Outlier: One mistake can destroy everything.

by Jacob Mesmer

  “Very good, Mr. Hutchins. Now get some rest; tomorrow you have a very important day ahead of you,” Bancroft said, and got up and left.

  As he walked out to his car, he glanced up and down the street, wondering about the neighbors. Jay didn’t seem to make much noise.

  Two things he might have to deal with. If Jay’s mother showed up unexpectedly, he’d have to eliminate her before she became an issue. And if the authorities showed up, he would have to detain them until Jay went to work the next morning.

  He counted the houses surrounding Jay’s. Only eight.

  This should be a peaceful evening, he thought to himself. A Sunday night in the suburbs. But by tomorrow this time, Jay’s house and the town of Rockport would be on everybody’s mind. All those students with their smartphones and cameras.

  Social media was going to explode.

  Chapter Forty

  Monday Morning

  Sean had gotten up at 5 a.m. He knew Jay reported to work at 9; that meant he left around 8:30 or so. His plan was to show up at 7 a.m., sneak into the backyard, and then wait for him to shower. While Jay was showering, he would enter the home; he’d eliminate him as soon as he came out of the shower. He’d have to make sure the blunt force trauma to the back of his head appeared as though it had come from the corner of the sink; he’d arrange the body to look like Jay had slipped getting out of the shower. He’d played it out a few times in his mind. One swift knock to the back of his skull. Then a quick snap of his neck in the direction of the fall he would later arrange.

  Judging by the video of the locker incident, which he’d watched several dozen times, Jay seemed to need a few moments of concentration before causing movement. Sean further assumed that his skills were growing, so he would hide in the hallway just outside the bathroom door. If his mom was home, he would neutralize her; but he suspected she wasn’t. For some reason, she’d been gone the last few days. He knew she sometimes did short-term assignments in other cities, but he hadn’t been able to get any information from the temp service in town.

  It wasn’t the only one she used. He also suspected that she was engaging in welfare fraud, as she did receive a sizable monthly payment. She most likely was paid under the table for her temp work, which meant there were no records of any employment details. Had this been an official investigation, he would have been able to subpoena phone records and track down her potential location.

  He pulled into the street directly behind Jay’s. He checked his watch: 6:30. He wore loose tan pants, a dark blue turtleneck, and latex gloves. His weapon was holstered; the safety was off. His badge was tucked inside his back pocket, in its leather case. If any of the neighbors saw him, he planned to simply put his finger to his lips and quickly flash his badge. The path from his car to the house directly behind Jay’s was ten yards. It was another thirteen yards down the side to their backyard and over the fence to Jay’s backyard. He could hop the fence with minimal effort. He recalled from Jay’s backyard that the fence was held up with four-by-four posts, which were sufficient to hold his weight. Sunrise was at 6:37, giving him a little cover of the remaining darkness. He double-checked his glove box. He grabbed his phone as a backup weapon.

  After sitting in his car for three minutes, verifying that no lights were on in any adjacent houses, he crept out. He swiftly crossed the street. Thirty seconds later he was in the backyard behind Jay’s. He stopped and listened. It wouldn’t do to be seen vaulting the fence, and he couldn’t risk being seen by the neighbor either. He found a wide enough space between the fence boards and peered through. Jay’s house was still dark. Perfect.

  He stepped back a few feet and quickly hopped the fence, bracing his left hand on the fencepost and turning in the process. He landed facing the far corner of Jay’s backyard. He neither heard nor saw Bancroft, who quickly brought the grip of his handgun down on the back of Sean’s head, momentarily stunning him. By the time Sean realized what was happening, his gun had been removed, and the barrel of Bancroft’s gun was pressed into the back of his head. He’d been searched, and all his belongings, including his badge, had been removed. What he heard next was both confusing and terrifying.

  “Listen very carefully, Detective Lovac. In 74 minutes, at 8:15 a.m., Mr. Hutchins is going to leave for Rockport-Fulton. You are not going to interfere with that. I am going to put plastic restraints on both your wrists and your legs. I’m going to cover your mouth. I am going to drag you over to the side of Mr. Hutchins’ house. I will be able to watch you from my car. If you emerge before Mr. Hutchins leaves, I will kill you. If you try and get back to your car before Mr. Hutchins leaves, I will kill you. If you attempt in any way to contact anybody before that time, including Mr. Hutchins, I will kill you. Do you understand?” Bancroft asked. His voice was calm and steady, as if dictating instructions on how to program a microwave.

  Sean nodded his head once.

  “After Mr. Hutchins leaves, I will wait in my car for twenty minutes, giving him sufficient time to arrive at work. At that time, you may do whatever you wish. I’ll even honk three times letting you know it’s safe to come out. Do you understand?” Bancroft asked.

  Sean nodded his head, eyes wide with a mix of fear and anger.

  “Good day, Detective Lovac. I doubt you will ever see me again. I’ll leave your belongings in your apartment.”

