by E. A. Copen
I made a rolling gesture with my hand. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get on with it, Doc.”
Doc nodded, sucked in a deep breath, and pulled off the first sheet with a flourish.
The body underneath didn’t seem remarkable at first. He was a normal thirty-something male in good shape except for some ash and blackened, burned skin around his face. He was pale, lips and fingertips blue. I noted some bruising on his forehead and knuckles, but nothing to suggest what I was looking at warranted all the secrecy.
Doc took up a scalpel from his tray of instruments and instructed, “Observe.” He pressed the scalpel to the man’s sternum.
It snapped in two, the sharpened blade flying off and clattering to the floor.
“Damn, Doc. Be more careful with that, will you? You should probably replace some of that second-rate material, huh?”
“That scalpel was surgical-grade,” Doc replied and picked up something that looked like a battery-powered rotary saw. “This is meant for cutting through bone. It’s diamond plated, Judah. I’ve never had to use it before.”
The saw buzzed to life as he switched a button on. I plugged my ears as he put the blade to the man’s clavicle. After a moment, a small cloud rose from where the tool made contact with the body, and the nauseating stench of burning flesh filled the room. My stomach tried to do a somersault. I moved my hands from my ears to cover my mouth and nose.
Doc suddenly shut off the saw and held it up. When it stopped spinning, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The blade was completely worn off, leaving only an uneven, spinning disc. The dead man’s body was still intact.
“What the hell?” I asked, leaning in. “Who is this guy?”
“That’s just the thing.” Doc put the broken saw down and grabbed the dead man’s hand, flipping it over to show me the palm. I squinted for a better look. In the dim light, it was hard to make out details until Doc switched on a flashlight and handed me a magnifying glass. I held it over the man’s hands, searching for whatever it was Doc wanted me to see. “Look at the fingertips,” he encouraged. “What do you see?”
I did as instructed, but shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Exactly.”
I lowered the magnifying glass to give Doc a doubtful look.
“No fingerprints,” he explained.
That wasn’t possible. I looked again. Sure enough, the lines and contours that decorated a normal person’s fingertips were absent, leaving behind completely smooth skin.
“I can’t identify them,” Doc said. “I wasn’t asked to. I was only asked to store them here for pickup overnight. I’m not supposed to have access to them.”
“Spill it, Doc,” I said, lowering the magnifying glass. “I want to know where these guys came from. Everything you know, I need to know.”
“I didn’t have any information at all,” Doc said and moved to the other body. “At least until I moved on to her.”
He pulled the sheet off, revealing a woman of similar age and build to the man. Again, she looked completely unremarkable, except that she still had shreds of clothing clinging to her skin. It looked like much of it had melted onto her since the clothing scraps were black with burns.
Doc grabbed a pair of long tweezers and tugged on some of the scorched fabric clinging to her hip. Some of the layers flaked away as he separated them and pulled something from what would have been her pocket. He held it up for a moment before dropping it gently to an empty space on the table. It clanged as if it were made of metal, despite being blackened.
“I found this and knew I had to call you,” he said.
I cautiously reached out to pick up the scorched metal. It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, with chunks of something black stuck all over it. The shape was similar to that of a medieval shield, round on the sides and coming to a point on the bottom. On the top, there was a small, warped point and two swooping lines that kept it from being flat. I ran my thumb over it, scraping bits of the black material away, but I knew what it was even before I could see the picture. It was a badge, not unlike the one I had clipped to my belt. The black material was probably scraps of the leather it had been pressed into.
But it wasn’t until I scraped away more of the material and saw the engraved picture underneath that I understood why Doc had called me. The words “Federal Agent” decorated the top in a band that would have been blue before the fire. At the bottom, three letters told me everything else I needed to know: BSI.
I met Doc’s eyes. “You want to tell me why you’ve got two dead BSI agents in your autopsy room, Doc?” I glanced at the man with impenetrable skin. “Two really weird BSI agents?”
