Duet

by O'Gorman, Brian

  “Are you sure it was Jack and Donna. You’re absolutely sure,” said Patrick.

  “Yes, I’m sure. They were identified at the scene. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that this happened.”

  Patrick was silent. He was trying to take the news in. His good friend that he had known since his early school days was no longer around and he had been killed just so that James could get to him. He turned to Jenny who was sitting in the armchair. She was silent and staring straight ahead. A tear was running slowly down her cheek. In his rage he had forgotten that Donna was her good friend too. He went over to her and knelt down on the floor in front of her. For a moment she kept on staring into space and then her eyes found his and something broke inside of her. They held each other and began to mourn the loss of their friends. Slater quietly went out of the front door to talk to the two officers who were waiting patiently outside. One of them was Blythe. Slater had specifically requested that he was one of the officers that came up here. He felt he could trust Blythe, and the guy was a quick learner.

  “Do we know who we are looking for yet?” said Blythe.

  “No, not yet. Give them a few minutes, I just told them that their friends have been murdered. I will go back inside and ask them in a moment. What do we have in the way of backup?”

  “The super said he is going to get the helicopter up in the air as soon as you are ready sir. I guess it would be better to wait until we know who we are looking for.”

  Slater nodded, “Yes, I think you’re right. Like I say, let them take the news in for a few minutes and then I will go and ask them. Do we have any extra officers coming up here?”

  “Yes sir, two more for now and then we will get more when they become available sir.”

  Slater sighed, “Right, well I guess that will just have to do won’t it”

  Back inside the house, Patrick and Jenny were doing their best to get their heads round the news. Patrick’s shock and grief was quickly turning into anger.

  “Let him come here Jenny, I will fucking kill him myself,” roared Patrick.

  Now it was Jenny’s turn to get angry, “I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that. You are not like him; you are not a killer. If you take his life, then you are no better than he is. Do you understand me?” she hissed at him. Patrick stood there momentarily dumbfounded.

  “Do you understand!” she shouted at him suddenly. Patrick actually jumped at the sudden loudness of her voice.

  “Ye…y…yes I understand,” he said quietly, his eyes dropping to the floor.

  “We have got to stick together and we have got to trust Slater. He is a good man and he has put some of the most heinous criminals behind bars throughout his career. If there is anyone that can catch him, it is Slater. Listen to me Patrick and trust me because this is no time for bullshit. We have to tell him everything that we know. If he has trouble believing us, then we can show him the room with the machine inside. That’s all the evidence that he will need, believe me.”

  Patrick said nothing, he just nodded his head in agreement. He knew that Jenny was right. He had met his match as far as logical thinking went.

  “Promise me this, when all of this is over, we get the hell out of here,” he said.

  She put a hand around the back of his neck and kissed him on the mouth. “It’s a deal, as long as we can go somewhere hot. I need to feel the sun on me and a shit load of cocktails in me. Oh, and before you say anything I want to feel you in me too on a regular basis.”

  Patrick burst out laughing, despite the deep shock he was feeling. A holiday with Jenny sounded perfect, in fact it sounded like paradise to him right now. They gave each other a hug and they were just breaking it when the front door opened and slater came strolling back in.

  “Are you two O.K.?” he said.

  “Well, considering everything that is going on, we are doing alright I guess,” said Patrick.

  “You do know that I am going to have to ask you to tell me everything that you know about this killer,” said Slater.

  “That’s fine, in fact I have got something for you to watch, it should tell you everything you need to know,” said Patrick. He went upstairs to get the DVD out of his bag and he brought it down for Slater to watch.

  5.

  Slater watched the disc all the way through. They were all silent as they listened to the voice of Richard Hurst telling them all about the Pharmacon and the circumstances that led to James becoming a psychotic killer. There was a momentary silence as the video came to an end. Patrick watched Slater mulling things over in his mind and he knew what was coming next.

  “This machine, this Pharmacon, or whatever it is called, is it here?” said Slater.

