Chapter 5 - 'ending', Keel style

Keel tuned into the voice of Carl Bropen from the kitchen and smiled. Before turning away, he looked upon Kevin Whitewall one last time. He picked him up and had moved him over to the kitchen table. Seating him the end chair, Keel had used one of the meat carving knives and sliced Kevin’s throat from right to left with his left hand while lifting his head up with his right hand. Using his left hand was just as comfortable as using his right hand. Keel was ambidextrous. The lines on the table and the ripped bag of coke would lead the police towards a drug-related motive for the killing. That, in addition to an Order loyalist would make sure the investigation would go no further. Not that Keel was worried though. He never left anything behind anyway.

He then moved over to and gently stepped down a curved, carpeted staircase to the basement. Near the bottom, he was able to peer around the corner where he spotted his target. Bropen was sitting in a low-backed armchair with is arms hanging down and over the sides. A near empty Corona dangled from his right fingertips. Saw 3 playing on the 56” LCD flat screen TV suspended on the wall. A five-person chesterfield was at a right angle to the armchair. The two pillows piled up on the near end told Keel that this was where Kevin had been. A few pictures showing the family in a timeline lined the left sided wall and a shelving unit stacked with books was on the right wall.

Moving over the carpet, low and just off to the side so no reflection appeared in the TV, Keel reached over to his left bicep and quietly unzipped the pocket on his hoodie. With two fingers, he reached in and pulled out four, dark green rings. Two on each finger. Separating the rings revealed a thin wire. The wire was thin flexible tungsten coated in Teflon. It was about 2 feet long that had two rubberized rings on both ends, which served to conceal any noise from the rings clinking together. The Teflon helped with the smooth slicing through the neck. It was Keel’s own custom-made garrote.

Keel gently looped the two rings on each end through his third and fourth fingers, the middle and ring fingers for maximum leverage. He found this gave him maximum leverage and it also freed up his index fingers. You just never knew when might need them free. This was Keel’s favorite weapon of choice. It was up close and personal, right where Keel wanted to be. Additionally, it was a perfect fit for Keel’s second unique feature – his hands. To say that he had strong hands just didn’t reflect the power encased in his palms and fingers. They were more like the jaws of a pit bull. Once they had you, there was no letting go. The decision was not yours.

By the time the rings were looped around his fingers, Keel was directly behind Bropen, the murderer of Nelson Graves. At the same time, Keel stood up and brought up his hands, crossed over at the forearms, just high enough to swing over the head of Bropen. The garrote quickly looped under Bropen’s neck with the wire crossed at the back of the neck. He then lifted his left knee over the crossed wire and just as Bropen’s senses were first registering what was happening, Keel’s knee slammed into the top of his head, forcing it forward, locking the wire under his neck. By the time Bropen’s hands shot up to his neck in reaction, the only thing he could grasp at was his own chin.

An immense amount of pressure instantly blocked the blood flow through the internal jugular vein. Only a hurried gurgling sound escaped Bropen’s mouth along with a minimal amount of blood escaping because of the cuts to the skin around the front of the neck. The pressure from Keel’s knee was concealing the true amount of blood. Keel lowered himself and whispered into Bropen’s ear, “What you did, and you know what you did, is of no concern of mine. It is however, of concern to the Order I work for. For them, what you did is totally unacceptable”.

Keel then started to fully flex the muscles in his arms, pulling the garrote tighter around Bropen’s neck, but then he paused. Ever so slightly lessening the pressure, Keel moved towards Bropen’s ear and said, “Of all the killing I have done up close and personal, this one is especially sweet, you piece of garbage. Enjoy hell, Green Man”. And with that, Keel used his full force to uncross his arms and felt the line slice through the trachea, the carotid arteries and the vagus nerve, nearly severing his neck from his body. Carl Bropen had been 'ended'.