Killer Among Us Read Online Free Page A

go home. His trophy was stashed in the
special insulated bag he carried and he walked out of the apartment
building, his cap pulled low and his face pointed down. He knew
where the two cameras were and he avoided them, but on the off
chance someone saw him he had dressed to ensure that he was
unremarkable: Baseball hat, dark jeans, dark shirt, no jacket. He
deliberately wore the girdle that made him look slimmer and bent
his knees so that he appeared an inch or two shorter than he
was.
    He stepped out onto the sidewalk and into a
pile of dog shit someone had left behind. Anger swelled up and he
cursed several times, his face turning red. He set the bag down so
that he could scrape his shoe on the curb and his knee accidentally
hit it. His latest trophy rolled out onto the sidewalk.
    Sophie had stepped onto the square of
sidewalk just as the heavy skull rolled onto it. She stared at it,
her mind frozen at the incomprehensibility of the situation. The
severed end revealed a clotted maroon and the eyes were rolled back
up in the sockets. The grisly hunk of neck stopped at the toe of
her right shoe.
    “ Halloween mask,” was her
first thought but when she looked up at the man standing there, his
face turned toward her yet obscured by shadows and the bill of his
hat, she knew better. His eyes had a glitter she had seen before:
predatory.
    She turned and ran, not stopping to think.
She wore the tennis shoes she had worn to walk to the park and she
had fear on her side, she did not dare look back, and she didn’t
need to, she could hear him running after her.
    Ahead of her loomed another wider avenue.
Lights streamed from buildings and taxis, she could hear people
talking. For one long moment she thought she was trapped in some
strange netherworld but then she was back on the avenue and running
toward a door that was opening and a strong looking man who was
stepping into it.
    Kane stared as the gorgeous woman with the
pale skin and long ebony hair burst into the club on his heels. Her
brightly blue eyes held sheer terror and her quivering mouth,
though devoid of lipstick, had a delightfully kissable coral
hue.
    Her body was long, lean and elegant and
every inch of it was vibrating with the fear that was stamped on
her features. The door swung shut behind them and the doorman
asked, “Do you know her?”
    The doorman was the same one who had been
there during the years when Kane made a regular appearance. He
started to shake his head in reply, but his instincts told him she
was in trouble and that if he let her loose something terrible
would happen to her.
    “ Well you are going to have
to renew your membership and sign her in as a guest. That will cost
you a hundred bucks, my man.”
    Sophie opened her mouth but nothing came
out. The man she had run into seemed to find nothing odd about
that, instead he patted her shoulder, an impartial bit of
comforting.
    She was too confused to make sense of
anything. She kept waiting for the door to open and the man with
the head in a bag to charge in. She looked around wildly for
somewhere to hide, but there was only the small and cloyingly
narrow hallway in which they stood, the walls painted jet black and
the floors carpeted in heavy red. She felt dizzy and slightly
nauseated. Her heartbeat was still way too high and sweat pooled
under her hairline thanks to her impromptu run.
    Kane asked her for her ID, she stared at him
then dug around in her purse, showing her ID to the man behind the
makeshift counter. The man took it, perused it and handed it and a
shiny plastic card back to her. She simply tucked them into her
purse without thinking. They were waved on and they moved into a
smaller room, still dimly lit, but with couches and chairs
scattered about. Kane went to the small alcove where snacks and
beverages were provided and brought her back a bottle of water and
a small chocolate wrapped in gold paper.
    “ So let’s start with your
name.” He spoke in his calmest voice and it