THE ALTER: A Psychological Crime Thriller

by EJ Nesbeth

  The crowd slowly re-assembled around the body, no longer interested in hearing the mayor’s empty promises. All hopes had just gone up in smoke and nothing the mayor said could console or re-assure them. They were in shock and had reason to mourn. They had cause for dread, and no one could convince them otherwise.

  Ava stood dazed as she looked out at the architectural horizon. She wondered who Ryan really was and what conflicted being would orchestrate such chaos, but still try to save. All she was left with was a memory of one so timid and innocent, and struggled to rationalize it with the savage she now knew. She watched the smoke rise into the air and wondered where he was and what darkness he now combated. Perhaps she should have listened to him and taken the shot, she thought. Little did she realize what would have been the real cost of saving Ryan.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The airwaves ignited with endless streams of reports and speculations about the recent act of terrorism, with the syndicate being the prime suspect. Ryan, knowing very well the truth, was plagued with guilt. Despite his remorse and shame, he mustered up the courage to call Ava. He needed an end to this madness and she was the only one he could turn to. Reluctantly Ava agreed, but she had a plan of her own. It was a difficult decision to make, whether to spare the bad to save the good, or let the good suffer with the bad. She cared about Ryan, but had to neutralize his destructive other. Sacrifices had to be made.

  It was nightfall and an old, inconspicuous car pulled up onto the deck of the derelict dock beside a wall of old, empty freight containers. No one traversed this area without special reason. Even those with a need for privacy and concealment sought better options. The car stopped several feet away facing Ava’s, and its headlights flashed three times.

  Ava stepped out of her car and walked up to meet Ryan who had not yet exited his. As she neared, the driver’s door opened and an unexpected large figure stepped out. Ava came to an abrupt halt.

  “Mr. Mayor, what are you doing here?” she said, frightened and anxious. She looked around then noted his transformed image. His apparel was worn and ordinary, and blended in a lot better than the ostentatious attire he usually wore.

  He slammed the car door shut and stepped along the corridor beside the large containers. Ava took a step backwards.

  “I know you didn’t expect to see me, but I just had to thank you for what you did. You saved my life and the lives of countless others yesterday. Well, maybe except that little girl,” he said, ending in a sarcastic tone.

  Ava remained silent. She listened carefully and watched his every move.

  “I know you’re wondering how I knew where to find you and the whole headlight signal thing, but like you I have eyes and ears in places you wouldn’t believe. But what I want to know is how you knew about that bomb. Let me guess, Ryan told you,” he said with a contemptuous emphasis on his name. “By the way, in case you didn’t know, you sent him a text message two hour ago cancelling this meeting. Just in case you were wondering where he was,” he revealed.

  “Makes me wonder about the kind of relationship you both have, the things you both share,” he said stepping even closer towards her. “Speaking of which,” he said retrieving and waving a transparent plastic bag containing Bret’s phone. Ava skipped a breath.

  “You know, Bret Mitchell was very useful to me until he started over-estimating his importance. He began making demands and tried to blackmail me. Said he recorded a deal between me and Alverez, but it’s not here.”

  Ava grew even more nervous and each step the mayor made tempted her to run in the opposite direction.

  “I have big plans for this city. Plans for which I have sacrificed a lot, including my own wife. But you already know that, and so does Ryan. But right now I’m more interested in where Bret Mitchell hid the recording. It’s not in this phone and the memory card is missing,” he said impatiently.

  “I don’t know anything,” Ava responded.

  “So who should I ask, Merissa?” he said with a diabolical smirk.

  Ava felt a chill greater than what the night wind could produce. The thing she feared most now confronted her directly. No one was supposed to know about the daughter she and Bret shared, especially the mayor.

  There remained only a few feet between them when the mayor continued, “I took a really good look at his home screen, and the resemblance is striking. But where could ‘daddy’ have hidden the memory card? Where would he hide it so no one would ever suspect?”

  Ava shook her head in ignorance.

