Organ Reapers

by West, Shay

  We shouldn’t be here at all.

  Everything about this world was so foreign, so menacing. Tani, Keena, and Satrick had probably been killed by some horrid beast or put to death by the Enforcers. Searching for them was a waste of time, and would likely end up with him and Saxon returning empty handed.

  “What do you two think you’re doing?”

  Cees whirled. A tall man was standing behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t a particularly large man, but his voice held authority that Cees found easily recognizable.

  “I’m not going to ask you again. What are you doing?” The man kept his eyes on both of them.

  Cees only had a split second to make a decision. Fight this man or try to gain what they needed by cooperating.

  “We are looking for friends. We heard they might have come here,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you try going inside instead of standing out here like a couple of peeping toms?”

  “I don’t know anyone named Tom. I am called Cees,” he said.

  “Well, ‘Case,’ ” the man said, waving his hands in the air, “I don’t really care what your name is. It’s illegal to look in through windows.”

  “We didn’t mean to cause trouble. We just wanted to find our friends.”

  “So you said.” The man sighed. “Come on inside and take a look around. It’s a little late to be waking someone up, isn’t it?”

  Cees followed the man into the building. His eyes never stayed still for more than a moment, searching for their targets, but also looking for possible escape routes if it became necessary. While it was possible to use the gateway stones inside a building, they worked better when used out on the open. There were few areas in this place where the stones could be used safely.

  If I have no other choice, I’ll use the stones in here.

  “If your friends are here, they’ll be in the sleeping room.”

  The man led them to a large common room that held dozens of people. He couldn’t tell at first glance if Tani and Keena were here.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  A woman stepped into the room and pointed right at Cees and Saxon. She held something in her hand. A weapon of some kind? If it was, it didn’t look very dangerous. She placed the object in her hand against her ear.

  “Yeah, I need officers at 1267 State Street immediately. There are two more people here that match what the police are asking about on TV.”

  Cees had no idea what she was talking about, but her demeanor spoke volumes. In three strides, he was right in front of her. He tore the object from her hand and placed it to his ear. Strangely, a voice came from the device. Cees threw it to the ground and stomped it to pieces, almost certain it had to be inhabited by demons of some kind.

  “Hey, you can’t do tha—”

  Her protest ended in an indignant squawk as Cees pushed her into a chair. He leaned in close. Saxon had the other man held against the wall.

  “I need to know about two people that might have been here recently. They are dressed like me, a male and a female.”

  The woman nodded. “The police came and got ‘em.”

  “The police?”

  “Yeah, for the murders they done around here.”

  “Where would these police have taken them?”

  “To the police station,” she said slowly.

  “Where is the location?”

  “I don’t know exactly where it is. Somewhere on Federal, I think.”

  “I need to know exactly where that is.”

  “You...you best be leaving now. The police will be here any minute,” she stammered.

  Cees glared at her, his blue eyes anything but merry. “First you will tell me exactly where to find their station.”

  CHAPTER 27

  “WHAT DID the captain say?” Ava asked as Eli came back to his desk.

  “He’s agreed to give us until tomorrow. If Charlie can’t connect these two with any crimes, we have to let them go,” Eli said as he sat down heavily in his chair.

  “What about giving them to the Feds?”

  Eli snorted. “Just got off the phone with them. The feds don’t want Tani and Keena unless we can get some hard evidence. Said they have a tough enough case against Satrick with only the video footage. There has yet to be any DNA evidence linking Satrick to the murders we know he committed.”

  Ava jumped a little as he slammed his fist down on the desk. His frustration was at peak levels since this whole thing started with the murder of Gerald Forbes all those weeks ago. He hated the idea of having to let the two suspects just walk out of the station.

  “Maybe we’ll get lucky and Charlie will have something, just enough so we can hold them a little longer, question them more.”

  “You don’t think we’ve talked to them enough? You really want to hear more of their crazy story?”

  “I think we have to. We owe it to the victims. If there’s even the slightest chance they are telling the truth, we have to help them or the murders will just continue.”

  It was hard to meet her eyes, like deep pools waiting for him to jump in. It was getting hard to deny his attraction for her. Maybe she would quit.

  He shook his head. He would never ask that of her. Besides, if she quit, he’d never get to look at her killer legs every day.

  “Care to fill me in on the joke?”

  Eli cleared his throat, embarrassed at being caught daydreaming about her. Her eyes were narrowed, a sure sign she was agitated. He was beginning to know her so well.

  “Sorry, just wondering how you can still think those two nutcases are telling the truth.” He noticed the photos on her desk. “Any luck with that?”

  She bit the inside of her cheek and took her time before answering. “Not so far, but I’m not nearly as fast as the computers Charlie uses. It just makes me feel like I’m doing something, you know?”

  “Maybe I can help.”

  Eli took a stack of photographs and scanned them to see if they looked anything remotely like Tani and Keena. Some of the photos were so grainy it was impossible to see any details. There were any number that could have been one of those two, but not enough that would stand up in court.