“A black van pulled up this afternoon,” Doc said, glancing at Ed. “Two military types got out, told me to shut down the clinic for the day. They brought these in as is and placed them on my tables, telling me they’d be gone by morning. I just needed to make sure they stayed secure. I was forced to sign some sort of agreement that I wouldn’t disclose any information whatsoever. They implied doing so could be fatal, and I believed them.” Doc looked back at the man with impenetrable skin. “But professional curiosity got me, Judah. I had to know. My guess is they died of smoke inhalation. Nothing else could’ve done it. But why the secrecy? Who are these agents?”
I exchanged glances with Ed. “I bet the military types were the same ones we ran into at the blockade earlier.”
“I told you there was a cover-up going on,” Ed replied.
“What blockade?”
“I’m sure you heard about the fire at Reed’s place?”
Doc nodded.
“Well,” I said after a sigh, “I shot Gideon Reed in the middle of that, and he was supposed to have been taken by ambulance to the hospital.”
Ed jumped in. “Only the ambulance never made it to the hospital. It crashed out at Four Corners Concho. We went to investigate, but by the time we got there, they weren’t letting anyone through. Bunch of military tough guys and Abe Helsinki basically assaulted us and told us to turn around.” His eyes widened. “Hey, what if these were the guys in the ambulance? It’d make sense. The reason they’re all burned up is because Reed roasted their asses on his way out. Paramilitary guys show up, remove the bodies, and place them here for safekeeping before BSI cleaners can get here.”
“BSI doesn’t have cleaners,” I snapped, though I was suddenly unsure whether or not that was true. “Besides, what reason would they have for trying to take Reed wherever they were trying to take him?”
There was a sudden loud squeal that made all three of us jump. Doc sucked in a panicked breath and grabbed me by the arm. “That’s my door alarm! They’re here. You two need to go.” He hauled us toward a side exit that would have once been the theater’s emergency exit in the front near the screen.
We passed under a heavy curtain, and Doc jerked open the emergency door. Bright searchlights flooded over us, behind which I could just barely make out the shape of an armored truck. Doc yelped and pulled the door shut. “Not that way.”
“What other way is there?”
Doc turned a full circle in a panic before his eyes settled on the heavy curtains lining the walls. “There!” he shouted and pointed. “Hide. I’ll keep them busy.”
There was no time to argue. Voices in the hallway told me that whoever had come to collect the bodies was right outside. I grabbed Ed and we pushed aside the curtains, sliding in behind them just in time to hear the doors flap open.
It was dark back there, darker than it had been in the rest of the room, and I couldn’t see anything, but I heard the heavy clink of boots and body armor moving down the ramp toward Doc.
“Doctor Ramis,” said a soft but familiar voice.
I slid to my right to stand in the tiny space where the curtains met so that I could see a sliver of what was going on outside. Doctor Han stepped onto flat ground, escorted on either side by more of those paramilitary goons. Their guns were pointed at the ground, but they stood ready to snap them up at a moment
’s notice.
Doc glanced nervously back and forth between the goons. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” he said.
I couldn’t see clearly, but Han’s voice told me he was smiling. “No, we have not, but you know who I am just the same.”
One of Doc’s hands closed into a fist. “What’s a geneticist want here?”
“Now, now, Doctor. I realize the position you must be in. You feel threatened.”
“As well I should, given that you’ve brought guns into my clinic.” He gestured to the goons and then behind him. “And making me sign non-disclosure agreements concerning dead bodies that you’ve come to collect in the middle of the night. I think I have every right to be worried, and every right to examine what you and your goons are hiding in here.”
Han gave a lighthearted chuckle. “One can never be too careful. The world of supernatural medicine is a dangerous place, especially for curious humans.”
“I know something’s going on here. I won’t say anything, not as long as no one gets hurt.” Doc straightened and stood taller. “Primum non nocere, Doctor. First, do no harm. There’s no need for violence here.”
“Is that so?” Han lifted his head and folded his hands behind his back.
