She can hear the other two following her, but right now she didn't care. All she had in her thoughts was catching the son of a bitch that had begun to plague her life. How brazen, how bold of the person to call directly to where she worked. Something no other psychopath had done in the last five years of her career.
It showed the man had a cause, one that he would take to great lengths to achieve when it came to her. He wanted himself to be seen, heard by her. Unable to tear her eyes away from him, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
Amelia would be calm and collected as always, pushing the conference room glass doors open to meet with the scene. Her team were all gathered around the wooden circular table: the phone placed within the middle of the group. All eyes fall on Amelia, who takes the first step with the operation.
She leans forward, sliding the phone closer to herself. Yet she doesn't speak, she nods her head towards Ellis to have the first words. The other woman hesitates, before clicking a button on the pad of the phone.
"This is Agent El-"
"I told you I specifically wanted Miss Amelia Rae Reston to answer.. Or are my demands being ignored?" The voice was modified beyond any recognizable features. No tone, no accent, just altered voices of high pitches to low frequencies.
Amelia's eyebrows furrow over her eyes, her nose scrunches as her hands lay flatly on the wooden table. He was good, good to have hidden his voice with a voice modifier. She hated to admit that he had gotten a step ahead of her, thought of something she hadn't even let cross her mind. It was no wonder why he was so confident to call her agency, and be so bold to ask for her appearance in the interaction.
She'd find some way to get another step ahead of him, this wasn't the end.
Tapping her fingers on the table, she sighs. "This is Agent Reston speaking."
The voice on the other end laughs, even then a distorted cackle was something she didn't want to hear. "My, my.. Your voice. You've matured so much in the last five years."
He was really starting to bug her, more than just getting under her skin. He wasn't like the rest.
The man sighs, taking a moment before he speaks again. "Did you dye your hair too? Why such a dark.. And bitter color?"
Her anger was beginning to seep through her, she knew it could be seen. A radiating aura that would fuem off of her. A murderer talking sich casual talk, as if he knew her. He knew nothing of her, only the image she created for the public eye. Perhaps his ego was like the rest of them, thinking he knew her inside and out. The entire conversation was pointless.
Amelia pinches the bridge of her nose. "What is the purpose of this call?-"
"I'm not finished, ah ah ah. Don't interrupt."
A growl leaves her lips, eyebrow twitching. Amelia leans forward, muting the call. She looks towards Zackary, "Is this call being recorded?"
He nods, "Sound system is on, after it is finished it'll go straight to the database."
Amelia looks towards Beth. "Beth, try to triangulate the signal to where the call is coming from. We could pinpoint his location." The woman at her boss' command opens up her laptop, quickly putting headphones on her head. She pushes one of them off of her ear, giving Amelia a thumbs up.
"Got it, Boss." Amelia nods, unmuting the call.
She pauses for a moment, before speaking in a stern tone. "Go on, I'm waiting."
"Did you enjoy the ears I sent you? They show how much time I've spent hearing your voice.. Your laugh." The tone was soft, gentle even under all of the static. A voice changer could not hide the emotions, only the sound of the voice.
She stands silently, the man continues: "Those things, that drove me god damn mad. Do you-do you know how it feels Amelia?"
Dallas grips onto her shoulder, "Amelia you don't have to answer-"
"Do you?! Amelia, Answer me!" Dallas' words are interrupted by the shouting of a madman. The bass of his voice even with the modifier boosting through the phone.
Her body doesn't react, she doesn't move a muscle. As if she was a statue stuck to the table, Amelia's eyes dead set onto the phone. Her mind raced with phrases, unable to figure out what was right to say. Had she gone too deep this time, gone somewhere she could not swim? Not able to keep her head up over the water, possibly drowning under the large waves that swept her under.
"No, I don't."
It's all she needed to say, because she didn't know. Even if she had known what the raving of a madman entailed, she would never admit her mind connected any dots. Amelia would leave the man in the dark, squirming for the answers he wanted of her.
" I– I, I loved you–" There's laughter, cackling: "I love you! It's so sad, you let others decide who you were."
Amelia scoffs, "Why send me all those body parts, to show that I took away your five senses? That I somehow ruined your already pathetic life?"
"Clever girl, as always.. You always had your head in those stupid criminology books." The man sighs, a clicking sound can be heard. "Yet you're still.. So fiery that I may get burned. Poetic, no?"
This was wasting her time, this performance. It was clear to Amelia that it was nothing but a display to get her attention. She was bored of it, tired of hearing this person speak as if they knew so much about her. Her past, who she used to be. A maniac who spoke a bit too high for his own good.
"What do you want from me." She says her words in a harsh tone, straight to the point.
There's another sigh, followed by an amused chuckle. "Let everyone hear this, all of you. Seeing I can sense there is far more than you, Linch, and the woman who spoke in the beginning." A pause, " You aren't going to catch me, unless I wish to be caught. Miss Reston, is my prey, mine."
Her hands begin to ball into fists on the table, listening to the man ramble about how his capture would be on his own terms. It was an insult, a slap to the face for her. She would catch him whether he liked it or not, that was her job.
"Amelia, you will meet me five days from now. 10pm under the Cherile Restaurant in the secluded area of Los Angeles."
Now he was making demands, as if she was at his every beck and call. Shameless of a man who dare not even show his real voice, let alone meet her face to face without a stunt. Amelia expected this, but not so boldly.
He continues, "You will come alone, or another body part will be given. However, it won't be going to you." His words have her tilting her head, leaning closer to listen. " I'll be sending them to the people who you treasure most..Every body part is a target."
Her heart stops, it was the last five years ago all over again.
Someone sick and twisted targeting the ones she loved. Amelia had rarely any of those left, after the deaths of her best friends. Killed by the man she loved, someone she blindly let into her life. One to a bullet in the head, the other with her head swiped off of her shoulders. Losing them was the greatest pain she had ever felt. She understood pain worse than heartbreak, she wished that was the only pain she had felt.
To see one smiling on the podium, receiving her high school diploma. Giving a speech for all of her achievements. Another dancing and partying on a day filled with ghosts and ghouls. Spending the night with drinks and games of all kinds. Both dead, all because they were in her life.
She would not let the one person she loved met the same fate: Her father. The only person she had left, the only one that mattered in this bleak world.
Amelia slams her fists onto the table. "You bastard! I won't let you run my life!"
The sound of clapping fills her ears, the man was happy by this display. "Finally!" He starts, "The Amelia I've oh so cherished! The emotions you have, enlighten me!"
Angry enough, she looked towards Beth. "Can you track the call?!" She shouts, Amelia was beginning to boil inside.
Beth shakes her head, hands panicking against her keyboard as she clicks on the keys. "He is using a fake phone, I..I can't track it!"
"That's enough Amelia.." Dallas calls behind her, but to no avail. Amelia's head turns back to the phone.
It's not long before she's shouting towards it. "Who are you?! Tell me who you are?!"
He ignores her, speaking in a sing-song tone. "Oh Amelia, one more thing." The tone switches instantly, one that spits venom to her. "If Dallas tries to tag along behind you.. I will kill him."
Amelia's entire body tenses, her teeth grind against each other in her mouth. Hands gripped as tight as she can, listening as the man laughs in her face.
"And make you watch as I decapitate him."
The line clicks off, the dial tone echoing through the room: through her skull. She knew that her lover would never be safe with the lives they lead, but no backup was able to come with her. Amelia would never risk his life for her own, it infuriated her more.