The story (completely fictional): Jessica had just turned 22 and had owned an apartment for about two years, having bought it in a nice neighborhood in Washington, DC. Her soon-to-be husband, John, was over, and they had just finished dinner when, around 7:37 PM, her brother Kevin called her house phone. John was on the couch; he went upstairs and said, “Hey, babe, Kevin is on the phone.” She walked out of her closet and took the phone.
“Yeah, Jess,” Kevin said. “Hey, happy birthday. I wanted to inform you that there’s a person in your area calling himself the ‘Redrum Killer.’ He breaks into houses and writes ‘REDRUM’ on the wall of your bathroom. Be safe. Love you.”
Jessica hung up, her heart racing, and said to John, “Hey, babe, did that seem strange to you?” John nodded slowly. “Yeah… but he lives in Denver, right?” She thought about it for a moment, unease settling in. They discussed the implications for a few minutes before she drifted off to sleep on the couch.
She woke up around 10:46 PM, feeling a strange tension in the air. Since it was late, she decided to shower. As she walked into the bathroom, dread washed over her. She spotted something dark red smeared across the wall. With trembling hands, she opened the door fully, and as soon as she saw it, she let out a blood-curdling scream. Neighbors heard it and called 911.
When police arrived, Detective Morrow broke down the door and ran upstairs, finding Jessica standing in the bathroom, pale and silent, staring at the wall. She appeared uninjured, but paramedics believed she was in shock and rushed her to the hospital. Back at the apartment, Morrow began the investigation and noticed the keyhole had been turned. “Anything helps…” he muttered.
Later, he questioned Jessica. “Who has a key? Anyone come to mind?” “No,” Jessica whispered. “No, I don’t know.”
John ran into the hospital lobby, panicked. “Jessica Johnson! Where is she?” “JOHN! I’m in here!” Jessica cried, and they embraced until Dr. Mira Voss entered and said she was free to go. They returned to her apartment, and the writing in the bathroom was gone.
The next few days were quiet. John went home, and Jess felt safe again, until that night. Around 11:58 PM, she went to use her main bathroom again, feeling a sense of déjà vu. The word was there: REDRUM, in the same place, with the same color, but this time, a faint humming sound drifted through the room. Jessica sprinted downstairs and froze. Her father, the man she had watched be buried years ago, sat on the couch. She screamed. Neighbors burst in, horrified, and they saw him too.
Detective Morrow later sat across from Jessica’s father in a dimly lit interrogation room. The man looked exhausted but sharp, his military posture unmistakable. “You’ve got a lot to explain,” Morrow said. “Breaking into your daughter’s apartment. Disappearing for years. Care to start?”
Before he could respond, Jessica walked in. “Dad?” He looked at her with relief. “Jessica… there’s something you need to know. A few years ago, I uncovered a terrorist cell planning an attack on the US. The NIB put me into hiding, fake death, and a new identity to keep me safe. I couldn’t tell anyone, not even you.”
Jessica staggered out, overwhelmed. John found her crying in the hallway and held her close. “I don’t want you alone with him. I moved up the wedding date to next week, in Norfolk.”
The day before the wedding, Detective Morrow called Jessica. “Ms. Johnson, we found your father. Can you come confirm?” She drove to the station and, inside the elevator, noticed the button labeled MORGUE. Her heart dropped. Inside, Morrow opened a cooler and showed a body bag marked with a large “R.” “It’s the same as the other victims,” Morrow said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
Jessica’s world collapsed; her father was truly dead. Driving home, her mind replayed his earlier question: “Who all had a key?” She froze. “JOHN!” He was the only person besides her with access. She called Morrow. “Detective! I think I have a lead! When you asked who all had a key, the only person who could have had one must have let my father…”
“Mrs. Johnson,” he said urgently, “stay where you are. Do NOT go to John.” He grabbed his guns and stormed out. “Metro PD—we have a lead on the Redrum Killer! Move!”
The SWAT truck screeched to a stop outside John’s house. “JOHN EVERETT CROSS! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!” No answer. “Team One—MOVE!” Officers breached the door. “CLEAR!” Morrow, get in here—you’ll want to see this!” Morrow rushed inside and found John lying dead on the bathroom floor, the word REDRUM on the wall behind him. “I want homicide here now! And get a protection detail on Jessica!”
An officer approached quietly. “Detective… two federal agents want to speak with you.” Two agents stepped forward. “Special Agent Parker, NIB. Supervisory Agent Harlan, NIB. We’re taking over the case.” “No,” Morrow growled. “My area. My case.” He stormed past them. Jessica needed him.
Jessica, meanwhile, dialed Kevin. “Kevin… please… I need you in DC. John is dead.” Morrow sped to her building and, as he approached, saw police tape. He sprinted toward it, gun drawn. “MPD! Detective Morrow—MOVE!” Inside, Jessica cried, “Morrow—it’s my neighbors…” She collapsed; her neighbors were dead too.
