DISCLAIMER: I do not own Heavy Rain or any of its characters.
Five Little Figures
Chapter 11: Intended Target
9711 Marble Street
Thursday
7:47am
3.060 inches
Blake pulled the car up to the curb outside the front of the apartment building. Jayden looked over the building from the passenger's seat.
"Place looks like a dump," he mused aloud.
"Yeah, I don't think anyone ever bothered with renovations after the fire," Blake replied.
"Well, if the front door's locked, then I guess no one will mind if we break a window or two to get in."
"What? You mean you don't get taught how to pick locks in the fancy FBI school you were sent to?"
"Nah, I was absent that day," Jayden replied with a smirk.
Blake rolled his eyes as he started to get out of the car. Jayden undid his seatbelt and followed suit. The detective checked the front door and found it, thankfully, unlocked. He held the door open and motioned for Jayden to head in first.
"Such a gentleman, Blake," the agent poked fun at the detective.
"Sure," Blake scoffed. "I just prefer you to go in first in case anything or anyone tries to kill us."
"Nevermind, forget what I just said."
The inside of the apartment building still carried the odor of burned and rotted wood. The two law enforcement agents looked around the building as the door closed behind them with a groan. The walls and floors were still charred, creating a dark and stifling atmosphere, the only light source coming from the large windows in the hallway walls. Three large porcelain lizards twinkled in the light's rays.
"Those lizards are in impeccable condition," Jayden walked over and squatted down in front of one of the figures. "Everything else in this apartment, even the windows, are covered in ash or dust of some sort; the lizards aren't. They have to be new."
Blake headed over to the lizard figure in the middle and picked it up as Jayden looked over the first one. The detective paused, staring down at the figure. He glanced up at Jayden to see if he heard the same thing he did. The agent's focus, however, was entirely on the lizard figurine. With a shrug, Blake threw the figure down on to the floor. It shattered in several pieces, Jayden nearly falling back on his behind from the startling sound.
"What the hell was that for, Blake?" Jayden caught himself before he could hit the ground.
The detective leaned down and rummaged through the broken porcelain pieces. He picked up a key and held it out for Jayden to see.
"I heard something rattling around inside when I picked up that lizard figure," Blake said.
"This is the lizard origami figure trial, so it makes sense," Jayden said in agreement as he dusted himself off. "I highly doubt that simply finding the key was the trial, so, let's see what's behind door number one."
Key in hand, Blake walked toward the door at the end of the hallway. His eyes, as well as Jayden's, were instantly drawn to the drawing of a lizard on the door. Blake inserted the key and unlocked the door, motioning for the agent to head inside first again. Jayden waved him off.
"Oh no, I couldn't," he said. "It's age before beauty after all."
Blake grumbled before stomping off into the adjoining room. Jayden, snickering to himself, followed behind. The room inside was in marginally better condition than the rest of the burned building, but was still in a state of severe disrepair. In the center was a table with a video player at the top of it. Blake slid into the chair at the table and hit the play button on the video player. The detective frowned when he was greeted with a live stream of himself and Jayden in the room.
"Jayden," Blake called out to the agent, who was looking around the room.
He came over to the detective as words appeared on the screen.
Are you prepared to suffer to save your son? You have five minutes to cut off the last section of one of your fingers in front of the camera. If you succeed, you will get your reward.
"Cut off part of a finger-" Blake started to say.
The words hitched in his throat when both he and Jayden laid eyes on the timer at the bottom of the video player screen beginning to count down from five minutes. Instead, any words he may have wanted to say were replaced with a single one: "Fuck."
Eyes still on the video player and the live feed showcasing them, Blake spied Jayden turning away from the screen and rummaging around the room. He rotated in the chair to watch the agent.
"Please tell me you're not seriously considering cutting part of your finger off," Blake said.
Jayden disappeared into an adjoining room for a brief moment before turning with some disinfectant.
