For anyone with a

taste for suspense

 Contents
Prologue 3
Chapter 1: The Game Begins 4
Chapter 2: The First Move 9
Chapter 3: The Minor Piece 15
Chapter 4: The Advantage 24
Chapter 5: The Illegal Move 27
Chapter 6: The Discovered Attack 36
Chapter 7: The Major Piece 43
Chapter 8: The Attack 47
Chapter 9: The Fork 61
Chapter 10: The Stalemate 76
Chapter 11: The Checkmate 92
Chapter 12: The Timeout 100
Epilogue 102
Acknowledgements 104

2
Prologue
The alleyway looks as dark as the night itself. I light my cigarette
and start walking without a particular destination in mind. I want
to clear my head of recent happenings. All the murders, the
heists, and most importantly, the conflict with her. The thoughts
keep clouding my mind.
Why would she do something like tha--
Suddenly, I pick up a voice, talking softly. I scan my surroundings
to see if anyone is following me, but the alleyway is deserted.
Shrugging it off, I continue walking. Just as I convince myself that
no one is around, the voice gets louder. Suspicion creeps up my
spine and goosebumps cover my entire body.
I swiftly change my path, keeping to the shadows of the alley
while searching for cover, or at least a place to hide till I can be
sure no one is following me. Just as I am about to keep out of
sight in what looks like an old garage, I hear the sirens of a police
car. And that is when all hell breaks loose.
The cops come out of nowhere and suddenly, I am handcuffed
and shoved into the police car. I look out the window, hoping to
see some sign of whoever was there, on the phone. And I see
her, nothing but a shadow, hair flapping in the wind.
My instincts were right. She had been standing there this whole
time. She is the root cause of this mess, the moon highlighting
her malicious grin.
That was the day I swore to myself that I would get my revenge.

3
Chapter 1: The Game Begins
Jason walked into the Police Precinct and set his bag down on
his desk just as he heard Diana calling out to him. He wheeled
his chair over to her table.
“Hey, Jace. The CO gave this new case to me, and I want you and
Sam on it with me.” She said, her chocolate brown hair blowing
in the cold wind from the open windows. Jason and Diana had
been friends ever since college, and they could understand each
other to the point where they were nearly telepathic.
“I would be honored, m’lady.” He said, smiling. New cases were
always exciting. The jolt of adrenaline which accompanied the
first clue, the excitement of a lead turning into a chase, the thrill
in finally cracking the case.
“I assume Sam hasn’t come in yet?” Jason sighed.
“Of course he hasn’t.” Diana laughed. “Have you ever seen him
come on time? He’s always at least half an hour late.”
Jason shook his head and went to the break room to make
himself some coffee. Both him and Diana had met Sam through
their work as police detectives, a mere two years ago, but now,
the three of them were as close as childhood friends.
Better, even. Jason was positive no one would want to associate
with him if they had seen him in his ‘leather jacket and braces’
phase.
He cringed, and was about to take his coffee back to his table
and ask Diana for the details on the case when Sam walked in,
looking like his home had been hit by a hurricane in the middle

4
of the night.
Chaos seemed to follow him around like thunder followed
lightning. Shaking his tousled hair out of his eyes, Sam moved
towards Jason, calmly took the coffee mug out of his hands,
winked at him like he wasn’t stealing his coffee, and walked
away, while Jason stared dumbfounded at the sheer audacity the
man had.
He had learned the hard way never to deny Sam his coffee,
though Jason felt irked at Sam’s high handedness. Sighing, and
too lazy to make another cup, Jason decided to settle for water
as he walked over to Diana, who had started explaining the case
to Sam.
“-You and Jace on the case with me.” She looked up at him. “Oh,
good, you’re here. So, here are the details.” Clearing her throat,
Diana said, “There has been a series of murders across Brooklyn,
all of the victims were found in their own homes with their
throats slit open. The murder weapon is very likely a dagger.
Dead bodies were found propped up against walls, on which the
words ‘The snake has bitten’ were spray-painted. There were no
witnesses for any of the murders.”
“So basically…I need some more coffee.” Sam turned to Jason.
“How much sugar did you put in this, a pound?” Grinning, Sam
got up from Diana’s desk.
“Oh, I am so very sorry you did not like the coffee I made for
myself, but which you then snatched away from me.” Jason said,
feigning regret.
“Okay, I didn't snatch-” Sam began, but Diana cut him off.
“Hey, guys, stop. We need to focus on this case. Sam, stop
5
stealing people’s coffee, you’re basically a caffeine addict now.
And Jason…well, nothing. You’re right.” Diana said, making Sam
push an invisible knife into his heart.
“Et tu, Diana?”
She rolled her eyes and grinned, opening the notes app on her
computer.
“Okay, thoughts?” She asked.
“The snake has bitten…I don’t know why this seems familiar to
me…” Jason said, trying to jog his memory.
“How can it? This is hands down the most unique and awesome
criminal I’ve ever come across.” Sam said.
“You mean aside from the fact that they kill innocent people for
amusement?” Diana asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Uh, yeah, I hadn't really thought about that.” Sam said, grinning
sheepishly.
Suddenly, it clicked in Jason’s mind. He remembered another
lady detective he knew excitedly telling someone she was gonna
catch this person; then the detective’s funeral.
“I think I’ve got it! This same exact case was being looked into by
another detective, Stacy, I think her name was, ten days ago. She
had actually gotten extremely close to finding this murderer, and
then she got killed by the murderer.”
“Well, that's one way to get rid of someone.” Sam mumbled.
“The murderer's later crime scenes also had that statement
written on the walls, though she managed to kill all those
affluent victims in their own not-so-humble abodes.” Jason said.
6
“‘The snake has bitten?’” Diana asked.
“‘The snake has bitten.’” Jason confirmed, nodding.
“I stand by the cool and awesome thing.” Sam grinned. “Do you
have a name?”
“She calls herself ‘The Viper’, but I think we can get her real name
from-” Jason started to reply, but Sam was already muttering
under his breath,
“That’s so dope. I wish you guys were this cool.” Sam said, as
Jason and Diana rolled their eyes in unison.
“Okay, moving on…Jace, I assume she painted the words with
spray paint? Green?” Diana asked as Jason nodded. She
continued, “Okay, she seems to be using the same paint now,
too. Do you know the brand name?”
“No, but I can check the file on her, from the last case.”
Diana nodded. “Good, I want you on that. And when you’re
done, I want you to pull up the video footage and customer
records of every store which sells that paint or is in the vicinity of
the crime scenes and see if you can get anything.”
Jason groaned. This was the digital equivalent of door duty, and
it almost never turned out to be useful. But before he could
protest, Diana had already moved on.
“Sam, I want you to dig up everything we have on this Viper.
You’re the one with the most connections, so do your thing.”
“Of course he gets the cooler job.” Jason grumbled as Diana toldthem
that she was going to try and find the connection betweenThe Viper’s
victims. Frowning, Jason decided to comply, and began moving towards
his desk.
7
Chapter 2: The First Move
He’s gonna blow me off, isn’t he?
Sam tried not to inhale the stench of city garbage and dirt
surrounding him in the darkened alleyway he was waiting in. He
was waiting for his friend Derek, who was supposed to meet Sam
half an hour ago. The guy was never on time, never had been
since Sam had met him all the way back in uni. The habit had
carried into the present. Derek was a cop who had gone
undercover to bust a narcotics ring two months ago, but the case
hadn’t reached its end yet. But the network of dealers and
buyers is so wide, and Derek had eyes and ears in so many
places, that he knew almost every important player in the
Underworld now.
Sam was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly saw
a dark form coming his way. The form soon took the shape of a
tall man, walking towards him with his hands in the pockets of
his black leather jacket.
Please be Derek, Sam silently pleaded the man, who was nearing
him with his Nike cap pulled low over his face. But, to Sam’s
disappointment, the man walked right past him and was gone as
quickly as he had come. He was not Derek.
Sam sighed and turned to leave, when he stepped on something
which made a crinkling sound beneath his feet. He looked down
to see a plastic package containing what looked like an envelope
lying near his shoes. He smiled to himself and looked at the tall
man walking away, just in time to see him slap his palm to his
forehead at the noise and continue on.
8
I owe you one big time man, he thought as he silently thanked
Derek.

Eric woke up, panting. As usual, his first conscious thought was
of her.
That Snake really thinks she can get away with putting me in
here, doesn't she? He thought to himself.
Suddenly, the door of his dark cell was banged upon. This ritual
was very familiar to him. Every day a guard would come, open
that teeny tiny slit in the door and pass him a tray of stale bread
and mulch that barely passed as food.
"Yuh in there homie?" The badge yelled.
"As if I have a way of bolting out of here." Eric grumbled to
himself. "You guys made sure that I don’t."
“Anger ain’t good for ya, buddy.” The badge said, sliding in the
mulch tray. His name was Matthew, and he was always kind to
the convicts. No matter how much Eric tried to hide it,
Matthew’s proverbs had helped him through many tough spots.
“Spare me your sentiments.” He murmured, accepting the food.
Every minute he spent in this hellhole, every bite he took of this
mush, just fueled his hate even more.
Matthew can preach all he wants; my anger is my sword and its
first victim is going to be her.
But right now, all he could do was stare at the black walls keeping
9
him caged.
Eric closed his eyes in frustration. When I get out of here, and I
will, he promised the girl silently.
“I’m gonna come for you.”

“What is this?” Jason said. He had taken a break from burrowing

through the video footage and customer records he’d managed
to get, from the shops in Brooklyn which sold Splash’s green
spray paint, the one The Viper used. He was pointing to a pile of
files on Diana’s desk.
“Oh…I got a couple new open cases. So did you, I see.” Diana
said, nodding at a similar-looking pile on Jason’s desk and
continuing.
“By the way, I realized something about The Viper. She’s kept a
gap of thirteen days in between her murders, each of them.”
“Of course she chose such an inauspicious number.” Jason
sighed.
“Wait for it. According to the autopsy report, all her victims were
killed almost exactly at 3:30 am.”
“Witching hour. Well, that is expected of her.” Jason said,
shaking his head. “What about her victims’ identities?”
“Glad you asked. All her victims are super rich, like, silk-
handkerchief-using-wiping-my-bum-with-my-money rich. Which
suggests that she herself might’ve come from a poor
background. You’re the psychology expert. What do you think?”
10
“Well, first of all, I have read only one book about psychology.
One. But I think you are correct. Napoleon Bonaparte once said,
‘Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.’ I
doubt that The Viper is particularly religious.” Jason replied.
Diana nodded and asked him whether he had found anything.
He wheeled her over to his desk as he sat down on his chair. He
started his laptop and clicked over to a few screenshots.
“I noticed this girl in many of the shops. She always comes in
wearing a cap and mask, and she knows where all the cameras
are, she pretends to fix her cap every time she rounds a corner,
so I was not able to see her face. But I did notice this,” He scrolled
over to one of the screenshots and zoomed in.
“This tattoo. I sent it over to the Tech team to improve the
quality, and here is what I got. There are two blades crossed over
each other like an X. They seem to be knives. And this bracelet- it
looks like black gold, with an engraving that says, ‘Catch me if
you can’ in silver. It appears in the footage of seven shops across
Brooklyn, meaning, obviously, that she went to 7 different
shops, but she bought only one can of green spray paint in the
end. She did not reveal her face anywhere, but it was as if she
was rubbing her presence in our faces.” Jason breathed out a
sigh as he finished briefing them on his findings. Knitting her
eyebrows, Diana leaned back in her chair to get a better look at
the murderer they were chasing. Finally, she got up.
“Thanks, Jace. This was really helpful. Any updates on Sam?”
“He messaged me a while ago saying he was on his way, though
it took me some time to figure it out because of his terrible
attempt at speaking in code. I do not know how he expects
11
normal human beings to comprehend the words ‘The boulder is
rolling down the hill’ as ‘I am coming back.’”
Suddenly, a voice called from the hallway,
“It’s because of your utter dismissal of anything cool or fun that
you don’t understand what I say. Who uses words like
‘comprehend’ anyway?” Sam’s head appeared in the doorway.
“Oh, hey Sam.” Jason said, with disinterest.
“Speak of the devil. Did you meet with your Derek?” Dianaasked.
“Hold your horses, boss. Hey, Blondie, go get me a glass of water.
I’m tired.”
Jason looked at him. “Of course, how do you want it? Cold? Iced?
Poisoned?”
Sam gulped. “You know what, I’ll take a rain check on that.
Thanks, though.”
Diana face-palmed herself as she went towards Sam and took
the plastic packet from his hands.
“Did he give you this? What did he tell you?”
“I didn’t actually meet him, what with him not wanting his thug
buddies to know and all, but he’s explained everything he knows in
there-” Sam pointed towards the packet. “And the whole thing’s
pretty…complex, to say the least.”
“What do you mean, complex?” Jason piped in.
“Well…you should see for yourself.” Sam replied, as they
gathered around him. He pulled the envelope out of the plastic
and extracted a crumpled letter from it.

