by Hadena James
Patterson tried not to giggle as he considered handing out decoder rings to the members of the super-secret club that was spear heading change within the government about how to classify and deal with serial killers. If Xavier ever completed his biological study, it would provide a leap forward for understanding who would and wouldn’t become serial killers based on their DNA. However, Aislinn had theorized recently that psychopaths might be born, but serial killers were made from psychopaths having terrible childhoods, making serial killers a combination of nature and nurture.
That made Donnelly and Malachi outliers, though. Both of them should be serial killers based on their developmental years. After all, Donnelly’s father had murdered his mother and abandoned all the kids and Malachi’s stepfathers had been brutal to him and his mom over the years, and his father had also walked out on him and his mom. Eric’s father was murdered when he was nearly an adult, which also didn’t seem to help Aislinn’s theory, but then Eric had become a mass murderer for the purpose of changing some laws, so maybe he was an outlier for a different reason. His childhood had been mostly normal.
Patterson was less sure how to classify his granddaughter. Some days, he considered Aislinn a serial killer and some days he didn’t. It depended on his mood. He pushed the thought aside and tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day as he dug up the skeletons of Lucas McMichaels’ parents from a field in Ohio.
Silently he was thankful that he had kept in shape even at his age. Just being a psychopath probably wouldn’t have given him the endurance needed to dig up two graves but being in shape would help significantly. Of course, he could always call in an anonymous tip the police department and tell them where to dig and who killed them. They may not believe him though and that would be a problem. He was going to dig up their skeletons and leave them someplace they couldn’t be missed.
Chapter Fifteen
THE FIRE HAD GROWN colder as the bed of coals increased. I had spread an extra shirt I had found in the back pack on the ground and was sitting on it, closer to the fire. I was trying to entertain myself by staring at the stars, which made me aware of how little I knew of astronomy. Aside from the Dippers, I didn’t recognize a single constellation. I could find the North Star and Venus, which for some reason was always one of the brightest stars.
I had to admit, out here in the middle of no man’s land without light pollution there were a ton of things I had never seen. There was a slightly surreal feeling as I realized the lighter streaks above my head was actually part of my galaxy. I had only really seen the Milky Way a few times in the past, the lighter streaks were drowned out by light pollution almost everywhere I went. Especially since I wasn’t the outdoorsy type and tended to travel to big cities as opposed to camping in places that allowed me to see stars above my head.
Even with the beauty of the stars overhead, I had to fight the urge to play on Gabriel’s phone. I knew the unlock code and could have played one of the many games he had installed on it. However, it was our only phone since my battery was dead, it was our only way to communicate with the world. I did wonder about the reception. So far it hadn’t seemed to be an issue, but why we even had reception on Gabriel’s phone was a mystery. This area of Maine seemed unlikely place for a cell tower. However, there had to be one somewhere.
Gabriel had gone back to sleep almost the instant the lynx had slinked away from us. Like most predators, especially cats, describing its movements as walking seemed wrong. When I got home, maybe I would think of a better word to put in my case diary to describe the encounter. The only good thing about it being cold was that there weren’t any insects to get into my can of soda. I preferred bottles to cans when I was outdoors because bottles could be sealed, making insect infestation much less probable.
Gabriel snored lightly, and I remembered he was the outdoorsy type, camping was one of his favorite things to do along with barbecues, swimming in his pool, and playing with his kids when he could convince his wife’s sister and brother-in-law to bring them for a visit. Since he was an FBI agent that traveled for his job, often, when the shooting occurred, and his wife was institutionalized, he hadn’t been granted custody of his children, not even partial custody. That had gone to his former sister-in-law. He tried to visit them as often as possible and when we were sure we’d be getting a few days off, he’d arrange for the kids and their guardians to fly to Missouri to see him. I had learned that he had to pay for their entire trip in order for his former sister in law and her husband to bring his kids. As well as pay child support to them. I had a feeling they were raising the kids for the money, but they had moved to Texas from Arizona in order for the kids to be closer to Gabriel’s parents.
