A black SUV stopped in front of a large mansion.
Detective Kirsten and special agent Leon walked out. They quickly made their way past several lines of officers and into the mansion. Inside, a woman was waiting. She was seated on a chair. She obviously tried to keep up a straight face, but her reddened eyes and the dots of tears on her face suggested she wasn’t that successful at doing such.
Leon and Kirsten sat down in front of the woman.
“Ms. Jones. I know these are difficult times, but I assure you, the Masonville Police Department will do everything in its power to retrieve your daughter.”
Jane Jones was a dear friend to the powerful Adams family. For years, she assisted Mrs. Adams in working with the Adams Corporation. There were whispers that she was involved in the illegal activities the Adams family was involved in as well, but there was never any evidence. Launching investigations on someone as powerful as the Adams was no easy matter. The city’s police department didn't lay a finger on them.
Theoretically, the family of someone like this should be as safe and sound as ever. Unfortunately, neither Jones’ wealth nor her alleged connection to criminal activities was able to keep her daughter from being kidnapped.
Leon and Kirsten have already visited the crime scene before. It was a slaughter. Four bodyguards in two cars that transported Jane Jones’ daughter, Cathy Jones, were killed. The car with Cathy inside seemed to have been stopped when the two men in the front were riddled with bullets. The car in the front looked like it was attacked by a grenade. The metal shrapnels tore the two bodyguards to pieces.
There was no sign that Cathy was injured or killed. The attackers likely took her.
“This is likely a ransom situation.” Kirsten explained as she glanced at Jones from top to bottom. “Ms. Jones, can you think of any reason that someone will want to kidnap your daughter?”
“No.” The mother shook her head.
Kirsten and Leon exchanged a glance. “Are you sure? If there is something, the sooner you tell us, the sooner we can find your daughter.”
Jones suddenly snapped. “Are you suggesting something, detective?” She looked exhausted, but her tone was sharp.
Leon cut in. His way of approach was smoother. “Detective Kirsten is just covering all the fronts, Mrs. Jones.”
Suddenly, Jones’ phone starting ringing. The woman looked down for a brief moment, wanting to turn it off, but once her eyes landed on the screen, she couldn’t move it away.
The call came from her daughter’s phone.
Ms. Jones immediately swiped the screen and answered the call. In front of her, Leon and Kirsten leaned forward as they realized what was happening. Ms. Jones put the call on speaker.
“Hello, is this Ms. Jane Jones?”
A soft, feminine voice asked politely, but neither Kirsten nor Leon was relieved. In fact, they knew who the voice belonged to.
The girl that spared Kirsten in that bloody bar. The girl that fled after a dozen SWAT officers were killed. The girl responsible for the death of dozens of gang members. Apparently, she also kidnapped Ms. Jones’ daughter as well.
The two knew they shouldn’t be that surprised. Just before they came here, the officers inspecting the surveillance camera around the area where the two cars were intercepted reported finding something. The cameras at where the abduction actually happened were taken down beforehand, but one of the cameras recorded a girl holding a gun before it was taken out. The officer sent the picture to all the officers in the department in an effort to identify her. Kirsten also received it and immediately recognized it to be Katie. That was why she and Leon, previously focused on supernatural activities, were sent on this kidnapping mission. The phone call just sealed the deal.
“Yes.” Jones replied with a shaky voice. “Are you the ones who took my daughter?”
“No, no, no!” On the other end, Katie suddenly seemed to feel insulted. “‘I’ am not the ones! ‘I’ am singular! You should say ‘are you the one who took my daughter?’. Either that, or ‘are you one of the people who took my daughter?’. Grammar is important! Geez!”
“Enough!” Jones finally got sick of Katie’s rambling. “What do you want? Money? Information? Let my daughter go and I can get you a hundred thousand dollars in an hour.”
“Oh...that’s awfully generous of you.” Katie giggled. “But as tempting as it is, I don’t want money.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Fun. Duh? Can’t you hear it in my voice? Now, listen very carefully. You can call me Katie, by the way. To make things clear, I do have your daughter. You want proof?”
“Uh…” Jones was slightly thrown off by the kidnapper’s joking tone. “Yes. Yes. I want you to prove to me my daughter is alive...”
“No problem.” Katie replied with her casual voice. “Hey, you! Give me your gun. Ok...taking aim, bam!”
Jones jerked back as a gunshot. Her heart twitched when she heard a familiar scream. It was almost the same as the one her daughter made when she broke more anxiously. Only this one was much more high pitched.
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“What did you do you bitch?” She screamed, sitting up from her seat.
“Just some fun. Well, according to my standards, at least. I don’t know what getting shot in the left calf is according to your standards. Torture?”
Jones’ eyes turned red as she imagined her daughter screaming with a bullet lodged in her leg. Why? Why the hell did she ask for proof? More importantly, why the hell did the kidnapper shoot her hostage? Can’t she just take a picture?
“You will pay for this.” The fury in her voice was obvious to everyone. “You will get caught, and when you are, you will…”
“Please don’t say die.”
“die.”
“Well,” Katie huffed. “good luck making that happen. Speaking of dying, quick question, how long do you think a twelve-year-old girl can go with a bullet in her body without any medical treatment or anesthesia? My personal experience tells me it’s a long time, but, well, I’m sort of special. I’m actually really curious to find out the answer. What do you think will get her first? The loss of blood or the pain?”
