Beware the Zealots

by Karen Michelle

  

Chapter 24: The Meeting of the Minds

"You had your son and your family taken from you, so you understand how I feel" said Mrs. Adams, sitting in the wing chair.

"Yes, we understand" returned Elizabeth Blodgett, "we understand too well."

"And we're Christians, and undersand the impact that godless people have on our lives. If they knew Jesus like we do, none of this would have ever happened" Mrs. Adams returned.

"Yes, if only they knew Jesus" answered Blodgett.

"God demands justice for godless people. Their actions took my son, caused him to commit suicide because they encouraged godless thinking. If they hadn't done that, he would still be here" said Mrs. Adams.

"Yes, we understand" said Blodgett.

"We have a special talent, Elizabeth, and God has told us that He wants us to use our talents and skills for Him. And he demands justice for sinners.

We have been hurt, and now we will be used as God's instrument of justice. I want that woman to know the hurt and sorrow we have known for the last ten years. Let her know the pain of losing her family as we have known. She will see the effect that her sinful living brings" continued Mrs. Adams.

"Yes," added Blodgett, "let her know the pain and consequences of her sinful behavior"

"God will use your skills and talents, Mary Elizabeth Blodgett, to enact his judgement and wrath" said Mary Adams.

"Yes, let it be so" Blodgett answered.

"Now let us make our plans. We will start by selecting educators in the public school systems who are godless, like that Dr. Nealy, so the authorities will think our target is something different than it is. We will select a total of five targets. Three is God's number for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so we will select two innocents to go before Dr. Nealy. They will be in different states so that the authorities won't know where to expect the next attack. The godless educator Dr. Nealy will be number three, and that will be enough to make the authorities think our goal is to kill educators. The blood of the two innocents will be on the Rogers hands. Once Dr. Nealy has been dealt with, we will move to the cause of our sorrow, John Rogers, and finally their "daughter" Jennifer – if you can call it that. It had sinful thoughts and we see the results of its thinking. Everyone we loved was taken from us by it. Vengence is mine saith the Lord, and we will have it.. Let His will be executed by us, his servant" finished Mrs. Adams.

"Let us work according to his judgement" completed Blodgett. "We will be used by Him."

As Mary Adams said all of this, a wild, crazed look came into her eyes. It was obvious that all the "help" she had received at the mental health facility she had been at those years ago had resulted in nothing. The fire inside her had never died, and now, the two voices working together would enact the judgement that Adams had to have to come to closure.

"We'll have difficulty getting through the airports with our weapons" said Blodgett, voicing a concern.

"We'll only have three states to work in, and we know that people can be bought" answered Adams. "The Lord will use people's greed to his advantage. We will find officials that will transport our weapons for a price."

"The authorities will know this is being done by a military person when they find the bullets in the first victim" said Blodgett. "And they'll start checking up on their snipers and call them to see who is gone from their assigned locations."

"We'll buy an extra phone line for the house and a cell phone with a nationwide long distance plan we can take with us. If the Army calls to check on us, we'll have the phone number the Army knows about forwarded to the cell phone. They'll never realize we're not at home. Then, we can forward our second phone to call the Army when we call it with our cell phone. That way, we can call them to check in and they'll think we're calling them from home. We'll use the phone companies own technology to our own purpose" answered Adams.

"That may not last forever. They may come looking for us when the shootings continue and they rule out other snipers" said Blodgett.

"Even if they catch us" answered Adams, "if we have our vengeance, it will be worth the cost. We have suffered enough. God will see us through this. At least they won't know where we are, long enough to accomplish what we need to do. The innocents will cover our intentions well enough until we can achieve our ultimate goals."

"Yes," replied Blodgett. "Let it be according to His Justice."

And so the die had been cast. The two minds were one. With the money that Mary Adams had made during her career in real estate, there was enough to fund the reign of terror that would follow. It didn't matter that the Bible spoke of love towards your neighbor even if they wronged you. It didn't matter that Jesus brought the New Testament to replace the old laws of the Old Testament, and that "an eye for an eye" was no longer valid. It didn't matter that in Mary Adams own Bible, love was the key rather than vengeance, and that her Jesus preached kindness, love, forgiveness, even to your worst enemies. Mary Adams had gone over the deep end. She was not thinking rationally any longer. She was incapable of seeing the error in her thinking. All she knew was that she would have her retribution.

 

Chapter 25: The reign of terror begins

It was a warm September Friday, and school had just let out. It was the first weekend in the school year, and Dr. Alice Jones, the principal of Buddher Junior High school in Oregon had had a particularly trying day.

"Sometimes I wish I had chosen a different career. If only these children could see how important a good education is. All they ever think about is the social scene and their friends; never enough time spent learning what they need to have for the future. Well, at least it's the weekend. I can get some rest and catch up on my paperwork" she said as she locked the school door.

"Hi Dr. Jones," called one of her teacher friends. "Finally getting out of here?" they asked.

"Yes, I'm going to enjoy the weekend with my boyfriend" she replied as she walked to her car that was parked in the reserved parking area, and fumbled for the keys in her purse that would open it.

"Sounds better than my weekend. I have three screaming kids to go home to, and well, mom's never get a vacation." her friend answered.

