Crimson: The Second in the Trinity Series Novels

by Blade, CG

  “I think we are going to need a new Vice President Ter.”

  “Yes Petra I am one hundred percent sure that one is leaking now.”

  Chapter 19

  INJECTABLE

  Friday October 19th 3:00 PM

  “How long will it take us to arrive in Hawaii Ter?”

  “Calculating the distance of 4,767 miles from Washington D.C. to Hawaii, the altitude, wind speed in knots, and the past performance evaluations of the F-35B’s flight data I have us arriving at the south end of big island of Hawaii in three hours and thirty-four minutes. That is if you use afterburner and refrain from what you refer to as ‘loop-d-loops’ and ‘barrel rolls’.”

  “Okay Ter.” Petra said chuckling as she lifted the jet off 15th Street and began to pull back on the right stick. She ascended vertically to 1,000 feet and began the flight south. “Ter I need to speak to Ray again.”

  “Yes Petra. It is 555-555-0002.”

  Petra flipped the phone open and pushed the appropriate numbers. Holding the phone in her palm in front of her chin with her left hand, she waited as the steady tone that repeated itself every couple of seconds finally clicked.

  “Hello?” the male voice asked curiously on the other end.

  “Hello?” Petra asked, “Ray?”

  “No lady this is not Ray!” He said with a snarky tone.

  “Is Ray there?”

  “No lady Ray isn’t here, this is John, John McLain and I’m a little busy right now!” Some type of explosion occurred on the other end of the line. A woman’s scream followed.

  “Okay sorry.” Petra ended the call and looked down at the screen on the phone. She had misdialed by one digit pressing a ‘one’ instead of a ‘two’. Dialing the correct number this time, she waited again for the call to go through.

  “He sounded busy.”

  “Yes Ter it sounded like someone was trying awfully hard not to die.”

  “Hello?” A different male voice came from the phone once again.

  “Ray?”

  “Yes, Petra is that you?” Ray sounded glad to hear from her.

  “Yes Ray.” Petra watched rain pound the canopy hard as she passed through a black thunder cell at 30,000 feet. “Can you get a message to the President before his State of the Nation Address tomorrow morning?”

  “I don’t see why not. Where are you?”

  “I’m on my way to Hawaii. There seems to be another dish Ray, similar to the ones we took out last year in Washington D.C. I have urgent information for the President. You need to get yourselves to a safe location. I have a bad feeling something big is going down.”

  “Okay I’ll grab Jackie and inform the staff.”

  “Thanks Ray I’ll be in touch.”

  Friday October 19th 1:35 PM HST

  As Petra pulled back on the throttle of the jet approaching the southern tip of the big island, she heard some faint chirping coming from the cockpit’s interior speakers. Reaching for the display screen in front of her, she increased the communication volume slightly. The chirping increased in speed and tone and sounded quite a bit like Petra’s hovering friends.

  “That is Drone Control Petra. We are cruising at 500 feet, the altitude in which the delivery drones currently fly at. This is their airspace window.”

  She slowed the Lightning II to 120 knots surveying the terrain below her easing forward on the flight control joystick leveling off at 200 feet. Following highway 11 on the west side of the island, she spotted several Police Cruisers bunched up below. The flashing strobe lights and beacons on the top of them synchronized with each other as she circled the area tightly.

  “Well look there Ter, that’s interesting.” Petra said flipping the jet on its side descending down to ninety-feet above the earth to get a closer look. Police, doctors, forensic teams, and onlookers were now staring up at her, some of them waving. The tops of palm trees fanned out fluttering in the wind.

  “Yes Petra. It’s the same dish as the two previously destroyed in Washington D.C.”