  “Follow me,” said Patrick and led Slater to the door in the kitchen. He opened the keypad and put in the code for the door. He let Slater inside and turned on the lights so he could get a good look at the machine in all its glory. When the lights flickered on and revealed to Slater what was inside he gasped and his hands went up to his hair. He stood like that for a full minute and then he turned to Patrick and Jenny.

  “I had better get on the radio and tell everyone exactly who we are looking for. If there are any records about James then I will find them,” he said and then he went past them and out of the room. Patrick guessed that he felt just as spooked as they did when they first went in there to look round. They followed Slater out and closed the door behind them. Slater was leaning against one of the kitchen counters shaking his head.

  “It’s a bit hard to take it all in isn’t it,” said Jenny.

  “To say the least. I mean, imagine it Jenny, a machine that can cure disease so easily. It almost makes sense that it could cause so much trouble.”

  “I don’t get you,” said Jenny.

  “Well think about it. Every single medicine that you take has a side effect doesn’t it. Every single cure can cause a shit load of other problems. Look at chemotherapy, look how it ravages the body and yet it can kill cancer. That’s what James Hurst is, he is a side effect of this incredible invention. A hundred cures can create one James Hurst. I don’t even think it’s worth it Jenny.”

  “I agree. Which is why once all of this is over, that machine is being taken apart,” said Patrick.

  Slater turned round to look at him. “But think about it Patrick, if only that machine could be fixed up so it doesn’t have any side effects, perhaps it will be the greatest invention in the history of all mankind.”

  “Well I don’t agree. Who gave my father, or anybody else for that matter, the right to play God? Nobody has that right. If that fucking machine created one James Hurst, then that’s one too many as far as I am concerned. Now, I own this house and I own everything in it. If I say it goes, then it goes. No argument, no exceptions.”

  “But perhaps you could find a way to fix it. Perhaps you could be responsible for saving the lives of people who don’t deserve to get sick. Children with bone cancer, you could save them couldn’t you? Isn’t it worth it for that?”

  He had a point and Patrick knew it, but there was something unsavoury about it, a bitter pill that he just couldn’t swallow. He had a pretty good idea of what it was too. That machine had been responsible for him ending up with a nasty violent foster father. It was that machine that had taken him away from his brother who he could have grown up with and it was that machine that had set him on the path to learning all about Rendor’s lesson. However, he could see that Slater wasn’t going to be convinced so he decided just to shut up about it. Once Slater had done his job, he would have to leave and go back to his own life. Then he could do with the machine whatever he damn well pleased. The machine would not survive, it was guilty as charged and Patrick was going to give it it’s sentence.

  “Let’s just deal with the problem we have now rather than deciding what to do with that thing in there. I can only deal with one thing at a time.”

  “Very well, but at least think about it,” said Slater.

  “O.K.
I will,” said Patrick, doing his best to sound like he meant it. He began to made his way through to the living room when his phone buzzed again. He snatched it up and thumbed the button to bring it back to life. There was a new message for him. It was from Jack. His mind almost automatically decided it really from Jack and that Jack wasn’t dead at all, and then he remembered. It wasn’t Jack, it was his brother, his psychotic, murdering brother. He opened the message and read it. As he did so he felt the hair on the back of his neck stiffen. He felt a jolt of adrenaline bolt through his body.

  I’m on my way to see you Patty, be seeing you soon.

  6.

