Read an Excerpt
Kill a Killer
A Novel
By Bob Arnone
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2013 Bob Arnone
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-6857-6
Chapter One
BILLY BONNER ... was perhaps the most prolific serial killer in history, leaving a trail of murdered men and women across the United States and Canada. He was tormented by his two brothers and father, killing both siblings when only twelve years old.
Born on a farm in Iowa, January 5th, 1963, Billy was a gentile child, but frequently bullied by his older brothers who were charged to make a man out of him by their brutish father, a man harboring a deep seeded contempt for the youngest of the three boys.
Billy pleaded with his mother to protect him from his siblings, but not wanting to divulge a dark past causing the torment, she tells him to be a man, ignoring the seeds of his agony, a killer being sown.
The twelve year old Bonner, convinces the sheriff that the death of his brothers was an accident ... losing control of the harvester and running them down ... their bodies sliced to ribbons and unrecognizable.
After his mother is institutionalized and father dies from excessive drinking, Billy moved to Chicago to live with his aunt, a retired language professor who schooled Billy at home, teaching him to speak fluent Spanish and French.
Six years pass when her body is hurled over a high-rise balcony, the wooden spoon used to discipline the young Bonner ... by her side.
The lean six-foot one, one hundred sixty-five pound deranged killer, now eighteen, disappears and starts his journey of retribution, leaving behind twelve dead bodies in every city he targets before moving to his next killing field.
The victims of the soft-spoken Bonner are women who live alone and over the age of sixty, deceived by the killer who uses a variety of false appearances in gaining entry into their homes. What do they see in the stranger when answering the knock on their door? They see a trusting young man with a fair complexion, his straight brown hair parted to one side and a charming smile, perhaps reminding them of their own son. He introduces himself as a member of the clergy, a UPS man, or a representative from the gas or electric company. Once gaining entry, the steely-eyed psychopath ... engages his victims, many lonely and eager for conversation, breaking their routine of the day. He asks for a glass of water, his victims gladly accommodating the request. They turn to reach for a glass from the cabinet above, then suddenly feeling the wire garrote tightening around their throats and choking the air from their body, not to kill ... but to render them unconscious ... the killer wanting his victims to suffer the indignity in the awareness of their forthcoming death. They're ceremoniously hung upside down, their tormentor repeatedly slapping their face to consciousness. Their temples pounding, the terrified victims are confused and don't understand why they've been singled out by the killer. They frantically shake their heads, a plea for mercy ... but to no avail.
Bonner removes their eyes one by one, their screams muffled by the gags in their mouth, their bodies contorting in agony, the unspeakable terror ... punishment for failing to see his torment when a boy, his mother the vision of each kill. He takes nothing from his victim's homes, meticulous in his routine, leaving no forensic evidence that can identify him.
The killer's victims are chosen randomly, followed home from a mall, grocery shopping or a senior citizen's meeting, never suspecting that they have been targeted to die.
Several years pass and the now thirty-one year old Bonner returns to Chicago in 1994, where he meets Nathan Pierce, a forty-one year mechanic who looked more like a college professor with his sandy hair and blue eyes.
Pierce, slender for his tall frame, becomes the disciple of the younger Bonner and they form an unholy alliance. They begin a diabolical competition, leaving countless dead in their wake, one killing women who represented the mother who didn't see his torture and the other, killing prostitutes in retribution for the sexual violations suffered as a child from his mother's clientele.
Both killers agree to meet in New York City in 1999, Pierce seeking revenge against Captain Nick Powers, Chief-of-Detectives of the New York City Police Department, who beat him near death when in college, the scars of which are branded in sleepless bouts of paranoia and nightmares.
Bonner supports his disciple but only to the point of avoiding his own capture, a concern when the forty-one year old Pierce recklessly abandons reason ... replacing it with blind revenge.
Nick Powers is a muscular six-five, two hundred-fifty-pounds and is put in charge of apprehending what he believes to be a lone serial killer in New York City. But Bonner proves to be as elusive as he was from twenty other police departments throughout the country, staying one step ahead of the frustrated captain.
Several more bodies are found in the streets of the five boroughs, all female prostitutes and don't fit the profile of the killings being investigated by the captain. He concludes that two, not one serial killer is in his city, both posing a serious threat to his family.
Powers seventeen year old daughter Nicole and her friend Vicky, deceive their parents and venture out to an after hours club in Manhattan, the killer's playpen.
