Eleven

 

CURT

 

Entering the room that we took over on campus as our command central, I take a moment to gather my thoughts. It takes everything in me to wipe away the image of her tears falling down her face. The most frustrating part was not being able to comfort her. I know she knew it was staged and they were lies, but I also know they hit her deep. She told me the night that she gave me her virginity, that one of the reasons why she never had sex before, is that she was afraid someone would say those words to her. Remembering that fear, I played on it knowing it would hit her right where she needed it, in order to produce the emotion we needed to make this believable.

I swear once this is all over, I’m going to finally tell her that I've more than fallen for her. That I love her more than any man on earth has ever loved a woman. I’ll make sure the whole campus knows that what I said wasn’t true, so she can walk the halls with her head held high. Just the thought of someone calling her names due to our show has me wanting to run right back out this door screaming that it's all a lie.

“Curt, come over here and calm down. You head back, you could potentially throw away the only shot we may have to catch this killer.” Conti’s voice stops me and I realize I was heading to the door. I take a deep breath and remind myself why we did all this in the first place.

“You didn’t see her face. I had to flirt with Winter to make it seem like I didn’t care about her. Which, you know, was really disgusting to do. She’s like my baby sister for God’s sake. I hope Winter confirmed that with her after I left.” Taking a seat next to him, I place my head in my hands and let out a long sigh. “Anything yet?”

“You just left ten minutes ago, give it some time. Hell, he might not even strike tonight. There's no set pattern to when he claims his victims. He just does it at least once a month; with the end only three days away and no kill yet, we know it’s coming,” Fisher states, then turns back to the monitors.

I close my eyes tightly and pray that God will keep her safe. I haven’t had a chance to even tell her I love her yet. I know it’s stupid, and it always seems like people wait until the wrong time to finally say it. I don’t know why I didn’t tell her sooner, but of course I had to be foolish and keep the words to myself.

I was going to wait until I asked her to marry me with her mother’s wedding ring that her father gave her. It's been in her family for over fifty years now. It’s a beautiful fourteen karat gold ring with a single two carat diamond in a princess cut. The initials of each couple who have ever proposed with this ring are on the inside. I already had our initials added, and I figured she could go with me to pick out the bands she’d want to go with it.

The sound of an alarm brings me out of my thoughts of how I was going to ask her. My eyes shoot to the clock on the wall and I see I’ve been in my head for about twenty minutes.

“She triggered the panic alarm, and seems to be on the move away from the cafeteria. Conti, call Winter to see if this was an accident,” Fisher commands.

I move toward the monitors watching the trackers move. Something seems off because they aren’t moving in an area that’s open. Also, it seems to be going slowly.

“Hey, you with Angela?” I hold my breath praying that I’m wrong and that all is well. That it’s my imagination that’s playing tricks on me. “Fuck, okay. Code Eagle is in effect. Turn on your ear bud.” Conti hangs up and turns to us. “She isn’t anywhere that she can see her. I think he took the bait.”

With that, we grab our weapons and head for the door.

“Curt, you know the rules. Stand back and let us handle it. I’m only allowing you to go with us because she might need you. If you're not going to listen and follow orders, tell me now because I’ll knock you on your ass if you don’t listen out there. Her life is on the line and you don’t want that on your conscience if your actions get her hurt, or worse, killed.” Fisher is in my face, and I know he’s trying to make sure I understand that my actions could be the causing factor to her safety.

As much as I want to tell him to fuck off, I know he’s right. All I can do is nod, acknowledging that I understand. However, they better understand that if she’s already hurt then they will be taking me away in handcuffs, because I don’t think I’ll be able to leash the beast begging to be set free.

We make our way through campus, only a few minutes behind the trail. The students that are milling around give us a wide berth with confused looks on their faces. It isn’t every day you see a swarm of FBI agents in full protective gear, armed and wearing determined expressions that illustrate we aren't to be messed with.

When we make it by the cafeteria, I see Winter walking with one of the guys that were sitting with them earlier. She’s headed toward the library and she gives a slight nod. Glancing down at the tracker location device on my wrist, I see that the dot has stopped in the next building from here.

“Next building. Art room. We'll have to split up. Winter, we're going to need you to join in the search. I’ll cover the hallway,” I speak into the mic.

“On my way.”

The rest nod at me and head out. When we reach the building, the door is still slightly open, and after inspecting it, we see there's a block keeping it propped. I point to it and then to the parking lot to the left. Fisher nods and murmurs into the mic that we need eyes on the lot.

Without making a sound, we enter and slowly start making our way to each room, clearing them. After about fifteen minutes, I’m about to give up when I see Conti raise his fist in the air, signaling he has something. I step back so I can see the hallway in all directions, and signal for the rest of the crew to meet him at the door he’s currently listening at.

Fisher takes a few steps back and brings the mic to his mouth.

“He’s about to leave the room to get supplies. Let’s get hidden so we can take him by surprise. Curt, once he’s out of the room and far enough away, clear the room and check on Angela. We haven’t heard her voice. He’s talking to himself about her atoning for her sins, and that he’s going to make her pure again.” We all nod at him and take cover, Winter takes the room right across from the one they’re in.

“I’m up on a shelf and can see out the window above the door. Will acknowledge when he exits. Curt, I’ll help you clear the room,” Winter’s voice comes through the ear bud.

“Roger.” Is all I can get out through the lump in my throat.

Hearing that they haven’t heard Angela’s voice has my heart beating fast in my chest. Terror that he's already killed her makes my eyes blur and my head spin. I’ll never get to know what it’s like to tell her I love her. To know what it’s like to have her as my wife and mother of my children. My stomach roils as sickness spreads through me at the thought of never seeing her expressive eyes staring into mine again.

“Get it together, Curt. You don’t know anything just yet,” Conti whispers from my left.

He's right. I take a deep breath and wait for the go ahead.

“Door is opening up. Target is walking out and is heading west toward the exit.” I squeeze my eyes and say another quick prayer. “Go.”

Swinging open the door, Conti rushes out, and I follow turning to the left as he goes right. Winter makes it to the door before I do. She gives me a quick nod, glancing into the room before entering.

“FBI! Freeze. Put your hands on your head and turn your back to us. Slowly take three steps . . .” Fisher's voice drones in my ear, and I rip the bud out as I enter behind Winter.

My eyes sweep the room looking for the one thing that I would kill for. They land on Winter, as she leans down which causes me to rush to her side before she can speak into the mic.

“We need an ambulance. Victim’s unconscious.”

“Angela. Fireball, open your eyes, love,” my voice cracks as I reach for her.

She doesn’t respond to my touch or voice. My heart starts to race even faster at the thought that she’s hurt. I cradle her head into my lap and continue to call her name, hoping she will come out of it. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up and realize my vision is blurred from the tears that I didn’t even know I let fall.

“Curt, brother you need to let her go. The EMT’s here, and the sooner they get her to the hospital, the sooner she will wake,” Conti states as he kneels beside me.

The paramedic eases her head out of my lap, and Conti helps me up.

“Who was it?” I ask as I keep my eyes on Angela.

“Derrick Drelling, fellow student. He's in her study group that was meeting tonight. He's been coming to school here for about a year. I know more will come in about him, but for now why don’t you ride in the ambulance with your girl?”

“Thanks, brother.” After a brief hug of thanks, I turn and follow the paramedics that are wheeling my heart out the door.