Radical

by Sijal Aziz

  “You bitch, you couldn’t let me have my revenge in peace. Now you are going to pay for what you put me through”

  Kate mustered up strength to talk, she was in excruciating pain, “What are you talking about, I didn’t put you through anything”

  “Didn’t put me through anything”, Alexander Cooper kicked Kate again and this time in the stomach, Kate felt as if the air was knocked out of her, “Didn’t put me through anything. You were about to jeopardize my whole plan. I will put you in the ground once and for all and then seek vengeance for my family. Everyone will pay for what they did to my family”

  “Tie this piece of shit up”, Cooper said to Simon.

  Simon took out his duct tape and put it across her mouth tightly. Then he roughly sat her up and tied her hands with the tape as well.

  “Mr. Cooper, I will wrap her up in this blanket and carry her downstairs”

  “What if she…..”

  Simon hit Kate in the head with the gun.

  “moves”, Alexander Cooper finished the sentence.

  Simon motioned to Kate who was knocked out by the blow. Alexander Cooper smiled.

  “Here, you can open the back door once we reach my truck”, Simon said giving the keys to Alexander Cooper.

  Simon wrapped her up in the blanket and picked her up over his shoulder and started making his way downstairs hoping that they would not come across anyone curious.

  They didn’t see anyone on their way to the van.

  Detective Derek reached the motel with two more police escorts and saw the motorbike parked in front of the motel.

  It was the same bike he had seen in the Ian Richards surveillance videos.

  His first instinct was to run inside to get to Kate.

  As he ran towards the door, he saw a white van parked on the side of the motel. He looked in the direction of the van.

  It took a few seconds for him to take the whole scene in.

  He saw someone who looked like Alexander Cooper standing with a man, the man had something that looked to be a body, slumped over his shoulder.

  Both Alexander Cooper and Simon were looking at detective Derek too. Simon threw the body down, took out his gun out and aimed and shot at detective Derek before he could take out his gun.

  Detective Derek shouted “gun” and moved behind the pillar at the entrance of the motel. The bullet hit the pillar in front of him. The other two police officers took out their guns and positioned themselves behind their cruiser.

  Alexander Cooper ducked down and didn’t know what to do.

  Detective Derek aimed at the van again and shot at the tires. Simon tried to go around the van to the driver’s seat but the officer’s shot at him, so he ducked down behind the van. He looked at Alexander Cooper who was sitting on the floor with both his hands in his lap.

  “You are surrounded by police. If you don’t want to be killed, you better put down your gun and come out with your hands up”

  Alexander Cooper didn’t want to get arrested. He had nothing to live for. Simon was thinking of ways to get out of this situation. He couldn’t see any. He asked Alexander Cooper, “What should we do?”

  Alexander Cooper glared at Simon and in one swift move took the gun from his hand and started shooting at detective Derek. Detective Derek ducked down and took an aim at Alexander Cooper. He shot Alexander Cooper in the chest and saw him go down. Simon saw what had happened to Alexander Cooper and shouted, “I am unarmed, this man was trying to kidnap me. I am innocent. I am surrendering, please don’t shoot”, Simon came out from behind the van and lied down face down on the road.

  Detective Derek motioned to the police officers to arrest Simon.

  Detective Derek ran over to the rolled-up blanket and picked up a flap. He saw Katherine inside of it with her face showing bruises. He was not a religious man but at that moment, he prayed to god that Kate was alive. He dropped down to his knees and felt Kate’s aortic nerve. At first, he could not feel anything in his desperation at first but then he felt it. Her sweet steady pulse. He shouted to the police officers at the top of his lungs, “Call the paramedics! Do it now!”

  One of the police officers called for paramedics on the police radio. Derek put Kate’s head in his lap and lightly stroked her hair, “Kate, it’s over now. You are safe. Open your eyes”

  Kate slowly opened her eyes and looked into Derek’s eyes. Her head was aching, all she managed to say was “Derek they were here”

  Derek smiled down at her, he had never felt so much love for anyone in his life, “It’s alright now. You are safe. We caught them”

  Derek leaned down and kissed Kate on the forehead. Kate looked into his eyes and closed her eyes again.

  When the paramedics arrived, they checked up on Alexander Cooper, he was still alive, so they put him in the ambulance, and it sped off with the cruiser right behind it.

  They put Kate on the gurney and took her to the hospital in the second ambulance. Derek accompanied her in the back of the ambulance. He held her hand until they reached the hospital. When they entered the hospital detective Derek shouted, “I am a police detective. We have an emergency here. We need emergency medical assistance quick”

  CHAPTER 29

  The doctor on call came running to the gurney, she was the same doctor who had assisted detective Derek earlier. She checked Kate’s vitals and asked the medical assistants to take her to the emergency room.

  Detective Derek started running with the gurney. Once they reached the door of the emergency room, the assistants asked the detective to leave. He refused to.

  Doctor Carla White looked at detective Derek and said, “Detective Markus, isn’t it?”

