by Jason Parent
Brian! Aaron grunted into the gag. Get me out of this fucking chair!
Brian put his index finger over his lips and waved for Maura to join him. He raised the blade above his head as the door creaked open.
CHAPTER 28
“Any word yet from Temple and Pimental?” Bruce figured he must have asked the same question of every officer on duty at least twice.
“None, sir,” Stravenski answered.
Bruce paced feverishly around the precinct floor. Fournier is missing. Now, Pimental and Temple are missing. Is Pimental part of all this? He is friendly with the suspects.
“Send a car around to Ricardo Jimenez’s apartment. I want a status update from Pimental and Temple as soon as possible.” A chill ran down Bruce’s spine. If they can still give a status update.
Stravenski hustled off then returned a few minutes later. “Sir, Somerset officers were on-scene when I called. Neighbors had reported a disturbance at the Jimenez residence. No one was there when the officers arrived, but they did find Pimental’s patrol car out front. Its passenger-side window had been shattered.”
Bruce set his jaw. That nagging worry he usually buried in his subconscious moved to the forefront of his mind. “I want everyone working on this now! Wake them up if you have to. A couple of our own may be in trouble.”
Aaron’s eyes widened as the blade cut through the air. It traveled downward in a deadly arc, as if craving flesh. The knife swung toward the crevasse between Kelly’s neck and her left shoulder.
Had Brian hit his mark, the stroke would surely have been deadly. But with almost superhuman reflexes, Doug caught and slowed Brian’s arm. The blade sliced into Kelly’s bicep instead.
She screamed and clutched her arm. Blood seeped through her fingers. The cut might need stitches, but it was hardly life-threatening.
Still clutching Brian’s wrist, Doug glanced at her. “Are you okay?”
Before she could respond, Brian took the hulking beast’s distraction as a second chance to strike. He drove his left knee into Doug’s scrotum. The big man groaned and dropped to one knee, but he retained his hold on Brian.
Aaron shouted through his gag. Get him, Brian. Kill that son of a bitch.
Brian followed up with a left hook, hitting Doug’s jaw and knocking his head back. Doug finally released Brian’s arm.
Aaron began to hope. It’s him or us, Brian. Kill him!
With his knife hand free, Brian slashed horizontally across Doug’s chest, drawing enough blood to spatter the floor. Doug didn’t even seem to feel it. Brian raised the blade again.
With one hand on the floor and his feet planted firmly under him, Doug looked like a defensive lineman going in for the sack. As Brian raised the knife again, Doug sacked him. Brian’s head hit the floor hard, and the weapon dropped from his hand and slid across the wood.
With one hand grasping Brian’s shirt and the other hand palming his face, Doug picked him up and ran the back of his head into the wall. Dust and plaster exploded in billowing clouds and ashen rain.
Aaron felt his chances for escape dwindle as Brian hung barely conscious against the dilapidated wall. Through the cracks between Doug’s fingers, Aaron could see one of Brian’s eyes rolling back in his head. Aaron struggled in his chair as Carter and Ricardo filed into the room.
Carter pointed at Maura. “Grab the girl.”
Ricardo and Kelly ran over to her and subdued her quickly, despite her clawing and kicking. Kelly dug a pair of handcuffs out of her back pocket and chained Maura’s hands behind her back. She swept Maura’s feet out from under her with a single graceful motion of her leg, and Maura crashed to the floor on her butt. Though she didn’t appear hurt, she didn’t try to stand.
“Looks like we have our first volunteer,” Carter said, his face shining with sadistic pleasure. “Put him on the table.”
Doug carried Brian by his neck over to the operating table. Brian clawed at Doug’s tree-trunk arm and kicked his legs. Unaffected by the weak strikes, Doug slammed him down onto the table. Brian gasped for air, his attacker’s powerful fingers still clenched around his throat.
“Guess it’s time you guys earned your class participation grade,” Carter said. “Hold him down.”
