Flash Point

by Colby Marshall

  ‘Dry-heaving?’ Porter said.

  ‘That must be Scout,’ Saleda said.

  Jenna nodded. Made sense. ‘If she was threatening to throw up, it’d definitely be worth someone warning her to chill out, that it’d leave DNA at the scene.’

  ‘What makes you think she’s a woman?’ Saleda asked.

  Before Jenna could answer, Porter leaned forward, his elbows on the conference table. ‘Not incredibly tall by any stretch of the imagination. Tiny. Body type looks female to me.’

  ‘But back it up,’ Teva said and Saleda obliged.

  ‘See? The Machete UNSUB says something to Skewer UNSUB. If someone told Scout to keep it together right after Alice Coltraine was killed, wouldn’t Ashlee have heard whatever Machete UNSUB said before that? If it’s a coincidence and Ashlee was on the way to the vault before the moment in the tape that shows the UNSUB dry-heaving, guessing this is Scout might make us get everything else wrong, too.’

  Jenna nodded. ‘Ashlee Haynie is under duress right now anyway, so we’re lucky she remembered what she did. She might remember more later, or it’s possible she didn’t hear the comment the Machete UNSUB made to Skewer UNSUB at all. It might’ve been a whisper, or at least more quiet. Looked like a reproach.’

  ‘I’d say the leader’s scolding Tall-n-Skinny Skewer Man for having playtime when he should’ve been taking care of business. Bet Creepy Skewer guy was glad the leader used his machete on the girl as his punishment and not on him,’ Dodd agreed. ‘That said, doesn’t look like the alleged leader turned toward the alleged Scout to tell her not to pitch her guts on the floor, so he either hadn’t noticed or was unconcerned.’

  ‘Let’s leave that for the moment, though. What else can we tell about Scout?’ Saleda said.

  Jenna played back the tape in her mind, trying to focus her brain on that figure. It was useless without playing it again though. Too easy to keep eyes only on the big action. Stuff like Alice Coltraine’s decapitation, sadly.

  ‘Play it again,’ she asked.

  Saleda rewound the gruesome gray scale film, hit play.

  ‘I keep losing who I think is Scout,’ Porter said a few seconds in.

  ‘Me, too. So much chaos,’ Teva agreed.

  Dodd reached for the remote from where Saleda had lay it on the table. ‘Let’s play it backwards, then.’

  Jenna watched as Dodd fast-forwarded to the familiar spot where the UNSUB believed to be Scout stood, hands to knees, dry-heaving off to the side of the main action. Then, he hit the rewind button, but only after pressing pause first.

  The film frames backed up much more slowly, the killings even more eerie in reverse. Body parts returned to people, blood sucked back toward wounds.

  The video backtracked to show Scout killing the dark-haired teenage boy who lay spread-eagle near the mortgage loan signs. The interesting part wasn’t only that she’d traced deep cuts up the fleshy undersides of his forearms with her switchblade. It was that she didn’t pull her knife until he was already incapacitated.

  ‘She runs directly at the teen as she enters, but she wrestles him into the sleeper hold, takes him down gently,’ Dodd said.

  Blue flashed in. First a rich, sea blue – not unlike the color of the water near her hotel the time she’d vacationed at Santa Catalina Island. Then, the shade faded to a softer, more pastel hue. The color of blue bells.

  Compassion. Mercy. They were both here.

  ‘Then, she went and dry-heaved after she killed him,’ Jenna muttered under her breath.

  ‘She felt for him. She went straight for the smallest, least imposing person. Could be for lots of reasons, but based on how she handles him, I think she didn’t want someone his age to die such a gruesome death,’ Saleda said.

  ‘That’s what I’m thinking,’ Jenna said. ‘Which suggests something else about her age.’

  Porter shrugged. ‘She’s a mother? A kid dying in that way is hard for her to imagine?’

  Jenna shook her head, but Dodd was the one who spoke up.

  ‘Maybe, but probably not. She slit his arms, used a wrist-slitting method actually effective in suicide attempts,’ Dodd said.

  ‘So maybe she’s been suicidal before,’ Porter said.

  ‘Likely,’ Jenna replied, taking the remote from Dodd. ‘Or something like it, anyway …’

  ‘It could’ve been less that she felt maternal and didn’t want to see a kid die so much as that she identified with him,’ Porter said.

