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  It was becoming more and more obvious that Crab was a deranged individual that Snake had taken and created into a Zombie of sorts. ‘We’ll give you time to think things through, pray to Snake that he tells you to talk, if you don’t start talking, I will break your back in holding and spill your guts.’ Brian held the back of his neck in a vice like grip, choking him from behind. Crab began to feel the pressure as he started to gasp. ‘Put him back in holding.’ Brian commanded and left the room.

  The other two individuals who had been picked up turned out to be minor criminals, who’d been paid to drive up to the RAM, look inside, drive away and then to ditch the vehicle in the lake. Each had been paid two hundred bucks to follow orders. They were booked and later released, as the cops were going to keep a tag on both of these individuals.

  During the group huddle Brian was saying, ‘It’s pretty obvious that he’s deranged, brainwashed, or been tutored by Snake on how to cop an insanity plea. Whatever is the case, this is our first direct link to Snake and we need to work this with utmost care. Right - everybody get some sleep, we have an early day today. I’ll see all of you by 9 am… later then.’

  ***

  I was on my way to the airport, where I’d dump this car and carry on with my adventure. Things were just starting to get more exciting for all my Kill Senses. There was now an even deeper urge within me, to bring this to an end by sticking the sixth knife deep into Snake’s throat. It was becoming an all-consuming thing in my brain. He had showed his trust in me, but killer snakes don’t really play each other’s games. I’m sure that he was going to spring another surprise on me, having asked me to off the mayor and stick the sixth knife down his throat. I was for the moment not sure about his angle. All might become clear in a few days time, but for now, everything was a little fuzzy. Nevertheless I needed to keep moving forward. The entire city would be grateful to me, if someone like Snake was taken out of circulation. That was the job of the police no doubt, but hey I could not help it if they were so callow in dealing with crime.

  Upon reaching my apartment and packing a few things, I made my way back to the farm. In my bedroom was the sixth knife. This I took out and went to the small caves located in-between the boulders, this was the place that I had hidden all the guns stolen from the old man Jim. Here this precious knife would need to rest in peace, until the time when its services would be required again. Somehow this last knife was going to play a crucial role in this crazy game being played out.

  My backpack had now become my kill Bag. It contained several knives, a gun, steel picks and what not. I was also secretly beginning to hope that this whole thing would end soon; my college work was really beginning to suffer. Studying medicine and becoming a cardiologist was important to me. My parents had trusted me and left me on my own, the least that could be expected of me was to complete my studies and become a qualified doctor. Not that I was lacking in experience right now, having worked on many problems of the heart, up until now.

  16. Brainwashed

  Brian had a private meeting with the mayor to ascertain the claim made by Crab. ‘Mr. Mayor Sir. We have apprehended the individual who has been making threat calls to you.’ ‘What, how… how did you track him down?’ ‘We have our own sources sir.’ ‘Tell me about him, what did he have to say?’ ‘He said that you were willing to pay him a ransom of 5 million for the body of the chief, is this true?’ ‘Well… you see… I don’t mind talking to you about it, provided it remains only between the two of us.’ ‘Do you mean you want this conversation to go off the record?’ ‘Yes, something like that… if you know what I mean. Just be discrete about it.’ ‘I can’t promise but I will sure as hell try.’ ‘You see, this individual called me up, telling me that he had not been the one who killed the chief, but he knew about the mortal remains of our chief. He would produce those said remains if a payment of five million dollars was made out to him. I spoke to the chief’s widow, as you might already know; we are all good old family friends. The family spoke about it and without meaning to turn this into a downright spectacle, have decided to pay the money and give the chief a proper burial… lord knows he deserves it.’