Ricardo wrapped his arms around Brian’s right leg, putting his weight on it to keep him in place. Kelly grabbed his other leg. Brian didn’t stop kicking, but his motions were limited to slight bends at the knee and quick, totally useless jerks. His attackers seemed to be waiting for him to tire out.
Throughout the entire thing, Aaron had been struggling against the tape around his hands and ankles, but it didn’t even seem to be loosening. He knew what was at stake: his life, his partner’s life, and the life of a woman he did not know. But he could do nothing.
Brian continued fighting, scratching at Doug’s hands. Doug let go of Brian’s neck and clamped those powerful hands around Brian’s arms. He slammed them against the table a few times. Aaron heard a crack, and Brian howled in pain. Afterward, his right arm hung limply off the side of the table.
Carter strode over and picked up the knife Brian had dropped. He brought it over and slid it underneath Brian’s shirt. Brian’s eyes widened, and he gasped. Carter just stood there, holding the knife in place.
Aaron could see the wickedness shimmering in the killer’s eyes, glinting off the saliva on his teeth. He’s savoring it. Every second.
Instead of pointing the knife down, Carter aimed it toward the ceiling and poked the tip of the blade through the cloth. He ran it along the button line of Brian’s uniform. The sharp edge shredded the material with ease, exposing Brian’s chest. Carter’s eyes widened as he raised the knife.
Aaron fought harder against the tape. He screamed around his gag, but the sound came out as a whimper.
“Wait,” Doug said. “Is he chosen? What is his sin? Does he need redeeming?”
Carter sneered at Doug. “The Lord chooses who we save, not me. After we finish here today, all will be revealed. The Lord will come again, this time as the Lion. Because of our deeds here, many more will follow Him. So I ask you all, help me get through this last task that He has set for us. Be patient and keep the faith.”
“Doug’s right, Carter,” Ricardo said. “We can’t save him without first knowing he needs saving and giving him a chance to confess. Otherwise, we would be no more than common killers. Our mission would mean nothing.”
You are no better than common killers. And you, Ricardo—you’re something even worse.
Carter lowered the knife to his side. “You both should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re not questioning me but God Himself. Must I remind you of the Book of Job? What happened to Job when he questioned God?”
Aaron didn’t understand the reference. Maybe the others didn’t, either, because they just stared, expressionless.
Carter shook his head. “Fine, then. You will see his sins exposed just as I say, just as God has told me.”
“Hey,” Carter said harshly. He jabbed a finger between Brian’s eyebrows. “Hey, you.” He grabbed Brian’s cheeks and squeezed, puckering his lips like a kissing fish. “Listen to me closely.” Carter rested the blade on the skin of Brian’s neck. “You might say your life depends on it.”
Aaron gagged on the saliva pooling in the back of his throat and tried to cough. Carter flashed him a smile as though he had just remembered Aaron was sitting there. Carter’s smile reminded Aaron of Trevor, the school bully, and the way he used to grin when he knocked Aaron’s books out of his hands. Aaron had feared Trevor, but the olive-skinned devil looming over his partner was worse than any elementary school bully.
Carter gave Brian’s face a light slap. “Officer Temple? Brian, is it?”
Brian glared up at the man without responding.
“Brian then,” Carter said. “Are you a Christian?”
Brian took a
moment to answer, as if expecting some trick. “Yes.”
“What denomination?”
“Methodist.”
“Do you participate in the practice of confession?”
Brian hesitated again. “Yes.” The answer sounded like a question.
“Good. That’ll make this go quicker. You have this opportunity to absolve yourself of your sins and declare your love for Our Father. Do you have anything you’d like to confess? Is there anything for which you’d like to be forgiven?”
From what Aaron knew of him, Brian was basically a saint. He’d probably never so much as taken a penny that wasn’t his. Aaron bet the cop’s life had been fairly ordinary. Brian had even become a police officer because he “wanted to help people.” What dirty, dark secrets could he possibly have to confess? In a world full of evil, Brian was as sickeningly good as they came. Aaron just hoped Brian wasn’t too good to lie to save his own hide… and maybe his partner’s while he was at it.
