by HA Fortman
David stepped to the microphones and waited for the din of low conversations to gradually die before he cleared his throat. “As many of you know we’ve been working hard at capturing the person calling himself ‘Zodiac’. Several of you have had letters written that you placed in the paper at our behest.
“Let me refresh what we do know in case some of you haven’t followed.” Chase watched as David paused to let the laughter of the crowd die down. “We know that the suspect does not have an MO, or motive of operation, there is no rhyme or reason to his attacks. Just as there is no one set method for each of the killings. We do know that he is armed and highly dangerous and ask that you make it exceptionally clear that should anyone see him to please not approach him but to call the police. There have been both male and female victims and as such we cannot say what exactly ties them all together or why they were assaulted and ultimately lost their lives.
“Now what you don’t know is that there has indeed been another assault. I say that because the victim is still alive. She was able to meet with our sketch artist after giving a statement and being placed into protective custody. As such there is a press packet full of information regarding the case. In it you will find a copy of the composite drawing, the physical description, and other information.” Chase approved that David kept it brief but to the point and gave the impression that he was used to dealing with the voracious crowd.
In the stunned silence that followed the only thing that could be heard was the rapid scratching of several pens against paper… and that annoying high pitched screeching noise. Chase had a bad feeling and turned to lead Elisa rapidly from the area.
As he passed behind the two men his heart began to hammer in his chest as fear caused adrenaline to thunder through his body. ”Half team to the port side close to the area where the men are by the doors, there is something causing a disturbance.”
He watched from the corner of his eye as half of the twelve person team from his ship detached themselves one or two at a time from various parts of the gathered throng and make their way to where the sound was emanating from.
“There is something here Commander, but we are not sure what it is and do not dare risk taking a closer look. It appears to be a small box hidden inside the floral arrangement planted beside the doors.” Chouvak’s voice was strained and Chase knew she was fighting with the desire to get a closer look.
“Can you throw a containment field around it without alerting anyone else?” Chase asked as he caught David’s attention and nodded towards the side where this device was. Once the other man gave a slight nod in understanding Chase made his way Elisa’s car.
He didn’t even bother to contain the growl when he caught the distinct scent of his brother all over the area. That device wasn’t there when they had arrived, it wasn’t there with the majority of the press reporters and their entourage arrived, meant only one thing… Mestrock was there. His brother was there and he was targeting his woman and all of these innocent people.
Chapter 24
Elisa was lost in her own head. Her mind was reliving the horror of that night all over again. She needed to heal, she needed to find closure, and to do that she had to find the means to face it. Somehow she knew she’d be able to lean against Chase and he would do all he could to help her.
She was sad that the police decided to not let her make her stand and tell the press what had happened to her, but some small part of her was glad as well. In a way she could understand why they wouldn’t let her as it wasn’t safe for her.
Having the mass of people stare at her with pity when they saw her bruised continence as she made her way to the parking lot was more than enough to deal with.
“Hurry, Chase, I want to get out of here.” Elisa’s muttered words were trapped against his chest when she turned her face into his warmth. She knew it was a weak thing to do, but she really didn’t want to be stared at and some of the reporters were turning toward them.
Distantly, she heard David comment that the victim had been taken to a safe house days ago and was no longer in the vicinity. This made her scoff and fight back a retort. She wasn’t hiding in some safe house, she was standing right in front of them and they had no clue.
When they finally made it to her old Chevy Chase helped her into the driver’s side before he rapidly made his way to the passenger side and slamming the door.
Chase ever so softly leaned to the side and brushed a strand of hair off of her face. “Take us home, Anare. Take us out of here so we can get you into a hot bath and some food into you.”
“That sounds really good Chase. Talk to me? Your voice is soothing and I’m so wound up I don’t think I could sleep or rest or even relax.” She said as she rested her head back against the headrest of the seat. When he finally spoke, she leaned forward and started to drive them from the station.
“What would you like to know, Anare?”
“Why do they call you Chase?” She asked.
“My people believe that names hold power. As such, when we are born, only our families know the true name. We are then given a name that we use until we complete a trial of adulthood. It varies for each person and is usually a trial passed down through families.” As Chase spoke his voice started to soothe Elisa. The deep timbre lulled her like nothing could in the last few days. It helped to ease the tension running rampant.
“So Chase isn’t your real name then? I didn’t think it was since it’s so… human.”
Chase chuckled and turned away from her, he studied the crowds carefully before losing sight of them as the old rust colored Chevy Impala moved out onto the streets. “It is but it is not. I was rather surprised that our languages are so similar. There are minute differences, such as you have when you compare different regions, but the base language is almost identical.”
“I figured that that was why you didn’t have much of an accent. That or something to do with the do-hickey you implanted in me. What sort of adult test did you have to do?”