  He was pretty sure that by now Patrick would know that his big mouth friend was being judged by his God. He needed to be judged, just like all the rest of them and his idiot girlfriend too. It hadn’t taken much work to find him and his impatience had actually helped him out. He knew that the druggie next door had a computer and an internet connection. He had called round on the pretence of using the guy’s phone to call his sick mother. The guy had been so out of it on whatever substance he was using this week that he had invited him in without asking any questions. The druggie had grabbed his mobile and gone to hand it to him when Mask had flat-footed him in his knee with all the strength he could muster. Druggies leg had bend backwards at the knee and made a sound like a balloon being burst under a pile of cushions. He had gone down to the floor looking at his newly broken leg with an expression of bemused wonder on his face, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Mask had figured that he had that many narcotics in his system that his pain receptors were sluggish at best. Druggie didn’t scream or yell, he just sat on the floor staring at his mangled leg and uttering monosyllabic words and bursts of hysterical laughter. Mask left him there for now and sat at his computer desk. Druggie had been looking at pictures of girls, naked girls. Naked girls who promised that they were exceptionally horny and lived within ten miles of here. Druggie was a sinner, but that was alright. He would be sending him to his God soon enough. He had done some digging on Patrick Hurst and managed to dig up the news report on the internet. Then he went to the social media. He found Patrick very quickly and the list of people he was associated with. As he went through it all he saw that the name Jack Samsun was the most common sender of messages and stupid photographs of the two of them fucking around in some night club or other. Jack was his next target. If he found Jack, he could get to Patrick. As it turned out, Newtown only listed one Jack Samsun, so he took his chances that it was the right one. He noted down the address and then turned to druggie. He was still sitting on the floor staring at his leg as if it were a foreign object. He drew his knife and cut the druggies throat. Druggie didn’t struggle or scream. One of his hands went up and began to claw at the gaping wound on his throat, smearing the torrent of blood around his shirt, but he did nothing more. Mask shrugged and walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. He arrived at Jack’s place just after ten pm that same evening. There was no intercom on the front door to worry about, the flats were too new to have them installed. He went up the stairs to flat 6 which was the address that he had written down and he knocked on the door. Jack answered it dressed only in his boxer shorts. He looked at the masked man standing on his doorstep for a moment, trying to register who it was behind the disguise. That was all the time that Mask needed. He shot his fist outwards and caught Jack right under the butt of his jaw. The blow pretty much knocked him cold. Mask went inside and closed the door behind him. He was about to grab Jack by his hair and drag him through to the living room when he heard a female voice call Jack’s name. A moment later a young girl came round the corner of the hallway with a blanket wrapped around her. She saw Mask standing over Jack’s body and hitched in a breath to scream. Mask chopped her squarely in the throat, cutting off her scream before it had a chance to escape her lips. She let go of the blanket and began to grab at her throat. She was also only dressed in her underwear. Mask saw this and he felt the rage rising in him again. His God was telling him that she needed to be taught about the sins of the flesh and where it can lead you. Mask smiled and began to drool down his chin. He pulled a set of ropes from out of his pocket which he kept handy for his hostage pictures. He dragged Jack straight through to the living room and found a perfect armchair to tie Jack to. Once he had secured him and gagged him using one of his own cushion covers he went to find the girl. She had gone from the hallway and for a moment he feared that she had gone out of the front door, but then he heard her gagging and retching in the bathroom and he found her kneeling over the toilet gasping for breath. He drew his shotgun this time and placed it on her temple. She had frozen and looked cautiously round to see Mask standing there with the gun in his hand. She tried to scream again but only a strangled squeak would emit from her wounded throat. Mask grabbed her by the hair and lifted her to her feet. She struggled and began to kick out at him. He snatched her hair backwards.

  “Now that’s not nice is it. Calm down my dear, I’m not even here for you. I’m looking for a friend of mine. His name is Patrick Hurst. Do you know Patrick my dear?”

  The girl paused for a second, long enough for Mask to know that she was lying and then she shook her head.

  “Now then, we both know that you aren’t telling the truth, so perhaps I can offer you a little more persuasion. If you don’t tell me the truth, then I will drag you into that bedroom and show you what a hot date I am. Do we understand each other?”

  The girl nodded frantically. Her hands were trying to release his grip on her hair. He yanked it a little bit harder and she uttered the same breathless squeak again.

  “Now that’s better. Of course, you know you shouldn’t have lied to me in the first place should you. There is a price to pay for lying to me. That price is that I take you into the bedroom and show you what a hot date I am.”

