Mental Manipulations Ch. 08

There is no sex in this chapter of the story, just the final downfall of Dwight. After this, I will be focusing on Sarah, with Kurt helping her rebuild her life and her self-confidence, among other things. I haven't decided what to do with Rat after this, but I do have a few ideas. I thank you all for your support, and as always, I appreciate your comments.

To everyone that has made the suggestion, I DO write the thoughts in italics, just as this part was written, but for some reason, it does not translate as such when I submit the story. I do apologize.

*****

Dwight walked out of the vestry a few minutes later to the sound of a band playing. Almost at the same time, I heard Rat's voice come over my ear piece. "I'm about a mile away," he told me.

"Roger that," I replied. "Hang tight. Our boy is just starting the service."

"Roger that. There in five."

I quietly snuck out of the closet and walked to the door leading to the sanctuary. Opening the door a crack, I watched Dwight as led the service. I watched and listened as he spoke to the congregation, leading them in prayer. I could see Sarah sitting in the front pew, looking up at Dwight with a blank expression on her face. It wasn't long before he stepped to a podium, which was located about ten feet from the door. I quickly stepped back and keyed up my mic. "Showtime," I told Rat.

A little over a minute later, just as Dwight was talking about obedience and discipline, I heard Rat's voice in my ear again. "Walking in," he said.

I could hear the doors to the sanctuary open and I watched as Dwight looked up to see who dared to walk in to his service late and interrupt his service. I could just see Rat from where I was and I watched as he stepped into the sanctuary as the doors closed behind him. Dwight froze as he made eye contact with Rat, who continued standing there, just looking at Dwight with his "death glare."

A few people in the congregation turned to look at Rat, who clearly was not a regular there. They then turned back to face Dwight, who continued to stare back at Rat.

'Oh my god! It's him! Who the hell is he though?' he thought.

Dwight looked quickly to the side of the stage, giving an almost imperceptible nod to one of his goons. That goon looked to the other side of the stage, nodded, and then stood as Dwight started his sermon back up. I tried my hardest to get into a better line of sight so I could watch Rat, yet still stay out of sight.

The head goon walked up to Rat and tried to direct him outside as Dwight continued speaking, watching the exchange. Rat maintained his glare as he turned to the goon and said something softly to him. The other goon started to reach his hand up to Rat's shoulder and Rat quickly turned to look at him. I could clearly see Rat tell him, "You don't want to do that", which was the most warning that Rat ever gave. The goon froze, his hand still in the air.

Dwight started stammering as he watched the back of the sanctuary, and then tried to continue his sermon. The two goons stood at Rat's side, unsure of what to do, as he continued to stare at Dwight. I smiled to myself and walked away from the door, closing it as I told Rat to give it another 30 seconds and then walk out.

I quickly walked to the cabinet where the DVR was hidden and removed the hard drive. I took a sticky note from the desk in the room and wrote, "You're a sick pervert, Dwight" and stuck it over the display. I then took the back stairway down to the basement. I then went into his office and opened his safe, where I removed the flash drives and discs. I found another sticky note and wrote, "You should be ashamed of yourself, Dwight." I stuck the note on the shelf and closed the door, locking it.

Knowing that the goons weren't just going to let Rat leave without trying something, I snuck out the window and started walking towards the woods with everything the I took. As I reached the tree line, I heard a loud scream of pain. I turned to see what was going on and I saw Rat standing over the second good, who was lying on the ground in obvious pain, holding his shoulder while the first goon backed away slowly. Rat smiled at him and walked to his bike.

By the time that I got back to my house, Rat was sitting on the deck drinking a beer. "That was fun!" he said, raising the bottle in salute.

"What happened?" I asked as I dropped the bag with the hard drive, discs, and flash drives.

"The idiot decided to grab me from behind as I was walking to Betsy (his beloved bike) and I had to remove his hand" he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"The way that he was screaming, it sounded like you removed his hand from his arm," I told him.

"Ehhh. He's a pussy," he said as he drained his bottle.

"So what the hell was this all about?" he asked.

I proceeded to tell him about what I witnessed in the vestry, and he shook his head. "Short, curvy woman?" he asked, further describing Betty.

"That's her," I said.

Rat sighed deeply and got up to get another beer. My liquor bill was going to go up a lot with him hanging around. "So what's next?" he asked.

