Run from Fear

by Jami Alden

  Blocking all thoughts of Talia, he walked across the hall and called the elevator. He cautioned himself not to let his temper get away from him, but before his visit was over, Sutherland would have no doubt what would happen to him if he or Megabitch Grayson-Maxwell ever tried to fuck with Talia again.

  He slipped from the stairway and was headed for the first camera on the floor when the elevator’s ding nearly sent him to the ceiling. Heart beating a million miles an hour, Gene ducked back behind the door, but not before he got a good look at the familiar broad back and hard profile of Jack Brooks. He watched, barely breathing, as Jack stepped off the elevator and headed toward Sutherland’s room.

  Fury surged inside him. Sutherland was his prey. He’d stuck himself in the middle of Gene’s plan and tried to harm Talia.

  The bloodlust had risen up the night before when she’d been attacked. It had screamed at him to take revenge on the man who messed with his claim. He’d kept his control by a thread, knowing that if he lost it at the restaurant and killed Talia’s would-be attacker right then and there, he’d never get to Talia.

  He’d never complete his mission.

  Now that last thread threatened to snap. He would kill Sutherland, and he would kill Brooks too, for keeping him from Talia this long.

  He watched as Jack used a card key to gain entry, heard Sutherland shout in surprise as Jack shoved the door open. Gene eased the door to the stairwell open and crept along the wall, keeping himself out of the camera’s view. Fortunately the hotel’s security system was far from sophisticated, and with a few slices of his knife, the camera was out of commission.

  He systematically took out the rest of the cameras on the floor. As he got closer to Sutherland’s room, he heard shouting. As he reached up to knock, there was a loud thump of a body hitting the door hard enough to shake the hinges.

  His hand froze. What do you think you’re doing? For once he didn’t try to shove his mother’s voice from his head. What was he doing, taking on these two men, bigger than him and obviously trained fighters to boot?

  They might have brawn, but he had the far superior brain—or at least he should. The high emotions and lack of sleep the night before were clearly affecting his processing. No, Jack had added another layer of perfection to his plan, and Gene nearly hadn’t seen it.

  Clutching his small duffel bag in one hand, his knife safely tucked up his sleeve, Gene retreated back to the stairwell to wait.

  He didn’t have long to wait. In less than ten minutes, Jack reemerged. Nearly delirious from anticipation and the lack of sleep, Gene had to stifle a laugh. For someone who was supposedly a security expert, Jack was totally oblivious to the fact that he was being watched as he walked down the hall and called the elevator.

  Gene waited a few minutes after he disappeared behind the elevator doors. When the hallway remained deserted, he made his move.

  He walked swiftly down the hallway to Sutherland’s room. With all of the security cameras out, he didn’t worry about his presence being detected. He gave Sutherland’s door three swift raps.

  As he hoped, Sutherland assumed it was Jack again. He flung the door open. “What the fuck do you want now?” he demanded.

  Gene knew from watching Sutherland this morning that the other man was in bad shape from the fight the night before, and now Jack had roughed him up even more. Good thing, since under normal circumstances, it would have been hard for Gene to overpower this man.

  Today, though, it took only the split second from the time Sutherland flung open the door to when he realized the person outside wasn’t Jack for Gene to make his move.

  Lunging forward, Gene caught Sutherland by surprise as he shoved him back into the room and simultaneously kicked the door shut. Sutherland tried to fight but Gene landed a blow to his already bruised ribs. Sutherland doubled over, wheezing in pain.

  He started to straighten up. “What the he—”

  His words broke off on a gasp of pain and shock as Gene sank his knife deep into Sutherland’s abdomen. Right below the sternum so he wasn’t hampered by any bone. The blade sank to the hilt with a meaty, tearing sound. Sutherland’s eyes bugged out and he made a choking sound as he tried to push Gene away with hands that had gone weak.

  “This is what happens when you mess with what’s mine,” Gene said with a savage twist of the knife. There was a roaring in his ears as power, rich and intoxicating, flooded his senses. It was like what he felt with the girls but better.

