The Immortal Gene

by Jonas Saul

  Edwin entered the room. “Now, now, little girl.” He sipped from his coffee. “No need for hostilities. We’re married now. It’s time to set the rules.”

  “We’re not married!” she shouted, wincing at the pain when she opened her mouth too far. “You’re insane and I’m going to kill you.”

  “How it works is like this,” he continued as if she hadn’t said a thing. “Reward and punishment. Everything is reward and punishment.”

  “Reward this.” With her good hand, she flipped him the bird. “Punish my ass. Fuck you, Jeffrey. Just fuck you.”

  “Do or say anything negative. Act in a mean way. Mistreat me. Disrespect me. These things create a punishment. Do the opposite, like nice things, say nice things, tell me you love me. These things create a reward.”

  He smiled, then sipped from his coffee, knowing she wasn’t listening and not caring. Sometimes punishment was far better than rewards. For him, rewards simply meant making love to his wife. Punishment was where the real fun lay.

  He scanned the nearly empty safe room. There was really nothing available for Megan to hurt herself with. But if she were to overpower him in some way, what would stop her from running out the open door, past the bookcase, up the stairs, and outside? She could knock his hot coffee into his face, break the cup against his cheek, jamming a shard into his eyeball. Megan could do a lot of damage if she were so inclined and if he wasn’t better prepared.

  This had to be the last time he entered the room without the Taser. He would make a point of not bringing in anything else. Maybe he should even remove his belt for her visits. What would he need it for, anyway?

  He stepped closer to her. She moved away from him.

  “Being in close proximity bothers you?” He offered her a half smile, then pursed his lips. “By this time tomorrow we’ll be closer than you could ever imagine. So close in fact, that I’ll be inside you.” He let out a sharp, short bark of a laugh.

  She screamed, leaned on her good arm, and tried to get up off the mattress.

  He bent forward and jerked the hand holding the coffee toward her. The coffee splattered on Megan’s face, quelling her violent scream instantly. Her head snapped back, her arms flailing at the hot, brown liquid. She wailed in pain as her broken wrist smacked her face.

  Even though the coffee had cooled slightly in the time he’d been in the safe room, it was still quite warm. Her cheeks reddened where it had hit, spots of color on her neck.

  She inhaled like she was breathing through a screen door, all wet and noisy. Her eyes were wide and staring at him.

  “You’ll learn,” he said. “My new wife.”

  She curled into a ball on the mattress, shaking with pain.

  Edwin moved toward the open door. He needed to get to his office, meet Adam and set up for the coma man ambush. There were other things to attend to. The duties of a husband could wait. His new wife could wait.

  At the door, he looked back at Megan, admiring her athletic body, her long hair. She would be a good wife—he just needed more time with her, more time to break her. It was only her will that stood between them. Once he broke that, she would be his, free and clear.

  “I’ll be back tonight to mete out your punishment. Be ready for me.” He typed in the code to close the door. Before it was completely shut, he said, “Tonight, I will break bones with my hammer so you can’t move without pain, thereby erasing any thoughts of escape.” The door crept closer to being shut. “You will never be able to walk again after tonight, but that doesn’t matter. I only need you on your back.”

  The door closed, sealing off sound.

  “Damn it. I was just getting started.”

  He went upstairs, rinsed out his coffee cup while humming “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones, then left the house, thoughts of his new wife and the fun they were about to have on his mind.

  He tried not to think of Adam and why he would want to trick Jake Wood into coming to Edwin’s office. He kept his mind far from what they were going to do with Kirk Aiken as well. He couldn’t come up with any answers that made sense and allowed him to stay on as chief medical examiner.

  No answers at all.

  So he brought his Taser along with him in case he needed it.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Kirk stopped for a coffee twice on the way south to Toronto. Once at the Tim Horton’s coffee shop just south of the Gravenhurst exit—where he gassed up as well—and again at a Timmy’s near one of the north Orillia exits. If it hadn’t been for the amount of caffeine in his system, he would’ve fallen asleep on account of how warm it was in the car. Jake had the heat on high the entire ride south, even though he’d slept for over two hours of the ride.

