Bangkok Warlock: A Mark Vedis Supernatural Thriller Book 1 (Southeast Asia Paranormal Police Department)

by John P. Logsdon

  No, that wasn’t fair.

  These Shaped would have come after someone else had I not been there, and maybe that person wouldn’t have been as lucky.

  Like Stone said, we were the only ones who’d been able to take these things down.

  Lana’s arrival, along with the new weapons, would definitely help others deal with the Shaped.

  But for how long?

  Bubbles had made it clear they were just going to keep improving the process, getting rid of weaknesses. So far the improvements had been limited to adding more troops and taking away their free will, but who knew what they were planning next?

  At times like this my instinct was to run. Literally, if necessary. My track record showed a long history of finding a way out when things got hard.

  Running meant living to fight another day.

  To survive.

  If there was one thing grandpa had taught me, it was the art of survival.

  “Is there anything else you can tell me?” I asked.

  “Not much,” Tranq said, flying over the bodies. “There’s some residual energy left behind, but we find that from time to time. It usually goes away on it’s own.”

  As I looked at them, I noticed the fae was glowing slightly. It was easy to miss, even with my developing warlock…I mean spirit mage sight. There had to be a better term for what I was.

  It was strange, but the glow radiated an emotion of what I could only call ‘guilt.’

  I’d never felt anything like that before. Well, I’d felt guilt, of course, but not from a glow.

  I placed my hand on his chest, not really knowing why, and felt the energy rush into me. It was like when I’d cast my energy net when Bert and I merged.

  Flashes of memories darted through my mind, all tied to deep emotions. Images of love, hate, and experiences…and most were tied to the goblin.

  She was the last thing he ever saw.

  “Caleb and Theresa,” I said softly. “They were a couple.”

  Somehow I knew it was true.

  “That’s why they were assigned to me.”

  Tranq looked confused. “How could you know that?”

  “I just do,” I answered, keeping my eyes on the fae. “Stone must have known about it. The fae wouldn’t approve of one of their members being with someone of another race, especially not an ‘inferior’ one, and so he sent them away…to me.”

  The weight of everything that had happened hit me like a boulder.

  I’d become desensitized to death, even joked about it. You almost had to in order to do your job. But whatever happened when I touched Caleb broke right through that. I could feel him, feel the weight of a life that was gone.

  “And now they’re dead,” I breathed.

  I looked down at the two officers.

  My two officers.

  They hadn’t run. They stood and fought…and died.

  “What would you like me to do with the bodies, Agent Vedis?” Tranq asked in a respectful tone. “Nobody has stepped forward to claim them.”

  I took the goblin’s hand—Theresa’s hand—and placed it in the hand of Caleb, then turned away.

  “Bury them in the Netherworld PPD cemetery,” I answered, finally. “Together, and with honors.”

  What I didn’t tell him was that Theresa had been the one to kill Caleb. I saw the vacant expression in her eyes and knew the ink had been to blame.

  Someone had forced her to kill her love, then killed her after.

  I felt my eyes burn as I walked out of the room, with rage and grief for people I’d never met.

  I was going to find the son of a bitch that had done this. And when I did, they were going to wish I was as merciful as a demon.

  Chapter 29

  It took me a few minutes to pull myself together. I found a quiet area in the station and checked in with Stone. He seemed happy to know Lana and the new weapons were working out, but he didn’t have anything else to add.

  I updated my team, leaving out the vision stuff, then pulled them and Chief Rakenchan into the PPD conference room to plan our next move.

  “First, we should establish a timeline,” I said, pulling the cap off a dry-erase marker.

  I drew a line with dots to place the events of the last few days.

  Bert raised his hand and waved it, excitedly.

  “Yes?”

  “Can I draw on the board too?” he asked. “It looks fun.”

  “No.”

  I turned back to the board.

  “The attack in Kansas City happened at eight p.m.,” I said, pointing to a point on the line.

  That’s eight a.m., Bangkok time, approximately the same time the IDU team in Bangkok was wiped out.

  I looked over to Chief Rakenchan.

  “Do you know what they were doing that late in the morning?” I asked. “I thought most people worked at night.”

  “I have no idea,” she replied, sipping coffee so black it burnt my nose hairs from across the table. “I didn’t talk to them very often. Agent Brice was even bossier than you.”

  The coffee was my idea.

  She’d been drunk by the time we’d returned to the office. I didn’t care what she did with her life, but I needed her clear-headed enough to answer my questions.

  I also wasn’t going to trust her as long as she was drinking, not that I was dumb enough to put faith in a compromised officer.

  At least this way she’d be sober if she decided to betray me.

  “There has to be something you can tell me,” I pressed.

  Was she really so ignorant of what happened in her precinct?

  “Not much,” she replied. “They were here to investigate the creatures, the ones you call Shaped. They’d only been around about a few weeks before they were attacked.”

  I was getting desperate.

  “They didn’t tell you anything?” I pleaded. “They must have at least asked your team some questions, right?”

  “I sent them to Granger,” she said. “Jonah made me assign him to the case, because of the Umbra connection.”

