Games We Play

by Isabelle Arocho

  GAMES WE PLAY

  By

  Isabelle Arocho

  Isabellearocho.com

  Copyright © 2012 ISABELLE AROCHO

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s mind and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organization, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  License Notes

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or edited in anyway. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  I SBN-10: 1480189154

  ISBN-13: 978-1480189157

  Novels by Isabelle Arocho

  DECEPTIONS

  BLOOD SINS

  SINFULLY DEPARTED

  Visit isabellearocho.com for purchase information

  Prologue

  Her heart raced

  Sasha Madden’s back was flat against the paneling, her gun tight between her hands, and her breath shallow as she waited for the right moment that would either end this long night or add to the blood shed.

  The once unidentified subject, Ronald Kellermen, was holding a small group of women hostage ranging from two teenagers and three others much younger. It was a very sensitive matter and her boss wasn’t willing to take any risks. Ronald had already killed over eight kids spanning over the last five years, and until recently there had been no evidence to link him to the murders.

  She could see Ronald from where she was stationed but the man was smart hiding behind the girls and different pieces of furniture.

  Her heart rate continued to quicken.

  Sasha wasn’t sure why Pete put her in the front, she wasn’t a supervisory agent—SSA— or even an agent with the most experience on the team. She was however a hell of a shooter and with SWAT still fifteen minutes out she was their best option. Sweat rolled down her temple, her bullet proof vest felt like twenty pound weights on either side of her back and chest, yet her hands were steady waiting.

  “Madden.” Her heart stopped its racing track at the sound of Nicholas McBain’s voice over the intercom. Her fellow teammate was waiting for her to fail and call for his help.

  Sticking it to Nick was just another reason why she had to find that perfect moment to subdue Ronald Kellermen. “Yes, sir?” she was careful not to be heard or seen from the small industrial air duct she was hidden in. The big burst of air flowing down into the room helped conceal her voice even farther.

  “Do you have an opening?”

  “Negative. Leave me alone, Nick.”

  He chuckled. “Pete has something to tell you. Try not to turn forty waiting there.”

  Her need to groan and curse Nick quickly faded at the sound of Pete Truman’s caring tone. Unlike her teammate her boss wasn’t waiting for her to fail, from the very beginning Pete supported her. In a lot of ways he was the only father figure she had known. “There was an accident on the highway and SWAT is still in route. How’s it going?”

  “He’s frantic but not making any mistakes. The girls are scared but all ok.” She knew they couldn’t keep waiting. Every second put them all closer to unnecessary danger.

  “We’re trying to make contact.”

  “The phone is off the hook. He doesn’t want to talk to us.” She watched Ronald pace back and forth behind the two teenagers. He was tense and wired for an error. “I’m going to talk to him.”

  Nicholas jumped back on the line. “Sasha, no—”

  “I can do this.” Something deep in her gut told her if something didn’t happen the man was going to snap and kill those young girls with that large rifle he was clutching to his side. The case files were very present in her mind’s eye and she knew he’d kill those girls and enjoy it like the others. She tried again to find an angle to get a shot off but little Megan Dyer was in the way and there was no way she could take the risk of shooting an eleven year old. “Ronald Kellermen.”

  He stopped pacing and grew very still while his dark eyes searched for where her voice was coming from. “Who’s there?”

  “My name is Sasha and I’m trying to get those girls home safe. What’s it going to take for that to happen?” Pete had always taught her to play the game and with a suspect like Ronald, stroking his ego and making him believe he was in control did just that.

  “You don’t have anything I want.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true. I spoke to your wife today, Maryanne.” Mrs. Kellermen filing for divorce had been the stressor to send Ronald from an organized killer into a frantic mass kidnapping bigger psychopath that finally led to a break in the long case. “She’s worried for you and doesn’t want to see you hurt.” Sadly that was the truth.

  “If she cared so damn much she wouldn’t have left me.”

  “I spoke to her for hours and there was no way she was faking the love she has for you. She’s outside with the cops waiting to see you.” Another truth. “All you have to do is hang up that phone and I can prove to you she’s here.”

  It was easier for Ronald to hang up the phone and wait for a call than it would’ve been to try and convince him to let the girls go or let Sasha come in. “You better not be lying to me.” The man said with a chilling edge, his rifle clutched tighter to his side as he went and hung up the phone.

  “Of course not. My team is getting her now.” Sasha lay flat on her belly and aimed her SP-57 pistol at a slanted angle to where Ronald stood waiting away from his human barricade. Nicholas, Pete, and the rest of their backup were listening in to her conversation with Ronald and like clockwork the landline started to ring.

  As Ronald lowered his defenses to talk to the woman he always regarded with all the care in the world and wouldn’t want to worry, Sasha pulled the trigger. The girls screamed but they were untouched by the shot and blood spatter that flew from Ronald’s head.

