The Killing Code

by Craig Hurren

  Curtis Adler was an extremely paranoid man and strict disciplinarian who hated any kind of interaction with anyone outside his direct family. They were self sufficiency farmers and the only time he went to town was to get seeds for their vegetable gardens, glass jars for pickling, heating oil, tools, and a few other items that they couldn’t do without and couldn’t make for themselves. It was a harsh way of life but the couple wanted it that way and Bryan was an unwelcome arrival. They believed that the world would end very soon and that they, by living the way they did and following the bible virtually to the letter, would be the only people saved from the wrath of God. In fact, they saw themselves as a kind of renaissance Adam and Eve in their own twisted minds.

  Ruth was the illegitimate result of two first cousins in Tennessee, who were unable to control their lust and some reports had it that she had always been a bit ‘touched’; even as a child. She was a social embarrassment to the cousins’ families so they had sent her to be raised by her maternal grandparents in neighboring Arkansas. She was brought up in a very religious and strict household, where corporal punishment was the norm. By the time she was fifteen years old Ruth had met twenty year old Curtis at a church picnic and was smitten by his physical power and clear vision of what he believed righteous. Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, they were married in a small church ceremony with only one paid witness since her grandparents had both died mysteriously in their sleep a few weeks earlier and Curtis’ parents had both died years before.

  Curtis and Ruth took over her grandparents’ property and set about converting it from a commercial crop growing operation to a self sufficiency farm to minimize their interaction with the outside world. They lived their harsh lifestyle far from the prying eyes of neighbors or townsfolk and about five years into their union, Ruth became pregnant with Bryan, which filled them both with dread at how God may judge them.

  After Bryan was born, Curtis decided that Bryan must have been sent to them as a test by God so he quickly won Ruth over to his way of thinking and they raised him according to the strictest interpretation of biblical stories and proverbs. The overriding rule was: ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ and they enforced this rule and others with a sadistic savagery unimaginable to Helen Benson.

  Of course there were no witnesses to Bryan’s claims about these times, other than the hundreds of scars, which had been dated by medical experts as having been inflicted all throughout his childhood from a very early age. The knowledge that his parents had been so physically and mentally cruel to their son had filled Helen with anger toward Curtis and Ruth, and pity toward her patient. But as she progressed through his file to Bryan’s psychotic deeds and the coldness with which he had recounted them to prosecutors when he was finally arrested; her ability to think rationally and clinically about her patient was challenged. Her clinical training and experience demanded that she act as a professional physician and treat him as psychiatric patient that needed her help but his lucidity, clarity of thought, and utter remorselessness toward his victims triggered her instincts and basic nature as a human being, causing her constant internal conflict when dealing with him. As a true professional and one of the leaders in her field, she kept her emotions fully in check during their sessions but she had an ominous feeling that he always knew her inner thoughts.

  Bryan was a highly intelligent subject who, despite his complete lack of education until he was about fourteen years of age, was extremely devious, calculating, and meticulous in his every action. It was as though he could transcend normal thought and his pain threshold as well as his physical strength and capabilities far exceeded that of a normal man of his size and weight. His eyes were almost imperceptibly exotropic, which meant that they pointed slightly outward from each other so one could never be certain which eye to focus on when making eye contact or during a conversation. This was not only disconcerting but rather intimidating in his particular case. He had the condition from birth as far as anyone could tell and told of a designated weekly beating his father would give him on Saturdays because he saw the defect as a sign of the devil and another part of God’s test.

  When Bryan neared the fourteenth anniversary of his birth, he finally snapped during one particular unearned beating from Curtis. Bent over the workbench in the shed just off the house, the searing pain of his father’s belt buckle burning into his back, he saw an old fencing hammer in front of his hand and instinct took over. He grabbed the hammer, turned violently and with strength born from years of built up anger and hatred, he struck out and landed a powerful blow to his father’s head. Curtis reeled back severely dazed, lost his footing and fell to his knees while Bryan, his wiry frame strengthened from years of hard physical labor, his mind steeled by years of abuse, dropped the hammer to unleash an indescribable fury of violent, powerful punches on his father. He kept beating Curtis’ unconscious head until his energy began to wane then he kneeled up and watched the foamy red blood gurgling from his father’s mouth and nose. He stood, grabbed a rusty, old cut-throat razor from the bench and without hesitation, slit his father’s throat, causing the carotid arteries to spew forth pulsing rivers of blood until the gurgling stopped and he knew that Curtis Adler was no more.