  “I’m willing to bet that Mitchell hadn’t visited his daughter for a while until he brought her this teddy bear,” the mayor deduced looking back at the picture on the phone.

  Ava capitalized on his distraction and quickly pulled her service pistol, lifting it towards him. Before she could find aim, the mayor swung his large arms sending her gun flying into the air. Another flash sent Ava flying backwards to the ground. As he walked towards her, she turned and crawled speedily towards her car with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. Soon he was over her, grabbing her by the throat. His large hands squeezed and she gasped and coughed as she struggled under his weight.

  “You think I care about cops, principals, and dead little girls?” he taunted, squeezing even harder. “Where’s Merissa?” he demanded.

  As scared as she was in his death grip, the sound of her daughter’s name sent her into more desperate panic. She wiggled a leg free and swung her knee into his groin. The mayor wailed and released her then clutched his testicles.

  Ava sprang to her feet and dashed towards her car. She panted breathlessly as she ran, still recovering from his asphyxiating grip. A few more yards were all she needed to make her escape. Suddenly, a gunshot echoed. Ava stumbled forward then stopped. Her breaths were heavy and her eyes rolled inside her head. She struggled, moving her leg forward for more step. A second gunshot roared, throwing her onto the bonnet of her car. She lifted her head towards the windshield and uttered strenuously, “Ryan, save Merissa,” then she collapsed to the ground.

  Mayor Richards stood over her clutching the gun that had been knocked from Ava’s hand. He looked down at her twisted body and she looked back up at him. His heartless frown was the last thing she would ever see. After a mumbled attempt to call her daughter’s name, she gazed into the starry sky then took her last breath with eyes wide open.

  Hours later, Ryan sat alone in the room of a brothel with a cell phone in one hand and a firearm in the other. This was the only kind of place he could think of where anonymity was a basic amenity. The noisy erotic romp from the room next door did little for his concentration so he turned the television up loud, loud enough to also mask the sound of the gunshot he planned to deliver to his head.

  He looked at the message from Ava’s number and assumed that she had finally cut him off. He didn’t blame her either, especially in light of the sensational stories that played on the television screen. Thanks to the mayor, he was now officially a suspect in Bret’s murder and the press conference bombing.

  A special item of breaking news caught his attention. The body of a female detective, Ava Reynolds, had been found with gunshot wounds. Ryan was devastated. His eyes wetted and he struggled to hold back the tears. It mattered little that he was named a suspect in Ava’s murder. What mattered was that Ava was gone and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. She was a rose among thorns and the only one who understood him a little. A severe loneliness engulfed him as he remembered Ava standing beside his desk at work, her laughing in conversation with Alice at the mayor’s ball, and even her caring look as she stared at him through the eyes of Ryan’s alter.

  The scene changed as a panel debated the significance of the message and why she would appeal to a suspected killer and terrorist. As the speculations continued, Ryan struggled to come to terms with her death. Finally, he broke down.

  “Police have uncovered a video from a dashboard camera that shows Detective Ava Reynolds fleeing her assailant,” the ne
ws anchor reported.

  “Ryan…save Merissa,” Ava’s voice came through the television. The video paused. The poor lighting barely revealed her face, but he could see her fear and pain. Ryan ran his fingers across the television screen as if touching her face.

  Something boiled within him and he jumped to his feet. He had no doubt who the assailant was. As much as he needed to end his own life, he ached for vengeance and needed to save Ava’s daughter and the city from the ruthless mayor.

  “It’s all your fault, Ryan. You should have let me kill the mayor. Now Ava is dead. It’s all your fault,” Greg spoke as Ryan’s countenance changed and his deadly alter emerged, angry and determined. This time there was no negotiating. Now he had a job to complete and he ordered Ryan not to interfere. He had a life to take and one to save; an act of vengeance and one of salvation. He straightened his fake beard and hung a pair of reading glasses behind his ears. It was a convincing disguise. The gun he had planned to kill himself with had a new purpose. He stuck it into his waist and covered the handle with his shirt, then marched briskly out of the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A blonde, curly haired little girl walked out of her aunt’s house under the escort of two police officers. She clutched a small teddy bear as she went, while her protesting aunt followed closely behind hurling questions and insults as she aired her distrust for the system of which the officers were a part. They tried their best to ignore her. They were under orders to take Merissa into safe custody after her mother’s dying words were aired on television. Her angry words and feeble efforts to resist them accomplished little as they placed the toddler into the back of the police car and drove away.

