by Carol Roi
She was torn. The cop in her needed to investigate the disturbance, but the part of her that was friend to Ellison and Sandburg wanted to stay with them until the medics arrived. And the part of Megan that was Companion to Diandra's Champion had to find out if the Immortal Amazon was okay. The Companion won out and she clambered over the hood of Dee's Wagoneer to jump the fence, pulling her gun as she hit the ground on the run. The faint moonlight was her only guide as she searched for the source of the grief stricken cries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diandra got to her feet slowly, picking up her katana and tucking it inside her coat. She was bone-tired and totally wired at the same time. Shaking her head to clear the last of the ringing from the Quickening, she shuffled over to Ventriss' body and began to methodically go through his clothing, pocketing keys, I.D, anything that could possibly identify him. She found the gun he'd used on Eolia, and tucked that away too. Damn it! He had to have a car here somewhere. She'd have to find it. But first things first. She had to get rid of his body. Otherwise people would be asking all kinds of questions, like how did a dead man end up dead again.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small can of lighter fluid she'd taken from Brad. Popping the top off of it, she sprinkled the fluid on his shirt. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would be enough to get the fire started. She'd have to look for more fuel, but maybe it'd at least catch his clothing on fire. Striking a match from the booklet she always carried, she dropped it on him and walked a few paces away to where Eolia had fallen.
She gazed down at the lifeless body of the other Immortal. "Aw, damn it, Lia, why couldn't you let me be the one to challenge him?" Dee pushed her hair back off her face and wiped at her eyes. "And what am I going to do with you now?"
The sound of footsteps crunching on snow reached her ears, followed by an immortal warning tingle. She looked up to see Jan-Michel approaching slowly, his shoulders slumped. Stepping over Lee's body, Dee moved to block his view. "Jan," she said softly, reaching out a hand to stop him. "You really don't need to see this."
She watched him swallow convulsively. "Yes, I do, if only to close her Chronicle."
Shrugging, Dee stepped aside. LaFollet gazed at his fallen teacher for several moments, then turned away, retching. When he was through, Dee said, "Jan-Michel, you really want to help Lee, take these," she handed him the items she'd pilfered from Brad's pockets, along with both Eolia's and Ventriss' swords, "find his car and get out of here."
"You'll take care of her?"
"I will. I'll contact you later, okay?"
He nodded, and then before turning to leave he tossed something at her. "Here, use it with my blessings." He walked back across the park, vanishing into the darkness.
Diandra looked down at the object the Watcher had thrown her and offered up silent thanks for the man's thoughtfulness. Uncapping the liquid accelerator -- a mixture of magnesium flakes suspended in a gelled alcohol, standard issue for Watchers in the field -- she tossed the volatile fluid onto the barely burning body. Adding another couple of lit matches to the pile, she watched as the fire finally caught to her satisfaction and the flames burned brighter and hotter than she could've hoped for. Soon, there would be nothing left of Bradley Ventriss except bad memories and scattered ashes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Megan carefully crossed the icy ground. Slipping in a patch of reddened snow and ice earlier had made her cautious. When the fire glow ahead of her became blinding white, she broke into a run. Finding Diandra standing guard over a fallen body, her face set in what appeared to be an emotionless mask lit by the bright fire, the Companion choked back a sob of relief. The slight wind shifted at that moment, blowing the smoke rising from the fire towards her. The bile rose in her throat, as she smelled the unmistakable odor of burning flesh. "Dee?"
"Megan."
She approached the Champion, glancing down to see what the Amazon was guarding. At the sight of Lee Eolia's headless form, the woman's head not too far from the body, the neck showing signs of having been hacked at, Megan could no longer control her stomach.
The light touch of a cool hand on the back of her neck as she heaved into a bush near the edge of the pond helped her to control her reaction. "Oh, Dee… Lee didn't deserve that, no matter what she'd done."
Diandra's voice was cold. "No, she didn't. But Nemesis heard her plea and answered her. Brad Ventriss is dead."
Megan swallowed, trying to rid herself of the vile taste in her mouth. "Where's LaFollet?"
"Taking care of Watcher business." The Amazon's eyes were locked on the fire that was slowly starting to sputter out, having nothing left to consume.
The strange mood the Champion was in bothered the Companion, who was expecting more emotion from the woman. "Dee? Sandy and Jim were here when the second Quickening happened. They're hurt."
She said nothing, just started running towards the fence line where the cars were parked, and where, conveniently, the Sentinel and Guide had fallen, leaving Megan to catch up to her. Diandra never approached the fallen pair after climbing over the fence, just cocked her head in the motion that told the inspector the woman was scanning them with her hearing. "They'll be fine, Pajara. Move your car so I can get out of here. I can hear company coming and I cannot be here when they arrive."
"What? Dee…"
"NOW, Megan." The order snarled across the short distance between the two women.