Again, the cost of the move had come out of Gabriel’s pockets. His life insurance went into a trust fund that would pay allowances to his kids once they reached eighteen. He and I had spent hours working on setting it up. I had a similar trust fund set up for all my nieces and nephews and I had given instructions to Alex and Kenzie to track down Isabelle’s children in the event of my death if my mother didn’t outlive me.
I was fairly sure Nadine knew exactly where they were, so it wouldn’t be a long hard search for Alex or Kenzie. Nadine provided security for my mom when she went to visit, made sure she wasn’t followed and things like that. Originally, I had thought my mom was just paranoid, but in the last few months, I had come to realize that Isabelle’s death had been directly linked to my kidnapping all those years ago and my mother had figured that out long before I had which is why when Malachi was dating Nadine, my mom had started hiring Daniels’ Security to escort her to see her grandchildren.
I was ready for all this to be over simply, so I could see my sister’s children. One of them had been born around the time I had been kidnapped, which meant that child was probably a young adult in college now. Her youngest was probably also about ready for college or was at least in high school and close to graduation. I was not one of those people that believed college was for everyone, but I didn’t even know Isabelle’s children well enough to know if college was in their futures. They might all go study vocational tech and work as underwater wielders or something.
The only thing I knew for sure about them was that Isabelle’s husband had been cashing my checks the last two years. However, even giving them a check was done covertly. I gave the check to Nadine and Nadine handled it from there. I had worried a few times about someone following Nadine and finding them, but Nadine had proved resourceful. Some people thought that Zeke did everything, but Nadine wasn’t a shrinking violet afraid of her own shadow. She was quite capable.
I was concentrating on Nadine’s skills when I heard a foot step. Definitely not animal, it was too loud and sounded like someone was walking flat footed through the dormant but thick undergrowth of the forest and the dead leaves that littered the ground. A second one followed closely behind. I added a few more pieces of wood that Gabriel and I had stacked to the fire, making the smoke billow faster and when it caught fire, the circle of light widened.
I considered waking Gabriel. We had expected that Raphael would find us, with or without the fire, which is part of the reason we had built it. Not so Raphael could find us, but because we knew he would find us regardless. The breeze blew lightly, and I was glad there wasn’t a Nor’easter forecasted. I did not want to deal with Raphael during a blizzard or storm. I didn’t make any big movements, waiting for the sound of another foot step, concerned the leaves near me would rattle if I moved and I would miss the telltale sound indicating that Raphael was closer to us than I originally thought.
I felt the adrenaline which had settled down some in the last hour or so spike and my heart rate increased to a pace I was sure would cause it to explode or give out. If each heart had a fixed and finite number of beats, mine was going through them at the speed of sound. Blood was moving so fast through my body that my ears sounded like they were listening to the world through static. Sometimes the human body could hear
nothing but its own heart beat and the blood rushing through the skin around their ear canals.
I didn’t hear the next footstep, which happened right behind me. I know because one moment I was sitting down and the next my legs were flailing wildly as my butt left the ground. I managed to kick Gabriel’s leg as Raphael lifted me into the air by my throat using just his arm. I reached for the knife that was at my side and grabbed it just in time. Raphael lifted me up and pulled me back into him.
If he had been capable of speaking, he probably would have whispered something vain in my ear as his arm tightened around my throat. It was an effective choke hold and I could feel the oxygen being cut off from my brain. I let him take all my body weight and his other arm encircled my mid-section, pulling me even closer into him. I didn’t think, I reacted, plunging the knife into what I hoped was his abdominal cavity. The wound sucked closed around the blade. I twisted and then had to yank to get the knife out.
