It was nearing 7 p.m. when he spotted the young woman he’d been watching for the past four days, headed up the sidewalk to the police precinct. The streets were nearly empty, for which he was thankful. Atlantians that worked in the city long abandoned the area at the end of the workday, and those who’d be returning to enjoy Atlanta’s nightlife, shouldn’t be close by here.
He stepped from the car as she approached his vehicle, ready to intercept her. For this plan to work, he needed her cooperation—even if he used coercion to elicit said cooperation. This was one time in which chloroform or his sleep elixir wouldn’t be useful.
As soon as Daniel decided that it would have to be an APD officer abducted, he’d watched and waited for the perfect woman working third shift and was elated when he’d spotted Lucia Mendocino on his first night’s watch. For the next three days, as he researched the perfect murder, he also researched Officer Mendocino’s life. It saddened him that she had a family; a six-month-old baby boy among them, but the APD needed to feel the enormity of his resolve, and if they really cared about their own—more than the general public—then they’d find her and return her to her son.
What he needed to prevent now was her fighting back or alerting nearby pedestrians, few as they were, before he explained the direness of her circumstance.
She’d just made it past the hood of his car, when he stealthily approached from the rear and wrapped an arm about her neck, a switchblade pressed against her back, “Don’t squirm. I don’t want you dead, or your baby boy,” he said quickly in case she had some martial arts training and decided to flip him onto the sidewalk.
Lucia went rigid at the mention of her son, not even attempting to struggle.
“Good. We’re going to go sit in this car over here and have a chat.” He tugged against her neck, pulling her backwards toward the rear passenger door of his BMW. He increased the pressure on her neck when he lowered the switchblade, “I need to open the car door. If you try to escape, I’ll snap your neck, which means your baby boy loses his mom.”
He reached down, opened the car door, and shoved her inside, following quickly behind.
Her eyes widened when she saw him and he grinned.
“You’re not wearing a mask, which means you’re…”
“…going to kill you?” he concluded with a laugh. In fact, he didn’t need to wear a mask, because he’d long ago changed his appearance to where he didn’t resemble Christian Price in the least, nor would he resemble this man after tonight, should Lucia survive to provide a description. “No, Lucia. I’m not going to kill you. Only two circumstances are possible in which death will occur in this scenario. Would you like to know what they are?”
Lucia nodded, and Daniel smiled, “I thought you might. The first potential death will be your son, and that will only happen if you do not follow my dictates this evening to the letter. If you attempt to behave in any manner other than your normal self, my associate will kill your son. If you attempt to signal anyone overtly that you are in distress, my associate will kill your son. I don’t need to speak to anyone, just press speed dial. If my associate’s phone rings even once, your son dies. And before you think that you’ll be able to signal in some manner by behaving differently, know that I’ve been watching you for the past week, so I know your normal behavior around your work mates.” Daniel was laughing inside at her reaction and the tears streaming down her face. He’d convinced her well enough that his associate, which of course didn’t exist, would end her son’s life should she mess up, and the implication was all he needed. He let that sink in and then continued, “So, I guess you need to ask yourself—do you consider yourself a good enough actress to deceive your co-workers?”
She nodded, unable to speak past the fear paralyzing her vocal chords. Daniel moved to exit the car, which caused Lucia to find her voice, “You said there were two scenarios.”
“I did, didn’t I? Nice catch,” Daniel replied softly. “There are, but you won’t be privy to the second potential dying circumstance just yet. I promise, however, not to keep you on tenterhooks for long. Let’s get inside the precinct and ensure your son’s survival in round one, and then I’ll reveal what you need to do next and the potential person you’ll save by following my instructions to a tee. After all, if this first part goes awry…well, there won’t be a need to move on to part two. Okay?”
Lucia nodded.
“Good, let’s begin, shall we? You’ll precede me into the precinct and then stop in the corridor at the stairwell. Once there, wait for me to join you. I’m trusting that you’ll be able to accomplish this without need of handholding? For your son?”
Lucia nodded again and Daniel slid from the car. He reached in and retrieved his toolbox, and then offered Lucia a hand. He squeezed it reassuringly. The action was so gentlemanly, it caused her to tear up.
“Dry your eyes, please,” Daniel whispered harshly, “and chin up.”
She swiped at her eyes and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
“Now, after you.”
Although he was convinced that this first-year rookie would obey his every command, he still walked close behind her. When she reached for the door, he whispered close to her ear, “Academy Award performance.”
She nodded slightly, pulled open the door, and headed inside. Daniel expected the front desk sergeant to acknowledge her presence at least, but apparently, the comings and goings of the officers was so frequent that it warranted no more than a glance; however, he did acknowledge Daniel’s return.
“See you managed to sprout those wings,” he quipped.