  They entered a stretch of road where they could see the city in the distance obscured by miles of slightly polluted air that gave it a fittingly grim appearance. How peaceful these outskirts appeared.

  “I want my mommy,” the girl said with a sad voice.

  A female officer in the passenger seat was broken-hearted and shook her head. “Poor thing. She doesn’t even know yet,” she whispered to her colleague,

  Suddenly, the sound of screaming tires filled the air as a car swiftly overtook and stopped abruptly, blocking them. The police car rammed into it and came to a halt. The officers quickly alighted with firearms in hand as they moved cautiously towards the offending vehicle. The car door opened slowly and a seemingly shaken senior stepped out with both hands in the air.

  “You shoot old men for fender benders now?” he laughed.

  “Mr. Mayor,” the officers acknowledged in surprise, returning their guns to their holsters.

  The mayor quickly pulled a gun from his waist and fired, hitting both officers. As they fell to the ground, he came over them and fired some more. He opened the back door of the police vehicle and saw the little girl crying and holding tightly to her stuffed toy. After prising it from her arms, he hauled her out and placed her into the back of his car. The terrified toddler screamed as he gutted the toy in a brutal search. The mayor smiled. He pulled out a memory card and looked at it in wonder. Such big troubles over something so small, he thought.

  Without delay, he left the crime scene with tires burning the asphalt, leaving two dead police officers on the road. The frightened little girl screamed from the back of the car and the mayor screamed back at her demanding silence.

  An unwelcomed message aired over the police radio scanner in the mayor’s car. Forensic experts had identified the assailant in the video and Mayor Richards was now being sought for questioning. The mayor swallowed and his face paled. He turned on the radio and realized that the airwaves were already ablaze with news of his involvement with the syndicate. Another item of breaking news aired. Alverez’s legitimate business partners issued a statement denying any involvement with the mayor. Mayor Richards grunted at the betrayal.

  He peered through the windshield and saw a car about a hundred yards ahead blocking the road. A male figure stood before it. It was Ryan. The enraged mayor accelerated in an attempt to intimidate, but Ryan stood his ground. As the car reached within yards of impact, it swerved to avoid a direct hit and barely made it around the vehicular obstacle. Ryan leaped over the top of his car to avoid getting crushed. The mayor marveled, surprised at his display of agility. Ryan landed safely on the ground, but was forced to make another dramatic, evasive move when a large tow truck slammed into his car.

  A police helicopter occupied the airspace above, while police cars approached from behind with sirens blaring. A few miles ahead, the chief of police mounted a roadblock at an intersection to trap renegade Ryan and the fugitive mayor. Traffic halted abruptly and a long line of inconvenienced but curious motorist began to grow.

  “What the hell,” the mayor mumbled in surprise as his rear view mirror revealed a large tow truck racing towards him. The truck pulled up swiftly beside him and both vehicles commanded the lanes side by side. The mayor glanced through the window and his eyes widened as he saw Ryan in the driver’s seat. Ryan glanced down at him then resumed his focus ahead. The tow truck thrust ahead swiftly, swung in front of the fleeing car then quickly deployed the wheel lift.

  The mayor became anxious and swayed his car from side to side, but was unable to escape the much wider vehicle. Ryan suddenly hit the brakes, sending the rig under the front wheels of the mayor’s car. With the push of a button on the in-cab controls, the front wheels of the car were lifted several inches off the road. Mayor Richards had lost all control of his vehicle and was now being pulled at high speed. With the police cars in closer pursuit, Ryan continued full speed towards the blocked intersection.