"Well," continued Dr. Jones, "I wish I had some children. Things are getting sort of serious with Ron and I, so maybe….".

But things would never go any further with Dr. Jones and her Ron. In the seconds that she had taken to have the short conversation with her friend, the bullet had found its way from Blodgetts weapon to Dr. Jones head. In an instant, she was sprawled on the door of her Toyota, blood and pink material coming out of the back of her head. Then after being held against the car for what seemed to be an eternity, she fell to the ground.

"Oh my God!!!" exclaimed her friend. "Oh Jesus, Alice has been shot!!!"

She ran over to her friend, but it was of no use. Blood was flowing from the massive wound to Dr. Jones' head, and her brains were coming out of the exit wound in the back. The teacher got her cell phone out of the purse she carried with her and called 911. When the police and paramedics finally got there 5 minutes later, Dr. Jones was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the kill had been confirmed by Blodgett, she got up from the window sill in the little house she had rented for the month. She had had to put down two months rent to get it, but it was a perfect location with a bedroom window that faced the front of the school. She had picked this school by chance and then found a suitable location from where to shoot. The house was perfect. With a window facing the school, and the exit to the house facing a side street, she had had a perfect shot. It had taken only one shot, an easy action at only 80 yards. Blodgett was amazed at how easy it was to slip away as the frantic screams were going on across the street. All she had to do was quickly exit the door to the side street and drive away. Occurring during the day, most people were gone and she made a clean exit before the police and the paramedics could arrive.

Blodgett had gone to see the principal a week earlier, on the premise that she was looking at schools in the area to determine if she wanted this neighborhood as a place for her children. Unsuspecting, Dr. Jones didn't realize that Blodgett wanted to meet her in person so she knew her victims face. Then, in the week that followed, she watched her victims patterns carefully, finding out that Jones was the type to stay late and leave promptly at 4:00 pm each day. That was all it had taken, and now she was on the ground in her own blood.

"We've got the round" the policeman said who was walking the scene.

"Poor woman," he continued, "she didn't have a chance. It looks like this bullet came from across the street. The teacher that called us said she was trying to get her car keys and the bullet came from nowhere".

"You finish up here, I'll go and try and find something out in the neighborhood across the street" his partner said.

For the most part, the policeman that went across the street found empty houses. He did find one older couple who had seen Blodgett drive away, but they had been watching TV and were a bit hard of hearing, having the set turned up loud to hear their favorite afternoon show. With the volume of the TV set, they hadn't heard anything. They had only glanced out of their window to see the car rolling down the driveway and didn't give it a second thought. All they could tell the officer was that a woman lived there.

Blodgett of course had used a different name, so that clue really didn't amount to much.

As a result of the shooting, the police found two things. First, they found that the round used was a type normally only available to the military and trained police SWAT teams. Of course, anybody could get it if they had the right connections. They eventually obtained access to the house where Blodgett had been staying, but nothing was found in the room with the window facing the school. Blodgett had been meticulous in retrieving the shell casing, and all critical evidence had been taken away. However, they did find one other piece of evidence, which was a note. Mrs. Adams had instructed Blodgett, "When we make our hits, leave a note at the scene. It should read….. The Lord will avenge us of our enemies that took our precious 14 from us."

"This is a professionally trained shooter we're working with, with some kind of religious angle" said the officer who was heading up the case.

As a matter of procedure, the local FBI was always notified when a sniper was involved, and phone calls were made to check up on the known, registered snipers in the local area in the FBI's database. The national office was also called in cases like this to make sure that all resources could be searched. However, since this was the first attack, and since Blodgett had started the war in a different state from where she lived, this brought no results. All possible local candidates were accounted for.

*****

The details of the second kill are unnecessary. Blodgett and Adams had planned their strategy well. After Blodgett had accomplished her first kill, she abandoned the rental car she had used and went to the airport. She had planned the kill around the victims behavior pattern, and had scheduled the next flight out of town based on that time. Having bribed an airport official to take her weapon, she left town with no difficulty. Her destination didn't matter. It only had to be in another state.

The second kill took her another week to accomplish, going through the same methodical steps. This time, when the national office of the FBI was contacted, more scrutiny was put on the case.

"Two educators in two weeks, in different states" said one analyst as he looked at the facts.

"Yeah, but its from the same person. You have the same type of note in both cases and both rounds came from the same rifle. This is some religious fanatic who it seems is out to get educators. Maybe they're mad at what the schools are doing, or maybe they're mad at a particular educator and taking it out on all of them. Difficult to say. And what's up with the number 14 which is on both notes?" said another one working the case with him.

"I don't know. That has to mean something. Killers don't write notes and put down insignificant facts. Did you check with the police in both states to see if any snipers employed by their forces meet these criteria? Religious fanatics, having had a bad experience with educators, and some weird connection to the number 14?" the first analyst asked.

"Yeah, but nothing checks out with the cops. All their people are accounted for." the second one answered.

"What about with the military?" asked the first one. "That could be a military sniper too".