  This was what it felt like to be a god. To exercise the power of life and death. To see the light in his enemy’s eyes fade to nothing as his blood poured over his hand.

  Sutherland’s eyes rolled back in his head and he gave a final gasp. Gene jerked the blade free and Sutherland collapsed to the floor. Gene leaned over and touched shaking fingers to Sutherland’s neck, but his own pulse was beating so powerfully it was impossible to be sure if he was dead.

  He had to be sure.

  He planted his knee in Sutherland’s chest. Panting, sweat running down his face, he grabbed a handful of Sutherland’s hair and pulled his head to the side. The hunting knife sliced through his throat like butter. Blood pulsed out of the cut to pool around Sutherland’s head.

  Gene surged to his feet, swaying a little bit as the mad rush of the kill started to fade, leaving behind a satiation unlike anything he’d ever known. It was better than any orgasm he’d ever had in his life. And though he’d had concerns about killing Sutherland first—he’d wanted to stay pure, for Talia to be his first—now, as his entire body pulsed with satisfaction, he knew he’d made the right decision.

  He took a deep breath, put thoughts of Talia aside for the moment, and retrieved his duffel from where he’d dropped it by the door. He unzipped it and removed several items. An earring. A bracelet. A toe ring.

  Little things he hadn’t disposed of in the biowaste disposal bin back near the lab. All this time he’d doubted the wisdom of keeping them, knowing the smartest move was to get rid of any shred of evidence that might connect him to his victims. But something had compelled him to cling to these small souvenirs.

  Now he knew their purpose. These would help Detective Nolan flesh out his theory that Talia’s stalker for hire had been playing his own sick game on the side. Gene wrapped them carefully in a silk square and tucked them into Sutherland’s toiletry kit, so the police would be sure to think these were special mementos Sutherland wanted to keep close.

  And in case there was any room for doubt, Gene had one last item in his bag. The knife was identical to the one he’s used to kill Sutherland. But unlike that knife, it bore the traces of all the women who had come before.

  He withdrew the knife from the bag carefully, and although he always wore gloves handling it and had cleaned the handle after each use, he wiped it down one more time just in case.

  He placed the handle carefully in Sutherland’s hand and wrapped his dead fingers around it, pressing tight to make sure the prints made an impression. He pressed Sutherland’s finger and thumb onto the blade for good measure. He slid the knife back into its leather sleeve and hid it in a side pocket of Sutherland’s suitcase, where the police would eventually find it. The prints, combined with the blood of the victims, would be the nail in Nolan’s case against the dead man.

  Once he finished, he stripped off his bloodstained clothes and stored them in a plastic garbage bag. He would need to do a thorough scrubbing once he got home, but for now he changed into a fresh T-shirt, jeans, and another dark, hooded sweatshirt.

  Then it was out the door and back the way he came, slipping out the back exit to avoid the lobby as he made sure he stayed out of view of the security camera.

  His car was parked a couple blocks away. He tossed his duffel bag into the trunk and slid behind the wheel, still buzzing with a high that beat out that of any drug. As he started the car, the reality of what he had done hit him once again.

  He had killed someone! Eugene, the physics nerd who everyone overlooked,
who faded into the background.

  I didn’t realize you were still here. His hands shook and his blood heated as he remembered Talia’s words from the night before. She hadn’t realized he was even still there, lurking in the shadows, taking in every word and watching every move.

  She was so stupid, like all the rest of them, to underestimate him. He planned to make an unforgettable impression on her the next time he was with her.

  The beast inside him demanded he go soon, now even. To ride this high to the final climax and bring Talia to her inevitable end. But no. He needed to be patient. He needed to sleep and restore himself, refine his plan so he could carry it off without incident. He needed to make sure everything would be perfect.

  He needed to stop by campus to get rid of the bloody clothes, but it was only barely noon. There would be too many people to potentially catch him dumping the bag in the hazardous-waste bin. He needed to wait until dark.

