Humpty Dumpty: The killer wants us to put him back together again (Book 1 of the Nursery Rhyme Murders Series) (36 page)

“Oh, hey. You didn’t get out without some damage, did you? Well, this is going to be fun.”

Joshua knew he only had one chance. So, gritting his teeth against the pain he knew would come, he delivered a quick snap kick to Preston’s hand, knocking the gun away. The weapon flew through the air, disappearing into the flickering light and shadow of the blaze that surrounded them.

But even as his kick accomplished what he wanted, Joshua had to watch, helpless, as Preston swung the pipe around, connecting with Joshua’s side. The breath whooshed out of his lungs, the pain causing lights to dance in front of his eyes.

Sweat dripped down Joshua’s neck as he struggled to maintain consciousness. He blocked the next swing of the pipe with his forearm, feeling the bones snap under the impact. And then time slowed as he watched the pipe come back around in a deadly arc toward his head. There was nothing he could do but watch.

The blackness reached up to swallow him whole. Its embrace was dark and cool, like a subterranean pool, a blissful release from the pain and heat. Joshua sank down, glad that he wouldn’t have to be awake for what came next.

* * *

Had felt, more than heard, the door open once more. Preston was back. Did that mean that Had’s friends were all dead? That couldn’t be the case. They were so much smarter and better than Had. He might get duped by a killer, but they weren’t so gullible.

But when a light from a flashlight glared, it wasn’t Preston’s face he saw. It was Coop. Had was pretty sure he’d never been happier to see anyone in his life.

“Had!” she exclaimed, coming over to his side and ripping the duct tape off. Had barely noticed the pain, he was so relieved. But then he looked more closely. She looked like she’d had the will to live beaten out of her. More than once.

“Coop,” he answered, looking around. “Where’s everyone else?”

The BAU agent moved to start removing Had’s bindings. “I’m not sure. Chance and Jensen are both down, and I’m pretty sure Preston left traps in all of the buildings.”

“How did you find me?”

“I didn’t,” she replied, pulling off the ropes that had bound his legs and ankles. She was more tentative in her movements than he’d ever seen her be before, but he didn’t take much time to think about it. He felt the blood rush back, causing prickles to travel up and down his legs as she continued talking. “I’m pretty sure I was in the wrong building, but all of the cellars seem to be connected. It’s like a maze down here.”

“I think Preston went upstairs,” he said, working his feet back and forth to try to get the feeling back. “There was an explosion.”

Agent Cooper’s mouth became a straight line at that news, as she struggled with the knots to the bindings on his arms. “Let’s get you loose, then we’ll have to deal with Preston.”

“Coop, I’m sorry,” Had blurted. He felt a pricking at the backs of his eyes as he struggled to contain his emotion. “You’re in danger because I was careless.”

“No.” She stopped working on the ropes for a moment and looked him dead in the eye. “We’re
all
in danger because of me. I wouldn’t listen. Not to Joshua, not to you.”

“That’s not—”

But Coop cut him off with a sharp hand gesture. And then his bindings were off, and it was time to hunt down the hunter. Things were bad; Had knew that. But seeing Coop had taken away most of his fear, even if she wasn’t completely herself.

Now all he wanted to do was take Preston down.

* * *

Joshua woke to vibrations underneath him and the cool night air blowing through his hair. Wait. His eyes shot open.

Cool night air? Vibrations? What the hell?

His hands were tied in front of him. There was nothing but endless stars above him, which were blotted out abruptly as Preston’s head intruded on his view.

“Oh, you’re awake,” he yelled over the rumbling sound that was all around them. “Fantastic! Wouldn’t want to do this while you were unconscious.”

Glancing around, Joshua saw that they were atop the large rectangular hay baler that was moving at a slow pace across an open field. The tractor was unmanned, and Joshua guessed that Preston must have thrown him up here, then put the vehicle in gear, smashing out of the burning warehouse they’d been trapped inside.

“You know, it’s funny,” Preston chattered away. “You were the one that gave me the idea. There you were, staring at the tractor when I came out. And it’s just about perfect, don’t you think?”

Joshua watched as Preston waved his gun around as he gestured. He must’ve found the weapon back in the warehouse once he’d knocked Joshua out.

