by Gail Caban
“I’m sorry,” Heck said, eventually.
“Why are you apologizing, Dad?” Ness frowned as she asked the question.
“There’s no reason why this maniac should have chosen to target our family; unless, of course, he’s targeting us because I’m the sheriff,” Heck wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and then blew his nose into one of the tissues from the tables next to him.
“Dad, it’s not your fault, it’s—” Ness was interrupted.
“It’s out of our control. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. There’s no reason why, it’s just the type of world that we live in,” Wyatt said, looking at Ness and gently shaking his head, silently telling her to keep quiet.
Heck nodded and looked at his feet.
“Did they find any indication of who may have done this, Dad?” Wyatt asked.
“They’re not entirely sure, but they’re almost certain that it was the work of the En Passant Killer,” Heck had to choke back his tears. “They found a white rook on the coffee table in the cabin.”
“That’s a powerful piece to leave behind,” Wyatt said.
“Yes, it’s the first rook and the most powerful piece that En Passant has left at any of his crime scenes. Maybe he believed that he was a powerful adversary, but then again, I’m not sure what’s going in that sicko’s mind,” Heck said and stood up to pour a cup of water from the dispenser.
The doctor walked out toward the trio, and they all stood and listened to what he had to say.
“I take it you’re Lindsay’s husband,” The doctor said to Wyatt. “Yes.” Wyatt answered quickly.
“Your wife has just come out of surgery and she is stable, but the injuries that were inflicted to her face and neck will need to undergo some cosmetic surgeries in the future. Fortunately, most of the cuts were only superficial, and no major blood vessels were damaged.”
“As long as she’s alright,” Wyatt’s eyes welled up with tears.
“She’s going to be fine, Mr. Elliott,” The doctor smiled and shook Wyatt’s hand.
“Thank you. Would it be alright if we go and see her?” Wyatt asked eagerly.
“Of course. Just keep it brief, she’ll still be groggy from the anesthesia, and she needs to rest. She’s in room 17 just down the hall,” the doctor said, moving back through the restricted access section of the hospital.
Wyatt walked hastily toward room 17 and saw Lindsay lying asleep in the bed. He walked forward and gently kissed her head. “Hey, honey,” he whispered. “Hey . . . what happened?” Lindsay asked as she tried to move but then winced in pain.
“We’ll talk about that later, but right now, it’s probably best if you go back to sleep,” Wyatt touched her hair gently. “Okay,” Lindsay mumbled and fell asleep again.
“Dad, we need to get a few officers in here for 24-hour surveillance. The bastard may come back and try and finish what he started,” Wyatt said quietly.
“You got it,” Heck pulled out his phone and started making some calls.
“What’s our next move, Ness?” Wyatt asked, stepping forward.
“What do you mean ‘our next move?’ You’re staying right here with Lindsay,” Ness argued.
“No, Ness. This monster killed our grandfather and tried to kill my wife. I want to end him just as much as you do. Besides, going against this guy alone will be practically suicidal. By the way, how did it go in Chicago? Did you get what you needed?”
Ness nodded. “And then I burned his house and his bar down.”
“Well, that’s certainly going to piss him off,” Wyatt commented.
“I’m counting on it,” Ness said, walking to the window.
“Why?” Wyatt asked.
“Because if he's angry, he’s going to make a mistake, and now he hasn’t got a place to run to. By burning his hiding places down, I’m forcing him to make a move prematurely. And, just like in chess, premature moves often lead to blunders.”
Wyatt nodded at Ness’ statement.
“And, I think the police are going to be very interested to find what he’s hiding in one of his freezers at the bar.”
“What was he hiding?” Wyatt seemed very intrigued.
“There were multiple body parts from multiple victims. He probably didn’t have time to dispose of them yet, and now the police are going to be investigating what caused the fire in the bar. It’s only a matter of time until they stumble across that nasty surprise.”
Ness had an evil grin across her face.
