The Curse Of Eden

"Hey, any news on Ella?" Ken asked as he walked in on Adam in his office..

Adam sighed as he layed back against his chair. "Doctors said that she's improving. They're just waiting in on her to wake up."

"I really don't get it. If it wasn't E who tampered with Mrs. Jilles' meds, then why would the killer try to shoot down the person who'll witness against someone else. Wasn't framing E would be a solid plan for him?" Ken crashed onto the couch. Adam rubbed his chin as he looked at the note E left for Collette.

He looked up at his partner with furrowed eyebrows." Unless Ella wasn't the target." He suggested.

"You mean that the bullet was meant for one of us?"

"Think about it. There were no fingerprints to frame anyone so there was no reason for the killer to try and hide anything. But," Adam raised a paper that had Bill Kingsly's picture and a couple of scarce information on him, "we've been poking at the Holers' lion."

Ken stood straight. "The Holers?"

"And I have a feeling that they're the ones who killed Blake Jilles as well."

"But why? And when did the Holers become an organization with assigned snipers? I thought they extended to being an abusive cult."

"A low maintenance cult won't go to the lengths of hiding all its members' data from the system. I think we've underestimated them." Adam explained.

"What do you think we should do now then? The victims whom we were trying to catch their potential killer are trying to kill us instead." Ken said in exasperation.

"Whatever they're hiding is more important than a killer wiping out some of the members." Adam replied.

"So to them, those men are nothing but collateral damage?"

"Looks like it." Adam sighed.

"Look, we'll continue without search for Bill Kingsly but with caution now. That neighborhood is a liar for the Holers by the looks of it. We need to be careful on their territory." § § §

Elliot knew that he'd be coming in face to face with Kristen once he entered the tech room but he didn't expect the silence that she displayed when she saw him.

Kristen kept her eyes on Elliot briefly before turning her gaze quietly back to the tablet she had in her hand.

"Really Kristen? You'll stay mad at me for voicing my opinion?"

"Opinion? Elliot, you're aiding killing! Since when was that okay? Especially for people with our jobs?" Kristen fought back.

Elliot sighed as he placed his backpack on the chair. "I don't support or aid killing in any way Krissy and you know that more than anyone." He spoke calmly.

"But this is very confusing. This is not a typical situation that we have. The victims are killers! He's like a murderous Robin hood."

Kristen sighed and looked away.

"Look Krissy, I admit that I was not the best person I could be in my youth." Elliot looked away himself. His past was a disclosed topic that no one knew about except the chief and Adam. "But no matter what bad thing I did, I never verified killing as an option to anything."

Elliot expected Kristen to question him about what the hell he was talking about. Yet her reaction never crossed his mind.

Kristen scoffed. "You're talking like you've done something that threatens national security. You just hacked into companies for their rivals." She rolled her eyes.

"What?" Elliot breathed out in shock.

Kristen turned to look at her boyfriend meaningfully.

"Wh-when did you know? How?"

"From the very beginning. I run background checks on everyone here." Kristen confessed.

"So you see Elly, it's not a big deal. But killing...I mean, we're part of the po-"

Elliot cut her ranting short as he crashed his lips to hers passionately.

Kristen didn't need to think twice before kissing him back just as urgently.

Elliot pulled back only enough to look into her emerald orbs. Their foreheads touched as they breathed deeply.

"I-" This time, Elliot was the one to be cut short with someone clapping by the doorway.

They jumped out of each other's arms almost instantly as they turned to look at the intruder.

"Oh, that was so emotional you guys." Ruby walked into the room. "I mean, it was about time you guys stopped hiding this relationship from us."

"Can we help you with something Doctor Martin?" Elliot asked professionally with a change of subject.

"Hey, you guys don't have to go through such great lengths. Everyone already knows." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"The chief doesn't allow office romance so even if people knew, they all had the decency to keep it to themselves." Kristen retorted.

"Don't get your pants in a knot Froza, it's not like I'll be going around blabbing about it. I'm just here to ask you some questions and that's it." Ruby shrugged. "What do you need to ask about?" Elliot jumped at the chance to talk about something else.

"How well do you guys know Collette?" Ruby blurted out.

Kristen and Elliot shared confused looks before turning back to the psychiatrist.