“Determination for a day off is a great motivator,” Daniel laughed. His peripheral focus honed in on Lucia, as she moved down the corridor. He smiled inwardly when he saw her stop, as instructed. “Well, the sooner I get that bolt replaced, the sooner I end my day and start my day off. I’ll see you on the way out.”
“Sure thing.”
He moved down the corridor and opened the door swiftly, silently bidding Lucia to precede him into the stairwell. “Head to the lowest level, to the storage area,” he instructed, following her at a short distance, so that, should they pass anyone, there would not be a presumption they were together. He may intend to change his appearance as soon as he walked free of this building, but that didn’t mean he wanted to take unnecessary chances.
Not surprisingly, they didn’t pass a soul, as most people preferred to use the elevator to the stairs nowadays, and even fewer people had cause to visit the storage area, where unused office equipment sat awaiting the day when someone would have use of it again.
When he reached the closet that led to the elevator pit, he ushered Lucia inside, and then reached into his toolbox and withdrew some duct tape.
“Okay, you will be happy to know that your son will remain safe now. Does that make you happy?”
Lucia immediately broke into shoulder-shaking, body-wracking tears. Daniel looked down the corridor to ensure that her breakdown wasn’t drawing undue attention. When he saw that they remained alone, he allowed her to cry for a few minutes. When she started drawing in jagged breaths, he knew her crying spell was drawing to a close.
“Okay, now that you’ve had your moment, it’s time to go over the second potential death circumstance in this scenario. Are you ready for me to explain?”
Lucia nodded, wide-eyed with terror as he ripped off some of the duct tape and placed it over her mouth.
“Okay, this is how part two is going to go,” he explained slowly, as he tore another longer strip of duct tape and wound it about her wrists behind her back. “Your officers and detectives have been on the hunt for the serial killer, Christian Price, correct?”
Lucia nodded and her eyes went from wide to bug-eyed. He didn’t resemble the sketch that had been circulating, so she didn’t connect him to Price when they were in her car. She thought that she was in danger because he wasn’t masked, which meant she could identify him; now, however, it was different, because Price was a known murderer.
“That’s right, Lucia, I’m Christian Price, which means, I’ve chosen you for my next victim.”
Lucia forgot all about remaining calm and started squealing, struggling against her bindings. Daniel couldn’t afford for this last experiment to go awry, so he smacked her hard upside the head, “Settle down now,” he commanded firmly. She moaned against the duct tape as a loud ringing started in her ears.
“Now,” he continued, “you should be happy to know that you have the best chance for survival because I’m going to make certain that I give them some really good clues to find you, okay?”
Lucia didn’t respond this time. She sat immobile, her gaze glazing over in shock.
Daniel decided that she understood well enough, and moved to complete setting up. He pulled a syringe from his coat pocket and slid the needle into the vein in Lucia’s arm, watching with satisfaction as her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Before he could finalize her placement inside the pit however, he needed to ensure that he provided Detective Hardwick the pertinent instructions needed to prevent Lucia’s imminent death. It would be a sad turn of events if he placed her inside the shaft only to have her die before…he picked up his disposable cell and dialed the front desk sergeant, grinning at the irony of this call.
“Atlanta Police Department, Zone 5.”
“This is Christian Price—”
“Hold and I’ll put you through,” the sergeant interrupted and Daniel’s smile widened. As the minutes ticked by, waiting for Hardwick to answer his call, his mind began racing: Had they discovered his whereabouts and were closing in on him while he held on the line? Had they found a way to trace his phone? Just before Daniel determined that it would be best to disconnect the call, Hardwick came on the line.
“Detective Hardwick here. We thought you’d tucked tail and run.”
“It took you a long time to answer. I nearly gave up on you.”
“We were down in the commissary. We needed time to get back to the bullpen.”
Relief flooded through Daniel’s body and he sighed. Time to get to it then, he thought and then brought the conversation around to business. “I’ll not remain on the line long, Detective, since I’m very, very angry at the loss of Miss Richardson. She was all but handed to you on a silver platter.”
“If it helps any, our captain put the two detectives responsible on administrative leave and both will be terminated after a cursory investigation.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m disappointed that they’ll be looking elsewhere for employment, as they were far too incompetent to be police officers, but aren’t you going to take any responsibility this time, Hardwick? After all, you ignored my call, which could have—”
“Anti-venom is precise. The paramedics wouldn’t have had it on their vehicle—”
“Fine, point taken,” Price interrupted. “I’ll make this easy and difficult at the same time. You see, I came to the realization that you and your co-workers weren’t required to do any detecting.”
That single comment had Hardwick’s pulse racing, as if the man were somehow privy to their conversations. Did Price know that he and his fellow detectives planned to pursue him instead of participating in this next search? He shook his head and tried to focus on what Price was saying.
“However, since I have neither the inclination, nor the time, to test your detecting skills at this point in the game, I’m simply giving you unlimited time in which to locate one of your officers; however, I won’t be providing but a single clue.”
“Wait! What do you mean, ‘locate one of your officers’?”
