First day free as a breeze, and I already have a pigeon. Kensky, very happy with himself, leaned into his seat, unable to get comfortable at his size in the Toyota Camry. He switched the key on, opened the window, and relaxed with the fall breeze blowing through. The decision now would be whether to wait for a couple weeks or take her tomorrow. He already knew his chances of nailing McCarty with a civil suit were slim and none after the clips of his confrontation with the media, crowd, and McCarty played everywhere on the internet and across the country. McCarty won’t stop this. Then I’ll come back for him and his family down in their little hidey hole in Pacific Grove when people forget about me. The stun-gun arc at the side of his throat propelled Kensky into the roof of the Toyota, and then jitter bugging on his seat until he was clearly unconscious. Nick put away the stun-gun.
Nick opened the driver’s side door, crouched into a lifter’s position, and shoved the huge man over the shift column. Kensky plunged into the far right floor corner of the Camry’s passenger seat area face first. Nick kept shoving until the man’s body didn’t show visibly unless someone could see the legs curled on the seat. He then gave Kensky an injection and threw a blanket over the man and seat area, covering the body. Nick then walked to a nearby black SUV where a woman waited outside her driver’s side door with his equipment bag.
“That was quick.” Her nametag read MacEachern. The border patrol uniform was a cover for his Northern contact, Robyn MacEachern. She worked the border area for Homeland Security with ties into both CIA and FBI. Having helped Nick in Washington State during the recent Onalaska Isis infiltration, he called on her first to keep an eye on Kensky from the moment the killer was released. “I have you down to scoot through the Douglas Crossing in one and a half hours with Kensky’s Camry, and your crew’s vehicle traveling behind it. I’ll wave you through. Did you get my text about where to take him?”
“Yes. We’re all set, Robyn. I didn’t see any sense in allowing the asshole to stalk the girl any longer. I tagged his car before he was ever released. Even I was surprised when you called and told me what he was up to. I figured he’d at least wait one damn day before targeting someone. He had a fake Seattle PD identification on his passenger seat, so you can imagine the con he was going to pull on the girl to get her in the car. Thanks for the safe-house setting. It’s perfect for Gerald’s last resting place.”
“You’re welcome. Are you going to find out all the details before his journey off planet?”
“Oh yeah,” Nick answered. “We have a special sendoff planned for him. Do you have anyone in particular in mind, Robyn?”
MacEachern nodded. “Do me a favor and ask about a Claudia Jannasy. I went to high school with her. She was working the streets in Seattle when she disappeared. It was only a month before Kensky’s first reported victim. I’ve wondered since you caught Kensky whether I’d ever find out if she was possibly his first because he didn’t leave her like the rest.”
“I’ll be sure to ask, my friend.” Nick accepted his equipment bag. “Thanks for the ride and the pinpoint info. I’ll see you at the checkpoint with my entourage in about an hour and a half.”
“I’ll be there.” Robyn drove away as Nick rejoined his special guest.
Nick patted the unconscious Kensky’s leg. “Gerald… you and I will talk over all your hopes and dreams while we discuss every detail of your past. I’m afraid it’s going to be rather unpleasant, but… oh crap, who am I kidding… it’s going to be hell on earth. Frankly, my soon to be rehabilitated killer, you will be making amends to the world I’m sure you never figured on making. I almost thought you might escape me into the legal system of three hots and a cot. Instead, we have this wonderful sharing time planned for you.”
Driving out on the road to Route 5 toward the Canadian Border, Nick put his phone on speaker, and called Gus. “Where are you guys at?”
“Two cars behind you getting on the Interstate with you,” Gus replied. “How did it go?”
“I had to zap him before he took some school girl walking home from Everett Community College. It’s a damn good thing I had Robyn watching him.”
“Who could know the killer would walk out of a courtroom, get in his car, and plot to nab and murder another victim?”
“It’s a cunning move, John,” Nick answered. “The freak probably believes he’s the injured party. He thought it out right. We didn’t figure he’d make any move for days, maybe weeks. I know the cops wouldn’t be thinking it. If they would have had an inkling Kensky was capable of moving on another victim this quickly it goes without saying they would have put him under constant surveillance. Lesson learned.”
“You at least put MacEachern on him, Muerto,” Gus remarked. “What’s the lesson? You did all you could and caught him again before anyone else was killed, so what lesson?”
“I should have blown both feet off, and maybe the left side of his face.” Nick replied.
Gus and John enjoyed Nick’s Monday morning quarterbacking mutilation remark inappropriately. “Hey, guys. I have a name to start with in our question and answer session. Robyn said she suspects her high school friend who disappeared while working the streets might have been Gerald’s first killing. She was never found like his other victims, and it happened very close to when his official trail of bodies began.”
“That’s a start,” John said. “We are going to do another El Muerto, Payaso, and El Kabong movie, are we not?”