12
To S,

13
Chapter 3: The Minor Piece

To S,
Hey, this is a lot more complicated than you
thought it was. So about Eric… he was the first
son of millionaire Jeffrey Anderson and his trophy
wife, Jennifer. He was the golden boy, the apple of his
parents’ eyes and whatnot. That is, until Jennifer
died in a car accident two years after Eric’s birth. His
father was plunged into sadness for the entirety of
two months, after which he remarried and had
Blackblood.
This Blackblood guy’s a ghost, by the way. Police
have never had any substantial evidence on him,
though everyone knows he’s done bad things. No one
knows his real name, not even me. A real angel.
But anyways, suddenly all the attention began to
be showered upon Blackblood, and Eric became
jealous. Like, kill-his-own-stepmother jealous. Which
brings us to the next point, that he did just that.
When old Mr. Jeffrey thought his end was near and
stuff, he wrote his will, dividing his property equally
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15
among both his sons. But after his death, the
second wife, Britney, being the sweetheart that
she was, manipulated his will to give all the dead
man’s property to her own son, Blackblood.
So my guy Eric gets angry, right? He starts
plotting his revenge and stuff. Gets his hands on
some insulin, stabs poor Britney when she’s
sleeping. But, the police figure out that it was Eric
who killed her and he’s forced to run away from
home.
Blackblood is only 10 at the time, though, and
doesn’t know all this will manipulation business. All
he knows is that his mother is dead because of Eric.
Thus begins the Endgame.
So Blackblood hates Eric, wants to kill him. And
Eric hates Blackblood, wants his deserved money
back.
Eric is a friend of your girl Alexa’s, by the way. Oh,
Alexa is the real name of your murderer, she calls
herself ‘The Viper’. She used to help him kill the

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15
people who wronged him, like the lawyers who helped
little Britney and all. But they drift apart after
Alexa betrays him somehow, I don’t reallyknow
the details.
But anyways, one night, an anonymous caller
tips the police saying that they’ve found a guy who
looks just like the Eric guy from the wanted posters.
So, the police come in, capture Eric, and that’s that.
Eric is taken into custody, the court finds him guilty
of all charges, sentenced to life imprisonment.
Blackblood takes a liking to murder. So does
Alexa, but I’m pretty sure you know that already.
So here we are.
It took me a lot of effort to dig all this up, so you
ought to keep me in your prayers for the rest of
your days. I wouldn’t mind a little cash prize either.
But anyways, I expect you to keep this information
confidential and burn this letter as soon as you’re
done. You’re welcome, by the way. You owe me a huge one.
-D
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15
“Jeffrey Anderson? Why have I heard that name before?” Jason
asked.
“Because he was the richest person in the world until recently?”
Sam offered.
“Owner of the biggest IT company in America?” Diana added,
continuing at Jason’s nod and the spark of recognition in his
eyes.
“Anyways…So the connection between Alexa and this other guy
Eric is something to look into. But if this Blackblood business is
real, we just got ourselves one more contender to deal with.”
“Yeah…So what’s our plan of action, boss?” Sam smirked at
Diana, who rolled her eyes and moved to the drawing board. She
felt surprisingly fresh for a night completely devoid of sleep and
completely full of thinking and coffee. But working a case always
did that to Diana. She couldn’t rest and had absolutely no chill
until the case had been solved.
“Okay. We need to do some more recon on this Blackblood
person. Jason, get me anything and everything we have on him.
Sam, I need you to dig up these murders that Alexa and Eric
allegedly did together. I’m gonna try and link the information we
have to this new…find.” Diana said, her goal already clear in her
mind. Receiving no reaction from her secondaries, she said,
“Let’s go, people! We can do this!” Jason and Sam moved out of
the room. Diana sighed as she turned back to her notebooks and
papers full of notes. Her mind was swirling with images of Alexa’s
16
15
victims and her imagined scenario of Eric’s arrest three months
ago.
Swoosh.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a piece of paper almost flying
out the window with the wind before she caught it. It was a
drawing her niece had given her; What had she called it?
Something like mandala, yeah, that was right, mandala art. It
was like a complex, abstract design with circles full of patterns.

Diana paused as the paper slipped from her hands.

Patterns!
She quickly pulled out a sheet from her notes and printed out a
map of Brooklyn. She had set out to do something else entirely,
but what if she could stop the murders themselves on the way?
Two in Gravesend…
Diana tracked the neighborhoods in Brooklyn as she pierced the
white paper with thumbtacks everywhere they knew The Viper
had struck, her excitement growing by the second. What if this
was it? The final straw? The end to her problems, to the
murders?
Have I finally figured Alexa out?
The thought gave her a jolt as a shot of pure hope surged
through her.
Another two in Kensington, one in Borough Park…
Three green thumbtacks where Alexa had spilt the blood of her
victims. Sweat on her forehead, on her hands.
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15
Another one in Bath Beach, one in Midwood…
Two more.
One in Sheepshead Bay…
The last pins in the right place and then…
Nothing.
It was done. And it was useless.
Diana groaned in frustration. Balling up the map and tossing it in
the bin, thumbtacks and all, she collapsed into her chair. She
needed a full night's sleep. But she chided herself,
Oh, really? Would you also like a Prince Charming to rescue you
from your tower of pending work?
Diana sighed, decided to settle for coffee, and moved towards
the kitchen just as Sam came through the door, running straight
into her.
“Oh, sorry.” Sam scratched his head, not looking sorry at all.
Diana brushed herself off. “Did you find anything?”
“I did, actually. This is the list of people they allegedly killed
together and the site of the murder, a.k.a their homes.” Sam
said, handing a file to Diana.
Could it be…?
She knew it was in her job description to always expect the
worst, but the thought was in her head and the hope came along
with it. She had been hoping to figure out the pattern in which
Alexa chose her victims…she thought it was something related to
the location of the murders; thus the map, although she found
16
15
nothing discernible in there. But maybe, just maybe, taken
together with the murders she and Eric did together, it might
lead to something helpful…
Wasting no time, she grabbed the file from Sam and began
plotting the places onto the now-straightened-out map.
Two in Dyker Heights, another two in Borough Park…
Anticipation rising steadily, heartbeat speeding, she pushed in
the thumbtacks and finally…
Done. And yet, it was nothing.
Diana groaned in exasperation just as Sam came over and
started tilting the paper this way and that to figure out what she
was doing.
“Give it up! It’s useless.” She said, disappointment coursing
through her..
“What were you trying to do? And what does this ‘C’ have to do
with anything?” Sam asked.
Diana extracted her face from her hands. “Sea? What sea?” “No,
like the letter ‘C’. That’s what this is supposed to be, right?” Oh,
Sam. So clueless, yet so brilliant.
It’s a C!
Diana flung herself off the chair and went towards him.

“Hey, whoa. Chill, man.” Sam muttered as Diana stared at the

map as if willing it to surrender its secrets to her.

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15
She pointed to the thumbtacks a little to the right.

“What about these? These can’t be in the ‘C’.”

“Yeah, it looks like another letter to me.” Sam replied, not

understanding what all the fuss was about.

“But it can be just about any letter in the alphabet.” Diana said,
sighing.
“Yeah, you’re right…But what is all this? What were you trying to
do?” Sam asked, perplexed. But Diana was too lost in her own
thoughts.
“This first ‘C’ can be the start of any word in the dictionary from
‘c’. And what if it’s just a set of initials? It can be anything.” She
said, hopelessness taking over her tired black eyes.
“I-I guess so... Why is this so important, though? Tell me what’s
going on, Diana.” Sam said, the confusion in his voice clear.
Diana sighed. “It’s a long story, but I think Alexa is following a
pattern in choosing her victims. And I thought that I was
reallyclose to figuring it out. Turns out I was wrong…”

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Diana’s Map of Brooklyn

16
15
Chapter 4: The Advantage
“I thought I’d got it…but I don’t even know if she’s actually
spelling out a word with her murder sites, let alone guessing
what it is. And to top it all off, it may even be a set of initials, in
which case, we’re screwed. Well, we were already screwed, but
you get what I mean.” Diana explained.
Like the brilliant person he was, Sam replied,
“Huh? One more time. Sorry, I need coffee.”
That makes two of us. Diana sighed, and was about to elaborate
when Jason entered the room, looking defeated.
“Oh, hey Jace. Did you find anything?” Diana asked, taking in his
sagging shoulders, his electric blue eyes aimed at the floor.
“Not really…It was a dead end…It turns out the Blackblood guy
really is a ghost. There is no trace of him in the database, nor
could I fathom anything from the whispers on the street.” Jason
sighed. “What about you? Did you discover anything new?”
“Possibly. I might be close to figuring out how Alexa is choosing
her victims but-” Before Diana could finish, Sam interrupted,
“I thought we had already figured it out…isn’t she killing only rich
people?”
Diana sighed. “Yes, but there are quite a few rich people in
Brooklyn, aren’t there? But anyways, I’m close to finding the-”
“The Pattern? So we know who she is going to kill next?” Jason
piped up.
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15
“No, I-” Diana took a deep breath. She hated being interrupted,
and she needed her patience even more now that she was
running on 2 hours of sleep and two liters of coffee.
“I’m about to explain, so it would really help if you let me.” She
said, her smile sickly sweet.
Jason and Sam shared a look and nodded, as Diana continued,
“I thought that, other than the victims being chosen by a certain
characteristic, maybe they had their location in common too,
and rather than them living in a certain area, maybe all the
murder sites came together to form something bigger, like a
word or a bunch of initials.” She paused, waiting for a reaction.
“Like her mark, all over Brooklyn.” Sam said, understanding
flooding his face.
Diana nodded, relieved. “Exactly. So I plotted all her victims’
houses on a map, but it gave me nothing, until I paired those
murders with the ones Eric and Alexa did together. Then, I
discovered the pattern with Sam’s help. But I can’t figure out
what the word itself is, I just have the first letter.”
Suddenly, Jason got up from his chair. “So you are implying that
we need someone who has worked with The Viper long enough
to know some of her secrets? Someone who knows her code
because he’s killed in The Viper’s pattern alongside The Viper
herself? Someone like Eric?”
“So you wanna interrogate him?” Sam asked.
“I mean, why not, right? Granted, Eric is in the SHU currently, but
what’s wrong with asking for permission to interrogate him?”
Diana said. “Jace, I need you to look into getting that
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permission.”
“Oh come on! How come I have to do the worst jobs every
time?” Jason grumbled, pouting like a little child.
“Because if we send Sam, they might just remove us from this
case entirely, possibly take away our badges.” Diana replied,
while Sam just frowned.
“Guys!” He protested, but Jason nodded sagely.
“Fair enough.”
They laughed, and Diana suddenly felt a surge of hope pass
through her.
We’re going to get you, Alexa.

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Chapter 5: The Illegal Move
Eric woke up to confusion, exhaustion and a pounding headache.
He could see nothing because of the bag thrown over his head.
The criminal tried to move, but found his wrists tied together
behind his back and ankles duct-taped too. The irony was like a
punch to his gut.
I used to keep my victims tied like this for hours before having my
kill…simmering in their fear, every instinct telling them to flee,
but how could they? They had no escape from what they had
done.
Eric chuckled to himself. Whoever had done this to him had done
their research well. The headache was subsiding now, as his
murky thoughts started to clear up a bit. He knew he should be
frightened, terrified, even, but all he could feel was excitement.
Someone had gotten him out of jail.
Why? What’s going to happen now? Where am I? Why me?
A million questions crowded his mind, but he forced himself to
keep quiet, because though the covering over his head was
muffling the sounds, he could make out the conversation of the
people in the next room pretty well. A voice was saying,
“-do we do now?”
Another voice, this one a girl’s, saying,
“Interrogate him. I’m sure he’ll give us what we want when we
tell him whom we’re after. Right, Jace?”

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A somehow more sophisticated-sounding voice, who Ericassumed
must be ‘Jace’, replied,
“Right. Just follow my lead. Eric will not know what hit him.”
A new voice,
“Wait! I call bad cop!”
The girl replying,
“Sam, for the last time, there is no play-acting!”
The Sam guy replying,
“But why not? Y’all are such killjoys. Ooh, I like that. Can I be
Texan, please?”
The elegant guy,
“Permission to tie him up right there beside Eric?”
The girl replying,
“Denied. We want Eric alive, not annoyed to death.”
“Guys! Y’all are some of the meanest folks I’ve ever seen in my
entire life!” Sam, in a terrible Southern accent.
The girl saying,
“On second thought…”
Eric silently groaned.
These are the morons who got me out?

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This whole ordeal was going to be a lot harder, not to mention
exasperating, if these guys were cops. Suddenly, he heard a door
opening.
The sound of laughter. Another door. Footsteps.
The covering was yanked off his head and his eyes struggled to
adjust to the harsh fluorescent lights overhead. Squinting, he
took in the brunette chick, the blondie to her right and the raven-
haired guy on her left, trying hard to be intimidating. It was not
working.
“Hello, Eric.” The raven-haired boy said. “You make one false
move, and I’mma kick ya where the sun don’t shine. Ya hear
me?”
“I can hear, but I have no idea what you’re saying. If you want to
be understood, I suggest you drop the accent.” Eric sneered.
“You’re welcome.”
Immediately, Sam moved towards him threateningly, and almost
as immediately, the guy Eric guessed was ‘Jace’ moved to
restrain him.
“Drop the character.” The Blondie whispered. “We need Samuel
Green right now, not some 1950’s bad cop with a perpetual
hangover.”
Eric grinned, revealing his yellowing teeth.
“I like this one.” He said, nodding towards the Blondie. “Very
feisty.”
The girl stepped forward and bent down to his level, taking
something out of her pocket.

