Chapter 10: Death Be Gentle, Death Be Quick

Jack Crawford looked at the fingerprints that had been sent to his office via email from Kentucky. He glared at the photographs of the child victims with hatred. There had been a match on the fingerprints and the semen sample that he had left behind on the cleaning lady. A photograph of Theodore Fisher looked back at him; it was a line up photo from the Kentucky State Police Department that had been used to find a child molester in the area, though he hadn't been picked out at the time. It was his one lucky break.

"So this is the guy," Beverly asked as she looked over Jack's shoulder at the photographs.

"Why didn't Sally tell us that she had another sister," Jack asked as his brown eyes moved away from Theodore Fisher's photo to a picture of Theodore's sister dead on a slab.

"Maybe she didn't know," Beverly suggested, "You know how she is with her family. She didn't even want to go back to Kentucky. There's a past there that she doesn't-"

"And that's another thing," Jack said as he turned to look at his other pack hunter, "what is she hiding in Kentucky?"

"I don't know, Jack," Beverly answered, "Probably nothing. How long as Salome been your go to girl? Whatever happened to her in Kentucky made her a great detective and someone that you depend on. You can't just throw her to the wolves."

"She hasn't answered her phone," Jack informed her, stress was clear in his tone and in his facial features, he looked old and tired as he looked at Beverly, "I can't be," he stopped and took a deep breath, "I sent her there, what if-"

He wondered if he should have sent Will Graham with her like she had asked. He would have felt better, but he had seen how Will had been acting and with Will dissociating like Hannibal Lecter had told him he was doing, and he had thought that it would not be good for him to follow another person that held his same gift. His top dogs were two characters on the same card. They both had disorders that he could use, but he knew it came at a price. Will would eventually go crazy from his gift and Salome was always on the verge of a mental breakdown from the extreme amounts of fear that she felt as she followed the victim's tracks.

"She's not like the others. She's not a fragile little tea cup like you think Graham is. She's your pit bull puppy," Beverly said with a matter of fact tone as she looked up at the Behavioral Science director with a small, reassuring smile, "She knows how to take care of herself. You taught her personally. She's had FBI and CIA training. She can take care of herself," she looked over to the photograph of Theodore and added, "She'll bring this creep in."

"I hope you're right," Jack whispered as he turned back to face the victims of the killer that Salome Ashwood had been hunting down.

"Tell me about the guy," Beverly demanded as she walked towards him to look at the photographs, "Be the director of the Behavioral Science unit. Become your top dogs. Who is this man? What's he want with Salome?"

"He had an incestuous affair with his sister, Lana Fisher. He turned to hard drugs after his father died shortly before starting the affair with Lana," Jack said aloud, just as he had instructed his dogs to do when they were analyzing their targets, "Lana is Salome's half-sister. She later killed herself by throwing herself out a hospital window."

"They shared a mother, but not the father?"

"He's angry," Jack informed her, "That's why he kills the children. He wants some justice and in his mind he sees the killing of children as some sort of retribution. His father was murdered and the killer was never found. Though reports from back in the day seemed to point to Salome's father."

"This has been about revenge the whole time," Beverly answered as she connected the dots, "Our killer is obsessed with the sister who never knew him. He wants her attention and the only way to do it is by killing children. He's using her gift to bring her to him."

"He wants to kill Salome to avenge his father," Jack said as he mentally made the jumps that his top dogs made, "He thinks she is connected in the murder somehow."

"He's judge, jury, and executioner," Beverly stated as she glared at the photograph of the disgusting man that had lived a hard life. She turned to watch Jack Crawford reaching for his cell phone and dialed out to the Kentucky Police Department. His pit bull puppy was going to need some back up with what this mad man had planned for her.

...

Salome felt like a small child as she stood in front of her old house where she spent her childhood. The only light left in the house was from the security lamp on the light pole in the corner of the yard where an old propane tank sat with old bullet holes ripped into it from her drunken and high father. Insects sang in the woods that surrounded the old house like a blanket hiding the abandoned building from the rest of the world. This was the house where drug abuse ran rampant and a family was lost to meth. The house held horrible memories.

She was going in alone without backup. No one knew where she had disappeared to. She could only feel the fear from the kidnapped child, the fear shook through her body, but she forced herself to stay cool in the situation. She had never gone in to a situation alone, but this is how he wanted it. She was working on his turf now.

Shuffling sounds echoed from deep inside the house and she instinctively gripped onto her pistol tightly as she edged closer to the door. Salome could hear the soft, muffled cries of a young girl on the other side of the door. She knew that she would have to play this as easy and as quick as she could to save the girl.

