Tessa pointed towards a row of flames in Dzubenko’s backyard. “It’s the grass in Dzubenko’s yard!”
Danny stared at the small fire and felt his heart constrict in his chest. “He’s starting.”
They sat frozen, unsure what action to take. A siren flying by the cross street behind them made both detectives jump.
“That was a fire engine,” Tessa said.
The police radio crackled to life and the two detectives listened to the report of a fire in an abandoned building on River Street.
“His work,” Danny said. “I’m sure of it.”
As the fire in Dzubenko’s yard started to spread, Dzubenko himself emerged from his house. He stood next to the flames and stared directly at Danny and Tessa.
“He knows we’re here,” Tessa said. “He’s been watching us.”
Before either could get out of the car, Dzubenko disappeared into the smoke.
“Jesus Christ,” Danny said. “Let’s get over there.”
They each took their guns from their holsters and ran to Dzubenko’s house. Tessa pointed towards the far end. “I’ll take this side,” she called.
Danny nodded and ran around the back to the steadily growing fire. He saw Tessa on the other side of the yard, with Dzubenko coming up behind her.
“Tessa! Behind you!” he yelled.
Danny saw Dzubenko grab Tessa around the neck before she could turn and stop him. He started to run towards her just as the fire erupted and turned into a wall of flame separating him from the other half of Dzubenko’s yard.
“Tessa!” Danny screamed.
He ran around to the front of the house and towards the side where Tessa had dropped out of sight just seconds earlier. He saw nothing but the inferno Dzubenko’s yard had become. Over the roar of the flames, Danny heard chanting. The chanting Melissa and Bob had heard, he was sure of it.
“Dzubenko? You son of a bitch!”
The chanting grew faint as Danny ran to the front of the house and frantically looked through the windows, desperate for a sign of his partner. The house was empty, save for a circle of candles and an ancient book opened to what must have been Dzubenko’s spells.
He ran back to the yard, calling for Tessa again and again. As he reached the yard, the fire died out as quickly as it had begun. Nothing remained but a few dying embers. Danny ran through the smoldering grass to the spot where he had seen Dzubenko first grab Tessa. He found nothing there but her gun.
As he grabbed his phone to call Jack and ask for help, it rang, startling him and causing him to nearly drop it. He felt a gush of relief as he saw the caller ID.
“Tessa?” he answered. “You’re okay?”
“She’s okay for now,” Jamie said. “That won’t be the case for much longer though.”
“God damn you. Where are you? Where have you taken her?”
“I’m in my car right now and your partner is with me. I parked a few blocks over yesterday just in case some idiots like you were outside my house when I was ready to begin the festival.”
“You’re in your car? You know I can trace that right? You dumbass.”
“You could have traced it, yes. Except that I stole someone else’s car in order to prepare for my event. If you look you’ll see my own car is parked right in front of my place. In fact you’re probably standing next to it right now. A blue Honda?”
“Fuck you. I can run traces on all the stolen cars then. I’ll find you.”
“I’m actually hoping you will find me. So much so that I’m giving you a little hint.”
“What is it?”
“I’m taking your partner to where it all began for me. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Vulcanalia.”
Jamie ended the call before Danny could respond.
Danny stood in the street, wanting to throw his phone on the ground and smash it to bits but knowing that wouldn’t solve anything except taking away his ability to communicate with Dzubenko and, by extension, Tessa. He walked quickly back to his car, forcing himself not to look at Tessa’s car and the bottle of beer that he had just set in her cup holder minutes earlier. He didn’t even notice the increase of sirens, their noises now reverberating across the city.
Sliding into his car, he called Jack before turning on the ignition.
“Fitzpatrick?”
“Yes. I need help, Jack. Or more accurately, Tessa needs help.”
“What? What the hell happened? What are you two doing?”
“We were staking out Dzubenko.”
“What? Jesus Christ!”
