Killing Ways

66

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robbie, Everett... no, no, no, no, no. That’s not how it works! You give chances! You give people chances. You... wait. You fucking wait. You let us save people! You fucking psycho! You fucking psychopath.

No. No. No. No. No. NO.

Agent down. Agent down. Agent down. Agents down. Agents down.

Janine was ghostly, her lip quivering, her body limp, but her eyes were set, dark, glued to the opposite wall.

Duke was now pointing the gun at Gary, staring him down. Gary was staring right back, unmoving, waiting, calm, accepting.

‘I thought you were merciless!’ said Ren, drawing Duke on herself.

Gary has a wife. Gary has a daughter.

‘You just shot two men,’ said Ren. ‘Dead in an instant, no suffering. Don’t you want people to suffer? Where’s the suffering in an instant death?’

Duke blinked. Seconds passed.

He lowered the gun a fraction, moved it to the right, fired, ripping a chunk from Gary’s left triceps. The blood spattered up against Ren’s right side; she could feel the warm spray on her face.

Jesus Christ.

Gary cried out in pain, only briefly, then buried it.

Ren’s fingers shook as she wiped Gary’s blood from her face.

I’m next. Jesus Christ. No. Don’t. Please don’t. Don’t.

Duke, instead, had pulled Janine back tight against him, and his gun was pressed into her ribs.

Oh, no. No.

Ren was immediately seeing row after row of crime scene photos and everyone was dead, and this time they had the faces of her friends.

No! No! No!

Imagine an abandoned Safe Streets...

Jesus Christ. What hell are we in? Stop. Stop. Stop.

Think. Think. Think.

Think. Think. Think.

Get out of this room. We need to get out of this room.

Duke Rawlins’ nickname as a child was Pukey Dukey. It tormented him. That’s what Shaun Lucchesi said. Throw up. It will rattle him.

‘Please!’ said Ren. ‘Please can we move into another room? I can’t... I... don’t feel well. The smell of... everything... I think I’m going to be—’

‘You shut the fuck up,’ said Duke. ‘Just shut the fuck up.’

‘I’m going to be—’

‘—raped in front of your boss is what you’re going to be.’

Ren fell to her knees in front of Duke, and threw up, splashing his boots. Silver spots danced in front of her eyes.

Ugh.

‘You fucking disgusting piece of shit,’ said Duke. He jumped out of the way, staggered back, kicking out, catching her in the jaw. Ren cried out, fell onto her side, curled into a ball.

‘Get the fuck up,’ he said.

She stood up, slowly.

My jaw. The pain...

Duke was now pressing the gun into Janine’s temple.

‘You,’ he said to Ren, ‘walk, carefully, slowly toward the door. I’ve got your friend, don’t be dumb.’

Ren moved toward the door, glancing back at Gary.

Oh fuck. No.

His face was gray, his arm soaked with blood, his head limp on his neck.

When Duke Rawlins saw Gary’s face, he lit up. ‘I’m gonna leave you here, leave you to go slowly.’

Ren stopped. ‘Please let me help him,’ she said. ‘You will need him if you want to get away from here. He’s in charge. He’ll get—’

‘Who says I want to get away from here?’ said Duke. ‘Who says this is not my blaze of fucking glory?’

‘You do want to get away,’ said Ren. You have to want to get away. ‘You do need someone. You’ve always needed someone. Gary will get you whatever you want.’

‘Now, why would he do that?’ said Duke. ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

‘In exchange for his life, Gary would do anything,’ said Ren.

Gary managed a weak nod.

Jesus, please don’t die. Jesus. This is not happening. Someone tell me this is not fucking real.

‘And what about you?’ said Duke, turning to Ren. ‘What would you do?’ His eyes glowed in the darkest, deadest way.

Ren’s heart pounded. Me? What would I do?

His hand was on his belt buckle.

Her stomach turned.

I’d like to see you try.

‘Move,’ he said. ‘Move.’

Ren walked through the offices out into the hallway, Duke behind her, gripping Janine.

‘In there,’ said Duke, pointing into the conference room.

Ren opened the door into a room that was filled with everything there was to know about Duke Rawlins and his life, and his victims, and theirs.

His eyes widened. ‘This is pretty obsessive,’ he said.

That’s what he says...

He cuffed Janine to the radiator. Ren expected to be next.

‘You’re coming with me,’ he said. ‘Via the ladies’ room.’

What? Why?’

She glanced down at Janine. They locked eyes. It was too much.

At least if he’s with me, Janine is safe.

‘Move,’ said Rawlins. ‘Now.’ He rattled his belt buckle.

He shoved Ren down the hallway ahead of him. As she walked, she did a mental inventory of every room in Safe Streets, scanning their contents from memory, wondering what a man like Duke Rawlins would use to rape her: he always used whatever was to hand.

I am deciding what object I will be raped with.

Her stomach tightened.

Choose the source of your wildest pain. This is all so wrong.

Duke pushed the door open and shoved her into the ladies’ room.

He planted her at the sink in front of the mirror, stood behind her. She could smell his skin, shower gel, laundry detergent, mouthwash, nothing as filthy or stinking as it should be. She gripped the edges of the sink. She stared, not at him in the mirror, but at herself.

How many times have I looked at this face? And hated who I saw? And was disappointed, and was guilty, and felt ruined, nothing, useless, a failure?

She felt a surge of strength.

Bring it on, psycho. Bring it on. I will fucking kill you. I am more than you think I am. I am more than I think I am.

She got a flashback to the previous year, to the teenage boy, the rapist who had fought her, brought her to the ground until Denver PD detectives had burst in.

Not this time. I’m stronger. Fitter. Murderous.

‘You have all the power,’ said Ren.

Duke tilted his head.

‘You don’t need to rape me to prove that,’ said Ren.

‘Maybe that’s not why I want to rape you...’ he said, running his hand up her stomach.

What the fuck?

‘You think I’m a monster, don’t you?’ he said. ‘You think I’m a monster.’

Ren didn’t reply.

‘Little Miss Perfect’s never sinned,’ he said. He grabbed a thick fistful of her hair, pulled it taut, brought fresh tears to her eyes, then slammed her head into the mirror, cracking it, yanking her back again, slamming her head in again.

‘So, you can face yourself, no shame — right?’ he said.

The skin was split above Ren’s eyebrow. She watched the blood stream down the left side of her face.

Seven years’ bad luck. One night down...

‘Can you?’ said Ren. ‘Can you face yourself?’

Duke looked up at his distorted reflection in the broken glass. For a wild moment, uprooted from reality, Ren was expecting humanity. All she saw were eyes that were black, blank, terrifying. Dead in one way, alive in another.

She felt a slow shiver roll from the base of her spine to the top of her head.

This man is the devil incarnate.

I’m not going to make it out of here.