15 Signs Of Murder (Fifteen thrillers)

by Luis Samways

  Another man spotted the officer with the briefcase from afar. He waved him forward. He was a scruffy-looking man. He looked like a farmer, one who woke at the crack of dawn and didn’t stop till midnight. The type of man who had tree trunks for arms and wore lumberjack-style clothing. He was a beast of a man, and the man with the briefcase immediately felt uneasy around him.

  “You got the gear?” the lumberjack type asked as the man approached him.

  “Yeah, what’s in the case?” the man asked, succumbing to his curiosity.

  “Clothes. You’ll see why in a second. Follow me,” the big farmer said.

  Both men walked together side by side, not saying much, not making eye contact. A few minutes went by, and then they finally reached the barn, which the farmer opened the big door to. His large, bulky arms effortlessly ripped the door open. The sliding metal supports creaked loudly in their ears.

  “What do you need clothes for? Are there no shops in the county?” the army man asked.

  “Questions are not welcome in these parts. You’ll see in a minute. I already told ya, didn’t I?” the lumberjack huffed.

  Both men walked into the barn, and the army man immediately felt threatened.

  “What the fuck?” he said as he saw the beasts roaring in the cages. Their teeth gnashed at him as they growled.

  “What the hell are these things?” he asked, nearly stumbling on his breathing.

  The farmer grabbed the case off the man. “Lions. Sniffer lions, to be precise. We’ve trained these cougars to track prey. They are faster than dogs, and more vicious. We have these clothes in the briefcase for the lions to sniff. They will be able to make out the direction of the fugitive from the scent on the clothes.”

  “So these are the fugitive’s clothes in the case?” the army man asked.

  “Yeah. The fugitive went AWOL not too far from here. Lucky, really, because now we can use these bad boys. The mountain lions don’t like transport, so all I have to do is let them loose and they’ll find the sucker. They have GPS on their collars, so I won’t be too far from them on my ATV.”

  The army man stood there in utter silence.

  “What if they kill the fugitive?” the army guy asked.

  “That’s not a problem if they are fed beforehand. They will just maul the fugitive — he won’t be eaten alive.”

  “Have they been fed?” the army guy asked.

  “They will be,” said the farmer.

  The farmer immediately punched the army guy in the face, knocking him out. He grabbed him by the arms and dragged him toward one of the cages. He banged his fist on the cage, scaring one of the lions inside it.

  “Back off, ya, ya, ya,” he said.

  The lion obeyed its master and backed off, sitting upright like a trained dog. The farmer opened the cage and threw the man in. The lion didn’t move. It waited for the farmer to leave and shut the barn door. As the farmer did so, he could hear the cougar go in for its meal. The farmer closed the door to the sounds of breaking bones and spilled blood.

  He reached for his cell and pulled it out. He dialed some numbers.

  “Hello, we have the case. I’m afraid your messenger didn’t make it. I needed food for the beast before I let it out on its search…. Okay, no problem. The lion should be off its leash in half an hour.”

  The farmer hung up the cell and got back to attending his crops for the time being.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  On a Train, in Germany

  Cindy held Mary-Lou’s hand tightly. She feared the worst as the police searched the carriage she was in. They were going through everyone’s luggage — everyone but hers. That made her even more nervous. She felt like a bag of nerves on the train. It was as if everyone could see the sweat forming above her brow. She was under the impression everyone could make her out for what she was…for what she did.

  The officer at the front who seemed to be in charge was just finishing up with the last person on the carriage. He had a look of disappointment on his face; it was as if he was defeated.

  “All right. Pack it up — we’re leaving,” he said to another officer, who looked just as disappointed.

  The leader blew on his whistle and motioned to his colleague. The man came running down the aisle and nodded at the officer.

  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, but we suspected a fugitive from the law was on this train. Some man from the south — he robbed a few elderly people. We apologize once again, and hope you have a wonderful journey.”

  With that the police left the train, and the doors shut behind them. Cindy felt a huge sigh of relief as the train started to pick up speed. She looked over at her groggy little girl, who was restlessly awakening.

  She looked at her daughter and smiled.

  “Are we there yet, Mommy?” she murmured.

  “Not yet, honey. We should be there soon,” Cindy said.

  The train continued on its journey.

  Cindy was unaware of the man behind her, staring a hole through her seat and holding a gun in his inside jacket pocket.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Somewhere Below the Mountainside, New-Germania

  Danni Mendez was searching the tree lines with her binoculars. She was trying to find someone. The same someone everyone else was trying to find.

  She winced in pain a little.

  Her face was still hurting after being knocked out by Jerry. She hadn’t seen the punch coming, but she’d felt it.

  She continued to look through the fish-eye sights of the binoculars, scanning the horizon for any sign of movement. It was useless, really, seeing how it was nighttime and she couldn’t see a damn thing. Now that Jerry had gone AWOL and killed Sammy, she was the one left in charge. There were other much stronger, more experienced men in the rebel unit who could probably do a better job, but for some reason, the rebels had always looked at her as the second-in-command. So there she was, being second-in-command.

