Dot Com Boom

Anna Martinez

"Anna!" Gregory called out. We had set up a large auditorium-sized room at headquarters to be our base of operations for the task force. "There's a new video."
Fuck. Last thing I wanted to hear.
As I walked down the steps to the center of the room I heard gasps and 'oh my Gods' come from other members of the task force. At this point in the investigation I thought we had seen it all. The reactions were unusual. Surely, the killer had already shown us everything that he could.
I was wrong.
Jake was laying on the bed nude, in that same dungeon that all of the other videos were filmed. He had his arms and legs handcuffed together and was chained to the bed. He was screaming at the killer. He was swiping at him with his scrawny arms. The killer was just out of frame. "Introduce yourself," the robotic voice said. "I'll fucking kill you!" Jake screamed through a coughing fit. "Tell your fans who you are," the robotic voice responded. "Fuck you!" Jake shouted.
I had never seen Jake like this, he was certainly not speaking in monotone. He was fucking mad.
"Fine. I can see you're upset," the robotic voice said. The Fucking Devil stepped into frame, he was wearing his standard rubber suit and the balaclava, and he had his red contacts in. He looked at the camera. "Allow me to introduce you to Jake Chambers, FBI." Then he turned back to Jake. "Tell everyone what you want."
Jake was curled up on the bed clenching his stomach. "It fucking hurts!" He shouted. He screamed so loud that it made the speakers of the computer warble.
The Fucking Devil looked into the camera again. "Jake here has a little secret," he said, then laughed. "Jake is a drug addict. Hard stuff too. Heroine. Meth. One of the people sworn to protect all of you from Me, is a junkie. No wonder they haven't been able to catch me with people like this working for them. You should all be outraged!"
And they were going to be outraged. This fucker was going to turn everyone against us.
"Is this what you want?" The Fucking Devil asked as he dangled a baggy in front of Jake. Jake reached for it. "Yes. Please," Jake begged. "Give it to me!" He screamed. "You're going to have to work for it," The Fucking Devil said.
The Fucking Devil stepped out of frame and there was a loud bang sound. Then there was crying. A little girl was crying. What the fuck? What is he doing? No. This can't be happening. This can't be fucking happening. I cried. Everyone did.
The Fucking Devil escorted the little girl in view of the camera. She had long blond hair that was draped over the black blindfold. She had on a yellow dress with sunflowers on it. Around her neck was a golden cross. I thought: Oh baby, God won't help you now, but he's going to be sure to sentence The Fucking Devil to an eternity of ass raping when all is said and done. At least we can hope.
"It's quite simple," The Fucking Devil said. He took the blindfold off of the little girl, exposing her green eyes. Tears streamed down her face. "Don't hurt me!" She cried. The Fucking Devil walked the girl to the bed and pushed her down hard onto it, next to Jake. "Kill this little girl and the baggy is yours."
The girl screamed, and jumped up from the bed, but The Fucking Devil pushed her right back down and smacked her.
No! This can't be happening. Everyone gasped at the same time. The fucking FBI headquarters had turned into a pre-school, everyone weeping like little kids. Including me. Especially me. Gregory made his way to me and put his arm around me. We had always been rivals in a way, but this was bringing us together. Bringing everyone together. Everyone was holding someone else. Tragedy brought people together, that's nothing new. Our squabbles of the past meant nothing now.
Jake sat up and screamed. The little girl recoiled in fear. What the fuck is happening? He wouldn't really do it. Would he?
"Kill that little girl and the baggy is yours," The Fucking Devil repeated. The baggy swung back and forth like a pendulum in his hand. "Do it! Do it!" He said.
Jake put his hands on the little girl's shoulders. I shook my head frantically back and forth as my vision swam with tears. No way. No way he does it. Gregory clenched my shoulder tight. "He won't do it," he whispered. I hope to fucking God he doesn't do it.
"Do it!" The Fucking Devil shouted. "Do it!" The baggy was swaying back and forth in front of Jake. The way he looked at the baggy scared me. An icy glare. Was he even in there?
Jake pulled the girl to him, between his legs. "No!" I shouted. Fucking don't do it you motherfucker. Oh my God. This was on me. I should have reported him long ago. I'm so stupid. What the fuck was I thinking? He put his scrawny ass arm around the girl's neck as she struggled to pull it off with her tiny hands. The Fucking Devil kept saying 'Do it!' in the background in that damn robot voice while shaking the baggy. Jake put the little girl in a head-lock, one arm around her neck and the other holding her head in place. He fucking strangled that little girl. And she fucking fought for her life, face red, eyes bulging, tiny hands trying to pry his arm off of her neck, and little bare feet kicking in the air. It was excruciating to watch. And all along Jake kept his eyes closed, as if he was trying to put what he was doing out of his mind. Well, guess what motherfucker, you're a fucking child murderer. You fucker. You God damn motherfucker. The tiny feet stopped kicking, and that's when everyone broke down, high-pitched wails filled the room, mine among them.
"Good boy," The Fucking Devil said, then he shoved his 12-inch blade through Jake's forehead and turned the camera off.