The Contract: Kill Jessica White

by Remington Kane

  Horrigan said nothing and tried his best to quiet his breathing, but he was panting hard from both fear and the rush of adrenaline flowing through his veins.

  When the shouted command came, Horrigan actually wet himself, but when he realized what it meant, he grinned.

  ***

  “Police! Drop your weapon and place your hands in the air!”

  Carter froze at hearing Officer Marin, but he didn’t drop the gun.

  Marin was on his left, and with his blinded left eye, Carter couldn’t see the man.

  “Officer, this is a private matter. Now, I’ll admit that I got a little carried away, but I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”

  “Drop the weapon now!” Marin said, and then he moved over several feet without making a sound, he had been well trained and knew that his voice could pinpoint his location.

  Inside the cabin, Shauna Roberts spoke up.

  “Help me! That man out there is a serial killer or something.”

  Carter spun and fired at where he last heard Officer Marin’s voice. He missed the man by six feet, and Officer Marin shot him in the midsection.

  In a matter of seconds, Marin had Carter cuffed and was speaking to Shauna.

  “Miss, I need you to open the door.”

  “I can’t, I’m locked up and there’s another man in here.”

  Marin’s eyebrows came together in worry at that news, but he relaxed after hearing Shauna’s next words.

  “The man in here, he tried to help me and he’s been wounded.”

  Horrigan spoke up then, and his voice sounded weak.

  “I need an ambulance. I don’t even have the strength to get to the door.”

  “Hold on in there and I’ll be right back,” Marin said.

  Marin checked Carter’s condition and saw that the man was going nowhere and would be lucky to live. He rushed back to his patrol vehicle and spoke to dispatch about the situation. He was informed that help was inbound and that a pair of ambulances would be on the way as well.

  When he returned to the cabin with his cruiser, he had a crowbar, and he used it to gain entry. He did so with his gun drawn and with the headlights of his patrol vehicle illuminating the cabin’s interior.

  Horrigan had lost a lot of blood. Marin gently moved him aside so that he would have access to the cell where Shauna was. The crowbar was used once more to tear apart the padlock on the cell door, and Shauna rushed out and into Officer Marin’s arms.

  An hour later, Randall’s picture was being shown on the news as a manhunt was launched.

  Marin had opened a closet upon entering and securing the scene, and had found something interesting.

  Once backup arrived, he and another officer took a closer look with proper lighting, and realized that Shauna was just the tip of an iceberg.

  The closet contained a locked trunk, and within the trunk were a dozen clear plastic bags. Each bag held the clothing and belongings of a young female who had gone missing over the last several months, including Shauna’s things.

  In the days to come, they would uncover the graves that were scattered on the grounds of the cabin, and Shauna would realize just how close she had come to being victim Number 12.

  CHAPTER 29 – She should have paid

  Tanner gave Jessica a careful appraisal as they stood at the rear of the jeep.

  Both of them had their hoods up against the blowing snow and were talking louder than usual to be heard above the wind.

  The trip to the ranch had taken much more time than it normally would have, but the roads grew more treacherous as the drive went on, and at one point, Tanner had to make a long detour because of a downed tree.

  In the east, the sky was just beginning to glow behind the snow clouds, as dawn neared.

  Tanner and Jessica were parked twenty yards away from a rear entrance to the O’Grady ranch, which placed them farther from the house, but gave them time to study their surroundings. Tanner had plans to break the lock that kept the gate chained shut, and enter the property.

  “Are you certain that you’re up to this?” Tanner asked.

  “I can handle myself Tanner and I’ve killed before. These people have my husband and I’m not leaving here without him.”

  Tanner pointed over at a tree near the gate.

  “It’s difficult to see through this snow, but I think there’s a camera. It’s probably motion activated, or there’s a weight sensor in the ground. Once I pull over there by that gate, they’ll know we’re here. I expected that, and so we’ll just have to outsmart them.”