  Navigating downtown Toronto, Kirk pulled off Front Street and drove toward Edwin’s office five blocks away. After successfully steering the car into a parking spot two blocks short of Edwin’s office, Kirk turned it off, laid his head back and waited a moment to catch his breath and thoughts. With the engine off, the heater had stopped its relentless blasting. Even though the car was equipped with duo air and Kirk had closed the vents on his side, it hadn’t prevented the heat from Jake’s vents from wafting toward him, making him break out in a sweat.

  But what choice did he have? Jake was his friend, his partner, his brother from another mother. They had been through a lot of shit together and whether he believed in this turning-into-a-snake shit or not, if Jake needed the heat cranked up in the car, Kirk would not deny him.

  As Jake stirred, Kirk asked, “Got your beauty sleep?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Nope. Doesn’t sound like it. You’re still fucking ugly.”

  “Fuck you. Twice.” Jake sat up and rubbed his face. “Where are we?”

  “Two blocks from Edwin’s office.”

  “Why are we here? Pull up closer.” Jake yawned, then licked his lips. “What’s up? What’s bothering you?”

  “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Like what?”

  “Edwin has always been a behind-the-scenes man.” Kirk checked the rearview mirror, then looked at Jake. “He does his autopsies, fills in his reports, does what court appearances are required of him, and keeps a meticulous office.”

  “And?”

  “He never calls me. Whatever relationship he had with Detective Joslin, he doesn’t have with me. Hasn’t in the year plus I’ve been on this case.”

  “So, he’s changing his role, making it more proactive.”

  “I know what you’re doing and I appreciate it. Playing devil’s advocate usually draws it out of me, but not this time because there’s nothing specific I can pinpoint. Just a gut feeling.”

  “About what? That he wants to quit? That he doesn’t like you? That he’s gay? Or are you thinking he killed Terry Radcliffe and kidnapped Megan? I mean, that’s what I would be thinking based on what I smelled at the crime scene and his nervousness the day before.”

  Their eyes met for a brief moment. Kirk broke off first because staring into Jake’s eyes with their new bluish hue creeped him out.

  “After that murder scene, I will tell you this. Something is bothering Edwin or he wouldn’t call about some bullshit case file. And it has to do with what he was doing in Huntsville this weekend. No doubt about it. He did something or he saw something and he wants to talk to us—”

  “Because we saw him there and during your investigation you’ll discover that he was a guest at the party and at one point or another, he touched the Radcliffe’s cell phone. The one that was destroyed on the road by the body of Terry Radcliffe.” Jake paused. Kirk felt his partner’s eyes roaming his face. “Something like that?”

  “I can’t imagine he’s involved. It doesn’t work like that. Not in real life. Only in fiction.”

  Kirk checked his phone. No calls. No texts. Nothing. It was just after five-thirty in the afternoon. They were supposed to be at Edwin’s at six.

  “Well, I say we go talk to him,”
Jake offered. “But be wary going in. Be cautious. If he did do something and we saw him in Huntsville, he’s either going to come clean or do something else he’ll regret.”

  Kirk shook his head. “Again, he’s not the type. I’ve met the type, as you have. Edwin’s a pussy.”

  “You want backup going in?” Jake asked. “Make the call.”

  “On what grounds?”

  “Exactly.” Jake opened his door. “Let’s go.”

  Kirk got out, locked the doors and started up the sidewalk with Jake at his side. Just like old days, the two of them shoulder to shoulder, working on a case. After what happened to Jake over a year and a half ago, Kirk had thought this day would never come.

  Edwin’s building reminded Kirk of the front of a factory where accounts receivable and payable would be quartered. The building was three stories high and contained several government offices on each floor. Edwin’s was on the third floor and took up two large areas. One was his office and the other his file storage. Edwin’s situation was unique in that he kept his office offsite, away from where he worked on dead bodies. Kirk recalled Edwin saying once that one was completely separate from the other. Bodies were for cold metal tables. Paperwork was for well-ventilated offices with large desks and a coffee maker.