She hung up the phone without waiting for another answer.
Inside the mansion, Jane Jones screamed and smashed her phone on the carpeted ground. She couldn’t believe it. How dare that girl do it? Her daughter was 12! More importantly, she didn't even say what she wanted! She said she wanted to have fun, but what the hell does that mean? No one just kidnaps people for fun!
Kirsten took a step up.
“We will find your daughter, madame. Meanwhile, please stay here and alert us if the kidnapper calls you again.”
Jones didn't answer as Kirsten and Leon walked out.
Meanwhile, on the other side, inside an abandoned warehouse, Jean put the phone on the table and glanced at the bullet wound on her left leg.
“What the hell did you do?”
Katie turned around and faced several men with tattoos on their arms. They belonged to a motorcycle gang. Hell’s Angels. Cheesy name. Mindless thugs.
A couple of days ago, when Katie first decided to go along with this kidnapping, she went to the bar that was also the staging point for Hell’s Angels. She outrighted demanded to see their leader. After five broken arms and half a dozen cracked ribs, she found who she was looking for.
She was able to strike a deal with them and plan this kidnapping. They would split the ransom after this was all done. Katie specifically went to this gang because they had no knowledge of Jones’ connection with the Adams family. Only they would be foolish enough to side with her.
The one speaking was their leader. Katie forgot, or was too lazy to remember, his real name, so she just called him Baldy.
“This?” Having heard the question, she looked down on the bullet wound and then at the girl tied up at a corner of the warehouse. “Oh geez, I’m not a monster! Am I really the kind of girl that would shoot a child? Ok. Fine. I am. But am I really the kind of girl that would shoot a child for no reason at all. Once again, I am. I’m sorry. You were saying?”
“Why didn't you tell them about the ransom?” Baldy repeated with anger in his voice. When he saw the target had four bodyguards as protection, he was already a little hesitant, but that girl Katie didn't give him a chance to regret his decision. She immediately jumped out with guns blazing and managed to toss a shrapnel grenade into the second car. Seeing it was too late to back out, Baldy and his gang just went for it.
His dissent came to a peak when Katie failed to mention the ransom. He was taking all this risk for money. Without that factor, he didn't want to spend one more second with this maniac.
“Oh...right.” Katie rolled the words in her mouth slowly. There was no way she was going to admit she completely forgot about the ransom at the heat of the moment. “Well, you see, maybe, perhaps,” She tried her best to come up with a proper reason, and she finally found one. “look, if we just outright tell them we want cash, they might try to tell the cops or something. Then we can’t get the money. But if we play sound mind games and make them think the hostage is dying, they will get desperate, and when we finally state our demand, they wouldn’t try anything stupid. See? It’s all part of the plan.”
Baldy glanced at Katie before taking a step back. “You better be telling the truth.” He threatened and tapped the pistol in his belt. “Or else.”
Katie tilted her head curiously.
“Speaking of or else, do you like KFC or McDonald?”
----------------------------------------
“Theo the Resourceful. One of the top arms dealers in the city. As long as you have the money, he’ll sell you anything...including a shrapnel grenade, which happened to be used to kill two of the four bodyguards that girl had.”
Leon and Kirsten watched as a dozen fully armed police officers charged into a factory that was labeled as to where the arms dealers resided in. Seconds later, a voice called out.
“All clear!”
The two walked into the factory and were slightly disappointed to find that the arms dealer was no more than a corpse. His throat was ripped out. A puddle of blood formed beneath him. The factory was ravaged through, as if the killer was looking for something. It obviously wasn’t money, because half a dozen pieces of firearms were laying all around the tables, untouched. If the killer was here for money, he would’ve taken the weapons. They must be worth some cash.
“Search the area.” Kirsten ordered, and the officers immediately went to action.
“What do you think about this?” Meanwhile, Kirsten turned to Leon. “Why? That girl, Katie, was last seen massacring a bar full of gang members. And now she’s kidnapping the daughter of a businesswoman? What’s the connection?”
“You tell me. You’re my expert on her.” Leon knelt down beside the corpse and put on a pair of gloves before examining the wound. It was not a clean cut. The killer took his time.
“I barely have any information on her.” Kirsten threw her hands up. “She’s not even going after profit. There wasn’t any loss of property in that bar, and she didn't even ask for a ransom. But why? Everyone has a purpose!”
“Move your mind out of the normal world.” Leon stood back up. “I once met a wizard who killed people because he said they would die a terrible death within the day anyway, and his way was more peaceful. As far as we know, that girl might be able to consume the soul of her victims.” He looked around the room and knelt back down again. This time he was tapping the floor.
Kirsten remained quiet for a few seconds. “That doesn’t help us find her.”
“But this might.” Leon paused. He tapped a piece of floor again before looking up and gesturing for the other officers to come over. The officers did and started breaking through the good. Within a couple of minutes, the officers broke the ground and discovered a hidden storage space.
Leon reached inside and pulled out a notebook.
“Businessmen, even if their business is illegal, keep their deals on paper. It is basic accounting, but it’s essential for business. Theo must’ve kept the name of whoever purchased that grenade. The killer was here to find that and failed.”
“And now we have it.”