It is approximately 10:45 at night. Marcus is standing in front of a tall white man wearing a white t shirt and holding a machete. Less than a minute ago he was in the back seat of his SUV doing what young people do best: make out.
Then he noticed a shadow. His girlfriend was on top of him in the back seat. Marcus sat up to get a good look and Michelle got off and sat to his right.
After a few seconds, Marcus thought it was strange for the man to just be standing there and not doing anything. This is when he decided to get out and see what was going on.
Three seconds later he saw the machete the man was holding. Panic over came him. Marcus was trying to gather personal strength to fight off the man, if it be necessary.
At this time, six black man in a gang came running up the road. It was obvious they were trying to get away from the police. Their leader was in front.
He gave Marcus a quick look. Then he took a couple steps towards the man. The leader took out his gun, pointed it at the man and said, “Oh No, you do not stand there getting ready to cut up a black man”.
The man did not move. Marcus looked at the leader, while the other gang members where surrounding the white man. Marcus was trying to plead with his gaze at the leader to not hurt the man.
None of them new the intentions of the man. The leader looks in to Marcus’s SUV and sees Marcus girlfriend still hiding in the back seat.
He smiles and snickers. Then says,” Go on man. Take your girl home. We will take care of this”.
Marcus is timid. However, he gets in his vehicle, goes slow in reverse, and then proceeds forwards and passes the white man.
As Marcus tail lights fade the gang is closing in on the white man. Before they can touch him, they hear some one calling out to them. It is Mike.
Mike says, “Hold on there. He belongs to me. We have been chasing him and we are about to take him in to custody.” The leader and his gang grimace at the Mike and the other five that are with him.
Mike tries again. “Listen, if you deal with him the cops will get involved and you know what happens when the cops get involved.”
The leader is thinking it over. His partners are wondering why they haven’t wasted everyone. Few seconds the leader he motions to his friends to leave. The gang walks away.
Brice shoots the tranquilizer in to the man holding the machete. This white man falls to the ground. Mike and his team rush over to him and place shackles and bracelets on the man.
As they are finishing, their team mate drives up in the a big charcoal gray van. They put the man in the back. Everyone gets in and they drive away.
Thirty seven minutes later they are in the concrete warehouse interrogation room. Mike, Silvie, and Bruce are in the room with the man. The man is sitting in a chair in the middle of the room still restrained.
The man tells them, “ I always knew you would come”. Mike and his partners don’t show signs of surprise. They look at the man with an inquisitive look.
The man explains. “You are the part of that group’s security. The ones that used to watch over me. The ones that made me.”
“Security? Group? The ones that made me.”, Silvie ponders. Mike looks at her, delivering the message not to show any signs of emotions. Mike has told them all just remain calm, in control, and let them speak. As long as you let them speak, they will tell you all you want to know.
Silvie is very skeptical She expects gibberish, after the murders are caught. It is what most do because they cannot grasp that they were caught.
However, she holds the posture Mike expects. The man keeps talking. “They would show me bad and sick things. First, there were pictures of sex then death and dismembered bodies. Mike, Bruce, and Silvie become a little unsettled.
The man continues. “ Then they brought in the first girl. Her eyes were open, but she did not move. They told me I was helping them by killing her and that every thing would be okay.”
That eerie sense of trepidation when encountering death travels through Mike, Silvie, and Bruce. Mike can tell Bruce wants to go over and end the man’s life. Bruce holds his ground.
At this time Mike explains to the man that they are not with the group he mentioned. The man asks what they are going to do with him. Mike tells him he will go to a hospital where they will care for him.
In reality, the man will go to a secure location where he will be kept in a dream state. The man will be in a bed dreaming, but his dream will appear real.
About five years ago, some one in government started a team where the members would use algorithm to hunt sociopaths. The members would review crime statistics for signs of Serial Murderers. When they thought it was a high probability that a serial murderer was operating they would mingle in that area and use their education in behavioral psychology to find the killer.
Two days ago their computer signaled a possible sociopath in North East of the country. This is when they became aware of Gil and started looking for him. Brice-not Bruce-noticed the man driving out of a mall with all the behavioral cues of a man who just stopped his next victim as he saw a women walking with her three daughters.
Brice called the team and followed the man to his home an hour away. It was dark when the man and Brice go to his home. Some time while Brice was waiting for everyone else, the man got away.
He must have had a pattern of behavior in order to avoid detection. Brice’s team mates arrived thirty minutes after he did at the house of the man. When they went to get him, they noticed he was gone.
Quickly they searched the man’s house and decided statically that he would be at his uncle’s junk yard. This is the business where they found him surrounded by the gang members.