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“You keep talking like that, and I’m gonna make you regret it.”
She said, holding the knife she had taken out of her pocket
inches aways from his neck.
“You’re here to answer our questions, and you will do just that
and nothing more. Give me more of your attitude and this knife
will be bloodied before you can say ‘Alexa’.”
Eric was going to throw a sarcastic comment at her, but his blood
fired up when he heard her name. The smirk was wiped right off
his face as his questions threatened to overwhelm him.
What does that Snake have to do with this? Is she involved
somehow? What does she want? What the hell is happening?
“Alexa?” He could barely utter her name. “What does she have
to do with this?”
“That’s a good boy.” The girl jeered. “Now, you open your mouth
only to answer and nothing more. Jason, the floor is yours.”
“Now, then. You and Alexa used to be partners in crime, did you
not?”
The Blondie looked at him in anticipation. Eric said nothing.
“I will take that as a ‘yes’. You chose your victims in a specific
manner, am I right?” He continued.
Receiving no answer yet again, ‘Jace’ sighed.
“Look, we know you were wronged, and that you were taking
revenge on those who wronged you. You thought Alexa was your
friend, but she stabbed you in the back. We want her to get
caught, and so do you. We’re on the same side here.”
Finally, Eric said,
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“You think I’m gonna give you answers without you giving me
some? Why did you choose me, of all people? Why did you sneak
me out of jail just for an interrogation? I need some
information.”
Sam moved forward to answer, rolling up his sleeves, seeming to
have given up on the ‘bad cop’ act.
“Okay, let’s do this. So Diana here,” He gestured towards the girl.
“She figured out that you and Alexa had been killing in a code, a
kind of pattern. That is, until the misunderstanding, the fight,
and finally, you know, the friendship breaking.”
Eric winced. “She was not my friend. Not a real one, at least.”
Sam continued on as if Eric had never even spoken. “But
anyways, you, my friend, are here to tell us what that code is.
After you do, we’ll have a pretty good shot at predicting The
Viper’s movements, so we’re all on the same side here. And I
suggest you tell us fast,” Sam checked his watch in the most
dramatic way possible, “Because the NYPD should be here any
minute now, and they’re gonna put you right back in that luxury
apartment of yours, you know, the one they call the SHU.”
“What will you take to take it down a notch?” Diana grumbled.
“A million dollars.” Sam said, stepping towards Diana with his
hand outstretched, as she looked at him with her eyebrows
raised.
“How about a punch instead?” She said, putting on her sweetest
smile.
“Hey, guys!” Eric said suddenly, regaining their attention. “I’ve
been waiting for an opportunity like this all my life, and now,
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30
you’ve delivered it right to my doorstep.”
Eric felt invigorated by the idea of revenge. The countless nights
he had spent plotting and planning were finally going to be of
use to him.
“What I don’t understand though, is why you brought me all the
way here just to ask me a couple of questions.”
“We asked the authorities for permission to interrogate you, but
your dumb butt had just landed itself in the SHU, hadn’t it?”
Diana said, exasperated. She remembered that argument all too
well.

They had been in the break room when Jason came out with it,
immediately facing a strong opposition from Sam.
“Oh, come on! Just try and see clearly for once!” Jason had said,
irritated.
“What do you mean, for once? I always-” Sam had started,
defensive.
“Enough!” Diana had suddenly yelled. She had had enough of
this. Both of them had looked at her, surprised at her
unexpected reaction.
“Stop it! Both of you! We’re such a great team, we’ve worked
together for so long! Are we really going to let a lowly criminal
break us apart? Is The Viper going to be the end of our years-
long friendship?” Diana had been flushed from anger, and tired
from long nights of work, and all she had wanted to do was curl

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up in her chair and go to sleep, where no criminals could get her,
but she hadn’t done any of that.
Instead, she had turned around and stormed out, wanting to
leave the drama behind.
The awkward silence between Sam and Jason had been
palpable, a living, moving creature. Finally, Sam had sighed.
“I’m sorry, man…But I really don't think this is the best move we
can make.” Sam had said.
Jason had also calmed down now. “But what other choice do we
have? We’ve been denied permission, so we have to do this
ourselves. Besides, he may prove to be handy even after we
catch Alexa, because he also has ties with Blackblood, right?”
“I guess…Okay, yeah, I see your point…” Sam had suddenly put
his head in his hands. “Ugh, all this doubt and uncertainty is
driving me nuts. Let’s just take a break.”
“I am sorry I overreacted…And a break sounds fantastic.” Jason
had replied.
“Truce?” Sam had said, flashing that crooked smile of his as Jason
grinned back.
“Truce. Did you just say ‘uncertainty’ a minute ago?”
“No, I absolutely did not.”
“I heard you, it is too late for that.”
They laughed and finally looked at each other, really looking at
each other, beneath the layers of stress and tension and doubt.
“I missed you, man.” Sam had said, as he had hugged Jason.

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Me too, Jason had thought.

Meanwhile, Diana had walked out of the precinct. She had

needed some air after a long day at work, needed some time
alone with her thoughts. She had needed to brace herself for
what she was about to do.
For the first time in days, Diana finally had her thoughts straight
and head clear. They needed someone with prior experience
with Alexa, and the guy she had in mind had even helped do
some of the murders they were investigating.

I hope Jason and Sam come back to normal again, Diana had
thought. I’m gonna need them both when I get Eric out of jail.

Jason and Sam’s expectant stares snapped Diana out of her

trance, as she continued to tell Eric why they had smuggled him
out of jail.
“They wanted to ‘school’ you, and keeping you in solitary
confinement in a dark dingy cell for two months is apparently
their way of taming you. They didn’t want us to interfere with
your ‘education’, and they didn’t really believe the code thing,
either, so we didn’t get the permission.”
“Oh…too bad.” Eric said, very obviously not feeling bad at all.
“Hey, hey. You don’t have to get so jolly. You’re tied up on the
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33
floor with no weapons or plan.” Sam said pointedly.
“Okay, I wasn’t even thinking about anything like that.” Eric said.
“Was that supposed to be convincing?” Jason mumbled as Eric
continued.
“But anyways, this is great and everything, and I get that we’re
on the same side now, but I still have one question.” Eric said,
looking up at them.
“How did you manage to sneak me out of one of the most secure
prisons in the world?”

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34
Chapter 6: The Discovered Attack
Jason discreetly slipped the empty vial of galcomin back into his
apron pocket. He had spent the past few weeks observing how
Brian, the guy whose face he was wearing currently, behaves and
reacts. And it had paid him well, because today, he had managed
to convince all of Brian’s co-workers that Brian was just back
from the hospital ahead of time.
Little did they know that Brian had still not recovered from the
car accident that had given him a hairline crack in his leg and that
the poor guy was very much still in the hospital. Fortunately for
Jason, he was easily pulling off an impeccable Brian with nothing
but a mask of Brian’s face made with laser printers and his own
wits.

It had all started with Diana restating what he had been saying
and thinking for the past hour.
“We need to somehow smuggle Eric out.” She had said, much to
Sam’s apprehension.
“Oh come on! I thought you were the sensible one!”
“And she has just proven herself to be. May I know why you
agree, though?” Jason had said, beaming.
“Well, now we know the irrefutable link between Alexa and Eric,
and we need to talk to him, but we can’t.”

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Diana looked straight at Sam. “So the only remaining option is to
take matters into our own hands.”
“Bu-but there must be some other way! This can’t be
happening.” Sam had said, thumping into a nearby chair.
“There is no other way, Sam. Don’t you think we would have
found one by now, what with all the thinking we’re doing?”
Diana had pressed.
“I don’t- I can’t-” Sam had sighed, thought for a long moment,
taken a sip of his almost-cold coffee, and finally given in. “Both
of you think this is the right thing to do? A jail break? We could
go to prison right along with him if we get caught.”
Jason and Diana had nodded, and Jason had said,
“But that is the thing. We are not going to get caught.”
“How do you know?” Sam had replied.
But Jason knew. “You have a plan. I can see it in your eyes. And
we all know your plans never fail.”
Diana fake-coughed, a playful smile on her face. “I seem to
remember one night on Coney Island.”
Jason laughed. “Oh, and that stakeout at Manhattan Beach?
Complete disaster.”
“Okay, guys, stop!” He mumbled, “We don’t talk about that.”
Majority rule had finally won Sam over.
“But anyways, are we gonna do this, or not?”

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And that had been that. They had stayed up all night, surviving
on coffee and Sam’s bad jokes. Sam had proposed a plan, and
they had spent the dark hours meticulously analyzing and
correcting it. But at the end of it all, they had a solid ploy. A fool
proof way to get Eric out of jail.
And now, the execution was critical. A slip-up in even the tiniest
of details could give up their entire plot. Jason was in charge of
the first step, of setting the wheels into motion. And that too,
with lip-smacking flavor.
Brian was a cook at the Brooklyn Hill State Penitentiary, the same
jail where Eric was pacing the confines of his 8x6 SHU cell
currently. Jason slipped easily into the character of Brian just by
slipping on the perfectly fabricated mask. The instructions had
been clear. He passed the tray of food he’d made to the guard
and realized his job was over. He remembered the tinge of guilt
he felt when he poisoned the food. Just as he began to think
he’d done it pretty inconspicuously, the guard called him.
“Pretty neat tray today, B-dawg. Ain’t no dribbles. Ya feeling
good?”
Jason cringed inwardly. He’d forgotten about Brian’s taste for
untidiness. He should have slopped the food haphazardly into
the tray, but his culinary mind just couldn’t allow him to put
mashed potatoes and ketchup in the same bowl. So he did the
thing Brian would have done. Became basic.
“Yeah, I’m trying this new ‘Be Organized’ app, they say it helps
get your life together, and my marriage sucks. She’s always
telling me to do things, and move things, and wash the car, but I
keep forgetting.”

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37
Thankfully for him, the guard bought his bluff and laughed.
“Those apps kill yo brain, I tell ya. Just take her out to dinner,
that oughta do it.”

Jason mumbled a response not legible even to himself. To his

relief, Matthew finally walked away with the tray of food for Eric.

I heard the familiar knock I hear every day, and the sound of the
food hatch sliding open, as Matthew slid the food tray in.
But there was something different today. The potatoes, beans
and rice weren’t slopped together, and the food just looked
better cooked today.
“New cook?” He asked Matthew.
“Nah, it’s Brian. He’s trying some new self-help app or som’n.”
Somehow, Eric knew that wasn’t the case.

Diana tried to calm down as she paced the infirmary of Brooklyn

Hill State Penitentiary. She desperately prayed that Jason had
done everything right…their entire plan depended on it. She
checked her watch. Yep…it had been twenty-eight minutes…Eric
should have started showing symptoms by now.
She jumped suddenly as she looked into a nearby mirror. Even
though the mask of Ruth’s face fit perfectly well, she still hadn’t
4
38
gotten used to looking at her own reflection and seeing someone
else staring back. Ruth was a doctor in the infirmary of the jail,
but she had taken the week off to tend to her hospitalized
husband, Brian. That was, until Jason/Brian had shown up fit and
fine today, and so, so had Diana/Ruth.
Diana rubbed her sweaty palms on her/Ruth’s doctor’s coat in
anticipation. Any minute now…

Eric finished the last of his rice, the warm feeling which always
came with food, spreading inside him. He sat back on his excuse
of a bed, preparing himself for yet another boring day. Oh, how
wrong he was…
Soon, the warm feeling turned into a searing hot pain in his
lungs, and before he knew it, he was on the floor, coughing and
gasping, trying desperately to douse the fire in his chest. He had
no idea what had suddenly gone wrong, but he was sure if he
didn’t do something about it, the flames would engulf him
whole.
Struggling, he got up, mustering all his power to get to the metal
door of his cell.
He did not know where his strength came from when he banged
on the door of his cell and told the guard who answered,
“Hey, dude…” He wheezed suddenly. “I think I might be dying. A
little help here?”
“Yessum, likely story, man.” Matthew said, although looking at
Eric coughing violently, he didn’t sound too sure.
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“I’m telling you…” A cough. “...the truth.” He managed to get the
words out before collapsing on the floor, his body having given
up on him.
Sure enough, Eric was soon on his way to the infirmary, where a
certain doctor was waiting for him.

“I can’t deal with this here.” Diana promptly announced to the

Warden, who had been called when she had declared that she
could not identify the disease the patient in front of her had.
“Why not?” He asked, clutching his silk handkerchief to his face
as Eric lay in the infirmary bed, coughing and wheezing.
“Um…I don’t think this is a normal cough or cold.” She said,
trying to look intimidated. “We’re gonna have to do some
immunofluorescence, maybe some immuno-peroxidase staining.
Either way, it could take more than 3 days. But, um, during that
time, Sir, you’ll be putting the entire staff of the infirmary, and
through them, almost the entire building, at risk of infection. Sir,
we don't even have a separate room to keep him in quarantine,
Sir, and protocol states that he should be transported to a
healthcare facility immediately. But it is your decision, Sir. Thank
you, Sir.”
The Warden considered it, and decided.
“There will be four guards accompanying him in Hazmat suits at
all times, and he is not to leave the hospital building. Report back
to me at once when he is installed in the hospital. Am I clear?
This is a criminal we’re dealing with here, and I don’t want him
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40
turning into a fugitive.”
“Yes, Sir.” Matthew saluted. “I will round up three other guards
and transport him to the hospital myself, Sir.”
The Warden nodded, and Eric’s forced escape had begun.
A wheezing and gasping Eric was unshackled, handcuffed and
stuffed into a car by four guards wearing Hazmat suits, and Eric
barely had time to settle himself down, sneezes taking over him
now, before Sam, sitting at the wheel dressed like the driver,
smirked and stepped on the gas.

