Heartless: a Derek Cole Mystery Suspense Thriller (Derek Cole Suspense Thriller Book 1) (32 page)

“I can’t prove it,” Straus admitted. “But I don’t need to prove to you what will soon be evident. If, of course, my estimations are accurate. Tell me, have you noticed that you can’t smell things as easily as you were once able to?”

“And if I have noticed?”

“Jacob wasn’t going to tell you himself. He was waiting for me to arrive to deliver the rest of the news, but then you and your father interrupted things. Do you want to know the rest of the story, Alexander?”

“If only to satisfy my curiosity, yes.”

“The virus, though destroyed by your cells, has also made your cells dependent on it. Without the virus, your cells are decomposing at an alarming rate. Thus, the smell of decay that you carry around with you. The fact that you can’t smell it tells me that, as expected, your brain is rotting away. Slowly but surely, I promise you. However, when I discovered the rapidity at which the virus was breaking down your cells, I also discovered a simple cure.”

“And that would be?”

“Unknown to you and will remain so if you kill me. And based on just how horrible you smell, it will remain forever unknown unless you release me, now.”

The power of the blow Alexander delivered directly to Straus’s face, sent Straus’s head snapping back. His nose was crushed and several of Straus’s teeth were reduced to shards of bone. The blood and broken teeth poured into Straus’s throat, making him cough up a terrible mixture of red and white. He slumped to his side, twisting his left arm beneath him into a position that it was not designed for.

Before he could welcome unconsciousness, Straus felt the iron grip of Alexander’s hand grab his hair and pull his head straight. His body fell limp to his side, and only his head was held upright.

“I’ve grown tired of your games, Doctor Straus,” he heard Alexander say. “Tell me the rest of the news or, I assure you, you will die a very painful and very slow death.”

Straus struggled to speak, but his thoughts were scrambled. Words that needed to be said were locked behind the veil of semi-unconsciousness and crushing pain.

“Tell me, Straus,” he heard again. His head was being shaken much too forcefully for his already damaged neck and brain.

Then, the darkness returned.

It was only a few minutes after he had ended his call with Ralph that Derek heard the unmistakable sounds of twigs breaking and footfalls scurrying on the path to his right. He crouched down behind a bush and held his breath as a figure came into view. His obstructed view only revealed that it was a man, tall and slender, who was heading his way. He thought at first about opening his backpack, removing his gun, and to ready himself for an attack, but then remembered that, though his backpack was in reach, it contained no firearm.

He sat, motionless and as quietly as he could, as the man moved closer. Then he saw the man stop. Derek could see that whoever it was, he too was surveying the hospital, looking for any signs of movement. After what Derek considered to be much too short of a delay, Derek watched the man disappear down the steep hill and towards the rear of the hospital. A minute later, he saw the young man dart towards the hospital, his path leading him straight towards a set of iron stairs leading to a door.

The young man climbed the stairs quickly and pulled hard on the metal door. It opened in surprising silence. As the man turned over his shoulder, perhaps making sure that no one had seen him, Derek saw the man’s face clearly.

“Thomas,”
Derek thought.
“Son of a bitch.”

After again surveying the area, Derek made his way down the hill. When he reached the parking lot, he bolted across the lot, up the stairs, and to the door. He paused and listened for any noise on the other side of the door before pulling it open. He stepped inside to near absolute darkness.
 

It was the sound of the knocking that brought Straus back to consciousness. Gentle, rhythmic knocking. His mind was too cloudy to accurately assign the direction of the knocking, but he was sure it was coming from the hallway door.

 
“Let me in!” He heard the knocker’s voice say in an urgent tone.

Straus then felt the grip that he was unaware was still holding his head release. His body crumbled onto itself, sending a newly discovered stream of pain through his left shoulder.
 

Straus heard the bolt and latches of the door being pulled back, the door being opened then shut and secured again.

“Where’s my father?” the voice sounded. “What did you do with my father?”

“He has, I’m sure, found peace at last,” the familiar voice of Alexander whispered.

The next sound Straus heard was a scream followed by what he imagined a barroom brawl should sound like. The brawl lasted but seconds before a large and pronounced thud filled the room. Then a groan and the sound a body makes when it is being dragged across a floor.

Though unable to move without pain waiting for him, Straus lifted his head off the mattress just in time to see Alexander dropping a body onto the mattress beside Straus. The impact of the body falling onto the bed uncovered an entirely new set of discovered pain in Straus’s rib cage. He tried to scream in agony, but his cry was cut short by Alexander’s hand covering his mouth.

“You were about to tell me the rest of the story, I believe,” Alexander said.

Alexander replaced his grip on Straus’s hair and lifted Straus back into a semi upright position.

“The rest of the story now, if you please, Doctor Straus.”

The battery-powered lantern’s light was growing dimmer and began to flicker.
 

Alexander again released his hold of Straus’s hair, stood and walked out of the room. Straus heard him fumbling through bags in the other room before returning with a package of fresh “D” sized batteries.

“I honestly didn’t expect to have so many visitors,” Alexander said as he replaced the dying batteries in the lantern. When he spoke again, the lantern jumped back to life and filled the room with a warm, yellowish light. “Recognize him?” he said, pointing to the person laying beside Straus on the mattress.

Straus looked at the bloodied face of the young man laying unconscious beside him.

