Detective Ethan Krieger stared at the bloody hand-print left by his hands on the buttons of the elevator with a certain sense of detachment. Wiping his hands on a napkin he put it away as another hacking cough racked his body drawing more blood. Holding in another cough, he drew a sharp breath and focused, the annoying jingle of the elevator as it stopped drew him back to his current surroundings.
The doors of the elevator opened with a hiss, and he stepped out. The empty corridor spun for a moment as he threw out an arm, catching only air as he stumbled. He shook his head as though trying to rid himself of the queasiness he was feeling physically. As he regained his breath, his very hair stood at the back of his neck, he felt stalked. Turning around quickly, despite the nausea, he brought up his gun. Only the empty elevator stood there, jingling merrily it closed back with a hiss.
The blaring noise of his cell phone cut through the eerie silence, startled he grabbed his phone from the inner pocket of his coat. He looked at the number, it was from the lab.
“So, what is it?”, he asked sharply as he surveyed his surroundings, walking down the corridor glancing at the numbers on each apartment door.
“It was a positive. You need to come back. We may still have a chance.”
“Come back?! No, I am close. I can feel it. I need the file. Kurt was close. He had the answer. But the bastard caught him before he could make it. I couldn’t save him but at least I can stop this.”, panted Ethan as the pangs of loss cut through him sharply.
“I can understand but this is not an option. You have hardly a day left! If its anything like the previous victims, the poison will run its course in 24 hours. We have a workable antidote. Get back Krieger. You can catch him another day!”
“Another day?! There won’t be another day. He will kill one more and then go back into to his cooling period. You know this, James. The trail will dry up and…”, he gasped cutting of in the middle, coughing up more blood into his cupped hands.
“Krieger? Krieger?! Ethan! Are you there?!”, James cursed as he waited for a response.
“I am fine”, he replied hoarsely. “Don’t worry. I’ll get through this.”
“Listen to me. You can get the file later. Get back here. Once we flush out the poison, we can search Kurt’s apartment. A day won’t make any difference.”, said James.
“It won’t matter….”, Ethan stopped midway as he heard a familiar jingle.
“The elevator!”, he hissed sharply as he heard footsteps.
“Dammit! Dammit!”
“Ethan!”, cried James.
Cutting off the call, Ethan turned sharply into another corridor. It felt like being in a maze, only this time Ethan knew where the prize was. 307, Kurt’s apartment. He worked on Venenos profile. He’d had a breakthrough but was killed, poisoned, before he could bring it to light.
Ethan would not let his friend’s death be in vain. The bastard killed in sets of 3. Kurt was his second victim. Once more and he would disappear for God knows how long.
“No! This ends today!”, Ethan thought furiously.
The footsteps approached closer; Ethan knew he was running out off time as his vision grew blurred.
“Almost there.”
“Almost…”
Apartment 307. The door stood. So close. Ethan was gasping as his hand grazed the handle, he could barely see. The footsteps stopped behind him. Mustering the last of his strength, Ethan grabbed his pistol and rounded quickly and fired two shots one after the other.
He stumbled and fell to the ground. As his consciousness slipped from his grasp, he heard that annoying jingle again.
“Must be James.”, he thought.