  Sasha got on her knees in the crouched space and shoved her foot down to open the duct. “It’s ok, I’m with the FBI.” She announced before jumping down to join the scared children. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” Her heart rate finally started to slow.

  Chapter 1

  Sasha sat alone in the locker room listening to the faint drop of water coming from the sink. It had a leak and three weeks later it was still waiting to be repaired. All the girls were back home safe and Ronald Kellermen was in the morgue. It was a good night and yet her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Waiting to take out the bad guy her hands were steady, consoling those girls and the family members who hadn’t been as lucky she was steady as a rock. Now alone she couldn’t fake it. She was a shaking leaf.

  Ronald Kellermen was the first person she had ever killed.

  It was much different than training at the firing range or during all the exercises the bureau cooked up to sharpen their agents’ skills. There was a lot more blood in the real world.

  She didn’t regret killing Ronald, oh no he deserved death ten times over. What she couldn’t shake was the weight of it hanging over her shoulders and how it stained her hands to the point they wouldn’t stop shaking.

  “Hey.”

  She looked up from her hands to find Nicholas standing a few feet across from her. Her back went ridged and she lowered her hands to rest by her thighs out of sight. “Yeah?”

  Nicholas was a tall man at 6’3 with a head full of dark black hair. His eyes were also dark with a navy type of blue hue she noted on several occasions when they stood close enough for her to see. Sitting as far as she was now his eyes looked almost brown. “Pete’s waiting for the debriefing. Are you all right?” Nick had been a profiler with the behavioral unit before joining Pete’s team and sometimes he noticed a little too much, seeing things differen
tly from the rest of them.

  “I’m fine.” She stood from the bench and walked over to the leaky faucet to wash her hands. “I thought everyone went home for the night.”

  “I like to be the last one to leave.”

  “So you can get a jump start on the rest of us?”

  “Something like that. You know it pains me to say this but you did good tonight.” Over the last year they had been in a personal competition with one another. Sasha couldn’t tell you how it started but from the moment she and Nicholas laid eyes on one another a feud began to always try to best each other. He was much more experienced on the field and in the office but that didn’t stop her from showing him up a few times.

  For that split second she smiled and forgot about Ronald’s blood dripping down the walls. “I’m surprised you didn’t choke on those words but thanks.” Sasha followed him out of the locker room and to the elevator up to Pete’s office.

  Peter Truman was the unit chief of the violent crimes subdivision spun from the criminal investigation division or CID. His subdivision of five agents lent a helping hand in-house with the bureau when they were short handed or if local police departments needing FBI assistance on the crimes CID specialized in; violent, financial, organized, public, corruption, and drug related. Just about everything, Pete likes to joke. But their main focus was and always would be violent crimes such a serial killers, complex murders, vicious attacks on numerous victims.

  Pete himself was a special man or at least he was to those that knew him. Outsiders like to criticize. Pete was a forensic psychologist, joining the bureau after obtaining his degree, and even highly respected there were numerous whispers behind his back for the unethical train of thought he tended to have, and yet nonetheless he was good at what he did. He knew how to read people and how to add that to the very big puzzle crime always had.

  Sasha smiled at the sight of her boss. “If you keep staying this late Dana is going to send those search dogs you adopted to find you and drag you home.” She pulled out a chair and sat across from him at the large conference table.

  “My wife is a very understanding woman.” Pete said with all the pride in the world.

  “She has to be.” Nicholas grinned. “I saw your assistant dropping off more files. Do we have a new case? Noah and Wayne are still in Texas wrapping up that cartel bust and Gage is still assisting white collar.”

  “It’s nothing we have to address tonight. I’m still getting the details in order from the liaison. Sasha, I need your official statement and recount of tonight’s events before we can close the file.” Pete explained gently as he pushed the play button on the recorder.

  Sasha put on her best game face and let her emotions fall to the wayside. She detailed the moment she crawled inside the air shaft, when she locked eyes on Kellermen and the painful minutes it took of waiting for that right moment that never came. She explained she knew time was running out for the young girls and made a choice to address Kellermen. Lastly came the moment she fired her gun. Pete was regarding her with a tender stare. Did he know about the blood she saw when her eyes closed for that millisecond it took to blink? “The shot was text book. There’s really nothing else to say.” She finished off her detailed account of her night.

  Pete pressed down on the stop button and watched as the tape whirled to a stop. “This job holds a lot of responsibility and that can weigh heavily on the heart.”

  She smiled weakly; of course her boss noted her horrendous coping skills. “I don’t regret killing Kellermen. I played the game just as you taught me and won against the opponent. There’s nothing to fret over.” Those were the correct words to say but deep down she didn’t believe them, not yet anyhow. It was an ugly truth but she was going to have to feel this and go through the motions. Taking a human life wasn’t as exciting and clean cut as action movies and thrilling fiction painted. If she felt nothing she’d be just as bad as the killers they locked up.

  Pete nodded with a small jerk of his head. “It’s getting later by the second. We can talk again in the morning.”