In a chance meeting, Nathan Pierce discovers that Nicole's the captain's daughter. The astounded killer, basking in his good fortune, seeks revenge for the thrashing Powers gave him in college, retaliation for Nathan beating Caroline, the then girlfriend of Nick, for refusing his advances. He tells Nicole that he's a criminal justice professor, who helps the police by profiling serial killers and that he in fact has worked with Nicole's father in trying to capture the killer lurking in the shadows of New York City.
Nicole and Vicky are captivated by the charm of the older Pierce, their romantic fantasies stirred on by the competition between the two teenagers.
Pierce laces the girls drinks with ecstasy, luring them to a hotel ... raping both, their adventure soon turning tragic.
Still reveling in his conquest, Pierce calls the captain's wife, demanding she meet him in an abandoned bus terminal on the lower west side of Manhattan, threatening to kill both girls if she notified her husband or the police.
Bonner lures female reporter Jackie Burns to the same building he was to meet Pierce. As Nick's former high school girlfriend, she never abandons her dream of a life together, pursuing him and having an affair with the captain even with the knowledge of he being married to Caroline, the girl who captured Nick's heart away from her in high school.
The taxicab in which Pierce and his two captives were riding crash, decapitating Nicole's friend Vicky and seriously threatening the life of the captain's daughter.
Pierce survives the crash, his sheer determination for revenge the driving force to continue to the bus terminal.
Nick reads the letter given to him by the doorman of his apartment left by his wife, explaining that Pierce has threatened to kill their daughter, demanding Caroline meet him at the west side terminal, and that notifying her husband or the police would result in Nicole's death, the mother unaware that her daughter's life was now in the hands of a greater power.
The captain discovers that his daughter was raped by Pierce and near death in the hospital. He had to choose between rescuing his wife or being at the bedside of his daughter.
Powers leaves for the bus terminal, telling his inspector to cordon off a foursquare block perimeter surrounding the mammoth sixteen-floor structure, a building formally subleased by a shipping company.
The captain manages to arrive at the west side building before Pierce could rape and kill his wife, but not before she's beaten, slashed multiple times and suffers the humiliation of being forced to disrobe.
Powers and his partner Pete Dawson have both killers in their gun sight, but Bonner has a knife at the throat of Caroline and threatens to kill the captain's wife.
The killer proposes a swap, willing to give up the reckless Pierce in exchange for sparing Caroline.
Nick accepts the deal, believing Bonner's escape was impossible, the abandoned building surrounded by SWAT.
After beating Pierce senseless, Nick pushes the man who raped his Daughter ... through a door surrounded by the police and is instantly killed, forty-four bullets riddling the killer of prostitutes.
The body of reporter Jackie Burns was hanging from the warehouse rafters, her eyes ceremoniously removed by Bonner and a grim reminder for Caroline ... that her long time nemesis ... was no longer a threat.
The captain makes a pledge to his wife and God ... to resign from the police department and accept her father's offer to join his firm if their daughter Nicole is spared.
Six months later, Nick, Caroline and their three children were enjoying Sunday breakfast in the kitchen of their apartment on a warm June morning. Their daughter Nicole was reading the newspaper when she looked at her parents, her complexion suddenly pale.
"What's wrong dear?" Caroline asked her daughter.
"There's a serial killer in Canada."
"Honey, they'll always be killers in this world."
"One ... who's cutting people's eyes out?" Nicole said, peering at her mother ... as she lowered the paper.
The coffee cup from Caroline's hand fell to the floor, shattering into pieces as she turned toward her husband, her expression one of grave concern.
After cleaning the debris from the floor, Caroline and Nick retreated to the living room while the children remained in the kitchen.
Although Caroline was a witness to the bargain struck between the killer and her husband that ultimately saved her life, there were questions that were never answered. The one's about to be addressed, not the most pressing, that being the killer's ultimate escape in a blanket of police presence and her husband's lost opportunity of killing Bonner once he released her. But she had something else on her mind, far more serious than Bonner's escape, the integrity of their marriage and her husband's commitment to a promise.
Caroline allowed her husband to reflect on that fateful day and how Bonner had eluded capture ... baffling the police captain, the entire area cordoned off and yet he managed to avoid apprehension.
Nick explained to Caroline, how he reported to the mayor and police commissioner that Pierce was the only killer at the location, when he previously stated that both suspects were trapped in the building. He didn't admit to releasing Bonner in order to save her, and that his report was accepted by the commissioner, the reason all police personnel retreated from the scene.
The crafty Bonner had hidden in a large metal container amongst hundreds of others on one of the upper floors of the terminal, a day later ... escaping at his leisure, but not before leaving a parting note.
"Captain, if you're reading this ... you haven't disappointed my faith in a most worthy adversary. I hope you enjoy the gifts I've left for you. I'm sure you'll find the recording of my work most fascinating. Until we meet again?"
