by Rivers, Mal
“Okay, let’s finish this,” she said.
“What are you doing?”
“Why do you continue to ask questions you should know the answer to? I’m going to film you and your friends’ demise, and send the video to Kendra Ryder as a departing gift.”
She didn’t stutter at all, and her calmness fazed me to a definite degree. Bluffing her out of it seemed a losing tactic, but I had nothing else to go on.
“You can’t—you always manipulated people. You’re not a killer,” I said.
She sighed. “Directly, I have killed five people. In any case, who do you think started this? It was I, not Guy. After his blow killed that poor civilian, I devised and carried out the further methods. He merely took over from the second time in Afghanistan.” She looked at Kacie, against the wall, Melissa, on the floor, and then me. “It’s only right that I finish this. That stupid girl who killed Guy will not be the last person to use my original method.”
She turned the camera on and moved toward Kacie. “I think I’ll start with you,” she said, tugging at the chains. She removed them from the piping and quickly kept Kacie’s arms behind her back. Kacie looked too weak and dazed to do anything about it. Dr Bishop had obviously denied them food, perhaps even liquid.
Against the right wall was a wooden table, old and ragged. It could have been an old style workbench, but I couldn’t really see from my position. Dr Bishop had the strength to push Kacie up and over the tabletop. Kacie struggled mildly, but it didn’t help. Dr Bishop worked her way around the table. At each corner of the table there were what I could only describe as metal rings embedded into the wood, and she used these to tie wrap Kacie’s hands securely. She struggled with the feet, forcing them inside without any care of which bones would break.
A readjustment of the camera on the stool, and the preparations were set. By now my throat was sore, but it didn’t stop me from screaming for help. This seemed to worry her somewhat, as she made her way toward me, the butt of her knife striking me in the temple.
“No one can hear you. Do that again and I’ll only make your turn last longer.”
She went over to the table again, and I struggled with the tie wraps some more. My wrists were bleeding. Dr Bishop walked around the table, staring down at Kacie from behind with the knife in her hand. I struggled some more, and as Dr Bishop began the first incision, my head flinched backwards, all the while I groaned in anger as the knife made its way down Kacie’s body. It took ten seconds for the blood to drip down off the table and onto the floor. The tiny patter of the drops echoed throughout the basement and Kacie gave out intermittent groans. By this time I could no longer look. Dr Bishop’s face was as emotionless as Ryder’s. No sign of remorse, or even enjoyment, just strictly businesslike.
Turning to my left, as Dr Bishop continued, I could see faint movements from Melissa. Her arms and her legs twitched on the concrete floor, and her upper body jerked upward. She supported herself with one hand against the floor and looked at me, letting out a startled gasp. The light from the stairs shone across the left side of her face. By now, Dr Bishop realized she was awake. Knife in hand, gleaming crimson and dripping, Dr Bishop walked over to Melissa. Melissa was pushed back to the floor and with her other hand, Dr Bishop dragged her across to the chains that had held Kacie previously.
“Shut up,” Dr Bishop said. She fumbled with the chains and eventually sacrificed the knife to use both hands. Melissa jerked her head forward, as if she were trying to bite Dr Bishop. Dr Bishop pushed her back and said something, but I was concentrating on something else—the knife on the floor. If I could somehow break free and retrieve the knife, now was the time to do it. But the more I exerted effort in doing so, the more blood escaped my wrists. Any harder and I would have cut into the veins. If I was a defeatist, that would’ve almost felt preferable. It would have been far better than allowing Dr Bishop to butcher me.
It was useless, though. As Dr Bishop continued with the chains, I leaned back and shut my eyes. Was this it? Was this how it all ends? In a basement with a complete lunatic of a woman? Nerks. But that’s how it looked. Cassandra Bishop had chosen her own brand of chaos, and she was controlling it. And whether it be fate or synchronized realization, there was only one person I could possibly think of that could break such chaos, and it was her face I saw; peering at me from the trap door from above, like she was some goddamned angel waiting to take me to heaven—the face of Kendra Ryder. In an ethereal blur as my eyes struggled to focus, but it was Ryder nonetheless.