  Ryan looked above and realized that a news helicopter was also in pursuit. It streamed the dramatic scene to the entire nation, including his wife Alice who watched in anxious suspense. It no longer mattered to her whether he cheated, or whether he thought she did. What mattered was the welfare of the man who starred in this real life action adventure.

  Ryan aimed the tow truck carefully then engaged the cruise control before making a daring exit through the driver’s door. He then swung his body onto the platform behind the cabin. The mayor stretched his hand though the car window and fired a few shots, but the car’s orientation, high wind, and the turbulence of the road affected his aim. Soon his gun was empty and Ryan hopped onto the wheel lift then climbed on the top of the mayor’s car. He swung the back door open then landed onto the seat beside the traumatized little girl.

  The mayor barely recovered from the awe before they began a tussle. Youthful strength prevailed and Ryan managed to subdue him enough to beckon to the police cars that followed behind. One of them pulled up beside them. Ryan consoled the scared little girl and gave her instructions to give the memory card he had forced from the mayor’s grip to the police.

  He opened the car door and the gushing wind reminded him that what he was about to attempt would put the child’s life in danger, but he was confident and calculated, and more of a daredevil than his alter ego ever was. The policemen barked rebukes at him, but the transfer was already in progress. The little girl was already halfway out of the car and they had no choice but to stretch to receive her. After carefully pulling her to safety they sighed in relief. A huge excitement waved through television land. Those who were not appalled, cheered the heroic rescue.

  Merissa waved at Ryan. He gave the child a nod then climbed back to the tow truck. Before he could re-enter the cabin, a revived and desperate mayor found the courage to exit the car and make it onto the back of the tow truck. Ryan was impressed. He looked around at the roadblock and lines of traffic now about a mile ahead, then back at his adversary.

  The truck continued its unmanned race towards collision, but maintained its course on the straight stretch of road. The mayor balanced himself in the strong opposing wind. Every now and then the tow truck would sway gently to the side as it teased the edges of the asphalt. Ryan waited patiently for him to make a move.

  “You think saving one little girl can redeem y
ou for all the lives you have taken?” the mayor taunted, raising his voice above the wind. “I saw Dr. William’s secret files about your Tuesday evening sessions. I know what you did when you were a child, and the monster you still are today.”

  “I became a monster to stay on top of the food chain, but you...you sold your soul and this city for a few more dollars. But that’s ok. Today we both pay for our sins,” Ryan said.

  His words horrified the mayor. This was obviously not the timid, accommodating detective he once hosted at his ball some time before. He moved towards his younger opponent and swung a punch. His attack almost cost him his balance and his place on the bed of the tow truck. Ryan responded with precision and returned a blow that landed the mayor on his back. He quickly got up and unhooked a fire extinguisher, then made a confident advance, swinging the safety device turned weapon into Ryan’s chest, and he stumbled backwards. The mayor quickly followed through, this time throwing his body weight and pinning Ryan against the back of the cabin with the fire extinguisher pressing horizontally against his throat.

  “You’re pathetic. You think character and image really matters in the real world? We have to evolve and do whatever is necessary to survive,” the mayor lectured, pressing even harder.

  Ryan stopped resisting and pulled the pin from the fire extinguisher. “Then welcome to the ice age, asshole,” he said as he squeezed, sending a large cloud into the mayor’s face. Ryan quickly moved away and took hold of the canister, then swung it into the coughing mayor’s abdomen. Another blow sent the mayor to the floor of platform.

  Ryan looked around at the road block much closer ahead. He could see the police sirens flashing on the evening horizon. The police helicopter circled and lowered itself in front of the speeding tow truck, while a voice over its loudspeaker ordered him to stop. Ryan maneuvered back into the driver's seat. He turned the steering wheel, adjusting his aim away from the blockade and onto a more interesting target- a gas tanker parked along the side of the road just yards away from the blocked intersection. The chief of police pondered briefly then began a frantic attempt to get motorists out of their vehicles and as far away as possible from the scene.