The Cage by Ethan Cross Read Free Book Online

the movement of his eyes. The smell of nitrocellulose and graphite bombarded his senses. He knew the scent of gunpowder all too well, and he fought against another panic attack as the memories assaulted him as strongly as the odor.
    He spotted blood splattered across the bullet-resistant glass but forced himself not to consider the possibilities.
    The open door to the security station called him forward, and he shouldered his way inside as he took in the scene. Papers and manila folders littered the floor, and the room was in general disarray, showing obvious signs of a struggle. The only two details that mattered, however, were the two people inside the room, one sprawled across the floor in a pool of deep crimson and one handcuffed to the wall staring vacantly into the distance.
    David kept his gun ready but moved forward and checked Bert’s carotid artery for a pulse. He found none.
    “Jennifer, where is he?”
    She didn’t answer. He couldn’t tell if she was breathing, and he wondered if her vacant stare meant that she was also dead. “Jennifer?” he whispered.
    She turned to him, but her eyes remained glassy. “Did I ever tell you about all the letters that Ackerman wrote me? He sent them to the address of my family home, but the post office forwarded them to me at my great uncle’s. I lived in fear for years that he would come and finish what he had started, that he would find me. Then one day I began to hope that he would come. At first, I wanted him to reunite me with my family, but then the pain and rage gave me strength. And I was ready for him to come. I was ready to fight him, to kill him. His letters were filled with philosophical ramblings and details of his crimes. Not enough to help in the investigations—I forwarded them on to the police—but just enough to taunt me. To let me know that he was still out there. It was like he wanted to make sure that I never moved on, never forgot. And I never did.”
    Jennifer lowered her eyes to the floor, and sobbing shook her small frame. “You don’t know what it’s like to have the man who murdered your family, who took everything away from you, still out there doing the same thing to others.”
    In that moment, fury overwhelmed David. A part of him longed to hold her, to take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. But it wasn’t okay, and a more dominant part of him hated her for what she had done. Her own pain had made her grow selfish and blind.
    Before he realized what he was doing, the anger carried him across the room. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced her to look at Bert’s body. “What about Bert’s family?” he said. “What about everyone else whom you’ve put in danger because of your own selfishness? You think that you’re the only person who’s lost someone? The only one who’s felt pain?”
    She tried to pull her head away, but he forced it back. “You look at him! You’re more responsible for this than Ackerman. He can’t help being a monster, but you’re better than this. You should’ve known better!”
    David released his grip, and then he stood and stormed from the control room toward the main area of the hospital. On his way out, he pushed the panic button to sound the building’s alarm. Jennifer’s screams filled the space behind him. They echoed and compounded upon one another, the sound grating over him like sandpaper, but he ignored her words.
    He had a job to do.

Since David had already radioed ahead, the hospital’s main security office swarmed with activity as he entered. The small space doubled as a break room for the security staff and contained a couple of round dining tables, a refrigerator, a sink, and a microwave in addition to the building’s monitoring systems. The scent of coffee and leftover pizza hung in the air. Ferris stood by a bank of security monitors to David’s right. Other men had the hospital’s blueprints laid out on one of the dining tables.
    He wasted no time