  As he kneeled beside the body, the cut-throat razor resting on the floor about a foot above the head, Bryan’s mother opened the door of the shed and entered. She absorbed what she saw before her and approached her husband’s body, her face white with shock. Suddenly, she dropped down and grabbed the razor in her right hand. She thrust it outwards, toward Bryan with tears in her eyes and for a moment, he resigned himself to his fate. Then he watched in amazement as she drew the blade away from him and with one deep, even stroke, sliced her own arm diagonally from wrist to elbow, creating a long gaping wound in her arteries then calmly sat on the floor and stared into her son’s eyes as the life drained out of her. Bryan didn’t move a muscle. He just sat and watched, emotionless and clinical, until she expired before his eyes. After his mother slumped over dead, Bryan washed his hands and face, collected his few meager belongings and set off on foot down the long dirt driveway, onto the small country road to which it led and just kept walking until he eventually came upon a freight train with empty boxcars and began a hobo’s life for the next few months. These details had been completely unknown to anyone but Bryan himself until he was eventually caught many years later and confessed all his crimes, including the one from which his psychotic murder scenario had originated.

  Nobody went to the Adler farm, as had been the case for many years prior. It wasn’t until the electricity company was installing new power poles in the area that a company representative discovered the skeletal remains of Ruth and Curtis Adler about three years after their deaths. The police, lacking any real evidence, aside from the rusty hammer, decided it must have been a murder suicide and since there was no evidence of any other inhabitants, the matter was concluded then and there.

  Bryan lived and learned the clever ways of the hobo, with the help of a kind-hearted and experienced hand and he was a very quick learner. He developed heightened cunning, speed of thought, physical prowess and a growing desire to repeat what he had done to his parents. He lived this way for several months until one night, the police raided a small hobo encampment and Bryan was caught and taken into the care of Social Services as a minor. He was then passed around from foster home to foster home until it became obvious that he would have to stay in a group shelter, since no foster family would tolerate his cunning, anti-social behavior.

  Once Helen had developed a strong sense of her patient, the actual face to face sessions began in earnest. Despite having no real choice in the matter, Bryan had willingly submitted to any and all forms of therapy that Helen felt appropriate for his treatment. This was another reason for her to suspect that he had ulterior motives in actively dealing with her instead of just resigning himself to his fate of internment for life without the possibility of release, as meted out by the court three years earlier.
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br />   In addition to the cocktails of potent anti-psychotics as well as some experimental drugs, his treatment included three sessions per week of psychoanalysis, including hypnotherapy. His treatment continued in this vein for over two years and at times, Helen actually thought she saw some glimmers of hope but these hopes were usually dashed by the time their next session came around. Basically, Bryan’s psyche was damaged beyond repair and try as she might, Helen knew she was essentially wasting her time with him but despite her gut feeling, she continued experimenting with the various combinations of drugs to glean as much scientific information as possible from her willing volunteer.

  In one particularly chilling session, Bryan described one of his crimes in graphic detail. Helen had not wanted to go down this avenue in his therapy but to that point, nothing else had shown any promise and she found herself morbidly curious about the case and his recounting of it so let him continue.

  Bryan’s psychosis manifested itself in a bizarre modus operandi wherein he would seek out families with two parents and one young child. He would then observe them from a distance for several days, waiting and watching for what he needed to create the impetus to build his scenario; one simple act that demonstrated what was, in his opinion, a reason that the parents didn’t deserve the love of their child. This could range from corporal punishment, to any form of neglect, causing the child to cry, or any other small matter he found objectionable in their parenting.

  During his observations, he would also take his time to detail their daily routines, associations with outsiders, security measures and other individual behaviors until he was confident he had intimate knowledge of all aspects of their lives so that he could fulfill the scenario his psychosis demanded. Once he had established a reason to act, he would devise a detailed plan to ensure he was able to live out his fantasy unhindered.

  He would gain access to the family’s home by disguising himself as a delivery man using a stolen uniform and hold a box in front of him so that it seemed a believable scenario to anyone looking through a peephole or a window near the door. When either the husband or wife opened the door, he would calmly step forward to block the door from being shut, while removing the pistol he had concealed in a hole cut in the back of the box. As the box dropped from his other hand, he would hold his finger up to his lips in a menacing threat to keep quiet then force his victim backward into the house as he entered and locked the door behind him. If his victim began to make any noise, he would pistol whip them to prevent any disturbance but they would normally follow his instructions out of fear and shock.

  At this point, he would force the wife to bind her husband to a chair using the plastic zip ties he had in his back pocket and gag him with a towel from their kitchen. He would then tie the wife to a chair facing her husband and silently savor the fear in their eyes for several moments before bringing their child in and extorting the mother to admit all their faults as parents, whether real or suggested by her tormentor, by holding the child on his lap and making the mother believe he would harm her child if she did not comply. Once the confession was complete to his satisfaction, he would gag the mother, and in an eerily controlled and methodical manner, beat the father senseless with his fists. When he was satisfied with his work and while the mother was whimpering in horror, he would draw a cut-throat razor from his pocket and calmly slit the father’s throat at each carotid artery, then lean in to the mother’s face to watch him bleed to death together.

