The Killing Game

Disclaimer: We are making no profit off this work. George Lucas owns the characters and universe, except for a few original characters.

AN: Hey everyone!! I know it's been a while, but things sometimes just happen and unfortunately this story was put on the back burner for a while. However, when I recently got a review for it, I realized maybe it's time to get back to it! So, for the last several days, I've been working on this chapter and thinking how the rest of the story will go! Thank you again to all the readers that are still out there and waited patiently for updates. I'm so pleased that you have enjoyed this story so far and hope you continue to do so.

As a note Qui-Gon and Tahl are not making appearances yet, though we should be seeing them again quite soon. Siri, however, is still here and a bit more behaved!! LOL!! As for the other Jedi, I've wanted to bring some more in, especially Master Yoda, but I don't see that happening. However, there is another short story that will follow this one featuring more of Obi-Wan's old friends. Anyway, thanks again and hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Three: Surprising Developments

**Obi-Wan's Point of View**

"Alright Kenobi." Siri Tachi cornered me soon after we had finished meeting. "I will still need to be completely briefed about this case."

Knowing she was right, I didn't bother to argue. "Come on, we'll go back into the conference room." Once we were settled in, with new cups of coffee, I asked her. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning." Siri gave me a look, quite annoyed that I even asked.

Sighing, I started with Braden's history, his parents, what I found out about his childhood, the rather turbulent teenage years, then the small crimes he committed and finally into his first killing spree. Then I brought her up to speed on his escape and what we had discovered so far.

Siri leaned back in her chair, obviously deep in thought. "Do you have a clue to where he might be hiding out?"

I shook my head. "Another detective has been assigned to trace any family members that aren't dead or in prison. Hopefully that will pan out. We've already checked all his old haunts and haven't found a clue." I sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. "I think that's about where we are. I was planning to have a full team meeting, get all the clues together, see what contacts everyone has, what we can do, maybe who his next victim could be, get everyone on the same page."

She nodded, seemingly impressed. "Sounds like a plan."

We got up and headed into the main room, calling everyone to attention. "Alright people, we have a serial killer on our hands and between all of us, we can nail him again." I glanced around at everyone, then pulled over the empty board in the corner, grabbing a pen. "We all should be on the same page with this. Now, let's go over what we know about Braden, then we'll start on the victims and maybe we'll finally get somewhere."

So we spent the next while categorizing and organizing everything we had into one place. I let everyone stew over what we had gathered before asking. "Now what do the victims have in common?"

Quiet reigned before Angel spoke. "They are both mothers, but they have nothing else in common. The first one is a house wife and the other is a member of a prominent political family. Even if they lived on the same planet, they are in completely different social and economic classes."

"Okay, we know he's targeting women with children, but anything else you can see? Any other possible connections? Anything strike you about the names of his victims?" At some of their faces, I explained. "Remember Braden likes to spell things with his victims names. I've already compared what he spelled before to the names now and they aren't corresponding. If he is spelling something, it's new."

As they all started shaking their heads, I knew it was time to move on. "Okay, I think for now, we'll continue to think on this and add to it as we learn more. For now, if anyone has any contacts that might have any sort of connection to Braden or to his past, or if they have heard anything from the streets, use them. Braden has to be hiding and working somewhere. He picks his victims for a reason and has to find out his information somewhere. Someone somewhere has to know where he is and we need to find him."

I turned to the teams from Rindell and Barcadi. "I want you to team off and pull whatever coworkers you can if need be. The victims' families and friends should be interviewed again. Gleam anything from, anything suspicious, any connections they might have to each other and to Braden." I turned back to Jeremy. "Any word on Todd's search for Braden's family?"

"No." He shook his head. "But if there are any out there, Todd will find them. I'll contact him to see if he has any updates or leads."

Once he left, I turned to Siri, who was still staring at the board. "Any insights? Anything you can gleam from this?"

She sighed several minutes later. "Nothing from this, but have you talked to the security stations at all the major transports?"

"Some of them. We sent out bulletins to everyone in this sector to go on high alert, but neither I or my superiors have the authority to make them follow any safety precautions."

A grin flashed across her face. "But I do. I have the full backing of not only the Jedi Council, but the Senate. They might be more receptive to follow my directions."

