“How was Walter Nguyen killed?” Thor said, staring straight at his Alpha. “Was he shot in the heart, in the stomach…?”
“He wasn't shot at all. There's not a single bullet in his body.”
“Stabbed? Strangled?” Dylan supplied.
“No.”
“Beheaded?” Baxter suggested. “One of the mob bosses once sent the head of his enemy's wife to him in a gift-wrapped box.”
The Black Bears fell silent as their Alpha looked each of them in the eye. “Walter's body was torn open, and his internal organs were...eaten.”
Thor heard a soft gasp from Paige but other than that, the room remained still and silent. But their unspoken thoughts were loud and clear. Who could have done this and why? Could the Mob have done this?
“It is possible that this gruesome killing was ordered by the Mob,” Thor began slowly, voicing his thoughts aloud. “Ray Shapez has been caught but there are still other mob bosses at large. Most of them are not as powerful and influential as Ray, but they are just as ambitious and ruthless. But, if the body was eaten...”
“Cannibals!” Baxter exclaimed with a shudder.
Paige rolled her eyes. “Oh please, don't sensationalize this, Bax. You're such a drama queen.”
“I'm not!” Baxter huffed. “Haven't you heard? There's a rumor going round that...”
“We don't listen to rumors. Rumors are not facts,” Paige scoffed.
Ethan held up a hand to stop an argument from erupting.
“We need to get down to the crime scene. The police haven't moved the body. They want us to take a look and track any evidence they might have missed. This has to be done very discreetly so only two of you will be assigned to the case. The higher-ups don't want to cause widespread panic so they're trying to keep this from the press, but...” Ethan blew out a breath.
“The press are like bloodhounds,” Baxter finished with a grimace. “Fresh meat, dead meat, decomposed, disemboweled meat, they'll sniff it out. It's just a matter of time.”
“Exactly. So you'll have to work fast.” Ethan closed the file and began to snap out orders. “Everyone, get back to work. Tell your team members to be extra careful and vigilant, but don't leak the details of the murder to them...yet.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Thor, you're the lead investigator on this case. You know the Mob's methods better than anyone. Work quickly and quietly with the police to find out if the Mob is involved in this. But be careful. There are crooked cops who are waiting to shoot you in the back.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Ethan had said earlier that he would be assigning two Black Bears to the case. Thor already knew who he would be working with. He quirked a lopsided smile as Baxter started to rock his chair back on two legs again. The big guy twiddled his thumbs as he chewed on a pencil, swaying and rolling from side to side as though he were on a boat.
For all his smart-assery and wisecracks, Baxter was a top-notch investigator. Bax was the lead tracker in the Black Bears Group, with the sharpest sense of smell. He could sniff out and trace even the most obscure, overlooked shred of evidence.
“Baxter!” Ethan barked out his order. “Go with Thor. Do what you have to do.”
This time, the chair toppled as Baxter lurched to his feet.
“Yes, Alpha!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aubrey was writing up a report at the nurses' station when she looked up to see a white coat walk past. She glanced at the clock. It was just after one o'clock in the afternoon. Most of the other nurses were taking their lunch breaks. The patients had all just finished their mid-day meals and were dozing peacefully in their beds. It was usually very quiet around the ward this time of day.
Aubrey put down her pen and stood up. The other nurse on duty, Vanessa, had just stepped out to deliver a patient's file to the doctor. Aubrey was the only one holding the fort, but there was nothing much to do at this time so she used the downtime to catch up on her paperwork.
Aubrey poked her head past the pillar and caught sight of the doctor's back. She recognized the doctor. Dr. Faizel worked in the hospital's research department. She had only seen him once or twice in his lab when she had been asked to deliver some files to him. Dr. Faizel worked with test tubes and microscopes. His work was in research, discovering new strains of viruses and bacteria and coming up with vaccines and antidotes for diseases and venoms.