  Kirk had been to Edwin’s office on several occasions but not for over six months as there had been nothing new on the BEK killer for some time.

  He led Jake into the building and walked up to the elevator. Finger on the button, he scanned the empty lobby.

  “Nervous?” Jake asked.

  Kirk frowned. “Really? This is Edwin Gavin, our medical examiner, our autopsy guy. Why would I be nervous?”

  “Maybe because it feels like an ambush.”

  “An ambush? How so?”

  “After bumping into Edwin at the liquor store in Huntsville, I asked you about the burnout rate of morticians?”

  Kirk nodded. “And?”

  “Edwin smelled nervous. It bothered me. As soon as that cop showed up asking about me, Edwin smelled scared.” The elevator door opened. They stepped on. “Being scared and being in attendance at a party isn’t criminal.”

  “Hell, I know that. But this, calling us in, is out of character.”

  “Then act as if it’s hostile,” Jake said. The elevator dinged for the third floor. “Be prepared.”

  Kirk nodded.

  The doors opened.

  Both men remained inside the lift, not moving. They waited. The second the doors began to close, Jake stuck his arm between them. Open again, Jake eased out of the elevator and looked both ways. Kirk followed Jake out of the elevator, his right hand hovering near his weapon.

  The hallway was empty.

  “This way,” Kirk whispered.

  He started down the narrow corridor toward Edwin’s office, which was around a corner on the left. No doors opened as they walked, no sounds seemed out of the ordinary. But yet something still felt off even if it didn’t make any sense.

  He stopped at Edwin’s door and listened. When he heard nothing, he glanced back at Jake and shook his head.

  Jake reached past him and knocked.

  “Coming,” Edwin yelled from behind the door.

  Kirk eased his hand away from his weapon. Edwin’s voice sounded normal. This was a routine visit. They’d bumped into each other in Huntsville. They had worked themselves up over Edwin’s call. Without Jake’s new ability to smell things, nothing that Edwin had done up to this point would seem out of the ordinary.

  The door’s lock clicked and Edwin opened it from the inside.

  He stepped back, and waved them in.

  “Please, come. I’ve got coffee on.”

  Kirk entered first with Jake following him slowly. They waited at the door as Edwin closed it and locked it again.

  Kirk and Jake exchanged a frown. Why lock the door?

  Kirk scanned Edwin’s body for weapons. Nothing protruded in odd places.

  “What was so important that we needed to be here by six?” Kirk asked.

  Edwin walked past him and moved toward the center of his massive office space. To Edwin’s left was a door that led to his storage area, which was dark at the moment.

  “You were in Huntsville,” Kirk said. “When did you come back to Toronto?”

  Edwin smiled awkwardly, showing teeth. He went to say something, decided against it, closed his mouth, then moved around his desk and took a seat. Once seated, he steepled his fingers and offered Kirk a lopsided grin. Neither Kirk nor Jake moved or said a word.

  “I think I’ve linked the cases of the BEK killer by something other than MO,” Edwin said.

  “And you couldn’t tell me this over the phone?” Kirk asked.

  “It’s something I have to show you.”

  “Why are you so nervous?” Jake asked. “I can smell the fear radiating off you. Just like at the liquor store.”

  A muscle twitched under Edwin’s right eye when he turned his attention to Jake. Kirk wondered if Jake had noticed it. Now that Jake had said something, Kirk saw Edwin’s fingers shaking, his mannerisms jerky, nervous-like.

  “Smell the fear?” Edwin asked, saying the words slowly. “How is it you can smell that? Bad deodorant? Perspiration?”

  Jake stepped closer to Edwin’s desk. “You were at the Radcliffe party last night. And you were at the site where Terry Radcliffe was killed last night, just south of Huntsville—”

  Jake stopped suddenly. It was enough for Kirk to reach for his weapon. Edwin had become a stone statue, frozen to his chair, his expression rigid.

  Jake looked at Kirk, wide-eyed. “He’s got Megan.”