After they thoroughly interrogate him, they will drive him to what the team calls the center. It has been five hours since they started questioning him. The man has described the men who took him from his home and made him in to a killer. He explained when he walked away from them.
The man told them he never liked the men who made him kill and would ask him to kill. One day they were distracted near a river. They had planned to take a boat to a city and observe the man choose a victim and kill her. While they were distracted, looking for the boat, the man just turned around and walk in the opposite direction.
Now, he is being transported to his new home. Mike and the members of his team are finishing their reports. As usual these members will all go home to their unique ways of unwinding.
Mike lives in a five room home with large grounds and fenced in by high walls and decorative iron gates. He is in his study listening to soft romantic piano jazz as he sips his ice tea. In his study there in one recliners by a small table next to the full wall book self.
My is sitting in this recliner, trying to read a romance novel with the back story of technology. Surrounded by dark wood walls and dark wood furniture, My tries to through the annoying over description of machines and computers. It is Mike’s opinion that the intricate detail of the technology would bother many readers and result in them not finishing the book.
Mike is willing to suffer through it all. He is vesting an interest in a good romantic resolution. As hard as it is, he shifts from one position to the next, suffering through such intricate descriptions of machines and machines.
Then he hears a door creek and a sound of air escaping. This is the signal he programmed XERA as an indicator that some had beached the outer perimeter and was on the grounds.
Mike slowly gets up and goes to the door next to his recliner. This door leads to his underground secure area. XERA activates the bolts on the metal door as soon as Mike walks through it.
The stairway down is narrow, lined with wood, with the steps also polished wood. At teh bottom is the living room. Of to the left as a person is entering the living room is another study.
Mike walks quickly in to this study and goes to the security monitors. There he notices two bright red eyes staring at him in the center screen.
Mike stares and tries to identify the creature the eyes are attached to. XERA, explains “It is a full grown male mountain lion”. “A full grown mountain lion”, with a surprised tone. XERA, says “Yes”.
“Well maybe it will find its way out in a little while”, Mike says in a timid voice. Then XERA and Mike notice the lion lie down on his side in the flower bed with his legs out in front of him.
XERA offers, “It looks like he is sick and has come here to die”. This news unsettles Mike. He does not enjoy knowing a sick lion on his property and preventing him from leaving.
While XERA monitors the lion, Mike calls the man in charge of the local Mountain Lion preserve. Mike met this man at a wild life charity event.
Mike also calls Brice. Brice can figure out the right tranquilizer. At 10:30 pm Brice, two other team members, and the wildlife team arrive.
They are all outside about ten feet away from the lion. Brice is one one knee aiming his tranquilizer rifle at the lion. The man in charge of the lion preserve looks at Mike and asks him, “what is he using”, with a concerned and whining tone. Mike looks at the man and replies, “ I do not know, but Brice knows what he is doing.”
Then Brice waits. Mike informs the man in charge of the preserve and his partners that they are only there for the removal of the lion and that they would not be speaking about this incident with anyone or be wondering through the his property.
All of them nod in agreement. Brice fires his rifle. He hits the lion in the chest. The lion picks up his head for a second then he puts his head back down again.
While they all wait, Brice gives the lion expert a pamphlet of what he used on the lion. They will need this information in case they need to do surgery.
Ten minutes later the lion experts are loading the lion into their truck. The two men that came with Brice escort them to the front gate and off Mike’s property. There they wait for Brice. Brice arrives and they all leave.
Mike opts for a early evening and goes to rest at his bedroom. XERA closes all the doors and windows and activates the usual security protocol for sensors and monitors.
As Mike is in his bed trying to fall asleep XERA asks him what music he would like to listen while he falls asleep. “ Nat King Cole”, Mike answers. XERA turns of all the unnecessary lights in the other areas of the house and dims the lights in Mike’s bedroom. Then she turns on a barely audible Nat King Cole’s greatest hits album.
This helps Mike get a full eight hours sleep. He awakens to a bright day and the birds on the wall TV display chirping. Mike’s bedroom is next to his study, opposite the living room. One wall has the full size book shelf. The other is covered in marvel. One of the other walls has a media display the size of the seven feet by feet eight wall.
On this TV there is a rock scaling water fall. The water fall is lined by trees. Different flowers are the base of the trees.
XERA’s robot breakfast helper has already placed Mike’s scrambled eggs, glazed ham, and steak fries on the table. Dressed and ready for work, Mike goes to the dining room and sits at the table. XERA keeps him company while he enjoys his savory and sweet breakfast.