Preston stared down at Joshua, his eyes nothing but dark shadows in the moonlit night. “This is the closest thing I could come to a wood chipper out here. A fitting death for you, doncha think?” He gestured down at the machine beneath them.

Joshua glanced behind him. There was an opening in the baler, through which he could see the hay being compressed underneath them. Preston meant to toss him inside.

“Hey…” Preston stopped, seeming to make a realization. “Ha! Hay, get it?” he glanced down at Joshua, seeing his expression. “Oh, come on. It’s the best I could do on short notice,” he said, grinning. “Man, it’s been a fun ride, hasn’t it? And don’t worry. I’ve got plans for your friends, too. You’re not going out alone.”

The mention of Had and Coop did something to Joshua. A pain, completely separate from his broken ribs, spread through his entire being. His façade of nonchalance was breaking away in tatters.

The thought of harm coming to those two filled Joshua with a burning rage, deep in the core of his being. He could not let that happen. Would not.

But even as the anger cleared away the last cobwebs of his unconsciousness, it caused him to back up and calculate. There wouldn’t be much more than one shot at this, and there might not even be that.

To buy time to look for that opening, Joshua baited Preston. “So, you’re not Humpty. Just a cheap knock off.”

It was immediately clear that Joshua had hit pay dirt. “Knock off?” Preston growled. “I took what that bastard taught me and improved on it.”

His words hit Joshua with a force greater than the pipe had delivered. “Hold on. You
know
Humpty?”

“Of course,” the killer shrugged, his movements casual. “How do you think I knew how to get under your skin so well?” He peered into Joshua’s face. “And I did, didn’t I?”

“But you…” Joshua’s voice trailed off. His brain was short-circuiting as he tried to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle.

“Yeah. That was the most fun part of it. Knowing that you thought I was him.” Preston smirked. “He taught me all he knew, that mean asswipe. But I took what he had and
improved
on it.”

What Joshua had intended as a distraction for the killer ended up being a distraction for him. There was information here that they needed. Information that meant that taking Preston in alive had become even more of a priority. Joshua needed an opening now more than ever.

“If by improved, you mean dumbed down and turned into a made-for-Lifetime movie of the week, then yeah, I would have to agree with you.” Joshua braced, knowing what was coming next.

And sure enough, Preston didn’t disappoint. He reared back with his foot, connecting with Joshua’s left side with a savagery that left Joshua clinging to consciousness. But it also left Preston unstable. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Joshua rolled, catching Preston’s legs and sending him sprawling, almost sending him over the edge of the baler.

Joshua tried to push him over the edge, looking to get off of the deadly machine, but his body betrayed him. Pain shot through his side, crippling him.

Preston pulled himself out from under Joshua, rabbit punching him in the side, each blow a punctuation for his words. “You. Are. Old. Washed up.” He stood finally, pointing the gun at Joshua’s head. “And now you’re finished. Maybe I’ll just shoot you in the stomach so you’ll still feel it when you go through the baler.”

A shot rang out, but it wasn’t from Preston’s gun. A police cruiser had come up beside the tractor, its passenger-side window open. Agent Cooper was hanging out of it, pointing her weapon up at the baler.

A shoulder shot to this bastard would be really helpful right about now, but Joshua had to keep her from killing him. They might be moving slowly, but there was no way she could aim well enough in a moving vehicle at the best of times. And Joshua was pretty sure this wasn’t the best of times for her. Doing his best to ignore the pain it caused, he pushed himself up to a kneeling position, putting himself enough in the line of fire that he knew Coop would stop shooting. It seemed to work, as the firing stopped. The cruiser raced up ahead.

But now there was nothing to hold Preston back. He reigned blows down on Joshua, forcing him ever closer to the gaping hole in the top of the baler.

“You like my modifications, Joshua?” Preston panted. “I took off all of the safety features. Nothing to stand between you and the baler.” He kicked out at Joshua’s head, catching him just under the jaw. Joshua fell back, managing to twist away from the opening at the last moment. As he did so, he felt something pop inside of him, and new pain blossomed, a dark flower that spread through his torso.

And suddenly, the tractor stopped. Peering forward in the darkness, lit only by a half-moon, Joshua could see Coop at the wheel. She must have jumped from the car.

