by Jeff D Ellis
“I told you the Shapeshifter was the key. Let’s quickly test the results. I hope it’s ready to test on your mother.”
In a loud voice, Thorn said, “We will be back with the results soon.”
So that is what this is about. Thorn’s wife is the Windigo.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Thorn Technologies
DAVID KNOCKED ON the door to the Chief’s office before he and Abby entered, and took a seat.
“You left quickly. What did you find?”
“Ember contacted me. Ash was back in her tree. David and I watched until she left, and we made a decision to have Ember follow her. She led Ember to Thorn Technologies.”
Chief nodded. “And you are looking for permission to conduct a raid on Thorn Technologies?”
David nodded. “Yes, Chief.”
“That will take a special warrant to search the place of business. What proof do you have that it is the location of the Windigo or the Detective, other than Ash hiding out there?”
“We don’t know but the clues seem to fit, and we don’t have much time.”
“Time doesn’t factor into it when we need to justify it for legal reasons.”
“We found the place Detective Hammer was held and someone had scratched into the bed frame ‘Thorn Windigo’. So, have reason to believe Otis Thorn is our Windigo. We know Ash lied about knowing him and suspect her of tipping him off when we were about to find his location. We also believe she was supplying him with my lab samples. This must be enough for us to conduct a search of his place of business since that’s where Ash is. And she is wanted for questioning.”
“That might fly if her location had come from a tip, not from you following her there. It still would beg explanation as to why you didn’t pick her up for questioning when you found her.”
“It was our best judgment that she would lead us to Otis Thorn and maybe Detective Hammer.”
“What reason did you have to think Otis Thorn was hiding?”
“When we checked with his office, he hadn’t been seen in days. No one knew where he lived. We were unable to bring him in for interviews.”
“You were told that unless you had solid information, Otis Thorn was untouchable.”
Abby squirmed. “There is also the fact that Otis Thorn has no history before starting his company and doesn’t allow any pictures to be taken of him. He has been hiding who and what he is.”
“None of this is evidence that he is a monster.”
“Hammer was last seen staking out Otis Thorn before he went missing and was framed by Ash for Cora Prescott’s death.”
“The only evidence you have of that is a magical vision.”
“I’m sorry, Chief, you have all the information we have.”
“What is your plan for the Humans that may be working in the building? We need to be discreet and not alert the public to The Veiled or monsters being among them.”
Abby nodded. “You’re in luck, sir. They are closed for the holidays at the moment, and there shouldn’t be any normal employees in the building.”
The Chief nodded and smiled. “I’m convinced you have enough to warrant bringing Otis Thorn and Ashleigh Mackie in for questioning. You should also look for the Detective and bring him in as well. Get the team ready while I arrange for a warrant to search for these persons of interest and bring them in for questioning. Understand it can take a while to get the warrant and you can’t go until we have it.”
David stood. “Thank you, sir.”
***
David looked around the room. “I’m sorry, Gwen and Perry, but we need your help in the field on this one. We should have at least eight trained Special Operation Group Marshals, but there are only four of us.”
Gwen smiled. “Hey, we helped you once before. We’re up for it! Right, Perry?”
“I’m happy to get out from behind the desk. We don’t have to face a Windigo, do we?”
David shook his head. “Gwen, how’s your ankle? I understand you twisted it when looking for me in the woods.”
“It’s all better now that Abby did some healing on it.”
“Great, what I need is some help to clear the area of bystanders and keep our exit safe. The building should be clear, but it’s hard to know for sure. Abby and I will do all of the heavy lifting, and if we’re faced with a Windigo, I expect you to retreat to safety. Do not engage. Any questions?”
David looked around the room and was satisfied. “Gear up. Perry and Gwen, you ride together and approach the back entrance. Abby and I will come from the front. Once we clear the main floor, Abby and I will go up while you watch the entrance. Jeff will monitor comms from here and the Chief will stay available getting us support or doing damage control.”
***
Abby stopped the SUV about a block away from Thorn Technologies and rolled down the back window.
“Time to let Ember out.”
Ember, please fly around the building and make sure the coast is clear.
Abby watched through Ember’s eyes for several passes around the building. “We are clear for approach. Ember will keep a watch from the sky.”
Driving to the front door, they got out and took their places.
David called out, “Team-1 in position.”
Over the radio, Gwen answered, “Team-2 in position.”
Abby stood back and watched for trouble while Dave got ready to pick the lock.