I was hallucinating, of course—surely. Ryder was back at home. Sleeping, as she contemplated the success of her solution. A thought came to me, though, however hazy; the fact that Swanson knew Andonian had someone from the FBI under his thumb—surely the person he was referring to was Dr Bishop. If that was the case, what of Agent Gibbs? Were they both in on it? Would Gibbs have eventually ratted on Bishop? Did she even know Bishop was involved? Hell—was Gibbs likely to go the way of Andonian?
Too many questions, and in that moment I was losing myself. The vision of Ryder coming down the stairs didn’t feel real. More like a tempting siren, offering to take me away from this place at a price. A price I wasn’t willing to pay. I couldn’t just leave Melissa and Kacie here.
Dr Bishop finished with the chains and turned around. She looked up to the stairs and, to my surprise, she could see it too. I’d never seen her betray uncertainty before, but at that moment she froze. It felt as if she was sharing my insanity, as she clambered for the knife and pointed it at the stairs.
Ryder’s glow was fading, but her body remained. She was holding the Beretta 92 in her right hand, the other still in a sling.
Dr Bishop said, “Kendra Ryder, as I live and breathe. You were an annoyance once before, but this is unacceptable.” Unless she had her own gun in her pocket, she was at a disadvantage, and she knew it. She quickly sought to remedy that the only way she could—by using a deterrent. She retreated quickly to Melissa, and placed the knife across her neck. “The one over there is as good as gone. You don’t want to lose another, do you?”
Ryder didn’t move her body or avert her gaze. She didn’t even look at me.
“I’m genuinely at a loss for words,” Dr Bishop said. “How long did you know about me?”
Ryder kept her arm steady. “Ever since the day Ader met you, it became apparent, at least to me, who you really were. You even told Ader, directly, that everything revolved around me. With that in mind, anyone and everything heading my way was suspect, but I would naturally give some leeway to certain people. People that should be heading my way, be they authority or criminal. So when a psychiatrist unknown to me, merely a contractor to the FBI, starts taking an interest in my assistant, I was weary. I also had my other assistant do some research on Lee Lynch’s life in Leavenworth Prison. No one suspected he was in touch with anyone. Indeed, the files say as much. He talked to no one—but, that wasn’t completely true. The files talk of continuing psychiatric evaluation, which obviously required a psychiatrist. God knows how you managed to get into such a position, and you definitely looked different from what my assistant tells me, but that psychiatrist was you.”
Dr Bishop managed a grin. “Nice to see what happened to you never dulled your senses. But I still fail to see why you are here.” She paused for a second, and smiled still. “—of course, you ignored my guilt at your home, so as to wait for me to lead you to where your precious Melissa was. Very risky.”
Ryder nodded. “I knew Melissa and Agent Cordell had been abducted ever since you coerced them to phone Ader, in an attempt to dull our concern. That was a mistake. Myself, Ader and Melissa make a habit of using code when communicating amongst company. When they both used the word broke, it may have seemed odd, perhaps even suspicious, but I doubt you would have thought anything of it. What you couldn’t have known is that broke is the code word we use for trouble. Something Melissa sought to take advantage of.
“There’s also the event at the cabi
n. I thought it highly unlikely Andonian’s gang had anything to do with it. As we all know now, Melissa was never their concern. The person wanting to damage me went far beyond the petty gang feud against me.
“The evidence at the cabin suggested nothing untoward happened. One foreign car made its way in and out of the vicinity, obviously Agent Cordell’s, as she planned to get Melissa to further safety. No doubt she acted under guidance from yourself, whom she neither feared, nor saw any reason to doubt when you convinced her Melissa was in danger. You directed her to the cabin, which was no trouble, considering it was you, not Andonian, who placed the tracker on Ader’s car. Then, when it was too late for them, you subdued them, and drove away in Agent Cordell’s car. As for how I followed you here, I used the same trick you did.”