  Standing tall and proud the thirty-foot tall white tapered spire with an elliptical dish mounted to the top of it looked very out of place against the beautiful lush Hawaiian landscape. Petra pressed the STOVL button on the display and engine exhaust responded pivoting and tilting away as the speedbrakes extended from the top of the jet. She lowered the landing gear and gently set the jet down on the highway several hundred feet away from the crowd of people who were staring at her. Opening the canopy and lifting her foot over the side of the jet onto the ladder her blue flight suit quickly morphed into a sharp set of dress blues. She jumped to the ground as she parked a pair of black sunglasses that squeezed out of her right palm over her nose. Walking like a woman on a mission, she approached the crowd of people standing around the outside of the 2.5 million dollar mansion. Body bags and tarps were scattered around the area as virtual crime scene tape surrounded the five-acre property. The eighty-one degree temperature mixed with sunshine reflected brightly off the black Police Cruisers parked to separate the local gawkers from the mansion’s hidden secrets. Standing under large palm trees, porches, and grouped next to Cruisers, they were shielding themselves from the intense rays of the sun.

  “Petra! Petra! Hello!” People were yelling, waving, and clapping at her from across the street as she approached the scene. Police officers were now checking her out as she approached them. Groups of doctors mixed with their staff were standing around talking and pointing at various ‘situations’ that had been lying in the street tightly covered up so the crowd of people did not have to see the carnage first-hand. Petra stopped at the first body bag she came upon and squatted down next to it. She pulled the zipper from the top and the bag opened it with a crinkle sound revealing a man’s face. He was blue. Cold, blue, and very dead he had a shit-eating grin on his face that went from ear-to-ear. There was noticeable tenting as she eyed the lower part of the unzipped bag around the genital area. That awful smell filled her nostrils again. Scattered around the body were several red circular candies. Petra picked one up and examined it. The sticky candy had been deformed and melted from the hot rays of the sun but she could still make out a small white letter ‘S’ stamped on its surface. She set the candy back down on the scorching asphalt road.

  “He died happy.”

  “It seems that way Ter.”

  While examining the body Petra heard footsteps approaching form behind her. “Aloha Captain Dace welcome to our nightmare. I’m Captain George Pappas of the HPD.” He reached his hand out and she stood up and shook it. He was a handsome man of Mediterranean descent she guessed with a little bit of something else mixed in. He wiped beads of sweat off his face with a handkerchief he pulled from his pants’ pocket. Rows of medals hung from his chest. His Captain’s bars pinned to his perfectly ironed blue uniform shone brightly in the sun. “How did you know about this crime scene? There are no news networks currently running?”

  She looked into his brown eyes and smiled, “The Vice President told me where it was Captain.”

  “Connley ma’am, Vice President Connley told you?”

  “Yes sir. What happened here?”

  “That’s the President of the homeowners association here in Honaunau,” he said sorrowfully looking down at the body below their feet, “Tim Cox, we used to hang out when we were younger, poor guy.” He removed his cap and scratched his greying brown hair with tanned hands, “From what his wife told us it seems he came down here to complain about that.” pointing to the satellite dish sticking up just above the palm trees.

  “Why all the body bags Captain?”

  “Well you have got to hear and see this story to believe it. If I hadn’t seen any of this with my own eyes I probably would have never believed it myself. Come on I’ll show you while we’re waiting for the sniffer to get here.” The two of them walked side-by-side as they approached a Police Cruiser with the bubble top and side doors open wide. A transparent barrier separated the front seats of the Cruiser from the
back. Four men were sitting in the back. Three of the men were huge native Hawaiians or Samoans and the fourth man was a smaller bald Hawaiian man wearing a toga or a ceremonial robe. The smaller man was rocking back and forth in the seat between two of the three larger men, who were sobbing uncontrollably, mumbling something. It seemed as if the crying had been going on for quite a while as the collars on their black shirts were soaked and it was not all from sweat. The three large men were forcefully pushing on their groin area squirming in their seats. Their black shorts were ripped apart revealing underwear, or lack thereof.

  Petra turned away from the Cruiser and looked at Captain Pappas with curiosity on her face. “Were these men—?”

  “—raped, yes Captain Dace, they were raped.” He said interrupting her quickly.

  “How do you rape three, and I am just guessing here, 300 pound muscular men who are obviously able to hold their own in a fight?” Petra asked him bending over slightly half-whispering in his ear.