Dr. Faizel didn't see patients. He didn't have to make his rounds, and he was always stationed in his lab.
Just what was he doing in her ward? There were no patients on this floor that needed any cutting edge vaccine to battle some mysterious, unheard of affliction.
Aubrey's ward housed patients who were simply recuperating from small, minor surgeries. They usually went home after a day or two. Her patients were usually cheerful and alert, and she liked chatting and joking with them as she gave them their pain medication and antibiotic injections. Their stay in her ward was usually short and uneventful, and they would go home on time and without incident.
Aubrey moved soundlessly and peeked down the corridor. Dr. Faizel was looking furtively over his shoulder as he hurried into one of the rooms.
Aubrey's frown deepened.
She knew who was in that room. Luke Keller was just here to fix a fractured leg. The young police officer had broken his leg during a game of basketball with his buddies. The good-natured, good-looking twenty-nine-year-old was a hit with all the nurses. He was cheerful and witty, and he flirted shamelessly with all the ladies. Except for his broken leg, the guy was in the pink of health and he would very likely be going home tomorrow.
Dr. Faizel disappeared into Luke's room and Aubrey tiptoed after him. After a few steps, she straightened up and walked normally. Why was she tiptoeing and sneaking around her own ward? Unconsciously, she was mimicking Dr. Faizel's stealthy, shifty manner.
Nevertheless, she kept her footsteps light and silent as she quickened her pace. She just had a feeling that something was going to happen if she didn't move fast enough. Something bad.
Quietly, she sneaked into Luke's room and saw that the curtains had been drawn around his bed, shielding him off from her view. There was no reason for the curtains to be drawn. The patient wasn't being cleaned and changed, and the doctor wasn't examining the patient's wound.
And Dr. Faizel wasn't even his doctor! He had no business here at all.
Something was going on.
Aubrey clenched her fists. She wouldn't let anything untoward happen to her patients. Not on her watch.
Aubrey stepped forward and drew the curtains back sharply.
She gasped and demanded, “W-what...are you doing, doctor?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dr. Faizel was bending over a sleeping Luke and he smiled at her as he straightened up. The doctor's hand moved swiftly to his coat pocket, but Aubrey thought she saw an empty syringe in his palm.
“Dr. Faizel.” Aubrey cleared her throat and said in a stronger voice, “What are you doing with the patient, doctor? May I help you?”
Dr. Faizel merely gave her a thin smile as he squinted at her name tag. “No, I do not require your assistance, Nurse Williams.”
With a nod, he began to brush past her.
Aubrey spun round. “What do you have in your pocket?”
It wasn't her place to question a doctor. It could cost her her job, but to heck with it. She had a duty to her patients. They trusted her. She wouldn't just keep quiet and let this strange, suspicious-looking doctor waltz in and out of her patient's room. She stood her ground and waited for his answer.
Dr. Faizel raised a brow at her. “Is it any of your concern, nurse?”
“Yes. Yes it is.” She swallowed then blurted out, “I saw you stick a syringe into my patient.”
“A syringe,” Dr. Faizel said slowly. “Ah yes.”
So he wasn't going to deny it.
“I carry a lot of syringes. I need to co
llect samples for my research.” He put his hand into his pocket and withdrew a handful of empty syringes. “I have the hospital's authority and permission. The patients have all signed their consent in their admission forms.”
Aubrey bit her lip. Despite his cool explanation, she still felt that something wasn't quite right.
“If...if what you said is true,” she persisted. “Then why are all the syringes empty? You didn't collect any samples, did you, doctor?”
His smile twisted into a scowl. “I was about to when you came barging into the room. You startled me, and I almost broke the needle in the patient's arm,” he said accusingly.
Aubrey opened her mouth to argue, but the doctor pushed past her impatiently. “I need to get back to the lab. Don't you have work to do, Nurse Williams?”
She whirled round but Dr. Faizel was gone.