“No. I don’t recognize him.”

“That,” Alexander said before moving towards a chair positioned at the foot of the bed, “is my long-lost brother. You two actually met a while back. That day you were so generous to allow me time at the lake, we passed a stranger who seemed to appear out of thin air. That stranger was my brother. We had arranged that seemingly coincidental meeting. You see, Doctor, I grew bored and restless of reading the stream of books you provided me. Make no mistake, they were all appreciated, but when I happened to come into the possession of a device that allowed unfettered access to the Internet, books seem too antiquated for my attention.

“Facebook is absolutely amazing, don’t you agree? Couple it with email, and the world and all of its citizens are practically within reach.”

“How did you get a device that was connected to the net? Who gave it to you?” Straus demanded.

“You had left me alone when my father paid a visit. During that visit, he spelled out his plan of action. While I only pretended to share an interest in seeing his plan through to its profitable ending, my father was resolute in blackmailing you and the rest of the doctors involved in my life. So resolute that, I am afraid to say, he lost his perspective along with a healthy amount of suspicion.
 

“My father, Doctor Straus, gave me a Smartphone. And with that amazing piece of technology, I gained access to a world well beyond the control of anyone. Millions upon millions of names, articles, books, news items, images, instructions, and vehicles to contact long-lost friends and relatives rested in my hands. Your fear of entering my bedroom made concealment a very simple matter. A few times, I actually left the device connected to its charger on my nightstand while having conversations with you through the glass and steel bedroom door.

“My brother was, understandably skeptical
 
of my request to keep our engagement a secret at first. But, bless him, he never approached our father or mother for confirmation. Instead, he conducted his own bit of research and discovered that our father was keeping something secret. That something, of course, was his knowledge of me.

“I contacted my twin brother through Facebook and filled him in on my life. It took a while but Thomas sent me an email, stating that he was going to make contact with me, face to face. I suggested that doing so would involve too much risk. I then suggested that he gain access to my room using the hidden trap door that was recently installed beneath my bed.
 
Yes, Doctor Straus, I’ve had access to the outside world for quite a while. That was yet another revelation that you would have discovered if you hadn’t been paralyzed with fear and had actually entered my bedroom. That day we encountered him on the street outside of your lodge, Doctor Straus, was just the very first of several meetings.

“True to his word, Thomas never told a soul, not even our parents, that he knew about me and that he and I were devising a plan of our own. While my father’s plan was focused solely on financial gain, the plan my twin brother and I concocted was entirely about exposing the truth. My plan, however, differed from his.

“If I may pat myself on my back, the genius on my part was the successful blending of the two plans into the only plan that mattered. That plan, of course, being mine. I’m sure you’ve guessed that my plan had nothing to do with financial reward or exposure but was singularly focused on the list of names that, one by one, were crossed off.

“One of my most challenging obstacles to overcome, and the one that I am most pleased with, was figuring out how to time the executions of my father’s and my brother’s plan. It did take some convincing and more than a bit of deception to have my brother follow a late addition to the plan. But I needed him to delay. He had planned for me to escape several days before my father told me that his plan would have you all but offer yourself up to me in the quiet solitude of your lodge. I convinced Thomas that we needed a contingency plan if his plan failed. Poor brother. I had him marking trails I knew I would never tread on and leaving supplies hidden on those trails that I would never be in need of.

”I learned about how you and your hit men contributed to my list’s exhaustion from my father. How he learned that it was you behind the murders of Rinaldo and Zudak, I’m afraid will forever remain a mystery. But, I do thank you for your contribution, though I wish you hadn’t gone to so much trouble.”

The look that shot across the distorted face of William Straus was evident. Alexander knew that look needed further exploration.

“I expected surprise but not the look of shock and despair that I see in your bloody and bruised face. It is too bad you didn’t pack any instant ice packs. Your face is in dire need of something to reduce the swelling.”

Straus said nothing.

“I hope I didn’t damage your tongue, Doctor. It would be a shame if you find yourself unable to finish your delightful story. My curiosity remains piqued.”
 

“Untie me and I will tell you the rest,” he mumbled, each movement of his jaw sending streaks of pain.

“Considering the disabled position you are in, coupled with the fact that I know you are unarmed, I am willing to comply with your request. Yes, I did find your weapon tucked neatly inside of your bag. You shouldn’t have left it so far away. A better place would have been in what they call an ‘inner waistband holster.’”

Alexander moved slowly towards the side of the bed, the smell of his decomposing body preceding him. As he bent over and began to untie the knot, he leaned in close to Straus.

“Any attempt to leave the comfort of this bed will result in something awful, Doctor Straus.”

Seconds later, Straus felt blood rushing back into his left hand, creating a deep, burning sensation. He lifted his hand and rubbed it with his right hand, hoping to massage away the pain.

“Now,” Alexander said after returning to his chair, “you were about to say?”

“Your body is decomposing,” Straus offered, the pain in his left hand slowly dissipating.
 

“I will grant you that one time delay. You probably don’t recall, but you’ve already told me that part of the story. I’m much more interested in the rest.”

“If I tell you, do you promise to let me leave?”

“No,” Alexander replied. “I make no such promise. I do promise that if you don’t tell me, I will crush every bone left unbroken in your face, however.”

“If you kill me, you will die within hours. Let me leave, and I promise to tell you how to prevent your death.”