by Saxon Andrew
“You’re right,” Tara said, almost crying. “I haven’t thought it through. That’s exactly what would happen.”
“Well, at least after today I’ll know where I stand and try to put this behind me,” Leila said.
Tag sat in his seat and knew that what was going to happen today was only the beginning. He knew Leila was about to face the full attention of security investigators because of the theft of her test booklet. He also knew that she knew absolutely nothing about it, and the investigators would make that determination quickly. She would not be able to offer a clue as to how it went missing. He suspected she would have to endure questions about all her friends and anyone else that she had spoken to after the test. Her reactions to their questions would be genuine and honest and the security truth fields would show that. He was hoping that this would lead to her being made to take the test again. Since she had never spoken with him and had not seen him when he gazed at her, then it should be impossible for the investigators to connect them, he determined.
Tag’s wildest dream didn’t touch what he saw when the floater stopped at school. There was a heavy security floater unloading boxes, and ten security speed floaters parked around the entrance. That was a lot, but what really concerned him was the company of armed naval marines in full battle armor surrounding the school. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, fearing that the enforcement division had been able to tie the theft and the fight together.
“Here goes nothing,” he thought.
Chapter 7
C hief Inspector Esa Connor looked around the crime scene and tried to picture what happened. Usually he had no problem determining the sequence of events of a crime. But this one had him really confused. “The pieces just don’t fit,” he thought. There were eight emergency vehicles parked around the crime scene, and their flashing lights almost made the area look like a dance club. The blood on the wall and ground looked black instead of red in the flashing blue and violet lights. The bodies were sprawled along the wall of a building with the two shooters on each end possessing all the weapons that were used in the fight, two of them being the knives stuck in the men. “Someone obviously made a point with those two,” Connor thought. The two dead men in the center looked like they had been beaten with a small building. “Looks like head trauma killed both of them, not the broken and cut arms. I just can’t figure the order here. One thing for certain, these four look like eight miles of bad highway,” he thought.
Danielle Ash, a Directorate medical technician, inserted the electronic beam into a victim’s mouth and recorded the results on her med screen. She had arrived thirty minutes earlier and had immediately started her analysis. The flashing strobe lights of the security floaters made the crime scene look otherworldly. The bodies on the sidewalk next to the building looked almost plastic in the flashes that were being reflected off the crystal windows of the building. This was her third straight shift and she was starting to feel the fatigue. “Be sharp,” she commanded herself. “Inspector Connor won’t tolerate sloppiness.” Her supervisor had assigned her a third shift knowing how tired she was. Danielle suspected that her supervisor felt threatened by the quality of her work, so she was assigned shifts where superiors wouldn’t be around to see her. “Looks like she made a mistake tonight,” Danielle thought as she probed the second body.
She was small, standing only five feet five and weighing 125 pounds. She had her blond hair tied into a braid that hung below her shoulders and she wore the customary helmet with faceplate as she examined the four dead bodies. She had to use leverage to move them, but she was capable of handling the weight. “This doesn’t make sense,” she thought again, and began taking her readings with a different unit. Her brow was furrowed as she commed army headquarters for information and went back to her readings. She noticed that two more floaters were moving toward the crime scene. “Maybe someone else can make sense of this,” she thought. She had just turned nineteen the week before and knew she was young and had only eight months experience, but she had taken a lot of time to study crime cases to learn her craft. She had never read about anything that came close to the readings she had just made. Inspector Sinclair walked up to her and asked her to report her findings to Chief Inspector Connor as soon as she finished her analysis. She gathered her materials and walked toward the man who was head of all continental security. She had already taken three readings, and taking more was not going to change them. “It is what it is,” she thought. “Be sharp,” she commanded herself again.
“John, what do you make of this?” Chief Inspector Connor asked Inspector Sinclair. “Do you think one person did this? Do you have the video footage yet from the cameras? Which one do you think was killed first?” He rattled off question after question.
John Sinclair, Inspector Connor’s second in command and an eighteen-year veteran on the force, said, “Slow down, Esa. The medical technician is electro-probing their brains now to determine the exact time of death. Also, since this looks like it was done in hand-to-hand fighting, I’ve called my liaison with the military and they’re going to send a Lieutenant Colonel Ortiz, who is an expert, and I believe that’s his floater that just landed over by the medical sled. I’m having monitoring service send the video from the cameras to your floater’s computer and it should be here in less than two minutes.”
John suddenly held his communicator to his ear and said, “Okay. If you think it’s necessary, then come on.” He then turned to Chief Inspector Connor and said, “Major Daniels is coming down here in person to discuss the video footage that was taken tonight.”
Inspector Connor raised his eyebrows and John said, “I know. It’s highly unusual that the head of city monitoring would take the time to visit a crime scene. For that matter, I’ve never heard of him leaving his surveillance duties for any reason. He should be here momentarily. He also says that a Sergeant Garcia will be joining us in about ten minutes.”