  “Yes”

  “She is going to be fine. I checked her vitals and they are strong. I am just taking her to the emergency room because she is unconscious. I will just need to check up on a few things. Why don’t you head over to the waiting area while we provide the necessary assistance to her? Your being here is going to delay things!”

  Derek nodded and stepped back. He did not want to go to the waiting area, he needed to be close to Kate. Then he remembered Alexander Cooper was alive and may have been brought to the same hospital. He wanted Alexander Cooper alive so that he could arrest him and formally put him behind bars for what he did to Kate.

  Derek called the police station and asked for the whereabouts of Alexander Cooper. He was told that he was brought to the same hospital. Derek went over to the main counter and showed his badge to the nurse in charge, “I am detective Derek Markus with the robbery and homicide division in the second district. A person by the name of Alexander Cooper was brought to this hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest. What is his condition now?”

  “Please let me check. You said his name was Alexander Cooper?”

  “Yes”

  “Ok. He doesn’t appear to be in our system but there was a John Doe brought here with a gunshot wound to the chest just now. He is undergoing emergency surgery. He is in room 107”

  “Is he stable?”

  “I have no idea, you can get more information, once the doctors come out of surgery”

  “Thank you”

  Derek headed back to Kate. He paced around until doctor White came out of the emergency room.

  Detective Derek walked towards her, unsure of what she will tell him.

  “She is fine. She is just badly bruised, but there are no broken bones. She was hit in the back of the head with a blunt object which caused a bump, but her x-ray showed that there was no damage to the skull. She may have a concussion though. I have given her some painkillers for the pain. You can go in now and see her, if you want”

  “Thank you doctor”

  Derek opened the door lightly and entered. Her face was swollen badly but she still looked beautiful to Derek. He walked over towards her and stood on the side of her bed.

  Kate looked at him, “They told me that I am ok. You remember we talked on the phone and you said you were coming over
. So, I opened the door thinking it was you and there they were”

  Derek put his hand lightly on Kate’s hand, “It’s alright. It’s all over now. We captured the man who was with Cooper and Cooper is undergoing emergency surgery and won’t be going anywhere”

  “What about me? Would I still be arrested?”

  “Yes, you would be, but it is just a matter of formality”

  “I, I cannot believe it’s all over”, Kate said in a shaky voice.

  “Are you feeling alright?”

  “Yes, I just feel a little light headed and sleepy”

  “Could be the pain killers. I will let you get some sleep now. I will talk to the captain to put two police detectives outside your room. Meanwhile I need to go back to the station to interrogate the man who was there with Alexander Cooper”

  Kate closed her eyes. Derek leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

  Kate smiled and then went to sleep.

  Once outside the room, Derek called Captain Todd and requested him to put two detectives each outside Kate’s and Cooper’s room. He also gave Captain Todd a rundown of the events.

  “The forensic department are going through the bike and the white van as we speak”, captain Todd informed Derek.

  “Ok, sir. I am on my way”

  When detective Derek reached the station, he went straight to Captain Todd’s room.

  He knocked at the door.

  “Come in detective”

  “Captain, I will have a complete report prepared for you by the end of today but first we need to interrogate the man who was with Cooper. Is he in the holding?”

  “Yes, he is in the holding. I am assigning Carson and Pat to work on the investigation with you. You can go now for the interrogation”

  “Yes, sir”

  Derek left the captain’s room and went straight to the holding where he requested that Simon be transferred to the interrogation room. Before going into the interrogation room, Derek checked Simon’s file. He was born in Sherwood and lost his parents at the age of nine to what appeared to be terrible murders.

  The murderer was never caught. Simon’s work history showed that he was self- employed and was engaged in import export business. Import Export business was the oldest cover criminals used when they were engaged in illegal activities.

  Derek went over to Carson and Pat and asked them to work on getting a warrant for Simon Carter’s house and financials.

  Since Simon was apprehended during the course of a kidnapping therefore his case would be eventually referred to the FBI. So, Derek needed to do a quick interrogation before the FBI came in.

  When Derek entered through the door, Simon was calmly sitting in his chair. Captain Todd was watching from the one-way glass window from the adjacent room.

  The interrogation room was small with just one table with one very uncomfortable metallic chair on one side for the suspect and two regular chairs on the other sides for the interrogating officers. It was brightly lit. There were no windows, except for a one-way glass window on one side. The table had a mic in the middle.

  Detective Derek sat down and turned on the mic and said, “Mr. Simon Carter, my name is detective Derek Markus. You understand that you are here as you were apprehended during the course of kidnapping of Ms. Hawkins”

  Simon looked straight into Derek’s eyes and said, “Yes, I understand. I also understand that I have the right to have an attorney present during the questioning. And what are you doing here? Shouldn’t the FBI question me?”

  “We have contacted the FBI and they will be here soon. And regarding your request for an attorney present, this is not a movie and we don’t have attorneys lined up outside, waiting for their turn to represent criminals. We will see which attorneys are available to represent you. It’s a long process. Meanwhile we cannot hold off the investigation because a criminal wants an attorney”

  “You fucking son of a bitch, I will sue the whole department and once I get out of here, I will make sure you and your girlfriend pay for this”, then he added coolly, “Tell me detective would you like me to tell everyone that you were visiting a fugitive in her apartment instead of arresting her? Were you sleeping with her?”