"If it's the only way to save Shaun Mars-" the agent started to respond.
He was interrupted by Blake before he could finish his statement.
"But it's not the only way to save the kid!" Blake hit the table with a fist. "The Origami Killer obviously got the key from someone, so it's likely that he is associated with or at least knows the owner of the building. We can look into who owns this apartment building and-"
Jayden shook his head.
"That'll take too much time," he said as he snagged a hatchet from the entryway. "Shaun Mars has less than three days to live; investigating and following up on those leads could take days, even weeks. If cutting off part of my finger means saving the kid's life, it's worth it."
Blake stared at the agent, who continued puttering around the room collecting supplies.
"You do realize how crazy this all sounds, right?" he asked. "You're about to cut off your finger, potentially jeopardizing your career, all to please some sick fuck?"
"Yes," Jayden paused, looking directly at the detective. "It's not that hard to comprehend."
"This isn't five finger fillet! You're skipping the whole 'quickly run the knife back and forth between my fingers and hope I don't stab myself' thing and just going straight for the stabbing part."
"Actually, I'm going straight to the hatchet part."
"No!" Blake popped out of the chair. "That's it! I'm putting my foot down. You are not doing this trial and that's final!"
Jayden continued forward toward the table, hatchet in his grasp.
"Then you'll have to stop me," he twirled the hatchet in his hand.
Blake's eyes flickered back to the screen of the video player. There were three minutes remaining.
Please stop me, Blake, Jayden thought as he laid out his supplies on the table. I really want to save Shaun Mars but I really don't want to have to amputate my own finger with the most rudimentary of tools; I could die from blood loss or an infection or from shock. Dammit, Blake! Come up with something! You're a cop for Christ's sake!
Lost in this thoughts, Jayden barely caught a glimpse of Blake approaching the table from behind him in the live stream on the video player. He had picked up the chair and had it poised over his head, ready to strike. Jayden, leery at what might be headed his way, began to turn toward the detective. He barely had enough time to dodge Blake as the detective swung the chair down, hitting the table. The table snapped in half, collapsing in the middle and striking the wooden floor below it. The video player tumbled to the floor, the live stream interrupted and replaced with static.
"What the fuck, Blake?" Jayden squawked.
"I told you, you're not doing this trial!" Blake huffed.
The agent was uncertain if the detective's heavy breathing was from his spiraling rage or from the exertion of smashing the table.
"Just tell me one thing," Jayden said.
Blake placed his hands on his waist as he looked over the broken table and floorboards beneath it.
"What?" he asked.
"Were you aiming for me or the table?"
Jayden waited for Blake to respond. The longer it took the detective to answer, the more convinced the agent became that he was the intended target, and not the table.
"Well," Jayden let out a breath. "I guess, for keeping me from having to amputate my own finger, I should say thank-"
Blake held up a hand to shush him. Jayden frowned.
"Excuse me, Lieutenant No Manners," the agent said in response to the detective's dismissal. "I was simply trying to say-"
"Shut it for a second, Norman," Blake interrupted. "I think I see something."
He knelt down and reached underneath the broken table, fishing around in between the fractured floorboards. Blake hissed and retracted his hand, shaking it briefly before examining it.
"Shit," he muttered.
"What?" Jayden asked, coming to stand next to the detective.
"I got a splinter in my finger."
The agent couldn't stop his laugh before it bubbled up and out of his throat.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were a tough guy," Jayden said. "Here I was, about to hatchet off the end of my finger, with the most elementary of supplies, and you are in pain from a sliver in your finger. Poor baby."
"Next time, I won't miss with the fucking chair," Blake growled.
He reached down in between the floorboards again and succeeded in withdrawing the object of his attention this time.
"Another memory card," Jayden said. "I'll take it and hold on to it so you can nurse your finger boo-boo."
Blake forcefully shoved Jayden, causing the agent to stumble backward and land on his behind.
