Chapter Seven: Surrender
"Alex," Tony tried to be calm, "put the gun down."
Alex smiled. Then, laughed. "You're gonna start making demands?"
Tony smiled back. Hey, it was his specialty. "Well, the odds are against you. You shoot me, he'll shoot you," he said, nodding his head in Gibbs' direction.
"What if I just shoot you both?" Alex claimed.
"You're not that talented," Tony told him.
"Let me see Lindsay, and I'll put my gun down," Alex tried to negotiate.
"Not gonna happen," Gibbs said immediately.
Behind the wall, Kate looked at Lindsay and whispered, "I have to go help my team. I want you to stay here. Okay, Lindsay?"
"I can't. My family," Lindsay told her.
"They won't be less in danger with you there. The minute Alex sees you, he will shoot you. Do you understand? Stay here," Kate warned.
"Promise you'll get them out safely?" Lindsay begged.
"I promise," Kate said without thinking. Then, she cursed herself. You never make promises you may not be able to keep. And she was definitely unsure about this situation. But she walked out from behind the wall, gun held parallel her chest, arms straight.
"Oh, look," Alex snarled. "Another guest."
Tony and Gibbs, not taking their eyes off their target, both knew who that visitor was. What the hell she was doing, they didn't know.
"Why did you kill Michael?" Kate asked loudly and clearly.
Alex smiled again. "Mike. Mikey. Michael. I hated him. Simple as that. He pretended to be a good person, but he wasn't."
"So, you killed him?" Kate asked.
"What's it matter? He didn't," Alex told.
Tony joined in. "Like hell he didn't! He was a dad, and a pretty damn good one if you ask me!"
Alex still smiled, unfazed. "Oh, I took care of that too. No one will think he's a good father ever again."
"What do you mean?" Kate and Tony asked at the same time.
"He went to jail, didn't he? For child abuse," Alex smiled bigger than ever.
Something clicked in Tony's mind. "You hurt Noah, not Michael."
"Took you long enough, didn't it? Of course I did it. Michael...I can't believe people bought that he did it. He's soft," Alex admitted.
"How?" Kate asked as Gibbs continually remained silent.
"Picked him up early from school, brought him to my place while my family was at work and school. And, I think you can figure the rest out. After I was sure he was thoroughly...scarred, I threatened him. If he told anyone, I'd do it again. Then I took him back to his house, just as his school bus arrived," Alex maliciously explained.
"Why?" Tony mustered a whisper.
"Why. Because! I hate him! I've hated him since he was born! You know, I tried to kill him when he was two. Put him in the dryer. Mom found out and I got whipped with Daddy's belt. But it doesn't matter 'cause they're both dead, and now so is Michael. The only one I have left is Lindsay," Alex finished, his eyes blank.
"The report says your parents committed suicide," Kate remembered.
Alex smiled. "I'm good aren't I? Overdosed Mom, hanged Daddy."
"How?" Kate wondered in horror.
"Easy. Mixed the pills up in Mom's dinner and in her wine. Daddy was more difficult. I had the noose ready in the basement. Daddy couldn't walk. Paralyzed from the waist down. I had to do more work. Learned to take the easy way with Mom. I had to drug him before I could put him in his wheelchair and push him down the stairs to the basement. I had to lift him to reach the noose. But it all paid off in the end. Daddy's dead. Mom's dead. Michael's dead. Lindsay will too," he said.
"Why did you stab Michael?" Tony suddenly wondered. "You said after your dad, you learned to take the easy way."
"Wanted him to suffer. He ruined my life. So, I snuck into his house in the middle of the night through the doggy door. Tight fit, but worth it. Waited in the basement for Hannah and Noah to leave. Came up behind Michael, tackled him to the ground, and just started stabbing him. Then, I put him on the couch so he would look alive. I knew Noah was gonna find him. Hilarious," Alex said, still with no emotion.
Tony had a disturbed look on his face. Obviously that was not his idea of 'hilarious'. But, then again, he had a conscience and was not a sociopath.
"Now, enough questions! Give me Lindsay or die!" Alex said.
"No," Gibbs said simply.
"Well, then, I guess I'll have to kill sparky here," Alex said as his finger moved slightly to pull the trigger. But, before, he could do it, three shots from Tony's gun hit him directly in the chest. The gun fell from Alex's hands. He was dead. Kate quickly led the family back to their mom.
Gibbs looked at Tony. "Nice shot."
"Well, I really hate physical therapy," Tony commented.
Gibbs brow furrowed. "What makes you think he couldn't of shot you dead? He killed nearly his whole family."
"He's a coward, boss. And, a bad shot. Did you see how he didn't shoot any of the victims? And he didn't want to kill me. He wanted to kill Lindsay," Tony explained.
"Did you really think all that through before you shot him?" Gibbs asked.
"No," Tony admitted. "I thought, this guy is gonna shoot me, I better shoot him first!"
"Well, at least you think fast."
