Organ Reapers

by West, Shay

  “Keena! Get off the road!”

  Tani turned and ran for the woods. He heard Keena crashing through the bushes behind him. He found a low depression and flattened himself on his stomach, eyes toward the road in the distance. He cursed himself for not hiding their tracks better. Fear clutched his heart; if the men on horseback were even half-way decent trackers, he and Keena would be discovered.

  Keena lay next to him, her face buried in the soft grass as though she were too terrified to look back in the direction they had fled. Tani wished he could do the same, but if the men came into the woods, they would have to make a run for it. They would die either way, but better to die running than trapped like animals. If the gods smiled on them with favor, they would escape.

  Tani spotted the legs of the horses moving at a light canter. The voices of the men drifted on the wind, but they were too far away for Tani to make out. The men and their mounts passed by the hiding spot without stopping.

  “Stay here.”

  He crept from the depression they had hidden in and moved forward, bent over in a crouch, eyes darting to the left and right, straining to hear even the slightest sound. The horses moved out of earshot and the birds of the forest took to their songs as Tani waited in the safety of a large stand of oak trees. The birds’ gentle melodies eased his tense muscles more than the men on horseback leaving the area did. It seemed as though no harm could come to him and Keena if the birds were singing.

  Tani stood and walked back to where Keena still lay in the depression. Though he couldn’t hear anything other than the normal sounds of the forest, Tani resisted the urge to dart in and out of the shadows.

  “Are they gone?” Keena asked as she saw him approach.

  “I don’t think they were looking for us. More than likely just passing through.”

  Keena smiled as she stood, but her eyes refused to stay still.

  “Let’s walk through the woods until nightfall. We’ll keep the road in sight, but I’d rather be close to the safety of the forest if anyone else comes along.”

  Tani took the lead and the pair walked until almost full dark. Despite the danger of being spotted, Tani lit a small fire to ward off the chill. Neither of them could afford to become sick.

  “Have you decided about going to see our families?”

  Tani looked at Keena for a moment before looking back at the fire. “It’s dangerous. Kelhar will have men watching our homes, if our families are even still there. Kelhar could have had them thrown out into the streets by now.”

  “I will die of shame if they are forced to beg in the streets.”

  “The homes belong to the monastery. They can do with them what they wish. They will force our families to leave and allow the next Harvesters to move in,” Tani said.

  “Do you regret our decision?”

  Tani met Keena’s eyes and smiled wanly. “It was the right thing to do. Our families will understand.”

  “Will they?”

  He wished he could convince her, but the words wouldn’t come. His heart hurt at the thought of his mother and father being thrown out of the manor, their belongings tossed into the dirt. His sisters would huddle together and cry over their pretty dresses being ruined. His brothers would try to stop the Enforcers, but would not prevail. He hoped they had some coin saved. They would need it to start over.

  His stomach rumbled. Tani opened Keena’s knapsack and took out some hard bread and cheese. He passed her a portion and kept the smallest for himself. The food needed to last until they got far enough away from the monastery that they could start fresh.

  Keena is right.

  Tani wanted the voice in his head to be quiet, but it was not to be denied. They couldn’t just disappear without doing everything they could to contact their families. Even if it meant their capture.

  “We’ll make for Celtoe in the morning. After that we’ll head for Maris,” Tani said.

  “Maris? I never knew you were from the coast.”

  Tani nodded. “My family has sailed the seas for generations. My father was one of the few who would sail through the Razors. Used to say the gods told him the safest route through the rocks.” Tani shook his head at the memory.

  “Do you know how to sail?”

  “I’ve done my fair share, yes. Never cared for it as much as my father. Part of me thinks he may be relieved at having to leave the city. He never felt at home there. Not like Mama and the girls.”

  “You grew up on the ocean and yet you could barely get us across the lake in the canoe?” she teased.

  “Like I said, I never cared for it.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve caused so much trouble...”

  “It wasn’t just you. I didn’t want to take any more lives either.”

  “But it’s like you said. Leaving the monastery didn’t make a difference. We won’t be killing anyone, but the others will. The people of that world will continue to be killed and mutilated, all so we can extend the lives of our own people.”

  “What do you suggest we do?”

  Keena shrugged. “I don’t know. But I feel like we need to do something.” She stood and paced back and forth in front of the fire. “It’s something inside of me that won’t be denied, like a voice that just won’t shut up. It keeps talking and talking and no matter what I do, I can hear it. We come swooping down on the people of Earth, steal their organs, leaving behind battered bodies, and come back here with no one the wiser. It’s not fair and it’s not right. We can tell them the truth, make them understand. Maybe figure out a way to close the gateway.”

  Tani watched Keena as she ranted and walked, unwilling to interrupt her. He had never seen her this worked up, but he had to admit he felt the same way.

  But that doesn’t mean I want to run off and get myself killed trying to help.