I had to hand it to Doc. He stood his ground, even though he was probably quivering on the inside. Doc had always been a jumpy guy, and Han scared the piss out of me. That Doc didn’t immediately yelp at Han’s tone of voice spoke to his courage.
After a long moment, Doc stepped aside. “Collect what you came for and go.”
Han made a quick motion with his hand, and half a dozen paramilitary goons filed forward. They worked like bees, efficiently and without verbal communication, three to a body. Two of them spread black body bags out on the floor while a third lifted the body and placed it inside before zipping the bags up. In less than ten seconds, both bodies had been bagged and slung over someone’s shoulder as they headed for the emergency exits in the front. Four remained behind with Doctor Han.
“I trust you will keep your word, Doctor Ramis,” Han said. “We were never here. There were no bodies in your autopsy room today. You saw nothing. You know nothing.”
Doc narrowed his eyes. “I understand.”
“Good.” Han stepped up to Doc, who took a cautious step back. That didn’t stop Han from standing toe to toe with him. Han grabbed Doc by the shirt, but instead of striking him as I expected, Han unwrinkled Doc’s white coat and dusted off some unseen debris. “I’m so glad we could come to an understanding as professionals. However, I am afraid my employer left specific instructions.”
He stepped back and made another gesture. The four paramilitary guys closed on Doc while Han turned his back. I jerked out of view of the crack in the curtains as his eyes scanned the wall where Ed and I hid. There was the sickening sound of metal striking flesh and bone and a muffled cry from Doc. Ed shifted next to me until I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. His fingers closed into fists, and in the darkness behind the curtain, I watched his eyes turn a frightening shade of yellow as the beating continued.
It went on for a good minute or two before Han called his dogs off. “That’s enough,” he chirped in a pleased tone. “I think we have made our point.”
Heavy footsteps carried away toward the back exit along with the rustle of clothing and armor. The door squealed loudly as it opened and then closed. Ed and I waited until we heard the roar of several engines pulling away before we came out from behind the curtain.
Doc lay curled up on one side, his whole face red. Blood streamed from his nose and mouth while tears flowed from his eyes. Every breath was a pained whimper. By morning, he’d be black and blue from the chest up. I knelt next to him. “Don’t move, Doc. How bad is it?”
“I don’t think…anything is broken but my pride.” I helped him sit up. He turned his head and spat out blood and part of a tooth. “Scratch that. Bastards got a tooth.”
“What the hell was all that?” Ed asked, standing over us.
I turned my head and stared at the emergency exit. There were no answers, not yet. Two strange, maybe genetically modified BSI agents had been moved by the paramilitary group from the crime scene Reed disappeared from and into Doc’s clinic for holding. A few hours later, Han showed up to collect them. Han, who worked for Marcus.
Not Marcus, I realized. Fitz. That was the only connection I saw between BSI and Han. But what, if anything, did that have to do with Gideon Reed?
I turned back to Ed. “We’d better find out what’s on that hard drive, Ed. Pronto.”
“What about Doc?”
Doc waved us away. “I’ll be fine. And you two had better get gone in case they come back to check on me.”
“You sure you’ll be fine, Doc?” I asked, helping him to his feet. “I can get someone to watch the place.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to be any more trouble than I’ve already been. Besides, I’ve played my part. I told you everything I know. This is where I get off the crazy train.”
Ed and I left the clinic in a hurry. The night outside was once again silent but for the buzzing street light. Outside, I paused out on the sidewalk, looking up and down the street, fearing that they’d be back any minute to tie up loose ends. I was almost sure Han had known we were there. I had nothing but a gut feeling about it, but those had been right often enough that I’d learned to trust my gut. Han was bad news, and if he knew we were there, he and his goons might be waiting anywhere to silence us before we could dig any deeper.
If Han and BSI were working together, and they were willing to kill to keep their secret—whatever it was—as they’d inferred, then there was nothing I could do to stop them. Nowhere was safe, not anymore.