Later, Jessica demanded to see her case file. Morrow reluctantly showed her the photos with HELP scrawled across them and REDRUM in the background, and she screamed as officers rushed in. “She’s okay,” Morrow said. “Just frightened.” Morrow drove Jessica home and found her door unlocked. “Stay in the car,” he ordered. “Call Metro if you hear anything.” He entered cautiously. Something creaked upstairs. “Metro Police! Come out with your hands behind your head!” Footsteps descended, and Kevin stepped into view, expression blank. He looked Morrow dead in the eyes. “Hello, Jerry.”
Kevin was arrested and transferred to the Orion office. Agent Parker, Agent Harlan, and Detective Morrow watched him through the glass. Parker stormed into the room. “This is him? Is this the Redrum Killer?” Morrow didn’t answer, because Kevin knew his real name, Jerry, a name from a life Morrow thought he’d buried, and that meant this wasn’t over.
Jess sat in the observation room staring at her brother, the one who gave her his ice cream when hers fell, now sitting in the Orion building with agents coming and going. Morrow asked Parker if he could take a crack at it, and Parker nodded and handed him the files. Kevin looked at the door and said in a thick accent Morrow couldn’t place, “Ah, hello there, Jerry, about time they sent you in.”
Morrow said nothing and flipped through the files. “Jerry, if you think you can break me using your tactics, it will not work. I spent many years in the Middle East.” Morrow struggled to stay calm. “So the murders—you heard of them while you were there?”
“Yes,” Kevin replied. “Did you hear an agent was killed many years ago by someone named Jerry Davis?” Morrow shouted, “HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? YOU WILL TELL ME ABOUT THESE MURDERS, AND YOU WILL TELL ME WHY!” Parker called security as fingerprints hit the system, and the Global Intelligence Agency flagged the results along with Orion.
Two hours later, four black Suburbans pulled up outside the Washington Orion field office as sixteen agents stormed through the doors, GIA and Orion insignias flashing. One asked for Agent Parker, saying they had been expecting them. Morrow was with a profiler while Jess waited in the director’s office, and when she heard the commotion, she saw GIA logos and people with accents like her brother’s, colliding with the GIA director walking with the Orion director.
“Ms. Johnson, I’m so sorry for all you are going through,” the GIA director said. “Where is Kevin?” Jess demanded. “He is with us, and he can be picked up at GIA headquarters after we speak with Orion,” the director replied, then added, “We will need everything you have on the Redrum case.”
A phone rang from an Orion agent’s pocket as he spoke fluent Hebrew, and a GIA agent murmured, “Toda, Kevin.” Jess walked past them to Morrow and the profiler, and panicked when she recognized several victims as ex-boyfriends who had cheated on her. Kevin walked by slowly, his cuffs loose, and Jess asked to speak with him.
Kevin sat on the couch and said calmly, “You found out, didn’t you, Jess?” “You’re Orion—that’s how you know about my old undercover identity,” Morrow said. Kevin turned to Jess. “Yes. I can find out your darkest secrets. That’s how I found your exes, how I found out about Dad, all of it.”
“You’re crazy!” Jess snapped, grabbing a glass jar, but agents raised their guns as an Orion agent continued speaking Hebrew on the phone. “Jessica Johnson, age 22, former fiancée of the latest victim,” the profiler said quietly as the building remained in lockdown, and Jess was led into an interrogation room. “So how do you know Mr. Hakiam?” an Orion agent asked.
“Hakiam?” Jess said. “Yes, Omer Hakiam.” “I have never heard of an Omer Hakiam,” Jessica replied. “So I don’t know him.” Ms. Johnson, we are just trying to figure out how you know Mr. Hak, I mean Mr. Johnson.” Jess looked up. Tears were pouring down her face. “I am under arrest. If not, then can I leave?”
The Orion agent looked at her with a sad, concerned face and nodded his head, speaking softly, “No, no you’re not. You can leave any time.” Jess looked around, and she ran down to the main doors. A security officer stepped in front of her. “Sorry, ma’am, you can’t leave, we are on a full lockdown.”
She looked back, thinking she heard her name; it was the same agent as before. She did since she worked as a translator for the military. She could not hear all of it. Although another nine words stood out. “Yes, sir, we will still carry out the assassination.” Assassination. That word had never felt so large. She hadn’t even thought of it before.
She went to go find Morrow, but he was nowhere to be found. She ran through the whole building until she found the profiler he was with earlier. She walked in and asked about him. She looked at her and said, “He’s in the head, Ms. Johnson.” She walked away, and finally, the entire building was off lockdown. She could finally get back to bed. Any bed, she was finally ready to put all of this behind her.
Three hours go by. Just as things slow down, five gunshots rang out. Silence. Three more from the west wing of the building. They thought that since this was a national agency, they were there to steal some files. NIB, GIA, and Orion agents ran by the guards with the director, getting them in the car, getting their guns ready, and searching the building.
