Murder Planned, Murder Executed (Chapter 7) - "The iPod Killer"

“The iPod Killer”
-Murder Planned, Murder Executed (Chapter 7)

It was a beautifully sunny morning as a man entered the lobby of the downtown bank. The sunglasses were perfectly acceptable by society’s standards and blended in perfectly. Disguised with a long brown haired wig and handlebar mustache, the man looked up into the security camera attached to the ceiling and smiled. Walking slowly up to the row of cashiers behind a long mahogany desk he found the longest line and waited.

Dressed in a long khaki colored trench coat he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out an iPod Classic and placed the headphones into his ears. After pushing a few buttons his head began to nod to the beat. None of the other patrons seemed to even take notice of this ominous looking character.

Following a long wait in line the man finally reached the cashier, head still bobbing to the music. The cashier began to ask the man a question when he threw back the front of the trench jacket revealing two Uzi pistols holstered around his hips. The woman cashier screamed and the man pulled the Uzis and pointed them at the cashier and fired a spray of bullets into the woman dropping her to the floor. He then directed his aim up and down the desk firing bullets into everyone still standing and scurrying for cover. The security guards at the ends of the desk drew their pistols and began firing in the gunman’s direction.

Head still nodding up and down the madman held down both triggers and spun in a 360 killing anyone and everyone in the bank. Bullets ricocheted off the walls and pillars of the bank as he finally took notice of the guards who were hiding behind the desk and firing blindly in his direction. Momentarily ceasing fire the gunman rolled and posted up behind a pillar. One of the guards put on a brave face and came out pistol concentrated on the pillar.

Still rocking out to his iPod the man slid head first across the marble floor and dropped the guard with a barrage of gunfire. The second security guard took his chance and came out firing from around the desk. The man rolled, bullets screaming to the left and right of him as he finished his roll with a somersault taking cover behind another pillar. Still firing, the guard moved slowly down the desk to try and get a better shot. The gunman held both Uzi’s up in front of himself and whirled around to face the pillar still maintaining cover. He then reached both guns around the pillar and fired clipping the security guard in the shoulder knocking him to the floor behind the desk.

Finally both guns clicked empty as smoke rolled from each barrel. The gunman holstered the pistols, removed the iPod from his jacket, switched it off, and took out his headphones. Hurriedly striding to the door, the man stopped for a moment, looked up at the security camera and smiled. He then opened the door leaving the bank full of bodies still seeping blood out onto the marble floor.

“Samson we need to talk, NOW! When do you get off of work? You need to come see this immediately!” Shaken thoroughly I could hear the urgency creep in as I spoke. I was beyond losing my cool and going into a full blown panic as I spoke into my cell.

“Alright! Alright! I get off in like two hours I’ll be over as soon as possible. Just stay calm,” With that Samson hung up with a soft click but I knew he could sense that something was wrong.

Pacing back and forth in the glass room I kept thinking about the note. Who the hell is the Shadow and how long has he been following me? From the note he left it didn’t seem to bother him that I was out murdering people and if it did he would have went straight to the police, not leave some God damned note. And to retrieve Roberto’s head from the bottom of a well just to send a message? This guy could be more fucked up than me. I have to get some answers before I can even leave my house again, he could be watching me right now. I glanced up at the clock hanging in the corner of the room. This is going to be the longest two hours ever.

Reading the note over and over again the more the note sounded of admiration, almost fanatical. Even the way he put quotations around the word "well" he seemed to be enjoying himself. Adding a pun to the note meant he was trying to be humorous, not trying to send a warning. It seemed he was enjoying watching me kill as much as I actually did doing the deed. I even studied the curvature of each handwritten letter. It seems he took his time with a steady hand, unshaken by the morbidity of the situation. A knock on the door disturbed my concentration and I glanced at the clock. Two hours are up, must be Samson.

Peeking through my window curtains I saw Samson in street clothes standing at the door. Going to the door I unlatched the deadbolt and unlocked it. I opened it and nodded for Samson to come in and stuck my head out the door looking up and down the street for a sign of the Shadow. Not a soul, not even a vehicle parked out front, other than Samson’s. Samson and I made our way to the glass room and sat at the coffee table.

“Samson, we’ve got a huge problem…I’m being followed by someone,” the words seemed calmer than I anticipated.

Samson sat back in his chair and almost showed no reaction, “I know…I hired him.”

I sprung up out of my chair infuriated and leaned across the table and got right in Samson’s face, “YOU WHAT! You hired him? What the fuck man? Why would you do that? Do you want to see me go to prison?”

“Calm down! I did it for your protection! I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to handle killing people and I thought you’d get into trouble. I didn’t want anything to happen to you so I hired this guy to watch out for you. I went to a special division of private investigators used by Internal Affairs in the police department. These guys are used to tail cops and report any findings to Internal Affairs, but any evidence they collect is unusable in court,” Samson’s eyes were deadlocked with mine, not even blinking as he spoke.

“I need you to call him off, now! I don’t want him meddling in my business. Did you get a name on this guy or his phone number or some shit? How long has he been following me?” Anger was still pulsing through my veins.

“He hasn’t reported yet and the business is totally confidential. No names, no numbers. He's been following you since you killed Roberto. The division hires somebody and then they notify me if any information is submitted on my person of interest.”

Sitting back down I cooled off a little, “Well your boy left me this rolled up inside one of Roberto’s eye sockets. Did he report this back to you?” I pushed the note across the table.

Samson with a look of concern read over the note and put it back onto the table, “This is a problem…but it seems he means no harm and can’t go to the police so I guess you just have a fan.”

“Samson, I don’t want a fucking fan I’m out there killing people! What can we do about this?”

“Nothing, well at least you can’t do anything. I’ll go back to the division of private investigators tomorrow and call off the tail, but that doesn’t mean he won’t stop following you. I’m guessing he’s enjoying himself too much. The best thing you can do is pretend he doesn’t exist and keep doing what you do best.”

“Alright Samson I’m going to trust you to get the Shadow off my back, but if he interferes with my work anymore than he already has I’m going to find him and I’m going to kill him. This is your only warning Samson. Get him off me or he’s dead.”

“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime we have a very big situation developing in the downtown city. Some madman walked into our largest bank and killed everyone, and I mean everyone. There was one survivor, a security guard but he’s in critical condition in the hospital and isn’t expected to pull through. Now the only evidence collected was the video footage of the cameras inside,” Samson pulled out adisc and put it on the table. “This is a copy of that footage and that’s all we got for the time being. Identity unknown and his appearance is clearly that of a disguise. He took nothing, didn’t even try, we believe he was doing this for personal pleasure or just for the sport of it. We know he’s white and are assuming he has had formal training in firearms. Leading us to believe he could be of military or law enforcement background. I don’t suppose there’s much you can do at this point but watch the video and tell me if there’s anything you see that I’m not.”

“Sure thing Samson but I want you to tell me as soon as possible if the Shadow has been taken care of, it will help me to better focus on your new guy,” with that Samson and I got up and made our way to the door.

Samson took one step out the front of the door and turned to face me, “And one more thing, the gunman was listening to an iPod through the entire shooting. The papers have dubbed him “The iPod Killer”. Be careful out there,” Samson winked and returned to his vehicle and drove off. I tapped the disc on my hand and closed the door.