  He checked the phone every few seconds as though looking at it would cause it to ring, and that it would be Charlie with a miracle. Eli would take anything: partial DNA match, surveillance footage of the two, anything that would link Tani and Keena to the killings.

  At Ava’s insistence, the pair left the office to go get lunch. Eli would have rather stayed at the office, but his partner was not to be denied.

  “I need to get out of here, you really need to get out of here,” she said as she pulled him out of his chair.

  “But what if Charlie calls while we’re gone?” he asked.

  “He’s got your cell number, right?”

  Eli couldn’t argue. He let Ava lead the way to a little sandwich shop just down the street. Normally he would enjoy a walk on such a nice day, but his mind was preoccupied with too many things. And it didn’t help that he would have preferred to wait by the phone to see if Charlie called.

  But after a hot meatball sandwich slathered in marinara and dripping with melted cheese, he admitted Ava had been right. She had chosen a table outside under the shade of a tall tree. Traffic was fairly light on this street, so he actually got to enjoy the sounds of the little sparrows as they hopped around the tables looking for crumbs.

  He was careful to keep the conversation off Tani and Keena. He was enjoying himself and didn’t want to get into a fight with Ava. They would just have to agree to disagree about whether or not the two were telling the truth.

  Eli’s phone rang just as they entered the police station. It was Charlie.

  “What do have for us?” he asked, heart racing.

  There was a long pause on the other end. Eli’s heart sank.

  “I wish I had good news. The computer didn’t come up with anything matching your two suspects. And their DNA m
atches Satrick’s as far as ethnicity, but nothing in our database, which is what I expected.”

  So that’s it then.

  He stormed up to his office, ignoring Ava as she tried to calm him down. He hated letting suspects walk, especially ones he knew were guilty.

  Captain Platt was waiting at his desk.

  “Charlie just told me the news. You gotta let ‘em go, Robins.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Eli said through clenched teeth.

  “That doesn’t mean you two can’t keep an eye on them, see where they go. Who knows, they may lead you to the compound where the others are hiding out,” Platt said over his shoulder as he walked back to his office.

  “Gee, hours alone in a car with you. Sounds great,” Ava said with a smirk.

  Eli thought hours alone in a car with Ava wouldn’t be all that bad. He could spend hours staring at her legs and smelling the musky perfume she always wore.

  He went to evidence and got their knapsacks. Everything had been placed back inside.

  “We put all of their stuff back inside. I have photos of everything though, just in case something else shows up at another murder,” the man behind the counter said.

  “The only thing in common with the other cases is the food we found in Satrick’s pack and the strange stones,” Ava said as she turned one of them over in her hands.

  “Be careful. Maybe getting human germs on it will render it useless for our visitors.” Eli laughed.

  “You’re a riot.” Ava put the stone back in one of the packs and shoved it into his arms.

  He sighed as he followed her to the holding cell. It wasn’t that he enjoyed upsetting her, but he just couldn’t take it seriously. Stones that take someone to another world? He shook his head at the absurdity of it all, and wondered what he’d done in a past life that made him deserve to deal with this nonsense.

  Tani and Keena were sitting on a bench holding hands. Their eyes were haunted as they met Eli’s eyes. He stared for a minute, searching their depths for the truth. A person’s eyes were the windows to the soul, and Eli was good at seeing what a person wanted to hide.

  These two aren’t hiding anything.

  He opened the door and beckoned the two to come forward.

  “You two are sprung. Let’s go,” Eli said.

  Tani and Keena shared a glance and stood slowly. They walked toward Eli, still holding hands, looking like scared animals about to go to slaughter. Eli handed them their knapsacks. The pair held them to their chests, looking around the police station with wide eyes.

  “What are we to do?” Tani asked.

  Eli shrugged. “Not my concern anymore.”

  “Please, we need your help. We can’t go home.”

  “Again, not my concern. All I have to do is escort you both to the front door.”

  “May I speak to you a moment, please?” Ava tugged his arm and led him away from the holding cell. “Can’t you see how scared they are?” she asked.

  “Don’t really care. I care about how scared the people they killed were, right before their organs were removed.”

  Ava rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not saying you need to take them in or anything, but the least we could do is tell them how to get to the nearest shelter or something.”

  “Fine. Is that all?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  She didn’t respond as she whirled and walked back to the pair standing in front of the open door to the holding cell. Ava beckoned them over to a counter while she used her phone to look up the location of the nearest shelter. She wrote the address down on a piece of paper.

  Eli watched the exchange and felt a small pang of sympathy for the pair. They looked even younger than they had in the interrogation room. Keena kept her eyes on the floor while Tani listened to the directions Ava was giving him while showing him the paper.

  She walked up with the pair, giving him a dirty look as they passed by. He wished he knew what to say to make everything go back to the way it was before the strange pair had told them they were from another world.

  As they walked to the elevator, Eli had to laugh, as it was clear Tani and Keena went from terrified to curious in seconds. They whispered together and shrugged when they encountered pretty much everything between the holding cell and the elevator.