“Six, we are ready to breach.”
“Killing the power in five.”
After picking the lock, David waited for the lights to go out in the building before opening the door.
“Team-2, breach and clear.”
“Copy that, Team-1.”
Abby, stay and watch the stairs while I change and run through our part of the floor.
She watched as David changed into a jaguar and took off running. Using smell, he verified each office on the floor was empty. It was her job to keep weapons ready, watching up the stairs to the second floor until everybody regrouped there. If the team had been bigger, they would have had people watching the outside, another team to clear this floor while they went upstairs and cleared their way to the lab. It sucked to be short-handed and it put everybody at a higher risk, but the risk of exposure of the Veiled to Humans was less by not using outside members. It was hard to hire a team when they had to be Veiled and wanted to work for the Marshals. The country was large, and Seattle was only a small part of it.
Abby, we have movement outside.
Let me see …
Ember saw someone run from the building. It was someone trying to use magic to cloak themself, but Ember could make them out. She was a spirit animal and had no issue seeing the person as they were.
Let him go. He isn’t a Windigo or one of our suspects and we need to keep you watching here.
Team-2 must have flushed him out and never saw him.
David, we had one rabbit, but not a person of interest. Anything in your search?
Just about done, ETA thirty seconds.
“Team-2, status.”
“Clear. Will be coming up on you now.”
Gwen and Perry came around the corner and David transformed back as he approached.
“Six, we are all clear on one.”
“Copy that. Team-1, you are good to continue.”
Time to clear the second floor.
David gave the hand signal to move out.
Abby, this could be it, or it could be we came here for nothing.
If nothing else, we might find the clues we need, but Ember never saw Ash leave, so they must be here somewhere.
Slowly they moved up the stairs. The second floor was different. Gray and white vinyl flooring stood starkly, with work areas in rows. There were black composite countertops with white storage areas underneath them. Sinks and storage metal units were shared between groups of counters. There was also hoods with pipes going into the ceiling which must be burn units to dispose of samples.
M
ust be gas lines all over the place to support those burn cabinets. We better be really careful not to set this place on fire if it comes to a fight.
Got it. We can’t afford to miss our target with the tracer rounds, or we might not walk away!
There were a few offices with doors, but they had glass walls facing into the room. It was easy to see no one was here. There was a tip that Otis Thorn had a private lab up here, but there was no way it would be open for all to see what he was doing.
Abby pointed. That door has a card key lock. It must be what we are looking for.
David looked closer. It also had a key lock in case there was a power failure. He pulled out his lock pick set from his cargo pocket.
Take position.
In position.
Picking the lock …
David worked at the lock, but it was much slower going than the front door. It must be a higher security lock than the front door had.
No joy … I don’t have the skills for this lock.
Looking around the door, David found there weren’t any gaps between the door and frame big enough to insert a tool or even a camera to see what was on the other side.
Times like this I wish I still had the Eye of the Jaguar.
Abby frowned. You don’t?
David shook his head. When I lost control and was stuck as a Coyote, it left me and went back to the spirit world. Jaguar says someday I should be able to claim it again at the proper time, but for now it’s gone.
Abby hit the transmit button on her mic. “Six, we have a problem. We can’t breach the door we think is the private lab. Is there a way to unlock it remotely?”
“Stand by Team-1 … Team-2 switch to channel 2.”
Guess this is going to take a little while.
If only we were trained to use explosives or a breaching shotgun for times like this.
You know we are expected to be more covert than that, David. You can’t change to something that can break the lock or door?
If they went to this trouble to fit a lock like this, they must have also made sure someone couldn’t just kick the door in. I hate standing around feeling exposed to danger.
“Six, can we get a status?”
“Unlocking in 3 … 2 … 1 …”
There was a click of the striker plate retracting.
“Clearing now.”
Pushing the door open, David moved to the right while Abby moved to the left side of the doorway. The lights in the room were dim. The room had a desk with a computer on it and two doors on the far side with windows. They stacked up on the first door and David looked through the window. It looked like an operating room with a gleaming steel table in the center. Machines you would find in an intensive care ward were parked along the far side of the room.
Clear, stack at the next room.
They each took their positions at the second door and this time Abby looked through the window.
Clear. This is the room from my vision where someone was operating on the homeless guy.
“Six, the lab is clear.”
“Team-1, there must be another exit to the lab. Find it.”