  Keena finally sat down. Tani watched her for a time, but she refused to look away from the fire. She rocked back and forth, humming under her breath. Tani continued to sit by the fire long after Keena fell asleep. Her words plagued him. Am I a coward? He risked his life every time he went through the gateway, yet he had done it countless times. He had rebelled against the monastery, something no one had ever done, at least not that he knew of. Does that make me brave?

  Tani shook his head. He needed to deal with one challenge at a time. First, locate their families, then figure out what to do from there.

  CHAPTER 8

  ELI AWOKE to the sound of his alarm. For the first time in months, he was wide-awake, not hampered by a hangover. Not that he had stopped drinking altogether; he just hadn’t been over-indulging. He actually whistled a catchy tune while in the shower, one he’d heard on the radio on the way home the night before.

  He decided against eating breakfast at home, so he could get to the office sooner. The Starbucks by the station had a drive-through. He could get his coffee and a breakfast sandwich in one stop.

  The radio was blasting so loudly he nearly missed his phone ringing. He turned the volume down before answering.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey, partner. We got another victim.”

  Eli’s heart sank. “Where?”

  “The old cement factory off Broadway and Twelfth.”

  “On my way.”

  Eli left the radio off, good mood deflating like a kid’s busted balloon. This serial killer was seriously pissing him off. This guy thought he could come into his city and kill people? Eli shook his head. The killer didn’t know who he was messing with. Eli had the highest arrest rate on the force; it was only a matter of time before this perp would be behind bars.

  He pulled up to the scene of the crime, his good mood from earlier completely gone. He spotted Ava and Sherry kneeling next to the body.

  “Talk to me.”

  “White male, aged thirty-five, missing both kidneys,” Sherry answered.

  “What, that’s it? No other organs taken?”

  “Just the kidneys.”

  “Any evidence?”

  Sher
ry shook her head. “Body’s clean.”

  Eli cursed and turned away from the corpse. He had been sure the perp would make another critical mistake.

  Another dead end.

  He walked off to question the cops who were the first on the scene, hoping they had some information from any witnesses.

  “Tell me you have something,” Eli said as he approached the officer.

  “No one saw anything. A homeless guy came across the body early this morning.”

  “Did you guys find anything?”

  The cop shrugged. “We found the guy’s wallet, couple of pop cans next to the body—”

  “Any prints?”

  The cop furrowed his brow at being interrupted. “Not that we could see, but we bagged them.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Just a bunch of trash.”

  Eli’s shoulders slumped and he rubbed his face, absently noting that he needed to shave. He walked away to survey the scene. For the first time since becoming a detective, Eli wondered if he would be able to solve this case. He thought of all of the missing-organ victims as belonging to one case. Even if there was more than one perp, they knew one another, coordinated the killings somehow, they had the same motive. He just had no idea what the motive was.

  Ava approached and stood next to him. “I talked to the homeless guy. Guess what he thinks he saw a few hours before he stumbled on the body?”

  Eli turned to face Ava. “A white light?”

  His partner nodded. “I don’t get it. The only thing all of our cases have in common is the damned bright light. What does it mean?”

  “I’m still going with aliens.”

  Ava raised her eyebrow.

  “No, really. They’ve been abducting us humans for all these years, studying us. Now they’re here for our organs to make a nice soup.”

  She burst out laughing. “Did you just make a joke? I think you just made a joke!”

  “It makes as much sense as anything else,” he said disgustedly.

  “Until an eye witness describes a tall grey dude with large black eyes, I’m going with a sick human doing the killing,” she said as she walked away.

  Eli smiled as he watched her. That woman’s got a fine pair of legs. Unwilling to be distracted by his beautiful partner, Eli walked back to his squad car, eager to head to the office to see if the print lifted from the soda can from the previous crime scene matched anything in the database.

  ***

  “You’re telling me there’s no match?”

  The technician shrugged. “I wish I had better news for you. There’s not a match, not even a partial.”

  Eli left, suppressing the urge to hit something. The one piece of evidence the perp left behind and it led nowhere. He found Ava at her desk, fingers flying over the keyboard.

  “Nothing on the print,” he said as he flopped into his chair.

  “You have got to be kidding me! It’s like this guy doesn’t exist. Comes in, butchers his victims, and disappears.”

  “Disappears into a mysterious flash of light, don’t forget that part.”

  “I can do without the sarcasm, thank you very much,” she said without looking up from her computer screen.

  “What are you working on?”

  “I’m looking for a match for the image carved into the stone I found. Maybe it will give us some clue.”

  “Robins, Aguilar, get in my office. Now.”

  Eli shared a glance with Ava, wondering what had earned them the disapproval of their captain. The man sounded highly agitated.

  “Close the door and sit down,” Captain Platt said, pointing to two chairs in front of his desk.

  “What’s the problem?” Eli asked.

  “What’s the problem?” Platt sat down heavily in his chair. “The problem is a string of murders and you have nothing for me. The press is having a field day with this. They’re calling him ‘The Butcher.’ The phones have been ringing off the hook, wondering if we’re even looking for this guy. And all I can say is ‘no comment’ because I have nothing to tell them!”