Confused, hurt and pissed, Megan didn't answer the woman who no longer acted like the friend she was. She moved her Chevy as Diandra started up her Jeep and pulled away at a high rate of speed, disappearing around a corner at the end of the docks, just as the ambulance pulled onto 34th street two blocks back in the other direction.
Captain Simon Banks was a very happy man as he and his son, who looked to have grown a couple of inches since he last saw him, sat at the dining room table participating in a Banks family Christmas tradition, stringing popcorn and cranberries for the tree. Except for the ongoing investigation into the break in and reported theft from QuestScape, the department had had a relatively quiet week. Well, not counting the winter storm that had fouled up the scheduling and phones two days before.
He'd been able to cut out of the station early, leaving Joel Taggart in charge, and had arrived at the airport to pick up Daryl just as the young man's flight had landed at 4 PM. They'd had an early dinner, nothing fancy since his son had been 'dying' for a pizza from Volari's, then they had popped the dried corn while watching the George C Scott version of Scrooge. The loud ringing of the phone hanging on the kitchen wall shattered their quiet time.
"I'll get it, Dad," Daryl volunteered as he moved towards the phone. "Probably Mom wanting to make sure you haven't throttled me yet."
Simon chuckled as his son flashed him a brilliant smile, then turned his attention back to pushing a sharp needle through a rather thick cranberry.
"Banks Residence."
"Hey, Daryl! You made it in! That's great!"
"Hi, Rafe. I suppose you're calling for Dad?"
The needle punched through the berry at that moment and, not paying attention, Simon yelped as he speared his thumb. "Yeowch!"
Daryl couldn't help it, the sight of his father sucking his thumb was funny and he started to chuckle. "Oh, man, that had to have hurt. Dad? Rafe's on the phone for you."
Gently cuffing his tall son on the back of the head, Simon accepted the cordless phone from him and pulled his thumb out of his mouth before answering. "Rafe, this had better be good. I'm off duty until Monday, remember?"
"Yes, sir. It's just that H and I got a strange call from Megan and the more we thought about it, the more we thought you should know."
"Spill it, Rafe."
"Uh, she called asking about the duck pond where Lash worked, said she had to meet an informant but didn't want to wait for H or I to back her up."
The hackles went up on the back of his neck. That part of his city wasn't safe and even the patrols that worked that area were double manned. While Connor was good at taking care of herself, he wondered if she was walking into trouble. The only case that she was actively working was QuestScape. "Damn. You were right to call me, Brian. Keep me posted, I'll be in my unit in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and looked at his son. "Daryl, I'm sorry--"
"Dad, it's okay. It's your job and I really do understand. I'll be fine. Go." He finished up the last of the garland, tying off the end of the long strand and walked over to the tree in the corner of the living room. "Besides, I was wondering if I'd get a chance to let Santa know the coast was clear."
Simon smiled, wondering what he'd ever done to have such an understanding son when Joan never could understand that sometimes his job had to come before family. "I'll try not to be too late. Just make sure you lock up when I leave." He looked down at his clothes, faded jeans stained with red berry juice, red sweatshirt and his ragged, old running shoes. It'll have to do, not like I'm going to be walking into a crime scene. The commander of Major Crimes grabbed up his heavy Seattle Seahawks jacket, keys, ID folder and badge, tucked his gun into the holster he hadn't taken off, and headed out the door. Pausing only long enough to hear Daryl slide the deadbolt home, he walked to his sedan.
Pulling out of the driveway, he flipped on the police band radio, listening to the idle chatter between patrol units that were bored by the light traffic and lack of action on Christmas Eve. The Captain was happy for the boredom. It meant that he might actually be able to spend a relaxing holiday visitation with Daryl, who was close to graduating from High School and wanted to look into attending Rainier University the following fall.
<*beep*beep*beep*>
The three tone alert breaking over the police radio caused Simon to clench his hands around the steering wheel, dreading the words that would shatter the calm evening.
"Officer Down, Officer Requesting back-up and Med-Squad. West 34th, near the old city park. Called in by phone, Officer ID is Zebra 16."
Zebra 16, Inspector Megan Connor's assigned call sign. Simon reached out and grabbed up the microphone from its holder. "Zebra 1, Dispatch, responding code 3." He threw the mic to the seat and flipped the switch on the dash that would activate his emergency lights as he pressed the gas peddle to the fire wall. "Damn it, Connor! What the hell have you gotten yourself into? And who the hell is hurt?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dispatch had relayed the information from the ambulance that the power was out for five blocks around the area where they were responding.. A couple of police units confirmed that as they drew closer to the scene. Simon noted the blackout conditions as he pulled onto 34th Street. By the time he stepped out of his sedan, he had spotted the paramedics working on two people on the ground, next to a distinctive blue and white Ford truck. He noted the dark colored Lexus SUV parked close to that. Using the emergency lighting strobing through the dark, he spotted the officer who had made the call to dispatch and approached her.