  Which was fine, because he was so tired from the sleepless night and subsequent adrenaline surge and crash he knew he was likely to fall asleep if he didn’t go directly home. As it was, when his phone chirped to indicate an incoming text message, he nearly drove into a parked car. It was from Rosie, telling him she’d finished up the exam.

  Good for her. It was the last physics exam she’d ever take.

  By the time he got to his house, he was practically sleepwalking, his mind in a fog as he retrieved the duffel bag from his trunk and staggered through the front door.

  His mother wasn’t home, thank God. Gene hurled himself up the stairs to his room, stopping only to take a piss before he collapsed onto his unmade bed. He closed his eyes, a smile pulling his mouth as he fell asleep to visions of Talia, naked, begging for her life as an ocean of blood surged up to consume her.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with me going?” Rosie asked for the dozenth time in the last hour. Talia was treating her to pizza at Applewood in Menlo Park, a restaurant a few miles from campus that served some of the best pizza in the area. Talia knew Rosie was champing at the bit to go out and celebrate the end of midterms, but thankfully she had enough sympathy for Talia’s recent triple whammy—being assaulted, losing her job, and breaking up with Jack—to throw her sister a bone and keep her company for a few hours.

  “I could stay and keep you company. Or wait, I know, you can come with us up to Yosemite and go camping.”

  Okay, so she was pitiful, but not that pitiful. Talia shook her head and managed a small, reassuring smile for Rosie. “That’s just what you need is your fun-sucker sister tagging along, being a total downer. Besides, I don’t have a sleeping bag or any other camping equipment.”

  Rosie rolled her eyes. “We’re not leaving until tomorrow morning. Target’s open late enough to buy stuff. It’s not like you have to go to work or, uh…” Realizing her mistake, Rosie cut herself off. “Sorry, didn’t mean to rub salt in it,” she said, and took another bite of her pepperoni pizza.

  “It’s okay,” Talia said tightly. She picked up, then put down her barely nibbled slice of pizza, her stomach churning as she contemplated the black hole of the next few days. Had it really only been last night that she’d thrown Jack out of her house? It felt like a century ago. And the only contact he’d made was to text her late this morning to let her know Sutherland had made bail and that she should be careful.

  The idea that he was out made her uneasy, and a big part of her wanted to beg Jack to come rushing back to her side. He’d probably do it too, even after the things she’d said and the way she’d treated him. The thought didn’t bring her any satisfaction.

  Regardless of the way he’d gone behind her back, Jack was a good person, and he didn’t deserve to be used or to have her take advantage of his feelings for her.

  As for herself, she’d done enough leaning on Jack, intentionally or not, and now it was past time for her to stand on her own two feet. Sutherland was injured, and with the police keeping close tabs on him, he would have to be an idiot to come after her again. Not to mention it sounded like Margaret had cut off the gravy train.

  Still, the DVD and the utter brutality of the attacks on the other women nagged at her, calling up a fear she couldn’t shake off. Those weren’t the actions of a rational mind. Police surveillance might not be enough to deter him from acting on that kind of sickness.

  Talia shook off the paranoia as she had been all day. Now that she knew who she was up against, she could take the necessary precautions to keep herself safe. And hopefully the police would come up with the necessary evidence to shut him down for good. “I need to stick around and try to find another job. Figure out how I’m going to pay Susie back for all the damage.”

  “I don’t see why you don’t let Jack do it.”

  The mention of his name sent another stab of pain through her chest, and she found herself swallowing back tears for the umpteenth time that day. Her eyes were already swollen to twice their size, puffy and tender from all the crying she’d done last night and into the morning. She knew if she started crying again now, she’d never stop. “Rosie, you know why.”

  Rosie shook her head and tossed down her pizza on her plate and looked at Talia with a faintly disgusted look on her face. “No, I don’t. You have this amazing guy who is totally in to you, has done so much for you—so much for us—and you dump him because he covered a few bills for us?”