“You’re disturbingly efficient at this,” Wyatt said quietly.
“Well, En Passant wanted a worthy adversary. Now he’s got one,” Ness sat down on one of the chairs in the room.
“So, what do we do now?” Wyatt asked.
“Now we wait for him to call.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Wyatt crossed his arms.
“I’ve just burned down large portions of his life. He’s going to be mad: he’ll call.”
“But . . .” Wyatt was interrupted.Ness lifted her phone and smiled. She showed the screen to Wyatt. Lindsay Calling. “Are you ready to go on a little hunting trip, brother?”
23
Eddie stood from a distance and watched the firemen trying to extinguish the inferno that engulfed his home. He had just come from the bar which had also been destroyed. His heart pounded in his chest as his rage grew; he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before opening his eyes again. He had to learn to control the rage within him because otherwise he would make imprudent decisions.
He pulled Lindsay’s phone out of his pocket and searched for Ness’ number; he pushed the call button.
“Hello, Eddie,” Ness said when she answered the phone.
“You probably think that you’re very clever, don't you, grasshopper?” Eddie’s voice was smooth and betrayed no emotion.
“Just making the game a little bit fairer. Besides, if you play a game where you are able to constantly predict certain outcomes, then it makes things rather boring. Don’t you think?” Eddie could hear Ness smiling as she spoke.
“Let’s meet.” Eddie said.
“We’ll get to that, Eddie. But you see, this game is just getting started. You did kill my grandpa, and I can’t exactly just let that slide.”
“Do you remember the fourth rule, Ness?” Eddie asked calmly.
“I do. So, you better ensure that I’m dead before I kill you,” Ness took a breath. “The game will continue where it started for me,” Ness hung up the phone.
Eddie removed the phone from his ear, and he looked at the screen. Does that mean in the alleyway where she killed Martin, or the cabin where I killed Wyatt Sr.? Eddie threw the phone onto the ground and stepped on it with the heel of his boot. The screen cracked beneath the pressure, and the phone died. He knew that there was no way that Ness would head back to the alleyway, so he was going to be spending some time in the Illinois woods. Eddie climbed into his Contour and started driving—he had a few stops to make before he went back.
Ness sat with Wyatt for a few more hours while they waited for the police officers to arrive. There was no way that they were going to leave Lindsay alone with Eddie on the loose, so they sat quietly in the dark as she slept.
“How far do you think he’ll take this?” Wyatt asked.
“Well, reading through the previous En Passant cases, I don’t think Eddie has ever faced something like this before. That means he’s going to start making moves that haven’t been previously seen. However, there is one thing I can tell you, Wyatt—there is no way that that son of a bitch is winning,” Ness stood up and walked to the door.
She could see two uniformed officers walking through the doors. “Protection is here,” Ness said, and Wyatt stood up to join her.
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Wyatt,” one of the officers said.
“But we’re really glad that Lindsay is alright,” the other commented.
“Thanks, boys. I really appreciate it,” Wyatt said, shaking their hands. “And
, no matter what happens, you protect Lindsay with your lives.”
“Goes without saying.”
Wyatt smiled at them and walked back into the room, kissing Lindsay on the head. She didn’t stir. “I love you, sweetheart. This will all be over soon,” Wyatt turned and walked back to Ness. “Let’s go find Dad.”
They walked toward the waiting area and saw that Heck had fallen asleep on one of the chairs. Wyatt patted his knee as he sat down next to him. “Dad, wake up.”
Heck stirred and looked at Wyatt, “What time is it?”
“It’s a little before 4:00 A.M.,” Wyatt said. “You need to go and get some rest, but you can’t go home. En Passant is going to be targeting our homes, so is there any place that you can go to that’s safe?” Wyatt asked.
“I can book into the Garden Inn for a few days. The security there isn’t bad, and it’s not a place that the killer will think to look for me,” Heck suggested.