"We've run that lead down," answered the second one "but it looks like all bases in both states have all their snipers accounted for. They make it a point to check up on those people each week, and make them call in at a prescribed time to verify where they are. Looks like all snipers in those states are accounted for too. I'm afraid the only thing we know is that the two kills were from the same person, who was a trained shooter, and a religious nut with a vendetta against principals. That's as much as we know" replied the second analyst.

"Since we're dealing with a nut that obviously works in multiple states, it's reasonable to assume the shooter could be coming out of any police force or military base in the US. I think it would be a good idea to expand our search to all police forces and military bases in the country and see if they have all their snipers accounted for. It's obvious that someone is not where they're supposed to be" said the first analyst.

"You know that's going to take some time" the second analyst replied.

"That can't be helped. We have databases with registered killers for a reason. It also would probably be a good idea to put out a warning to all educators in all states of the continental US to be on their guard for anything out of the ordinary. I want a bulletin sent to each news station over their emergency channel, and to the national news as well. Plus, I want all our field offices to be notified so they can be aware of any suspicious activities that are reported to them. We need the maximum coverage to as many people in the US that we can get. No telling where this zealot will hit next" said the first analyst.

"I hope that works. It should, in theory, but not everyone watches their nightly news broadcasts." said the second analyst.

"It's the only channels open to us. At least we can say we did our job. It's up to everyone else to get the information we send out."

*****

Once again, people's greed allowed Blodgett to get her gear onboard a jet where she exited from the second state. So far everything had gone according to plan. Two innocents had paid dearly, and the pattern had been set. But now it was time to turn her attention to the real mission. As the jet landed in the town where Charles had been lost so many years ago, Blodgett and Adams knew that now they were entering the critical part of their mission.

Blodgett, being aware from the beginning that this would get national attention once the killings crossed state lines, turned the TV set on in her motel room to watch the news.

"And repeating an alert from the national office of the FBI, we want to warn all educators to be on their guard for any suspicious people that might approach them" a good looking Carolyn Rogers said.

"Two deaths have been reported from sniper shootings in both Washington state and in Nebraska. Both killings have come from the same shooter, who seems to be a religious fanatic. Educators are instructed to be aware of their surroundings, move in groups, and report any suspicious activity to local authorities."

Blodgett sat there and mused over the news broadcasts. It was lucky for Carolyn Rogers that Blodgett was unaware that she was Jennifers sister.

"We'll have to be careful about this next shooting" said Mrs. Adams. "They've already gotten the idea that this is about educators."

"Hopefully, our Dr. Nealy hasn't watched the news. We'll have to exercise caution. But time is something we have on our side." answered Blodgett.

"Time to call in to our base" said the voice of Mrs. Adams.

"Yes, we know" replied Blodgett. "We have to be accounted for."

And with that, the base was dialed from the cell phone.

"So long ago, but we'll finally get our revenge" said Blodgett. "Finally you'll be avenged"

As she said these words, she thumbed through the pictures she had in her wallet. One was a wallet size picture of the young boy on the bike that had sat on the mantle in Blodgetts house. The caption written below the picture read, "Charles Adams, age 14". She then flipped to a picture of Mrs. Adams standing next to the boy and looked sadly at it. She then put the wallet down on the table next to the chair she was sitting in. The wallet flipped to Blodgetts military ID. The two women in both pictures were the same.

"Time to get some sleep, Mary Elizabeth Blodgett" said Msr. Adams as she heard the two voices talking within the one mind.

The single occupant of the hotel room then turned off the light and let the gentle waves of sleep overtake her.

*****

Dr. Kim Nealy took her job at the school she worked very seriously. She always stayed on top of everything that was going on, and often brought work home to make sure everything was attended to. This made her an excellent asset to the school system, but it had one limitation. While she took her job very seriously, such attention demanded one resource, and that was time. Since she spent so much of it working at her job, she didn't have enough time to allocate to other important things, such as watching the news. And so, when the national alerts came out, Kim Nealy, as a matter of routine, missed the broadcasts.

As we have mentioned earlier, Mrs. Adams memory was excellent. She had no problem remembering the school where Dr. Nealy, the misguided, godless principal had worked all those years ago. She wasted no time renting a car and driving to the neighborhood where the school had been. Luckily, it was still there, and teachers still worked there. The only thing to find out was if Dr. Nealy was still the principal there. Mrs. Adams thumbed through the phone book she had brought and called the school on her cell phone.

"Hello? Yes, I wanted to speak to Dr. Nealy" she said as the secretary answered the phone.

"Hold on, let me connect you" she heard the secretary reply.

"Hello, this is Kim Nealy" replied the principal.

"Hi, my name is Julie Callahan, and I'm being relocated in this area. I have a child that will be attending the school and I wanted to come in and discuss your school program. Can I speak to someone about making an appointment and coming and talking to you?"

"Certainly" said Dr. Nealy, trying to be attentive to the caller. "We're always ready to show parents and their children about our programs. WE pride ourselves on being very open-minded, progressive, and trying to understand the changing times and offer new things to students. My secretary manages my schedule. She can setup an appointment for you."

"Yes" thought Mrs. Adams. "We know all about your program and how progressive you are, you godless person. My Charles is a product of your progressive thinking, but you'll find out about that shortly."