  Platt jumped up from his chair and paced the room. Eli had never seen Platt this angry.

  He’s not just angry; he’s scared.

  That alone was enough to make Eli’s skin break out in goose pimples. Captain Platt was as stoic as they came and had seen the worst of the worst. Yet this case had him acting like a rookie out of the academy.

  “What do you want me to say? We’ve cross referenced every case from across the country, the print came up with nothing, there’s been no other evidence other than the stone Aguilar found and the white light the witnesses claimed to see. There is no common factor that connects the victims. Would you feel better if I made something up?”

  “Of course not!” Platt snapped.

  Eli kept silent, letting Platt calm down.

  “I’ll issue a statement telling people to be alert for strangers in their area. Since the killer doesn’t discriminate, we’ll have to warn against anyone going out alone.”

  “We’ve figured out there has to be more than one killer, maybe even one for each victim. Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” Ava said.

  “How?” Platt asked.

  “Ask the public for help. With this many victims and that many killers, someone had to have seen or heard something. Seems impossible to keep crimes like this quiet.”

  Platt nodded. “I’ll make a plea to the public to come forward with any information. Get me a list of all the cities where victims were killed.”

  “Will do. In the meantime, we’ll keep working, trying to find anything that will lead us to the perp,” Eli said.

  Platt took a seat behind his desk. Eli noticed dark shadows under the man’s eyes, like he hadn’t slept in days.

  Eli left the office, followed by Ava. He had never wanted to collar a perp as badly as he did this one. It wasn’t just the fact that he was butchering victims and stealing their organs; it was because he was good enough to make Eli doubt his abilities as a detective.

  Eli and Ava spent the next four hours poring over all records pertaining to the victims. He hoped something would magically appear; something they had missed the other three or four times they had looked at the files.

  “There’s nothing here. We’re wasting our time,” Ava said as she tossed a folder down on her desk.

  “What do you suggest we do?”

  “I don’t know. But I do know this is a waste of time.” She held a stack of papers in her hands and shook them fiercely.

  Eli leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. “You’re right. But I have to feel like I’m doing something. I’ve never gone this long with no leads before.”

  “Me neither. It’s frightening how many victims are piling up.” Ava leaned forward on her elbows.

  Eli leaned forward, matching her posture.

  “I’m starting to believe it will take a miracle for us to catch these guys.”

  CHAPTER 9

  “HOW LONG are we going to sit here?” Keena asked impatiently.

  “Until I think it is safe to continue.”

  Tani refused to say anything more, wanting instead to focus his attention on the large manor directly in front of him. He could barely make out the front door through the screen of trees, but he was too scared to move any closer. He and Keena had been watching her family’s mansion for the past hour, but had seen no one. That made Tani more nervous than if he had seen it swarming with people. There should always be someone moving, whether it be her siblings, parents, or one of the many servants needed to run such a large household. But there was no one in sight.

  “I think we’re safe to—”

  Tani gripped her arm so tightly he feared hurting her, but he had just spotted a man on horseback riding slowly past the house. At first sight it appeared as though he was simply passing by, but Tani recognized the man; he had passed by earlier in much the same manner. The man was more than likely one of the many Enforcers who wo
rked for Master Kelhar.

  “I think it’s an Enforcer. Kelhar is having your house watched.”

  “What do we do? I have to know if my family is here, if they’re safe.”

  Tani feared she would jump from their hiding spot, giving away their position.

  “We’ll remain hidden until dark. I’ll try to move a little closer, see if I can see anyone in the house. Okay?”

  She nodded reluctantly, knowing the risk, but finding it difficult to sit and do nothing while her family could be in danger. Tani didn’t blame her. His stomach churned as he wondered what his own family must be going through. Kelhar’s Enforcers, if they were on horseback, would be in Maris already, perhaps as early as yesterday. His family might already be out on the streets, or worse, taken captive.

  The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. The Enforcer on horseback rode back and forth a dozen more times, but no one else approached. Tani watched the windows and front door like a hawk, hoping to spot a curtain moving, a shadow passing, anything that would indicate the house was occupied.

  If Keena’s family wasn’t here, where were they?

  They ate a cold supper of dried bread and cheese. Tani noted that they had enough food for another day, two if they ate sparingly. We’re going to need supplies. Back at the monastery, they would be sitting down to dinner with their fellow Harvesters, then perhaps a game of chess or a book by the fire. Tani shivered as the night settled in, chasing away the last of the day’s warmth. Can’t risk a fire.

  “The Enforcer is due back any minute. I’ve been timing him and he’s gone between fifteen and twenty minutes before he comes around again, plenty of time for me to go explore. You stay here.”

  Tani waited for Keena’s nod before leaving their hiding spot. He walked hunched over, trying to make himself smaller. He stopped every so often, listening for any sound or voice coming from the house. There were lamps lit in several rooms.

  The Enforcer will return soon.

  Tani walked boldly to the mansion. He slipped through the front gate, closing it softly behind him. The largest of the windows on the first floor had the curtains parted. Tani put his hands on the sill and peered into the house.