I nodded to the bag and said, "Now I go through all of this crap."

"What kind of nasty receipt did you leave the good reverend for his property?" he asked.

"I left him a couple of notes telling him that he's a perv," I replied. Rat chuckled and drank his beer.

"Let me grab my laptop and I'll give you a hand," he told me.

A couple of hours, and a few beers, later, we both had to stop. "That is one sick motherfucker," Rat said softly.

I had expected to see Dwight having sex with his female parishioners, but this went far above and beyond that. To call him a "sick motherfucker" was being kind. Dwight did not deserve kind.

Dwight was having sex with at least a dozen different women, from teen-agers to elderly women. A couple of times, the woman's husband was present and watching as Dwight physically and mentally abused the woman, often heaping verbal abuse on the man at the same time. On one recording, Dwight and both of his goons teamed up on the wife while the husband sat and watched. Every time, he would throw out biblical passages about the woman being subservient, almost always either making up the quote or twisting it to fit his agenda.

"So, what's the plan?" I heard Rat ask as he walked back onto the deck with a bottle of Scotch.

Before I had a chance to answer him, my cell phone started ringing. Looking at the display, I saw that it was Sarah.

"Hello Sarah," I said as I answered the phone. "How are you today?"

"I'm terrified!" she whispered into the phone. "Pastor has been on a rampage ever since today's service. I'm afraid he's going to do something rash!"

"Ok, slow down," I told her as I looked at Rat. "What do you mean he's been on a rampage?"

I could hear a lot of noise in the background, and what sounded like a door slamming. "Sarah? Are you there?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm here," she replied. "I think that he just left."

"Ok, are you safe?"

"Yes, I think so," she said. "I'm afraid! I've never seen him like this!"

"Do you want me to come over?" I asked her.

"Oh gosh, no!" she replied quickly. "Especially not after what happened at the service today!"

"Ok, would you like to meet?"

"I ... I don't know if that would be a good idea right now," she told me. "I'm afraid that if he came home and didn't find me here, he would really snap!"

"Ok, we don't want to put you in any danger," I told her. "Do you want to just talk?"

"Yes! I would like that!"

"Ok, no worries. I'm here."

She took a second, and then proceeded to tell me about how Dwight was freaked out when he saw some large, strange man at the church today, and how that man dislocated one of Dwight's security guard's shoulder. After he went back into the church, she heard Dwight scream loudly, and then she heard a lot of crashing from inside the church after he ran back in suddenly.

I smiled as she continued telling me what little she knew, and then she continued talking, including telling me how much she enjoyed seeing me the other day.

"Thank you. I enjoyed it too," I replied. Rat looked at me questioningly and I just shrugged my shoulders. Sarah and I talked for another minute before we hung up, but not before I assured her that she could call me any time, day or night.

"Thank you," she said as she hung up.

"What the fuck was that about?" Rat asked as I put my phone back in my pocket.

"Apparently, the good reverend Dwight didn't take kindly to your visit today," I told him. "You dislocated Thing Two's shoulder, by the way."

"Oh, I did more than dislocate it," he said matter-of-factly. "Asshole's not going to be able to use that arm for much more that scratching his balls from now on."

I laughed to myself, knowing that Rat let the goon off easy. "From the way that she described his reaction when he went into his office, I'm thinking that he found my note, too."

Rat raised his glass in salute again, and said, "You always did enjoy fucking with their minds for a while before the kill."

"Yeah, let's try to keep the killing to a minimum on this one," I replied.

"Killjoy," he growled as he took another drink.

I knew that it would be a long shot, but I went back to the house that night to play with Dwight's mind a little more. As I expected, Dwight had a couple of goons walking around the property. Rat's buddy wasn't there, probably sleeping off his pain pills, much like Rat was sleeping off half a bottle of Scotch.

I lay there watching as they patrolled the area, smoking cigarettes and paying more attention to their cell phones, almost completely eliminating their vision in the dark, than to vital areas, which made my plan more doable. The downside was the fact that Dwight's bedroom light was on, which was not a good sign.

Eventually though, the goons lessened their patrols and Dwight's lights were tuned off. I soon had the timing of the patrols down, and during a safe time I made a dash for the house. The basement window was still unlatched, and I quickly snuck in.