"You son of a bitch," she heard the familiar voice of Lester cry out right before a loud bang echoed throughout the house. The ringing from the gun shot rang through her ears as she forced herself through the door and into the cold house. Lester's body lay unconscious on the living room floor with a bullet hole in his belly.

Salome held her gun tight in her hand, pointing it ahead of her with steady hands. She kept her back against the wall as she recalled her rigorous training that she had been given at Quantico before being accepted as a part of Crawford's team.

The muffled cries of the girl filled the dark home of her childhood as she moved around the covered furniture. She carefully kneeled down beside Lester and carefully placed her hand against his neck where she took his pulse. It was faint, but still present. Her fear peaked as she heard footsteps coming from the darkened kitchen.

"Sarah," Salome called out to the little girl, "I'm Agent Ashwood," she heard the girl cry louder and she moved closer to the kitchen, "I'm here to help you," the floor creaked as she took another step towards the kitchen, "I need you to tell me-"

"Don't," she heard the loud voice of an angry man demand of her, "don't come in here."

She peered into the kitchen to see a large flashlight sitting upwards to give light within the dark house. The shadows that cast about the man's face seemed demonic as he held the girl in place. The fear on her face was plain to see. The duct tape still remained in place over her mouth and her captor held the chain tightly in his hand.

"What's your name," she asked as she carefully peaked around the wall to see the lanky man holding Sarah Long in place in front of him with his gun pointed at her temple.

"You mean after all this time you still don't know me," he asked, his voice was slurred from the drugs that he had ingested before killing the cleaning lady.

"I can't really see you," Salome informed him as she slowly moved into the kitchen, she lowered her gun from his view and she looked him over as she tried to place him, "I," she shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you. What's your name?"

"It's Theodore, Theodore Fisher," he explained through teary eyes, "but my sister called me Teddy."

"Well Theodore," Salome said with a simple nod as she looked from him down to Sarah Long, "I'm Agent Ashwood, but you uh, you already knew that. Now, we can settle this simply," she shrugged her shoulders, "You hand over the little girl and you and I handle this like it needs to be handled. Huh? You like the sound of that?"

He didn't answer her as he looked down at the girl.

"You look jus' like her," he admitted.

"Like who," Salome asked as she looked to the frightened girl.

"My sister," he answered as he gripped the gun tight in his hand, "She's your sister too."

Understanding came over her as she thought back to the message he had left her. Her father's sins had been being a cheater. She had always wondered if there had been any other children that he could have fathered in town, but she had never asked.

"She killed herself because she couldn't deal with me," Teddy cried as he glared at her, "Your father killed my," he lifted the gun quickly and pulled the trigger, "father, just like I'm goin' to kill you."

He smiled as he watched the FBI agent fall backwards with a gunshot wound in her shoulder. He listened to her moan in anger and pain as the blood poured from the wound and stained her borrowed shirt. The young girl cried as she watched helplessly as her hero fell to the ground and her crazed captor smiled like Satan.

Salome watched as Theodore Fisher pistol whipped the young girl until she fell to the floor in unconsciousness. She tried to reach for her pistol but the mad man had been faster and kicked it away from her reach.

"Now it's your turn to feel pain Sally," he yelled down at her as he pulled her up by her wounded arm. He smiled as she bit back the pain. He watched in glee as she tried to fight against him. Her fists moved with expert precision, but he dodged them with an agile quickness that he had learned from surviving beatings from angry drug dealers like the man that lay bleeding out on the living room floor.

Theodore lurched his hand around Salome's messy ponytail and shoved her headfirst into the cabinets. He banged her head violently into the cabinets multiple times until he felt her body begin to give up from the strain of the violent act. He could hear her moaning as her forehead caught on the corner of the cabinet. Blood oozed down her forehead, over her nose, and down her cheek from the deep gash. He smiled as he mentally thought of little yellow birds flying above his detective's head as he allowed her legs to crumble from underneath her weight.

He held her close and smiled down at her as he whispered, "No, no, don't leave me," he slapped her bloodied face and smiled as she looked up at him with confusion and fear in her eyes, "I have one last thing to show you before I give you the right to die, Sally."

She groaned as he jerked her away from the unconscious girl that she had been assigned to save. It was now her life on the line and she knew she was going to lose that life if she didn't pull her senses back together and turn the tables on the mad man. She felt a sense of déjà vu come over her. She had been through the same thing with Rick; she could get the upper hand just like she did with her abusive fiancée. It was almost the same exact situation.