  “What if there are a dozen or more of them?”

  “Then a dozen or more of them will die.”

  Jessica grinned.

  “Why the smile?”

  “You and my husband have more in common than your looks.”

  Tanner handed Jessica the rifle that he had taken off the meth cook Willy in Nevada. When he saw that she appeared to be comfortable handling it, he felt better about her abilities.

  A minute later, Tanner had broken the lock on the gate and he and his companion drove onto the grounds of the O’Grady ranch.

  ***

  “They’re here,” Ariana said. She was looking down at an iPad and following the progress of the jeep as it moved slowly along a barely discernable lane in the deepening snow.

  Brick walked over and stood beside her. At one point, the jeep was going up an incline, and the angle was such that the camera in that area was aimed directly at the jeep’s interior.

  “I only see two of them,” Brick said. “That’s good. I thought Dr. White might involve the police.”

  “I warned her about that and promised her that her husband would die if I saw even one cop,” Ariana said.

  Brick headed out of the room.

  “I’ll go get the doctor’s husband and tell the men it’s time.”

  “Brick?”

  He had been in the hall, but returned and stood in the doorway.

  “Yeah?”

  “The man who was burned, did he die?”

  “He did, and the other guy is blind in one eye from the glass.”

  “Be careful with the doctor’s husband.”

  “Why? We’re going to kill them all anyway.”

  “No, I meant that I wanted you to be careful around him. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Brick grinned.

  “Why Ariana, I do believe you’re falling for me. Sort of like a beauty and the beast thing, hmm?”

  Ariana smiled, but then the smile faded as she touched the scar on her face.

  “Which one of us is the beast?”

  Brick walked over to stand before her.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll keep Tanner alive long enough for him to tell us where that woman is who scarred you.”

  “Yes, and once I find her she’ll wish she were dead.”

  Brick sent Ariana a nod, and then rushed off to grab Jessica’s husband.

  ***

  Mr. White heard the closet door being unlocked and was ready to face what came next.

  Brick appeared in the doorway with the three remaining mercenaries, and the smaller men had murderous looks in their eyes. White had killed one of their friends and blinded another. He hoped that the rage they felt would make them careless and not stupid.

  Stupid might mean that they would shoot him before he could be used as a bargaining chip to get Tanner, and although he had the cuffs loosened, it would still take him a second or two to free his hands and react.

  Brick must have been thinking along the same lines, because he pointed at Mr. White as he spoke to the men.

  “I know that you want him dead, but he has to be in one piece when we show him to the doctor. After we have everyone under control, then all bets are off, understand?”

  The men nodded and Brick grabbed White by the arm and pulled him out of the closet. The five of them then exited the house through the kitchen and stood on a large deck. White’s coat had been taken away earlier and he was onl
y wearing a dress shirt and a pair of suit pants as protection against the cold.

  By the time Ariana joined them on the deck, he was already beginning to shiver from the brutal wind that was whipping snow in all directions, while dampening his clothes.

  Ariana pointed to the right, where a snow-covered lane sat between two rows of tall pines.

  “The jeep should appear around that curve any minute.”

  “Good,” Brick said, and then he shoved Mr. White down the stairs.

  Had there not been over two feet of snow on the steps, the fall could have caused a broken bone; instead, it covered White in frost and made his teeth chatter.

  Brick pointed a gun at him as White made it to his feet.

  “If you try to run I’ll shoot you in the back and then I’ll shoot your wife.”

  White glared up at him, but said nothing, and as he was staring at Brick, he freed one wrist from the cuffs while keeping his hands behind him.

  Then, the sound of an engine could be heard and through a gap in the trees, White could see the jeep.

  ***

  Tanner spotted White and wondered how long the man had been outside without proper clothing. If it had been any length of time, his muscles would be stiff and his movements slowed by exposure to the elements.

  He would keep that in mind if the time came that speed was needed, and he would allow the man extra time to reach cover.