Being cautious, I quietly snuck through the house and up the stairs. As I passed through the kitchen I saw an empty bottle of cheap whiskey on the counter, which gave me hope that Dwight would be passed out. As I reached the top of the stairs I could hear him snoring, which brought a small smile to my face.

As I passed Sarah's bedroom door I peeked in on her. She was sleeping soundly, one arm and a leg exposed. I moved on to Dwight's room, where my target lie.

Standing at the side of his bed, I could smell the whiskey, almost like it was oozing from his pores. Hoping that like last time, he wasn't too drunk to play with his mind, I "called" his name.

'DWIGHT!' I called out. 'Dwight! You fucking fool!'

He stirred in his sleep and I could hear the white noise in his head start to quiet. 'DWIGHT!' I called out again.

He made a verbal noise that told me that his subconscious was clear enough to start playing with him.

'Dwight! You fucked up! I TOLD you that they knew where you were!'

He stirred a little, and I continued. 'They found everything, didn't they?' I asked him.

'My laptop,' he replied.

'You copied everything to your laptop?' I asked him

'Some of it,' he replied. I kept that knowledge stored in my memory for use later. 'Most of it.'

'You're fucked, Dwight! You KNOW that they won't go easy on you!'

'No!' he replied.

'You have to turn yourself in,' I sent to him. 'That's the only way that you'll be safe!'

'No! Fucking crazy!' he thought.

'It's the cops or them, Dwight,' I told him. 'You know that the cops will go easier on you than they will!'

'No!' he repeated.

'Yes, Dwight! Those are the only choices that you have!'

'No!' he repeated again. 'Not going back!'

'Not going back!' he repeated before his thoughts turned back into white noise. I knew that it was pointless to try to get into his brain any further, so I left him, going to Sarah's room.

I looked in on her again and saw that she was now lying on her back, with her blankets pushed off to the side. Her nightgown had risen up on one side, exposing a lot of long, lean leg. Her breasts were sitting proud on her chest, rising and falling with every breath.

I stepped into her room, hoping to hear her sub-conscious thoughts, but she must have been sleeping soundly because I was getting nothing from her.

Finally, I decided to give her a push, and sent her a thought. 'Trust Kurt. You can be yourself with him. Open yourself up to him.'

I saw her smile as she slept, and I heard, 'Yes!' in response.

Knowing that there was nothing more that I could do there, I went back downstairs. I went to the kitchen and watched outside for the patrolling goon to get his pattern. Seeing him pass by the house, I stepped over to the back door and quietly opened it, slipping outside. I left the door unlocked, knowing that would increase Dwight's paranoia.

As I slipped back into the woods I circled around towards the garage. I quietly snuck in and stuck GPS transmitters that Rat had given me on the underside of Dwight's car.

The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of my phone ringing on my nightstand. Looking at the display, I saw that it was Sarah and quickly answered it.

"I'm afraid!" she said softly. "Pastor is going crazy! He's been yelling at his security people all morning. The kitchen door was left unlocked all night, and he's still upset about losing something yesterday."

I smiled, knowing that Dwight was starting to lose it. "Has he done anything to you?" I asked her.

"No. He's ignoring me, acting like I don't even exist!" she replied.

"Ok," I told her. "You'll be safe. Stay where you are, and try to stay out of sight. Keep your phone on you and call me the moment you feel threatened."

"Ok," she said softly. "Thank you. He said that he had business in town, so I should be safe for a while."

After I hung up, I contemplated going into town to harass Dwight some more but I quickly decided against it. I wanted to play with his head a little more before I took him down.

I went downstairs to make some coffee and found Rat sitting on my deck, a half-full pot of coffee waiting for me. After pouring myself a cup, I joined him outside.

"Beautiful morning," I said as I walked up to the railing.

Rat grunted a reply, signifying a big hangover. I chuckled to myself as I sipped my coffee. "Nice to see you made it back safely," he said a few seconds later. "You could have taken me with you. I was in the mood to play with Thing One a little more."

"You looked like you were having too much fun with my Scotch," I replied, turning to look at him.

"Yeah, I gotta cut back on that," he said. "That stuff goes down too smooth."

"Yeah, that's it," I said, laughing. "It's too smooth!"

"Fuck you," he grunted.