"That sounds fine" replied Mrs. Adams. "I'll set the appointment up with your secretary, and I'll be seeing you soon, then."

"Looking forward to it" she heard Dr. Nealy reply over the phone.

A few days later Mrs. Adams was meeting with Dr. Nealy. The years had not been too unkind to the educator. Adams remembered her face immediately when she saw it. Not having heard the national news, Dr. Nealy didn't know to be suspicious of people she didn't know. Mrs. Adams recalled what Charles had been interested in as she spoke to Dr. Nealy about what her child wanted out of his education. It was a convincing conversation. Nealy never realized that Mrs. Adams was talking to her about her dead son, and she never saw the cold fire that burned behind her eyes.

After Mrs. Adams met with the educator, she noticed that police activity at the school had been stepped up. She reasoned that with the national broadcast, all schools would have their security increased, so she knew she wouldn't be able to make the kill there as in the first two attacks. Therefore, she wasted no time and started following her victim. She was very careful to watch her every movement and see her patterns. Like most people, Dr. Kim Nealy was a creature of habit. In addition to working hard at the school and bringing work home, she had one other habit, and that was making it to her local health club.

The health club was surrounded by a large parking area as it was a very popular spot. At the end of the parking lot and across a small street was a strip mall where a vacant office building sat. It had a "FOR RENT" sign on it with a phone number to call. The office building sat, about 500 yards away from the health club, with multiple windows facing it. It had the potential of being a good shooting location, but two questions had to be answered. First, she'd have to tour the offices to make sure she had access to one of those windows, and second, she'd have to make sure that Dr. Nealy came here often.

Not wasting any time, she called the phone number and set up an appointment to tour the offices. She told the real estate person showing the building that she wanted to rent the space, and got an opportunity to come look at the offices. As she was being led through the offices, she made it a point to make sure it faced the health club across the street. Satisfied, she knew she had one of the problems solved.

The second problem was solved by taking enough time to watch the victim. With Dr. Nealy, it only took a couple of weeks to establish that she came here fairly regularly at 5:30 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Mrs. Adams knew that being methodical was the way to make sure you knew the victims patterns, plus it would keep the authorities guessing as to where and when the next kill would be made. She didn't want to set a pattern herself of making a kill once a week. Now, having established her victims pattern, it was time to be at the health club at the appropriate time each day and wait patiently for the victim to show up. The 5:30 pm time was a good time, because most people were gone. They had families and wanted to be home at the dinner hour to eat with their loved ones, and then they would come to the club later. As a result of this, the parking lot was relatively empty when Dr. Nealy would come to the health club. Mrs. Adams knew she would probably have a clear shot and she made her plans.

The next evening was no disappointment to Adams. She had evaluated her surroundings and knew that in addition to the health club being relatively empty, the other businesses in the strip mall were gone by 6:00. As she got to the office building, she didn't have any problem breaking the lock on the door and gaining access. By this time, Nealy would be inside doing her workout. All she had to do was wait .

"Time to check in with the base and cover my tracks" Mrs. Adams thought to herself, and she dialed her forwarded home number from her cell phone.

Mrs. Adams didn't have to wait long, and within an hour she saw Nealy exiting from the facility. It didn't take long for Nealy to get to her car. She stood there fumbling for her keys like most women, having put them in a loaded purse. That was all the opportunity that Adams needed. As in the first killing, she seized the opportunity.

"Now you pay for your godless action" thought Adams. "Let my number 14 enact my vengeance!!"

And with that the trigger was pulled and the bullet found its way home, hitting Nealy in the head. She fell almost instantly and was dead as she hit the ground.

*****

"This is the third killing we've seen" said the first FBI analyst, again looking at the evidence he had seen before. "It's the same person alright. We have the same round type, the same note, and this time, they found the shell casing. It had the number 14 imprinted on the casing. That has to mean something. It has to be a trademark of some sort with the killer."

"But what?" asked the second analyst.

"I don't know" answered the first analyst, "but it means something. It's showing up over and over. Did we ever get an answer back from the Army bases when they checked on the phone records of the registered snipers that call in regularly?"

"That took awhile to get the results back, but all known snipers called in about the time the shootings occurred, or the military knew where they were" answered the second analyst.

"Hmmm… " said the first analyst. "We still don't know if it's military or police, but my gut reaction says it's military. We have someone that appears to be where they're supposed to be, but yet they're moving around. They call in and establish they're at home, but they can't be at home."

He scratched his head, and then all of a sudden an idea came to him.

"They HAVE to be calling from a different phone. Why didn't I think of this before?! Yeah! They call in from a remote place, with a cell phone and it looks to the Army that they're where they need to be"

"But we saw the expected home phone numbers in the call logs when we checked the calls going to the military bases" said the second analyst. "If they were calling from another phone, their home number wouldn't appear in the log".

"Sure it would, if they had their home phone forwarded to the military base they report to. Don't you get it? We checked the phone logs for calls being placed to the military bases, and then from those records, we searched to see if the snipers home phone number appeared in those records. But the thing we forgot was that these records show every phone number that was involved in the call. You'll recall we looked for the expected home phone number of the snipers to appear ANYWHERE in the calling chain. When we saw that in the log, we just ASSUMED the killer was at home, that it was the originating phone number in the call chain. But, and oh this is sweet! If the killer forwarded their home phone to the base, and then called the home phone from a remote cell phone…."