  The reminder brought the anger surging back to the forefront. Talia seized on it, hoping it would chase away the anguish that had threatened to swallow her from the moment she’d woken up alone for the first time in five days. “He didn’t just cover bills, Rosie. He spied on me and had me followed—”

  “Because he cares about you and was worried.”

  “It’s still not okay! And to top it off, he had to bribe Susie to hire me.”

  “Oh, poor you,” Rosie said, and threw down her napkin. “Do you know how many women would kill to have a guy like Jack love them so much he’d pay fifty grand to get them a job?”

  The mention of love brought Jack’s confession crashing back. I love you. It clutched at her heart and made her indignation falter. Still, she couldn’t let it go. Not now, not ever. “Do you realize how big of a loser that makes me feel like?”

  Rosie folded her arms across her chest, glaring at Talia in a way that said she had little sympathy for Talia’s side. “Jack never saw you as a loser and you know it. If what he did makes you feel bad, that’s your problem.” Without another word, she grabbed her purse and stalked to the door.

  Rosie’s words hit her like a punch. She always knew Rosie idolized Jack, but to have her take his side when she was hurting like this and needed someone to lean on was like a physical blow. She pulled herself together and paid the bill, and walked outside to find Rosie waiting.

  They drove back to campus in deafening silence. Talia pulled up in front of Rosie’s dorm and before Rosie got out of the car, she leaned over and hugged her so hard her ribs ached. “I love you, Tal, and I’m sorry that I yelled at you,” Rosie said. “But I hate seeing you throwing away something so great over a stupid thing like pride.”

  Talia sniffed back tears and hugged her back. “I love you too,” she said, and pulled away, wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks. “You have fun this weekend, and be careful, okay?”

  “I’ll call you or text you when I get on the road,” Rosie said, and got out of the car. Before she closed the door, she leaned down and poked her head back in. “You sure you’ll be okay?”

  I’ll be fine. Unable to force the words through the knot in her throat, Talia merely nodded. She drove home, the emptiness of the little house closing in on her. The long night, the weekend, the rest of her life yawned in front of her in an endless black hole.

  She’d never felt more alone.

  Chapter 20

  It took Nolan until after 5:00 p.m. to finally secure a warrant to search Greg Sutherland’s hotel room. He called in four other officers to meet him at the scene and sped over, seet
hing over the fact that the judge’s delay most likely fucked his whole case.

  By now, whatever evidence might have existed had no doubt been disposed of. His only hope was that Sutherland was careless and had left something behind, something compelling enough to make an arrest.

  He entered the lobby, trailed by two uniformed officers, and flashed his badge at the wary desk clerk. “I need to gain access to one of your guest rooms.” Nolan presented the warrant for his inspection.

  After reading for a few moments, the clerk nodded and typed something into his computer. “He’s in room four twenty-three, on the fourth floor. I’ll have someone from housekeeping accompany you with a master key in case Mr. Sutherland has stepped out.”

  Nolan shifted his weight impatiently, and after several endless minutes, a Latina in her late fifties, dressed in a gray polyester uniform, appeared.

  “This is Elvia,” the clerk said. “Detective Nolan, Elvia will be happy to escort you to Mr. Sutherland’s room.”

  Elvia kept her eyes glued to her white orthopedics for the duration of the short elevator ride. Sutherland’s room was at the end of the hall. Nolan rapped sharply on the door. “Sutherland, this is Detective Nolan from the Redwood City Police Department. We need to ask you a few questions.”

  When there was no response, Sutherland knocked again, then nodded for Elvia to unlock the door.

  There was a beep and a muffled click and Nolan opened the door.

  The smell hit him like a physical force, and he knew someone was dead before he even saw the body.

  “Shit,” he whispered, as one look at the battered face verified that the body belonged to Sutherland. Nolan was no coroner, but based on the smell, the blood soaked into the carpet, and the fact that rigor had set in, Sutherland had been dead for at least four hours. Nolan checked his watch. It was 6:00 p.m. Sutherland had been released on bail shortly after eleven. For Sutherland to be in this condition, he had to have been killed shortly after he was released this morning.