  He stopped the jeep just fifty feet from the base of the deck, but given the hindered visibility caused by the storm, the distance seemed greater.

  Tanner then looked over in the passenger seat while hoping that Jessica was as capable as she seemed.

  ***

  Ariana smiled at Tanner, who was holding a gun as he stepped out of the jeep, and then she spoke to his companion, who upon leaving the vehicle appeared to be without a weapon.

  “Dr. White, I see that you’re unarmed, how then did you manage to get Tanner here? I figured he would be arriving at the point of a gun.”

  Tanner answered while looking at White. The man gave him a slight nod, as a way to tell him that he guessed what Tanner and Jessica had planned.

  “I’m here to end this thing between us, Ariana. I’ve already gone through the vengeful woman bit and I sure as hell won’t be doing it again.”

  Ariana arched an eyebrow. It was the good one, the eyebrow that Alexa hadn’t sliced in two.

  “You think you can kill me, Tanner? Raise that weapon and these men will blast you and the doctor to pieces.”

  “I was told that you had six men with you. I only see four, why is that?”

  Ariana, Brick, and the remaining mercenaries all stared down at Mr. White, which caused Tanner to smile.

  “Ah, I see that the doctor hadn’t exaggerated her husband’s abilities.”

  “Enough talk,” Ariana said. “Toss away your weapon or I’ll have one of my men shoot the doctor.”

  “If any of you make a move Dr. White will kill you,” Tanner said.

  Ariana laughed.

  “And just how would she do that? She’s not even armed.”

  “Oh, I’m armed,” Jessica said. Her voice came from behind Ariana. She was standing in the doorway that led back into the house.

  The group on the deck swiveled their heads and saw Jessica holding the rifle on them, and then they all turned back around to look at the woman standing beside the car.

  Emmy Lee lowered her hood and removed the large sunglasses she’d been wearing; then, she smiled up at Ariana.

  “You should have paid me, bitch,” Emmy said, and then she let out a wicked laugh.

  CHAPTER 30 – Turnabout

  “Drop your weapons!” Jessica ordered.

  Brick stared at her, and then at the rifle that was aimed his way, and he let the gun he’d been holding slip from his hand.

  One of the mercenaries shouted, “Fuck no!” and pointed his gun at Mr. White.

  Tanner shot the man just beneath the left eye and the body tumbled down the stairs, to land at White’s feet. After that, the others dropped their weapons.

  Mr. White freed his other hand from the cuffs and smiled at Brick’s look of amazement as he tossed the cuffs away. However, White’s smile turned into a look of alarm as Randall snuck up behind Jessica and clamped an arm around her neck while placing a short-barreled revolver to the side of her head.

  “Dr. White, you are one troublesome bitch.”

  With the tide seemingly turned in his direction, Brick bent down to pick up his gun. Ariana hadn’t been carrying a weapon, but she ripped the rifle from Jessica’s grasp and turned to fire at Tanner.

  If not for the driving snow, Tanner would have taken his shot and killed her, but he feared hitting Jessica, who was too near to Ariana. He dove behind the jeep while telling Emmy to do the same.

  “Take cover!”

  Emmy panicked, screamed, and went running off into the trees.

  Ariana sent multiple blasts into the jeep and disabled the vehicle while missing Tanner. She then sent the rifle’s remaining shots towards Emmy and was rewarded by a scream of pain. Emmy’s stride faltered for several steps, but she continued to run away, while leaving a trail of blood atop the deep snow.

  Meanwhile, Brick had taken aim at Mr. White.

  White grabbed the dead merc and held him up in front of himself as a shield. Brick fired two shots into the corpse and then Randall dragged Jessica backwards into the warm house while shouting for everyone else to follow.

  They did so, slamming the door behind them, taking Jessica as a hostage, while leaving White and Tanner quite literally out in the cold.

  ***

  “Who the hell are you?” Ariana asked Randall.