"Then" cut in the second analyst, "it would appear on the phone logs that the call came from their home, but the originating phone number would be different. That's brilliant!!".

"Yeah" said the first analyst. "I bet if you ran another search, and checked for phone log records which contained the snipers home phone number, but which had an originating phone number that was different, you'd only find a small percentage of the calls in the logs, because most of the snipers are at home where they're supposed to be. Some would be on vacation, but I bet they wouldn't be on vacation through all three kills, and they'd probably just originate the call from where they are and call their base directly. I bet if you looked for all the logs that originated from a different phone number than the home number across all three kills, you'd probably only come up with one caller… the killer we're after."

"I'll get on it right away" the second analyst said as he left the room.

*****

As with any major database search, the results took a few hours to retrieve. But, when they came back, they only resulted in one record.

"Here are the results" said the second analyst returning to meet his partner.

"Let's see" said the first analyst.

"We only got one phone number back, and it's registered to a Major M. Elizabeth Blodgett. And get this, that cell phone she bought has a GPS chip embedded in it" said the second analyst.

"Oh, that's great! Then we can track her then?" asked the first analyst.

"Maybe" said the second analyst. "The chip has active GPS, meaning if we hit it with one of our satellites while she's talking, it will send back a response telling her location. It would be nice if it was the passive type which responds whether the phone was on or off, but this is better than nothing. At least we know she has this phone and we can have our satellite guys start monitoring for the chip signature. The next time she uses it, we should have her. Plus there's one more bit of news…"

"It gets better?" replied the first analyst.

"Yeah" the second analyst answered. "Since we didn't pay enough attention to the log the first time, I made sure I didn't make that mistake twice. I got a detailed record of each phone number in the call chain, and you won't believe what I found." the second analyst said.

"You like to keep me in suspense. What happened?" the first analyst asked.

"The phone log we found tells where she made the last phone call from, and it places her in the area where this last victim, a Dr. Kim Nealy, was killed.

Also, the home number, the one that's forwarded, is in someone else's name, a Mary Adams. So I did some checking and sent someone to see Mrs. Adams at her home. And get this. She's nowhere to be found. People remember this Elizabeth Blodgett, but they don't know anything about Mary Adams. The last thing we can figure out is about ten years ago. She's apparently dropped off the face of the earth" the second analyst replied.

"That's weird. You better get all this information out to our field offices immediately. Especially to the office where this Blodgett is located" said the first analyst.

"That's already done. They'll have the information within the day. I already have our satellite guys watching and waiting for the GPS signature to appear. If the killer is true to her pattern, she'll be moving to another state soon. We're not sure where that's going to be, but when she does, we'll know it."

"Sweet!" said the first analyst. "Looks like you've earned your pay for the month."

 

Chapter 26: The home stretch

Michael Parker sat on the couch with Jennifer next to him watching the TV. Jennifer had had a particularly trying day at the hospital, and tonight she wanted some tender loving care from her husband. Having been married to him for awhile, she knew what outfit he liked her to wear when they made love, and she had her black teddi on. She also knew the perfume he liked and was wearing some of that. Sitting there next to him, she was running her fingers up and down his neck, trying to attract his attention, a tactic that always worked. Tonight, however, he was resisting her overtures.

"What's wrong, honey?" asked Jennifer, stopping her activity. "You normally don't waste any time responding to me when I do this. Don't you like it?"

"It's not you, sweetheart. I love what you're doing" he said as he turned towards her and cupped one of her breasts in his hand and gently squeezed it. "Its my job. This one case we're working on, y'know, the one with the sniper, there's been a new development. They want us to make it our top priority. It's tough to figure out what the angle of the killer is exactly. It hasn't hit the news yet, but there's been a third victim, right here in town."

"Here?" asked Jennifer, enjoying what he was doing, and yet trying to listen to him.

"Yes," answered Mike. "They kept it out of the papers so far here because they didn't want to alarm people, but it will be hitting the newsstands tomorrow."

"So what do you know?" Jennifer asked, sitting back in the sofa.

"The latest victim is a Dr. Kim Nealy, a principal of a local school" he answered.

"Dr. Nealy?" she said, her attention now sufficiently aroused.

"Let's talk about this" she continued, gently taking his hand off her breast. "Why would anybody want to kill her?" Jennifer asked.

"You know her?" Mike asked.

"Know her? Yes, I knew her. She was the principal that was instrumental in helping me start my transition at school. She was the principal of the junior high school I went to, and let me start coming to school as Jennifer when I was around 12 or 13."

"Interesting, and weird" Mike replied.

"Michael, what else do you know?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, this is the strange thing. There are two people involved in this. A major Mary Elizabeth Blodgett, who is a sniper with the Army who has been doing the killings, and a Mary Adams. This Blodgett character lives in a home in another state which Mary Adams sold her. We saw that when we got a lead on the cell phone of this major Blodgett, and traced it back to her home through phone company records. And yet, when we went looking for this Mary Adams, she was nowhere to be found."