  Sean waited. He wanted to turn his head to glimpse his assailant, but he didn’t dare.

  Ninety-four minutes. He felt the restraints, estimating that it would only take five to ten minutes to remove them.

  He calculated that it would only take Jay fifteen minutes to walk to school.

  He started planning.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chi was frantic. She’d pleaded with her parents, but they had refused to let her stay home. Nobody believed what was happening. Despite a valiant attempt by the students to spread the warning via social media, all their parents and most of the teachers thought it was a prank. Even the principal and vice principal were somehow convinced it was their imagination and that the book had just fallen out of the locker. Nobody understood why Mr. Hutchins was still allowed to come to school.

  As soon as Chi had seen him walking into the parking lot, she’d called Detective Lovac. No answer. She called again and left a message. That was five minutes ago. The students were huddled together in the cafeteria. Chi realized this was not the safest place, but it had been chosen quickly and in fear. There were four classrooms whose windows faced the parking lot, and when those students saw Mr. Hutchins coming into the parking lot with a huge smile on his face, they fled into the hallway. Whether somebody had suggested the cafeteria or they just went there as a terrified and unthinking herd, nobody knew. It was the closest room that all of them could fit it.

  After huddling in the corner for a few minutes, many of them realized that separating would have been much better, but it was too late. Mr. Hutchins had seen them run, and he was walking directly toward them. By the time they’d filled the cafeteria, he was halfway across the parking lot. A few of the boys had positioned themselves near either of the doors, waiting to pounce as he walked in. They waited. And waited. Finally, one of them timidly peeked outside, then shook his head to his fellow students. Nothing. They looked at each other. Scared. Confused. Suddenly a girl screamed. Jay had circled around and was standing outside the window, looking in.

  Nothing happened. Only Jay, staring. Smiling. Eyes wide with excitement, then with anger. Then the chairs started moving. Haphazardly at first, and then they started flinging themselves at the students, hitting a few of them. They were launched, one by one, into the quickly dispersing crowd. The crowd panicked, pushing through the double doors leading from the cafeteria out into the hallway. The nearest exit was fifty feet down the hall.

  Several of the students stayed behind to help their fallen friends. Somehow managing to escape further injury, they followed the remaining crowd pushing itself through the doors.

  Chi, the last t
o leave, looked back to make sure they hadn’t left any injured behind. There were no students, but Jay was now gone.

  “He’s gone! He’s gone! Be careful; he may come around to the front!” she screamed, not sure anybody heard her. She felt her phone vibrating in her front pocket. She pulled it out. It was Detective Lovac.

  “Detective! He’s here, and he’s throwing chairs around! Everybody’s running everywhere; nobody knows what to do! Please! Help us!” she pleaded with him.

  “Chi,” Sean’s voice came through very powerfully. “Listen very carefully. He needs to concentrate to do that; do you understand? He needs time to focus. Do not let him do that. Talk to him, yell at him, throw stuff at him. I’ll be there in five minutes. Do you understand me?” he asked.

  “Uh, OK,” she answered, her voice shaking. Was he really asking her to do that?

  She ran to the front, where the kids were huddled in between cars in the parking lot, too terrified to do anything but hide. Chi found two of her friends. “Listen, I know what to do; follow me!” she said. Her friends looked at each other, eyes wide, shaking their heads.

  “C’mon! I know what to do! The police told me; it’s OK!” she shouted, grabbing each of them by the arms and pulling.

  They ran back between the last row of cars and the chain-link fence, slowly creeping up to the long driveway leading to the parking lot. They spotted Jay, standing next to a row of bicycles. He was staring at them intently, making them shoot out one by one, landing a few yards away. He didn’t seem to have much control of them. This gave Chi a much-needed boost of confidence.

  She leaned over and told her friends their instructions. They listened, looking back and forth between her, Jay, and the various shapes of terrified and desperately crouching students in the parking lot. They saw a few faculty in the classrooms, looking out bewilderedly at the parking lot. Some of them had a clear vantage of Jay and were covering their mouths in horror.

  Jay was about halfway through the bicycles, and twenty-five yards stood between him and the three girls. “You guys ready?” Chi asked, quickly looking at each of them. They looked at each other, looked at Chi, and nodded.

  “OK. Let’s go.”

  The three took off diagonally across the driveway, coming directly up behind Jay, carefully spreading out as they did so.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Sean was unsure whether Chi had called 911. He pulled into Carmel Street, which was adjacent to the street that led to the main driveway into the school parking lot. He quickly hopped the fence and ran alongside building number three. Up at the corner, he stopped and peered around the edge. Good girl, he thought to himself. She couldn’t be more than 90 pounds, and she was showing more courage than most trained cops.

  Fifty feet ahead on the left was a mostly empty bike rack. The bikes had been tossed haphazardly to the right and were lying in a heap. Jay had his back to Sean and was facing the three girls. They had spread out as if they were playing a zone defense. They were slowly closing in on Jay, now about 25 feet from him. Jay was looking from girl to girl, not sure how to handle them.