“Yes!” Brian cried. “Yes, I have plenty to confess.”
“Really?” Carter looked amused. The skepticism in his voice was clearly meant for his audience. He waited a bit, almost as if trying to impress Brian with his theatrics. “Well? What do you have to confess?”
Brian stuttered, no doubt searching his mind for something, anything, to confess. Finally, he spoke. “I would like to be forgiven for all the bad things I’ve ever done, for every sin I’ve committed.”
Carter’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. Aaron’s heart sank. He knew Brian’s words were about to be twisted somehow. No matter what his partner said, he was a dead man.
“Watch!” Carter said in a melodramatic tone. “Lucifer controls this poor man’s soul. We must deliver it from evil.” He sounded like a doomsday preacher from any number of low-budget movies.
Surely, he’s overselling it. One of those people had to be able to see through him. But as Aaron examined the faces of Carter’s minions, the rational sincerity he saw on each seemed so… irrational. The three of them followed the play with blank stares as if they were hypnotized by the shiny object in Carter’s hand. Not a brain cell among them. Carter wasn’t merely playing to the crowd. He was preaching to the choir.
“I confessed,” Brian pleaded. “Isn’t that what you wanted to hear?” Brian’s eyes frantically searched the faces standing over him, likely seeing what Aaron had seen in them.
“See? The devil controls his voice,” Carter said as the others leaned closer, apparently eager to find a reason to “save” Brian. “He tells us not the truth but rather what he thinks we want to hear. He lies to sway you from your task. The devil has forked this man’s tongue. God has seen fit for us to save him, and that is what we must do.”
Aaron lashed out with everything he had, desperate to free himself, sweating and grunting like an animal. The tape might have stretched a little, but it didn’t break.
“You’re nothing,” Brian said. He spit at Carter’s face, but most of it came back down onto his own cheek.
Carter cupped a hand around his ear. “What’s that? I’m nothing?” He acted offended. “Do you think you’re better than us?”
“I know I’m better than you,” Brian said. “You guys are nothing but a sick bunch of sideshow freaks that history will soon forget. Your turn to die will come. One by one, you’ll each march straight into hell.”
“You see, my friends?” Carter smiled. “You see his wrath? You see his pride? You see the devil inside him?”
The other three nodded. If they doubted him, it didn’t matter. They would follow.
“Well,” Carter said as he raised the blade, “I say, be gone with the devil!” He drove his crude weapon into Brian’s torso.
“No!” Maura screamed.
Aaron closed his eyes. He listened to his partner bellow for what seemed like an eternity. When the screaming finally stopped, he opened his eyes. He had to turn his head away from the ghastly scene. He looked at Maura, curled in a ball on the floor. He couldn’t save her, either.
CHAPTER 29
Jocelyn hustled into Bruce’s office. Every second counted. “The neighbors say they saw a gray or silver Toyota Camry outside Ricardo Jimenez’s home at approximately eight forty-five p.m. No one got a plate number, but I put out an APB anyway. Officer Reilly reported that she saw one drive by her on Davol Street around nine.”
“Did she follow?” Bruce asked.
“She said she tried but lost them before she could even get close. They must have ducked behind one of the buildings in that area. Lots of abandoned factories over there, plenty of places to hide. I’ll bet my ass that’s where we’ll find them.” But will we find them in time? Jocelyn wasn’t optimistic. A sighting of a Toyota Camry, one of thousands, was hardly something to get excited about. Pimental and Temple were probably already dead. No. Don’t think like that. “If that was our guys, then we need to move on it.”
Bruce nodded. “I’ll have every officer we can spare sent to that location. On the off chance that it was them, I doubt they’re still driving around or that they would be dumb enough to leave the vehicle out in the open.”
“Well, even if Douglas Fournier isn’t our killer, he’s a criminal now. Three witnesses say a man matching his description assaulted a police officer at Jimenez’s address. We have our people looking for him, his wife, Pimental, Temple, and Jimenez.”
“What about Carter Wainwright?”
