His Next Victim

His Next Victim Part 10

His Next Victim

Chapter 9

Cain's POV

Jade has been in her computer room for about twelve hours without coming out once. Jude attempted to check on her, but with all that protection on her door, there was no way anyone was getting in.

"We need to check on her," Carter said.

"What do you want us to do? Strap dynamite to the door and blow it up? People cope in different ways. Leave her the hell alone," Jeff growled slamming his fist against the table we all sat at, "and you know what, Carter? Fuck you. I've never liked you anyway. Hell, I don't even trust you. You could be working with this sick asshole, and we wouldn't even know."

Carter's face drained of color as we all gazed at him suspiciously. "That's ridiculous. I would never do that to Jade."

"Would you not? You were probably thinking 'Hey, I can get rid of two other guys.' Then, bam, Alex is dead. Who's next? Me, maybe you want to kill off Cain. He seems to be getting a little too close," Jeff said in a deadly calm voice. I think I would rather him scream at me than go all quiet calm.

"Look, I know that Alex's death was hard on you b-" Carter started.

"Not was hard is. He just died and you are the only one that didn't seem fazed by it at all." With that he stood up from the table and walked towards where Jade's computer room was.

Since Jeff pointed it out, I couldn't help but think he might be right. He couldn't be though. Carter couldn't be working for Nolan; he had been with us the entire time. I glanced at Carter suspiciously.

"Look, Cain. I know we don't really know each other very well, but I think that Jeff is just going through a hard time. I mean I love Jade. Do you think that I would ever really do something like that to someone I love? She's hurting. I couldn't have that on my conscious. Plus, if I was working for Nolan, I would have let her die when she was sitting on the bomb."

I nodded my head at him, he was right. If he was really working for Nolan, Jade would have been dead by now. Or was that just part of his plan? The N.S.A agent was coming out. I stood from the table. "I'll be right back. I'm going to go check on Jade."

Of course that was a lie, but they didn't know that. I walked in the direction that the room was in. Waiting until I was out of hearing range, I snapped open my cell-phone. I dialed his number, knowing it by heart. Three rings like always until he answered.

"Talk fast," the voice sounded on the other line.

"Carter Mills." With that the call ended.

I looked at the large steel door in front of me. What the hell was I supposed to do? Knock? I shrugged my shoulders and tried it. The small camera in the corner swiveled in my direction. I started to turn expecting her to turn me away, but to my surprise the door opened.

She was sitting at the large crescent shaped desk. All the computer monitors were off; only one small lamp was on illuminating the large pile of papers she was flipping through. Jeff sat at the other end of the desk with an equal amount of papers in his hand.

I cleared my throat, and both their heads snapped in my direction. Jeff looked at me as if he knew I was there, while Jade's gaze held surprise.

"What is he doing in here?" she asked.

"Do you really think I want to go through all this shit by myself? We need all the hands we can get, and I figured your dad could keep Carter busy," answered Jeff.

"True, here's half of mine take half of Jeff's too."

I sighed as she handed me the papers and completely ignored me. "She always like this?" I asked Jeff.

He smirked at me before nodding and handing me half his papers. Was it just me, or did they have less than me? I narrowed my eyes in accusation, but quickly realized neither one of them cared what my eyes were up to.

I scanned through the material not knowing exactly what I was supposed to be looking for. I saw a detailed report on Nolan's life and was impressed by how much information she had on him. I began reading:

                                     Name: Nolan Siegfried

                                      DOB: January 18th, 1982

                                      Race: Caucasian

                                      Relatives: Deceased. Uncle died of heart attack at the age of fifty two.  Parents died in car crash.  Other fatality included Jennifer Romano.  Only survivor: Jade Romano.  

I quit reading and drew in a sharp breath. How likely was it that this wasn't who I thought it was? What was the chance that there were other Romano's? How was I supposed to ask Jade about this?

I looked up. "Um, Jade?"

"Yeah?" she asked back absentmindedly.

"H-how did your mom die?" Two sets of eyes glared at me, and I smiled sheepishly.

"Car crash. I was in the car; it was my fault I screamed she looked over and missed seeing the stop sign, and the car coming at us. Any more questions? Or do you want to know how she bled to death while I was stuck in my seatbelt?"

I flinched. "It's important. I think you should read this, well just the 'relatives' part. I think that this is a little more personal than you realized."

She stood and unsteadily made her way towards me. Her legs were weak from sitting for so long. She snatched the papers out of my hand and scanned them. Her breath hitched and I knew she read the part that surprised me. Her eyes widen and she looked up at me with disbelief.

"So, it is personal. I guess it's personal on both sides now," she said shrugging her shoulders as if the information she just received was insignificant.

"Got it," Jeff spoke up.

"Got what?" I questioned and the both looked at me like I was a child.

"His location, Wilde. We have the location of where he has been staying. Now, we need to just set up a trap. He's a smart guy. It won't be as easy as it looks. So, let's start planning." The determination on Jade's face showed me that someone wasn't going to be alive at the end of this 'mission'. Either she was going to kill Nolan, or die trying.