  ‘But that would not be right both in principle and lawfulness.’ Brian seemed hard pressed to admit. ‘Our families are old families, and we much prefer to keep the public at bay and not turn this into a political shitstorm. You need to understand, that his grieving widow and children, just wanted their husband and father in one piece, as far as was possible.’ ‘I understand what you're trying to say Mr. Mayor. If you’re called to testify, would you be willing to make a statement.’ ‘Like I said before detective Brian, I would like to avoid that as far as is possible. We don’t want this to turn into a maelstrom of sorts.’ ‘Anyways Sir, I would like to thank you for your time, and you can expect the team to be as discreet as possible during the entire investigation.’ ‘Thank you detective… I’ll be waiting to hear back from you soon.’ ‘Yes Sir.’ Brian made a half salute as he exited the mayor’s office.

  Back at the PD and in their own personal brainstorming/firefighting room - it looked like a normal working room being used for emergency responses, but still water runs deep. The room was filled with people trying to get to the bottom of all these mysterious happenings. Brian was at the head of the table with the team hanging onto his every last word. Having explained what the mayor had just said to him, he now threw the room open to questions. Jackie, insightful as ever began to speak first - ‘Crab talks a lot about Snake, but they seem to have a broken relationship. Correct me if I’m wrong. Snake was somehow the one who killed the Chief; he then handed the body over to Crab to make that said body disappear. This Crab did not do, instead he called-up the mayor and offered to give him the headless cadaver in exchange for x amount. If Snake was in total control, how did he allow this to happen?’ ‘I think this is a very valid point.’ Brian acknowledged. ‘Maybe Crab… fuck this, please give this guy a real name please… it sounds so weird to use these crab and snake anonyms.’ Andrea was saying. ‘Maybe Snake has lost control of him, being the control freak that he is, how did he ever let that happen?’

  ‘Matt what’s your take on the current situation?’ Brian asked. ‘I think that something went wrong. Maybe Snake’s orders were not followed because the person we call Crab, knows something that he’s not sharing. You see how he’s constantly obsessing over his boss. I was silently standing near his holding and watching him. All he did was stand in the center of the room, and constantly mumble… snake… snake… this is a very strange and unusual behavior. A normal criminal would have asked for a lawyer and begun to get their story right. This however is not the case. Why? I believe that it is somehow connected to money. There has been a falling out, Crab in reality actually adores and almost worships the individual known as Snake. The organization he setup is a highly effective one.’ ‘He runs a kill factory right under our noses and as yet we don’t even know his name.’ Brian interjected.

  ‘Greg, arrange for Crab to be in interrogation in an hour. Andrea and I have come up with another game plan to get him to talk.’

  ‘State your name and age.’ Andrea began. ‘Bitch, I told you to go fuck yourself. Didn't I?’ ‘Listen to me you sick stupid son-of-a-bitch, your pal is not coming to save you. We’ve put him in another deep dark hole, just like the one you’ll be going to.’ ‘Nothing you say is going to scare me lady. Snake is coming - you can bet your sweet pussy on it, he’s coming.’ Brian walked up to him and said - ‘Give us a name and I’ll give you a cigarette. For the first time Crab looked up with hope in his eyes. He was used to smoking, smoking up, and drinking, and the withdrawal was starting to get him. A cigarette was worth more than a million bucks right now. ‘If you don’t talk, we’ll put you back in holding for another two days, and no one’s coming to meet or greet you. So talk man… or risk living out the rest of your like in a deep, dark, fuck-hole. ‘My name’s Liam Scott, I was born a hitman. That’s why Snake contacted me. He met me when I was
just 16… give me my smoke man.’ Brian un-cuffed his hands which were cuffed to the arms of the steel chair - gave him a cigarette and lit it for him. Crab closed his eyes and began to draw on the butt, releasing the smoke as though he had just had the greatest orgasm of his life.