  Randall smiled at her, while pushing Jessica into a kitchen chair.

  “I’m the guy who just saved your ass, and you’re going to help me as payment.”

  “Help you do what?” Ariana said.

  Randall sighed.

  “I need money and a way out of the country, or else I’ll be spending the rest of my life in jail.”

  Randall had learned of his brother’s arrest and the shootout at the cabin while listening to the radio in his truck. The news said that Carter was in critical but stable condition, but Randall thought that his brother would have been better off if the cops had killed him.

  At least, he knew that he’d rather die than spend the rest of his life locked up in a cage.

  And no, he saw no irony in the fact that he had subjected many young women to a similar, yet more horrible fate.

  “You’re Randall Mason, aren’t you?” Jessica said.

  Randall looked her over and grinned as he removed his coat and tossed it over a chair.

  “I also want the doctor as a gift. I owe her personally.”

  “He’s a serial killer,” Jessica said. “He and his brother are thought to have killed eleven young women. The police have his brother but there’s a search on for Randall.”

  Ariana stared at Randall for a few moments, and then shrugged.

  “I don’t care what he is, if he helps me.”

  “So we have a deal?” Randall said. “I get the doctor, twenty grand, and you help me sneak into Canada.”

  “It’s a deal,” Ariana said.

  Brick had been watching from the window, which was set in the kitchen door that led to the deck.

  “It looks like Tanner and the doctor’s husband are splitting up. I can’t see them, but I see two sets of tracks going in different directions. We need to go after them both.”

  “All right, but we’ll take the snowmobiles in the garage,” Ariana said. “In which direction did Tanner go?”

  “I don’t know who went in which direction, but tracks go to the left, the way that woman from the motel ran. Follow those, and I’ll take the ones to the right.”

  Randall placed a hand beneath Jessica’s chin.

  “You all run along while I keep the doctor company.”

  Everyone looked at Randall, and kn
ew what he meant by those words.

  Jessica caught Ariana’s eye.

  “This man intends to rape me before murdering me. If you stop him and end this vendetta I promise you that I’ll keep Tanner from killing you.”

  Ariana looked at Randall with something akin to disgust in her eyes, but then she walked away without saying another word, to head towards the attached garage at the front of the home.

  When they were alone, Randall placed his gun against Jessica’s forehead, while he forced his free hand down inside her coat and caressed her breasts.

  “Dr. Jessica White, oh, how I’m going to enjoy this.”

  CHAPTER 31 – To the death

  When Ariana had disappeared back inside her home with Jessica as a hostage, White had fought the urge to charge up the steps after them.

  After grunting in displeasure at the turn of events, he grabbed the collar of the corpse at his feet and dragged the body behind a nearby shed and out of sight of the home.

  He was shivering again, and trying to keep his teeth from chattering. He unzipped the hooded parka of the dead mercenary and slipped into the coat.

  The parka was bloody from the man’s wounds and had two holes in it, but it beat freezing to death. There was also a pair of fur-lined, leather gloves, and White felt his hands warm up within seconds of slipping into them.

  Tanner joined him just as he was checking the dead man’s gun. The sky had grown brighter, although snow continued to fall amid a howling wind.

  “How much ammo do you have, Tanner?”

  “Two extra mags of 9mm., luckily, they’ll fit that Glock you have there.”

  Tanner passed one of the magazines over and then pointed west.

  “We should split up, that way we’ll draw them away from the house and one of us will be able to double back and help your wife.”

  “That man who showed up, do you know him?”

  “Yeah, and... he’s a serial killer.”

  White headed for the house but then stopped and turned back to Tanner.

  “If I charge in there they’ll just hurt her to get to me. You’re right; we’ll lead them away and then double back. But what about the woman that ran off, who is she?”

  “Her name is Emmy Lee and she’s the one who told Ariana where to find me. It was just bad luck that they grabbed you instead.”