“The Trial of Adulthood as I said, it is a test of one's skills. Usually held once the person has completed their choice of schooling, for me it was when I completed basics in the military. I started as security and as such I was given an assignment by my superior officer, who just happened to be one of my parental units, to track down and hunt a dangerous criminal. Once I was given the chase I did not let up, even though seriously injured when I finally found her, until she was arrested and set to stand trial.”
“What did she do?” Curiosity was evident in Elisa’s voice and she kept taking quick glances at Chase as she drove.
She didn’t miss the way Chase was tightening and loosening his hands as they rested on his thighs, the way he kept consciously tightening all of his body in fact, in an attempt to stay relaxed.
“She would find someone of wealth and seduce them until they joined. Once she was assured of her place in their lives and was given access to everything they owned she would start selling off things; business assets, houses, transports, and the like. If the male or female because suspicious than she would cause an accident or somehow kill them off. She was so skilled at doing this that not many people caught on.” Chase said as he stared off into the distance, obviously lost in his memories.
“It wasn’t until she became desperate after her last target survived and she kidnapped his daughter that people began to dig deeper. And the deeper we dug, the more we discovered. She had 6 others that she’d killed off and with none-the-wiser had amassed quite a large sum of funds.
“I found her in a far off satellite moon base that had been abandoned because of the leaking radiation from the nearby blue star. Only I didn’t know it was rigged with traps until accidentally setting one off. I was injured, but managed to save the child and myself. Unfortunately the woman did not survive and instead she chose to take her own life.”
Seeming to come out of his trance Chase shook his head slightly and peers over at Elisa before saying, “Because I would not give up
the chase no matter what difficulties I faced, one of my fathers deemed me adult and chose to name me ‘Chase’… I chose to keep it in honor of him.”
“As for the Cortex recorder, while it does have the option to allow you to hear me, much as you remember Tracker speaking yesterday, but it does so much more. It allows me to monitor each and every member of my crew, speak to them without vocalizing, and even allows for one to record everything. That makes reporting a lot easier as nothing is left out. If someone does not see something they might unintentionally leave it out of the report, or they might choose to not place it there if it were something they didn’t want others to know. It usually keeps everyone honest, but there are ways to disable the reporting feature.” Chase said as he shrugged his shoulders.
When his voice died off, Elisa turned to study him. “Is that why you are after your brother? He turned off his recorder?”
Slowly Chase shook his head. She watched as his fingers tightened into fists that were so tight the knuckles turned bright white. “No. I was sent here to gather as much evidence as I could to bring him to justice. He was suspected of killing on our home world, but we did not have quite enough proof.
“As you know, I visited the sites of the murders and gathered what evidence I could and sent it back to my superiors. At all of the places where the bodies were left there were distinct markings left within the area, calling cards from my brother to show that he had done them. Along with his scent markers there were scratch marks left in what your people assumed were random patterns, but were in actuality our written language.”
“What… what did he do back on your home world?” Elisa didn’t want to ask but she had to know.
“It started off small. He would hurt animals and laugh at their pain. When our families noticed they tried to send him for reconditioning and treatment, but he always convinced the centers that he was fine and wanted to come home.” Chase was so upset that his voice was growling and a muscle in his jaw started clenching over and over again. “We shared Cimba… what you would call a dog… She was very affectionate and loved without question. He lured her into a secluded area and beat her to death.”
Chase cut his eyes to Elisa and back to the road so rapidly that she was sure she had imagined it. What she did notice though was the devastation in his voice, and the fact that her assault and the pets were so similar. It made sense in a twisted sort of way. They say that most psychotic killers start with abusing animals. Add in that both she and Cimba were something Chase loved…
“Is he jealous of you Chase? Is that why he killed your pet and then attacked me? A twisted kind of jealous ‘if I can’t have it, you can’t either’?” Elisa asked softly while she laid her hand gently across his forearm.
Chase nodded slightly, just a bare dip of his chin.
It appeared as though he was focused on the driving, but that wasn’t completely true as he finally spoke, “I found her then too. She used to have this amazing purple fur that looked like flames that would ripple along her body when she was happy. She fairly radiated happiness over the simplest things. She was small for an Ostro, the breed usually standing easily four feet in height, but Cimba only stood three feet tall. They look like a cross of your dog and a monkey. Instead of the paws that your dogs have, she had little fingers.”
As Chase’s voice died off, Elisa pulled into her long driveway and parked her car. With the engine turned off, she spun in her seat and faced Chase, waiting for him to decide if he would go on.
His voice was a soft whisper of sound, “she didn’t stand a chance. There was so much blood everywhere and she was barely holding on. I couldn’t do anything more than hold her and try to comfort her till the end. I still don’t fully understand why he did it, but I vowed on that day that I would not stop until he paid for what he did.”
Elisa reached across the short distance separating them and wrapped her arms around him, giving him what comfort she could. She knew a man such as Chase would not allow the tears to fall, but she didn’t think he would be adverse to whatever comfort she offered, and she wasn’t disappointed when he wrapped her in his warm arms.
When he pulled away it was with a soft kiss pressed to Elisa’s forehead.