Salome allowed him to pull her out of the house and into the woods. The insects stopped their chorus music as he dragged her beaten body deep into the woods that surrounded the house. Twigs cracked beneath their feet as the darkness seemed to envelope them. The moon lit their way through the trees and vines. Animals scurried within the underbrush as Theodore mumbled under his breath about his dead sister.

"I KNOW," he screamed to the darkness, tears fell from his eyes as he jerked Salome closer to him, "I'm taking care of it! You had to kill yourself to get away from me. I did all of this! It's not my fault!"

Salome closed her eyes as she felt him shove her down to the ground. She rolled slightly until she was on her back. Twigs bit into her back as she looked up to the sky. She could hear the babbling of the small stream beside them and she took a deep breath as she planned her next move.

She lay still on the cold, wet ground as he lowered himself on top of her. He held the gun at the base of her neck with on hand and with his free hand he ripped the buttons off the large shirt to expose her pale skin to the moonlight. His eyes twinkled as he looked down at her flesh that he had fantasized about so many times.

"I'm so sorry Lana," he cried as he forced Sally's legs apart. He laid himself between her and smiled down wickedly at her, "but it's going to be just like old times first."

Salome closed her eyes as she felt him becoming excited as his hands slowly touched her exposed skin. She took deep breaths and remained still as his free hand cupped her bra, his thumb slipped under her bra to touch the warm flesh of her breast. Salome opened her eyes as she felt him lean into her and place hot kisses upon her throat as he whispered his half-sister's name.

She felt disgusted as she allowed him to be distracted and whispered softly as she allowed one hand to play with his hair, "It's okay Teddy."

She felt the gun slip slightly from its place against her throat as he fumbled with the button on her pants. She took the moment to move her wounded arm ever so slightly towards the old tree that stood beside them. He was a child killer, he tortured and did unspeakable things to them, but yet he was able to be turned on by the adult female form. He was a crazed man on a mission. It was what made him so hard to catch; he didn't kill children because he enjoyed it. He killed children to get her attention and now he had it. Now he could enjoy himself.

"I saw you Sally-May," he whispered as he looked back up to her, his eyes filled with a dangerous mixture of anger and lust, "I saw you runnin' with the gun," he unbuttoned her pants and began pulling them down with his free hand as he aimed the gun at her forehead, "the gun that killed my father."

She paled as she reached into the old tree trunk. She mentally prayed for the old Smith & Wesson to still be there where she had hid it. Lester had been the only person that she had known that knew where it was and she hadn't seen the weapon at his house with the many times that she been there. Her fingers gripped t the earth as she begged for them to reach further.

"I saw you throw it into the river," he whispered, "that's why they never found it. You helped your father kill my-"

Her fingers touched the butt of the gun and a dark smile came over her as she pulled it into her grasp. She hurriedly pulled it up and shoved it into his face. She watched as the smile faded from his face as he realized she had found the upper hand in the situation, she had turned the tables that he had worked so hard to put into place.

"You're wrong," she said through clenched teeth as she pushed herself off of the cold, wet ground, "I had nothing to do with it."

"He killed my father because he was going to tell your whore mother," he said in anger, "You ruined my life!"

"I didn't do a damn thing," she hissed, "You chose to kill those children."

"SHE TOLD ME TO DO IT," he screamed as he moved towards her with the gun, "I DIDN'T WANT TO! THAT FUCKING BITCH KILLED HERSELF AND THEN YOU," he stopped and began to pull the trigger, "we can kill each other. Two criminals killed by each other. Freddie Lounds will be happy about that story!"

Salome watched as he pulled back the hammer, but she beat him to the point. She prayed as she pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger. The sound of the old bullet escaping the weather worn Smith & Wesson was music to her ears as if the Savior himself had come down from Heaven and gave her a personal miracle.

The weight from Theodore Fisher escaped her as the bullet ripped through his body. Salome took a deep breath as she watched him fall backwards as he took a deep breath as blood rushed into his lungs from the gunshot. She pulled the shirt back around her and buttoned her pants as she forced herself up from the ground. She kicked his weapon out of his reach and smiled down at him. Her lips pursed and her eyelids lowered just a fraction as she looked down at the serial killer that had done everything in his power to try to end her.

"I got you, you son of a bitch," she hissed as she glared down at him. She watched as he spit up the blood that had rushed into his lungs, "and you were right, I am a criminal. It's the Kentucky backwoods blood that makes me less than an agent for the FBI," she looked away from him as her bitter words escaped her lips and gazed towards the house where she had witnessed many crimes being committed, "but I'll be damned if I'm brought down by someone like you."

...