I felt the smile tugging on my lips, thinking that on second thought having a Jedi around might not be such a bad idea after all. "Angel, you put together the safety procedures correct?"

"Yes and I have all the contact information as well." Angel answered, her tone quite questionable.

"Good, then." They weren't going to like this. "Now, I want you two to go take care of that now. If we can ground him, it'll be much easier to catch him."

"What?" Came two female voices in protest.

I glanced at both of them, arms across their chest with firm looks on their faces. "Look, you two. We want to catch this killer not fight among ourselves. Now, Siri you have the authority and Angel has the information. It only makes sense for you to work together."

It took a moment or two before they both agreed and nearly stomped off to do it. I watched them, shaking my head. Women.

Sighing, I turned back to the board. Running a hand through my hair, I couldn't help but wonder where Braden was going to go next.

**Diedre's Point Of View**

"Diedre, honey are you home?" I heard my mom calling my name in the early afternoon as she entered the house.

"In the kitchen." I called back as I was baking some cookies for a function at Kalei's school.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she entered the room then went and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Better." I answered, which was only partially true.

She gave me a look that I often given my own kids when I knew they weren't telling me something. "You look tired."

"I guess I am. Seth didn't sleep well last night, so I was up with him." I told her. "Thankfully he's napping now. He was cranky all morning."

"He's not sick is he?" Mom asked as I sat down at the table next to her, the last of the cookies in the oven. "Do I need to keep Kalei?"

"No. I'm sure he's fine." I sighed, munching on a cookie. "They just both miss Obi-Wan."

She reached over and squeezed my hand. "I know you miss him too. They'll find Braden soon and come home."

"Any new updates? Has Dad told you anything?" I couldn't help but ask. Obi-Wan had left days ago, but I hadn't heard from him.

Mom shook her head. "Nothing that we don't already know. I'm sure if Braden kills again, we'll hear all about it."

I nodded again, taking a sip of coffee. "I just hope they catch him soon. I hate to think of those children that lost their mothers."

Mom nodded before speaking her mind. "Diedre, with Obi-Wan gone and a serial killer on the loose, your Dad and I will feel much better if you and the kids stay with us."

"Mom, we are fine." I protested. "If more things start happening, I'll come over. But for now, I'll be fine here. Besides that, especially with Obi-Wan gone, the kids and I are more comfortable here. I don't want to put you out either."

"Honey, Gabe, your brother, has his own place and Katrina is away at school. Of course, Roxana being seventeen is never at home and the house is nearly always empty." Mom was obviously playing up the empty nest, but with a large extended family, all in the area, she rarely had a empty house.

"Don't try that rouse on me. It won't work."

"Bethany is staying with Aunt Sofia while Jeremy is away." Mom just had to bring up my cousin's wife.

"Mom, that was her decision. Besides, you know Jena has colic and I think Aunt Sofia stays up with her so Bethany can get some sleep. Jeremy being gone was just the excuse so she can play grandma."

Mom was obviously trying to think of something else as I got up and pulled the cookies from the oven. Before she could say anything, I pulled the icing out of the refridge unit. "If you have some time you can help me ice these before Seth wakes up."

"Alright." With that we spent the next hour or so icing cookies.

**Obi-Wan's Point of View**

"Obi-Wan." Angel interrupted my mediation on Braden's victims and where he could be striking next. "Todd's back."

I looked up at her, instantly knowing that something wasn't right. "Alright then." I set down what I had been looking at and reached for my notes. "Let's go back into the conference room."

Siri and Jeremy soon joined us as Todd started his report. "It took some doing, considering Braden's family history of living with his mother, being moved to group homes and such, but I found a second or third cousin through marriage that he's reconnected with."

Todd paused for a long moment before saying it and we all groaned, including Siri. Lindon McFadden specialized in bomb making, selling them on the black market, to the highest bidder. Undercover security forces finally found him when he sold a bomb to a bounty hunter that was latter caught and ratted him out.

Before I could even ask it, Todd sighed and said. "Unfortunately, he was able to afford a good but shifty lawyer who managed to get him off on the majority of his charges. The prosecutors were only able to get him on accessory to murder. Then he was able to get out on parole, oh about five months or so ago."

"Any contact with Braden while they were still in prison or after McFadden got out?" I asked, trying to recall if the prison officials said if Braden received any visitors shortly before his escape.