  Sasha tried to suppress a frown. “Eight AM?”

  “I was thinking seven.” Pete teased, waving his hand before she could protest. “Head home and get some rest. I won’t expect you before eleven.”

  “Thank you, sir.” She pushed back in her office chair and stood up. She had forgotten Nicholas was there until he joined her stride out of the room. It was weird to have his around this long and they weren’t arguing. It was nice but very out of character in terms of their work relationship. “Is there something you want to say?” there was a thoughtful look lacing his blue orbs.

  A grin tugged the left side of his lips. “If we didn’t need someone small to fit in that shaft, I would’ve nailed Kellermen myself.”

  Sasha laughed as they reached the open floor plan where their desks were located. “I was waiting for you to say something like that. This is my win Nick and there’s nothing you can say to change that so eat it and don’t choke on it.”

  His grin turned into a full blown smile revealing his white teeth. “Have a goodnight, Madden.” He grabbed his briefcase off the desk and walked away.

  Sasha stood there and watched his retreating form. It was strange how some quick office banter lifted some of the weight from her shoulders. Maybe she’d get some sleep tonight after all.

  That following morning came with bursts of bright light shining past the curtains and blinds. Sasha groaned and buried her head deeper into the pillows. Pete gave her most of the morning off and she refused to get up a minute earlier than required to get dressed. All the planning in the world wasn’t working, the sunlight was still there bearing down the bare walls of her bedroom. Angry she bolted up right in bed and glared at the single window. “I hate you.” If she had it her way there wouldn’t even be a window in the bedroom. She wasn’t one of those people that enjoyed natural light or liked to keep her windows open for fresh air. Central AC was just fine thank you. She was the person who knew the evils that lurked out there and how many perverts out there liked to peak through windows. If anyone tried to see through her window they were going to be greeted with a white shade and blue drapes.

  With a groan she stood from bed and reached for a large beach towel, using the same rod the drapes hung from she added the towel as another form of protection; from the sunlight and the rest of the world.

  She was snuggled back in bed ready to fall back into a blissful rest when her cellphone rang. “You have got to be kidding me.” No matter how hard she stared down the little device it wouldn’t burst into pieces and shut up. Grabbing it off the nightstand she saw it was someone from the office calling her. The number was programmed under prison. With a sigh she answered. “Madden.”

  “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “Pete gave me until eleven.” Sasha not so gently reminded her coworker.

  “That case he mentioned last night finally fell into our laps. We need you here now.” Nicholas explained, his earlier teasing tone was replaced by the harden officer that made him good at what he did.

  “Three hours of sleep I’m missing. Three hours.”

  “I’ll see you in fifteen.” The line clicked off.

  Sasha tossed the phone down on top the bed and got up to get dressed. When the job called she had to be there. There were no set hours, there’d be times she’d arrive at eight AM and wouldn’t leave until some time later the following day. In her closet hung various different pant suits, she wouldn’t be caught dead at the office in a skirt where she worked generally with men. After grabbing the charcoal grey one she picked a light purple button down blouse to go along with the jacket. It didn’t take her long to get dressed and tie back her dark hair. The most important aspect of her outfit always came last; her gun holster. She pulled the straps over each shoulder and checked her revolver, making sure the clip was full, before securing the gun back in place. In the living room on the long couch that made up the furniture lay her briefcase. It
was leather with enough compartments to stash her whole apartment if she tried.

  The office was much livelier than how she left it last night. Everywhere phones could be heard ringing and every computer was lit up. After going through security and swiping her badge it wasn’t long to reach her department. As unit chief Pete was the only agent with an office, the rest of them had a desk in the maze of the open space dedicated to their team. She waved to the few agents at their desk before rushing up the three stairs to Pete’s office. “I should get some compensation for my lost three hours.” It was a joke for the most part.

  Pete waved her into the office and to one of the chairs littered around his desk. He didn’t have the standard two across from his desk because there were times his guests were double that number. “I will discuss it with human resources first thing this afternoon.” He too joked about the lack of sleep like it was some new occurrence they didn’t all deal with daily. “If it was up to be you would still be at home cursing the sun for coming up too early.” It wasn’t rumor, he did truly know all of his agents like the back of his hand. Mostly in part because he didn’t treat them like employees, instead he treated them like children he had personally nursed to adulthood, a certain adulthood that came with the grizzly things they were forced to accept as agents of the law. “The Marshals have asked for our assistance.”

  Sasha nodded and waited for him to continue. She was always nervous when she was given a new case, unsure if it was the fact she was still considered a newbie or the fact nine times out of ten the case would involved voiceless victims and new ones being threatened. Pete’s team dealt in all kinds of work but the one area that always needed extra hands because they could never get ahead of it all was the murders. There was so much evil, so many twisted people that needed to hurt others. She didn’t give a shit about the why; she wasn’t a profiler and had no interest of the inner workings of true evil. She cared about stopping them and nothing more.