Author's note: I apologize for the wait on this chapter. I had a few kinks to work out, but I think everything is ok now. I admit that writing Alex and Adrian brings out my dark side, so there is a small warning on this chapter too. It's not too gruesome, but I just want you to be prepared.

The consequence at hand

Ten hours previous

Alex paced the living room of the spacious penthouse glaring at the tiny cell phone in his hand. He debated throwing it against the far wall but decided that wasn't the most productive use of his time right now. He lifted his eyes from the phone and allowed them explored the luxurious space with slight amazement. His friend James made a daytime living as a cop, but at night he earned extra money from the people he met during the course of arrests. The city PD salary certainly hadn't paid for a penthouse of this caliber, with its expensive furnishings, exquisite artwork, and ostentatious gold detailing.

He sighed in frustration. We could have had a place like this too. If we hadn't spent most of the inheritance on Adrian's hobby…

His mind drifted back to when he first recognized Adrian's developing hobby, almost nine years ago: He was seventeen, and he came home from school looking for his thirteen-year-old brother. He finally found Dre behind the shed with the mutilated remains of the family's cat. He'd stared in shock for a few moments as he watched Adrian crudely dissect the animal. It wasn't unusual to see Dre cooking insects on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass, or throwing rocks at birds until they were injured and then plucking their feathers, or spearing the neighborhood fish and laying them to suffocate on the sidewalk. But this level of brutality was something he hadn't expected to see. He'd hurriedly intervened and helped Dre clean up the mess before their parents got home. He never told anyone what he saw, and the family suffered the loss of nearly a dozen more pets to "mysterious causes" or illness.

I can't believe how long I've been covering for the little twerp, and he repays me by getting himself caught and risking all of my hard work! He better be glad that he's in police custody right now.

He thought about how found out Adrian had graduated to killing people: He came home to the house they'd inherited nearly four years ago. His brother wasn't home yet from work, so he lay down on the couch to relax. He awoke with a start hours later to a horrendous odor coming from the garage. Dre spent almost all of his free time out there working on "crafts" as he called it, and Alex never wanted, or needed, to investigate any further. The smell was enough to warrant his attention now though. He unlocked the door and the putrid air hit him solidly. He'd braved the smell, and found the corpse of a young man partially wrapped in a tarp. He hadn't been dead long, judging by the smell of fresh body wastes that had awakened Alex. The body was a bloody mess, roughly cut with large chunks hacked out. That was before he perfected his technique. Now he's got it down to an art. And that's when I figured out the best way to dispose of a corpse without leaving evidence.

Thinking of evidence snapped Alex out of the past and into his current predicament. James had called to tell him Adrian was in police custody. He wasn't surprised that his idiot brother got caught, but this made things complicated. Alex suppressed the urge to scream as he remembered his last warning to his stubborn brother. Dre never listened if he thought he knew better than anyone, not even to his older brother whom he looked to for direction. That's why I do all of the planning and organizing. He can't be bothered to think of the details, and he always assumes that he's smarter than everyone so no one will figure out what he's done.

Alex himself had committed three of the murders. One was accidental when he'd used more force than usual to subdue a girl. The others occurred when he wanted to get a feel for his brother's work. Alex couldn't appreciate the feeling Dre derived from taking lives, but he always worked to please his brother regardless, especially since their parents died. But, being the meticulous person that he was, Alex ensured that he couldn't be connected to the murders outright. The only person that knew was Dre, and one thing he could count on Dre for was his loyalty. As long as Dre keeps his mouth shut, they'll never know to look for me.

James' words rang in his head. "The FBI has this boy, a genius or something. He keeps saying that there are two people involved in these murders. I don't think the others believe him, but you better watch your back. Dre is going down, soon, and you don't want to go with him."

What if they do decide to listen to the boy genius? Dre won't rat me out, but if he doesn't confess to everything they might continue investigating. If they dig deep enough they can connect me to him!

That thought abruptly stopped him in his pacing. Though he was safe from a cursory investigation, he doubted his safety measures could hold up to intense scrutiny. Adrian's name was on the official listing for the house, but their parents' will deeded the house to both sons. The van and tools he used for the abductions could be traced to Dre, but there was always a chance that Alex had missed cleaning up a stray fingerprint or loose hair. The police knew about 15 or so murders that Dre committed, but if they got the idea to search the property more thoroughly, they would find Alex's bodies hidden among nearly two dozen or so of Adrian's. He'd tried to mimic Dre's style just in case the corpses were found, but an experienced examiner could find the differences. Any of these discoveries would lead back to Alex eventually.

So I either have to find a way to get Dre to confess to everything and give him enough details to be believable, or I have to make sure that the police don't have a reason to keep looking.

He knew there was no way for him to get to Adrian without arousing suspicion, and he doubted that James fair any better. He would have to rely on what Dre already knew and hope that his lack of common sense would work in Alex's favor. The other option was to control the investigation somehow. He had no delusions about evidence tampering or anything along that line.

If I can keep the kid quiet…A light bulb flashed in Alex's brain. That's it! I'll get to the kid; I'll make sure he doesn't convince the others to analyze the case any further. It's so simple!

He smiled at the thought of grabbing the kid and threatening him into silence. It won't be that easy, idiot! He's FBI, not just some random cop. You have to plan this out carefully. He sat down at the coffee table and started jotting down ideas. It was obvious that he'd need some help; he didn't know anything about this FBI team or the genius agent. James could help with that. It quickly became apparent that he couldn't let the kid live either. Idle threats wouldn't be enough. That wouldn't be a problem for him as he had a surplus of strategies for dealing with troublesome people. Which would be the best for this situation? He made brief notes of the most effective ideas that he'd found so far, and lists of supplies that would be needed.

After nearly an hour of plotting and considering options, he settled on two ideas that he could execute almost immediately. The supplies were easy to gather and almost impossible to track once he finished. Alex put in a phone call to James to arrange for getting the necessary information. James promised everything could be ready within the hour, and informed him that the Feds were returning home in a few hours. Alex reserved-with false identification-a red-eye flight to Virginia that would depart in two hours; a rental car would even be waiting at the airport. Everything was coming into place.