  “No problem then,” Bert piped up. “We just wait for him to come back, then ask him about it.” He rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. “Do you think his voice will be higher?” He glanced at me. “If his boss cut his dick off, I mean.”

  “We don’t have time for that,” I snapped. “We have three days, and that’s if Bubbles was telling the truth.”

  I turned back to look at the chief.

  “Come on chief, you have to give me something.”

  “I was ‘encouraged’ to stay out of it, both by Jonah and by Agent Brice.”

  That name again. Another reminder that I wasn’t any closer to catching whoever killed her and the last IDU team.

  Chief Rakenchan groaned, massaging one of her temples. “Why don’t you ask your boss? He’s the one that sent them here.”

  It was a fair request, but I’d already tried that.

  I shook my head. “I was told they weren’t in communication during their last few days in Bangkok.”

  Rakenchan shrugged, taking another sip of coffee and grimacing. I didn’t blame her. That stuff is horrible unless you load it up with creamer and enough sugar to rot the foot off a diabetic person.

  “If they’d worked for me they would have been off duty by then,” she said. “We don’t run half-day shifts unless we’re severely understaffed.”

  “So something kept them up,” I concluded. “That’s a start. Where were they found?”

  “Somewhere near the Asoke khlongs, a few kilometers from here.”

  “Khlongs?”

  “That’s the name for our canals,” she explained. “In the old days, people took boats across the city. A lot of the waterways have been filled in, but there’re still some active. They’re cheap and faster than pushing through traffic, but most people avoid them because of the smell.”

  That would be a lead I could follow.

  “Who found them?” I asked.

  “W
e don’t know,” Rakenchan answered. “The cleaners came and took care of it before we even knew what had happened. Stone’s orders. All we got was a pile of ashes and a report confirming five bodies.”

  The cleaners are the crew that, as the name suggests, cleans up after supernatural events. They keep normal people from finding out about the paranormal world, and they do damage control if it’s too late. They are very thorough.

  Rakenchan finished the last of her coffee, and then tossed the Styrofoam cup away. She glared at me before I could suggest she get a refill.

  Fine.

  She wasn’t slurring her words or spacing out, which was good enough for me.

  “I’m guessing whoever killed them was a mage,” she offered, “unless you know another way to incinerate someone in an instant.”

  “Yeah, so no bodies,” Bert said, spinning a fidget toy he’d bought on the street. He was using his finger to spin it, to the relief of everyone. “That’s not suspicious at all.”

  He was right.

  As far as I saw it, this supported my theory that someone had been behind Theresa and Caleb’s murder. For starters, there was no way Theresa could have killed the first team. She’d been a goblin, of all things, not a mage. Plus, she hadn’t even been in Thailand when the previous team was killed.

  Not that I could bring that up, not with Rakenchan in the room. Seeing how so many people had been killed under her watch, I was sure at least one spy had gotten access to her systems.

  I’d probably have to tell the team about the vision I’d had at the morgue eventually, but it still sounded crazy to me, so how could I expect anyone to believe what had happened?

  “Okay, so that’s the first wave of attacks,” I said, circling them with my marker. “Now how about the attack on Club Dream?”

  Lana joined me at the whiteboard and took a marker.

  “According to what you told me, you were attacked at around two a.m.,” she said, adding that to the timeline.

  I nodded and sat down. “The attack on Caleb and Theresa happened at two p.m., Bangkok time.”

  “Another coordinated attack then,” Lana said, adding the information to the board. “They didn’t want anyone to get word out until it was too late.”

  “Where were they found?” I asked.

  The vision hadn’t given me that level of detail. It just showed that it had happened in a bedroom.

  “Theresa’s Apartment,” Rakenchan responded. “On the same floor as the rest of you. Feel free to look around, but the cleaners have already removed all traces.”

  I nodded. “I’m sure they got everything, but I’ll check.”

  Bert went to the board, taking the marker from my hand on the way.

  I was curious to see what he had to add to the conversation and waited for him to stop drawing.

  He turned around, smiled, and sat down again.

  I rolled my eyes and stood up to erase his picture before anyone said anything.

  Too late.

  “What’s that?” Lana asked.

  “That’s a drawing of a dick,” Bert said proudly. “In case Granger comes back and starts looking for his.”

  A round of glares was the only reaction.

  “What?” he asked. “You guys got to draw on the board and I didn’t say anything.”

  “Judging by your reaction,” Lana said slowly, “Prince Volkbert has done something inappropriate.” She raised her hand. “Should I hit him?”

  Her tone was flat, indicating she was genuinely curious.

  Between this and the ‘hernia’ incident at Soi Cowboy, I suspected Lana’s programmers had left out some important anatomy information.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I think he likes it.”

  Bert grinned widely, his tusks gleaming.

  An invisible hand caught him on the side of the face, knocking him from his chair.

  Rakenchan smiled. “I don’t know if he liked it, but it was good for me.”

  So, she was a mage.

  I made a not of that. It could prove useful, considering she’d just said only a mage could have killed the first crew.

  “Okay, enough,” I said, picking the marker up off the ground as I stepped over Bert.

