ten thirty.” He looked at his watch, “Wow! So it is. What do you want?” “I received a voicemail from The Eagle asking me to meet him in Legion Park tonight at eleven. He said he had a gift for me.” “Where the fuck are you now, Steve?” “I’m crossing Gibbing, headed over to the park.” “Son of a bitch…don’t pull into the park. Turn on First and park at the corner of Pleasant. I’m on my way. Don’t go in without backup!”
He didn’t wait for Steve’s response. He just threw his still-lit cigarette onto the pavement and took off, running his lights and siren until he was three blocks from the park. If there was one thing Jim knew, it was that no one, not even The Eagle, would give the sound of sirens a second thought in that part of town. Traffic parted, and it was quarter to eleven when he saw Steve’s car parked a few rows down. He walked over and knocked on the passenger window; Steve unlocked the door, and Jim got in. He looked over at Steve staring in the direction of the park. “What exactly did he say in his message?” Steve pulled out his cell and called his office voicemail and handed Jim the phone. After listening,
he pounded his hands on the dashboard and said, “Shit…that son of a bitch has been watching you.” Steve didn’t react. “I don’t think I’m the only one he’s been watching.” He looked over at Jim. “You think he’s been watching me?” Steve nodded. “Well if he’s watching me, he’s been watching Barbara, too.” Steve looked at him strangely. “Later… assuming we’re still alive. I talked to Barbara last night, and she gave me a cell phone number that she claims Jill thought was The Eagle’s.” “Did you run a trace?” “No…I’ve been jerking off. Of course I ran a trace. John Smith. All of the addresses are dead ends.” “Have you called the number?” Jim sat quiet for a few seconds, “No!” “Well in five minutes I’m going to walk into Legion Park to pick up my gift. You’re my spotter. When you see that I’m engaged in conversation with him, call the number.” “Yea, like he’ll have the cell on him. Even if he does, we don’t know how he will react.” Steve looked at Jim and said, “I have a pretty good idea how he will react.”
The park was eerily quiet. It was early by this park’s standard, and there was no one in sight. Steve walked over to the curb and sat down. Jim made his way to the park and was able to move into an area that was unlit. He moved toward one of the bathrooms that the pimps and drug dealers had darkened for their events and pushed the door open and went inside; the door was spring loaded, and he heard it slam shut behind him. It was dark, and he started to make his way toward the light coming in through a window at the far end of the building. He made his way there but tripped on something as he got to the window. He didn’t dare shine a flashlight; he figured it was some trash from one of the homeless occupants. There were murmurs and moans echoing off the walls, but he couldn’t tell if they were inside or out. They weren’t moving, so he wasn’t worried about them. He spoke quietly under his breath, “If you’re getting or giving a blow job, do me a favor and shut the fuck up!” He made his way to the window. He had a clear view of the lot, and he could see Steve sitting on the curb. “Nice move,” he whispered to himself, “parking where they found Barry and sitting where we sat after we found the body.” He unclipped the holster on his side and pulled out his cell phone. He knew he couldn’t shoot from his position, but he could get to Steve in seconds; all he could do now was wait.
Rise of The Iron Eagle (The Iron Eagle Series Book 1) Page 17