  “Sorry to bother you, Danni, but we haven’t picked up a radio check from Wayne in a while. We did the roundup, and he was the only one who didn’t answer his roll call,” a voice from behind her said.

  She let the binoculars slip out of her grip and hang around her neck. She turned around and smiled at the man standing before her.

  “What was Wayne packing?” she asked.

  The man looked afraid to say anything. It was as if his tongue wouldn’t move under the pressure of such a question.

  Danni found it strange.

  She immediately realized something was wrong.

  “Don’t tell me he was carrying the sniper rifle?” she said in a mild panic.

  “I’m afraid so, Danni,” the man confessed as he looked at the ground beneath his feet.

  “Shit,” she said.

  She gave a firm shake of her head at the man and dashed over to the Jeep, where a few men were sitting down, looking at maps.

  They were busy scouting the area. They were assigned to RECON, and they were the only men, aside from Wayne, who had RECON gear.

  “Guys, did Wayne take the thermal sniper rifle with him?” Danni asked as she reached the Jeep, trying to sustain her escaping breath.

  “Yeah. He insisted. He said it would make sense for him to take it up the ridge and do some scouting,” one of the men said.

  The other man just appeared confused as he looked Danni up and down.

  “Why?” he asked.

  She didn’t say anything for a while. All three of them remained silent for a long moment, until the silence was broken by a crack in the wind.

  “Get down!” Danni screamed as the man next to her took a bullet to the neck, spraying the other RECON man with a face full of blood.

  ***

  “You took the shot?” I asked as Jerry snapped the bolt on the left side of the rifle, popping out a spent shell as a small sliver of smoke bellowed from the barrel.

  “Shit,” he said, popping in another magazine.

  “Fucking bulle
ts are half baked or something. Should have known, fucking rebels with their subpar ammunition.”

  “Did you hit anybody?” I asked .

  “Yeah. I got a guy in the neck. I nearly hit a woman. I think it was Danni, actually,” he said.

  I immediately felt anger in my core. I leaped forward and tackled Jerry to the floor. He was propped against the mound with the rifle placed on the dirt before I took him off his feet. The sheer impact of my tackle made him shoot another bullet in reflex before I managed to disarm him. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled his face closer to mine.

  “Now, listen here, you fucking Yank. Don’t you go killing any more of those rebels. You were one of them before all this happened, and now you’re taking shots at them? Are you fucking crazy? We could work something out. We could work with them. We can’t run from everyone, Jerry. We just won’t survive,” I said.

  Jerry immediately shoved me off him. His strength was far greater than mine. He was well built and well fed after all, and I was just barely a sewer rat experiencing fresh air for the first time in my life.

  “Listen here. We can’t just hand ourselves in. We can’t do that. They will kill us. Not to mention, they want you as a bargaining chip. They’ll use you to gain weapons off the Germans. I’ve seen it before. How do you think the Germans managed to kill off all your people? It was help from those so-called rebels. They aren’t freedom fighters. They are mercenaries. This whole goddamn world is one big fucking hit list, and we’re at the top of it. And believe you me, we will be on the very top until we’re either killed or captured. Me killing these fuckers isn’t going to stop either of those realities. It will just prolong them.”

  “What about the Reich? You didn’t think I knew? Danni and I heard you and Jonas speaking back at the base. You’re one of the Germans. You fight for them. You’re no better than any of them,” I said.

  “Yeah, you got me. Big bad man from the Reich. You better believe me when I tell you, the Reich don’t want me anymore. I can guarantee you that my position there was compromised when I decided to not hand you over to them. It was damn near cemented when I decided to fire upon the German army. The truth is, Abel, you and I are the same. We are both enemies of the Reich. And we are both on the rebels’ hit list. We only have each other. That’s our reality now. But be my guest. Walk down the damn embankment and hand yourself in. We’ll see how long it takes before you end up just like your brother Jacob.”

  Jerry pushed me out of the way and went back to his rifle. By now the sounds of returning gunfire had echoed off my eardrums, and the sounds of the rebels retaliating had snapped me back to reality. Jerry began to open fire down the ridge.

  “I suppose fighting could work,” I said. “It’s all that ever does work, my friend. It’s all that ever works.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Crime Scene, Germany

  The crime scene lead officer walked into the hallway in which the body of an officer of the Germania army was lying on his back. He looked at the idle corpse and reminisced about the times when he had read about the victim in the papers. He knew that this person was of importance to the German empire. He knew that such news leaking out could spark mass hysteria on the streets of Berlin. He also knew that any officer who attended the crime scene who spoke out about what he found was going to be hung for causing such hysteria. That was the reason he found himself in the sticks. That was why he left his bed in the early hours of the morning and drove a hundred miles to make sure that the crime scene was being given the attention and care it required.

  “I take it the press are not aware of the news,” he said aloud, startling the two policemen slumped over the body, looking for clues.

  Both men stood to attention and saluted the highly decorated police sergeant.