“That one sentence is what you latch onto? No surprise there. Yes, I’ve abducted one of your own. Hopefully that will ensure a better response than civilians seem to warrant.”
“We did everything we could—”
“Save your breath, Detective, and listen well, because I’ll only say this once. You have half an hour to kill the power that feeds the businesses along Spring Street…oh wait, they’ve renamed a majority of that street Ted Turner Drive. Well nonetheless, you get the idea. If you fail to convince the powers, that be of the necessity of killing the electricity, then your officer will surely die, since she’s connected to an electrical device in a building along that section of road. The longer you keep the electricity off, the longer you have to search for her, which translates to a longer lifespan for your officer. Of course, the longer it takes you to find her, the longer the citizens that live or work along that stretch will go without electricity. So, Detective, I do hope you can persuade whomever needs to be persuaded, that this officer’s life is worth the inconvenience to the populace. Your thirty minutes start now.”
Daniel disconnected the call and checked the time on his watch. It would take approximately fifteen minutes to get Lucia’s body into the pit, position her, and set up the IV drip meant to keep her sedated for a good long while. He settled against the wall and watched the minutes tick by, but the lights remained on. When the time reached his fifteen-minute set up deadline, he reached in his toolbox and pulled out his flashlight. He didn’t need it now, but he was hoping that he would, before the thirty-minute deadline was reached. If they didn’t turn off the electricity as instructed, he would simply take a ride in the elevator to ensure Lucia died quickly. Then he’d be ensured that she’d be found, eventually—through the stench of decaying flesh.
He took a deep breath, then reached down and started scooting Lucia’s body toward the opening in the sheetrock. He looked up to ensure that the elevator was high enough up the shaft to work undeterred. He certainly didn’t want them both getting squashed if this took too long, or the electricity remained on. Next, he propped her up against the buffer and bent her head to lay it across the top of it. He snorted softly when her head wouldn’t bend quite as far as he needed.
He grabbed her legs and repositioned her into more of a recline position, and then tested the head bend again. This time, her head cocked just right, so that her temple lay nearly flat against the buffer. He checked his watch, though he really wasn’t in a huge hurry. Still, it concerned him slightly that the lights were still blazing with only minutes remaining in his deadline. That realization had him moving more swiftly, as he needed to be out of the shaft and well on his way before the search efforts began.
With one hand on her head to hold it in place, he reached down to retrieve his duct tape, then used his teeth to loosen a strip. He latched that end to her cheek, and then held it in place securely while unraveling more tape. The pull of each strip was like thunder to his ears in the confined space, but he needed to ensure that she stayed put; so, he wrapped the first strip around her head and then around the pole, then began again swiftly, until it looked more like a giant ball of gray tape than a head.
When he’d used every inch of tape, he sat back and inspected his work rapidly; shaking her firmly, tugging and pulling on her head—all to make certain that she wouldn’t be able to pull herself free. He tilted his head and looked at her, his face twisting into a comical grin. The only way anyone would be able to identify this ball as human was by the mouth and nose—the only two features that remained visible beneath the giant wad.
Another glance at his watch showed he had less than two minutes remaining before deadline. He went to strap her arms to her body, but then realized that he’d used all of his duct tape. He sighed and crawled partway back through the hole in the wall, reaching for the other roll. As with her head, he loosened some tape, placed the sticky end to one arm and held it firmly while pulling more tape from the roll; then started wrapping it around and around her torso. Now he was confident, that should the drip run out, prior to the detectives locating her, she’d be unable to move or cry out. Next, he retrieved the needle attached to the IV bag that he’d set up earlier in the day, slid it into her arm, and duct taped it in place.
Just as he reached up to set the knob to a very slow drip, the power went off. He smiled widely, “Well, at least you won’t die before I exit the building.”
He reached over to retrieve his flashlight and concluded his work by the glare of a halogen bulb. “You may survive after all,” he whispered close to her head and then slipped back through the hole he’d cut. Without delay, he collected all of his gear and headed back up the stairs.
“Hey, what’s with the power?” he asked the front desk sergeant, when he reached the lobby.
“Nothing. Just a power outage. It’ll be back on before long. Did you get your work done?”
“Yeah, just in the nick of time,” Daniel replied honestly.
“Glad to hear it. Enjoy your day off.”
“Thanks. I hope you don’t have to work in the dark too long,” Daniel replied amicably, and pushed open the front door of the building. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”
Daniel walked outside and headed toward his car, but the first thing he noticed was that some of the power, further down Ted Turner Drive was still on. “Must be racing to cut power at individual substations,” he said to himself. “Oh well, not my concern, as long as the power along this stretch stays off. Now, I need to inform citizens of the true reason for the power outage. Don’t want the APD getting lazy.”
He placed the toolbox into his car and settled into the driver’s seat, then pulled out his disposable cell and dialed the Channel 5 newsroom.