(BOOK 2) MARK/HOFFMAN: A Saw Fanfiction

TWENTY SEVEN

6 weeks later...

Hoffman muttered to himself in annoyance as he set up the 'love triangle' trap. 

It thankfully wouldn't take too long because he'd specifically planned it out to where it would be easy to set up. Having it be in public was something John and him had discussed before. John had liked the idea, thought his message would reach more people that way, but had deemed it too risky. 

Now that Hoffman was the only person involved and it was known, he figured he could get the police's attention with something like this. 

Yes, it sounded stupid. And yes, he was wanted in not only the city, but the state of New York. But if he got their attention, it would hopefully get Jill to one of 4 safe houses the department had, then he could plan out the rest of the week accordingly. 

His plan was very tedious, but it goes as follows: 

1. Get the authorities' attention with another trap. This will have them on alert for another game, and will make Jill run back to them. 

2. Find which safe house they move her to, if they do. He knew the location of every safe house and knew if he saw cars there, that would most likely be the one Jill was at. If not, go to the police department because that is the only other place she could be where she'd be protected by police.

3. Switch out the body of one of the victims of his next trap. Hide in the body bag to get into the police department. 

4. Kill them all. Find Jill and kill her. 

5. Run away. Change his identity. See if Abby will join him. 

Go big or go home, he thought to himself. He had already killed three people, so what's a few more? Once they were dead, once Jill was dead, everything would be over. 

It was crazy. He was having second thoughts. However, he felt that John had taught him well enough to anticipate what was going to happen next, so he was willing to try. 

If he was caught, he had no problem putting a bullet through his skull. He didn't want to, but it was better than sitting in a cell and rotting. Besides, if he had a chance at still leading on a normal life, he wanted to try for it. But getting caught was not an option, and he was detached enough to end himself if it really came down to that. 

He would decide his fate, not some judge and jury. 

He got all three young adults into the trap. In all honesty, he didn't care what happened. He just wanted the feds to know that he was back. 

As he left the trap site and hurried back to his car, he thought of Abby. 

Hoffman missed seeing her and talking to her. He missed the apartment and waking up next to her and knowing that someone cared about him. If he hadn't killed Seth, they would be leading a normal life right now. That is, unless John had targeted him like all of his other colleagues, but he'd never know. 

But he had to kill Seth. He didn't regret it. 

He drove back to the hangar slowly, careful to not speed or do anything that would draw attention. 

Within the week, this would all be over. 

________________________

Abby hadn't had a drink in two and a half years, so when Keith broke out a bottle of wine, she was a bit excited.