"Michael, do you mean Mary Elizabeth Adams? If you are, I know her too, and my memories of her aren't too nice" replied Jennifer.

"What's that?" he asked. "Yeah, her name is Mary Elizabeth, now that you mention it. You're saying you know her too? That's too weird. Those two names are too similar. What exactly do you know about her?"

"Oh, nothing much," Jennifer replied, "except she hated me for what I was doing back then. She had a son, Charles, who came and talked to me one day at school and told me he was transgendered and wanted to be a girl like I was becoming. I think he was a year older than I was. Anyway, Mom, Dad, and I tried to go talk to Mrs. Adams about letting him get help like I was getting. But she was a religious fanatic and tried to keep me from going to school and "infecting" all the other kids. Her son eventually ran away from home and was murdered. She always blamed us for her sons death, even though it was her own narrow mindedness that drove him to run away."

"She was a religious fanatic, you say?" asked Michael?

"Yes, she started quoting the Bible when we went over to her house one night; the night we tried to get her to get help for Charles, her son." Jennifer replied.

"At what age did you say you started doing this at school?" Michael asked, really paying attention to the facts. The similarity in names had piqued his attention and now he was being an FBI agent.

"I think I was about 13" Jennifer replied.

"Did this Dr. Nealy play any other significant roles, besides allowing you to come to school as a girl?" Michael asked.

"There was a school board meeting that Mrs. Adams came to to try and get me removed from school. But Dr. Nealy stopped her. As I recall, this was after her son had been murdered." answered Jennifer.

"Oh my God!" Michael said, putting it all together. "This is no random killing we're seeing here. It's cut and dried. We have a vengeance case here. It's too coincidental that Nealy was killed, and Adams is involved with a sniper that killed her. And then, this Mrs. Adams and this Mary Elizabeth Blodgett have the same first names? Add to that that Adams is a religious fanatic, and every time the killer strikes, she leaves a note at the scene saying she's enacting the Lords vengeance? And finally, you say Charles was a year older than you? That would have made him about 14, and every note we find at the shooting scene is signed by number 14. Honey, you're in serious danger, and so is your family. If she's killed Dr. Nealy, and she blames you for the death of her son, I'll bet that she's coming after you and your family. I better call your family and warn them. And then I better call the local office and let them know what's going on. I love you too much to let this nut get to you."

And with that, he got off the sofa and picked up the telephone, and tried to call John and Linda Rogers. Unfortunately, they didn't answer.

"Do they have a cell phone?" Michael asked.

"No" replied Jennifer. "Dad didn't want to be that connected. And they're gone for the weekend to their lake house. They just got that place, and I don't know the phone number."

"Yeah, well this is one time I wish I could get hold of them" Michael said.

"I'll leave a message on their phone. That's the best I can do for here. Do you have the address of their lake house?"

"Yeah, somewhere in my purse" said Jennifer as she went and got her purse.

He hung up the phone, then he dialed his sister-in-law, Carolyn. He heard her pick up the phone.

"Carolyn, hi this is Mike. This is an official FBI call. You two are in potential danger, and you need to get your stuff ready and leave your house at once and get somewhere safe. I'm going to send Jennifer and have her stay with you too. Call your neighbors and ask them to watch your house. If anybody suspiciouscomes around, have them call the local FBI office, but you need to get out of there. It looks like your family might be the target of those sniper killings that have been on the national news. I can't explain further right now. Just get out of there, until we have time to check this out. If we're wrong, then no harm is done. But I'd rather see you two safe than sorry."

He could hear his sister-in-law talking to her husband. Carolyn thanked him and hung up the phone.

Next, he dialed his local office, relating the facts to the supervisor on duty.

"Yeah, that's right," Michael Parker said to the supervisor. "The facts look like they fit with my wife's history. I think we might have a religious nut on our hands who is trying to seek retribution for something that happened about 10 years ago."

He sat, listening to the supervisor.

"Right, I've already tried to call my wife's family and make sure they know. I got hold of my wife's sister, but her parents are out of town. I'll call the local police here. And I need for you to call the police where my wife's parents are located and let them know they have a potential killer in their area. They need to get over to where they're staying and get them to safety. No, I don't have my in-laws phone number. That's why I need for you to get involved. Yeah, I know…. we need to get everyone moved to safety right away."

He hung up the phone and turned to Jennifer.

"Well, honey, I really like what you're wearing tonight, and you're the most beautiful woman I know, and I love you so much. I wish we could make passionate love tonight, but considering everything, that's out of the question. You need to get to safety and go with your sister" he said.

"What about you?" Jennifer asked.

"I can't just sit around and watch this unfold doing nothing. I'm going to get a group of agents together and we're heading up to where your folks are. I hope we can get this nut. I don't want anything happening to you, or them. I love you too much."

Jennifer looked at Michael cautiously.

"You be careful, honey. I don't want anything happening to you either" she said.

"Jennifer" Michael said, "you're the most beautiful woman in the world, and I love you more than words can describe. Plus, you're my wife. I don't know how a guy can get much luckier than that. I'll be back, and I'm going to take you up on what you were trying to do to me earlier when I return."