On TV, stabbing someone always seems so effortless. The truth was, plunging a knife into a body was the easy part, getting it back was more difficult, especially if the wound was in the abdomen, the abdominal cavity created suction that tried to hold the knife in place, restricting bleeding. I stabbed him a second time and had more trouble getting the knife out. The blade had folded in one spot where we had used it to chop branches off the dead tree trunk. It was this folded spot in the blade that was now hung on clothing, skin, or internal organs, I wasn’t sure which and wasn’t sure it mattered. Spots were starting to appear in my vision. I saw Gabriel finally begin to move. He stood up and tried to rush his brother, stumbling over the ground or his legs, I wasn’t sure which. Either way, it pitched him forward, sprawling him over the fallen tree. Obviously, I was going to have to rescue myself. I gave the knife one final twist and tug trying to free it from whatever it was hung on, so I could have it back before I passed out from lack of blood flow to the brain.
The darkness of unconsciousness was coming faster than I had anticipated. I plunged the knife in a third time but didn’t have the strength to pull it back out. My feet hit the log and I kicked backwards as best I could. My sudden burst of movement caused Raphael to fall backwards with me on top of him. I could breathe, and blood began to return to my head so fast it caused a headache. I could feel the handle of the knife in my back, our fall causing my body weight to drive the knife in deeper so that part of the handle was now inside Raphael. I rolled off of him, trying to get away.
His eyes were still open, and he was still breathing. I was sure he was more shocked than stunned or injured. His hand caught my layers of pant legs at the cuff and he was trying to drag me one handed back to him. Unfortunately, he was winning the tug of war with my leg and I felt myself sliding across the dead leaves. There was nothing for me to grab onto and hold, giving me the leverage, I needed to not move backwards. He got into a kneeling position and in the firelight, I could see the wounds I had caused were gushing blood. It was seeping through his clothes and running down his stomach to his waist band.
He wasn’t trying to stop the blood flow, not even a little. His desire to kill me was stronger than his desire to live and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe he knew that if he didn’t kill me my knife wounds were probably the more merciful way to die. He moved over top of me and grabbed my throat again. If I survived, my neck was going to be one giant bruise. I kicked out at his bleeding abdomen, but my foot glanced off the skin and didn’t even get his attention focused solely on me. Gabriel was trying to get to his feet. Blood ran down his face from a gash on his forehead. He was wiping at it with the sleeve of his shirt. I wanted to yell at him, but I also knew it was unlikely he’d shoot his own brother. Raphael picked me up by the throat. I expected him to gnash his teeth before sinking them into the soft flesh. Neck skin wasn’t very durable even if it did protect two of our most vital vessels. Instead, he pulled me in close, looked me in the eye and then tossed me. I soared through the air, trying to put my hands out to brace for any impact I sustained with the ground. Yes, I had hit my head one or six times too many and that was part of my memory problem and I was probably going to hit it again in just a heartbeat or two. Those were my thoughts as I braced for impact.
Gabriel had gotten his feet under him and he looked worse for wear. I heard the bullets fire and saw Raphael jerk from them. Not like they do in movies, physics applied to us and the law of for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction applied to firing a gun. If being hit by a bullet really caused people to be swept off their feet, it would have been impossible to fire a gun without breaking an arm and also being knocked off your feet. Gabriel fired two shots before I hit the ground. Something stabbed me as I landed, pushing through the skin of my hand. I felt it scrape bone before it came out the top of my hand. However, I didn’t hit my head.
Gabriel and Raphael were both moving now. Raphael was moving towards me and Gabriel was moving with him.
“The next shot goes into the head if you don’t stop, Raph.” Gabriel told his brother. I stared at Gabriel and not the monster moving towards me. I could smell the blood and bile, moving closer to me. I had punctured an organ that either held stomach acid or created it. It wasn’t a fatal wound per se, but it was close. In the torso, the only guaranteed fatal wounds were delivered to the heart or intestines. With the intestines, it wasn’t necessarily the wound, which would bleed like mad because they required a ton of blood flow to work properly but the rapid onset of sepsis from the contents of the intestines leaking into the abdominal cavity that made it always fatal. Especially with the damage I would have done to them.
