Chapter 2.3: Patrick Jane

When Knowles entered the room again, I kept my eyes shut as I lay face down on the bed, fighting back the excruciating pain of my two hands being forced behind my back, pulling roughly at the stitches of the surgical wound and the titanium plates holding the two fragments together. He couldn't have hurt me more had he shot me in the leg.

Why the hell hadn't I seen him coming, I asked myself over and over again. Because I had been too much at ease, too relaxed, too certain he wouldn't find us. If that storm hadn't happened, if I hadn't been so stupid to go out and close the shutters, if we hadn't gone to the hospital … No, it was no use going there now. What was done was done. Now I had to find a way to get us out of here.

He sat down on a chair facing the guest bed he had thrown me on. "I know you're awake, Patrick Jane."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. After he attacked me on the deck, he had pulled me up, removed the medical so roughly I swore I could hear a stitch burst and forced my hands behind me back, hurting me so badly I swore I could see red before my eyes. My shoulder – if we made it out of here – could be damaged so badly it might take months now to heal. He then forced me to go inside, up the stairs and into this room. I started to talk to him, trying to get him to listen to me. I reasoned with hem, tried to get him to look me in the eyes so I could hypnotize him but he didn't budge.

Then he had sat me down on the bed, holding the small capsule with pain medication in his hands. "You are going to take four of these pills," he said. "Or I will put a bullet into your head right now and I'll kill her as soon as she sets foot in this house."

"You don't have to drug me, I'll behave," I said.

"I just want you to shut up," he hissed. "Stop rambling like a mad man. Take them or I'll shoot her in the head."

"Alright," I had agreed, knowing we needed to stall to find a way out of here.

He then shoved the four pills into my mouth, forced me to drink half a bottle of water and opened my mouth roughly to see if I had swallowed them. It took about ten minutes before I felt the effect of the strong painkillers, getting dizzier by the minute. Then I fell on my side on the bed, rolling onto my stomach as I fell asleep.

Later on, how much later I didn't know but it was dark out, I woke up and heard his voice through the walls in the room next door: Charlotte's room. Even though Lisbon spoke softly and I was unable to hear her clearly, I knew she was there and she was alright. That brought back my fighting spirit immediately. She was biding time as well, upsetting him, I could tell. I heard the smash of a tray being thrown on the floor.

That's my girl, I thought pleased, putting two and two together. She was pissing him off and that was exactly what you did with murderers like him. Together we could beat this guy. We stood a chance, as slim as it might be.

Then he walked in here, sitting down and knowing I was awake.

I opened my eyes, lying sideways on the bed and looked at him. "What are your plans, Dennis? If you plan to kill us, do it already. It's not like that we believe you are going to let us live anyhow."

"You are right about that part," he agreed, "but the way to do it is often more important than the actual kill. You should know that, Mr. Jane."

I sensed this man knew a lot more about me than I wanted him to.

"Revenge can be so bitter sweet, don't you agree? Using your bare hands instead of using a gun, it can feel so perfect. Why would one use a gun when there are so many ways of feeling so much more satisfied?"

"I've read all about you," I replied hoarsely, trying to gain the lead in this conversation. "Murdering these women really got you off, didn't it? It wasn't just the hunt or the kill, but especially the way you tied them into those trees, watching them bleed to death, their blood dripping on the ground before you as their eyes begged for mercy. Until the last drop of blood fell and they gasped their final breaths, they pleaded with you to live. But you took photos of them instead, mocked at their vulnerability and their naivety when you stole them from their homes. They went with you because they believed that everyone had a good heart in your town. Only to realize they had encountered that one demon that lived amongst them."

"Nice psychoanalysis, Mr. Jane. But it was actually quite easy. Unfortunately I had the back luck of bumping into Teresa Lisbon. She took away what was rightfully mine. I had so many plans and she ruined them all."

"Don't kid yourself, Dennis. You would never have become the greatest serial killer of all time. Too much competition, I'm afraid."

"Well, it's not too late to obliterate them, is it? I have my whole life ahead of me now." Knowles leaned forward. "I already found the perfect new hideout. There's this quiet little Utah village where people hardly read newspapers or keep up with the daily news. Imagine their fear when young woman start end up being found with their stomachs cut open. Imagine what I could do in a place like that."

"I swear to you that you will be stopped," I said calmly. "Your life ends here, in this house."

He laughed. "Who is going to stop me? You? A crippled man who can only fight back with words and sassy remarks? There is no one here to rescue you, Mr. Jane. There are no cops, no Feds, nobody. You made it quite easy on me, you know? Here I was, thinking I would have to kidnap Agent Lisbon in front of her colleagues. Instead, you brought her straight into my arms."

I bit my lip, realizing he was right. My well-meant intentions had been pulled to shreds. We were no longer in Austin, where Cho, Abbott, Fischer could protect Lisbon with guns, making sure she was protected against Knowles. I had taken her out of that safety net, believing he would never find us here. And he wouldn't have, if it weren't for that video.

"Don't beat yourself over it, Mr. Jane," Knowles said. "I would have found taken her out sooner or later anyway. You took her here to get her out of plain sight, didn't you? You thought they would find me very quickly and I would be taken back to that hellhole so fast I wouldn't know what hit me. But I have learned a great deal in prison. I know how to stay low profile now. I can blend in with the crowds. I would have been around without you even spotting it."

"Don't kid yourself, Dennis," I muttered. "We've caught a lot more dangerous men than you."

"Perhaps you have," he smiled dangerously, hovering over me. "But you've never been in this defenseless situation before either, have you?"

He had a point.

"Alright then, Mr. Jane." He took his time coming to his point, knowing he had all the time in the world. "I'll give you the same dilemma I have given Agent Lisbon. It'll give you some time to think about it. It's going to be a long night."

He then told me his intent. We were to choose how to die? We could die together, playing a game of Russian roulette, going down together. Or, decide which one of us was going to live and which one was going to die?

He watched my face, probably surprised by the lack of emotion on it. Little did he know that I didn't fear death, in fact, there had been plenty of times where I had challenged it, looked it straight into the eyes and beckoned for it to take me away from his world. I had been through too much, both mentally and physically, to be afraid of his offer.

Now though, as our phones downstairs were – hopefully – still ringing off the hook, perhaps – hopefully – alerting people we were in trouble and needed help, all we could do was buy time. Time for someone to get here and save us, for we would not be able to do it ourselves.

"So," he finished. "That's it. I'll give you until 4 a.m. to think about your choices and what your proposition will be. After that, I'm afraid we must make haste and I will have to finish this quickly. It's now nearly midnight. That means you have four hours to decide. I'll come back. For now, I'm going to have some fun with Agent Lisbon."

"Don't harm her," I said weakly. "You can already have my answer. You know what it is."

"Oh, I won't lay a finger on her," he smiled. "I'll leave that for later. I'll come back for your answer later. You can brood on that for now."

With that, he closed the door and left me alone, not knowing I was so high on adrenaline I managed to move up from the bed and sit up straight, knowing I had four hours to free myself from these bonds and think of a way to attack and kill him.