Violets Are Blue (Alex Cross #7)(72)

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JAJWES PATTERSON

'Perhaps I'm at your Aunt Tia's outside Bai'more,' he said. Then he laughed like a madman. 'Chapell Gate. Such a pretty little town.' A moan escaped from my mouth and my knees buckled. I flashed an image of my family - Nana, Jannie, Damon, Alex. I needed to be there with them. How could he have gotten past the FBI teams? And Sampson? He couldn't have. It wasn't possible. 'You're lying, Kyle.' 'Oh, am I now? Why would I lie? Think about it. What would be the point?' The worst is yet to come. I needed to call Tia's. I should never have left them. I heard a terrifying high-pitched scream above me in the kitchen. What in hell? I looked up. Couldn't believe my eyes. Kyle leaped out of the trapdoor to the attic. He was still screaming. He had an ice pick clasped in his right hand, cell phone in the other. I tried to get an arm up to shield myself. I wasn't fast enough. He'd taken me by surprise. I hadn't thought to look up there. He plunged the blade into my chest at an odd angle. A shock of pain traveled through me. I went down hard on the kitchen floor. Had he struck my heart? Was I going to die? Was this the way it ended? With his free hand, Kyle punched me in the face. I felt bone crunch. The left side of my face, my cheek seemed to cave in. Kyle raised his fist to strike again. He was madman-strong, and he wanted to punish me. I was such an important character in his fantasy. He was so sick, so insane. I couldn't believe the things he'd done. A voice inside screamed. Take him out, find a way! A second punch glanced off the side of my forehead. I moved just enough to make him miss. I was in a living nightmare. This was almost surreal. The stainless steel handle of the ice pick was sticking out of my chest. I grabbed the hood and collar of Kyle's windbreaker with one hand, his black hair with the other. I yanked him sideways, got him off me for a moment.

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Somehow I managed to get up and pull Kyle with me. We were both grunting, gasping loudly for breath. I felt myself getting weaker. Blood was spreading on my shirt from the wound. Still, I carried him forward, headfirst, right into Kate's well-organized glass kitchen cabinet. It shattered on impact. Splinters of glass and wood flew everywhere. I pulled his head back out of the cabinet, cutting his face on nasty shards of the glass. I wanted to hurt him too. For Betsey Cavalierre, for Zachary and Liz Taylor, for all the others he had murdered along the way. So many dead at the hands of this heartless monster. The Mastermind. Kyle Craig. He screamed/My eyes! My eyes!'I'd hurt him - finally. I crunched a looping roundhouse right into his forehead. I moved in closer. I hit him again and again, then I held him up so I could hit him some more. I wouldn't let him go down. I kept body-punching Kyle Craig, body-punishing him. I don't know where I got the strength. I wanted to keep hitting Kyle, for everything he'd done, the murders, the cruel betrayals, for stalking me all these months, the terrible hurt he'd inflicted on my family, on other families like mine. He was out on his feet, so I finally let him drop to the kitchen floor. I stood over the unconscious body, exhausted, winded, afraid, and in pain. Now what? I felt as if I weren't myself anymore. Who was I? What was I becoming? What had all the brutal murders I'd seen done to me? I stepped away from the crumpled body. The spike of the ice pick was still imbedded in my chest. It had to come out. I knew I couldn't, shouldn't, do it myself. I needed to get to a hospital. Maybe Dr Kate McTieman would take care of me. I made a phone call. A very important call. This was just the beginning, wasn't it? Sure it was. The Mastermind and I were alone at last. We had so much to talk about. I'd been waiting so long for this, and maybe so had he.

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Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen


It was a hollow feeling to stand over Kyle and realize that I had no idea who he really was. He was an obsessively cruel psychopath; he had been stalking me for years; he had killed so many times, including friends of mine. 'You fucking bastard,' I whispered through my teeth. The first case we had worked on together was a double kidnapping in Washington. Later, he cleared the way for me to help in the investigation of a kidnapper/killer who called himself Casanova, and who worked in the Research Triangle around the University of North Carolina and Duke. That was when we had first met Kate McTiernan. Kyle kept me close to him after that. He was the one responsible for my getting named as the VICAP liaison between the FBI and the Washington Police Department. I didn't know why at the time. Now I did. He was conscious now. A mocking, falsely sympathetic look crossed his face. His eyes leveled on me as he spoke. 'I know, I know how it hurts. You thought we were close, you thought we were friends.' I didn't say anything, just looked into cold blue eyes edged with gray. What did I see there? Nothing except for his hatred and disdain. He was incapable of feeling guilt, or compassion. Then Kyle smirked, and I wanted to hit him again. He began to laugh. What was the joke? What did he know? What else had he done? He started to clap his hands together. 'Very good, Alex. You're still ---------------- 304 --------------

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studying me, aren't you? You should bear in mind, I did beat you every time.' 'Except this time,' I reminded him. 'This time you lost.' 'Oh, are you so sure?'he asked.'Are you positive that you have the upper hand, partner? How can you be certain? You can't be.' 'I'm sure. Partner. I do have a few questions, though. Clear some things up for me. You know what I want to hear about.' He continued to smirk. Of course he knew. 'North Carolina. You didn't know I had attended Duke with the Gentleman Caller. I knew both killers. God, did I know them. I killed with them, hunted with them. But you let me off the hook. Detective Cross. Then there were the perfect bank robberies. The Mastermind at work. And, of course, I did kill the lovely Betsey Cavalierre. Great fun. That one's on you, Alex.' I stared into those pitiless eyes. My voice came out in a rasp. 'Why did you have to hurt her?' Kyle shrugged indifferently. "That's how I win the game, by inflicting the most pain imaginable, then watching the torment and suffering. You should see the look in your eyes right now. It's priceless, a thing of beauty. 'Not that I want any pity. Doctor Cross, but did you ever see me with my shirt off? I'll answer that question. You haven't. That's because of the scars and welts there. My father, the great and respected general, the corporate chief executive officer, he beat me for years. He thought I was a very bad boy. And you know what, he was right. Father did know best. His son was a monster. Now what does that say about him?' Kyle smiled again. Or was it a grimace? He shut his eyes. 'Getting back to Agent Cavalierre, she was investigating my whereabouts during all the robberies and kidnappings committed by the Mastermind. Smart little chippie. Pretty, too. And she really liked you, Alex. Thought you were so fine, her sweet brown sugar. I couldn't have that. She was a danger to me and a rival for your attention. 'Are you following this. Cross? Am I going too fast for you? Everything is very logical, no? I put a knife deep inside her.