Angel was half-heartedly working on a sculpture when she heard the buzz of her cell phone. She stood up and sighed, not really wanting to answer it. Sam had been calling her twice a day to ask about Chloe and to keep her updated with their search for John, and though she was sure they would find him , she couldn't help but fear the worst. She knew how they found Roy Langston's other victims and it was hard to believe that they were going to find John and his sister alive. She picked up her phone, glanced at the screen and nearly dropped it. John's name flashed, as it buzzed in her hand, and she nearly flipped it across the room trying to answer it.
"John! They found you! Thank God! Are you alright?!"
"It's not John, sweetheart." The voice said from the other end.
A chill ran up Angel's spine. Feeling her legs get rubbery, she sat down on the arm of the couch. She forgot. How could she forget? Sam had told her that Thomas Krieger had John's cell phone. That he took it, in order to call Bailey to tell him where John and Jessie were. 'Shit! Why would he call me? Why would he call me? I never knew Patrick O'Doyle...John and I aren't 'together' anymore...why-" Krieger's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"I'm not going to pay you a visit if that's what you're thinking. Believe me, I have no plans to come to Georgia. As a matter of fact, I have no intentions of leaving where I am...well, at least not physically. I'm not going to hurt you, Angel...you or anyone else, not anymore."
He spoke slow and deliberate. Slurring a word here and there. He was drunk. Angel took a deep breath and blew it out, trying to calm herself before speaking. "What do you want? Where's John?"
"I just want to talk to you. John's back in Boston, where I left him."
"Is he...is he dead?" She was unable to keep the tremble out of her voice, with that one.
"I honestly can't tell you. I can tell you, he was alive when I left him. They both were, but... they were hurt badly. I gave them things they would need...things to help them. I hope it helped. I hope they're still alive. Do you believe me?"
"Why would I? After everything you've done."
"Being a cold-blooded killer does not automatically make me a liar as well, sweetheart. I promise you, I am a man of my word. I don't lie. I kill." He told her matter-of-factly.
"What do you want from me?! Why did you call me?" She was getting angry.
"To talk, that's it. I had intended to call Agent Malone, but when I saw your name...well, it called to me. I knew I needed to talk to you-"
"Go to Hell, you crazy son-of-a-bitch!"
"Angel! Wait, don't hang up! I'll tell you where they could find John." He listened for a moment, to make sure she was still there. When there was no dial tone, he continued. "If you listen to me now, I give you my word, when I'm through, I will tell you where to find John. I just need you to hear me out, okay? You don't even have to say anything...unless you want to." He laughed. "And as for going to Hell, I promise you, that's exactly where I'm headed...when this call ends. Angel?"
"Go on...talk."
"I've been a contract killer for more than half my life...I was 17 when I made my first kill...he was my Step-father. I killed him because...in the three years he had been married to my Mother he had beat, raped and tortured me, and my younger brother and sister...did I mention I had a younger brother and sister?"
"No..."
"Well, I did. Jake and Sarah, twins, they were two years younger than me...anyway, for months we had been planning to run away...it was starting to get really bad for Sarah and my Mother was keeping herself numb with alcohol, so she was no help to us. We didn't know where we were going to go, we just needed to get away...we had bus tickets to get us to Jersey and then...who knows. It never happened. My Step-father found the tickets in Jake's room and...he wasn't going to let us go. When I got home from work that night..." He choked up at the memory, took a deep quivering breath and continued. "He had beaten Jake, to death, with a baseball bat...Sarah was tied to the radiator...beaten...her clothes torn...shaking and staring at nothing...she had seen it...had watched him kill Jake-"
"Your Mother?" Angel asked, hesitantly.
"Passed out on her bed. My Step-father came out of the kitchen with the bloody bat and a big smile on his face... 'Guess you won't be going anywhere.' he said and came at me...everything happened so fast...somehow I got the bat from him...and I just hit him. I kept hitting him until...until his head came apart. It made me sick and happy at the same time." He took another deep breath. "Something shifted in me that night...and it felt good...but the change didn't come until after my sister killed herself." He let himself cry this time.
Angel listened as he tried to control himself. She did not want to hear any more. She was starting to feel bad for him and she didn't like feeling that way. It felt like she was betraying John. "Hey..."
"Sorry..." He sniffled and then cleared his throat. "Ya know, this is the first time I've cried in twenty years...it kind of feels good...to cry for them. Now, where was I...oh yeah, my sister...Sarah never recovered from the abuse...from watching Jake die and then watching me kill my Step-father. She killed herself six months later...I found her in the bathroom, she had cut her wrists. That's when the change happened...that's when I began to feel nothing, but in return was able to do anything. I made my second kill that night. A guy was mugging some kid in an alley and I snapped his neck...it was so easy...it felt good and it never stopped feeling that way...until now. Ya know, in all these years...all the people I've killed...I have never killed an innocent, not even by accident...hell, I've had witness' to some kills, who saw me as clear as day, and I left them...untouched. I fucked up this time, pure and simple...or maybe, deep down, I wanted to stop...so I sabotaged myself...I don't know. All I know, now, is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that I did for Roy Langston." He was silent for several moments and Angel thought he was going to start crying again. "Angel?"
"I'm still here."
"Do you believe me?"
She didn't want to. "Yes, I do."
"Good. Thank you. The corner of Clayton and William street...that's where they are...there's a warehouse...in the main office, there's a trap door under the desk...they're in there...in the bunker."
Angel was stunned as she listened to him. He was really telling her where they were. "What...what did you say..."
"I told you, I would tell you where they are...I am telling you where to find them, Angel, this is not a game...I want it to be over. Did you hear the street names?"
"Uh...Clayton...Clayton and...and..."
"William." He finished for her. "If they're alive, tell them I'm sorry...about everything...about what happened to their Father. No one should have to watch a loved one get killed." He thought of Jessie watching Patrick get shot and then dragged away, then the way she looked as she leaned on him, of all people, for comfort afterward. He found himself choked up again. "You tell the girl, how sorry I am...how it wasn't supposed to happen like that...she's been through so much, already...you tell John, not to let her make that change, okay? Please, you'll tell him won't you?"
"Yes, I will...I'll tell him. You should turn-"
"Call Agent Malone, now." He ended the call before she could say anything else.
Angel stared blankly at her phone for several minutes. She knew where John was. Holy shit! She knew where John was. 'Bailey! Call Bailey!' Her head screamed. She snapped to attention and dialed Bailey's number as fast as her shaking hand would allow.
Thomas Krieger walked slowly, as if sleepwalking, to his bag, the only thing he had taken with him from Boston, and pulled out his gun. He walked back to the bed, sat down, flipped the safety off and put the barrel under his chin. "One more...just one more to kill." He told himself and pulled the trigger.
Tbc...