"Is that a promise?" Jennifer asked.

"Count on it" answered Michael.

"OK" said Jennifer. "I'll get changed. We'll do this some other time."

And with that, she got up off the sofa, gave her husband a small kiss, and left the room to get ready. She would be going to stay with her sister.

*****

The appeal of the lake house where John and Linda Rogers were staying was that it was out of the way and off the beaten path. The properties in the community where they were, were spread out and located on a 40 square mile tract of land, mostly rustic and wooded. The community advertised that dwellers in the community could get out and boat on the lake, or simply take it easy, co-existing with nature. It had reasonably easy access to the nearby town, about 20 miles from where the community began. But people that lived here generally wanted one thing, and that was to get away from it all, and be by themselves. John and Linda had always liked the out of doors and "back to nature" type things, and John, being close to early retirement age, had finally gotten the place he had always wanted which would allow him to get away, once he retired.

It was fall, and the colder weather was going to be coming soon, but this weekend, it had held off and the temperature was a comfortable 60 degrees. John and Linda had seen it as the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the weather and try out their new house. They didn't waste any time getting in their car and making the trip, which was about 4 hours from their home.

They also didn't notice that on the trip, another car had been following them; one that was driven by Mary Elizabeth Adams.

After killing Dr. Nealy, Adams had laid low for awhile so that things would cool down. In the meantime, she began watching the Rogers home, trying to find a pattern that she could exploit. When she saw them packing their things in the car, she realized they would be going on some sort of vacation, and she thought this might be the break she had been waiting for.

"If they're going someplace that is away from the city, then that will make my job that much easier" she said to herself.

Having arrived at their lake house, the Rogers settled in. Their house was one of the three bedroom models located on one of the inlets that emptied into the large lake that was in the center of the community. They had liked this particular house because it was the only one so far built on the inlet, and the inlet was large, almost a half mile across. There would be more to come, but right now, they were all alone. Mary Adams noticed this also.

"All I have to do is find a spot across the inlet that is well hidden and wait for my shot" she thought.

She didn't waste any time finding a spot that was wooded and hidden.

"That should give me enough cover, and put me far enough away. The road isn't that far from here, so when I make my kill, I can get back onto the road and get out of here."

The house sat on a little hill that sloped down to the lake shoreline, with a deck on the back of it. It was the late afternoon, and Linda was inside preparing a light dinner for the two of them, while John was outside reading a newspaper. The view across the lake was unobstructed, and he put the paper down and began to take in the view.

"Isn't this a beautiful place, Linda?" asked John, surveying the woods that surrounded the house.

"It's beautiful dear. We'll have to have Carolyn and Jennifer up here with their husbands. We have the room to sleep everybody and it would be fun."

"Well, that's one reason why I bought the house that I did. Room for our kids and their families" he replied.

"I know" she responded. "Let's wait until we know our way around here. Then we can have them up some weekend."

It was at that time that Mrs. Adams saw her opportunity.

"He's totally exposed. They'll probably be eating out on their deck, and I'll have a clear shot. Ok, Mr. Rogers, your time has come. Now it's time for you to feel the justice of the Lord. Time for you to feel his retribution for the godless things you did, and the pain you made me suffer" She said.

She began setting up her weapon, but before she got to business, she got out her cell phone.

"Time to check in with the Army base" she thought, and made the necessary phone call.

After making the call, she laid the phone down on a nearby rock. Having done this hurriedly, the phone fell off the rock and onto the ground, rolling into some grass.

"I'll get it when I'm all done" she thought, and proceeded with her preparations.

*****

"Sir, I've got that cell phone GPS signature that we've been waiting for" the FBI agent in the communications center of the national office said. "It's chirping loud and clear."

"That's a break. Maybe we can find that religious nut sniper that's been killing everyone. Can you tell where it's located?" asked his supervisor.

"Exactly in the area where that local agent said it would be. It looks like he knew what he was talking about, regarding where Blodgett would be located. It'll take me a few minutes to find the exact longitude and latitude, but if it keeps chirping, I'll be able to get it."

"You stay on top of that" said the supervisor. "Don't let that signal out of your sight. I'll contact the team that's up there and advise them.

The supervisor then dialed the cell phone of Mike Parker, who had left the phone number with the FBI offices in case something was found out. He was leading the team of agents that had gone to the secluded area.

"Yeah," the supervisor said over Mike Parkers cell phone, "we're tracking that cell phone signature right now. Tie into the satellite and we'll broadcast our GPS signal to your GPS locators so you can see exactly where the signature is located. We'll keep broadcasting as long as we have the signature. We're broadcasting over channel 543."

"Sounds good" the supervisor heard Mike Parker reply. "We're up in this community, but it's a big area, and it's wooded. We've got the local authorities with us so they can help with the search. I hope we don't lose the signal."

*****

Mary Adams was patiently lying on her stomach in the prone position waiting for her opportunity. There was a lot of activity in the house across the inlet, and Mr. John Rogers wasn't cooperating, getting up and down to do things.

"Come on. Settle down. I need a still target to hit, and you're simply too active" said Adams.

Finally, John Rogers sat back down in his chair on the deck. He and his wife were enjoying the dinner she had prepared.