“Full lockdown! Any civilians in the building need to be taken to a secure location. Jessica, we need to get you to a secure location,” said Morrow. “Morrow!?” Jessica screamed, trying to be heard over the blaring alarms and people yelling. Orion agents started driving away with their director. Agents shoved Morrow and Jessica into a secure room, and then the red lights started flashing. Morrow checked his weapon: seven bullets left. “I know a way out, trust me,” Morrow whispered.
Jessica nodded, scared, overstimulated, wanting to scream her lungs out until she couldn’t breathe. More gunshots, screams, crying. Morrow and Jess make their way up to the room that Morrow told her about. She can tell that they are going west toward the directors office. He freezes “wait” he says in a hushed tone “footsteps i dont know which direction sounds like they are going the opposite direction.” They keep going. Silenced gunshots, a big thump following. “What was that, Morrow anwser me”A soft toned, almost scared like mumble comes out of Morrows mouth. She old only make out a few words. “Body.” He says louder this time. They keep crawling through the hallway. Jess now starting to tear up thinking about all of her exboyfriends that her brother killed. If he even is her brother. Her dad actually dead her brother a killer. What’s next her mom is a bank robber. She starts full blown sobbing quietly barley even able to move. She starts visibly shaking struggling to breath. The hallway started to close in and become a blur, she can hear Morrow in the back trying to get her attention. Everything goes black for about 6 seconds. Morrows voice starts to become louder and more clear. “Jess! Jess wake up!” He says quietly shaking her softly. Jess looks around shaking more than before. “Jess you had a panic attack, your going to be ok… do you know how to shoot a gun.” Her face widens with shock more alert now. “What?” She exclaims quietly. Her heart skips a beat still in shock. Her senses start to come back to life. The alarm is still going, feeling like it’s been getting louder. Attempting to ignore the question but she just can’t. She lets out a soft answer “Yes yes I have.” Morrow looks up and reaches for his ankle pulling out a Glock fully loaded. “Stay here see anyone without a badge shoot. Do you understand.” He says quietly trying not to alert anyone. She looks at him in fear as he walks away. Not knowing who to trust anymore. She starts thinking about who she knew she could trust. There was just something with Morrow since she met her making her feel safe. She thinks about all the stuff that has happened in the last month. She should have noticed something sooner when all of her ex-boyfriends were murder victims. She should have known sooner. She sits there holding the gun still in her hand trying not to accept what is going on around her. The gunshots, the murders, the lockdown. It just doesn’t feel like reality. As she tries not to accept the reality she’s left alone with her thoughts. All the possibility of everything is going through her mind. Is her dad faking his death, is John really dead, is Kevin even responsible for all of these murders. Just as she starts to think, Morrow shows back up “Jess” Morrows voice echos “come on its safe, hurry.” Jess stands up and takes off her heels the first time she has stood up since the lockdown. “Ok im on my way.” Her voice echoes through the medal, hollow, hallway. Every single noise makes it seem way louder than it really is. They keep making their way down the cold, dark hallway. Jessica now only in her socks and Morrow now gun in one hand ready to raise it and use it to protect Jessica at all cost. “Morrow, where are we going?” Jess asks on the verge of crying. “Safe room.” He says for some reason calm with everything going on. “Morrow, why are you so calm?” She says with concern in her voice. Just as he is going to answer the lights suddenly turn on, the alarm goes off.right in front of Morrow there is a NIB agent, deceased. Jessica covers her mouth in shock still on the verge of crying. An automated voice comes over the PA system “Lockdown has been lifted, all threats have been neutralized.” Jess and Morrow make eye contact trying to make sense and ignore the body but they just can’t . Jess looks down and there is a big pool of blood around the body. His badge looks like it’s about to fall off of his belt. Morrow looks down and notices something. He points at his gun. No magazine, still in the holster. “He didn’t have time to process what was happening.” He says with sadness in his voice. He freezes looking bad at his words. “No magazine.” He says to him. He slowly pulls his gun from his holster looking around “Jessica get down now that’s a order.” he says with urgency in his voice. “Morrow what’s going on.” Fear in her voice as she looks at him.
Still trying to figure out what Morrow had noticed, just as she is about to ask the PA system crackled to life. “Hello Jessie.” Jessica looks up at the ceiling noticing the nickname. But the only person that ever called her that was her friend back in high school. But that was weird because she was in the a car accident about 3 months ago and was still in the hospital. Just then a gun shot grazes Jessica’s arm. She rolls over in her blood screaming in pain. Everything starts to close in again and she can still hear Morrow. Then sirens she doesn’t know exactly what happened all she knows is that her arm is burning like a wildfire. She hears violent thumping before it all goes black. Morrow is still looking around praying that his suspicions aren’t true. He looks away for just a second then bam. A kind of silenced gun shot flies by. He looks down to make sure Jessica is ok then he sees her blood on his jacket. He grabs Jessica’s are and drags her behind a corner leaving a blood trail. Just then paramedics show up running toward Jessica and Morrow. About 5 paramedics and Connor run into the building and they look at Morrow shielding Jess. He tries to apply a tourniquet as he waits for paramedics to get over to them. Morrow looks over at them “We got a GSW over here. I applied for a tourniquet.”
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