  “What?” Kirk muttered.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Edwin shouted.

  Jake pointed at Edwin. “I can smell Megan on him. Same smell from Megan’s house. Her pheromones. Very strong. She’s either here in this office or at another location.” Jake opened his mouth, closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out. He rolled it around, flicking it several times. When his eyes reopened, they grew wider than before. “She’s not here. He has her elsewhere. But someone else is here. Several others.”

  “Who?” Kirk shouted as he pulled his weapon.

  Edwin leaned back in his chair, his face a mask of shock and disbelief.

  “What the fuck is this?” Edwin muttered.

  Jake dropped to the floor, planted his hands flat on the carpet, and closed his eyes.

  “Don’t move,” he said.

  Kirk waited, his weapon out and aimed at the ceiling tiles above him.

  Jake shot up from the floor and pointed toward the storage area.

  Kirk looked that way just in time to see the muzzle flash. At the same second, something punched him in the calf muscle.

  Kirk stumbled sideways and fell to the carpet. He rolled so his weapon aimed at the storage closet, but then something jolted him from behind as Edwin screamed. The gun was knocked from his grasp.

  He vibrated as volts of electricity shot through him. When it was over, Kirk calmed, taking the time to breathe and mentally inventory his body. Pain came from several areas, his leg being the worst.

  A man emerged from the storage area, followed by two others. The man stopped at Kirk’s gun, then kicked it into a corner.

  Warm, wet blood oozed out of his leg wound, soaking his pants. They had walked into an ambush, after all. He’d been shot in the leg and then tased by Edwin. A thousand questions ran through his mind.

  Who was Edwin Gavin? Who was behind this attack? Why go after Kirk and Jake? Was it about the Radcliffes, the BEK killer, or something else entirely?

  Hands gripped his arm and violently flipped him onto his back. The polished black shoes man stepped into view above him. He’d seen him before. It all came back in a rush. The Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie on that fateful night so long ago.

  “Hello, Detective Aiken,” the man known only as Adam said. “We meet again.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Jake had b
een hit from behind by an electrical charge. At the moment Kirk was felled by a bullet and Jake had reached for him, Edwin tased Jake in the side, just above the waist.

  It had been strong enough to knock him down, but strangely, its effects had worn off immediately. He stayed on the ground to avoid being shot and waited.

  A well-dressed man stood over Kirk, talking to him like they knew each other.

  “Edwin,” the man said. “Step over here.”

  Jake rolled his eyes to Kirk who lay on his back now, bleeding from the bullet wound to his leg. His partner needed an ambulance. This had to end quickly, but the man looking at Kirk still held a silenced weapon. Two other men stood back by the wall, each holding a baseball bat.

  Unsure of his new abilities, his strength, Jake waited to see what was going to happen next before he decided to act.

  Edwin stepped around Jake, Taser still in his hand. A sudden urge to lunge, to grab Edwin’s throat and squeeze it until it snapped came over Jake, but he couldn’t. They needed Edwin alive to tell them where Megan was being held.

  “Take this,” the man said, handing Edwin the silenced weapon. “And kill Detective Aiken. We’ll handle Jake.”

  Edwin stepped back. “That wasn’t the deal, Adam.”

  “The deal?” Adam said. “What deal?” He raised a finger to his lips, closed his eyes, and appeared to contemplate something. “I removed Terry from your situation. I now have a situation with Jake that I will deal with. You must remove Kirk to make our arrangement complete.” His voice had gone monotone, his words spoken with a measured evenness. “Or would you like me to explain how they know you were with Terry last night?”

  Edwin nodded in a short spurt. “Please do, because I would hate to learn that you told them.”

  “They were called in to observe the crime scene. These two detectives walked the Radcliffe house. They examined the area where I shot Terry.” Adam pointed at Jake. “Jake here found the cell phone you smashed and kicked into the shrubs on the side of the road. Now, here’s the special part, the section that puts all the pieces together.” Adam stepped closer to Jake until he was standing by his side. “Jake here has a special ability. He can sense things, smell things that ordinary men cannot.”