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Chapter 7: The Major Piece
“From there, it was easy.” Sam was exaggerating about the level
of ease; it was just that his karate training had come in handy. “I
knocked the guards unconscious, tied them up, and left them on
the road halfway through the ride here.”
“You left them with their hands bound?” Eric asked, his brain
buzzing with new information, as he now came to realize that
everything he thought his brain was imagining in a delirium was
real.
He could still remember the sudden bouts of coughing and
wheezing and the fire in his chest. He could not fathom the fact
that all that pain had been caused by a simple drug, and once he
had thrown up and gotten it out of his system, the symptoms
had gone away too.
“Of course I left them with their hands still bound, I’m not an
idiot.”
“Well-” Jason started to say, but Sam interrupted him.
“Most of the time, anyway, I’m not an idiot. But moving on, the
guards must have woken up by now, and even if they get a ride
or get someone to untie their ropes, which I’m sure their
uniforms will get them, they will take another good two hours to
reach the jail. Heck, they’ll take at least another half hour to get
to an area with network connectivity, let alone try to figure out
where we went.” Sam said, his pride in his team, for pulling this
off, reflecting in his voice.
“And we’re gonna stay right here until you give us what we
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42
want.” Diana said.
“And what would that be?” Eric said, ignoring the uncomfortable
feeling in his stomach.
“Have you not you been paying attention? Tell us the code. The
pattern in which you and the snake chose your victims.” Jason
prodded.
“What if I don’t?” Eric sniggered. He was expecting them to
squirm, but instead, the girl looked straight at him, her piercing
gaze watching his every move.
“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re in an unknown location in
the middle of nowhere, tied up in front of some strangers who
wouldn't even hesitate to hurt you. You don’t really have the
upper hand here.”
Still, Eric scrambled for higher ground.
“You would never hurt me. You need me. You need answers.”
She twisted her lips in a smile, and it wasn’t just the words she
spoke next, but also the quiet chill in her voice that almost made
Eric gulp.
“True, but it isn’t your big toe that’s going to give us those
answers, now is it? There should be no problem if we chop it off.
You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Satisfied with the nervous expression he must have worn then,
she stepped back.
“Now, where were we? Oh yeah, Jason, all yours.”
The Blondie tapped his foot impatiently. “The code?”

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“Let’s keep this simple; do you have a sheet of paper and a pen?”
Eric asked. He was not about to risk them voice recording him
confessing to the murders of the corrupt, dishonest lawyers he
had gotten away with.
Just him knowing the code word put him at risk, but he was not
about to let these cops expose him.
“We don’t have listening devices on us, but I will do that
anyway.” Jason said, as he exited the room. Just as the door was
closing, Eric tried to get a glimpse of what was on the other side
of that door, but all he saw was a solid, nondescript wall.
He had already checked for CCTV cameras the minute the bag on
his head was taken off, and there weren’t any cameras, as far as
he knew.
Of course there aren’t, Eric chuckled to himself. They wouldn’t
keep any video evidence that they broke me out, especially
considering the intricate plan they just pulled off. Eric had
underestimated them a lot. He chuckled.
Clever idiots.
Jason re-entered the room with a notepad and an ink pen.
Okay, this is it, Eric thought to himself, the moment I had been
waiting for.
This was his chance to finally get back at Alexa for deceiving him,
for ruining their friendship, their trust. For ruining his life. All the
emotions he had been bottling up inside himself for so many
months, all the hatred, the anger, the betrayal; he had been
saving those feelings for her, for when he finally would get to
have his revenge. Now was his moment, and he was ready to
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44
lash out like a cobra and bite her where it hurt the most, so that
she would remember it for the rest of her life. He would make
sure she regretted all the things she had ever done to him, just
like she had made him regret ever trusting her.
This was revenge. And oh, was it going to be sweet.
He scribbled on the notepad and handed it back to Blondie, who
read it once, then twice, and just nodded.
“Well, that checks out.”
The girl and Sam looked at it too.
“Huh. So it does.”
Sam just grinned and put on a look which clearly showed that he
was trying extremely hard to not whoop for joy. Which Eric
guessed he deserved to do. They all did, considering he had just
unlocked for them, one of Alexa’s many mysteries.

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Chapter 8: The Attack
“Okay, so here’s the plan. Sam, would you do me the honors?”
Diana said to the seven or so policemen who had gathered in
front of her. It had taken a lot of work, but she had finally
convinced the CO to give her twenty of their best men and
women for this job. They had spent the evening hours perfecting
the plan Jason had come up with, and taking into consideration
The Viper’s sneaky ways, now, even their backup plans had
backup plans.
“With pleasure, my liege.” Diana rolled her eyes as Sam smiled.
In her first six months after joining the Precinct, her father had
died in a car crash. She had struggled with depression at the
time, and had even become suicidal, but Sam and Jason had
been the ones to help her out of that phase, even though Sam
hadn’t even known her all that well at the time. So even though
he was a little over the top sometimes, and he never seemed to
take things seriously, he was a great friend and Diana owed him.
Diana breathed in the cold air and looked up at the starless night
sky as Sam proceeded,
“We’re playing in the big leagues tonight, boys.” He was saying.
“So here’s what’s gonna happen: Alexa’s gonna come in, thinking
her victim must be sound asleep, but little does she know, her
victim and his family have all been evacuated and she’s enteringa
house full of cops! Ha! Now that’s a good plot twist. But
anyways, we surround her, handcuff her, and take her into
custody. Simple as that. Capisce?”
The cops nodded, and a few even said ‘capisce’ back, laughing.
60
After Eric had revealed the code, he had helped them predict
where The Viper would strike next. It all made sense now that
they knew what it was. The map, her victims, everything.
COBRA.
The word Eric had scrawled on the notepad had been the key to
solving this case, to catching The Viper.
It seemed like their plan was fool proof. Even if Alexa realized
she was under police observation before she entered the house
and tried to flee, there were cops on every corner, every street,
dressed as pedestrians, for a one-block radius.
So why did Diana have this sinking feeling in her stomach?
Shrugging it off, she walked towards where Jason was standing.
“Are you gonna be off soon?”
“Yes, we’ll be leaving once Sam stops recounting the immensely
exaggerated tales of his valor to our friends here.”
“Tell me about it. The helicopter chase all over Brooklyn was a
bit too much.” Diana agreed.
They laughed, as Sam finally wrapped it up, came towards them
and said in a sing-song voice,
“I’m baaack. Did you miss me, kids?”
“Not one bit. Jason, would you care to cheer us on with a pep
talk before you guys leave?” Diana said, grinning.
“With pleasure. Okay guys, this is it. Let us not fail that
miserably.” Jason said.

60
“Wow. Best pep talk in the history of mankind. I feel victorious
already. But anyways, Diana, you sure you don’t want us here in
case things go south? This thing is serious.” Sam asked, looking
concerned for once.
“Oh my god, worry is not your best look. I can handle things here
no problem, and you already know what’s gonna happen ifthings
go south. Don’t look so distressed, everything’s gonna work
out.” She said.
Diana hoped to God that it was true.

Diana checked her watch- 2:48 am.

Any minute now…
Suddenly, she glimpsed movement in the live feed she was
watching, from the CCTV she had placed on the street. Her
heartbeat quickened as she took in The Viper’s leather jacket,
dangling keys which seemed to belong to a motorcycle, a bulge
in her left jacket pocket that could only be that of a can of spray
paint. This was their murderer.
She spoke into her radio transmitter in as low a voice as she
could,
“Okay guys, she’s here. Get into position and wait for my word.”
Her command was answered by policemen standing up silently,
getting into the firing stance. There were two near the door in
case she tried to flee, and the rest were evenly spread
throughout the living room of Vivian and Malcolm Chambers’
60
house, covering the windows, the entrances to other rooms, and
the skylight.
Alexa started to climb up the front porch, and Diana's
anticipation increased with every step The Viper took. But
suddenly, Alexa paused. She seemed to be listening.
The radio transmitter!
Diana realized, too late. The Viper must have heard the faint
crackle coming from it, because she was now turning, about to
retreat. She spoke,
“Let’s go, guys. Tie on, and pull it down.”
After that, everything happened at once. The policemen and
Diana rushed out the door, The Viper started running, trying to
extract her keys from her back pocket.
When she finally did get them out, though, her keys glinting in
the moonlight, she didn’t make a run for the gleaming black and
green motorcycle visible at the end of the block. Instead, she
stood still, facing the cops who had encircled her, blocking her
way to the motorcycle.
Diana came into the midst of the group.
“You’re surrounded, Alexa.”
The girl visibly flinched at the sound of her name.
“Lay down your weapons. It’s over.” Diana said. But The Viper
quickly regained her composure,
“Oh, honey. I’m just getting started.”
She held up her keys over her head. No, not keys, Diana realized
60
with a sickening feeling.
A knife.
And it was aimed straight at Diana’s heart.
“It was nice meeting you.” She smiled then, the evilest smile
Diana had ever seen in her life, and from the looks of it, the last
smile she ever would see.
She threw the dagger. Diana’s heart stopped beating.
Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. She could
see the stricken looks on the faces of the cops surrounding her
as the dagger came towards Diana, spinning in slow, lazy circles.
Time seemed to have slowed to a standstill, but she was unable
to move her muscles.
She saw in excruciatingly slow movements, the cop beside her
flinging himself in the way of the dagger, his cry of pain as it hit
him square in the stomach, the spurt of blood from his wound,
The Viper smiling in cruel amusement, turning and taking off at
top speed.
The deafening sound of gunshots being fired, the cop at Diana’s
feet groaning in agony, Alexa flinching at every gunshot, running
even faster, the cries of pain from the cop at Diana’s feet, most
of the cops moving to pursue her, the others moving towards
injured cop, his grunts of suffering, suffering he had inflicted on
himself willingly, to save her.
She heard someone call him Steven, and God, she didn’t even
know his name, and he had taken a knife to the stomach for her.
He was being tormented because of her.

60
Diana felt empty inside as she called an ambulance and waited
beside a Steven who lay groaning and hurting in agony.
“I’m so sorry Steven. I never meant for this to happen, and I don’t
know if I will ever be able to make it up to you. I’m so, so sorry. I-
”
“Hey, you have-” A muffled groan of pain. “You have no reason
to apologize or feel guilty. I would have done it for anyone else
on the squad, and you feeling bad is going to bring me even
more-” A groan. “-pain. Besides, you had nothing to do with it. It
was my own-” A strangled cough. “My own decision. I did it
voluntarily. Do you understand?”
“I do. I’m still gonna bring choco chip cookies to you every day,
though.”
“Thanks, boss.” He winked, and coughed, blood spurting out of
his mouth. It took fifteen minutes for death to come after a stab
in the stomach, and he still had thirteen left.
“Hey. You’re gonna make it through this, okay?” She said to him.
“I know, boss, don’t worry about it. Death can eat my foot.”

Diana smiled.
“That’s the spirit.”
Just then, the ambulance came wailing, and Diana helped lift the
stretcher. Just as the door closed, Steven winked at her and said,
“Now I believe you have somewhere to-” A garbled choke.
“Somewhere to be. Go get your murderer, boss.”

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Diana had never known anger, no, fury, so intense. Her
determination to catch the person who did this to Steve had just
increased tenfold, but Diana couldn’t help but smile at Steve’s
words as she got into one of the police cars and stepped on the
gas.

Meanwhile, Alexa sped towards her motorcycle, running faster

than she had ever run before. Every gunshot made her want to
curl up into a ball and brawl her eyes out. But she didn’t. Instead,
she ran through the row Brownstones surrounding her on both
sides, and was a mere ten feet away from her escape, her
motorcycle, when a flash of white- hot pain tore through her left
thigh. She looked down and saw blood. A bullet had grazed her
thigh. Suddenly, she was not here anymore. She was seventeen
again.