  ‘Now, we’re getting there,’ Jenna said, winking.

  ‘She also used a switchblade. So maybe she’s got a street background?’ Porter said.

  ‘Can’t see it close enough to tell, but I’d say so. There’s a chance it could be a collector’s piece or the sort of blade used to cut twine on a farm, but somehow I seriously doubt it,’ Dodd said.

  ‘Street fits. Cutters are often trauma victims. I know that’s speculating, but let’s face it. This whole profile is a lot of guesswork based on not a whole lot of grainy video, so why not?’ Porter said.

  ‘Wonder what the significance of the name Scout is? I get the To Kill a Mockingbird reference, but is it just a random book character, or is there more to it?’ Saleda said.

  ‘I think we’ll need to wait for Irv to find my contact before we speculate too much on that,’ Jenna muttered. God, she was hoping Irv could find Grey as much as she was dreading it.

  Teva pointed to the monitor again, squinting. ‘So, the taller figure that goes for the kid’s mother. Definitely feminine. Maybe those two know each other, since they sort of attacked together? I mean, I realize all the attackers know each other. But as many of them as there are, I figure it’s more likely they were closer to like-minded acquaintances when they somehow met, eventually formed the group, rather than them all being blood relatives playing bank killers as a family reunion game. But maybe some of them within the group are closer, had a relationship outside of just the whole, you know, terrorist thing.’

  ‘Doubt it,’ Dodd said. ‘Scout finishes her kill, then leaves the fellow attacker – damn it. We’re gonna have so many UNSUB code names before this case is over I might have to keep them written on my hand to keep track, but even I have to admit calling them just attacker or UNSUB makes it hard to distinguish any of them. But yeah, Scout does her own business, then leaves the slender UNSUB alone to do her thing while she freaks out off by herself.’

  ‘True,’ Jenna confirmed. ‘And Slender UNSUB gets in trouble in the video after she kills the boy’s mom, too, right?’

  ‘Oh, yeah!’ Saleda said. ‘I noticed that. Two of the other attackers reacted to it … or at least, in movement, it seems they’re reacting. Play it again.’

  All eyes turned to the video to watch as, on the screen, Slender UNSUB rushed toward the lanky victim they now knew to be forty-three-year-old Rebekah Webb, holding some sort of small blade high, Slender UNSUB’s arm even with her own forehead.

  Jenna grimaced as Slender UNSUB’s blade gouged directly into Rebekah Webb’s right eye. The orange/pink tone of cooked shrimp flashed in. Slender UNSUB’s movements weren’t sloppy, which was why the shrimp color had come in instead of cornflower blue. They were determined, just not very graceful. She had a cumbersomeness about her. Even as Slender UNSUB whirled around the victim and produced a second knife, which she plunged downward into the victim’s neck, she still displayed an awkwardness in her movement not hidden by the swift and decisive violent blows.

  The woman collapsed as the stab to the back of her neck hit the spinal cord. Slender UNSUB smoothly removed the blade, then took a swift shot to the side of the woman’s neck close to where the carotid artery would be.

  ‘That’s a lot of stabbing for one jab to the carotid,’ Porter said, shaking his head.

  ‘But she didn’t die from a severed carotid,’ Saleda said, flipping pages inside one of the folders. She traced a page with her finger, then, she tapped her pointer finger hard on a specific spot on the paper. ‘That last stick missed the
carotid. We won’t know until the M.E. performs the full autopsy, but based on what he observed at the scene, he suspects she actually died from the initial injury to her eye. Thinks it hit her brain, caused a bleed. He thinks she went into shock and passed out, so they thought she was dead. When he opens her up, he suspects we’ll find out the actual cause of death will be the heart stopping from lack of oxygen post-brain death.’

  ‘Weird,’ Porter muttered.

  ‘Maybe not,’ Jenna said, thinking of the shrimp color and Slender UNSUB’s lack of grace. ‘She went for Rebekah Webb with the first weapon already held high as she charged her. If you look back at that, it seems likely she meant to stab her in the eye the whole time.’

  ‘Yeah, what was that, by the way? The first blade she used for the eye stab?’ Dodd cut in. ‘A kitchen knife or something?’

  ‘Video’s too grainy to tell, but size-wise, maybe.’