“We were right about him. Now he’s got Tessa and he’s going to kill her if we can’t find her first.”
“How do you know this? What happened?”
Danny quickly explained the fire, Tessa’s disappearance, and the call made from her phone. “Dzubenko’s driving a stolen car,” he said. “We need to go through all the cars stolen in the last few days. Or maybe in the whole goddamn month. Who knows when he stole it?”
“I’ll get every officer available on it. We’ve also got fires going off all over the city. I wonder if he’s bringing her to one of those.”
“Where are they?”
“All over! All abandoned buildings so far. The first one was called in a little after midnight. Since then we’ve had five more calls. From what I’ve heard from the fire department they all seem to have started burning at the same time.”
“I don’t think he’s taking her to one of them,” Danny said. “The hint he gave was that he was taking her where he started.”
“Griffin Park?” Jack said. “Where he killed Fugate?”
“Maybe. I’ll head over there. Can you send back-up?”
“On it.”
Danny hung up without further conversation.
****
Chapter 59
As Danny drove towards Griffin Park, he knew he was headed in the wrong direction. It was a good guess, but it was wrong. The park wasn’t what Jamie meant when he said he was going where it all started.
Danny kept driving the same way as he tried to think of another place Jamie could be headed. Where had it all started for him?
Danny swerved to the side of the road to avoid a fire truck that came speeding up behind him and was steadily blowing its horn at the few drivers on the road. He watched as the truck careened off ahead of him, hoping that it was headed towards another empty building and not a person or a house.
A house. Danny tapped his fingers on his steering wheel and thought back to his meeting with Frank Wainscott. He had been so certain that Jamie Dzubenko had burned down his family’s house. Had that been where it all started for him?
Danny quickly brought up the case file from the documents on his phone and looked up the Dzubenko address. He recognized the street name, as it was now the focus of a debate over what to do with the land. The houses had been razed as part of an economic development plan prior to the start of the recession in 2008. The company had gone bottom up in the recession and the development had been stalled for years. It was now nothing more than an abandoned street with half-built retail and office buildings that would never be finished.
That was where Dzubenko had Tessa, Danny was sure of it. He would be there now, waiting for Danny to show up. He grabbed his phone to call Jack as he turned the car around and tore off in the opposite direction, ignoring the blare of horns and speeding through a red light. Danny had no intention of making Dzubenko wait long.
****
Chapter 60
Danny pulled into the abandoned industrial development that had once been the street where Jamie Dzubenko lived as a child and instantly felt removed from the sirens, screams, and flames that were terrorizing the rest of Fairbanks. There was nothing and no one here but Dzubenko, Tessa and himself.
A half-built parking garage stood to the left of the development entrance next to a pottery store sign with merely the shell of a building attached to it. Across the drive, a planned bookstore and café were no mo
re than foundation and two disconnected walls. Danny had no idea where the Dzubenko house had been in this now razed neighborhood, but he knew it wouldn’t be that hard to find him, wherever he was holding Tessa. There was nowhere for him to hide here.
Dzubenko had no intention of hiding, as Danny quickly discovered when the man stepped out in front of his car. He dragged Tessa beside him, his arm locked around her neck. Danny swallowed his rage and stopped driving. He stepped out, his gun in his hand before he got out of the car.
“That gun isn’t going to do you any good Detective Fitzpatrick,” Dzubenko said.
“I beg to differ on that.”
Danny sniffed the air, smelling the unmistakable stench of burned flesh. He glanced at Tessa and noticed a smoking patch of burned skin on her arm. Her face was contorted with both pain and terror.
“You piece of shit,” Danny said.
“You mean because of Detective Washington’s arm? I just needed to keep her in line until you got here. I wanted to get you both together. The two of you have been such a thorn in my side. But back to your gun, I’m not afraid of it. I’m not one of your usual dirtbag suspects. I’m above all that. Would Vulcan be afraid of a gun?”