Ryder somehow rested her Beretta 92 inside her sling and dipped into her blazer pocket, throwing the GPS tracker to the floor. She looked to her left for a moment, and likely realized Kacie’s state.
“Very well,” Dr Bishop said. “I admit the setback, but not defeat. If you want to shoot me, you’ll have to take the risk that my hand won’t jerk this blade across the bitch’s neck.”
Ryder steadied her right arm and blew her fringe out of her eye line. “Give it up. Do you think I came here alone? You’re not getting away.”
Dr Bishop grinned menacingly. “I’d say that you did. If you were with the police or FBI, then you, as a mere civilian, wouldn’t be the one standing there. Now, keep your finger off the trigger, descend the stairs, and wait by the wall as I make my way out.”
“How do I know you’ll set Melissa free?”
“You don’t.”
I watched from the floor as this stalemate played out. Neither of them budged an inch, and I couldn’t struggle anymore. Melissa still looked out of it, and I didn’t hold much hope for Kacie. Ryder could end it now, and shoot Dr Bishop in the head. She had the accuracy, and I had to think the chances of the knife being pulled back were slight if the bullet killed her instantly. Ryder, however, wasn’t willing to take that chance.
Dr Bishop stepped closer to the stairs, pushing Melissa along, with the blade still across her neck, breaking into the skin. My vision was clearing, and I could see minute flickers of uncertainty in Ryder’s eyes. She may have concocted a long winded scenario to find Melissa and Kacie, but it was safe to say she hadn’t planned for this. And if she hadn’t come with backup, I had to wonder at what a fool she had been.
The pair stared off for a while as Dr Bishop drew closer and Ryder backed up a step. As I continued to watch my eyes were diverted by a break in the light from the trap door. A faint shadow appeared, looking down into the basement.
Without any thought I yelled, “Watch out,” thinking Ryder was in danger. The lack of sirens, voices and trailing footsteps led me to believe it wasn’t any form of police authority moving upon us.
It turned out I was wrong. The person descending the trap door was an FBI agent. But that didn’t console me when I realized it was Agent Gibbs.
“Drop it, Ryder,” she said.
Ryder didn’t move. She probably realized that would be fatal. The moment she turned her head, Dr Bishop could have made a move on her.
She remained still, her eyes more uncertain, as if she had no grasp on the situation, which was understandable.
To my surprise, Dr Bishop was paying more attention to Gibbs. She looked beyond Ryder and said, “You—”
“I’m with Higgings. Cops are onto us, let’s go,” Gibbs said.
“No,” Dr Bishop said. “I give the orders, and I had no idea Andonian had bought you, not until tonight. If Higgings brought you here, bring him in here to help clean this up. There’s gasoline in the storage room down the next hall.”
Higgings—was she referring to the prison guard, Zeus Higgings—surely not. Why would she be?
But then it hit me. If what Ryder had said was true, that Dr Bishop entered Leavenworth under false pretenses to keep a check on Lee Lynch, surely it was just as likely someone else had, too. Perhaps a prison security guard, who eventually shot Lee Lynch when he tried to escape—someone with decent aim to shoot him dead from inside the prison past the first security gate—the same kind of aim required to shoot Andonian from three hundred feet. The same audacity that would have been required to allow Agent Gibbs to be standing here right now. It was unraveling now. Every act past and present had brought Ryder here. She knew everything, had considered everything, yet that still didn’t seem enough.
“What are you doing with the girl?” Gibbs said.
“I think I’ll leave her in here with everyone else. Take Miss Ryder’s gun and throw it to me.”
Gibbs moved one step short of Ryder and held her own handgun close to Ryder’s head. Ryder gave in all too easily. Her right arm relaxed and dropped to her side. Gibbs was behind her, almost breathing down her neck, gun pointed directly at the back of her head.
In a brief moment, Ryder closed her eyes, and, to my surprise, pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening as the bullet went through the stairs. Dr Bishop, startled in reaction, fumbled with Melissa’s body. Before my brain had even confirmed the echo of the gunshot, a second one came from Agent Gibbs.
