(BOOK 1) MARK/HOFFMAN: A Saw Fanfiction

TWENTY-FIVE

~The day of the second game~

It was time.

Hoffman was with Amanda, and they were going to round the people up for the game. John had convinced one of the test subjects to help in the abductions, so they were splitting up to make it easier. Hoffman wasn't near as trusting as John, who seemed to think this Obi guy wasn't going to cross him. John had offered him money or something to do this, but Hoffman was just more paranoid.

"Who's first?" Amanda asked.

"Gus." Hoffman muttered. He'd recognized Gus as the man he talked to at the clinic while he was waiting on Abby to finish up her shift. It bothered him that things were getting to be too connected. He was trying to keep Abby as far away from this mess as possible, but somehow she kept getting closer and closer. Now, she's met John and Amanda, and is best friends with Jill. And she was involved with him. She knows two of the test subjects.

Hoffman drove him and Amanda to Gus' apartment complex. Amanda was jittery. She was nervous about being in yet another trap, but John had instructed her on just what to do.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?" He turned right, onto a dark street.

"How do you feel about John's tests?"

Mark thought about it as he concentrated on driving. "Uh... well, I don't know."

"Wow, very interesting," Amanda said sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know. I think he's fucked up."

"Have you finally accepted that you work for him? All you do is complain about how you didn't start doing this by choice."

Mark glanced at Amanda, who was frowning at him.

"All I wanted was Baxter dead," he told her.

"You think once you kill someone, you can just go back to being normal? You think after all of this you're going to live a picture perfect life with that girl?" Amanda shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. It never does."

Hoffman tried not to let her words get to him. He had been trying to ignore those questions for a while. Once he was done with everything, he hoped to settle down with her and live a simple life, but at any moment, something could go wrong.

"I'm gonna do my best to make sure it happens," Hoffman said.

"It won't happen."

"You don't know that."

"But it's just common sense."

"Stop."

"She's going to find out."

"STOP!"

Amanda rolled her eyes, then smirked. "You really think you're above me, don't you?"

"What?" Hoffman snapped, clearly annoyed.

"Do you think I deserve happiness?"

"I think you deserve to be in prison."

Amanda huffed. "And you don't?"

"Do you really want to get into this right now?" Hoffman asked. "You always start shit when we're about to do something important-"

"Oh stop being a crybaby," Amanda groaned.

He took a deep breath. "Stop being a bitc-"

"HEY! WATCH OUT!"

Hoffman suddenly slammed on the brakes. They both lurched forward, then hit their seats when the car came to a stop. He hadn't been paying attention and almost ran straight into a few motorcyclists.

"Jesus Mark! Do you need me to drive?" Amanda angrily asked him.

"No," Hoffman said quietly, trying to keep his cool.

"I thought we weren't trying to draw attention to ourselves-"

"Can you please just... be quiet," Hoffman cut her off. His patience was dwindling.

"You get offended so easily," Amanda said, sighing.

Hoffman said nothing as he parked behind Gus' apartment building.

"Come on, let's just get this over with."

It was late at night, but they still made sure no one was outside before getting out of the car.

"Do you really need help doing this?" Amanda asked.

"No, but John insisted we start working together more," Hoffman muttered. "Seeing as how we're gonna be working together when he's gone."

"Don't remind me," she said, slight annoyance in her tone.

"Just... keep watch," Hoffman said. He grabbed the tranquilizers and the pig mask and started toward the apartment building.

He slowly made his way to Gus' apartment. Luckily, no one passed him or was in the hallway when he picked the lock on his door and sneaked in.

After putting the pig mask on, he began listening, looking around for Gus.

He could hear the tv on in the bedroom.

The door was open. Hoffman peaked in, careful not to let himself be seen. Gus was asleep.

Perfect.

Hoffman calmly pulled one of the syringes from his pocket and slowly injected it into the side of Gus' neck.

There. Now he wouldn't be waking up for a while.

Quickly, Hoffman dragged Gus from the apartment. Hoffman was a big guy, but so was Gus, so it was a little nerve-wracking to think someone could open their door and see him at any given moment.

"There's one," Hoffman grunted as he and Amanda shoved him in the backseat.

Amanda nodded.

"I think we should go get Daniel."

______________

Mark walked into the office to chaos.

Everyone was running around, getting gear, grabbing their weapons.

"What the hell is going on?" Mark tried to ask someone, but they walked straight past him.

He made his way over to Kerry urgently.

"Hey, Kerry," Mark said as she put on a swat vest. "What's going on? Did you find something?"

"Remember the latest victim we found? Michael Marks?" Kerry put her pistol in her holster. "Well, Eric found something and we're pretty sure we know where Jigsaw is."

Mark's heart was racing. "Are you serious? Let me get my stuff on-"

"No, stay here, just in case we need you to retrieve information from here." She finally looked at him once she had everything on. "We finally might have him!"

"Let's hope," Mark said.

She gave him a small smile.

"Alright, come on," Eric said. He walked past Mark, not meeting his eyes. It still embarrassed him that he showed up at Mark's door drunk. Kerry nodded, then put a hand on Mark's shoulder.

"Stay by the phone."

Mark nodded.

Everyone moved out. Mark watched them all leave, trying to calm his nerves.

There were a few people left in the police station. Mark went to his desk and sat down, taking a deep, shaky breath.

Hopefully everything went as planned.