  ‘There’s something really amateurish and maybe even klutzy about the way she moves. I think the eye stabbing thing looks like a strategy she developed going in for whatever reason. Even I have no idea why that was the strategy she went for, but just the way she runs at Rebekah Webb with her arm already at face height …’ Jenna said, her voice trailing.

  ‘Is it coincidence the victim she rushed was close to her own height? Her own size, even. If it was a pre-determined strategy, it makes sense for her to go for the victim she thinks she can take,’ Teva said.

  ‘That implies she wouldn’t have been able to take just anyone,’ Jenna said. ‘What makes you say it that way?’

  ‘Well, look at the second tactic she takes. Once Rebekah Webb is incapacitated from the stab, she rounds her and takes a second knife out but uses that reverse ice pick style grip everyone in every slasher flick known to man does. It’s visually appealing for horror movies, but no experienced fighter on earth is going to use it because all the victim has to do is reach up and grab her forearm or wrist to stop the downward stabbing motion. ‘Only reason you choose that grip on a big knife like the one she pulls out is because you need that downward stabbing action to give enough upper body strength to deliver fatal blows.’

  ‘And let’s not forget she did miss the carotid artery,’ Porter said.

  ‘Of the two killers we’ve profiled so far, the terrorists seem to have brought with them to the massacre a barely adult street kid and another woman clearly not part of this because of her fierce skills … I’m thinking whatever cause has these people so committed they’re willing to stab innocent bank customers to death isn’t the only thing that hooked them in this far. Two people we’ve been able to see clear vulnerabilities in, despite the fact that they killed in cold blood. Vulnerabilities that suggest personality types. Scout’s choice to slit that boy’s wrists and the possibility that she’s a past cutter herself mean she’s likely lonely. Slender UNSUB’s choice to attack first with a surprise jab at full height suggests she feels physically insecure that she could land the next blow. They’re both clearly loyal to their cause, have trusted someone that this is their mission. What does that sound like to you?’

  ‘The Manson Family,’ Porter said with a laugh.

  Saleda clicked her tongue. ‘You joke, but seriously, terrorist groups can be cult-like, too.’

  ‘And their leaders can be sociopaths, pulling their puppet strings,’ Dodd said.

  Twelve

  ‘So, Scout and Slender UNSUB don’t show any signs of having any emotional attachment to each other that would suggest any sort of relationship outside of the group. Scout leaves her to fly solo even here when Slender gets in trouble,’ Jenna muttered, cocking her head as she stared at the monitor screen. The black and white footage could only show so much, but she still wanted Irv to enhance the video as much as possible. Any little details they could glean might prove critical.

  ‘And yet, when that banker built like a linebacker takes Slender UNSUB by surprise, two of the other attackers do notice and react,’ Saleda said, her eyes also set on the video. She pressed the play button and pointed to the teller counter to draw the team’s focus away from the skirmish between Slender and her challenger happening near the second desk on the left side and toward decisive movement on the opposite side of the room. ‘Cutthroat UNSUB reacts, starts to move in toward Slender UNSUB to assist.’

  Jenna squinted at the black figure leaping off the teller counter. Short. Boxy-figure. A pinkish-purple color flashed in, and she tried to hold on to it and identify it.

  ‘Cutthroat’s right on point. Definitely one of the most violent ones. I notice it every time,’ Teva said.

  ‘How could you not? Blood sprays from her victims show up even on this damned black and white video,’ Porter said.

  The color trying to push through slipped away. Damn it.

  ‘Worth noting that Cutthroat UNSUB is one of several double-wielders in the group. Showy,’ Dodd said.

  And yet …

  ‘Wielding two blades is flashy, but not everyone in this group is doing it for the flamboyance,’ Jenna said.

  ‘I’d hope not. It’s not very practical unless you happen to be super trained and a more than average degree of ambidextrous,’ Dodd said from where he leaned against the conference table before taking a sip of his coffee.

  ‘Slender UNSUB had that weird little kitchen knife and used a high, charge to the face strategy before the downward stab with the second knife, which we assume is to lend her arm strength. For her it was functional,’ Jenna said, grabbing the remote from Saleda and hitting pause. ‘This UNSUB, though, Cutthroat, uses two weapons for a different reason, I think. Her kills are gory, display an unnecessary level of violence even compared to the other killers.’