“Listen jackass, the only Vulcan I know anything about is Mr. Spock so your dramatic monologue is wasted on me. Let Tessa go before I show you just what my gun and I can do to you.”
As he talked, Danny remembered the amulet Madeline Locklear had given him. He kept his gun on Dzubenko as he fished in his pocket and found it. He threw it to Tessa and was amazed when she managed to catch it in spite of Dzubenko’s grip around her neck. Fear and pain clearly hadn’t slowed her reflexes.
“Hang on to that, Tessa,” Danny yelled. He felt a sliver of hope that the amulet may actually be worth something when he saw it start to brighten in Tessa’s hand.
Jamie glanced down at the now glowing amulet. His lip curled in disgust. “Is that from that quack Locklear?”
“I’m thinking she might not be such a quack,” Danny answered.
“Are you really foolish enough to think a touchy-feely moron like that can stop me? You think she has a single clue about my kind of magic?”
Danny shrugged. “No harm in trying.”
“You’re wrong about that. But your partner’s the one who is going to feel the harm.”
“What?” Tessa said, the first sound she had made since Danny arrived.
Before she could say another word, Jamie muttered something unintelligible and the amulet’s glow became a pulsating red. Within an instant, it turned to fire in Tessa’s hand. She screamed and dropped the amulet, which burned out and shriveled into dust at her feet.
“Still think Locklear might be able to stop me?”
Danny released the safety on his gun and pointed it straight at Dzubenko’s head. “I knew it was a longshot,” he said. “I’m not though. And I’m done playing games with you now, asshole. Let Tessa go and step away from her.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’s not gonna take much for me to blow your head off your neck, Dzubenko. Let her go goddammit!”
Danny could feel his forehead beading with sweat and his heart begin to beat erratically in his chest. His hands shook as he pointed the gun. Thoughts of the last time he had aimed a gun at another human being flooded his mind.
“Fuck this,” he said aloud. “You won’t screw it up this time.”
“Screw what up?” Dzubenko asked.
“Nothing. I was talking to myself. And now I’m giving you one more chance. Let my partner go before I shoot you down like a goddamn dog.”
Instead of responding, Dzubenko began chanting. His eyes rolled back in his head as he spoke.
“YA zaklykayu BEELZEBUTH~, LUCIFER~,” he said. “MADILON…”
“What are you saying?” Danny yelled. “Shut up and let her go, Dzubenko!”
“SOLYMO~, SAROY ~, Vizyt!”
Flames erupted on Tessa’s already burned arm. And Aleksei Nechayev’s smug laughter echoed between Danny’s ears.
“Oh my God, no! Please, no! Danny!” Tessa screamed
“Stop chanting, Dzubenko! Shut up and stop chanting!” Danny’s hands trembled, ruining his aim on Dzubenko. “I don’t want to hit you, Tessa. I can’t get a good shot. Goddamit, let her go!”
“Pozhezha!” Jamie yelled, completely ignoring Danny’s commands. “Spalyuvaty!”
Tessa’s leg caught fire as the flames on her arms jumped to her chest. Her screams turned to unintelligible cries of anguish.
“Spalyuvaty!”
“Shut the fuck up!!” Danny screamed.
Danny fired the gun and hit Dzubenko in the arm. He immediately stopped chanting, his trance-like state shattering along with his humerus. He let go of Tessa and looked at Danny in amazement.
“You shot me.”
Tessa fell to the ground, rolling frantically to extinguish the flames.
Danny fired the gun again, this time hitting Dzubenko in the chest and causing him to fall to his knees.
As Dzubenko opened his mouth to speak, Danny fired again. His shot hit Dzubenko’s heart, silencing him for good. Danny stepped closer and fired again. Dzubenko’s blood splattered onto his face and clothing.
He heard the sound of approaching sirens and knew Jack and the other police officers had arrived on the scene. He stood over Dzubenko’s dead body and kept firing until his magazine was empty.