"Not in person." Todd said as he began passing a packet around. "Apparently, while still in prison, McFadden had learned what his younger cousin had done and wrote to him. Correspondence between the two wasn't very much until he was released for good behavior, which then they increased. I went back to the Lycon prison and re questioned the officials and was able to get copies of their letters."

"Did they say why they didn't mention this before?" I couldn't help but question.

"First off they didn't realize who Braden was corresponding with and secondly these letters raise no suspensions. I have been looking them over and I can't find anything either, but maybe one of you can. It must be in some sort of code."

We all started looking through the letters. At first glance nothing seemed to jump out at any of us, but maybe a thorough search would lend us to breaking the code or figuring out the clues.

"Being somewhat distant cousins, knowing it was about the only lead we had, I did a little research." Todd spoke again several minutes later. "McFadden grew up here on Barcadi. From what I discovered, like his cousin, he didn't have a very happy home life and often found himself in trouble, living on his own, getting into fights, committing small petty crimes. However, I was able to find that he, as a teenager, worked for one of the older Dalton's, as a stable hand or something and was trying to earn an honest living. However, there was some sort of incident involving one of the daughters and well, it didn't turn out in McFadden's favor. His life went down from there."

We all stared at him, almost not believing he had found such a strong connection. Now we at least knew why Braden had killed a Dalton. For his cousin. I suddenly didn't like the sickening feeling growing in my stomach. We had a serial killer and one of the best bomb makers in the entire galaxy most likely working together.

"Do you think this means McFadden will now bomb someone for Braden?" Angel asked several minutes later, breaking the silence.

"I hope not, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he did."

"Do you have any idea of where McFadden is?" I asked Todd, thinking if we could get a hold of him, we could get Braden faster.

Todd shook his head. "Once I realized he could be a link, I started working on that and came up with nothing. They mostly likely are hiding out somewhere new and are working together."

"What about his parole officer?" Jeremy asked. "Can we find him that way?"

"McFadden did report in at his last scheduled time, but when I told the officer that he'd been corresponding with a family member whom is at large, he tried to contact him and even stopped by his last known address and has had no contact." We all brightened slightly at that news, it almost assuring us the two were working together. "Since this is a murder investigation, I do have his next scheduled visit and he will contact me if he finds or hears from McFadden before then."

We all grew quiet for several minutes, letting all of this sink in before I spoke. "Good work Todd. We have a better handle on things with that information. I'm assuming you've also updated the Chef."

He nodded before asking about any updates here and we filled him in, including formally introducing him to Siri.

Todd raised an eyebrow, obviously quite curious as to why a Jedi was now involved, but wisely didn't comment. Instead, he asked. "Have any of you eaten lately? When I stayed at home for a day or so, Mom gave me enough food to feed an army."

We all glanced at each other smiling. Home cooked meals sounded just what we needed and Aunt Sofia's food was the best.

"Good." Jeremy said. "It beats eating out or Angel's cooking."

"Like yours is any better." She fired back, not missing a beat. "Didn't you get married so you didn't have to eat your own cooking?"

Todd and I started laughing as Jeremy pretended to be offended before firing back at her. "At least I didn't burn anything down."

"For the record." Angel glared at us as we continued to laugh. "Nothing burned down. I just left the dish in the oven too long."

"Sure Angel." Jeremy said, also laughing. "Tell that to fire department who busted the door down."

"I was sixteen, come on." Angel protested. "It's not like you didn't do stupid things too." Her gaze cut across to me. "Come to think about it, weren't you upstairs, let's say with Diedre?"

Jeremy and Todd hooted as I faked innocence as Diedre and I were making out, nearly getting caught by Gabe, completely missing the growing smell of smoke. "I was upstairs asleep as I had been working the night before. I slept through most of it and didn't hear a thing until the front door was busted open."

Angel gave me a look and snorted. "Uh-uh, that really explains the lipstick that I swore I saw on your collarbone."

We continued to laugh and banter for another moment or so until Siri finally broke into the conversation, looking completely confused. "Am I missing something here? How are you all related?"

"Those two loons over there are brothers." Angel explained, still laughing a bit. "I'm their cousin as our fathers are brothers. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, is married to my older sister."

Siri just stared at us for a moment. "Is your whole family cops or something? Is there any more crazy relatives I need to worry about?"

