AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But he’d never expected them to learn about the mines. Ashe ran through the field, directly toward a stretch of forest that stretched onfor several miles, he could only assume it was Morgan. He’d been oddly thrilledas the duration of her incarceration had come to its close. He wanted her out.He wanted a formidable agent coming after him. It’s what kept him on his toes.It’s what made the entire thing exciting to him.
He supposed waiting for her to come out of prison hadbeen a foolish idea. Maybe almost poetic or romantic. It had felt right at thetime, but now he wasn’t so sure.
After all, ten years was a very long time. He wasn’t asstrong as he used to be, not quite as fast and reliable. His mind still feltjust as sharp but at the end of the day, he wasn’t sure that mattered. What hehadn’t expected was Morgan’s determination.
He’d been so caught up in his own plans and schemes thathe’d somehow failed to understand that Morgan had likely spent the last tenyears thinking about him…about the Seven Signs Killer. She’d likely been fumingand focusing on how to find and stop him when she got out.
Ten years of planning and obsessing.
Maybe he’d made a grave error.
But even if that was the case, it didn’t matter. He hadone more victim. One more death before the work was done. After that…well,after that, he had no idea what he would do. He’d come to enjoy killing. Hewasn’t so sure he could just give it up at the drop of a dime.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t evenrealize he’d already come to the edge of the forest. He hurried in and squatteddown behind the base of a large oak. From where the strip of forest waspositioned, he could see across the field he’d just come through. He’d come outof a small tunnel that was really little more than a hole in the ground…an exitMorgan and her partner would not have been able to find without an intimateknowledge of the cave system. They hadn’t spent the last decade in thosetwisting, turning tunnels.
Across the field, the land took a slight downward tilt.Because of this, he could just barely see the shapes of Morgan and her partnercoming back out of the cave. So he hadn’t killed the man after all. He didn’tthink he had; he hadn’t put a lot of power behind the blow after picking up thefirst sizable rock he could find.
Still, he supposed they’d have a renewed passion now,more desperate than ever to find him.
In other words, he was going to have to get moving. He’dplanned on waiting until tonight to strike his eleventh victim, but he was goingto have to escalate things.
He took one last look at Agent Cross and her partner. Itlooked as if he’d fallen down. She was hunched over him, making a call. Theywere so far away that he could hear nothing. He assumed she was calling forhelp.
He turned and started to race back through the forest,ready to get started on wrapping up his work…on getting to the next victim.
As he ran deeper into the forest, he could feel his heartpounding in his chest. It wasn’t just the adrenaline from the near-miss encounterwith Morgan and her partner. It was also the thrill of the hunt, the excitementof knowing he was so close to achieving his goal.
He knew exactly who his final victim was going to be. Itwas someone who had never crossed his path before, but someone who would beperfect for his grand finale. Like the others, he’d been following them andobserving them for months. He knew their schedules and routines, right down to thecode for the electronic lock on their front door.
Samson smiled as he thought about approaching that door…ofthe time and effort he’d put into his work. When he was done, he thought manymight see his Seven Signs murders as a masterpiece. It was going to be soglorious that he thought Agent Morgan Cross might even appreciate it when allwas said and done.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Morganknew it was morbid, but she’d always liked hospitals. She didn’t enjoy being a patient,but the act of visiting them had always filled her with a sense of peace. Evenright down to the antiseptic smells of the cleaning solutions in the hallways,the slight sting of bleach, the ghost scent of the cafeteria food.
She had no idea what caused this. She’d watched hermother slowly die at a young age and had come to the hospital at least twentytimes while her mother had battled cancer. Maybe, she assumed, there was someweird nostalgia and comfort there buried in her subconscious.
Whatever the case, she found it hard to sit still as shewaited for an update on Derik. The initial report from the doctors when they’d arrivedat the emergency room was that he would be fine. At worst, there would be somestitches involved and he almost certainly had a concussion. He’d still been verymuch dazed and out of sorts when they’d arrived at the hospital.
It had been forty-five minutes, and she was tired ofwaiting. Not just for an update on Derik, but also waiting to get out of here.Forty-five minutes gave their killer a large head start. And if he waspanicking at having run into them in the caves, there was no telling how he mightreact now.
So she started down the hallway, heading for the little examinationroom they’d placed Derik in. She passed by a few visitors and nurses, one of whomwas pushing along a small laptop on a stand. She felt those old memories ofcoming to the hospital to see her mother trying to surface, but she pushed themaway as she came to the examination room. Derik was lying on the hospital bed,his head wrapped in a bandage. He looked up as she entered, a small smileforming on his lips.
“Hey, you,” he said softly.
Morgan walked over to him and took his hand. “Hey,yourself. The half-wrapped head is a nice look for you.”
“Oh, I know.”
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Still a bit dizzy but my thoughts seem to be tracking. Ithink I’m okay for now.”
“The last I heard, they were just talking about a fewstitches. What’s with the wrap?”
“Compression. There’s some swelling…some very nastyswelling.”
“How many stitches?”