  “Come with me Captain.” He started walking towards the driveway of the mansion towards a group of officers who were huddled around another body examining it. A woman putting samples of bodily fluids into containers and talking into a Vidset was kneeling over the deceased. She stood up and stretched while continuing to speak into the Vidset. Petra once again scanned the familiar spire and dish sticking up out of the grey tin roof of the garage. It was shoddy construction at best but it worked. It worked well. As they approached the body, she noticed the garage door windows. There’s a waste of money she thought as she saw her own face staring back at her on the cobalt colored twenty-dollar bills plastered to the inside of the windows.

  “Angie, hey I’d like you to meet someone.” Captain Pappas said tapping her on her shoulder. Angie quickly swung around and dropped her Vidset in the process. She bent down, picked it up, brushed it off, and smiled at Petra.

  “Oh wow! Petra, I mean Captain Dace, nice to meet you, wow! You’re here, right now with us, here!” She was noticeably excited and very happy to see Petra.

  “Hi Angie nice to meet you.” Petra held out her hand and the two shook, and shook, and shook, and shook. Angie was a beautiful five-foot-five Asian woman with long black hair and bright eyes with a smile that matched her overly energetic personality. Her glasses were black-rimmed and smudged with fingerprints. She wore a hazel lab coat and her pockets were crammed with ‘stuff’.

  “I am such a fan of yours. Oh—my—God, you are right here in front of me! Look what I have in my pocket. I carry these everywhere!” She fumbled though her pockets until she pulled out a squished Twinkie. She handed it to Petra as if she were feeding a dog a treat.

  “You have more fans Petra. Great, now they’re all feeding you Twinkies.” Ter quipped sarcastically.

  Petra took the Twinkie from her cautiously and held it up in front of her as if it were toxic. “Thanks?”

  “Doctor Quidim is head of forensics at HPD.” Capitan Pappas interjected himself into the fanfare.

  “So Angie what happened to these men? I am going to assume that all of the victims were male?” Petra asked.

  “Well the ones who were—um—raped were all male but it looks like there was some women who may have been collateral damage or just got in the way. There are twenty-two bodies here in the area so far.”

  “So far?” Petra asked surprised.

  “Uh yea, they continue on down the road south of here towards Kilauea. We haven’t been able to process all of them yet. It’s like a trail of bloody breadcrumbs there are so many bodies.” She added sadly.

  “Who raped all these men?”

  Angie looked at George for a second who then stared at Petra for a moment. “It was bees, well hornets to be exact, one woman, and some—hornets.” He told her as if he didn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth.

  “What do you mean hornets?” Petra asked

  “It was a one woman covered in some type of red skin stuff and long red hair who seemed to be controlling the hornets. She was quite beautiful from what I gather, but very homicidal. She used giant hornets to rape men and kill women.” He added skeptically.

  “How is that even possible?” Petra asked looking at them both as if they both had a liquid lunch.

  Angie held her Vidset up to her mouth, “Play priapism file two three seven Paul”, she spoke into the crystal device. “Playing priapism file two three seven Doctor Quidim.” it repeated back to her in a male voice. “A priapism is a potentially painful medical condition in which the erect penis does not return to its flaccid state. Causes of this condition may be due to a hematological disorder, sickle-cell disease, spinal cord trauma, Arcing, the Brazilian Wandering, as well as the Black Widow spider, excessive amounts of Tofu, and death. Males with this condition should seek medical attention immediately unless they are deceased. Pseudoephedrine administered to the patient will reduce blood flow and reverse the priapic state. Would you like me to continue Doctor Quidim?” “No that’s enough for now Paul thanks.” “You’re quite welcome Doctor Quidim.” The voice stopped.

  “Okay so let me see if I’ve got this straight”, Petra asked, “we’ve got a homicidal woman running around raping men and killing women using hornets?”

  “Yes. There are six hornets,” Captain Pappas added, “from the eye witnesses we interviewed.”