****
Chapter 61
Danny dropped his gun and fell to the ground next to Tessa.
“You alright?” he asked.
Tessa remained silent. She started to shake as if freezing cold.
“Jack and the others are here now,” Danny said. “We’ll get you to the hospital. You’ll be alright.” He put his arm around her shoulders, careful not to touch her burns, which still smoldered as the skin bubbled and burned. In spite of the burns, Tessa’s skin felt clammy and cold.
“We’re even now, yeah?” Danny said, desperate to talk in the hopes of keeping Tessa from going into shock. “You found me in the Arctic and now I found you here.”
Danny rocked Tessa as Jack came running up to the scene.
“Mother of God. What happened?”
“This asshole set Tessa on fire. She’s badly burned and she’s gone into shock. We need to get her to the hospital, now.”
Jack quickly called for paramedics and returned his attention to the scene in front of him. He pointed at Dzubenko’s body. “You shot him?”
“I did. He wouldn’t stop his goddamn chanting. He started the fire with that and was going to burn Tessa alive just like he did to those other people.”
“Chanting. What the hell? How did he set her on fire?”
“Chanting! Didn’t I just say that? It’s some kind of magic. I don’t know how he did it.”
Jack walked to Dzubekno’s lifeless body and glanced at Danny’s emptied gun on the ground next to it.
“How many times did you shoot him?”
“I shot him until he shut up.”
“Was he armed?”
“He was armed with his mouth. And his fire, however he did it.” Danny scowled. “Don’t start with me, Jack. He started to kill Tessa, period. Once she’s been seen by a doctor she’ll be able to tell you herself.”
Jack held up his hands. “Alright, alright. She’s gonna be alright though, isn’t she?”
“She’s got bad burns, I know that much. Look at her for Christ’s sake. Her skin is still bubbling.”
“Jesus Christ Almighty.”
Danny heard the sound of the approaching ambulance, but realized the cacophony of sirens that had reverberated throughout the city earlier that night had stopped.
“Are the other fires still burning?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I talked to the Fire Chief when we were on our way over here. He said the fires were stopping.”
“They stopped when this fucker died,” Danny said, pointing to Dzubenko.
; The forensic investigators and coroner arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area around Dzubenko.
“They really don’t need to do a big investigation,” Danny said. “I’m telling you straight out I shot him. There’s no mystery here.”
“You know we need to cover all the bases,” Jack said.
As the ambulance arrived for Tessa, Danny gently lay her on the ground and stood up, making way for the paramedics.
“You need to be seen yourself?” Jack asked.
“At the hospital? No. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look it.”
“I’m fine.”
He squeezed Tessa’s clammy hand before the paramedics moved her into the ambulance.
“I’ll follow you to the hospital, Tessa,” he said. “But first I’ll go check on Maya for you.”
“We’re going to need to talk about all of this, Fitzpatrick,” Jack said. “You know that as well as I do.”
“We’ll talk about it.”
Danny turned his back on Jack and the rest of the officers and investigators who now swarmed the scene. He walked to his car and drove out of the development, anxious for a drink and a cigarette.
Chapter 62
August 23, 2013 12:00 pm
Danny walked into the police station having not slept in more than 24 hours. He’d at least showered though, so he assumed his colleagues would be able to stand being in the same building with him. He wasn’t sure if he could stand being with himself though. Not even the hottest and longest shower had been able to rid him of the stench of burning flesh, blood and gunpowder.
“Are you okay, Detective Fitzpatrick?” Mark Chambers asked. “I heard you weren’t hurt.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.”
“I stopped at the hospital to check on Detective Washington before I came in this morning but they wouldn’t let me see her. She was still in ICU.”
“She’s burned bad but she’ll be okay,” Danny said.
“Thank God. The fire department is still on guard all over the city but so far it seems the fires stopped during the night.”
“Right. Because we stopped the guy who was setting them.”
Polar (Book 2): Polar Day Page 20