“I didn’t do anything!” Alexa was yelling. But only because he

was yelling too.
“Don’t give me that nonsense.” He said, and suddenly he took
out his gun and aimed it at her, at his best friend. “I can’t believe
you would do this, Alexa. I can’t believe I ever trusted you. I’m
sorry for this.”
But she hadn’t done anything to him. She had never done
anything to betray his trust. She did not deserve this. Yet, she
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watched as he pulled the trigger. Just like that. He didn’t even
hesitate.
But Alexa had strong enough reflexes to dodge the bullet. She
kicked the gun out of his hands, threw a punch to his stomach,
another to his face, and ran, tears streaming down her face.
Just like the tears were streaming now, as she somehow
managed to drag herself to her vehicle. She gunned the bike, and
turned around just in time to see some of the cops enter a car.
They would never get her alive. These were her streets; this was
her city. They were just parasites.
She sped through the streets of Brooklyn, keeping to the
narrowest alleys through which cars could not possibly hope to
pass. After numerous twists and turns, she was finally here. Her
hideout. Her home.
She stumbled inside, locked the door, and collapsed to the floor,
wheezing and crying and breathing heavily. Her thoughts were
running wild with all the memories of the moments they had
spent together. All the laughs, all the tears, all the hope, all the
anger. All the fights, the misunderstandings.
She was hyperventilating now. No, she couldn’t break down like
this, she couldn’t be weak. She couldn’t afford to. She focused
on breathing.
In and out. In and out. In and out.
Why did he think I would do something like that? Am I that
untrustworthy?
In and out. In and out.
I made my stance clear in the beginning. I wanted to help him.
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In and out. In and out.
Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong?
In and out.
This can’t be happening…
In and out.
This is happening, she realized, her racing emotions finally under
control now. And it’s all because of that witch. Dana, she thought
her name was.
Her sources had told her about this team of detectives. Her
trauma from gunshots under control now, the space where the
fear and regret were, was filled with anger. Pure, red-hot rage.
Dana better get herself together. She better know what’s coming
for her. Or she’s gonna get bitten.

Alexa woke up determined the next night. Determined to not get

caught and determined not to be disgraced again. Determined
to preserve her pride. Determined to not slip up again.
Determined to make her kill.
She had staked out last night’s planned murder sight to make
sure the cops were still there, staked out tonight’s murder sight
to make sure there were no cops there, had tended to her
wounds, suppressed the memories doing just that had evoked,
and pushed them into the very back of her mind.
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Nothing was to get in the way this time. They would never know
where she was about to strike until it was too late.
Alexa smirked, zipping up her leather jacket and putting on the
hood.
I will never let you have me this time, Dana.
She removed the number plate from her bike, screwed on the
new one, got on the motorcycle and sped off.
She almost laughed as she imagined the cops loitering around
Malcolm Chambers’ House while she drove to the Flatlands. She
would laugh in their faces this time around. She would earn back
her pride.

Alexa got off her motorcycle and parked a block away from
where she intended to go. She could see the obnoxiously big
mansion looming above the rest of the neighborhood. She
knew that each guard made rounds around the complex every
six minutes, with the other guard patrolling in between. So she
had, give or take, three minutes to get in.
She would only need one.
She climbed expertly up the wall despite the very little footholds,
crossed the unnecessarily large courtyard and reached the front
door of the house, all in under two minutes.
She glanced around her. No guard in sight yet. She pulled a
lockpick out of her jacket and got to work. Within seconds, she

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was disappearing into the darkness inside the house. She smiled
to herself.
How’s that, Dana?
She slipped onto each floor, stumbling across sleeping children
and snoring cats, but the owner of the house was nowhere to be
seen.
Alexa supposed it was a nice house. Marble floors, oak furniture,
velvet curtains, soundproof TV room, a pool in the backyard anda
huge terrace.
Of course! The terrace!
Alexa’s research had revealed that Anthony Chamberlain, the
owner of the house, loved stargazing. He had to be on the
terrace now that she knew he was not in his room.
Alexa trod up to the terrace lightly, so as to not alert her prey.
Just as expected, she saw him bent over a telescope, adjusting
some lens or the other.
“Ah, Mr. Chamberlain.”
The man jumped.
“Sorry to have startled you. But your murderer is here to see you.
Should I send her in?” She jeered, smiling a smile so sweet, it was
acrid.
A look of utter terror passed over his face.
Alexa smirked. This was what she loved about her job. The
palpable fear in their eyes as they realize that their fate has been
sealed. She fed on that fear. It was instinctive. Ancient. Thrilling.

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As she sauntered towards him, he stumbled backwards. She took
another step forward and he fell on his back and began crawling
away from her, from the knife in her hands.
Serves you right, moron. She thought, breathing in the horror on
his face. While he was stargazing and strolling around his
morbidly huge property, people were dying of starvation and
thirst. Children were losing their childhoods to drugs and
addiction, languishing in poverty and a lack of education.
Children like ten-year-old Alexa.
She remembered those cold winter nights, when her fathercame
home with nothing to show for the long day of work he had
been through. She remembered her mother begging on the
streets just to be able to put something on the table. She
remembered her older brother going to work at the tender age
of thirteen. She remembered her little sister going to bed hungry
every night. She remembered not being able to fend for herself
against the rich jerks at school.
She hated this man, for having the ability to help others in such a
situation, and not using it at all. This man, kneeling in front of
her, he deserved to die.
She came into range and raised her knife above her head.
“It’s over, old man.”
But, to Alexa’s surprise, the look on his face suddenly changed
from terror, to absolute joy. She stood there for a moment,
unsure of why he looked so happy. Then he spoke, and Alexa’s
life turned to hell.

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“Actually, honey, in your words, I’m just getting started.” Sam
grinned at Alexa and continued.
“If you look to your right, you’ll see Detective Diana and her
team. And if you look to your left, you’ll see Detective Jason with
his team. Behind you are five more cops. There’s no escape.
You’re busted. Surrender your weapons.”
Alexa looked bewildered as realization dawned on her and she
staggered backwards, but fortunately for the detectives, Diana
was right there to bind her wrists.
“NYPD. You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of
law.” She said, as Alexa struggled in her grip.
Sam had never felt this cool before. They had just out-cooled the
coolest murderer ever, and books were gonna be written about
this. Books had to be written about this. He was going to write
books about this.
The backup plan was Diana’s idea. He had gotten a mask of Mr.
Chamberlain’s face made, and played his part so well, that even
Alexa couldn’t notice anything off. Maybe he should ditch all this
and become a Broadway star. But as Jason and Diana came
towards him, Sam knew he couldn’t even think about letting this
job and his friends go. He was simplytoo good at it.
After group-hugging the hell out of each other, they clapped
each other on the backs and decided to go out for drinks.
Little did they know, every movement of theirs was being
watched.
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Chapter 9: The Fork

“Good job, sleepy head.” Sam said, as he barged into the

warehouse, where Eric had been sleeping fitfully on the cold
metal chair.
“Huh?” He said, in a raspy voice, squinting his eyes in the harsh
lights Sam had just switched on.
“I said,” Sam said in exaggerated annoyance. “That your info
helped.”
Eric immediately lost all signs of sleepiness.
“It did? So you arrested Alexa? She’s here right now?”
“Whoa, easy there. Not to get in the way of your friendly reunion
or anything, but why would we let you see her?” He snorted.
Eric raised his head in defiance. “Because I helped you? I’m the
reason she was arrested, right?”
“Absolutely not. I mean, sure, you helped, but it was our plan-”
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. Look-” Eric sighed. He really
needed to see her. “Look, you have friends. You must know what
it’s like to lose them. I’m just trying to correct a mistake I made.
I’m trying to give my friendship another chance. Is that so bad?”
Even though he hated her, Eric still regretted not giving her a
chance to explain herself. He often wondered what things would
have been like if he had just let her speak for herself that night.
Sam thought for a moment, and finally sighed.
“Fine. But we’re going to listen to every word coming out of your
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mouths.”
“Fine with me.” Eric replied.
“I’ll talk to the guys. See what we can do. Cross your fingers,
sleeping beauty.” Sam said, walking towards the door.
Eric sighed, and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. He
had been so out of control with anger that night. His step-
brother-turned-enemy had almost killed him and revealed that
his best friend, whom he had trusted more than he trusted
himself, was involved in killing his lawyer. Furious and
completely sloshed, he had stumbled to Alexa’s place and held
her at gunpoint, not ready to listen to her side of the story.
She had fled, and Eric had never heard from her again, until that
night, that damned night when she got him arrested just for
avenging the denial of his inheritance.
He hoped Sam would convince the others. He wanted to try to
listen to her side of the story. Though he wasn’t sure he would
be able to control his anger until the end of her narrative.

“Are you certain this is a good idea?” Alexa heard one of Dana’s
sidekicks, Jason, she thought his name was, say. She had spent
the night fuming and hurting and plotting. Not to mention
repenting. If only she hadn’t been in such a hurry to redeem
herself, she might’ve noticed the almost theatrical quality of the
terror on the man’s face, or how entering the house was way too
easy, or how the shadows were dancing funny in the corners

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unprovoked. But all her pride and ego and regret had receded
with the darkness, and now that it was morning, she was groggy,
restless and anxious all at the same time.
“I think so. We’re gonna be in the room the entire time.” Sam,
the little snollygoster, was saying.
“Besides,” Dana added, lowering her voice, hoping Alexa
wouldn’t overhear, but she still did anyways. “We might get
some insider intel on this guy Blackblood. We know he’s involved
somehow, and all our other sources have run dry, so why not?
Also-”
Dana was still saying something, but Alexa’s blood had run cold
at the mention of Blackblood’s name.
What does he have to do with this?
She didn’t like that guy; never had. Other than the fact that he
cheated people out of their inheritance, the guy was also a
ghost. Alexa knew every MVP in the Underworld, but she didn’t
even know this guy’s home address. And that made her
uncomfortable.
The Jason guy seemed to ponder for a moment, but finally
agreed.
“Okay, I see your point. As long as they’re both in handcuffs, I
am okay with it.” He decided.
“Cool. I’ll untie the snake girl and take her over to her friend. You
guys bring over coffee. Lots of it.” Sam grinned and then he was
off.
Alexa’s head perked up at the mention of ‘friend’.

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Friend who?
Her face crumpled in disgust.
I don't do friends anymore.
She thought to herself as Sam opened the door and came in, his
gaze skipping over to her.
“All hail, The Fork-Tongued Queen.”
“I command you to throw yourself into the dungeons.” Alexa
said, not a hint of humor in her voice.
“Ouch, let’s chill on the death sentences here. Think about what
your friend will think if you’re not able to meet him because you
killed me. Anyways, enough chatter, you’re coming with me.” He
began untying her feet which were tied to the chair she was in.
Okay, this is it. This is my chance to escape.
“Oh, honey. Don’t you dare ruin this picture-perfect face.” Sam
said, holding a taser against her thigh threateningly.
Alexa had had enough experience tasering people to know what
was in store for her if she moved. So she didn’t. Well, not her
feet, at least. Her mouth was off limits.
“Picture-perfect? Your face paints a perfect picture of ugliness.”
“Yeah, like you’re Aphrodite’s great-granddaughter.” Sam said
pointedly.
He was done untying her now, and started to walk her over to
the next room. She stretched her limbs gratefully as she walked.
All her gratefulness vanished once she entered the next room.

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There he was, slouching in a chair, all bones and angles, in a
tattered blue prisoner’s uniform. He looked up as she came in,
and his face changed instantly from indifference to something
that looked terrifyingly like hope.
Has he come to finish his job?
The terror increased, and she began fighting against Sam’s grip,
handcuffs digging into her skin. Just as she thought she was
about to get free, Jason ran over to them and held her secure,
plopping her into a nearby chair and tying her legs back again.
But she barely felt any of that. All she could think about was that
night, rain pelting the windows, Eric coming in drunk, the fight,
the gun, his face, the escape, the gun, running through the rain,
him calling out her name, the gun, and the gun, and the gun.
The next words Eric said came to her as if through a layer of sand.
It was like her head was underwater and she couldn’t breathe
and she needed to breathe but she shouldn’t and
sheneededtobreathebreathebreathebreath…
Needed to breathe…
Had to breathe…
Couldn’t…breathe…
And then there was only darkness, her old friend.