"So when are you planning on taking him down?" he asked.

"Right now I'm thinking Sunday," I said. "In front of his congregation."

Rat looked at me silently for a second before a smirk started across his face. "You truly are evil," he replied.

"No, HE'S evil," I responded. "I'm just giving him a taste of his own medicine. He gained his power in front of these people, I think that it's only proper that he has his downfall in front of them."

Knowing that Rat wouldn't be happy just sitting at the house waiting for Sunday, I devised a plan where he would keep popping up where ever Dwight was. Between that and my continuing to sneak into his house, Dwight's mind should be melting by the time Sunday came.

Rat happily agreed, and after showering and eating, he hopped on his bike and rode into town. Shortly after noon, Sarah called me again.

"He just left for town," she told me. "I'm alone for now."

"He didn't leave his security people behind?" I asked, surprised.

"No, he took them with him," she replied. I quickly put her on speaker as I texted Rat, letting him know that Dwight wasn't travelling alone.

Rat replied with, "Good" as Sarah continued talking. I asked her if she wanted to meet, and she told me that she did, but she didn't know when it would be safe to.

"I can always come to you, if you would like," I told her. "That way you wouldn't have to leave the house at all."

"I ... I don't know," she replied. "I would like that, but I think that would still be too dangerous."

"Ok, I understand," I told her. "Well, you have my number. Let me know when you can get free."

"Thank you. I will," she replied.

A couple of hours later Rat returned to the house, a big smile on his face. The first thing that he did as he walked into my house was to grab a beer. I was definitely going to have to make him start buying his own booze.

"So? What happened?" I asked as he downed half of his beer.

Rat laughed and said, "I swear to you, I touched no one. Let's just get that out there right off the bat."

"I can see the enjoyment in fucking with an asshole's mind," he continued. "I didn't have to do a damn thing but make my presence known. Old boy went ballistic, screaming at me, screaming at his goons to get me ... It was truly a thing of beauty!"

"And you did NOTHING but let him see you?" I asked.

"You have my word, boss," he replied, raising her now empty bottle to me in salute. "I didn't need to."

"Nice. So what happened with his goons? You said that he sent them after you."

"That was the best part," he said. "Thing one barked orders at Things Three and Four, who just looked at him, and at Dwight. That gave me plenty of time to disappear and walk back to my bike."

"These morons he has for security are REALLY bad at counter-surveillance. I mean, how many real bikes can there be in that little town, and they were surprised every time that I showed up. Riding the bike!"

I smiled to myself, knowing that my plan was working perfectly.

Over the course of the week, Rat continued to show up wherever Dwight was, using the GPS transmitter to easily track him, and Dwight was becoming more unhinged. I snuck into the house a couple more times, seeding his mind with more paranoia. I also listened to Sarah's thoughts and was happy to hear that she was becoming more infatuated with me.

Finally, Sunday rolled around. Rat and I were already in the church, well-hidden and waiting for the final act. I was in the same closet that I was in last time, and wasn't surprised when Betty came in again. This time, after she was finished with her cleaning, I sent her a suggestion.

'Don't be afraid of him,' I sent to her. 'He's not dangerous anymore. Stand up to him!'

I could see her straighten up and she stood defiantly, waiting for Dwight to appear.

Finally, the door to the vestry opened and Dwight walked in. "Leave, whore," he barked at Betty. "I don't have time for your nonsense today."

I watched as Betty straightened up again, and took a deep breath. "Don't call me a whore, you son of a bitch!" she replied. "I'm sick of your abuse, and I'm not putting up with it anymore!"

Dwight stood there, stunned as he tried to regroup. After a couple of seconds, with Betty looking back at him with fire in her eyes, he took a threatening step towards her.

'DON'T!' I sent to him. 'Leave her alone! You have bigger things to worry about today!'

Dwight stopped and glared at her. "Get the hell out of my vestry, bitch!" he spat at her.

Betty then started walking towards the door, but stopped as she neared him. To my surprise, and certainly his, she lashed out and slapped him hard across his face. "YOU are the bitch!" she spat back at him.

He stood there stunned and she slammed the door behind her as she walked back out to the sanctuary. I tried to send her another message before she was out of range.

'Don't leave! Stay around. Today could be very interesting!' I told her, hoping that she wasn't too far away to receive it.