  ‘He likes to live in the dark and we are not allowed to ask him his name. He sits on this big throne and talks to us. All of us had issues man… lots of issues. He gave us a place to stay, money, drugs, booze, women… everything. All day we would stay in this big house and come out only at night. We would do anything for him… even kill. We were not like the Italian mafia; they make such a big deal out of killing. I could kill three people in one night and it was nothing. All of us were like that… We are like those people in the Middle East man… the Jihadists… those crazy motherfuckers have nothing on us, we are way better than they. Snake gave me everything, and I had only one job man.’ ‘What was that?’ Brian barely whispered. ‘I had to kill people and bring Snake whatever he wanted as proof, usually a small fucking bottle of blood, sometimes a heart… he eats that fucking thing… I eat it too… it gives us the secrets to the universe. Snake would do this voodoo shit and it made us very clever and cunning. Sometimes the brain man, he likes that too. But I do not know what he did with that. He’s never showed that to me or anyone else. That was Snake’s thing man… his own motherfucking secret mantra.’

  ‘We thank you for your cooperation.’ Andrea said. ‘That will be all for today.’ ‘You will get another cigarette in the evening.’ Brian added.

  Liam got up to leave all the while chanting, snake… snake… snake…

  The entire team had listened to the conversation and were now back in the room, raking their brains trying to figure out what was actually going on. Brian was the first to speak ‘We’ll just leave things as they are for now; we need to speak to him once again. There is more than one protégé that Snake produced. We know he used Crab as a contract killer. We don’t know what the others were used for. Matt I need you to work with Andrea and team, get me an accurate profile on Snake. I suspect that he is not someone hiding in some hole in the ground, but moves amongst us. From all that Liam said, I think he might be some sort of public figure, maybe even a politician or a big business magnet. This guy is larger than life and has the money to do whatever the fuck he wants. Of one thing we can be certain though, he’s a very dark and dangerous individual. He kills for both fun and pleasure - he likes to kill, enjoys it, and his ego… you can already tell. We need to find out form Crab who the other individuals under the tutelage of Snake were. His school of murder has gone on for far too long, it’s high time for the government to step in and shut it down. Okay, all of us have been working long and hard, breather tonight at Jackie’s, carry your own booze.’ With that the team went back to their day’s work.

  Brian and Andrea would be sitting down with Crab again at 4 pm. This time Liam walked in with a more relaxed attitude, he expected to get his cigarette as soon as the session started. He was beginning to feel a healing whenever he entered this room. It was like the old days with Snake. He was beginning to feel secure and comfortable; the interrogation room had become his very own personal counseling session. Brian had been clever enough to have created such an atmosphere. Knowing full well, how this worked, as he also had a mentor while growing up. He was intelligently aware of how all of this worked and was now using the same strategy against Liam.

  ‘I have been kind to you, I think you own me something,’ he was speaking to him, looking him straight in the eye.’ ‘Haven’t I told you enough, you give me two cigarettes a day and want me to sell you my birthright? I ain’t sellin’ shit for thirty pieces of silver.’

  ‘This is not a fucking exchange, this is pure and simple… you know… common courtesy.’ ‘Common courtesy my ass, you guys are playing me, and fuck me, but it’s working, cigarette please!’ Brian pulled out a pack from his pocket, opened the brand new pack of ciggies, and with his thumb, moved one out of the box and offered it to Liam. Who in turn reached for the entire back but Brian moved his hand away, all the while still offering him the one. Liam took it and Brian pushed the lighter across the table to him. Lighting one up and drawing in a deep breath, he began to relax. Under his breath, they could hear him mutter, ‘Thank you Snake.’ Brian and Andrea exchanged quizzical glances. Brain had found a way to slip-in very harmlessly, ‘Describe him to us. Tell us about this Great Snake. We also need to know what he looks like, how does he communicate. He must be a great teacher… umm… a sort of Messiah.’ ‘Yeah man, he’s like a monk… he’s not a Buddhist, he’s the Buddha… not that fucking laughing Buddha… he’s kind of… well how shall I say this… ugh… he’s like Jesus man… no, no, no, not Jesus… He’s Satan, that’s it man… but he’s a good Satan. He looked after me and taught me everything I know.’ ‘So tell us then, how do we recognize him.’ ‘He’s tall, has a strong voice, long blond hair, sharp nose, blue eyes; but has a very bad limp. Something went wrong with his leg man. His left leg… he walks with that big limp. That’s all man. No more. I am done.’ He now started his swaying back and forth, mumbling ‘Snake… Snake… Snake…’

  Brian got up and tapped the door, telling uniforms to come in and take him away. He sat back down in deep contemplation, while Andrea got up from the chair, reminded him of their pending meeting with Ellen.

