Page 62 of The Hunted
The Reaper shook their head and brought up a finger to their lips, winking at the little girl. She giggled, taking her index finger and thumb across her lips. She tried to wink like they did but looked more like she was trying to squeeze her eyes shut.
The Reaper watched them walk toward the park. As soon as they hit the entrance, the little girl tore free of her mother’s hand and raced toward the swings. The mother hadn’t looked up from her phone once.
How easy would it have been to snatch the little girl up and take her right from her mother’s arms?
How easy would it have been to alter the little girl’s life because all the adults who should have been paying attention never did?
“It’s not your problem.” The Reaper pulled their focus from the kids in the park and back to their laptop. It would have been better to do this inside a library or café but didn’t want the signal traced to a certain spot in case they couldn’t cover their steps correctly.
Messing with technology always left a trail, especially if you knew what to look for. They knew the FBI was going to eventually ask Denise Miller’s neighbors for access to their security cameras and pull her own. The Reaper had to get to that information first. They hoped Santino had been smart enough to dismantle Miller’s security before he attacked if not, the Reaper’s day had just gotten longer.
“Please don’t be that much of an idiot,” the Reaper whispered, looking through more security footage. Their eyes were burning, but they knew if they didn’t go through this now it would be left up to local law enforcement. The Reaper had no real inclination to save Santino, but they still wanted to have some fun with him.
“It is, after all, a game between you and me,” the Reaper whispered. “I’ll expose you on my own timetable. I don’t need you to do it for me.”
The Reaper yawned, exhaustion clipping at their heels. The sound of their phone going off made them slow the security footage back down to its normal speed before looking at the incoming alert on their phone.
“Fuck me,” they groaned. “Ya’ll pick now to do your damn jobs.” They had set up alerts for all the names on Santino’s list, curious to see who kept tabs on them and who was looking for them.
It was interesting how the public seemed to have forgotten them. No one was looking for them, not even those they had wronged.
The Reaper was always curious why Santino had shifted targets. Why did he go out of his way to destroy those who enjoyed destroying others?
Did the switch happen because society would turn a blind eye to their murders? That felt like a cop out and an easy way to stay under the radar.
Coward.
Where was the thrill in watching society demand justice after you finished playing God?
“How eager will the PD be to protect those on your list, Santino Alvarez?” They murmured, seeing only inquires on the men Santino had on his list as if women couldn’t be predators too.
Would the men on his list be watched now, and did that mean the others would be left unattended?
How would the Reaper continue their game if the marks were being guarded?
The local PD and FBI needed to identify the blonde they found on Route 160. She had no connection to the other bodies. That should throw them off Santino’s and their scent.
“Or maybe….” The Reaper looked back at the park, their eyes easily finding the mom and little girl from before.
The mom still had her eyes on her phone. Her daughter desperately tried to get her attention. The little girl had made friends with two others, and at least their moms were paying attention, scanning the park to see who belonged and who didn’t.
The Reaper’s hands curled in on themselves, the need to watch something bleed made their heart race. Images flashed in their mind at exactly how things would play out between them and the mom who wasn’t paying attention.
How easily she’d be taken.
How quickly she’d beg for her life—‘Please, I have a daughter at home.’ Because it was always that moment, when they were strapped to whatever contraption the Reaper had, that they begged for their life and the lives of those they supposedly cared about.
The Reaper could already taste the mom’s fear.
She’d be the perfect victim, not only because she was oblivious to her surroundings but it would throw the FBI for a loop. She had no connection to the others—at least not until the Reaper checked—and maybe that would be enough to get the media and law enforcement from making intelligent connections.
The sound of laughter had the Reaper looking toward the little kids who were playing. The freedom that filled their features made the Reaper a little envious. The Reaper had never known a world that wasn’t dark. It was for that reason alone the Reaper wouldn’t rip this neglectful mother away from her child.
The system was filled with unwanted and lost children, and they weren’t going to add to that if they could help it. There had been many kids left parentless, though the Reaper tried to make sure there was someone left to fill that void when they took. They weren’t saintly like Santino claimed to be by taking out offenders and scum.
There was no real rhythm or reason to the need that coursed through them. Watching pretty things bleed and break delighted them, but taking a guardian away from a small child was their thin line in the sand. As much as they wanted to snap that oblivious mother’s neck, the next body would have to be someone else, someone as far removed from Santino’s list to throw everyone else off.
And they’d have to wait as much as that need to kill was escalating inside of them. They had to give theexpertswhat they thought they knew.