When she came back to her senses, she was in a dark room with
someone else. In fact, it seemed like there were at least three
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other people in the room. She could tell from their uneven
breaths. Suddenly, realization hit her. She must be in the same
room that she had fainted in, which meant, sitting beside her
was…
Her entire body went rigid. The fright was an animal, crawling up
her throat in the form of a scream. Terror clouded her mind, likea
ghoul taking over her. But somehow, not being able to see his
face was helping. Helping her to not pay attention to her shaking
hands. Helping her to not completely blank out when she heard
his chair screech. Helping her not to scream when she heard his
voice after so many years.
“Hey, Alexa.”
She made no sound. She didn’t dare betray her emotions.
“I don’t know how to start…” A pause. “I guess I'll just start from
the beginning. When that vixen of a woman, Britney, took all of
my father’s wealth for herself and her own son, I couldn’t take it
anymore. I murdered the step-monster with my own two hands,
and I had never felt any better. Having gotten away with one
murder, I began to see killing as an easy way out; a way to get
rid of problematic people. That’s when I found you, Alexa.”
She flinched at the sound of him saying her name. She hated the
way he said it: full of hatred but also something a lot like care.
Maybe his voice was resonating the care he had felt for her then.
But now, Alexa knew it was fake. If he had cared about her, he
wouldn’t have held her at gunpoint. He wouldn’t have accused
her of terrible things she never did. He wouldn’t have broken her
trust knowing that it would break her too.
Receiving no response, he sighed and continued, “We were great
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together. We killed everyone standing in our way. We were
invincible.”
She hated the way he called them ‘we’. There was no ‘we’. He
had already destroyed whatever friendship they used to have.
“That was, until you betrayed me.”
Alexa’s head perked up. She was the one who betrayed him? Oh,
how dare he. How dare he.
If she wasn’t tied down right now, Eric would have been six feet
under the ground already.
“Murder wasn’t Plan A for me. I was still banking on a court case
for getting the wealth and property I deserved. You destroyed
that chance for me. You killed the lawyer fighting for me. You
butchered my best shot at justice. You betrayed me. You went
against me and for what? For money? I could have given you
much more of that. We could have been glorious.”
A scream was building inside her now, a tidal wave of anger and
betrayal.
“Still not going to admit it, huh? Blackblood and his goons found
me one night, going up to your house. I had just heard the news
of my lawyer’s death on the news, and I wanted to be with
someone I trusted. But what he told me shattered that trust
entirely.”
The wave was rising.
“Blackblood told me that it was he who killed the lawyer, but in
collaboration with you.”
Rising.
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“He gave me a newspaper report which had a picture of the dead
body, but that’s not what shocked me. It was the piece of fabric
in the photo, clutched in his hand. It was a piece of your leather
jacket. It was the only one of its kind, my father had had it
custom-made for me. And I had given it to you. It even had a
blotch of the green spray-paint you used. It had to be you. That’s
when I realized you were in league with him.”
Alexa’s hand subconsciously went to the hem of the leather
jacket Eric had given her, the one she was wearing even now.
She had considered throwing it away after the Incident, but she
had realized that she could not let him control her life anymore.
If she had thrown away the jacket because it reminded her of
him, she would be letting him influence her, and she was not
about to make that mistake again. But she was certain there was
no tear in it. And she always did a very clean job with the spray
paint.
The wave was bigger than her now. Bigger than her feelings,
bigger than this room. Bigger than the world. Threatening to
break out.
“You betrayed my trust. But I do admit I should have given you a
chance to explain yourself. I’m sorry.”
It broke out.
Even as it did, Alexa knew it was a mistake, that he wouldn’t
believe her. But she couldn’t hold herself in any longer.
“You’re sorry?” She said, in a harsher voice than she had
expected from her trembling body. “That’s all you can say? You
expect me to forgive you for messing up my brain, and for all
those sleepless nights, and for the trauma you caused? You
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expect me to forget that night? To forget the ghastly things you
accused me of? To forget our friendship and the end of it? I can’t
forgive you. Ever.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive me, I’m asking you to explain
why…” But before Eric could finish, the wave took hold again.
“I didn’t do anything I would have to explain!” She was almost
screaming now, not holding back at all. He deserved this. He
deserved this more than anyone else in this entire world.
“I had nothing to do with killing your lawyer! Your brother could
have had that jacket custom-made too! He could have splattered
it with my green paint! Why did you believe him more than your
best friend? He was your enemy! It’s more likely that you were
in league with him. Because you just can’t stand it if anyone tries
to help you or get close to you, can you? You push away
everyone who cares for you.”
“He couldn’t have had it custom-made because that jacket was a
gift from my uncle in Brazil. It had my initials on it. I saw them
in the photo. And can you blame me for not trusting anybody?
Everyone who cares for me either kills or gets killed! First my
mom,” His voice breaks. “-then my step-mother, then my step-
brother and now you!” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Me caring about people is fatal, Alexa. Can’t you see?”
“That’s no excuse for what you did.”
She was whispering now too. She was so tired. So tired of all this.
“I was drunk and angry. My best friend had just betrayed me.
What do you expect?”

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“I don’t know what I expected! But it certainly wasn’t being held
at gunpoint by the person I trusted more than anyone!”
“And what do you have to say about getting me arrested? Can
you blame me for not trusting anyone if the people I trust try to
screw me over?” Eric said.
“What arrest? I didn’t know anything about your arrest until the
day after it happened. And how dare you even accuse me of
that? I would never do anything like that to someone I cared
about. I’m guessing that damned step-brother of yours told you
this too?” Alexa screamed at him.
“He didn’t have to.” Eric said quietly. “I saw you there with my
own two eyes. I saw you on the rooftop, and I heard a voice
speaking on the phone before the sirens came. You were the one
who tipped the cops off.”
“How did you see me? I wasn’t even there! I would never have
done that to you, no matter what you did to me. You knew that.
You…" Alexa took a pause, as if considering her next words. "You
should have known that.” Her voice was breaking now. But she
couldn’t cry. She couldn’t be weak. Couldn’t afford to let the
world see her break down. In the dark, she looked into Eric's
eyes. Somewhere deep down in her heart, she still hoped that
he would believe her and not that liar of a brother.
Eric looked away without saying anything.
Give it up. He's not going to believe you. Alexa chided herself.
She was exhausted. She wanted to get away from this room,
from him, from the detectives listening silently in the corner. She
wanted to get away from the world. She couldn't bear to do this
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anymore.
Even Sam didn’t crack any jokes as he came to untie her. She
didn’t even bother trying to run away. She knew he would catch
her before she got two steps. She was shaking so badly. She
needed a long sleep. Longer than life, hopefully.
She collapsed gratefully into her chair in the next room and fell
asleep, wishing she would never wake up ever again.

The detectives walked out of the room. As she came outside,

Diana turned to the single open window far above the ground.
She shivered, her brain buzzing with information and moved to
close it as the winter air caressed her chocolate hair. As she
stepped back, she saw a piece of paper on the ground.
It must have flown in with the wind, she thought, picking it up.
“What’ve you got there, boss?” Sam said, coming in from behind
her, Jason at his side.
“I don’t know. I guess this flew in through the window.” Diana
said, opening the slip of paper as Jason and Sam peered around
her curiously. It was a printed note.
You’re getting dangerously close, Detective. One more step and
you’ll regret it.
Diana’s blood chilled.
“What-how-why…?” Sam stuttered.
“How is she still sending these?” Jason asked, bewildered.
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Diana finally unfroze.
“Only one way to find out, I guess.” Diana said, already moving
towards Alexa’s room.
She had been receiving such death threats ever since she had
accepted Alexa’s case. Threats on her life, her loved ones, her
job and what not. She had thought that it was Alexa who was
sending them, since she had also killed the previous detective on
her case when she got too close to her. But now, Alexa was in
their custody, and the death notes hadn’t ceased. Diana needed
answers, if her life really was in danger.
“What the hell is this?” She demanded, startling a sleeping Alexa
awake.
“A piece of paper?” She said, looking groggy.
“Don’t play smart with me. How are you still sending these?”
Diana said.
“What is that?” Alexa asked, groaning awake. She looked like she
had no idea what Diana was talking about. And before she knew
it, Diana was grilling her with questions.
Why are you sending me these in the first place?
Do you have people on the outside?
I need names.
How are you still sending these death threats even though you’re
in captivity?
Answer me!
Finally, Diana decided to give up on the questions, as Alexa
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finally said,
“I would answer if you let me talk, crazy woman!”
Diana simply stared into her eyes, daring Alexa to speak.
“First of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Second,
whatever that note is, I’m not sending you that. What is it, the
eighteenth century? No one uses paper messages anymore!
Third of all, why does everyone keep accusing me of things I
didn’t do! I have nothing to do with this, either.” Alexa huffed,
and not-so-surprisingly, Diana didn’t believe her. She couldn’t.
Her job required her to question everything everyone said,
especially if the ‘everyone’ was a criminal.
She started walking towards the door.
“Sam, bring out the lie detector.”
There’s no need to panic right now, Diana. She told herself. Time
and lie detector tests will tell the truth soon enough. It isn’t time
to worry yet.

One hour and three lie detector tests later, Jason was pacing
around the room, figuring out what to do. Diana had told him
and Sam immediately after receiving the first note, and they had
thought the threats would stop after Alexa was captured. That
was why all three of them had left behind every other case for
this one, because the stakes were high, considering The Viper
had already struck before.
But now, it was clear that Alexa was not the one sending the
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notes, so who was it?
“Who is sending you these, if not Alexa? And why? How did they
even know where we were? We have kept this location top
secret.” Jason took a deep breath. “What are we gonna do?”
“Whoa. Chill, man. You said ‘gonna’. You never say ‘gonna’. You
need to calm down.” Sam said.
“Also, we don’t have answers to any of those questions.” Diana
said, starting to look nervous now. Jason knew that she hated
not being able to find answers.
“Okay, look here. Let’s calm down. Whoever this is, they
obviously have eyes and ears on us. We need to be careful with
what we say and do.” Sam said, attempting to seem calm.
“You’re right. Panicking will get us nowhere. Let’s lay some
ground rules. None of us goes anywhere alone, we move as a
team at all times. No more messaging or phone calls, in case they
can trace those. Other than that, we can’t let them know we’re
on to them; We’re gonna have to do this secretly, while
continuing our daily lives. Got it?” Diana said.
“What about the bathroom?” Sam asked, in pretend innocence.
Diana rolled her eyes and answered, “No can do. Take Jace with
you.”
“I did not sign up for this.” Jason mumbled.
The three of them laughed, but Jason could tell it was slightly
forced.

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Chapter 10: The Stalemate

Ding ding.
Diana checked her mail, knowing what she would see. This was
the third death threat she had received in the past week, but
seeing a new one still made her blood run cold. This time, it was
a simple four-word message, but Diana’s heart instantly started
beating painfully in her chest.
I can see you, Detective.
Diana’s head whipped around, searching for windows and doors.
All the blinds in the precinct were drawn, and the door was
closed too. She was safe, at least for now.
“What, another one?” Sam asked as he watched her scanning
every corner of the room, his eyes clouded by something that
looked a lot like concern.
“Yeah. It is always sent from a VPN, so I can’t trace their IP
address.” Diana answered, trying her best not to focus on the
words burning a hole in her computer screen.
For the last two weeks or so, she had been receiving anonymous
letters and emails from untraceable IP addresses threatening her
life. No phone calls though, nothing that could lead to whoever
this person was. No fingerprints on the printed notes.
Nothing.
“Hey, Diana?” Sam said suddenly. “I need to talk to you about
something. You think we can go to the interrogation room?
Jason, you too.”
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“Actually, I want to say something too.” Jason said.
“Um…So do I.” Diana replied. The three of them exchanged
amused looks, masking their actual worry.
Diana nodded, watching Sam getting up shakily. If Sam looked
this nervous, it was definitely time to worry now.
The three of them made their way to the interrogation room,
Diana taking the lead as soon as the door closed.
“I think I know who’s sending those notes.”
Instantly, Jason and Sam looked up and said in perfect unison,
“Me too.”
The three of them stared at each other for a long while before
Diana resumed.
“So the cases I had been given along with The Viper’s? I just
realized the notes started coming in around the same time I took
those cases, too. And here’s the thing: In all the killings, the
murder weapon is different. What’s not different, though, is the
death threats. A house search revealed that all of the victims
received extremely personal and…colourful death threats two
weeks before their deaths. I think the person sending me death
threats could be the same person.”
“I was about to say the exact same thing.” Sam said in
bewilderment.
“As was I.” said Jason, looking equally perplexed.
“So basically,” Sam said slowly, “We’re all investigating murders
committed by the same person who uses a different M.O. every
time. We wouldn’t have realized it if not for the same kind of
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threats all the victims had received before their murders. So
that’s the only link that may lead us straight to the killer.
Singular.”
“And according to my info, the killer calls himself ‘Blackblood’.
Yes, like Eric’s brother Blackblood. We may be on our way to
exposing the person behind this entire mess.” Diana added.
“That about sums it up. I have never seen a killer like this
before.” Jason said, understanding the situation now. “So what
do we do?”
Both of them turned towards Diana.
“We’re gonna have to move fast, because two weeks are gonna
be over tomorrow. Friday is the kill date. And He always strikes
at midnight. All of His victims were killed exactly at midnight.
Maybe He wants the victims to simmer in their fear for the
longest time possible.” The reality and sickness of the situation
settled in on Diana.
I can see you, Detective.
“I’ve already got the tech team on tracking the mails, I think I’m
gonna try messaging the murderer back now.”
“You do that, I am gonna check the video footage of the front
door of the precinct on Wednesday. That is when the first
printed note came, right?” Jason asked as Diana nodded.
“I’m gonna go and whoop the Tech team’s behind a little. This is
serious business. We need Godspeed.”
“You know that’s not what Godspeed means, right?” Diana
asked, feeling a little better now that she had gotten her control
over the situation back.
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“Yep. It means fast.” Sam said in all confidence.
“Somebody get this guy an English tutor.” Jason said, rolling his
eyes. Laughter echoed across the room, a little less shallow this
time.
They were back on track with something to do, at least for now.