“Let us retire inside my Anare, where we can see to a meal and a bath,” words whispered against her flesh sent a skittering of heat down her spine.
“That sounds like a great idea Chase.”
Chapter 25
After they had made a meal, an adventure in itself as Chase pestered Elisa with questions non-stop until she finally told him to leave the kitchen area, they left the room. Elisa went to take a nice long soak while Chase did… whatever it was commanders did. She really wasn’t sure, but it had something to do with reports and shifts and some other things that she was not really interested in.
Soaking in the hot water, hot enough for steam to curl and soak the hair around her temples and forehead, Elisa let the temperature soothe her aching body. She tried to ignore the pain throughout the days since the assault, but she couldn’t deny that it had always been a presence in the back of her mind. It constantly reminded her that she wasn’t running at full capacity.
While she was cooking she’d reached overhead into one of the cupboards and nearly cried as the sharp pain stretched the bruising along her torso. She was just glad that Chase hadn’t seen it or she just knew he would have thrown a fit.
As the water began to cool in the tub Elisa came to one conclusion. Though they hadn’t known each other long, she couldn’t deny that there was something there that attracted her to him. Every time she saw him there was a rush of tingles that tickled her from head to toe, a clenching of her abdomen that wouldn’t be denied. She’d never felt this way for someone before, but she knew her parents had felt the same feelings. They’d often told her of how they only knew each other a few short days before they knew they were meant for each other. “Oh, Mom, I wish you were here. I so need your advice.” Elisa whispered the words to the steam.
“Are you alright in there Elisa?” Chase’s voice cuts through the memories that were trying to take hold.
Rapidly using her soaked washcloth Elisa dried the tears that were starting to fall. She hated crying, hated looking and feeling weak, but every time she thought of her parents and their lives that were cut short the tears would always fall.
“Yes, Chase, I’m ok. I’m getting out now. Did you get everything sorted that you needed to do?”
The sloshing of water as Elisa climbed out of the tub was only drowned out by the sound of the plug being pulled. The gurgle was loud enough that she wasn’t able to clearly hear what he said.
Elisa quickly dried herself with a large fluffy beige towel and wrapped herself in her dark robe once she was dry enough. Opening the door, she asked him to repeat himself before turning back toward the mirror and brushing her hair out. She missed the stunned look on the man’s face, the piercing blue eyes narrowing with an acute need.
“I said that I had finished all that needed to be done.” Chase couldn’t keep the soft growl out of his voice as he gazed at her. It was enough that she paused with the brush half way through her long locks, teasing him with a glimpse of her breast as the robe billowed out slightly, until she felt him take the brush from her limp hand and continue with the long slow strokes through her hair. “I have men stationed all around the area. They are hiding but still able to see clearly. The detective has a ‘marked unit’, I believe it to be the car outside on the street with the lights on top, as well as another team hidden down the road.”
She didn’t really care who or what was where. She couldn’t bring herself to concentrate on the words Chase spoke. Her entire focus was on the heat radiating through the robe as he stood behind her, the almost hypnotizing sound of his voice, and the tender care he took brushing her hair out.
Moaning softly she turned and grabbed the brush from his hand and dropping it to the counter behind her before running her hands over his chest. “We can’t do
this now. We need to catch your brother first.”
“I know Elisa, I know. Much as I would rather spend the night wrapped around you, we need to focus. You should get dressed just in case he shows up. I do not want him or anyone else seeing you with just a robe.” Chase said as he grabbed the lapels of said robe and tugged lightly.
Stepping back with a slight smile Elisa nodded and turned to leave. She’d laid out a pair of comfortable jeans and a light colored shirt on the bed before taking the bath and now changed into them. While she would rather lie in the bed and try to sleep, she didn’t think she’d be able to without Chase being there to keep the nightmares at bay.
After she had dressed and returned to the living room, she joined Chase on the couch. In his hands was what she could only assume was a gun, as it looked like one she’d seen many cops carrying on their hips, although it was a lot smaller. “What is that Chase?”
Elisa watched as he fiddled with the back of it, adjusting some knob above where his hand gripped it. “It is a stunner. I want you to have it with you all of the time just in case. I do not think it will be needed, but I will feel better with knowing you have it.”
To say that she was surprised would be an understatement. And it was clear she had no idea how to use it, she’d never even shot a normal gun.
“Chase… I don’t…” before she could finish he shoved the stunner in her hands, cupping her smaller ones until they gripped the handle.
“I am aware that you do not know how to use it, but I will show you. Please, Elisa, I need to know you will be able to protect yourself should anything happen, especially after explosive device at the station. I do not like the thought of you being without should you need it.” Chase said.
“Ok, Chase. I’ll keep it with me just in case, but I hope I never have to use it.”
After he spent time showing her the various controls and how to use the weapon Elisa felt a little better having it. She couldn’t really blame him though. Lord knows she didn’t want to be without some means of protecting herself.