“I haven’t ever heard of him going to a crime scene, either,” Inspector Connor said, “so there must be something very unusual that happened here on the video tonight. John, I want you to bring the medical technician as soon as she gets her readings, then get Colonel Ortiz and Major Daniels and meet me over at the wall where all this happened. Tell Jack to bring Sergeant Garcia over when he arrives.”
“Yes sir,” John said.
Esa stood at the wall where four men had lost their lives. He slowly walked from body to body, looking at how they fell, trying to piece together how this had taken place. He looked up the wall of the towering building, but there was solid crystal as far as the eye could see. It would be almost impossible to break one of those windows, and there were no crystal shards around the crime scene. The pieces just didn’t seem to fit. There had to be more information. “These men were poorly dressed,” he thought. “Unfortunately, most criminals today are similarly dressed; poverty is a cruel mistress.” Then he noticed John approaching with the others.
“Inspector Connor, this is Danielle Ash, the medical technician who took the readings for time of death,” John said.
Inspector Connor thought she was rather small for the type of work she did, especially having to move dead bodies. She was only five feet four or five feet five, slim build, and quite pretty, almost too pretty, with sparkling blue eyes. There was something about her eyes that spoke of high intelligence. “I bet she could be distracting,” he thought. He could see in her expression that something was bothering her. “We’ll get to that in a minute,” he decided.
“This is Colonel Ortiz, our hand-to-hand combat expert, and Major Daniels, head of metropolitan monitoring service, whom I think you know,” John said.
“Good evening,” Esa said. “I need some help here, people. Major Daniels, I’m surprised to see you here, but I suspect you have something important to tell us that might help us understand what happened tonight, and Colonel Ortiz, I hope you can make sense of how these men were killed. Who would like to go first?”
“I ne
ed to know which man was killed first, then second, third, and so on before I can accurately put together what I think happened,” Colonel Ortiz said. “Then, if you have any video, I’d like to see that.” Colonel Ortiz was dressed in his civilian clothes, but there was no mistaking he was military. He had short hair, a stocky build, and deep-set eyes, and moved with an economy of motion.
“This is a very dangerous individual,” Esa thought, then said, “Okay, Miss Ash, why don’t you share your findings with us so we can get started?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, “but I think you’re going to find them hard to believe; I took the readings three times and they didn’t change.”
“Why is that?” Colonel Ortiz asked.
“Because all four men were killed in less than six seconds,” she replied.
Inspector Connor was stunned and, glancing at Colonel Ortiz, he could tell that he was also surprised by her response. He said, “Slow down, let’s go over your data step by step.”
“All right, here’s what I’ve been able to determine,” Danielle said. “The first one to die was the gunman on the right.” She turned and pointed at the body with the knife protruding from an eye socket. “He died at exactly 11:46:11 by a knife that entered his right eye. The second one to die was the gunman on the left, and he died at exactly 11:46:13 by a knife puncturing the main artery in his heart. The third one to die was this fellow with the broken arm. He died from massive head trauma. Apparently he was slammed into the wall face first. His time of death was 11:46:15. The last one to die was this man with the severed tendons in his wrist. He also died from massive head trauma. Apparently he was thrown back hard enough to fracture his skull on the concrete. His time of death was 11:46:17. I checked my readings three times, and I used a different probe the third time, and the readings still didn’t change. I’ve matched the third victim with the blood on the wall here,” she said, and she pointed to a bloody spot on the wall about head high. “Also, the blood on the concrete here next to the fourth man matches his blood.”
“Thank you,” Colonel Ortiz said. “Is there anything else you’d like to add, Miss Ash?”
“Yes, there is one more thing,” she said. “The first and fourth victim had army serial numbers on their arms.”
“How do you know they’re army?” Colonel Ortiz asked quickly.
“I’ve run into serial numbers on victims before, so I went to defense five months ago and learned how to tell the difference between the different military branches,” she replied. “All army serial numbers begin with a ‘T’ and end with a ‘Z.’”
Colonel Ortiz was impressed. “You’re absolutely right,” he said.
“John, please contact defense and ask them to run a check on those serial numbers,” Inspector Connor said.
“I’ve already done that, Inspector. I used your name and they promised the results within the hour. I also asked them to flash it to the computer on your floater,” Danielle said.
“Thank you very much, Miss Ash,” Esa told her. This young technician impressed him. He made a mental note to get John to look into her work history to see if she could be transferred into his division. Most technicians her age were too timid to make a decision on their own, much less go out of their way to gather information.
“I think it’s my turn now,” Major Daniels said. “I’ve had my department download the material to your computer, Inspector. I’ve also brought a display to show the live tape on what happened here.”
He then opened his display, set it down on the floater, and said to the group, “There were six people involved tonight, and what I would like to do is show you what video we have on each participant. After we look at each one, I’ll combine all the videos into one screen so you can see how all their movements worked together.”