"Connor, what the hell happened here?"
"Uh, I got a tip that Ms. Eolia had been contacted by a subject claiming to be the thief that had broken into QuestScape, and that if she wanted to clear her company's name, she was to meet him here at six."
"And?" he asked quietly, hoping to pull more information out of her.
"I didn't get here in time, sir. Jim and Sandy beat me here, but I did find Ms. Eolia. She's dead, sir. Looks like the same method that killed her husband in Seattle. Shot, then decapitated." Her eyes never wavered off the paramedics who were treating their friends.
Noting how she seemed to be fixated on the treatment of the two fallen men, he wasn't really surprised to see that it was Sandburg and Ellison. He chose to stand beside her and watch the paramedics work on his men. Once they were loaded up, and he knew which hospital they were heading to, he placed a quick phone call to Joel Taggart, quietly asking the man to meet the ambulance at the hospital and to see what he could find out from the staff there.
When the inspector turned to face him finally, he never had a chance to say a word before she spoke. "The scene's a real mess, Captain. I'm not sure we'll ever be able to tell what happened to Ms. Eolia."
"Can you tell me what happened to Ellison and Sandburg?"
She shook her head. "No, they were like that when I arrived, Sir."
Simon Banks wasn't sure if he fully believed her or not. She'd been hanging around Sandburg for a while. The student was a great teacher and Obfuscation 101 was a favorite subject. "Maybe the staff at Cas-Gen will be able to figure out what happened to them. In the meantime, show me the scene. You said Ms Eolia was shot and decapitated?"
"Yes, sir. Uh, the scene's a real…"
"Mess, you said that already, Connor. I'm not exactly wearing my best shoes, lead on."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connor had greatly understated the devastation of the crime scene. There was blood everywhere, bright red stains on snow that had been disturbed by a lot of busy feet. It looked like a damn war zone with all the spilt blood and blackened or scorched trees and playground equipment. When he was shown the body of the WindHawk Securities owner, he had to clamp down hard on his body's reaction to seeing the once vibrant woman lying on the ground like a broken doll.
The Medical Examiner on call, Dr. Dan Wolfe, was taking his preliminary notes and trying hard not to contaminate the crime scene himself. Hearing the snow crunching under approaching feet, Dan stood up to face the visitor. "Captain Banks."
"Dan, what can you tell me?"
"Not much, yet. Cause of death appears to be decapitation, but she was also gut shot. Either would've killed her and the decapitation was a real hack job. A sharp instrument, maybe a long blade or ax, was used, but the perpetrator had to strike twice to complete the job. Nasty way to go if she was still alive when it happened." He motioned to his two assistants to move in and bag the body as he walked back to the other part of the scene that was bugging him.
Simon followed the ME and noticed the burned area the doctor stopped at. "What the heck happened here?"
Dan bent down and carefully scooped up a sample of the ash and placed it in an evidence bag. "I'm not sure. I'll have to analyze the ash to find out what was burned here and when." He put a hand, still gloved in latex, over the center of the burn area. "Still a little warm, so it's recent. Maybe a homeless person was camped here before whatever happened here went down."
"Then we might have a witness. Let me know as soon as you can find out, Dan. And I hate to ask this of you, but can you put a rush on the autopsy of Ms. Eolia? Her husband was killed in a similar manner a few months ago down in Seattle."
"Assassination or serial killer?"
Simon shuddered. "God, I hope not. I don't think Cascade could put up with another serial killer."
Dan stripped off his exam gloves, placing them in another evidence bag to preserve them and shook his head. "I hear that. I'll get started on the post mortum examination of the victim as soon as I get back to the office."
The Captain watched as the Medical Examiner walked toward the van where the remains were being loaded and moaned as he saw the news vans pulling up. Maybe he should let Connor talk to the press? No, it was his responsibility. He'd hear from the Chief and the Commissioner about his appearance, but they'd have to understand he was called from home and didn't exactly have time to climb back into his suit and tie. "Let the circus begin," he muttered under his breath as he slowly walked to where the patrolmen who'd responded were holding the press back from the crime scene.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dee drove slowly back to her loft, barely controlling the Quickening energy that surged through her. She'd hated to leave Blair and Jim like that, but there was nothing she could hav
e done for them in the state she was in. She could just as easily killed them as healed them.
Parking her car outside the loft, she got out and went upstairs. She cleaned her blade immediately, years of battle training having taught her that weapons care was the first step to keeping her head. Exchanging her customary boots for track shoes, she discarded her coat, changed into a sweatshirt, and headed out again. Hitting the street, she began to run, quickly settling into a ground covering lope, forcing her thoughts to concentrate on her stride, her breathing, the scenery rushing by, anything but that evening's terrible events. She closed her mind to the vision of her lover's face, the bruises Lia had inflicted upon him standing out in stark relief against his pale skin. And poor Jim, zoned on the Quickening energy surging through his partner.