“Some of the witnesses said a fifth male was present. So yes, him, too. I had a car sent to his house. Of course, he wasn’t home. No one’s ever home.” Jocelyn leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Bruce, there’s something else. The officer sent over to Wainwright’s peeked through the windows. He said the house looked empty, as though nobody lived there at all—no furniture, no stuff, no nothing.”
“That’s impossible. There’s no way he could have moved all his crap—crap I saw with my own two eyes—out of there without someone noticing. He’s been under surveillance twenty-four seven.”
“I’m just telling you what the officer said.” She frowned. “You think someone else is helping them?”
Bruce scowled. “I don’t care if he’s got a whole battalion of Christian crusaders helping him; I’m not letting this guy get away. I know he’s part of it, and I’ll get him sooner or later, preferably sooner. Right now, though, Temple and Pimental are our first priorities.”
Jocelyn started buttoning her coat. “I’m not doing them any good sitting around here. I’m heading over there to help in the search. My gut’s telling me they’re there. You’ll let me know if you hear anything?”
“I won’t have to,” Bruce said as he stood. “I’m coming with you.”
Blood was everywhere. Its metallic taste seemed to float on the particles Aaron sucked through his gag.
Carter was carving up Brian’s corpse. Blood sprayed onto the others’ faces, but they didn’t seem to notice or care.
Seeing Ricardo standing over the dead body, Aaron realized that he’d never truly known his best friend. Or did I turn a blind eye? How could I not have seen this?
A few minutes later, Carter held up Brian’s heart like a trophy. “Move the body.”
Doug picked up Brian’s arms while Ricardo grabbed the ankles. They moved automatically, as if they had practiced.
“Where do you want us to put him?” Doug asked.
“Just throw it in the corner for now.”
The pair walked to the corner with Brian’s body dangling between them. There, they dropped it unceremoniously, like a bag of garbage. Aaron’s eyes were tearing up, and he prayed his nose wouldn’t get clogged.
Carter walked over to Maura and lifted her chin. She turned her head away, but he wrenched it back. He flashed a sinister smile. “Let’s start on the girl,” he said, never averting his eyes from her.
“What about him?” Ricardo poin
ted at Aaron.
Leave me out of this shit. But Aaron knew he wouldn’t be so lucky. Even after seeing Brian flayed open in front of him, he still had difficulty believing Ricardo would allow him to be killed. Then he thought of Craig and how he’d been strung up like a Christmas tree ornament. If Rick could do that to Craig, then I’m probably dead.
He tried again to escape. The tape dug trenches into his skin, tightening around his wrists and cutting off circulation.
Carter flashed Aaron that same innocent smile. “He looks just fine where he is. He can wait his turn.”
“His turn? You said he would be one of us.”
The smile fell off Carter’s face. “You’re right, Ricardo. That’s what I meant. I only thought that maybe we’d do Maura first then get to Aaron. But either way is fine. Let’s make him part of the team, shall we?”
Knife in hand, Carter moved toward Aaron. Drops of Brian’s blood fell from the blade like the first quiet raindrops before a storm. Ricardo, Doug, and Kelly followed. Ricardo was smiling.
Carter bent over and cut through the duct tape around Aaron’s head. Without any semblance of delicacy, he ripped the tape from Aaron’s mouth.
Aaron spat out the gag. “Yeah, Carter, you’re a real bad ass with that knife while you got me all tied up. Let me out of this chair, and we’ll see who the real tough guy is.”
“All in good time, Aaron,” Carter said. “You can relax. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
“Oh yeah? Then why am I tied up? And why is my eye swollen to the size of a grapefruit?” He looked at Doug. “And you, you fat fuck. You put a used sock in my mouth? You’re next on my list.”
“You’re in no position to make threats,” Doug answered.
“You’re right. Killing a pussy like you would be too easy. Maybe I’ll just take it out on Kelly. You know, angry-fuck her. It would probably be a hell of a lot better than what you’ve been giving her.” Aaron knew he shouldn’t be aggravating the situation, but rage and fear had taken over his brain.