Diana stared at her computer screen, her fingers trembling as

she pressed the enter key.
I know who you are.
She typed. Well, she didn’t know, not technically. But fake it till
you make it, right? She was playing a risky game here. The stakes
were high, but the chance of finding whoever this was and
putting an end to this madness was enough to convince her. She
hadn’t been able to sleep for almost three days now. The
twisting branches outside her window had become the hands of
her murderer, the wind whistling through the leaves had
become Him calling out her name, the creaks her bed made as
she twisted and turned had become Blackblood coming to get
her. And even if she slept despite herself, the nightmares scared
her awake, trembling and drenched in sweat.
She was brought back to reality by another ding ding from her
computer. He had replied
If you did, you would be crying out for those friends of yours. You
know, the self-entitled blondie and the raven-haired wannabe.
Good solve, by the way. Good for a first step, anyway. But you’re
94
nowhere near catching me yet.
Diana was trembling like a leaf on a windy day. Blinds drawn,
door closed and she still wasn’t safe.
At least it was confirmed that the person they were trying to
catch, was the one behind the murders in their case files. The
murderer was Blackblood. He’d confirmed it himself.
I can see you.
That was what He had said. And He had proved it now.
Blackblood knew what her friends looked like. Sam and Jason
were in danger too, now. Because of her.
Another ding,
Convinced yet? I can go on…
And on…
And on…
She shut her laptop lid with a bang, making Jason, who was
sitting beside her, remove his headphones.
“Are you okay?” He asked, getting up and coming over to her.
She barely managed to nod; she was shaking so much.
“Hey, hey. It is gonna be okay. Me and Sam are right here. To get
to you, Blackblood is gonna have to go through us. And I am
positive no one can withstand Sam’s bad jokes for that long.”
Jason grinned, but Diana could tell he was scared too. The
possibility that Sam and Jason could get hurt in this whole thing
scared her the most. Scared was an understatement. It terrified
her so much that she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think, she
95
couldn’t breathe.
“Okay, stop that.” Jason said suddenly.
Diana stumbled out of her thoughts. “Stop what?”
“Thinking me and Sam are gonna get hurt in this mess.” He
answered, as if reading her mind.
“I wasn’t-”
“Yes, you were.” Jason replied matter-of-factly.
“Okay, I was. But I just don’t want you to-” She tried, but Jason
cut her off again.
“We won’t. Nothing’s gonna happen, Diana.” Jason said,
mustering up a look of confidence. But Diana saw through his
mask. She always could.
“So why are you using contractions?” She sighed. Sam was right;
he never said ‘gonna’.
“That’s not-That is not-” Jason sighed, regaining his composure.
“Look, Diana, I know that you are scared. But we are gonna-
going to solve this case. Together. Till the end. And none of us is
going to get hurt. Trust me.” Jason’s voice trailed off at the last
two words. Diana knew that deep down inside, he too was
terrified to the bone. Terrified that someone would hurt Sam
and her in the worst way possible and Jason would fail to protect
them. Diana knew because her own mind was mirroring these
thoughts.
“Jace?” Diana’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
He started, looked at her, and grinned. Even though Diana knew
96
it was a show, she appreciated it. Shaking his head free of
thoughts, Jason said,
“Let us move on. I cannot seem to find anything. If you see here,”
He pointed to his screen, trailing off and pressed play. A piece of
paper which Diana assumed was the letter, floated down,
seemingly from thin air.
“Did that just fall down from above? There was someone on the
roof?” Diana said, in complete bewilderment.
“Apparently. We don’t have any cameras pointing towards that
area though, so no luck getting footage.” Jason answered.
“No cameras from this building, right?” Diana asked.
“Yes, of course, what do you- Oh. Oh. Brilliant.” Jason grinned,
and got to work, trying to gain access to the camera footage of
the McDonald’s across from the police station. Some kids playing
on the street had accidentally thrown their ball towards one of
the CCTVs, and now it was forever pointing towards the roof of
their precinct building, waiting to be fixed. Thankfully for Jason,
it should still be working, and the minimum wage employees
couldn’t care less about its orientation.
Just as Diana was about to turn back to her own work, Sam
barged in, cursing under his breath.
Diana opened her mouth to ask him how it had gone, but Sam
answered her before she even said the words.
“They couldn’t do it. The sender used some NVP or something,
so they can’t trace him or her. They blobbered about the
network being private and untraceable, blah blah blah. I stopped
listening after about 12 seconds.” Sam groaned.
97
“Okay, first of all-I think you mean to say VPN. I’m not even
gonna talk about ‘blobbered’. And second of all, it’s okay, this
was expected. If this person had The Viper and Eric at his
fingertips, He would have to be smarter than this. The only
question is- how do we outsmart Him?” Diana said.
That’s when Jason whirled his chair around at lightning speed.
Sam jumped.
“Whoa, chill, cowboy.” Sam grinned.
“I should be yee-hawing right about now, because I’ve got a face.
Well, not a face per se, but I do have the eyes.” Jason smiled, a
little less nervous this time.
“I thought we all did.” Sam said, feigning fear and touching his
face like he was suddenly not going to have eyebrows anymore.
“You caught the face of the killer from the footage? Well, show
us what you’ve got, then.” Diana said.
Jason pulled up a screenshot of the footage he’d gotten from the
McDonald’s, as Diana and Sam stared.
On the screen was the dark silhouette of the alleged note-
dropper. He looked like a guy. Jason scrolled to the next picture,a
close up of his face.
“So I improved the resolution using some editor app, but he was
wearing a hoodie and mask and so I couldn’t get anything,
except…”
Jason scrolled to reveal a close-up of the killer’s solid black eyes.
They looked blank, devoid of any emotion, not even satisfaction
or mirth. Just empty pools of darkness.

98
“Did you run a biometrics test?” Diana asked.
“Not yet, but I will. But unless this person just happened to be
perched on the roof of the police station, in direct range of the
doorway where the note was found, this is most definitely our
guy.” Jason said.
Diana nodded, and turned to make some more coffee when her
computer ding ding-ed again. Diana almost jumped out of her
chair.
“Whoa, chill, chief.” Sam said, opened G-mail on her computer.
And froze.
“What? What does it say?” Diana asked, not even knowing why
she bothered, at this point.
“You’ll be joining my other toys in their coffins soon enough.
You’re just a dead girl walking.” Sam read out, his voice
trembling.
Ignoring the chill that passed through her spine, Diana tried to
think, but found her sleep-deprived brain completely devoid of
any ideas. Sam, on the other hand, having slept a full five hours
last night with Jason and Diana to keep him company- the three
of them even had to sleep in the same room now, taking turns;
what with the death threats and looming danger and all. Sam
said,
“Wow, this guy has some confidence. Wait a minute…He’s never
mentioned his victims before. Not even to threaten you. And this
message seems different, somehow; all this time, he was kinda
focusing on killing you,” He looked up to give her his classic ‘that
sucks by the way’ look and continued,

99
“But he’s now mentioning his victims, all of a sudden? It doesn’t
make sense. Plus all of his other threats were way
more…personal. This one feels more generalized. I don’t know,
man. Instinct tells me we should look into this.”
Even Diana’s numb brain realized that it was better not to argue
with Sam’s instincts; they were usually spot-on.
“Okay, let’s-” Diana started, before Sam interrupted,
“Absolutely not. We’re not going to do anything until you’ve had
at least five hours of sleep.” Sam said, with a sudden tone of
finality.
“Five? But-” Diana tried, but to no avail.
Five minutes later, she was sound asleep on the sofa in the break
room with a warm blanket Sam had conjured from some dark
corner of the lost-and-found cupboard. She was out like a light,
on the promise that Sam and Jason wouldn’t go anywhere for
the next couple of hours.

In the end, Diana ended up sleeping for six hours straight, during
which time Sam, with Jason, who had returned with the
biometric scan tried their best to figure the other cases out. They
studied the cases of the other people who had received the
threats too.
When Diana finally woke up from her slumber, she blinked
around for a whole minute, trying to regain her senses.
“Well, hello there. Looks like Lady Bear finally woke up from her
9
10
hibernation.” Sam grinned, as Diana shoved him in the arm,
smiling, really smiling, for the first time since this mess had
begun. After a long sleep, she felt like they might actually have
this situation under control. She yawned, stretched her arms and
asked,
“So, did you figure anything out?”
“Actually, we did. You remember Jason, right? Or did your brain
get high on sleep?” Sam said teasingly.
“Shut up.” Diana said, looking at Jason for answers.
“Okay, so here is the thing: The biometrics scan revealed that the
eyes belong to Damon Rivera. Yes, Damon, the rich guy we all
want to be, the man who’s rolling in his father’s money.
Apparently, eye recognition software can identify people with up
to 99.59% accuracy. Also, I asked Eric about it, and he confirmed
that Damon Rivera is Blackblood. So there’s no doubtit is Damon,
except there is a miniscule problem.”
“Great. Just great. What is this so-called miniscule problem?”
Diana groaned.
“Well…Damon has been in France for almost two months now.
He has social media posts to prove it, and his credit card records
show it too. Like, really shows it. He’s spent around fifty grand
until now. In two months.” Sam said, looking like he was about
to have a heart attack.
“But moving on,” Jason said, patting Sam on the back to calm
him down. “Sam found something too. Sam, you want to do the
honors?” Jason asked.
“Always. So I think Blackblood’s reference to his previous victims
9
11
being in the ground has something to do with where they are in
the ground.” Receiving nothing but a puzzled stare from Diana,
Sam sighed and said, “I mean, it’s gotta have something to do
with their tombs. Victims in the ground, what else could it be?
Let’s go check them out.” Sam said, as Diana got up from the
sofa.
“Okay, how are you so sure?” Diana asked.
“I’ve done my research.” Sam said, and at Diana’s raised
eyebrows, adding, “I’m just kidding. It’s just a theory, but what’s
wrong with checking it out? I have this gut feeling. I've got this
feeling inside my bones, it goes electric wavy-” Sam began giving
them a full-fledged performance as Jason clamped his hand on
Sam’s mouth.
“Thank you.” Diana said to Jason. “Give me five minutes.” Diana
said, yawning again.
“Take all the time you need.” Jason said, and Sam added,
“Maybe brush your teeth twice.” Making Jason hit him in the
head as he dragged Sam out.
Diana smiled, checked her breath, almost choked, and made her
way to the bathroom.

k, l, n, r, o, b, o, y, e, r
“So we have a bunch of random letters and… well, that’s all we
have. But at least my intuition was right.” He shrugged.

9
12
“What if it’s an anagram?” Diana asked, finally not looking like
she was about to pass out any second after a good sleep and a
meal.
“What kind of messed up spelling-bee trash is that?” Sam asked,
disgusted at the prospect.
“No, it’s- We just rearrange the letters to get a meaningful
phrase.” Diana explained, her patience apparently restored. Sam
looked at the slips of paper they had found lying on the graves
of Blackblood’s victims. They had thought it would be another
death note, possibly a trap. Anything but these seemingly
random letters, waiting to be made sense of.
“So what, like, boy?” Sam asked, incredulous.
“Well, that’s a start. But I was thinking something more like, oh,
like this.” Diana said, picking up a pen and scratching off letters
in her diary.
“We have Nobler York.” Diana said as Jason added,
“It could be Broken Lyor.”
“Or it could be Booker Lynr.” Sam said pointedly, earning a glare
from Jason.
“Unlike whatever you just said, this actually has a meaning. Lyor
is a Hebrew name meaning ‘the light’. So technically broken Lyor
means ‘broken light’.” Jason said.
“Really helpful. So I’m guessing you think he’s leading us to some
abandoned lighthouse nobody uses anymore, right?” Sam asked,
trying his best not to burst out laughing.
“Sam, this is serious business.” Diana said, like she wasn’t
9
13
fighting to keep a straight face too.
“Of course, of course.” Sam said, pretending to be solemn.
“What about Looner Breky? Like, maybe he has his breakfast
while he’s-”
“Sam!” Diana said, finally laughing too. “Okay, focus guys. What
else could it be?”
“How about Rooky Blern? It could mean-” Sam started, armed
with another joke, but Jason cut him off before things escalated
further.
“Hey, what if we arrange them in the order they were killed?
Maybe that could lead to something?” Jason asked, bringing out
the case files.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Diana mumbled to herself as she
started arranging the chits in said order.
As Sam peered over Jason’s shoulder to see what the chits
arranged properly said.
Brooklyner.
“Like, The Brooklyner? Like, 111 Lawrence Street, The
Brooklyner?” Sam asked.
“Looks like it. But are we sure this is the right anagram? And even
if it is, why would Blackblood be telling us that?” Diana asked,
bewildered.
“Well, this must be the right one, because the only other thing
we’ve got is broken light, and I somehow don’t think Blackblood
is an abandoned lighthouse type of guy.” Sam said, as Diana
replied,
9
14
“He does like a lot of drama. I mean, what with the grand
misunderstanding he allegedly created between Eric and Alexa,
and then him possibly having something to do with convincing
Eric that Alexa helped arrest him, and now these death threats.
He seems to have everything planned out very intricately, and I
somehow doubt his plan is just to take us to a lighthouse and
shoot everyone dead. There has to be more flourish. It’s gotta be
more complicated.” Diana said. She seemed much less on edge
now, and a teeny-tiny bit more confident.
Somehow, Sam felt her confidence catching on to him too.
“I agree.” Jason replied, now pacing around the room, glancing
at his watch. Sam’s phone read 9:18 pm.
“Maybe we should go to The Brooklyner at the-” Jason hesitated,
but finally came out with it. “The kill time.”
“Yeah, that’s probably our best option right now. We should take
the war to him instead of waiting around for him to come to us.”
Sam agreed.
“You’re right. Let’s go then. We can do this, guys!” Diana said,
not at all looking like she was ready to do this. Sam had been
worried sick about her for the last two weeks. She hadn’t been
sleeping well, she had looked like she was about to snap in half
any moment, and the worry never left her eyes. Sam wasn’t
going to admit it, but he was kind of looking forward to this. The
end to this mess they were in; the end to this sword of Damocles
hanging above their heads.