“No!” Preston screamed, leveling the gun at Agent Cooper.

There was nothing Joshua could do. He was too far away. But just as Preston went to squeeze the trigger, a blonde blur shot past, latching itself onto the killer’s ankle.

It was Bella.

Preston swore and lashed out with his foot, flinging the puppy away from him. He then turned the gun on her and fired.

Bella screamed once, an unnatural sound that shot through the air, bludgeoning Joshua, the sound a sledgehammer to his soul. Time shattered into tiny fragments, moving forward in increments of ever diminishing duration.

This man was the key to finding his family’s killer. This man had just shot Bella, who had risked her life to spare his and Coop’s.

It wasn’t even a decision any more. He scooted forward, ignoring the pain, and hooked a foot behind Preston’s knees, forcing them to buckle. Preston pitched forward toward Joshua.

Using all of his remaining strength, Joshua rolled to the side, grabbing Preston’s shirt and twisting him down toward the opening at the top of the baler. The torque from the movement pulled at Joshua’s ribs, and agony exploded outward, but he kept the pressure on.

Preston slid around sideways, his left leg catching in the mechanism. He screamed as his leg was shattered into a million pieces by the compression within.

“Please, help me!” he cried out, his voice hoarse with pain.

Joshua just watched.

The killer reached his hand out, trying to grab for something, anything. But there was nothing there. He’d gotten rid of all of that.

“Think about this,” he panted. “Without me, you can’t find the man who killed your family.”

Once more, that gave Joshua pause. He glanced to where Bella was huddled. Preston’s death wouldn’t bring her back. And it could bring closure to him and a lot of others. Maybe that was more important.

Preston’s body slipped down into the machine even farther, and blood spurted up and out of his mouth, spattering against the side of the baler.

Joshua moved toward the opening, grabbing the attendant’s hand. Pain shot through his side, hampering his efforts to pull Preston to safety.

But then Had was there, and they were pulling together, each one attached to one of the killer’s arms. They pulled hard, harder, fighting the suction of the hay baler.

And suddenly, Preston came free.

Well, part of him did.

Like a grotesque mockery of the earlier crime scenes he’d created, Preston’s severed torso flopped onto the upper surface of the hay baler, bathing the old paint in new, glistening red.

He was beyond dead.

Joshua swore. “He was our chance to find Humpty.”

“Oh,” Had answered. “
That’s
why you were saving him. I didn’t know.”

“What?” Joshua did a double take. “Then why did you try to pull him out?”

“Because you were doing it,” he answered simply. “And it looked like you needed some help.”

There it was. It was Had to a T. Helping just because someone needed the help. No other reason. No need to explain the whole thing. Just there to give a hand.

And then, as the adrenaline rush faded, Joshua felt himself drifting into blackness, and hoped as he faded out that Had would be there to help him once more.

Somehow, Joshua had a feeling that he would.

* * *

Sariah walked toward the ambulance, watching as the paramedics finished up with Joshua. Bella was bandaged up. Joshua had forced the paramedics to treat her first. It turned out, the bullet went through her haunch, and the shock of the impact had knocked the puppy out. She wiggled in his arms, and would thrust her face up into his from time to time, licking his nose with vigor.

They had been lucky. She could recognize that. But the faces of the dead kept intruding, superimposing themselves on the faces of those who had survived. They were all dead because of her. Tears threatened again, and she turned her thoughts to the positive. Or at least she tried.

Not only had the entire third team that Reggie was with escaped unscathed, but also none of Joshua’s injuries had been too serious. Although Sariah wasn’t so sure he would feel that way about it. He was going to be in a lot of pain for the next few weeks.

Had, on the other hand, had come out of his kidnapping experience with nothing more than some light chafing on his wrists where the rope had been tied too tight. He seemed even more chipper than usual, and was there, right at Joshua’s side. It appeared that he was dividing his time between telling Joshua all about what had happened during his capture, and asking the paramedics what they liked best about their jobs.

The most miraculous part of the scenario was that Joshua didn’t look annoyed. Not only did he not appear irritated, he seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing and then wincing at something Had just said. If Sariah hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed.