The Perfect Soldier

by B D Grant

  Ash had retrieved every known fact about William and Catherine McBride before they brought William in and had reviewed all of his findings with both Susan and Doherty, including the parents’ deaths. “Oh, that’s right.” she says, feeling a little silly. Still, she’s rather relieved for McBride’s sake.

  Doherty nods at his notes. “He was being honest about that. It was when he told me his parents’ memory didn’t deserve to be tainted by such claims of being Rogues that sent me buzzing.”

  When Doherty first told Susan about Seraphim and explained that he was one of them, he had described his Veritatis ability as an inner buzzer that goes off loud and clear inside him whenever he is being lied to. His ability proficiency, along with his connections from decades of being an FBI agent, made him one of the best when it came to monster hunting. It was his lack of technical training and a growing need that lead to him being granted a team of detectives that he handpicked. He had put together a team consisting of Ash who brought plenty of technical know-how to the team, but they were all Seraphim. And certain government entities who knew about their kind weren’t too happy about that.

  That’s why Doherty made Susan the face of the group and his second in command. She had federal government training, degrees in engineering and computer science, and even came from a profiling background. Agencies might not work with Doherty, but they were willing to talk to Susan. He hadn’t attempted to butter her up when he offered her the position. He told her flat out that she was valuable to him because she was talented and that with her on the team he wouldn’t have to face the prejudice that he was currently dealing with She may not have had the skills of her coworkers, but that didn’t matter—she had plenty of her own.

  Chapter 3

  “Are we really calling them Rogues?” Susan asks Doherty, returning from the watch room after yet another interview. Doherty’s made himself comfortable behind his desk already, presumably while she carefully collected her notes from the viewing room. He doesn’t look up from his notes when he answers, “For now.”

  After releasing the Seraphim, Doherty had instructed Susan via the camera that he wanted to discuss the attacks on the hospitals. Lane, the lowest on the totem pole, has been out at the second bombing site, sending everything from on-sight testimonies to crime scene photographs since arriving at the sight yesterday.

  Susan stares off at a spot above Doherty’s head as she recounts what she has gathered so far. “Rogues made up the majority of those being treated at the second location, so I would say it’s not the case that they’re the culprits. Rogues wouldn’t be behind an attack that only hurt their own people. From all accounts, this one is exactly like the first; it was civilians, non-Seraphim, who struck the hospital.”

  “How many of McBride’s people were injured in the second hospital attack?”

  Susan hurriedly looks over her notes. “I misspoke,” she states as she scans the fax. “From what Detective Lane is sending me, there were only Rogues present at this location.”

  “How far was the second hospital from the first?”

  Susan checks another sheet. “Forty-five miles, approximately.”

  Doherty nods, pushing the papers on his desk aside. “I agree,” he says, looking up at Susan. “It wouldn’t make sense for Rogues to attack their own. How many were killed at the second hospital?”

  “Seven…with four others critically wounded.” She passes him the gruesome crime scene photos from her pile.

  He doesn’t shy away from the more grotesque of the images. He lines the pictures of no longer attached limbs side by side with the bloodied, shrapnel covered remains of the hospital on his desk. “They were more successful than those who hit the first hospital.”

  Susan can’t help but smile. “A couple of McBride’s people put up a fight along with one nurse’s assistant. At the Rogue hospital, it seems like they just walked in and…poof.”

  Doherty presses a thumb hard along his lower lip, a habit that shows when he’s thinking something out. “These Seraphim,” he says once his thumb has finished, “the Rogues, sound like a cocky group. They might not have thought anyone would have the gonads to strike them out in the open like this.”

  “Or,” Susan adds, handing him another sheet from her pile, “it was because all of the Rogues at the second hospital were among those injured from the raid, so they had no one watching their backs.”

  Doherty holds the paper up, squinting to read the names of those injured. They run down the left side of the page in small print, accompanied by a description of both initial injuries and those sustained from the hospital attack. Below that column is another that lists those injured from the blasts. Everyone injured aside from the Rogues were staff members of the hospital.

  He adds the paper next to the train of photos in front of him. “That’s harsh. We know that there were plenty of Rogues who got away unscathed from the raid. Why wouldn’t they care for their wounded?”

  “I don’t have anything from the second hospital’s outside cameras, but someone had to drop all them off. And since there were multiple drop-offs over less than an hour, there is no way it was one Rogue who brought all of them in. It’s just odd that none of them chose to stick around.”

  “So maybe they did know there would be another attack.”

  Susan shakes her head in disagreement. “In that case, why wouldn’t Rogues have simply killed their injured instead of wasting time bringing them to a hospital where they stood another chance of being captured?”

  Doherty reclines in his chair, taking in everything laid out on his desk. “What are you thinking?”

  “Maybe,” she lifts a finger in the air as she gives words to thoughts, “maybe there was somewhere else they had to be.” She lowers her hand as Doherty gives her an unconvinced grimace. “Orders that would out-trump any desire they may have had to stay with those they brought to the hospital.”

  “Hhmmm,” Doherty growls as he picks up the paper that contains the list of names. His thumb returns to his lip.

  His cell phone vibrates against his desk, distracting him from his thoughts. He checks the text message, taking his time to read it over twice before setting it down. He gives Susan a sympathetic frown. “Call your detective at the second hospital attack.”

  She looks down at the cell phone confused, but the screen is already black. “Why?”

  Doherty slides all of the photographs and the paper together making one stack. He hands it all back over to Susan. “A third hospital was struck twenty minutes ago. Same M.O.”

  The next morning, Doherty stands, stoic, in front of his team. “You all will notice that we are missing two people in the office today,” he announces. “They won’t be coming back. They are off the case permanently. I will be dividing their work among the rest of you until I can find suitable replacements.”

  “Why?” Ash asks, dumbfounded like everyone else around him who is glancing around in confusion.

  “Members of their families have been found to be involved in the case,” Doherty tells him.

  Another person pipes up. “Are they’re suspects?”

  “No, no. They have minor involvement that we know of, but involvement nonetheless.” Ash’s teeth clench together. “You took critical people off the case for minor family involvement?”

  To Susan’s delight, Doherty glares across the room at Ash. “They left voluntarily. They know what’s at stake here.”

  “Do you have replacements in mind?” Susan asks trying to sound calm and fully accepting of the information. She hopes Ash notices her cool, collected demeanor.

  Doherty lets out a sigh. “As of yet, no. For now, you will be taking over identifying the hospital bombers. Everything else will be reassigned by lunch.” He looks around at the faces staring at him. “Check your company emails for added work load. Carry on.” Doherty turns abruptly from the gathering before anyone else can throw questions at him. He retreats into his office, shutting the door firmly behind.

  Sus
an eyes Ash as he takes out his phone, pulling hers out as well. Everyone, it seems, is anxious to see what work could be added to their already heavy loads. Her emails update, and sure enough, she sees a new one from Doherty. It was sent minutes before Doherty started the morning meeting. She opens it quickly, glancing at Ash while he glares at his phone impatiently. Doherty’s email contains one sentence: “You will be heading the investigation on the hospital attacks with a team of three detectives, of whom you are free to choose.”

  She doesn’t let the closed door of Doherty’s office deter her. With phone in hand, she heads straight for it.

  Doherty isn’t surprised by the intrusion. He holds up a hand from behind his desk, stopping her before she begins to speak. With the other hand, he turns on a small television screen which he has set up beside his desk. “Tell me what you think of this,” he instructs, and presses ‘play.’

  The shaky image is that of the grassy knoll she already knows to be the Rogue school. Part of the grounds captured in the video have already been destroyed, so the recording must be from sometime during or after McBride’s people raided it. The angle of the camera is high and moves left to right as the person wearing it scopes the area out, so Susan deduces that it must be attached to someone’s head.

  “Who’s recording this?” she asks, moving closer to the screen.

  “McBride had body cameras placed on a couple of different teams so they would have evidence like this for someone like us later on. I figure he was thinking if none of them made it back, he would at least have proof of what they saw.”

  The person wearing the body camera suddenly stops. Another person on the team who appears briefly on the side of the screen quickly retreats backwards, out of view. The camera pans down to show the man’s hands working on ejecting a clip and then quickly replacing it with a new one. He steps back carefully so as to not make much noise. He must have given them the command to fall back.

  “The man we’re watching and the people with him are the ones Cassidy Sipe was supposed to be with on the day of the raid. We have several conflicting statements on Miss Sipe.” Susan says nothing. “Do you see her? I sure don’t.”

  Susan can’t make out anyone’s gender underneath the full coverage helmets, much less the face of Cassidy Sipe, who Susan has only seen in a single photo McBride gave them. The group of Seraphim conceal themselves by laying on the ground in a patch of bushes. The camera has only a small vantage point between the dirt and the lowest branches of the bushes that are not quite touching the ground. Through the thicket of leaves, Susan makes out several sets of legs running past them only a few feet from where the group is concealed.

  “How do you know Cassidy isn’t in the group? You can’t see anyone’s face.”

  “This video was intended to show Cassidy Sipe being captured, but by this point it has only shown me that two females were separated from the raid party thanks to a blast that took out a man who was between this group you see in the bushes and the two women leading the pack.” Doherty grimaces. “He didn’t see it coming, walked right over the site where the initial bomb went off. The ground blew apart right at his feet.”

  “That’s terrible,” Susan murmurs.

  Doherty nods at her words. “Now watch the next part,” he says. Doherty’s eyes are intent on the television. “This is what I wanted you to see.”

  The cameraman rises and looks to the side, so Susan can see more than just legs. A good distance away from the raid party, the six Rogues that just ran by them are now having a standoff with a man. The Rogues stand in front of a tiny house that Susan has learned must be one of the many houses for teachers and faculty that are scattered over the school’s grounds. The man staggers from side to side as he yells at the Rogues congregating around the house.

  One of the Rogues, a man wearing a coaches whistle around his neck, breaks from the pack and walks around the house, going unnoticed by the belligerent man making vivid hand gestures at those motioning for him to join them. Most of the Rogues slowly lower their weapons, clearly not taking the shouting man seriously.

  Soon, something draws their attention beyond the camera’s sight. Rogues on the outer skirts of the group begin shooting off to the right in the direction of whatever it is that they have seen. The man at the door looks out to see what they’re shooting at, squinting his eyes hard.

  Whatever he sees infuriates him. He reaches behind himself back into the house and returns with a large-barreled handgun that he holds with practiced ease.

  McBride’s people are up and moving. They quickly retreat toward the wooded area they’re closest to them and then once they have cover backtrack, moving slowly towards the Rogues. The Rogues are shuffling toward whomever it was they are shooting at as the raid party runs to head them off.

  The cameraman turns to look at the house, and Susan sees the drunken man pointing his gun at the only Rogue still staining at the bottom of the steps. He looks to be insisting that the Rogue stop the others as he angrily shakes his gun toward the group continuing to fire to no avail. Susan sees the distinct flick of the man’s thumb as he pulls back the hammer. As the cameraman is running with his group toward the firefight he turns away from the house to see where he’s going just in time to dodge a tree that’s directly in front of him. When he turns back, the male Rogue with the whistle dangling around his neck who had initially separated himself from the group has reappeared right behind the intoxicated man having made it through the small house and out the back door where the man is standing.

  The Rogue uses the butt of his weapon to clunk the man over the back of the head. The hit is solid. Susan can almost see the intoxicated man’s eyes roll back in his head before he falls to the ground, the gun hitting the ground next to him. The man is collected from off the ground by the Rogue who hit him and the one who distracted him. Suddenly, someone from the larger Rogue group notices McBride’s people charging through the tree line and turns his weapons on the cameraman.

  Doherty pauses the video on a clear shot of the unconscious man in the background being carried away by two Rogues.

  “Explain to me what this footage just showed us,” Doherty commands.

  “It’s simple,” Susan tells him, looking at the Rogues closest to the cameraman in the still shot. There are at least three guns pointed at him and very little chance that the trees will provide the coverage he needs to block the bullets. Susan starts, “The man on the steps obviously lives at that house so we know he worked at the school. Also, he was legitimately upset when he saw what the Rogues were shooting at.” Susan pauses. “That’s what we’re calling them?” she asks.

  “That’s what all the other Seraphim refer to them as,” Doherty says impatiently.

  “He didn’t agree with them shooting,” she says quickly, noting her boss’s impatience. “Whether it was kids or the Seraphim raiding the property, I don’t know, and…” her voice fades.

  “And what?” Doherty asks, his impatience replaced with intrigue.

  Susan’s volume resumes. “He was swaying like my aunt on Thanksgiving Day, after she’s finished her bottle of wine.”

  Doherty continues to study Susan’s face. “Why do you think they carried him off instead of leaving him to be captured?”

  “One less person for McBride’s people to question.”

  “The Rogues could’ve shot him as soon as he walked outside if they didn’t want the liability.”

  “Okay, then they must’ve needed him.”

  Doherty nods, but it’s clear his thoughts are elsewhere. Susan straightens her back. If he isn’t going to bring up the elephant in the room, then he’s leaving her no other choice.

  “You’re going to give Ash my job, aren’t you? If I’m to be in charge of investigating the hospital bombings, then we both know that he’s the next best at assisting you with interviews.”

  “It doesn’t matter who takes over interviews at this point,” Doherty says.

  It matters to me, Susan wants to say. S
he knows Ash will rub it in her face that she’s no longer Doherty’s right-hand woman.

  “Our priority is to locate anyone connected to the attacks on the hospitals,” he says matter-of-factly.

  “Seraphim killing Seraphim aren’t priority?” Susan asks, sounding more annoyed than she intended.

  Doherty remains unmoved by Susan’s vigor moving folders back and forth over his desk. “If the civilian population is targeting Seraphim, there’s nothing else that could take priority.”

  “It was probably extremists who targeted the Seraphim hospitals because they overheard someone talking too freely about Seraphim’s gifts and have been hunting for a place where Seraphim congregate. I would guess someone from inside the hospital got word to them that there were multiple Seraphim inside—“

  Doherty cuts her off, “Who would they have overheard talking about Seraphim?”

  “Maybe by another Seraphim, the same way I learned.”

  He gives her a pinched stare of disbelief.

  “It’s neither here nor there,” she insists. “It was terrible what happened, but those nut-cases are irrelevant! What’s important is identifying Rogues, what they’re up to, and where they’re hiding now. There are still plenty of kids missing.”

  Doherty slides a folder he’s been playing with over to Susan. “This will change your mind.”

  She picks up the folder and flips through the photographs. The gruesome images are similar to the hospital crime scene photos. “Did Detective Lane send these to you without going through me first?” Doherty doesn’t answer. She scans the papers that follow the photos. The faxes have a cover sheet from a hospital whose name she hasn’t seen before.

  Susan reads that a hospital in Texas is where a third attack has occurred. She quickly concludes, “This shows that the hospital attacks aren’t linked to our case at all. It’s hospitals that are being targeted, not Seraphim.”

  She sets the folder down on his desk triumphantly. Doherty doesn’t make a move for it.