Jack Crawford hurried into the old observatory with SWAT teams behind him with a battering ram. Every psychiatrist that had studied Dr. Abel Gideon was under attack from the escaped psychopath that had murdered his family. Dr. Caruthers had been the last known victim and Freddie Lounds had been his hostage along with Dr. Frederick Chilton.

He felt a sickness deep inside of him at the thought of what could be hiding behind those doors. There had been Mariam Lass's arm left for him last time. He didn't want to think about her at this moment while he still had an agent missing in Kentucky and another that was losing his grip on reality.

Abel Gideon was peacocking for the Chesapeake Killer who Frederick Chilton had tried to convince Abel that he was indeed the Ripper and he was out for revenge. Frederick Chilton was the bait for Abel to being in the Chesapeake Ripper.

The Chesapeake Ripper had told him where to find the surgeon that had kidnapped the psychiatrist and the reporter.

"We need to get Dr. Chilton out alive," Jack demanded of his men as he looked up to the white observatory. He took a deep breath. He didn't want to think about what he was going to find behind those doors.

The lights from the cop cars lit up the dark sky as snow fell in a slow dance with the frigid wind. He had told Will Graham to stay in the car before he had exited the car and he was pleased that he had kept him in there.

"He's got Chilton in there," Zeller asked as he looked up to the door.

A foreboding seemed to fill the air like the stench of a dead skunk on the side of the road as they maneuvered themselves in front of the building.

"If Abel killed him," Jack said as he looked over to Zeller who was watching with keen eyes, "his best bet is suicide by cop."

"Why is that?"

"Because Salome will kill him," Jack informed him, "You know how she is when it comes to that man. She's always had a-"

"We're going in," the SWAT leader announced as he shoved the door open. A loud bang echoed through the cold air as the SWAT team busted down the door.

"Clear," the SWAT members announced as they surveyed every room they entered with their guns. Jack Crawford followed closely behind them with a loaded shot gun in his hands. He held on tight as he bit back the fear that grew inside of him. Fear was something that he couldn't afford to show, but it was something that he felt often with this job.

As they entered the large observation room, Jack felt his heart sink as he took in the brutal, gory scene. Frederick Chilton laid helplessly on a medical bed, holding his own guts in his hands in an attempt to keep them from hitting the dirty floor. He looked up to see the cool, but still frightened, features of Freddie Lounds holding the breathing apparatus against the psychiatrist's face.

"Shit," Jack said under his breath as he took in the gruesome scene. His heart fell for his detective at the thought of having to tell her about her longtime confidant.

"Gideon's gone," Freddie said as she continued to give air to Chilton, "He's still alive."

"I NNED MEDICAL IN HERE NOW," Jack Crawford screamed to the SWAT team and they hurried out of the room to do what they were told to save the man they didn't know.

He lowered his weapon and sighed as he watched the brave young woman stay by his side when she could have just packed it up and left him for dead.

"Sir," Zeller announced as he slowly approached Jack, "Salome caught Fisher."

...

Salome, newly stitched up, hurried towards the ambulance where Sarah Long and Lester Ryans were being placed inside to visit the hospital for their injuries that they had received at the hands of Theodore Fisher. Her heart beat quickly as she made her way towards the young girl first. Her face was bruised, but she seemed in much happier spirits than the last time that Salome had seen her.

"Sarah," Salome whispered with a soft smile as she looked her over, she placed her hands upon the young girl's shoulders and took a deep breath, "Are you okay?"

"Is it over," Sarah asked with tears in her eyes as she looked at the blood on Salome's shirt, "Is the monster dead? Did you kill him?"

"Yeah, baby," she whispered with a nod, "It's over. He's not going to hurt you anymore."

Sarah cried as she crashed into Salome and held her tight. A slight pain ripped through her from the bullet wound in her shoulder. Salome instinctively wrapped her arms around the young girl and smiled as she allowed the survivor to cling to her for a sense of hope while trying to ignore the pain that rippled through her body.

"He's not going to hurt anyone anymore because you were so brave," Salome whispered.

"You saved me," Sarah whispered with a soft smile, "He wanted to kill you and then kill me, but you stopped him."

"Yeah," she answered with a nod, "I did. Now these men," she looked up to the paramedics, "they are good guys too. They are going to take you to the hospital and your family is going to be so happy to see you Sarah," she gave the girl a bright smile, "They've missed you so much."

The young survivor nodded as she allowed the paramedics to pull her into the ambulance. She looked up to the still unconscious Lester and sighed.

"Is he going to be okay," she asked the paramedic as she looked over to her old lover.

"He's stable," she answered, "but there still may be some more internal bleeding."