“That’s a good plan. Do you think they’ll be able to book you in at this hour?” Ness asked. “Well, one of the perks of being the sheriff is that most people tend to give you special treatment,” Heck moaned as he stood up from his chair.
It’s like the night didn’t only exhaust him, it’s like it aged him, too. Heck hugged both Ness and Wyatt for as long as he could before heading to his truck.
“Are you ready for this, Wyatt?” Ness asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good, let’s head back to the cabin. Big game hunting starts today,” Ness commented as they walked toward her car.
24
Wyatt decided to leave his truck at the hospital and drive with Ness. She parked her vehicle in the driveway under the oak tree.
“I’m so thankful that you arrived when you did, Ness. I’ll never be able to repay you for stopping that monster before he killed Lindsay,” Wyatt’s voice trembled as he spoke. Obviously, the emotions of everything that transpired were still very raw.
“Wyatt, you’re my brother, and I love Lindsay just as much as I love you . . . and probably more on certain days,” she laughed. Wyatt smiled at Ness’ attempt at humor,
“But I do still appreciate it.” Ness nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“Alright, let’s get moving. I don’t know how much time we have to get up to the cabin with you throwing down the gauntlet and all,” Wyatt climbed out the vehicle and grabbed the duffel bag from the back seat. They walked inside and double checked that the house was clear before heading to the dining room and unpacking the contents of the bag.
Wyatt looked at Ness in disbelief. “Are you planning on killing this guy or starting World War III?”
“It’s just a few things that I thought we could use.”
Wyatt started looking deeper into the bag: “There’s a foldable AR-15 rifle, two 9mm Sig Sauer sidearms, plenty of ammunition, cash—” Wyatt stopped talking as he lifted the passports up with a huge question mark on his face.
“I figured we could learn what his aliases are, and at the very least, he won’t be able to travel as easily if he gets away.” Ness answered.
Wyatt frowned when he saw the last item in the bag, “Is that what I think it is?”
“Well, if you think that it’s plastic explosives with a sophisticated detonator, then yes—that’s exactly what it is.”
“And what are you planning on doing with it?” Wyatt asked with a concerned expression on his face.
“If all goes according to plan, I’m going to kill Eddie with it.”
“Do you know how to use it?” Wyatt frowned.
“Not really, but I know that my dear old brother standing in front of me does. I know you went for your training with the bomb squad when you were still a rookie, which means you know how all this works,” Ness smiled.
“I know how to disarm it, Ness,” Wyatt argued.
“Well, if you know how to disarm it then you know the basics of arming it too, Wyatt.”
Wyatt held up his hands in resignation, “Fine.”
“Let’s grab the camping equipment from the garage and head out. The sun will be rising soon,” Ness said.
30 minutes later they were back on the road with the Civic’s trunk full of supplies that they may need for their upcoming excursion. “I’m not going to take the normal root to the cabin. I’m going to the northern end of the woods and will park there; we’ll hike up the mountain from that end. I remember Gramps took me up there a few times when you were off fishing with Dad, and he showed me the vantage points. There’s a vantage point that will easily give us a full view of the cabin and anyone that comes up the road,” Ness stated.
“What happens if Eddie hikes up the same trail that we used?”
“I doubt he will because he doesn’t know the area as well as we do.”
“That you know of. There’s no telling what areas Eddie is familiar with, Ness. It would be dangerously unwise to make assumptions like that,” Wyatt said sternly.
“You’re right, I don’t know if he knows the area, so we’ll set early warning systems across the trail on our way up,” Ness said.
“What do you have in mind?” Wyatt asked while checking his phone to see if there were any messages from the hospital.
“Fishing gut and bells,” Ness said deep in thought.
Wyatt pulled a face, “Alright. Magnetic boots, papyrus, Jell-O . . .”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ness frowned.
“I thought we were just randomly naming things that we don’t have with us,” Wyatt answered facetiously.