  Petra rolled her eyes shaking her head, “So what does a medical condition, priapism, have to do with all of this?” Petra asked with sheer skepticism.

  Angie bent down and removed the tarp from the body on the driveway next to her feet. The deceased man had the same shit-eating grin on his face as Tim, the other body Petra examined earlier. He had a noticeable ‘bulge’ in what was left of the front of his torn black shorts. Angie flipped over the rigid body with a heave and lifted his black shirt up from the waist. She pulled the waistband of his shorts down exposing his lower back area. Petra squatted down to look at the one-inch diameter hole in his back seeping a yellowish fluid. Centered approximately between vertebrae L4 and S1, the hole was a sort of piercing almost as if there had been an injection. The skin surrounding the hole ruptured and torn, now crusted over with dried blood and the yellow fluid that stained the skin. Noticeably bruised his back was broke in several areas as were his vertebrae now poking up though the epidermis. Petra noticed a lingering sweet corrosive smell coming from the area of the body. Hmm. There were several red candies scattered around the body.

  “I take it the hornets did this?” Petra asked looking at Angie.

  “Yes. The stingers caused the priapisms we think while—um—she raped them.” Angie said looking over the top of her glasses, “Some of the bodies we found have been dead for a while,” she added, “I will be busy for quite some time I think.”

  “What about that yellow fluid seeping from the hole?”

  “We’re not sure yet about that Petra, it’s being analyzed now.”

  “If a priapism is so painful why do these men all have smiles on their faces?”

  “Not sure, maybe they didn’t feel the pain. This is all new to me.”

  “I wonder if she’s picking out candidates, trying to mate somehow.”

  “Well it looks like her type of candidates are the ones ‘breathing’ if that is the case.”

  “Can we go in the mansion yet Captain?” Petra asked Captain Pappas as she stood up looking at the seven body bags lying in the front yard. The grass on the lawn destroyed as chunks of earth and sod looked as though someone had excavated the ground leaving huge holes. Long ruts in the driveway had broken through the red dirt and piles of it were everywhere.

  “As soon as the sniffer is finished Captain Dace. Then we can enter.”

  Petra tore the wrapper from the Twinkie she was still clutching and crinkled it up in her left hand while she shoved the flattened moist sponge cake in her mouth. She faked a smile while chewing slowly on the gift. “Gulp.”

  Chapter 20

  ROTATABLE

  Friday October 19th 2:O1 PM
HST

  Sniffer Drone technology was not new but these upgraded orb-like data collectors were. In the past, there were several versions of these information retrievers that did a satisfactory job so that the company who designed, developed, and manufactured them invested millions of dollars into the product. Charles Verner, President and CEO of Heliotrope Technologies, founded the company in the year 2020. He drew critical acclaim for his invention of the Sniffer Drones nicknamed the ‘The Vacs’. Past generations of his family became very wealthy and were responsible for inventing and furthering the crude but effective Heliotrope signaling instruments used in land surveying in the 19th century. These devices employed mirrors on a telescope that signaled or marked surveyor’s locations over great distances during the early mapping of state and property lines. The device used only on sunny days, mornings, and afternoons due to the atmospheric aberration affecting the user’s line of sight was derived from the Greek word ‘Helios’ meaning ‘sun and ‘tropos’ meaning ‘turn’. Invented by the military and eventually sold to the public, GPS made the Heliotrope obsolete and only antiques remained in museums. Charles Verner, his thirty-five year old son born in 2041, used this very word to carry on his family’s legacy, and the flower that bore the same name represented all of his products plated with the pink-purple tint.

  An HPD forensics technician unlatched the two-by-two foot heliotrope colored square box, set the lid down on the ground next to the mansion’s front door, and reached inside. Scooping out the purplish plated cold orb, he held the bowling ball sized drone in his hand, and issued the command, “Sniff”. The drone sped off horizontally beginning to spin as it left his hands. The technician shut the front door and walked down the driveway where Petra was standing with a group of officers and doctors, all obvious fans. She signed autographs and gladly accepted mouth-watering gifts.