by R. J. Blain
“I’ll think about it. The uppers are riding my ass about this case. They want the threat nullified immediately.”
Nullifying the threat could come in one of several ways. I could retrieve the statuette, and if I proved it was the source of the attack, my boss’s bosses would consider the threat removed while I searched for the culprit. “How are the victims doing?”
“According to the brain scan reports that have reached my desk, they’re all locked in an REM stage of sleep. I was about to send you a copy of the reports for your review. The doctors are concerned because the REM stage of sleep isn’t considered a restful state, and all patients seem to be actively dreaming. This might have serious health consequences if it’s prolonged. Nothing tried has woken them. Worse, no medications used have been able to force someone even into a comatose state. It’s like the drugs are instantly metabolized or ineffective.”
“That doesn’t sound good. Is there anything else physically wrong with them?”
“They’re alive, which is the best we can hope for at this point. They’re on feeding tubes and are being monitored around the clock. One victim is on life support, and there are concerns this is just the beginning.”
Shit, shit, shit. “What happened to the patient on life support?”
“I’m checking her file, give me a moment.”
I waited, reading the scanner’s registry on the signature. It couldn’t tell me much beyond what I’d already figured out: it was a probable aquatic.
“This is going to sound a little crazy, but bear with me.” Papers rustled. “The doctor in charge of her case believes a nightmare almost scared her to death. She suffered a minor heart attack, and the life support is a precaution. If her vitals stabilize, they might remove her from life support, but the doctor isn’t willing to take any chances at this stage.”
“And she’s the only one on life support?”
“So far, but several other victims also seem to be suffering from intense nightmares. I tried to send a quad with an empath, but it didn’t work out; the empath freaked out before he even got into the hospital. Whatever is doing this to them is generating a lot of negative emotional energy.”
“Have you tried drainers of other types, sir?”
“We haven’t been willing to. The empaths we sent claimed that it felt like they were about to be sucked into an abyss, and that’s just from getting too close to the victims.”
Holy shit. “What sort of ghost fish are we dealing with here?”
“I don’t know, but you need to figure it out fast. If empaths are at risk of being sucked into this, there’s the possibility it could spread from our victims.”
The world knew all about the spread of magic; while I wasn’t one of them, some death zone survivors spread radiation and created supernaturals just from being in close proximity to a pure predisposed for developing mutated genes. I’d undergone every test to confirm if I could be around pure humans without risk, and I’d passed with flying colors, a rarity among death zone survivors.
Then again, it didn’t matter. Pure humans came few and far between.
“Probability of spread, sir?”
“Less than a percent for now, but the situation is being closely monitored.”
With hundreds of lives on the line and the risk of spread present, my boss was right. I needed to hurry up and figure out who was behind the incident and why. Until I locked down a motive, I was flying blind. All flying blind would do was get someone—no, a lot of someones—killed. “I’ll start with sourcing where it came from so we can chart the crime from its origin, then I’ll start looking into where the trail goes from there.”
“Have you spoke with Detective Davis recently?”
I scowled. “He was at my place before I got the scanner. He wanted to talk with the statuette’s owner, so he was going to handle that.”
“She’s dead. Detective Davis smelled her body from outside of her home, broke into the house, and found her on the floor near the door. She looks like she died while getting ready to leave her home. At current estimate, she passed away two days ago.”
My day had gone from bad to worse, and it was only going to go downhill. “Right before the Oakland City Center incident?”
“Time frame could be as early as six hours prior to as late as the evening before. She needs to go to the morgue for a better idea of time of death.”
“Could she be the index case?”
“It’s not being classified as a disease, Olivia. Yet, at least. It is a possibility, however. A team is on the way to her residence. Please keep an eye on Detective Davis; he’s been kept off homicide investigations. They’re not his thing.”
His thing? I snorted. “They’re not my thing, either. I just have to do it on the tough cases, and unfortunately, I’m rather good at killing people when it’s needed, so I see bodies all the time.”