“Papyrus, huh?” Ness smiled at her brother.
“It just kind of popped into my head,” Wyatt laughed.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey there is a fishing shop on the next exit. We might be able to find your fishing gut and bells there.”
Ness took the next turn off the road, and they stopped at the fishing and hunting store.
“Grab some of the cash from the bag. We might find a few extra things that we can use in there,” Ness told Wyatt; he grabbed some cash, and they walked into the store. The place was far more impressive than they first thought it would be. They had everything that an outdoorsman could ever dream of.
“Hey, Ness. They have a gun section,” Wyatt said pointing to the back of the store.
“Don’t we have enough guns?” Ness frowned.
“Yes, but I was thinking of something else,” Wyatt said as he led the way to the counter. “Good day,” The salesman said to them. “What can I get you folks?”
“Do you by any chance have scopes that are compatible with foldable AR-15 rifles?” Wyatt asked.
“Sure do,” The salesman said and walked into the back. He came out with seven different scopes. “These are the ones we have available.”
Wyatt picked them up and carefully inspected them. “Do any of them come with night-vision capabilities?”
“Yeah, this one, but it’s the most expensive one of the lots,” The salesman admitted.
“Great—we’ll take it,” Wyatt took the scope and placed it in their basket. They walked around the shop and grabbed fishing gut, metal bells, a small gas stove, and flares. Once they were satisfied that they had everything that they needed, they paid and left the store. They needed to get back on the road.
They drove for another hour before reaching a rest area where they could park the vehicle and start on a trail leading into the woods. They grabbed everything that they could carry and then started hiking up the trail.
“It’s going to take us a few hours to get up there, and since not a lot of wildlife goes up there, we probably won’t encounter too many hunters,” Ness said.
They hiked in silence for a long period of time and would take short breaks every so often to have a drink of water and tie a trip wire with a bell attached to it. It wouldn’t harm anyone or any animal, but it will alert them if someone is walking on the trail. That early warning system is all that they may need to keep the a
dvantage and survive. They continued to press on regardless of how tired they were becoming. They knew that if they missed Eddie on his way to the cabin, he may gain the advantage in the woods. They both knew that being in a high vantage point would put them at the greatest advantage.
Three hours later—with the midday sun beating down on them—they reached the top of the elevation. Ness felt a pang of sadness when she saw Gramp’s cabin down below. There was still crime scene tape around the cabin.
“What are you planning with plastic explosives, Ness?” Wyatt asked, putting his pack on the ground.
“I want to place it inside the cabin. Eddie will most likely go in there at some point and having the armed weapon ready to explode when he walks in will be the most effective way to do it.”
“It’s a bit too quick for my liking,” Wyatt admitted.
“I know, but he’s dangerous—if we can eliminate him without having to physically engage with him, then it will be safer for us.”
“Agreed,” Wyatt said. “Start pitching camp. I’ll head down into the cabin and set the charges.” Wyatt took the explosives out of his pack and walked downhill. He looked back and noticed that Ness really had chosen a good vantage point from up there. It was several hundred yards away, and it’s difficult to see when you’re looking up. Wyatt turned and walked into the cabin. The smell of dried blood assaulted his nose, and he instantly felt nauseous. He tried not to look around and opted to place the explosives underneath the small table next to the front door. If they saw Eddie open the door, a simple ‘press of a button’ would incinerate him. Wyatt started packing the explosives into the bottom of the table.
“This certainly is a lot. I think it will do a lot more than just incinerate him, I think it might actually level the entire cabin. Sorry, Gramps—it’s for a worthy cause,” Wyatt said out loud. Once he was finished activating the detonating pins, he closed the door of the cabin and started hiking back up to the vantage point. It was certainly much more difficult coming up this way round then it was from the side that Ness suggested. Eventually, he made it back and saw that Ness had managed to pitch the small tent by herself, and kept it expertly hidden from view between two large boulders.