We all looked at each other, heading towards the food, going over a little family history with her. After we finished eating, the other three going to back to work, still joking around, Siri looked over at me. "Besides chasing this killer, you look happy."

I couldn't help but smile, thinking of home with Diedre and the kids. "I am. The family can be a bit crazy at times and you can't ever seem to escape from them, but I don't think I would change it."

"We've always wondered what happened to you, especially Garen and Bant." Siri mused as we headed back inside. "I remembered they mentioned that you and Qui-Gon reconnected."

I nodded, remembering the storms that stranded him on planet for several days, forcing us to finally let go of the past. "Yes, we did."

She was about to ask something else as we were interrupted by Angel, saying the press wanted an update. Siri and I glanced at each other and we went to go handle it, thinking we could finish catching up later as we started debating who was going to speak to the press.

**Diedre's Point of View**

I was dead tired as I pulled the speeder up in front of the house. It had been a long day and I still wasn't sleeping much knowing Obi-Wan was chasing a killer. Sighing, I climbed out, then came around to let Seth out of his safety seat. Setting him on the ground, I picked up one of the grocery bags. "Okay, Seth, let's get inside. Maybe we can have a snack before we go get your sister from school."

Instead of running straight toward the door or jumping around everywhere, Seth hovered close to me as I pulled the mail from the box. Flipping through it, I pulled out a small envelope with a datapad in it. "This is rather interesting."

I stopped and looked it over, seeing if there was a name or anything with it. Was this a new form of junk mail? I gently touched the screen to see if it would come on, but nothing happened. Tucking it back into the envelope, to throw away later, I headed toward the house.

"Mummy, no." Seth was suddenly yanking on my shirt. "No mummy, we can't go."

I set down the bag, not wanting to deal with a tantrum outside where my neighbors could see us and I wasn't in the mood to handle it either. "Seth, stop that right now. We're going inside."

In response, Seth planted his feet on the sidewalk and refused to move. "Not going mummy. Not good."

I was about to pick him up, regardless but something Obi-Wan once told me rang in my mind. "They will feel the Force, Diedre, there is no getting around that. They will see things before they happen or have a bad feeling about something. Listen to their instincts and insights, they are mostly likely right." "What is not good?"

He just pointed toward the house.

"What about the house?"

Seth started shaking. "Not good mummy."

I wasn't quite sure what to do. He felt something, but didn't know what. Sighing, I turned to go into the house by myself, just to clear the way when Seth ran, hiding underneath the speeder. "Seth."

I only took a few more steps when a loud noise, a big bang, came from behind me. Pure instinct told me to run and when a force of air hit me, it sent me nearly flying. As I rolled on the ground, luckily in the grass nearly in the neighbor's yard, I breathed in the distinctive smell of fire and smoke and heard the roar of wood and stone breaking. Someone had put a bomb in my house.

Fear for my son instantly startled me up from the ground. Ignoring the bumps and bruises I could feel, I dashed back to the speeder, pulling Seth out and held him close against me, trying to soothe his shaking body and nearly frantic cries. Nearly chocking on the smoke, I ran for the neighbor's to call for help.

"Can I go home now?" I asked the doctor as I was examined in the emergency room of the hospital a couple hours after the explosion. After all, the police arrived, asking questions, the fire department put out the remaining flames, the press was everywhere, my entire family and every other person in the neighborhood watched it all unfold in absolute shock. I just wanted to find a bed somewhere and sleep, but mom insisted to get checked out to make sure Seth and I were really unhurt. Still in shock, I didn't protest as she drove us to the local med center.

Meanwhile, the doctor looked over his clipboard at me. "Your blood pressure is still a bit high, but other than that you seem to be okay, except for a few bruises. I just want to wait for the lab results to come back before we release you. You were really lucky. You could have easily broken something."

I sighed as the doctor left the room, knowing if it hadn't been for Seth, we'd both be dead. Blinking away the tears, wanting Obi-Wan to hold me and tell me everything was going to be alright, but he wasn't here. So I focused on something else. "Mom, where's Kalei? Did someone think to pick her up from school?"

"Gabe went to go get her. He and Roxana will look after her." She told me, looking as stressed as I felt. "It'll be okay honey. You and Seth are unhurt. We can replace your things."