Nick stared at the metal drum containing the eyes of Bonner's victim's, some eerily peering at him and seemingly pleading for retribution, the captain promising that one day they'd have their justice.
Caroline patiently waited for her husband to complete his explanation of the circumstances surrounding that fateful day. But her coming questions would result in the gradual release of her pent up emotions ... held in check ... until she discovered her husband's final transgression.
"Nick, I never asked ... but when Bonner released me, why didn't you kill him right then and there?"
The six-five former cop rose from the couch, turned away and moved toward the window. He lowered his head, the fading rays of the sun glistening off his jet-black hair. He paused ... turning back toward his wife.
"My entire career as a cop was based on trust and honor. Bonner had several opportunities to take me out, but he didn't. It was a game with him. He wanted to demonstrate how smart and elusive he was ... smarter than those who pursued him, smarter than me. It was his code of honor, as strange as that might seem.
Yes, I deplored what he had done to those poor women and given the opportunity I'd pull the switch on him in an instant.
The people I put away ... respected me within their own criminal code. To them ... I played the game fair."
"Played the game fair? What's fair about people who steal, rape and kill?" Caroline demanded, her tone bristling with rancor, her agenda soon to be revealed.
"Caroline, I've never planted evidence on a criminal in order to make an arrest and here's where your reputation amongst them is established."
"Why is it so important to have the abscess of society respect you?"
"When I have a case that needs to be solved, a child molester for example. Those guys I put away ... will give me a direction in return for small favors. That respect prevents another child from being molested or killed."
"Nick, how can you compare those crimes with a killer like Bonner?"
"Caroline, if Bonner did to Nicole what Pierce did, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill him. It's hard for a civilian to understand. It's like coming in second place ... but being declared the winner because the first place finisher was disqualified for some minor infraction. That second place winner knows he didn't win and the taste of victory is forever tarnished."
"I don't see how that relates, knowing Bonner would continue to kill as he's probably doing in Canada. Those people would still be alive if you had forgotten honor for a brief moment."
"Look, I gave up a career in law enforcement to work for your father. That was a matter of honor for you and the family."
"Yes, and if it were not for your infidelity with Jackie Burns ... perhaps a lot of grief for this family would have been avoided. Where was your honor then!"
"Caroline, why the sudden hostility?"
"This is why." Caroline said, flipping the telegram at her husband.
"When were you going to tell me, you son-of-a-bitch?"
Nick picked up the crumpled piece of paper confirming his arrival to Canada.
"Caroline, the police in Ottawa asked me to review their cases to determine if Bonner's responsible for the killings in their province. There's no one more qualified to verify if he's their guy than me."
"What about your promise to me and your vow to God? You've been working only six months for my father and you're right back to being a cop."
"Caroline, I hate what I do. I'm stuck in an office eight hours a day trying to sell your father's damn products to people half way across the world who can barely speak English."
"Those products have provided this family with a great deal of comfort."
"I didn't marry your father or his company and you damn well knew that I wanted to be in law enforcement."
"I'm sorry, Nick. I've had it with you and your code of honor. It almost killed our daughter and your wife. I'm afraid your love of the badge is more important than the love of your family." Caroline said, then storming from the room.
Powers crushed the telegram in his right hand. The next morning ... he left for the airport, thus beginning his journey to track Billy Bonner, his intent ... to kill a killer.
Chapter Two
THE FLIGHT TO OTTAWA was laced with doubt and reservation for Nick. He reflected upon his wife's resolve, fully aware that he had to choose between his marriage and his love of the pursuit.
Did the former chief-of-detectives really have a choice, or was his destiny preordained, his DNA imprinted as a hunter of criminals?
Nick was sincere when he took an oath to his wife and God, that he would leave policing to others for his daughter Nicole's recovery and for the sake of his family's tranquility. But working in his father-in-laws' business, although financially lucrative ... was mundane and stripped him of his warrior spirit, feeling like a caged animal of the wild, depleted of challenge and inspiration.
Flipping through the pages of Sports Illustrated, Nick tried to divert his thoughts of possibly losing his wife, not to another man, but to an indefinable and intangible addiction.
The flight attendant asked the frustrated ex-cop if he wanted a cocktail, which he agreed and was shortly delivered a glass of bourbon with ice.
Nick continued reading, asking for a refill of his drink and hoping to anesthetize his thoughts for the remainder of the one hour thirty minute flight.
The magazine fell to the floor of the plane, the detective's eyes dancing rapidly from side to side, his head turning in equally rapid movements.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Kill a Killer by Bob Arnone Copyright © 2013 by Bob Arnone. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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