  They were doing precisely as Sean had recommended. He needed to cover the distance before Jay turned around, and he had to neutralize Jay without causing any collateral damage. He’d have to rely on the girls to not call attention to him, something he wasn’t sure they were capable of in their current state.

  He slowly crept closer, staring at Jay’s back while holding his finger to his lips. His other hand was holding his backup weapon outstretched, away from his body so they could see. Safety off, finger on the trigger. As he slowly advanced, he crouched down slightly and slowly brought the gun to bear. He could hear their taunts.

  “You fucking loser! You never had a girlfriend; you never will!”

  “Hey Jay, you missed a spot!”

  “Jay, how often to you jack off, you fucking creep?”

  They were relentless. Rapid-fire insults, one by one, made it impossible for him to concentrate. Twenty feet and closing.

  “Janitor jerk-off Jay!”

  “Hey, Jay, do you fuck your mom every night?”

  “Stop staring at my tits, you fucking loser!”

  Sean crept within five feet. Three feet. One foot. Jay hadn’t noticed. Sean quickly fired off three rounds, dead center mass. Each fragmenting bullet was doing more damage than the previous. Jay’s heart was obliterated. His spine had shattered. His lungs ripped to shreds, all before he hit the ground.

  The girls flinched and instinctively covered at the sound of the shots. Then they ran to each other and held each other. They ran back into the parking lot, telling everybody it was safe.

  Sean instinctively kept his weapon aimed at Jay for a few moments longer. Only then did he hear the approaching sirens.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “OK, Sean, everybody’s gone; it’s only you and me. Nothing will leave this room. I assure you there are no hidden cameras or NSA-type bullshit,” the mayor said, doing her best to sound authoritative. Sean chuckled. He was sitting in the same recliner he’d been in before. He suspected all the mayor’s guests got the non-leather recliner.

  “I went to the suspect’s house to see if I could find any evidence. Somebody jumped me and took my gun and my badge. I suspect he was employed by the same folks who employed Mr. Goldberg,” Sean recited.

  “The same Mr. Goldberg who says that Mr. Hutchins is no longer a client, correct?” Winnie asked.

  “Correct.”

  “I see.” She paused. “And then?”

  “Then I left as soon as I was able to remove the restraints. I went to the school to prevent any further injury. I saw the suspect attempting to harm three kids. I stopped him. He is no longer a threat.”

  They sat in silence.

  “You’re sure the children will corroborate?” she asked.

  “They’re kids. They were terrified. I doubt they even remember what happened,” he replied.

  “So the only person who really knows what happened is you. Correct?” she asked hopefully.

  “Correct,” Sean replied, stone-faced.

  “We’ve contacted the mother,” he continued. “She’s been in Houston doing some emergency bookkeeping work. She is paid under the table. She seems unwilling to get involved. She said she’ll sign a release as soon as she returns. I told her there’s no rush. I suspect Westlake will see this as closed,” he finished. Westlake was the city attorney.

  “I agree,” Winnie said, relieved. “Well, Sean, it seems all previous gossip is now eclipsed by your heroics. Most of the school seems to think you’ve saved them from the devil himself. If the election were today, my job would be yours,” she said, laughing.

  Sean shook his head. “Look, Winnie, I don’t know Chi other than the few conversations we’ve had. But she showed something the other day that most people simply would not be able to do. Keep an eye on her. She’s only fifteen, but Jesus.”

  Winnie smiled. It was nice to think that some youth had potential, despite what most people thought.

  “What about you, Sean? About our arrangement? I think that under the circumstances, you could do very well in this town.”

  Sean paused.

  “I don’t know, Winnie. I just don’t know. Lemme think about it for a while. I’ll get back to you.”

  Winnie nodded and smiled. Sean stood and left.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  They’d spent the last 30 minutes reviewing the tapes about the school locker, the apples in the grocery store, and the bicycles being tossed about.

  “Very impressive,” Ms. Weismann noted. “Cranial integrity?” she asked.

  “Still intact,” Bancroft said through the speakerphone.

  “Location?” Weismann asked.

  “Morgue in San Antonio. I’ll have it secured within 24 hours. Diamond should have it on-site thereafter.”

  “Thank you. That will be all.” She ended the call and turned to the general.

  “So, walk me through
this again. Step by step,” the general said.

  “BioGyn, a subsidiary of ours,” she said, motioning to James Diamond, seated directly across from her, “developed an over-the-counter drug to be marketed as a general stress-relieving drug. It’s also a very powerful hypnotic that induces a state of extremely heightened compliance. Extensive studies have shown that parallel advertising strategies, with trigger-word setups and trigger-word activations, can induce up to a 200% increase in consumer activity. However, one wholly unexpected side effect in one outlier was a strong case of telekinetic ability. Within one month of the clinical trials, he was able to perform what you just saw. To date, we are unaware of any biological reasons for this particular individual’s ability,” she said, looking at the general passively.