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Fiona’s stomach began to twist, worry growing inside her. Deanna had just been willing to talk—why was she quiet now?
“What are we supposed to do?” Fiona asked Jake.
He sighed. “I don’t know. I can’t just bust her door down without cause. What if we’re wrong? How can you even kill someone using their agoraphobia? Just taking her out of her house wouldn’t kill her, so maybe the guy decided to move on to the next target instead.”
Fiona thought about it. Jake had a point, but it was risky to leave Deanna here.
It was true that there must be other people on the guy’s list, and that they just happened to find the wrong greeting card back at his house.
But no. There was no evidence at all that he was after anyone else. He had to be coming for Deanna. Fiona was sure of it.
“Deanna?” Fiona knocked again. “Are you in there?”
Suddenly, they heard a scream from the backyard. Fiona’s heart raced and she felt her stomach drop.
Deanna.
Without another word, both Fiona and Jake ran to the backyard. What they saw made Fiona’s heart stop. Deanna was being dragged away by a man, his face hidden by a hoodie.
Deanna squirmed and wailed in the man’s arms, kicking as much as she could. “No! No! Put me back! Put me back inside!”
Jake didn’t think twice—he pulled out his gun and trained it on the man. “FBI! Stop and put your hands up!”
The man froze, but still held onto Deanna as she thrashed for dear life in his arms.
Slowly, he turned.
Fiona was chilled to the core when she saw his face. His eyes were crazed, his brown hair in ringlets around his long, scabby face. She had never seen someone with such a terrifying expression—such a blank, empty smile.
“Put the woman down and get on the ground,” he commanded. “Right now.”
The man held a knife to Deanna’s throat, the blade glinting in the light. Fiona felt her heart pound faster and faster as fear coursed through her veins. She couldn’t believe this was happening—how had they failed so badly?
Jake kept his gun trained on the man, but he didn’t dare fire it with Deanna so close. Fiona wished she knew how to help, but she was at a loss. She couldn’t fight, she couldn’t shoot a gun…
They were all at a stalemate.
“Drop the weapon,” Jake uttered, “or I’ll shoot.”
Deanna screamed. The man kept his smile on.
“Guns,” he said, his voice bemused. “Guns… are probably my biggest fear of all.”
Fiona’s spine crawled with dread at his grating voice, and he still wore that smile.
“I’ve conquered so many of them,” he said. “Fire, choking, crowds… and now, a gun is pointed right at me… you’re doing me a favor, you know.”
“Stop it,” Jake said, pushing the gun further toward the man. “Put her down now, and then we’ll talk, you and me, okay?”
But the man refused to let Deanna go. He tightened his grip on her neck and pressed the blade further into her skin, drawing a trickle of blood.
“I’m not done with this one,” he said, his voice cold and emotionless. “It’s my job to free her. Look how scared she is. She won’t be anymore. See? it’s not so scary out here, is it?” he said, taunting Deanna. “But I know what will happen. If I let her go, she’ll hide again. There’s only one way to free her from her fears, and that is with death.”
At that moment, Fiona understood the man’s psyche.
He thought he was saving his victims.
Freeing them from their fears, because he believed they never really got over their phobias. In his delusional mind, he was freeing them from themselves.