  So, he was watching detective Derek while he was visiting Kate. Derek wondered how he could have missed the tail. Captain Todd shifted slightly in the other room.

  He did not know that Derek was visiting Hawkins. But he could not do anything about it now.

  His gut told him that Simon Carter and Alexander Cooper’s case would provide him with the leverage needed to make him the chief of police.

  He also knew that detective Markus has broken the law, but this investigation offered so much more. He could overlook something like this for now and hold it against Markus if he tried to get out of control in future.

  “You can tell whomever you want. But I wonder who is going to believe a kidnapper. I will make sure that you get the maximum. If you want the DA to go easy on you, you have to cooperate. Now tell me how you know Alexander Cooper and why were you trying to kidnap Katherine Hawkins?”

  “How do you know I wasn’t being kidnapped, detective? You saw me carrying your girlfriend over my shoulder wrapped in blanket. Cooper was the one holding the gun. Good luck with proving that I am the one who was assisting in the kidnapping”

  Detective Derek leaned closer to Simon, “You think you are smart, don’t you? You son of a bitch. There are piles and piles of evidence against you. Remember it was your van that you were putting Ms. Hawkins in, that van is right now with the forensic investigators, anytime soon, they are going to pull that van apart and gather every piece of evidence there is against you.

  From what I can see on the paper so far, they have pulled Katherine Hawkins’ videos and pictures from your phone and your laptop. We have found bleach, shovel, gasoline, duct tape, chloroform, chains, handcuffs, knives and blades besides some other odds and ends in your truck.

  It looks like you were the one who orchestrated the whole thing and Cooper is innocent. Our detectives are on their way to your home with a warrant.

  Are you sure we are not going to find anything? Good luck with finding a lawyer who is going to save you from all this shit. Now do you want to play smart or do you want to cooperate?”

  Simon had never expected to be caught. If it hadn’t been for Alexander Cooper’s stupid request of killing Katherine Hawkins himself, he would never have gotten caught.

  He thought about his assignment and murder files at his home. He knew that if the police got their hands on the files, they would not only charge him for attempted kidnapping but also for all the murders he had committed.

  He got worried for a few seconds and then a feeling of euphoria swept over him. He was going to become famous. His picture and name would be splashed all over the United States hell, all over the world. He will be known as the smartest criminal on the face of the earth. Movies will be made about him and books will be written about him.

  A smile spread across Simon’s face, he leaned forward just inches away from detective Derek’s face, “Detective, if your team is searching my home, I assure you they are going to find a goldmine there. Everyone will praise you and the department and then when it all settles down everyone is going to ask, how has this been going on for so long right under your noses?”

  “What type of material?”

  “You want me to do your job for you detective? Let’s just say you can put many powerful people away for a long-time including senator Chuck Schumer who had me murder his wife. Paid me good money for it as well. But I am not opening my mouth unless I get a deal from the DA”

  Detective Derek stared at Simon Carter for a few seconds before responding, “I will see what the DA can do, but before we go to that, tell me about Matthew Raymond. Who killed him? You or Cooper?”

  “At your girlfriend’s apartment? I must tell you she is one hot chick. Is she good in bed? I bet she is, too bad that shithead Cooper wanted to kill her himself, othe
rwise I would have fucked her to death”

  Detective Derek glared at him and held the end of the table to keep himself under control. Every cell in his body wanted to get up and throw Simon against the wall, but he needed to know more about Matthew Raymond so that Kate would be cleared of his murder.

  Captain Todd was hoping Markus wouldn’t lash out on Simon Carter as well.

  Simon was smiling at Markus, happy to see the effect his words had on him. Now he knew the detective’s weak point and he would control the investigation from this point on.

  Derek, calmed himself down, feeling like an idiot for showing his feelings in front of a suspect. He needed to gain control of the situation.

  “That is very good to know, Mr. Carter but my question remains, did you murder Matthew Raymond or not. If you want the DA to go easy on you, let me know what I want”

  Simon Carter smiled at the naivety of the detective. He knew detective Markus would find files on all the murders he had committed, and the DA would not give him any leniency after they will find out that he had killed over 100 people.

  There was nothing more they would need from him after they see his files.

  The files that Simon had meticulously prepared had complete information about the subject to be murdered, who ordered the hit and how the subject was murdered.

  The fun killings also had complete details on the victims. But there was no file on Matthew Raymond since he was not supposed to be killed. Police could never connect him to his murder.

  But he hated Alexander Cooper for putting him in this situation, so he wanted revenge. He knew he will not see the light of day again, unless he ran away from where ever they put him but until then Alexander Cooper should pay for the predicament, he had put Simon in.

  “Yes, I murdered Matthew Raymond. The poor sucker walked into the apartment, suitcase in one hand and the keys in the other, calling out for your girlfriend. I was expecting your girlfriend to show up so imagine my surprise when a six foot tall man in a good body shape shows up.