9
15
Chapter 11: The Checkmate
Damon breathed in the cold night air as he saw the Detectives’
car approach The Brooklyner.
Finally.
Damon sighed. They had taken their time, but they were here
now. And they were coming straight to him. They were almost
like puppets, doing exactly what he wanted them to.
He smiled to himself. Soon, this would all be over.
Soon, he would be free.

Jason’s heart pounded painfully in his chest as he walked

towards the elevator. He was surprised when the liftman
pressed the button for the top floor even without them telling
him anything.
The detectives shared a look amongst themselves, hands on the
guns at their hips. They had come to the right location.
Blackblood must described the detectives to this uniformed
elevator operator and told him to send them to the top floor.
Jason looked at the others. His expression was one of readiness.
Diana looked like she wanted to get this over with. Being in the
field always did that to her. The adrenaline kicked in, drowning
out her fear, and she almost became invincible. No room for
mistakes.
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16
Sam, on the other hand, looked more worried than Jason had
ever seen him. Jason knew Sam was afraid this was all gonna go
south. All he wanted was to reassure Sam that it was gonna be
okay, but he didn’t know that for sure himself, and in case the
liftman was in with Blackblood, Jason didn’t want to risk giving
anything away.
The elevator jerked and began to move upwards, taking them to
the murderer waiting for them.

Blackblood saw them enter with a malicious grin on his lips. For
quite some time, he had been waiting for this, waiting for his
plan to unravel; waiting for the final moment.
“Welcome, welcome. Do come in. Would you like a cup of tea?”
He asked them, putting on an innocent smile. The smile was
almost like a mask now, a physical thing he could take off or put
on according to his victims.
“No? Suit yourself. Have a seat.” None of them sat down. All of
them extracted their guns and pointed them at him.
“Fair enough. Let us begin, shall we? It all began with-” But
before he could finish, the brunette stepped forward, taking outa
pair of handcuffs.
“NYPD, Mr. Damon, you’re under arrest for murder. You have
the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will-” She
started to talk. He could see her tongue moving inside her mouth
as she talked. Oh, how Blackblood yearned to rip it out.

9
17
“Shh, shh, shh. Quiet down now, you don’t want to do anything
you’ll regret. Now, as I was saying, it started when-” But the
blondie interrupted him now.
“Step off the ledge and surrender yourself.” He was saying.
“Careful, now. I’m getting angry. You don’t want me to be angry,
do you?” Blackblood said, smiling.
“Sir, I need you to understand that-” The third one stepped
forward too now, and all Damon could see was red.
“I didn’t want to do this, you know. But you leave me no choice.”
He snapped his fingers and several of his goons came out from
the shadows in the wall. Within seconds, the trio was unarmed
and tied down on chairs.
“Isn’t that much better? Now, where were we? Ah, yes. It all
began when my bastard brother Eric killed my mother. She was
very dear to me. But he killed her. He didn’t even think about
me. He just killed her. So I killed him too.
I wished he were dead every second of every day, and I killed
him in my head. I killed other people too. I killed everyone who
looked like him by killing their stupid children. It’s unfair, isn’t it?
Why should they get a better childhood than me? And why
should anyone who reminds me of him be allowed to live?
So I gave the parents something worse than death. I gave them
pain, and sadness worse than what they had ever known, and I
cursed them to live with it for the rest of their lives. That was just
in my dreams, though. Or maybe it was real. I don’t know.” He
said, scratching his head. He just couldn’t remember things well
nowadays. Now wasn’t the time, though. This was his shot.
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18
“I wanted to kill Eric too. With pain and sorrow. I wanted to force
him to live a life which was worse than hell. And I did.”
Blackblood’s lips twisted in a smirk, remembering the rush of
that fateful night.
“I remember that talk with the assassin. Dark brown hair, more
or less the same height, same body. Eye colour was different,
and so were the lips, but nothing a little makeup wouldn’t fix. I
had found myself a clone. A clone of the person Eric hated the
most. A clone of the person I had made him hate.
I remembered the glint in her eyes as I paid the fees. I feel
disgusted every time I think of humans and their thirst for
money. I don’t see the point, and I prefer to keep business and
myself separate. I was already rolling in my father’s money then
too, and I had already become prominent because of my father’s
money. I didn’t need anything else.
All I didn’t have was revenge.
I remember how I had tracked down Eric’s lawyer one night, and
stabbed him in the chest. Knives had not been my ideal weapon,
but I needed Eric to think this too was Alexa’s deed. I had
thought that he would think that the leather jacket was too easy
to be true, but my brother bought into it. He didn’t even find the
unceremonious splatter of paint suspicious. He had been driven
by anger and trust issues. Much like myself.
He had thrown away his friendship for a splash of paint and a
custom-made jacket which my father had given to me too. All I
had to do was get his initials stitched on the sleeve; but Eric had
always thought of himself as special. Though he was, in reality,
nothing but ordinary, normal, unspecial.
He had, in a whim of fury and alcohol, pushed away the one
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19
person who cared about him. And now he was vulnerable. And
he would soon be dead inside.
The assassin put on a marvelous show, just as I had asked her to.
She called the police in a voice just loud enough so that Eric
would hear, went out of sight, and appeared only when Eric
could do nothing about it, appeared only to his eyes. My mind
trick worked splendidly; He thought it was Alexa. His anger and
hatred settled deep into his bones with his time in prison,
growing with every passing breath. He even tried to escape once,
but was met only with a punishment of two months in the self-
isolation unit. But there was a pain too, along with the hatred; a
sadness. I had killed him, after all.
Afterwards, though, my life became empty. I had nothing to look
forward to, nothing to mourn for, nothing to live for. Oh, and the
guilt. I wanted to die. I yearned to die. I wanted the satisfaction
of dying, knowing they will never catch me. But my genius
couldn’t let my body perish because of a simple bullet to the
head. Or a rope around my throat. I couldn’t leave this world so
unceremoniously. It wasn’t good, oh no, it wasn’t.
So I decided to give them a performance. I didn’t want my death
to be silent. I didn’t want the only memory of me the world
would have, to be the newspaper article they would publish after
they found the body. So I planned and I plotted and now it’s
turning into reality and you’re all part of it. Of my stage play, my
performance.
I did not aim to make you uncomfortable, my Diana, but I had no
choice. I had to lead you up here, up to this final moment. I knew
you would break Eric out; You, an overachiever, who had been
denied permission to complete your assignment. I knew you
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20
would do whatever it takes to check that box on your to-do list.
I had predicted that; the only problem was making you come
here, to me. I hide my evidence well: you would never have
gotten to me just with the help of those cases assigned to you.
So I had to drop some breadcrumbs for you to follow.”
Blackblood laughed, a gurgling sound which echoed off the walls
of the empty lounge on the fifty-first floor.
“But I couldn’t spoon-feed you. I had to make you work for it. So I
made Damon go to France for two months. You’d be surprised
how easy it is to fake a passport and credit card records. Social
media is an utter no-brainer as well. With him gone, all that was
left was me, myself and I. Blackblood. The death threats worked
better than I had hoped, you were desperate to find me and save
Diana, so you figured the anagram out and came to me faster
than I would have guessed. You’re a smart bunch, aren’t you? ”
Another laugh.
The three seemed to flinch with every sound he made. He didn’t
know why. He had done everything he could to make them
comfortable. He wasn’t going to kill them; he wasn’t crazy. Or
was he?
Sometimes, he could never really tell.
“So here you are. Right where I want you to be. Any questions,
students?” He cackled, relishing their fear and confusion,
breathing it in hungrily.
Surprisingly, it was the brunette who found her voice first. She
was strong, Blackblood couldn’t deny that. But she too would
break. In time. They all did.
“Why did you tell us all this?” She asked, and Blackblood couldn’t
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21
help but smile.
“Well, I need you to know what all I have done before I leave
forever. I need you to know why you should have caught me so I
can never be caught again.”
It was the raven-haired boy now. He had somehow managed to
get out of the straps binding him and was now taking out some
handcuffs too. Oh, how he hated those metal contraptions. He
hated them more than anything. He wanted to smash the boy’s
head open with them. The boy had a shock of black hair.
Blackblood wondered what his skull looked like without the skin
and hair. The thought made him happy. He loved being happy.
He would die happy now.
“What do you mean?” He was saying, swiping the Swiss knife in
his hand in a wide arc at Damon’s goons. Damon made it easier
for him by waving his hand at them. They immediately receded.
Sometimes he thought they were scared of him. He didn’t know
why. He was not crazy.
“I meant, that you’re never going to be able to catch me, now
are you?” Blackblood answered.

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, you have nowhere to go

now.”
Blackblood smirked and looked out the open window.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. Oh, common minds. So simple. I
will be separate from them. I am separate from them. You’ll see.
I am different. I’m not crazy, but I’m not ordinary either. Because
I tricked all of you. My bastard brother, his misunderstood
friend, and the detectives who wanted to catch them both and
9
22
send me to jail right along with them. But you never will do any
of that to me.” Blackblood smiled for the last time ever, stepping
onto the ledge.
“Okay, Mr. Damon, step away from the window, and everything
will be-” The blondie was saying, still strapped to the chair.
The raven-haired boy was taking cautious steps forward. But he
was too late. They all were. Blackblood smiled.
“Checkmate.”
Damon was still smiling when he said the words and jumped off
the fifty-first floor of The Brooklyner.

9
23
Chapter 12: The Timeout
Eric felt the knot in his stomach tighten as he bent down on the
floor of his jail cell, crying his heart out. His cold, diamond heart.
It had taken many hits along the way. His mother’s death. His
step- monster’s cruelty. His first few nights on the streets,
fending for himself. The fight with Alexa. Her alleged betrayal.
And now this.
His brother’s death.
When Jason broke the news to him along with whatever else
Damonhad said, he was surprised to find tears streaming down
his cheeks.
After they left him outside the Jail for the guards to find and he
was shoved back into the SHU, he finally had time to figure it
out.
He realized that it wasn’t Damon he was crying for; it was the
brotherhe could have had, with whom he would have played
hide-and-seek, and flown kites. Whom he would have taught
how to ride a bike.
Whom he could have helped with homework. Whom he could
have told how to deal with being an adult. At whose wedding
Eric would have been the best man. His blackened heart
yearned for that connection, for a real brother.
And though Eric didn’t like to admit it, even to himself,
somewhere deep inside, he believed that he could have fixed
Damon, could have saved him. He could have had that brother

101
he never did.
But then reality, being the nightmare that it is, settled in,
and he realized there was nothing he could do now.
Well, nothing except think about her. About what he did to her,
about how it must have made her feel, about what he could do
to solve this mess he had made.
A bell rang suddenly, indicating break time for the other
prisoners. They got to roam around in the yard aimlessly, and
he got to make a phone call.
He had pulled some strings with his old friend Matthew here. He
was now allowed to make short phone calls every Wednesday as
long as Matthew could hear every word but no one else could.
He banged on the door of his cell, and as Matthew held out the
phone, Eric knew just whom to call.
He needed to apologize to a friend, and maybe it wouldn’t work
out, in fact he was almost sure it wouldn’t work out, but he had
to try.
He typed in the digits on Matthew’s cell by muscle memory,
and placed the call to Alexa.

101
Epilogue
Jason reclines on the leather chair in the precinct break room as
Diana makes them both a cup of coffee. It is a gloomy day in
June, and most of Brooklyn seems to be asleep even though it is
almost nine in the morning. The streets are silent, not a person
in sight.
It has been a month since the chase that threatened Diana’s life.
Now that all the open cases all three of them had gotten had
been solved by Blackblood himself, they could finally relax. At
least for this chilly afternoon.
Crime never waits for detectives to catch their breath. The chase
is endless.
Sam has just been called outside by one of his connections at the
Brooklyn Heights Jail, and Diana is not getting a good feeling,
based on all the hand-waving and angry gestures being
exchanged outside the room.
Just as she is bringing the coffee to the table, Sam barges into
the room, moves towards Diana, tunnel vision on the coffee in
her hands, takes it from her and downs the mug in two gulps.
Wiping his mouth with his hand, he looks at both of them and
says,
“Eric has escaped from prison.”

102
The End

103
Acknowledgements
We express our thorough gratitude towards Shilpa Tai, for
helping us along every step of the way. She inspired us to go the
extra step, and we wouldn’t be where we are right now,
emotionally and progress-wise, if not for her.
Thanks also to: Dr. Mugdha Joshi for helping us through the
initial struggle and brainstorming phase. We would never have
completed this novel if she had not corrected our
misconceptions or suggested good sources of information.
Lakshmi Tai, who proof-read our entire novel and provided
constructive criticism which helped us a lot. She gave us the
reader’s perspective which we desperately needed.
The Internet, which provided us with the resources to
investigate far deeper into our story than what we had expected,
and forced us to check and cross-check our basics, to come up
with the best and most factually correct version of our story we
could have written.
And finally, we would like to cite some of the sources which
helped us figure out how or what to write along the way: The
Prison Break Series on Hotstar, Merriam-Webster, kotobee blog,
masterclass website, among others.
Thank you to all the above-mentioned people for making us
realize all the aspects of writing, and always pushing us to do
better. Your support means more to us than you know.
Thank you!