  ‘Her?’ Porter said. ‘You sure?’

  Jenna studied the black figure again, nodded. ‘The shirt is bulky, but I think I can make out breasts in there somewhere.’

  ‘And hips,’ Saleda said.

  ‘If you say so,’ Porter said, shrugging.

  ‘Either way, Cutthroat starts back to help Slender, but then this UNSUB comes in …’ Saleda pressed play again, gesturing to the place on the screen where attackers continued to spill through the bank doorway.

  ‘Rewind that one more time,’ Jenna said, focusing on the entrance. Concentrate.

  Saleda obliged and rewound to the moment just before the hulky banker rushed Slender UNSUB.

  Jenna watched with intent as the UNSUB who would rescue Slender entered the door. Maybe she’d imagined it.

  But, no, the second this newest UNSUB appeared on camera, head turned, the direction his body was angled … he was already looking to Slender UNSUB, anticipating her needing him. The light bluish gray of protectiveness flashed in.

  ‘They could both have personal relationships with Slender, but Cutthroat happened to be facing the direction of Slender’s scuffle with the banker. She reacted, but that could just be because she’s committed to getting the job done and getting the attackers out,’ Jenna said, pushing from her mind the thought of how her last statement implied that, on some level, the killers were all looking out for each other, trying to get everyone out cleanly. That could be because leaving any behind would leave a trail for police to find them. She could visit that idea later. ‘But the UNSUB who comes to Slender UNSUB’s rescue from the doorway is already intent on saving her. See how he comes in already focused on where she is in the fray?’

  Jenna hit the rewind and let the video loop through the moment once more.

  ‘He definitely already had eyes on her the second you see him on camera,’ Porter said.

  ‘And that stab,’ Saleda said, pausing the footage just after the UNSUB from the door reached Slender, shoved the banker attacking her on to a middle desk on the right side of the bank, and jabbed a large knife into the man’s chest right at his rib cage. ‘If I didn’t know better I’d say it was the most bizarre attack.’

  Chili pepper red flashed in. Organization. The weapon choice was peculiar, but it had obviously been planned be
cause of its efficiency. Jenna had never seen a knife like it or the havoc it wreaked on its victim. If more killers knew about it, scary didn’t begin to describe the scenarios the BAU might have to deal with.

  ‘Do we know what that was yet?’ Porter asked, looking to Saleda.

  ‘It was a WASP knife,’ Dodd said before Saleda could answer. ‘I noticed him reloading it after he stabbed the banker. Heard about them a while back from a buddy of mine who’s a diver. The thing was originally designed for sharks. Can be used like any other diving knife for the typical routine stuff on a dive, but it also has a hole in the tip to deliver the goodies. Insert knife, press button on the top, release enough compressed CO2 into a shark – or human – to freeze all its internal organs immediately … and, obviously in this case, enough air to cause the body to practically blow like a tire if you forgot to remove the air compressor.’

  ‘Shit,’ Porter mumbled.

  ‘So the WASP UNSUB could be a diver?’ Teva ventured.

  ‘Or a hunter. Used on land predators like bears, too,’ Dodd said with a shrug.

  Jenna leaned in to look at the paused image on the screen. Specifically, the way WASP UNSUB stood, how exact his jab was. She imaged the few seconds of video in her head as she’d seen it several times before this. WASP UNSUB had moved so swiftly. Sharp. The banker had landed on the table because when WASP UNSUB went for him, he’d applied a constant, balance-throwing forward pressure.

  Denim blue flashed in. Military.

  ‘Is it ever used as a tactical knife?’ Jenna asked.

  ‘Looks like it,’ Dodd said, now looking at his smart phone. ‘Not shocking. Perfect tool for special ops, I bet.’

  Jenna nodded, whipping out her own phone and dialing Irv.

  ‘To what search that Google alone cannot handle do I owe the pleasure, Dr Ramey?’ Irv answered.

  ‘We need to start compiling a list of military or former-military who purchased a WASP knife in the past years. Possibly crosscheck that with bank clientele and workers, though I kind of doubt you’re going to come up with anything there,’ she said. Mainly, the military list of WASP knife buyers would come in handy once they had other leads, but this way, they’d have it ready to check when needed.