"I think you already know her just as much as we do. She's our lead detective's wife and an FBI ex-profiler." Kristen replied discretely.

"Yes yes. That's what we all know." Ruby replied. "But what about on a personal level? Her past? Everything."

"Why would you like to go into depth about her like that?" Elliot asked with a suspicious frown.

"I mean, I find it very fishy that she's very close to E that he'll take her childhood house as a hiding spot. If, of course, E really is a man. He sent her a personal note to leave the case and another one confessing that he didn't murder Blake Jilles. Don't you find it suspicious that maybe E knows Collette personally?"

Kristen and Elliot shared looks again. Ruby had a valid point but in no way did it frame Collette of anything. And the couple weren't going to point fingers at her. But Ruby's words didn't fail to play with their minds. "Think about what I told you. Maybe if we looked into Collette more then we might finally be able to crack that case." Ruby winked at the couple as she turned around and left the room.

"She doesn't give me good vibes." Kristen shuddered.

"Me neither baby. Me neither."

"Let's just focus on trying to find the nurse E mentioned." Kristen sighed as she turned back to the monitors.

"Are we sure that E isn't just trying to avert us away from him? Like a magic trick."

"There's nothing predictable with E but we work with whatever we have to at least rule out what can dismiss." Kristen shrugged as she typed away.

The couple had only started working on the task at hand when suddenly an ear-deafening blast echoed around the walls as the whole building shook causing a train of screams to erupt from every room. Instinctively, Elliot wrapped his arms around Kristen as they crouched down.

The alarms went off and not a single soul stood in place as they all tried to run for an exit.

"Are you okay?" Elliot asked as the traumatic vibrations stopped.

"Yes. You okay?" Kristen replied with wide, shaken eyes.

"We need to get out of here."

They strode in a hurry out of the room just as Avery and Alex ran past them.

"You guys okay?" Alex asked the couple.

"Yes yes. Where are the rest?" Elliot replied.

"Adam and Ken were in Adam's office. Let's just leave, I'm sure they went to get Collette to leave." Alex replied.

They were yelling their words out over the blaring sound of the alarm.

The four zigzagged their way towards the exit.

"What is going on? What was even that?" Kristen asked they maneuvered their way through the chaos.

"A bomb went off on the east side of the building. We don't know if there's another one so we have to hurry." Alex replied.

Almost everyone in the building had already left and stood a couple of safe feet away. An ambulance was already parking in the street ready to take in any victims.

Black smoke clouded its way from the windows and any other opening.

Avery looked around in search of the rest of her teammates. Her eyes met the coughing Ruby standing A couple of feet away. To her right, she Miles and Ken, they too were in fits of coughs. "Hey, Ken!" She called as she ran towards them, Alex, Kristen, and Elliot following behind her.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Ken asked as he checked them all for any visible injuries.

"Where's Adam and Collette?" Kristen asked.

"And Doctor Newman. Did anyone see him?" Miles asked.

"Adam said that he'll go find Collette in the women's bathroom." Ken replied. "They were supposed to be out by now. The bathroom isn't far." He voiced in worry.

"No! Let me go, my wife's still inside you idiot!" Their heads were turned to their boss's voice as he screamed at two firemen holding him.

He was trying desperately to get away, kicking and punching the many firemen that were now trying to take him away from the dangerous building.

"Get yourself together Woods! You won't be of any help to Collette if you got hurt or trapped inside too!" Chief West yelled at the detective.

"I don't care about living or dying. Collette is still inside and I'm not leaving her alone." Adam sneered at his chief just as the rest of his teammates approached. "Adam, what's going on? Is Collette stuck in the bathroom?" Ken asked in worry.

Adam turned to his partner. "She wasn't in the bathroom. I searched everywhere. I couldn't find her!" Adam's voice broke in despair as he looked around helplessly. "Boss, she's not in the building." Elliot said as he stepped closer to Adam, showing him his phone screen.

"I have the security cameras connected to my phone in case I needed to get back to the footage outdoors."

Adam watched with growing anger as he saw their forensic doctor Franco Newman, carry a drugged, tied, and gagged Collette from the back of the building and into his car before driving away. "Get. Me. That son of a bitch!" Adam couldn't help the menacing growl that escaped his throat.