In that moment, as the echo filled the room, I processed everything. Ryder fell forward and keeled over some three steps below.
Dr Bishop drooped backward. A red mist flew out from the back of her white coat before she hit the floor, breaking Melissa’s fall.
40
Sitting out in the street on Wilshire Boulevard, a paramedic kept pestering me with a navy blue blanket. Try as he might, I refused it. I looked up at the three storey building and hated myself. All this time Dr Bishop had been keeping Kacie and Melissa here, in the same building as her practice, in an unused storage cellar to the rear, and no one was the wiser.
I watched the gurneys go on by; one holding Kacie Cordell, who was still alive, but in a critical condition with extensive blood loss. Melissa was conscious, but still feeling the effect from whatever Dr Bishop had drugged her with. And then there was Dr Bishop herself, still alive with a gunshot wound similar to Ryder’s. Seen as Ryder had survived hers, I expected Dr Bishop to live.
Ryder was sitting beside me, partially deaf after Agent Gibbs had pulled the trigger beside her. Gibbs herself was talking to other FBI agents on the sidewalk, when two familiar BI agents joined the scene. Mantle and Johns shot me a look, gave sympathetic nods, and joined in on the whispers.
And if that wasn’t enough, shortly after a car pulled up on the other side of the road. It was Sully, still using the same rental car as opposed to his own. I shook my head at him.
“You gotta get your monies worth,” he said.
I shook my head again, more violently. “Nerks to money. Will somebody please tell me what the hell just happened.”
Sully scratched his head. “Don’t think you’ll like it, but, we kinda used you as bait.”
I looked at Ryder and raised my voice. “So all this was a set-up for Bishop? Even Gibbs being crooked?”
Ryder was still clutching at her ear, when Gibbs came forward.
“Yes,” Gibbs said, “back at the office, Ryder came up with this scheme when I was alone with her. She convinced me the only way to save Agent Cordell and your friend was to convince Dr Bishop that she was in the clear. After that, we expected she would make a final move. As it happens, she wanted to take you too.”
“But why—why the hell couldn’t you just have done this earlier?” I asked Ryder. Even though she was struggling to hear, she seemed to understand me.
“There was no evidence anywhere that she was involved in anything,” Ryder said loudly, compensating for her hearing. “The only way to do it was to trap her. I couldn’t risk telling you, it was better if you acted in ignorance. I’m sorry, but for Melissa’s sake—”
“But—” I hesitated, for Melissa’s sake. “What was stopping us from finding Kacie and Melissa another way?”
Ryder groan
ed. “If we followed her day and night—even I would have never suspected she was keeping them at her workplace. That was an oversight I am not proud of. It was troublesome; if she even thought remotely that I suspected her, she would have done something. I had to keep her confidence and vanity in check. The one way I saw as a possibility was to make her think that I thought the corrupt person in the LA FBI department was someone else, which was difficult and risky, considering Dr Bishop would have to be fully convinced, especially when it would be the first she was hearing of it. If she was fully aware of Andonian’s workings, she would have suspected something, but I was willing to risk it. So, at the office, myself and Agent Gibbs staged that little drama.”
“Yeah, but what about Mantle and Johns?”
Gibbs interrupted, saying, “Quite ingenious. The message on my phone was actually instructions, telling them to play along.”
“Everything else was legit, though? About Laura Harles murdering Lynch?”
“Yes,” Ryder said.
I turned to Sully, and then to Gibbs. “Was it Zeus Higgings who shot Andonian? Bishop mentioned him inside.”
Sully nodded. “I made some further phone calls after you left the hospital. Apparently, he left his position straight after shooting Lee Lynch. He has history in the army too. He was in Afghanistan in 2001.”
Gibbs leaned forward. “We tracked a credit card transaction in San Francisco three nights ago. After that, it was more than a hunch that he was here for a reason. When I came into the basement, I sort of ad-libbed, dropping Higgings’ name so Bishop would figure I was on her side for a moment.”
“That was dumb,” I said. “I mean, if Higgings killed Andonian to shut him up, why would he have saved you?”