So they watched the videos and saw the five men moving through the park, the street, and the sidewalk until all five arrived at this point together. As they watched the video they would look out into the park at the routes that the five men used.
“Now, before I put all these together into one video, is there anything that stands out from what you’ve seen?” Major Daniels asked.
John Sinclair replied, “It’s clear to me that these five were working together. They were looking at each other as they moved, and I’m willing to wager that they all arrive at this point at the same time. Does anyone see anything different?”
Danielle said, “I don’t see anything on the man leaning against the wall.”
“I’ll get to that in a few minutes,” Major Daniels said.
“No, I agree,” said Inspector Connor. “Other than the points just made, I think we can all agree that they were working together. Let’s continue.”
“What I’m going to do now is show you the live tape we have. Understand that where this took place was covered with only one camera, so you’ll see ten seconds of video, then the camera will swing away, then swing back for ten seconds. All right, here goes,” Major Daniels said, and he started his display again.
The camera showed the wall, and no one was there. Then they could see it swing away and show the wall in the opposite direction. Then it swung back, and there were the five men surrounding someone sitting against the wall. As they watched they could see that one of the men was talking to the person sitting against the wall.
Major Daniels stopped the video at this point and said, “I want you to notice a few things.” He brought the video in close to the man on the right, and brought the view in tight to the man’s right hand, where they could see he had a gun pressed against his leg. As Major Daniels moved the video to a wider view he said, “Notice that this man is scanning the area away from where that man is sitting against the wall. I won’t take the time to look at the man on the left, you can do that on your own, but he’s doing the same thing. It seems their duty was to prevent anyone from interfering with what was about to happen.”
Colonel Ortiz said, “That is standard military practice. You place your scouts on the perimeter to make sure your main force isn’t surprised. Did everyone notice that they all arrived at the same time and that their victim was right in the center of their group?”
“So you think the man sitting against the wall was intended to be a victim, Colonel?” asked Inspector Connor.
“I think that’s obvious, and I think you’ll see why as soon as Major Daniels shows you close-ups of the three center men.”
“You’re a good observer, Colonel,” Major Daniels said. “I’ll show you what he’s talking about, Inspector.” He then moved the video to a close-up of the three center men. As the men moved in closer on the screen, they could see that there was something in their hands. Major Daniels then showed clear video that each man had a knife pointed at the person sitting against the wall.
“As you can see,” said Colonel Ortiz, “these three men in the center have their knives out and are moving in on whoever that is against the wall. These three are the attacking force. The big man in the center is the blocker. His job is to prevent the victim from trying to run. The men on each side of him are the strike force that will attack the victim simultaneously. These men have done this before. They moved into position smoothly and every man knew his place.”
“There’s something else,” said Danielle. “Major Daniels, can you give me a close-up of the knives that are being held by the man to the right and left of the center man?”
Major Daniels didn’t say anything, but almost immediately the screen split in half. On one side was a hand holding a serrated military knife, and on the other side of the screen was a hand holding a notched throwing knife.
Danielle walked up to the screen, pointed to the serrated military knife, and said, “This is the knife that severed the tendons in the fourth victim’s arm, and it’s also the knife in the first victim’s eye.” She then pointed to the other knife and said, “This is the knife that punctured the heart of the gunman on the left. One more thing,” she said. “Major Daniels, will you now show the pi
cture of the three men again?” Immediately the picture was back on the screen. “I want you to notice that the man holding the serrated blade, standing right here,” and she pointed to the man on the screen, “had the arm holding the knife broken at the elbow.” She paused for a moment and then said, “And this man holding the notched knife had the tendons severed in his wrist on the arm that he was using to hold his knife.”
They all looked at each other while the implications of what she said sank in.
Major Daniels said, “Let’s continue the video.” And immediately on the screen the camera started moving away from the six people arrayed at the wall. They then watched the camera swing back and saw that four of the five men were sprawled on the sidewalk. They also saw the big man in the center still looking at the man sitting against the wall. The camera paused and, before it swung away, they could see the two men on the screen talking. When the camera swung back again the big man and the man against wall were gone and only the four dead bodies remained.
“Just a little more,” said Major Daniels. “One of my monitors took over manual control of the cameras in this area when one of them picked up the sound of gunshots.” He then started the video again, and they saw the big man running down the street until he came to an entrance into a building and went through it. The view then switched to the corridor that the big man entered. There were hundreds of people moving and they lost sight of him. “We lost him in the crowd.”
“How far were you able to follow the man sitting against the wall?” Esa asked.
“I’ll get to that in a minute,” Major Daniels said. “When our system detected two gunshots, one of the monitors on duty immediately took manual control of all the cameras in this area.”
Inspector Connor said, “Victim number two fired his gun twice. I don’t think he hit anyone, because the four dead men had no bullets in them, and there was no blood where the big man was standing or where the other man was sitting.”