Chapter Fifteen
The trailer Ed shared with Shauna and Daphne was on the other side of the rez, but it was only a short drive. On the way, we passed the church, and I stole a glance at the burnt-out remains of Reed’s house behind the church. In the darkness, the shape of it looked alive, as if the burnt and bent wood were a resting giant, waiting to be woken. I wondered if the cat had gotten out fine and if he’d found a place to sleep for the night. All kinds of things lived on the rez, things that might look at a cat and think of it as food. I swallowed and redirected my attention forward. Best not to think about the cat’s fate, then.
I parked the car next to the trailer. None of the lights were on in the house, but the pale blue light dancing across the closest two windows told me his two female roomies were probably watching TV.
“I don’t know what my program has recovered off the hard drive so far,” Ed said, “but you’re welcome to come in and see.”
The idea was tempting, even though my mind and body were both exhausted. Even partial information could be better than nothing at all. So far, I had no answers, nothing to go on, and no leads to track them down. At best, what I could hope to work through legal angles was to try to pin a drug charge on Hector, but I didn’t have enough evidence to go in and perform a search. No judge would sign off on searching a religious compound for drugs, not unless I had some kind of proof that they were manufacturing and distributing them. Collecting that evidence would take weeks, if not months. I needed to find Reed and figure out what was going on now.
I pursed my lips and blew out a breath, resting both hands on the steering wheel and watching the light in the windows. “I can stay a few minutes, I guess.”
“Great!” Ed unbuckled his seatbelt, threw open the door and bounded up the stairs, rushing inside before I could even get out of the seatbelt.
I rolled my eyes at his conspiracy theory enthusiasm and got out of the car.
Daphne and Shauna were curled up on the sofa as I suspected. Daphne wore a pink snuggie and stretched out over the sofa, her head resting on Shauna’s leg. Shauna was still in her work clothes, the gray jersey tee and sweats that with the weightlifting wolf emblem.
“Hey,” Shauna said as I came through the front door. “
Beers are on the counter if you want one. Didn’t make it to the fridge.”
“No, thanks,” I answered and glanced around the room. My eyes stopped on the salmon-colored loveseat on my right, and I had to fight not to cringe at the color.
“Never known anyone to want to deal with Ed when he’s like this sober, but that’s your call.” She jerked her chin toward the kitchen, past the salmon loveseat and the darkened hall beyond. “Ed’s room is that way. I’d be careful where you sit.”
I thanked her again and followed her directions down the short hall to the open door where Ed’s bedroom was.
He sat in a worn leather swivel chair in front of a desk with three monitors set up in a panoramic view. The pale electric-blue light coming from those screens was the only illumination in the room. It cast shadows over empty bags of chips, overturned cans of energy drinks, and soda. Clothes carpeted the floor, while anime posters plastered the walls. Something crunched under my shoes when I took my first step inside and I cringed. Ed didn’t seem to notice.
“Whoever pulled your hard drive didn’t take very good care of it. I was worried it wasn’t going to work because of how beat up it was.”
“It was in a bit of a firefight,” I told Ed, coming to stand behind his chair.
“Uh-huh,” he answered absently as his fingers moved over the keyboard at a lightning pace. Small black windows with white text popped up on various different screens as he worked, each new one a layer over a desktop with another anime girl that was half-robot.
I don’t pretend to know much about computers. I had no idea what the hell he was doing because, from my end, it looked like magick. Heck, maybe it was. I didn’t know how deep Ed’s skill with technomancy went. As I stood and watched him work, I considered the possibilities of such a talent. He could do a hell of a lot more than track people. With Ed’s talents, he could work out a way to use his powers for criminal things like remote hacking, disarming alarms, disabling security of all kinds. I shivered at the idea of Ed becoming some kind of hacker thief. No, not Ed. Ed would only use his powers for good, wouldn’t he? Besides, just how much trouble could a werewolf with a gaming and anime obsession get in?