  “Of course not, sir. No press have been informed. I don’t think they even know,” said one of the officers.

  “Good. Let’s keep it that way. If the press find out, it could cause a public panic. They will automatically think that the Allies have regrouped and are taking action against the empire,” the sergeant said as he lit up a cigar.

  “That’s the thing, sir. It wasn’t the Allies, or the Rebels.”

  “I know. I’m not stupid. I can see the signs. I can see the emptiness of the house. I know exactly what happened. The officer was murdered by his wife,” the sergeant said, pulling hard on his cigar, tapping the ash off it as he did so. The slim-rimmed spectacles he was wearing glistened in the low light of the breaking dawn coming through the window.

  “So you do know, then? Has she been captured?” the timid officer asked.

  “No, not yet. That’s why we can’t let the public know. The Reich has informed me that this is a matter of national security. If it leaks, then it’s our heads.”

  “National security? For a domestic murder?” the man said in utter disbelief.

  “Yep. If the people find out that one of the officers of the New-Germania army was murdered by his wife, then maybe they will grow wise and attempt some sort of mass demonstration. They might try to overrun the capital. They could hold the Reich to rights,” the sergeant said as he pulled on his cigar once more.

  “Isn’t that a bit over the top? Surely a murder won’t spark a revolution?” the officer said, looking at his bemused partner as they took in the presence of the formidable sergeant.

  “Nothing is over the top when it comes to keeping the people in line. One false move, and the public could end the Reich. Gentleman, the Reich is what the empire is built on. It is our duty, along with every man who wears the flag of Germania on his shoulder, to make sure the Reich lasts for eternity, for better or for worse.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  On a Train, New Germania

  The man sat behind the pretty woman on the train. He could feel the rattling of the tracks beneath him as the carriage swayed from left to right. He could hear the voice in his head telling him to do it.

  He was your friend…. Are you going to let her get away with it?

  “No,” he said, more loudly than he would have liked.

  The woman in front of him turned around in curiosity. She smiled a forced smile at the nosiness of her snoopy stare. He had to do something, so he just smiled back. He hated himself for that.

  Why on earth was he smiling at his best friend’s killer?

  “Ma’am,” he found himself saying.

  She nodded and turned back.

  FUCK. WHY DID I SAY THAT? HAVE A NICE DAY? GOOD TO SEE YOU? WHAT?MY HEAD! GET OUT! GET OUT! DAMN YOU, YOU WILL PAY, YOU WILL PAY DEARLY!

  The voice in his head was wearing ever thin.

  He couldn’t handle the inner voices anymore. It wasn’t something he was used to. It was barely something he believed in before it happened to him. He never understood the idea behind mental illness, and there he was, succumbing to it.

  Letting it destroy him.

  Letting it tell him what to do.

  He decided to loosen the grip on his gun. It was too early to get an itchy trigger finger. It was premature to be thinking such thoughts. He didn’t need the gun until later on. Until they disembarked.

  All he needed was for her to make the right move.

  All he needed her to do was leave the train, and then he would get her.

  He would make her pay for what she’d done. After all, he did see the whole thing. He heard the shouts. He heard the screaming. He heard the pain. He was staring out his window by the time she came rushing out with her daughter. He waited until she left, and then he went to investigate the cries from his best friend’s house.

  She hadn’t counted on the fact that he and his friend had been going to work together for fifteen years. It was as if she had forgotten what he looked like, which made him even more irate. The fact that she had just turned around moments ago and saw his face, yet didn’t recognize him, was insult enough. It was reason enough to put her out of her misery.

  He had made his way into th
e house whose door he had come knocking on every morning for years. He opened the door and saw his friend lying in a pool of his own blood. He saw the knife sticking into his chest. That was when he decided to follow her. She was only at the park by the time he reached her. He stayed a good few yards away from her just in case she got spooked. That was when she went to the train station, and that was when both of them got on. She was totally unaware of the danger she was in. But he knew that she would pay. She had to pay.

  ***

  Cindy sat on her seat with the fear of God running through her. The man she had just seen sparked a distant memory in her head. Did she know this man? Where did she see him before? There was something about the man that scared her. She didn’t know what it was, but she wasn’t sticking around to find out. She knew what she had to do. The next stop would be her last stop on that particular train. It was a few hundred miles away from where she needed to be, but she’d find a way to get there. All that mattered was the burning desire that lay in the pit of her stomach to get out of there. Something was telling her to go. Who was she to ignore such a strong desire?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  On Top of the Mountainside, New Germania

  The farmer was standing outside his rickety barn, smoking the last of his cigar. He was looking up at the sky in awe of its beauty, contemplating the day’s events. He was awash with terror and excitement. It always got his blood pumping when he was commissioned to go on a hunt. He loved the rush of hunting. It made him who he was. It also paid the bills.

  Believe it or not, there wasn’t much money in crop dusting and cultivating. The once profitable business of land and crops was now tarnished with imported food and canned goods. Synthetic food companies were on the rise, and the humble farmer was on the slope of economic depression.