Like I wouldn’t have thought of that. I’ll check the room while you check the computer and desk for clues.
Abby nodded and moved to the desk while David entered the second room for a closer look.
“There is a computer here but no network connection. Does our warrant cover taking it with us?”
“Team-1, is it easy to remove?”
“It’s not a laptop if that’s what you are asking, and it’s password protected.”
“Leave it for now and if you strike out on any other search areas, we can talk about bringing it back.”
A noise of equipment getting shoved around came from the other room.
David, you find something?
Sorry, I shifted to a jaguar to use those senses to search better and knocked some stuff around. I’m smelling something foul here. It’s stronger near the wall. Ash was also recently here as well. I need to change again.
Abby entered the room and witnessed David shift to something that looked more like an Aztec priest than Human. Standing on two legs, he had the head of a jaguar with his hands and feet replaced with jaguar paws. His skin had the coloration of a jaguar, but not the heavy fur coat of one. This wasn’t something he normally did. It was more magical and left him as something not man or beast. He said he didn’t like the way it messed with his senses and reflexes.
I see a hidden door in the corner.
Using his claws, David pried the door open revealing an elevator.
“Six, we found a secret elevator in the second room of the lab.”
“It could be a trap, Team-1.”
David, what do you want to do?
I can smell Ash went in here. We need to follow.
“Six, we are going in.”
“Understood. Proceed with caution. We can’t back you up down there.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Windigo's Den
THORN WOKE HAMMER up from a nap.
“Are the test results in?”
“It seems we have a viable cure, Detective.”
“Do you think it will take repeated treatments over time?”
“It’s too early to tell, but I don’t think so. Your DNA seems to be stable and is missing the elements that we think cause the growth mutation that in turns fuels the need to continually feed to support the growth.”
“But I still have some of the traits of a Windigo?”
“Yes, that is true, Detective and we believe you also have some of its positive aspects. It will take time to understand all of the ramifications. It’s not like we have fully mapped the Windigo genome. We may never understand all of the changes the virus transmits to Humans that rewrites your DNA.”
“You are sure I can’t infect others?”
“Nothing is one hundred percent sure, but yes, the danger of passing along the Windigo virus or even your current DNA should be over. I expect it also made you sterile. The only way a Windigo can reproduce is via the virus. Besides, we wouldn’t want someone basically immortal to create more like them and over-populate the earth.”
“I suppose not. You want to control who is given this gift of life.”
“Now, now, Detective. You are now truly special.”
“At the cost of many others you experimented on.”
“They didn’t go to waste. A Windigo has to eat and we don’t want to add more Windigos to Seattle and cause what would be similar to a zombie apocalypse.”
Thorn looked at his watch. “It’s time to cure our Windigo. I would like you to join us.”
Thorn led Hammer from the room that had been his cell down a hall to a large room with an extra high ceiling. It looked almost like a loading dock and dwarfed by the scale of the room Dr. Mackie waited. A monster came into view and the room suddenly felt small. The Windigo towered over everybody in the room at least nine feet tall. Hammer could see its beating heart through its gray skin that was tightly stretched over an emaciated-looking body. The Windigo growled at seeing Hammer, showing a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth.
Thorn held up his hand. “No, dear, the Detective is not food or a risk to us. Please calm down. We have something for you.”
The Windigo’s eyes were still wild with hunger, but it seemed to calm down as Dr. Mackie approached.
Thorn pulled Hammer to the side of the room. “I need you to stay out of the way over here.”
“Mother, I need you to stay calm. I’m here to help you feel better.”
A shimmer of light surrounded the Windigo and when it cleared, a beautiful woman stood in its place.
“That man over there was infected like you, but he’s fine now. I’m going to give you the cure and everything will soon be back to the way it was long ago. Your hunger will be gone, and we can be a real family again.”
The woman nodded as if she understood, but words failed her when she opened her mouth. The doct
or took her arm and injected her with what must have been the cure.
“You will be better soon now, don’t worry.”
The woman screamed and changed back into a Windigo.
“What is going on?”
Doctor Mackie yelled, “The cure isn’t working! The Windigo in her is too strong.”
The Windigo tossed her across the room where she landed with a sickening crash. Hammer and Otis ran to her side as the Windigo shrieked and took off running.
***
David and Abby exited the elevator into a long hallway. The sounds of a screech and crash welcomed them to the floor.
“Abby, we’re out of time! Someone is being attacked right now.”
“We have to do something!”