  She began to squeak again, and the noise was becoming more and more annoying. He shifted the gun from her head and into her open mouth. She began to breathe heavily through her nose.

  “Now, you shut your noise little miss. If you go along with it, then you might just get out of this alive. If you don’t I’m going to do it the hard way, and trust me you sinful little bitch, you won’t like the hard way. Do we understand each other?”

  She nodded. The barrel of the gun clattered against her teeth. Mask nodded at her, removed the gun from her mouth and then dragged her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom opposite.

  She had struggled throughout the whole thing. He had intended for her to live, but when she had started sobbing halfway through he had finally lost his temper with her. He had clamped his and down on her throat, his pumping hips never missing a beat and choked her. Once it was finished, he knew that he now had Jack all to himself. He was going to enjoy this one, and it was his last step on the road to getting his hands on Patrick. The redemption was coming.

  He had gone through into the living room where Jack had finally come round. He was mumbling something through the gag and throwing his body around in an effort to escape. The ropes around his wrists were beginning to come loose. If he got free, there would be a fight and he would have to kill him. He didn’t want to kill him, at least not just yet, he wanted to have a nice chat with Jack first about his little friend. He went to the back of the armchair and grabbed the loosening ends of the ropes. He planted his foot onto the back of the chair and pulled the ropes as hard as he could. Jack’s shoulders both dislocated. First the right one went, making a dull crunching sound and then a moment later the left one went in the same fashion. Jack uttered a muffled scream through the gag and then began to tear sharp breaths in through his nose. Mask finished securing the ropes and then went and sat on the sofa in front of Jack. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and snapped a light to it. He had a couple of drags and just watched Jack for a moment. Jack was looking right back at him with baleful hatred in his eyes. Mask smiled.

  “I know you’re mad with me Jack, and you should
be. After all I just broke into your home and wrecked your evening. If someone did that to me I would be so pissed off right now. I would be ready to strangle the little bastard that did that to me until his face turned black and his eyes popped right out of his head. You were having a nice evening weren’t you? Course you were. After all, you and your lady friend in there wouldn’t have been walking around in your underwear if you weren’t. Now then Jack, I don’t want you to worry about her. She just found the whole thing about me having a little visit too much to cope with, she is having a little lie down right now. If you tell me what I need to know then you will be joining her really soon. So, here is what I am proposing Jacko, I am going to take that little gag from your mouth and you can answer my questions. If I like what I hear, then I will leave you in peace. If I don’t like what I hear then I will have to introduce you to one of my li’l friends.”

  He pulled his knife and his gun out from inside of his coat and waved them over his head for a moment, then he set them both down on the sofa next to him.

  “What do you say Jacko, are you going to be nice?”

  Jack was still staring a hole in him, but slowly he nodded his head. Mask clapped his hands together, stood up and yanked the gag from Jack’s mouth.

  “Who the fuck are you, and what have you done to Donna you cunt!” hissed Jack.

  Mask opened his mouth in mock surprise, “Jack, what kind of a man do you think I am, do you really think I have no manners? Do you really think that I would do anything to harm your lovely lady?”

  “I think you are a piece of shit, that’s what kind of a man I think you are,” growled Jack.

  Mask threw back his head and laughed. It was a sickening shrill sound that hurt Jack’s ears. He gritted his teeth until the sound had stopped.

  “That’s good Jacko, that’s real good. Now that we have exchanged pleasantries why don’t we get down to business eh? All I want you to do is to tell me where I can find Patrick Hurst. And before you insult my intelligence by telling me you don’t know him, please bear in mind that I have seen you both together and you are as thick as thieves if you like. It’s really that simple Jacko, you tell me where he is and I will let you go. If you choose not to tell me then I will just have to get my arse up to Layton House and wait for him to show up there. Problem is Jacko, I’m a very impatient man. I have to find Patrick before it’s too late.”