I nodded, again blinking away the tears, trying to think that she was right, but it was much more than that. Obi-Wan and I had bought the house, with help from mom and dad, shortly before the wedding. We spent the first night there on our wedding night. It's where we made our babies and watched them grow. "Oh Mom, what am I going to do? I don't know if our insurance covers bomb damage. We've lost everything."

She wrapped her arms around me, careful not to wake Seth who was sleeping besides me. "I'll take you and Seth back to our house and you can stay there. Then tomorrow we'll start taking care of everything."

"But there might still be stuff we can salvage."

"Diedre, even if there is they won't let us in so soon, it'll be several days at least. Besides they consider the bomb a part of the investigation anyway."

I couldn't help but groan. "Alright. I do feel like I could sleep for a year."

She gently kissed the top of my head and with her hand gently stroking my hair, I began to relax a bit. Maybe things would be okay. If Obi-Wan would come home, even for a few hours, just enough to hold me.

It was a bit before the doctor came back in, followed by another one. My stomach nearly dropped. Something was going on.

"Diedre, you have nothing wrong with you." I sighed in relief. "However, we did find something on your lab results. Did you know you are pregnant?"

My mom gasped as I stared back at the doctor. I was pregnant? Obi-Wan and I had taken precautions, but maybe when we took that trip nearly eight weeks ago, I forget a dosage or something. "Is the baby alright?"

The doctor turned to the lady standing behind him. "That's why I've asked Dr. Shelby, our ob/gyn on call to come make sure."

After the proper introductions, my mom took Seth from the room as I was fully examined, including having an ultrasound. Thankfully everything seemed normal, and though I showed no signs of miscarriage, I was given strict instructions to stay off my feet for the next several days at least and to check in with my regular ob/gyn doctor within the week. Of course if I felt anything that felt like cramping to come in immediately.

Finally after that, signing tons of paperwork, I was allowed to go. Mom carried Seth as I walked besides her. I was pregnant again. I had no home, a husband chasing a dangerous criminal, two little ones with another coming. I knew I should have felt even more overwhelmed, even more pressure with everything happening in one day, but yet I didn't. For the first time since my house was blown up, I smiled. I was having another baby.

I could tell Mom was worried about me, but a slight twinkle in her eyes showed she was also pleased. There had been much darkness lately, but at least this would be a happy event.

"Let's get you home and off your feet." Mom helped me into the speeder. "I'll take care of things."

I nodded my head, extremely thankful for my family right now. "Mom, can we tell everyone the doctor wanted me to rest? You can tell Dad, but I would prefer to tell Obi-Wan about the baby before the rest of the family finds out."

"Of course." Mom well knew once it started getting around, Obi-Wan would more than likely find out from someone else that I was pregnant.

"Did Dad com him? Does Obi-Wan even know our house is pretty much gone?" I asked as we drove to my parents' house.

"I don't know. I'll ask once we get you and Seth settled." Mom assured me.

We arrived at the house shortly and she helped me in and up to bed, lending me some clothes to sleep in. Quite tired, I crawled into the bed, pulling Seth close against me, grateful for his warm very much alive body next to mine. Blinking and sniffing away the tears, trying not to think that I'd lost nearly everything, but that my son was alive and unhurt, I finally fell asleep.

**Obi-Wan's Point of View**

"Obi-Wan." I felt a hand shaking my shoulder as I was finally able to get some much needed sleep after holding a long press conference. "Wake up."

"Angel what is it?" She stepped back as I wiped the sleep out of my eyes before turning on a light. I glanced up at her and was shocked to see her face nearly sheet white. Fear settled into my stomach. I'd never seen her so shaken.

"Dad's on the com unit for you." Her voice too shook slightly. "McFadden struck."

I reached for my shirt and pulled it on before swinging around and standing up from the couch I was able to nap on. "What did he hit?"

"Obi-Wan." Angel was on the verge of tears, but she pressed on. "He blew up your house."

For a moment the room spun and I quickly sat back down. Taking a few deep breathes, I asked. "Diedre? The kids?"

"Thankfully they are fine, shocked of course, but unhurt." She assured me and I have never felt so relieved of anything in my entire life. "They've moved in with mom and dad for now. I think Dad wants to go over everything with you."

I nodded, following her from the room, having a bad feeling that this case was far from over. It was still only the beginning.