  The father of this now broken family no longer a threat, Bryan would then begin a slow, methodical psychological assault on the mother. He would repetitively ask her in a soft, toneless, emotionless manner, why she was such a bad mother; how she could be so neglectful, cruel, and uncaring toward her child, how could she think she deserved to have a trusting young child in her care. This mental torture would continue for as long as it took to psychologically break the mother. Knowing her tormentor’s total control of the situation, having been forced to witness her husband’s brutal death, listening for hours to his quiet, calm, controlled voice and observing his menacing glances at her child, she would eventually break and realize she had no choice but to comply with his demand that she take her own life. He would then cut the zip tie that bound her right hand and hold the cut throat razor out to her telling her it was time to release her child from the grip of its evil parents. Continuing to goad her hypnotically, to slit her own arm from the base of her hand, all the way up her forearm so there was no hope of stemming the blood flow, he would then watch bemused as the life drained from her eyes.

  Bryan Adler would then put the child in its bedroom, pick up all his zip ties, his razor, and his delivery box, calmly leave through the front door, walk two or three blocks to where he had left his car and drive away into the night with a grim sense of satisfaction. He had no need for the police to suspect his crimes were murder/suicides. He didn’t care, in any way whatsoever, what the police thought as he was so meticulous in his plans and actions that no incriminating evidence was ever found at his crime scenes so there was never any kind of link between him and his victims. The only thing the police knew was that there were suspicious deaths all over the country with the same details and modus operandi so they suspected there was a serial killer at work but they had nothing to give them any direction. The children, who were always left alive and physically well, were of no help because they were too young to be fully aware of the reality and unable to give a proper description other than the fact that the perpetrator was a man.

  The eerie calm with which Bryan recounted his stories was the most disturbing experience Dr. Helen Benson had ever encountered. As he searched her eyes for any reaction, she tried desperately not to indulge his psychosis and kept her face and gaze as unwavering as possible but despite her best efforts, she felt that he could see right into her mind and know her exact thoughts. He obviously relished this part of the game the most. Reliving the events in his own mind was one thing but his satisfaction was highest when he could watch the responses of other people to his crimes. The obvious outrage and indignation of reporters, court officials, prosecutors and jurors had been gratifying, though a bit predictable and mundane in his mind but watching experienced medical professionals try to conceal their horror and personal reactions was the most titillating game for him. To observe glimmers in their eyes from the sheer strain of their ongoing mental battle, trying to remain clinical and unemotional, while dealing with their own personal psychological reactions, had become Bryan’s new obsession since he no longer had the freedom to enact his true passion.

  Beach sat enthralled by Tinsley’s comprehensive review of Helen’s notes until he finished. “Thank you for that detailed description – it’s pretty grim stuff but quite helpful to my investigation. Now, I know this is a strange question but I have to ask. Is there any possible way that Adler could have been at the scene of Helen’s death?” he asked.

  Tinsley looked quizzically at Alan. “A strange question indeed but the answer is very simple. There is no possible way that Bryan could have been there. You’ve seen our exterior security measures as you came in but what you haven’t seen is our interior systems, and I can assure you that these are even more elaborate than what you saw outside. No, that would be completely out of the question. Besides, even if he was there, why on earth would he have returned to captivity?”

  “I agree but as I said, I had to ask.”

  “I’m sorry Alan, no disrespect intended. It’s just such a ludicrous thought from my point of view.”

  “Understood. Well, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to meet this guy so, shall we?”

  “I’m afraid no one is ever truly ready to meet Bryan Adler but yes, we have prepared him for your visit. Be warned however, that his physical power is well beyond that of an average man his size and over the many years he’s been here, he has developed significant resistance to all known tranquillizing agents. He is highly intelligent and devious, and may be particularly difficult since we hav
e recently taken him off all medications to prepare him for a clinical trial being conducted with Blue Sky Biotech, for whom Helen worked as a senior consultant. The details of the therapy they are testing are so secret that not even I know its ingredients or mechanism – only that it is showing a great deal of promise. Under normal circumstances, I would not allow any patient to be subjected to clinical trials but I trusted Helen, and Bryan’s illness is seemingly beyond treatment with any conventional therapy so I have allowed it. Besides, Helen’s project is headed by Professor Linus Gelling so how could I refuse? The man is a virtual demigod in the medical field.”

  “Linus Gell… Is that spelt Gell-i-n-g?”

  “That is correct Alan. Ask anyone in medicine and they will know of him.”

  “Thanks. Well, let’s not keep Mr. Adler waiting.”

  “I know you must do what you must do. Bryan will be securely restrained but be prepared for the fact that he will be at his full mental potential without his meds. He is highly unpredictable and your visit could go either way, at his whim. Follow me to the restraint room.”

  They proceeded from Tinsley’s office, down the hallway and on to the elevator with the doctor telling Alan some of the institution’s history as they walked. Arriving on the third floor, Alan was immediately struck by the interior security measures Tinsley had mentioned. He hadn’t seen anything like this before - not even when he had interviewed a murderer in a Federal Supermax prison. He knew for certain that there was no way Bryan or anyone else could have escaped from this place.

  “It seems the public can rest assured with your security David.”