"Is he going to survive this," she asked, her voice was tired as she struggled to keep a yawn down.

"Oh yeah," he answered, "He may lose his appendix, but that will be it."

"His appendix?"

"That's where the bullet went in at," he informed her, "he needs to go in to have all that bacteria removed if it was pierced by the bullet, which is a major possibility with his wound. Are you going to go with him?"

"I will-"

"Agent Ashwood," a familiar voice interrupted. She turned to see an unwanted, familiar man coming towards her.

"Mr. Martin," Salome announced in annoyance as he stopped in front of her, he was dangerously close to invading her personal space, "What are you doing here?"

"I told you that you would get your man," Sebastian said proudly, "I always had faith in you. They said you were a good one."

"They," she asked in confusion, "What, are there spirits from the other world telling you this shit now?"

"No," he said with a knowing chuckle as he dug into his jacket pocket to pull out a badge, "I'm Agent Martin Ryder."

Salome glared at him in disbelief as his eyes sparkled as he watched the information sink in to her brain. Salome shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I should have known," she whispered in defeat, "So what, you were investigating me?"

"We were seeing if you were still good enough to work with the big boys," he informed her, "You did good on this case. We want to have you back. The higher ups are willing to forgive that one incident if you consider coming back to us."

She shook her head and replied, "I did my time overseas in those god awful shit holes. I'm done. That's not my life anymore."

"Then what is your life," he asked as he eyed her, "being thrown to the vultures by Jack Crawford? That's not a life."

"CIA did the same thing to me," she retorted in defense of herself, "and you're right, this isn't my life. My life is my sister," she shook her head and added, "Thank you for the offer, but I have to refuse. This is my life now."

He looked down to the ground to study his polished shoes, "Is there anything I can say to help change your mind?"

"No," she said with a smile, "but do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Don't ever pretend to be a psychic again," she said with a smile.

"Deal," he answered, "It wasn't my idea. I thought it was really dumb-"

"And annoying," Salome informed him with a matter of fact tone, though she gave him a soft smile to make up for how harsh she had been to him.

"Have you told Jack Crawford yet," he asked.

"Not yet," she answered.

"Give him a call," he demanded as he handed her his cell phone. She took it with a smile and nodded as he walked away. A sense of pride came over her. She had singlehandedly saved the little girl and ended the life of a serial killer.

The phone rang twice before Jack answered.

"Jack," Salome announced, "It's Ashwood," she smiled as she paused for dramatics sake, "I got him. I got the son of a bitch!"

"I'm proud of you Sally," he said softly.

Salome's brows furrowed in confusion as she heard his strange tone. Usually he would have been ecstatic about the information. Having a serial killer on the lose wasn't good publicity for his department, catching or killing one brought much needed publicity to the behavioral science department.

"What's wrong," she asked quickly as she looked towards the ambulances that were getting ready to depart for the hospital.

"Sally," he answered slowly as he tried to find the right words to tell his agent, "It's about Dr. Chilton."

"Frederick," Salome asked, her face lost all color as she felt like she was the only person in the world as she took in the words. She cared deeply for the man. She told people he was only a good lay, but she had always thought of him as more than that. He had been a close companion to her throughout her time in Baltimore. He'd been one of the few decent guys in her life, and when she had enough with Rick she would just visit with Chilton at his hospital. He was her friend that she deeply cared about.

"What happened," she asked, her voice was shaky and her eyes were glassy as worry rushed through her, "Jack," she waited with dread as he allowed a moment of silence to enter between them, "Jack what happened to him?"

"Abel Gideon," Jack started to say, but he paused before continuing on a different path, "They are stitching him up in the morning," he paused again as Salome took a deep breath, "that is if he makes it through the night."

"What," Salome asked in a soft voice as if she had been body slammed into the ground. She placed her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide her trembling nerves. She felt like she was reliving the scenario with Marnie once again.

"Agent Ashwood," the paramedic announced, "We're waiting for you."

"Salome," she heard the voice of the CIA agent ask as she ended the phone call, "Salome, are you okay?"

"There's been an accident," she whispered as she looked up to the man that she had once thought of as a pest, "Uhm, I, uh," she looked around as if she were lost, "I have to get back to Baltimore."

"Mam," the paramedic yelled.

"Just go," Martin yelled and waved the medics away, he looked at her and nodded, "I have a car. I can get you there by morning."

"We have to leave now," she begged, "He may not make it. I have to be there for him."

And here is chapter 10!

Only a few more chapters until it's over! Ahh we are so close I can taste it!

So what do you think of this chapter?!