Rubbing down the goose pimples on her arms, she hurried over to Luke's bedside to check on him. The young man appeared to be sleeping soundly. He hadn't been disturbed by their raised voices.
She thought of shaking him awake, just to make sure he really was okay, but decided against it. The man hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights. Hospitals weren't the most comfortable places and everyone slept best in their own beds.
If Luke could finally catch some sleep, she should let him rest.
Aubrey turned back to look at Luke Keller one last time before leaving his room.
As she walked slowly back to the counter, she debated whether or not to go track down Dr. Faizel and confront him.
Did he do something to Luke?
Should she go and tell another doctor what she had seen?
But what had she seen exactly?
Dr. Faizel bending over a patient. That's all.
Would she accuse him of some wrongdoing when she had no proof? Who would believe her? It was her word against his, and...she could be mistaken.
Luke looked so peaceful and comfortable. He didn't look like he had been disturbed at all. He was snoring gently, his breathing soft and steady.
Her colleague, Vanessa, came strolling back into the ward with a grin. “Guess what I heard?”
“Huh?”
“You'd never guess who Dr. Yong is dating!”
Even as Vanessa began to ply her with the latest gossip that was circulating round the hospital, Aubrey couldn't help worrying about Luke Keller.
“Can you go check on Luke?” Aubrey asked suddenly, cutting Vanessa off mid-sentence.
“Why?” Vanessa looked confused. “He was sleeping the last time I checked on him, which was just...” She glanced at her watch. “...not twenty minutes ago.”
“Please.”
Vanessa gave Aubrey a curious look but obliged. Vanessa emerged from Luke's room with a shrug.
“I told you he's sleeping. Still is. What's the matter with you, Aubrey? Did that playboy say something to you?”
Aubrey's eyes rounded but Vanessa continued, “Luke hits on all the nurses. He's a pretty face, charming, cheeky, a real heartbreaker. Some of the foolish, young nurses have developed mega crushes on him.” Vanessa harrumphed loudly. “Don't tell me you're one of them, Aubrey. You're not smitten with a pretty boy, are you?”
Aubrey shook her head mutely. No, she wasn't smitten.
Not with Luke anyway.
She had given her body and heart to another man. She had tried hard not to think about Thor the whole day, and she'd almost succeeded. Almost.
Aubrey shook her head again and wrenched her focus back to the situation at hand.
This wasn't about her.
There was something else at play here. She didn't know what Dr. Faizel had done to Luke.
A shiver slithered down her spine.
She felt afraid...for Luke.
The young man was in danger. But what kind of danger?
Aubrey grabbed Vanessa's hands and whispered, “Please, help me keep an eye on Luke. Something's going to happen to him.”
“Aubrey...” Vanessa stared at her in bewilderment and concern. “What are you talking about? What's gotten into you? Are you all right? You don't look too...”
Aubrey squeezed her friend's hand and said fervently, “Just...watch over him. Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay. Of course.” Vanessa eyed her worriedly. “You haven't had your lunch, right? Why don't you go get yourself a cup of coffee and something to eat at the canteen? Go!” Vanessa shooed her off, hustling her towards the lift lobby. “Tsk! You need to refuel. A hungry, cranky nurse never did anyone any good.”
“I'm not cranky...” Aubrey protested as Vanessa pushed her into the lift.
As the lift door closed, she heard Vanessa's retort. “Paranoid then.”
CHAPTER NINE
Thor removed his shades and saw the plainclothes policewoman start when she saw his strange, mismatched blue and green eyes. He'd heard some people describe his eyes as eerie and freakish.
It never bothered him. His eyes worked fine. So did all his other senses.
He ignored the whispers behind him and walked up the front steps of the neat single-story house.
A stocky man with salt-and-pepper hair came forward to meet them. “I'm Senior Detective John Allen. I'm the officer in charge of this case.” He nodded curtly as Thor and Baxter flashed their Black Bears identification badges and introduced themselves. “The body is in the bedroom.”
