Run

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It had been two weeks in captivity and Jane, racked with anxiety, couldn't stand it anymore. The isolation was getting to him, Angela would leave him to his own devices for quite some time. It was like a never ending game in which he would examine the locks and Angela would replace them with a more difficult one. The only argument they had was when she caught him in the act of examining the machine guns. Angela found his actions amusing, but even she couldn't brush off the tension. Teresa was getting close.

"Why can't you just relax? I haven't hurt you so why the attitude?"

"This is a cage Angela! I hate it here I want out!"

"Don't use that tone with me." She snaps and Jane backs off. He could tell Angela was falling deeper into her own insanity and he didn't dare anger her.

"I just want-"

His attempt to apologize fails as the woman  shifts from perfectly normal to livid with anger without warning.

"You want!?", Angela starts to rant, "You want everything! You want to go outside, you want to ask about Teresa, you want to see Red John. You want! You want! You want! Well I'm sick of it!"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not your star prisoner."

His estranged wife starts laughing, it takes everything in him not to back away. Jane didn't know how she got this way but every time Angela was going mad she would laugh, it was like a warning sign. Angela looks up at Jane after calming down and takes his hands in hers, Jane doesn't know how to react so he stays very still.

"You're not my prisoner and this isn't a cage. Think of it as a...theater and Teresa is the main event."

"I miss her."

"Oh sweetheart I know, here I have something you'd like. I'm not going to hurt you, there's a camera in the CBI? You can watch the entire team in the bullpen."

She leads him to a small television and they sit on a couch together before Angela hands him the remote. He turns it on to see the love of his life healthy and safe with her team.

"They're searching for you Jane. See? Teresa is perfectly fine, I called it off with Bertram and he hasn't hurt her since I caught you. She got hurt because she got in the way but now that I have you there's no need to attack her."

"Is Bertram Red John?"

His question seems to amuse her.

"Oh no he's only the apprentice. I honestly feel bad for him, 'Red John' has already branded him."

"Branded?"

"It's a phrase. He's a dead man walking, if they catch him they'll find all this fake evidence that he's Red John. Hiding the evidence in his house was fun, he doesn't know what's coming. It's actually a little sad but he disobeyed and, well, we can't have that."

"What did he do?"

"Entered the game. You'd think we'd have made it clear that this game is strictly off limits to anyone else but I guess he doesn't have the mentality to understand that."

There's a flicker of anger in her cold blue eyes making Jane ponder how close she is to Red John. He risks asking her a question hoping to amuse her again.

"Red John is incredibly successful, no matter what I do he always wins. So why put an end to him so to speak?"

She smiles when Jane calls him successful.

"To start over Jane. All serial killers have this unspoken rule to do the exact same to all of their victims and well Red John is more creative now."

"He wants to be a new serial killer."

"I know! Isn't it exciting?"

It's then that Jane realizes this is Red John's end game. Teresa wouldn't be the only one to die, it was him and maybe Angela as well. He had to get out of here, from what he's witnessed the machine guns out there take 10 seconds to reload but would that be enough? Patrick looks from Angela to the live recording of Teresa. He knew what he had to do.

"Do you remember the day after we were married?"

Angela seems surprised and in that brief moment he could have sworn that it was really her looking at him. What did that Red John do to make her this way?

"I remember."

Jane can see the sadness in her eyes as he continues the story.

"We were sitting on this bench at a park, watching the kids at the playground, and you said how nice it would be for us to have a child."

"I wanted a family."

"Angela, you were my family. I loved you so much, it tore me apart when I found what was left of you. Don't you remember how hard we fought to stay together? The divorce therapy, the conferences, fighting my addiction to money...it was for you darling; it was all for you."

Angela leans against his shoulder, cuddling next to him. Jane begins to rub her back, he can see the outline of her gun that she has hidden under her shirt and partially into her pants.

"Tell me more."

Angela whispers and Jane complies, nervous that if he shows hesitation it'll ruin his one chance of escape. He begins to rub her back a little lower then where he had started, if he could just get that gun...

"Patrick? What are you doing?"

That was it, there was no time to lose and in one swift motion he grabs the gun and aims it at Angela's head. She looks up at him livid with anger, their bittersweet moment was over.

"Let me go Angela. Turn off the machine guns."

"You will regret this!"

"Please Angela don't make me hurt you. Now get up, it's time to go."

There was a certain darkness that began to show in his wife, as though she was waiting for the moment to kill. Angela stayed silent and watched his every move when Jane got up from the couch, keeping his gun aimed at her. The hatred in her eyes made him feel like she was the predator and he was the prey, and that feeling motivated him to keep the gun aimed at her.

"Angela, get up from the couch."

"..."

"I promise that after I kill Red John I'll come back for you."

The woman obeys, standing in front of him but still has his gun trained on her.
For some odd reason his instincts are telling him to run and Jane finds himself afraid.

"What's the matter Jane? Are you afraid of me?"

Before he can answer Angela comes in for the attack! She was incredibly fast as she grabbed his gun and shot his leg, crippling him. Jane falls almost immediately, crying out when she shoots him again but this time through his shoulder.

"You want to meet Red John?"

"Angela please-"

"Well here I am."