  The acting Chief was sitting in her office while the both of them walked in. ‘Brian I know you’ve being using devious psychological methods to get Liam to talk, but you had better be done with him and start pressing charges. It’s time already; we can’t hold him for much longer, if there are no actual charges being brought against him. You can’t go on working on him, treating like some monkey in the zoo… like a lab-rat. Offering him treats for every bit of information he shares. Can you imagine if this leaks and the press got a hold of it?’ Unknown to her, Brian had already passed the pack of cigarettes to the police sketch artist, who was with Liam right now, trying to get a decent sketch out of him, and it was working.

  ‘You have another 24 hours to bring significant charges to keep him in holding. I will be meeting with the DA and updating him on the progress of the case, so get to work, use your wizardry and get something… anything… I hope I’ve made myself clear.’ ‘Yeah boss.’ Brian said gesturing.

  17. Partnerships

  I had settled-in to work things out, now that I’d received that order from Snake. He wanted the head of the mayor. He had made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse, or so he thought. By presenting him with the head of the mayor - it would seal the deal between us and we would from that time forward, be able to establish a kind of working relationship or partnership if you may. I had however just a few days time by which to do this. It would now depend on which direction I wanted this relationship to take. Do I ditch my loner ways and now start working in a partnership? Looking deep within me I realized that the only thing that mattered to me was to fulfill that deep urge that always seemed to be taking over my life. ‘Blood,’ that was the answer, there was nothing more potent that I have ever known… and this made me. If I took out the mayor, it would then somehow impact the murder of the chief. Did he want it to look like rivalry between the police chief and mayor? I was still not able to make the connection, why did he want the mayor killed? There must have been another angle to this whole thing, and I could not see it as yet, what else was King Snake planning?

  It could also be that he wanted me to take out the mayor, so as to appear as the most invincible killer to his patrons. He could then continue selling his Kill Services for a much higher price. With this kill, he would establish himself on the darknet, as the most sinister and gruesome murderer that you could count on. For a price anyone’s head could be had. Snake had a plan and I wanted to find out what it actually was.

  The press had received a tip-off that someone of critical importance had been arrested and the police had him in questioning. There was a lot of interest now in the brutal murder of the
Chief of Police.

  Ellen had to make sure that the Chief’s body was recovered and handed back to his family that had been waiting anxiously for it. Everything rested now on Brian and Andrea being able to make Liam talk and reveal the location of the body.

  Ellen had plans to actually cancel the press briefing later that day, but the DA had advised her differently. ‘If you stay away from the press, it would cause us more of a headache, and open up even more questions. It will force the press to relentlessly hound us like dogs.’ And for these reasons, Ellen decided to offer her head to the press. They were all over her, screaming questions in a very incoherent manner. ‘I will take only 10 questions today,’ she had said. But it did nothing to quell their enthusiasm. The press wanted to know, how close they were to solving the chief’s murder, and why was it taking so long? Others standing behind the press had already started shouting slogans, ‘Serial Killer City.’ ‘Murder City.’ ‘No Arrest, No Peace.’

  The city had slowly begun to slip over the edge. There was no telling where all this was going to lead and the acting chief had now begun to stumble. If at this time I had to take the mayor’s head, the city would have been thrown into disarray. The feds would land; lock, stock, and motherfucking barrels.

  ***

  The police sketch artist had had a lot of luck while working with Liam. He had managed to get a very clear profile. He had also passed him a hip flask with a nice shot of whisky, which had made Liam reveal the location of the freezer that contained the remains of the police chief. The sketch artist had immediately called Brian to update him with all these details.