  Either they really are from another world or deserve an Oscar for their performances.

  ***

  Tani exited the elevator with Keena in tow. Freedom loomed in the form of a large set of glass doors. And it had never looked so terrifying. He glanced back at the detectives standing by the elevator. The woman looked like she felt bad, but the dark-skinned man had a face made of stone.

  Putting on a brave face, Tani exited the building into the harsh light of day. He shielded his eyes and blinked back the sudden moisture. The sunlight seemed twice as bright in this world. Maybe it’s all the light-colored material on the buildings and underfoot.

  It looked as though each enormous building was covered in glass that reflected back the sun a thousand-fold. There was some sort of trail that led off in two directions that ran parallel to the black area where the strange metal beasts moved in strange patterns.

  Tani stood with his back against the door, avoiding the throngs of people moving back and forth in front of the building. He had never seen so many people, not even on festival days. Most simply walked by with their heads bent, staring at things they carried in their hands. Some had similar devices against their ears and were talking loudly as they walked. A few of the passers-by stared, which made Tani nervous.

  He followed the grey material underfoot until he came to an area where it intersected with more of the same material. Tani glanced at the paper in his hand and threw up his hands in defeat.

  “How is one supposed to find their way with so many roads all intersecting at once?” he said as he turned in circles.

  Keena wordlessly took the paper from his hand and frowned. She looked back the way they came, then faced forward again. Suddenly, her eyes grew large.

  “The name on that blue sign is the same as on the paper. See?”

  Tani took the paper and slapped his forehead. “It’s like the old woman at the fire.” He pulled Keena along down the street indicated on the map. “Remember the shelter? The old woman told us the shelter was on State Street and we found it once we saw the sign. It must have said ‘State Street.’ ”

  He took her hand, hoping she couldn’t feel his trembling from fear. This world was terrifying, but he needed to be strong, to figure out a plan. They couldn’t return home; they’d surely be captured the moment they got back. And yet the thought of being stuck here was almost worse than the thought of death at the hands of the Enforcers.

  Tani looked at the paper again, wondering how they would know they were close to the shelter. The woman had written things in their strange language and he couldn’t read any of it. There were also numbers written at the top. He wondered at the significance of them.

  He glanced at the buildings, shading his eyes. He noticed most of the people walking by wore something over their eyes. Protecting them from the sun? We will have to see about obtaining some for ourselves.

  He also saw numbers above the doorways to the buildings and noticed they seemed to go up as he and Keena made their way forward. Tani glanced back down at the paper. If the number the woman detective wrote down corresponded to the number on a building, they needed to keep going.

  “I’ll watch for the numbers, you see if you can find a shop that sells something like what the people are wearing on their faces,” Tani said.

  Tani wished for a breeze as they walked along. He and Keena walked in the shade as often as they could, as it gave them some relief from the sun. His stomach gave a loud growl and he wondered if there was a glade or meadow nearby where they could stop and have a bite to eat. He didn’t know how far down the shelter was. It could be two buildings down or a hundred. There were some tables and chairs outside a pretty b
uilding decorated with bright lights.

  He led the way to one of the tables under the shade of a large tree. Keena took her knapsack off her back gratefully and grimaced as she sat back against the back of the chair.

  “I’ve always hated wearing sweaty clothes.”

  Tani had to agree, but unless they found a bathhouse, they’d be stuck wearing the clothes they had. We could always wash the ones we have on. He hadn’t noticed any creeks or ponds as they walked.

  Keena pulled out several bundles of cloth. It was clear they had been opened, then tied shut again with clumsy knots. Tani didn’t care as long as the food was still good to eat. They hadn’t been gone long enough for the food to spoil, but perhaps the conditions of this world were different enough that it would ruin faster here than on his world. He needn’t have worried; the cheese, salted meat, and bread were fine, if a bit stale.

  The two ate in silence, keeping their faces down, trying to remain as unobtrusive as possible. Tani didn’t want to be taken prisoner by the detectives again. The water in his small canteen was warm, but his body required it, so he forced it down. I’ll refill it once I find a spring or a well.

  The two resumed their trek, Tani looking at the numbers on the buildings and Keena peering into the windows to see what was inside.

  “Have you ever seen such wondrous things?” she asked.

  Tani put his hands on either side of his face as he looked into the window. Inside were several chairs along the walls. There were people inside the chairs and another person stood behind them cutting their hair with tiny silver tools.

  “It’s just like home,” Keena said as she grinned.

  Sort of. He didn’t have the heart to say anything. She seemed so happy to have seen something familiar. Back home there wasn’t an entire building dedicated to something so frivolous. If one’s hair got too long, he hacked at it with a sharp knife and went about his business. He had to admit that the very short styles worn by the men on this world did look much more comfortable than his own shoulder length, messy hair.

  Keena toyed with her hair as she watched the women inside get their hair clipped in the most unusual styles. She blinked in surprise when one of the people with the cutting instruments picked up another strange looking device and aimed it at the lady in the chair. Eventually, the woman’s hair swirled about her head.