Raphael continued to move forward. I could see him out of the corner of my eye even though I was watching Gabriel. I readied myself for Raphael to pounce on me and took a deep breath to ensure my lungs were full of air since I was sure he would go for my throat again.
There was a gun shot and warmth exploded onto me. Three more shots followed in quick succession. I felt a burning sensation suddenly start just below my ear. I put my hand up to the area as Raphael fell face first into the leaves near my feet, his face scraping across my boot as he fell.
Chapter Sixteen
ONE PART OF MY BRAIN kept telling me that Raphael was faking it and that Gabriel had shot him in the back enough to make him realize this battle was not going his way. I saw Gabriel collapse as I pulled my hand away from my neck. My hand had blood on it, not a lot, a streak that seemed to correspond with the spot I had touched with the palm where my neck burned. I tried to stand up and go to Gabriel, but my hand was still impaled on a large knotted branch that had fallen from one of the trees during the winter. Eventually I picked up the branch and carried it with me to Gabriel.
“Gabriel?” I asked looking down at my boss. His hands were shaking.
“You have a branch stuck to you,” Gabriel looked up at me, tears made his eyes glisten in the fire light.
“It happens,” I told him. “Are you injured?” I asked him still not fully comprehending what exactly had just taken place.
“No, are you okay?” He asked.
“Yes,” I answered and knelt down, so I wasn’t standing over him, which made me feel exposed. In the dancing fire light, blood was pooling under Raphael’s still form.
“Is he dead?” Gabriel asked.
“I don’t know,” I told him.
“I shot him in the head, Ace,” I looked at Gabriel and suddenly the wound on my neck made sense, as did Raphael’s lifeless body and Gabriel’s shaking hands.
“Then he probably is,” I told Gabriel trying to figure out how to get the impaled branch out of my hand. It was going to need to be thoroughly cleaned so it didn’t get infected, but that was a problem for another time. I grabbed hold of the branch and stuck it under one of my feet, seeing the smear of blood that reflected the fire, and pulled my hand free. I threw the branch into the darkness and stood up.
“You walk a few feet into the woods,” I told Gabriel holding out my hand to help him up.
“You are going to check him, aren’t you?” Gabriel asked.
“I have to be sure,” I nodded. I hadn’t heard of a psychopath surviving a bullet to the head, but people did more often than you would think.
Gabriel stood up on his own and started to walk away. I went to Raphael’s body and rolled it over. The bullet had not entered his head, it had entered the skin at the top of his scalp and gone over it. He was still breathing, and he had a faint hear beat. Scalp wounds bleed more than most wounds and Raphael’s was no different. His eyelids fluttered, and his eyes began to move rapidly. He wasn’t dead, just unconscious. I didn’t know how I felt about that.
“He’s alive,” I shouted to Gabriel.
“I shot him in the head,” Gabriel countered.
“You grazed his scalp, he’s breathing, and he has a heartbeat, but he isn’t awake, probably blood loss,” I told Gabriel.
“What do we do?” Gabriel asked.
“Secure him and try to stop some of the bleeding if you don’t want him to die.”
“I would prefer not to kill my own brother,” Gabriel reminded me.
“I know.” I answered, putting the shirt I had been sitting on over his abdominal wounds and pressing as hard as I could. Even unconscious, most people make a noise when you increase their pain. Raphael’s eerie silence because he couldn’t speak didn’t make me feel any better about trying to help him live.
There was a loud crashing noise somewhere behind me and I turned to make sure Gabriel was still on his feet. He was and there were lights moving towards us accompanying the outrageous amount of noise.
“Ace, Gabriel” Lucas’s voice came from the area of the lights and I was glad I wasn’t about to be abducted by aliens.