  He looked a little unsteady as he dragged himself off the ground, but his smile was, if anything, bigger than before. Maybe he did like getting slapped around.

  “I know everyone’s tired and stressed out, but we’re running out of time.”

  I tapped the marker on my nose, thinking.

  “We have two coordinated attacks, at least. What do they have in common?”

  Bert raised his hand. “I don’t know.”

  Lana raised her hand too. “I don’t know either.”

  God help me, there were two of them.

  “I know there’s a connection,” Mira said, pointedly not raising her hand. “We just have to put all the pieces together.”

  The pieces…

  “Shit,” I said, drawing on the board. “What if it’s that simple?”

  The response was a collective “Huh?”

  “Pieces,” I declared, feeling nearly excited. “Parts. What if they needed new parts to add to whatever genetic goop they use for the Shaped? We know they are always tweaking them…trying to make them better.”

  “What do you mean?” Mira asked.

  “Think about it,” I replied. “Every encounter has been different. Elias was powerful, but vain. Nathan had backup, but he didn’t count on me finding allies. Even Bubbles was surprised by Lana and the new weapons. It’s become a game of chess now, seeing which side can find the advantage to take out their opponent.”

  I began to pace.

  “Their strategy so far has focused on enhancing supers with parts from other supers. That includes werecows.”

  The words were flowing now.

  “Kansas city is the biggest herd of werecows in the world, maybe the only organized herd. That kind of strength could come in handy in a monster. Elias even said he was sent to get new test subjects.”

  I stopped at the sight of Lana’s hand in the air.

  “So why even bother with Kansas City?” she asked. “They could find specimens in the Netherworld instead.”

  “No, not if they wanted to avoid suspicion,” Mira told her. “A few attacks spread over the world would be much easier to hide than a coordinated assault in the Netherworld.”

  “Exactly,” I agreed. “Lana, can you contact Stone’s office and get the data from all of the attacks? I need to know who was targeted as well as any demographic data on the supers in the area.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Lana put in the call and Chief Rakenchan went back to her office. The rest of us took to catching some shuteye in the conference room. It’d been a long night.

  There was time seeing that the call to Stone’s office resulted in a virtual wave of paperwork being sent to Lana. It took her the better part of an hour to compile the data, but it was worth it.

  “It checks out,” Lana announced, waking us up. “All the initial attacks were on communities of rare paranormal groups.”

  “Huh?” I asked groggily, pushing Bert off of my legs as I got off the uncomfortable office couch.

  Mira had opted to sleep in a chair instead.

  “The data checks out,” Lana repeated. “All the attacks that happened at the same time as the one in Kansas City were on rare super communities. And, aside from you, the only failed attempt was on Mike.”

  “Mike?” I asked, squinting.

  “Yeah, the only remaining male weretiger,” she explained.

  “Is he safe?” I asked with a jolt.

  It wasn’t really our responsibility to watch him, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t turn into another tool for the Shaped to use against us.

  “Yes, their attempt failed because his gay photoshoot topside ended early and he returned to the Netherworld.”

  “Gay photoshoot?” asked Bert.

  “Not now, Bert,�
� I warned.

  “What? I’m just curious. What makes it a gay photoshoot? Is the camera gay, too?”

  “I don’t even know how to respond to that,” I said, “so I won’t.” I turned back to Lana. “So they can’t get to Mike now, right?”

  “He’s already been put in protective custody due to his status as an endangered species,” Lana affirmed, “but I’ll ask for it to be increased, just in case.”

  “Good,” I sighed. “Thanks for doing that research.”

  It seemed like we’d done as much as we could for now.

  I glanced at Lana, who was picking up a marker Bert had dropped.

  For the fifth time.

  “Let’s wrap this up,” I said. “Lana, you just got here. Do you need anything?”

  “No,” she replied. “While I do require sleep on occasion, I can go many days without it. The same applies for all the typical biological needs.”

  “Great. Can you work here and dig through all the data the PPD has? Maybe we can find out who’s been leaking information to the bad guys.”

  She nodded.

  I looked over at my other two team members.

  “Mira and Bert, let’s go back to the hotel. We can check Theresa’s place, then grab a few hours of sleep.”

  It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was a start.

  Chief Rakenchan walked back into the room as we prepared to leave.

  “Good, you’re still here,” she said. “Agent Vedis, I’d like to ask you a favor.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve just had a meeting with my Directors. They’ve asked that you meet them after the issue with the Shaped is resolved. It will probably be within the next week.”

  That was strange.

  I knew of the Directors, of course. They were the group of people that represented the major supernatural factions for each area. The chiefs were the only ones who normally talked to them, so I’d never learned much more than that.

  I frowned. “Why me? I’m not a chief.”

  “I realize that,” she replied, “but they want to ask you some questions to aid in their investigation.”

  “About what?” I grumbled, thinking that her answer had better be good.

  Stone had promised I’d be spared paperwork and red tape.

  “About me,” she answered. “I turned myself in for corruption, and your testimony will be one of the factors they consider when deciding my fate.”