As Detective Allen led them down the corridor, he fired off information about the victim rapidly and succinctly. “Walter lived in this house alone. He's divorced, no kids. His ex-wife has remarried and moved to another state. With the police presence, the neighbors know that something's happened to Walter. But...we haven't released any information about the state of the body.”
“You've spoken to the neighbors?” Thor said.
“Yeah. His neighbor across the street said he last saw Walter at around eight last night. He was taking out the trash and saw Walter driving up to his garage. He said Walter waved to him. Walter was alone in the car. The neighbor didn't see anybody in the car with him.”
“So his neighbors didn't hear or see anything,” Baxter surmised.
“No witnesses,” Detective Allen confirmed. “No one heard any screams or cries for help.”
The detective stopped in front of the open bedroom door and jerked his head. There were two uniforms stationed on either side of the door. “In there.”
The smell of blood was thick in the air. The body, or what was left of it, was strewn all over the bed. Skin, chunks of flesh, pieces of internal organs were left messily around the ripped and shredded torso. The man's throat had been torn out and half his face had been clawed away.
Baxter sucked in a breath. “Shit.”
Detective Allen stood at the door, his arms folded, his face expressionless. Thor wondered if the man had seen many crime scenes that were more grisly than this.
Baxter squinted at the bloody, mangled body and reported his observations out loud. “His heart, kidneys and liver have been ripped out. His stomach is half eaten. The contents of his stomach has been spilled all over the mattress and floor. It looks like he had pizza for dinner. His intestines...God, what in the world...! They've been chewed and spat out. Looks like his killer tried to slurp his innards up like soup noodles but found them too tough and unpalatable.”
Thor shot Baxter a look. Baxter's observations were spot on but he could have been more delicate in his choice of words. Detective John Allen and the other officers might appear professional and stoic, but still, they were dealing with the savage, gruesome slaying of a fellow cop.
“Was he attacked by a wild animal? In his own bedroom?” the detective said. There was a note of suspicion and anger in his voice.
Thor knew what the man was thinking. He was thinking the same thing. And he didn't like the thought one bit.
A shifter did this.
“His skin has been clawed and ripped apart. The bite marks show that the kill
er's teeth were serrated, sharp and pointed. Not straight and blunt like human teeth,” Thor said, laying out the facts.
“An animal,” Detective Allen snapped. “What kind of animal?”
Thor exchanged a look with Baxter.
“It looks like...a bear,” he answered. “But...”
“It's not a bear shifter,” Baxter interjected. He wasn't being defensive, just honest. “The scent is...different. There's a chemical component to the scent. It's not natural.”
“Natural?” Detective Allen's lips curled in a mirthless smile. “You're telling me that shifters are...natural?”
Thor laid a hand warningly on Baxter's arm. From the look on Baxter's face, he knew that a barrage of insults was just waiting to spew out of Baxter's big mouth.
Thor shook his head at Bax. They were here to investigate a heinous crime. They weren't here to trade barbs and engage in trash-talk with a senior police officer, who just happened to be a bigot.
“Walter Nguyen was just appointed the head of C-18.” Thor turned to address the detective. “Has his appointment been announced publicly?”
“Not yet. The Police Commissioner was going to...” The detective stopped and shot Thor a disbelieving, incredulous look. “You think this is the work of the Mob? You think the Mob has turned to cannibalism?” He snorted a derisive laugh. “My boss told me the Black Bears would be sending two of their best agents to help us. I think maybe my boss exaggerated your capabilities, eh?”
Thor didn't answer.
There was no need to quarrel with a petty, small-minded cop. He'd learned to play his cards close to his chest in his undercover work. You never knew who was listening and watching, and who would do you in.
Thor went to examine the body again, and signaled for Bax to do the same. They weren't here to stir up shit. They had to gather as much information and clues as they could.
Thor looked around the room and saw that the windows were intact. The killer didn't climb in through the bedroom window.
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