"That's it" said Adams. "You just sit there and enjoy your meal… your LAST meal".

With John Rogers sitting in the chair over a half mile away, Mary Adams put the telescopic sight to her eyes.

"Patience" she thought. "Just like that Middle East assignment. Wait for your target… wait for your target."

She was a little more than a half mile from the Rogers house, about 900 yards away. She had been an ace at 1000 yards, and now her training was about to pay off. She started going into her catatonic state, and then started to pull the trigger.

In addition to being out of they way, the lake housing community was also known for one thing, and that was how it supported wildlife, especially the feathered variety. Part of the attraction was the duck and bird population that co-existed with the human population. Hunters were allowed to come there at various times to decrease the population when that needed to be done. As often happens, things go wrong at the worst time. It was when Mrs. Adams was starting to pull the trigger that a duck decided to swoop down and feed on a fish that was swimming lazily in the lake. At the instant this happened, the duck flew in the line of sight that Mrs. Adams was viewing. It startled her for just a second, but that second was all that the Rogers needed to avoid the deadly shooter. Mrs. Adams jerked slightly as the bird distracted her, and the bullet that had been intended for John Rogers head went out of the rifle a little to the left of its intended trajectory. The bullet ricocheted off the side of the house, and that's all John Rogers needed.

"What was that?" he said, startled. "Someone is shooting at us. Linda, get in the house, NOW!!".

Having been in the military himself, he had never lost the reaction that a battle hardened soldier possesses. He quickly got up and took cover, and got his wife in their house. Then he scrambled for the door, when he heard another shot fly into the house.

"Someone's out there trying to kill us" said John Rogers. "That's no accident. Those were two bullets aimed directly for us."

"Who would want to shoot at us?" a bewildered Linda Rogers asked.

"I don't know," said John, "but I'm not waiting out there to find out. Get down and stay down. I'm calling the police."

After she missed twice, Mary Adams started dismantling the mammoth gun that she had been using. She'd have to find another time and place.

*****

"It's still broadcasting" yelled Mike Parker to the other people in his team. "Not too far from here. Let's go!!"

What Mary Adams hadn't counted on was that her cell phone had active GPS, a feature which allowed the phone to broadcast its location when it was on. In her haste to make the phone call to her military base, she had carelessly put the phone down on the rock, but it fell off. As it rolled into the grass, it hit a rock which accidentally pushed the talk button, thus activating the phone. The phone had been broadcasting its location all along.

"Freeze!!, FBI!!" she heard Mike Parker scream as she heard the team of agents run up upon her. "Put your hands on your head and drop the weapon."

Startled, she did as she was told. They cuffed her immediately and she was led off as Michael Parker examined the evidence with some of his other team members. Clipped to the side of the weapon was a picture of Charles, the caption below the picture reading "Charles, age 14". Inside the bag that Mrs. Adams had used to carry the weapon, they found her wallet. The military ID and the picture of Mary Adams were there.

"We'll take this weapon to ballistics, but I think that will be a formality. This is a snipers weapon alright. This should connect her with the other shootings, and with that Bible in her bag, plus the wallet identifying the shooter should be enough to put her away for a long time.

 

Chapter 27: Conclusion

With all the evidence that had been found at the shooting site, and the fact that the weapon had been retrieved, it didn't take authorities very long to build a case against Mary Adams, who was quickly sentenced. The case against her was open and shut. After the trial, life went back to normal in the metropolis where Mike and Jennifer lived.

One night at their apartment, Mike was sitting on the couch watching the news. A good looking Carolyn Rogers was going on about the capture of Mary Adams.

"I'm glad that's over", he said as Jennifer's sister droned on.

"Honey," he heard his wife say, as she sat down on the couch next to him.

"Yes" he answered, still watching the news.

"Are you really interested in that?" she asked as she unzipped his fly and reached inside his underwear and started to stroke his penis.

Jennifer noticed how fast he started getting bigger. She didn't stop.

"Why," he asked turning and looking at her, pretending to ignore her activity, "did you have something else in mind?"

"Ummm-Hmmmm" Jennifer answered, continuing to stroke him. "I thought I'd take you up on your promise, remember?"

"Oh, I see. You had something like this in mind, then?" Mike responded by taking the strap of her teddi off her shoulder and exposing her breast. He proceeded to lean in and kiss her nipple.

"Yes, I think you know what I have in mind" she said as he continued to kiss her breast.

"Well," he answered, finally getting back up and shutting off the TV with the remote, "I never forget a promise. I seem to remember I told you that we'd do this when the case was over."

Michael Parker sat there looking at Jennifer as she continued to stroke him. She was wearing his favorite teddi and perfume again. Being a healthy man who was deeply in love with his wife, he bent over and kissed her. Then he got up and picked her up. The two of them went into their bedroom.

"Jennifer, I love you so much" he told her.

"Oh Michael, I love you too" she responded.

"I want to make passionate love to you tonight" he said to her.

"And I want you to be inside me" she replied.

That night was one of the many nights that Michael and Jennifer made love. With the case over, they slipped into the wedded bliss that all newlyweds experience, enjoying each other completely.

THE END

  

  

  

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