“You are, but you’ve been handling death for a long time. Ethan says men like Detective Davis become either empaths or mediums if you dump them into a radioactive tank and wait for a while. The ones who’ve seen death often typically become mediums. Detective Davis would likely be an empath.”
Shit. “Detective Davis isn’t a supernatural?”
“He’s a pure human, but you can’t tell by looking at him, can you? He refuses to be sidelined to preserve his genes, but he seems to be utterly resistant to radiation exposure. He doesn’t like anyone knowing, but should this case escalate, he’ll need protection.”
“Are you mad? He’s alone without any defenses against this thing!”
“Olivia,” my boss warned.
“I’m going to track the fish to its origin, then I’m assigning a quad to him, and next time, sir, please do not withhold critical information, and my case co-lead being a pure is critical information! I would’ve sent Isaac or Eddy with him had I known.”
Either could handle a fight and protect the detective.
“Olivia, you’re overreacting. First, Detective Davis may not be a supernatural, but he’s not without protections. He’s exceptionally good with a firearm and is carrying at all times.”
“Insufficient.”
“I see you like this specific cop. You tend to want to just chuck them off the nearest bridge and toy with them because you can.”
I scowled. “I prefer to be the one in control of tormenting any cops forced to deal with me. I would never put a cop into harm’s way knowingly, and I feel this is what has happened.”
“I’d like to remind you I already have a quad heading to his location now. He’ll be fine. If it makes you feel better, I’ll authorize you to assign yourself to him as his protection, and I’ll notify Chief Kirkland you have a pet cop until further notice.”
“I’ve always wanted a pet cop, but Dad keeps telling me no.”
“May Detective Davis one day forgive me. I’ll tell the quad I sent over they’re to keep an eye on your pet cop until you arrive. Also, if you see the person behind this in action, you have permission to use lethal force. Take no chances.”
Great. Just what I needed. Before I could say a word, my boss hung up. I tapped my foot until the urge to throw my phone faded. “Luke, the statuette’s owner is dead, and Detective Davis is a pure human.”
“Probable homicide?”
I shrugged.
“Detective Davis is good with a gun. He’s been fine on his own so far. Don’t get pissy, Olivia.”
“The boss told me to assign myself as his bodyguard, and that I get to have my very own pet cop until further notice.”
“Your boss is a jerk. Poor Ray. Is now a bad time to tell you that your jerk boss ordered us to assign ourselves as your bodyguards?”
“Tell me tomorrow after it’s painfully obvious my apartment is too small for the number of people sleeping there. I’ve got enough problems for today.”
“You got it, boss lady.”
Every three-quarters of a mile, Luke pulled over so my scanner could crunch through its data and trace the s
ignature from the Oakland City Center. Halfway to San Jose, I struck gold; the trail ended off the beaten path at a hillside estate overlooking a valley vineyard. “Park here. We’re going to walk the rest of the way on foot.”
“How far?” Luke pulled over as ordered and killed the engine. “I’ll call in we’re parked here on official business. The local cops can babysit the vehicle or yell at us for breaking their rules. Honestly, I’m hoping they’ll try to yell at you. That sounds like fun. Are we on the right side of the highway?”
I pointed at the hill. “We are.”
Isaac bounced out of the SUV with Jamie hot on his heels. I flipped the earth elementalist off. “You might be a badass medic, but you shouldn’t be as energetic as Isaac. I’m getting tired watching you. No more bouncing.”
Jamie grinned and saluted me. “You’re tired because of blood loss. I bet Ethan would love to carry you.”
The medium grunted. “No, I wouldn’t. She can nap on the ground if she’s tired. We’ll call her father in to rescue her. He’d love it.”
I whirled and pointed at Ethan. “You’re the devil. Don’t you even think about calling my father about anything like that.”
Dad would love to ride to the rescue with his favorite cops, the kind of men he’d want me to marry if he had a choice in the matter. My mother would encourage him, too.
“View it as excellent motivation to keep from fainting or otherwise getting into trouble,” he countered. “Luke can run the scanner, too. We could do this scan without your help, you know. You could have stayed home, ate, and caught up on sleep.”
I pointed the scanner at the uppity medium. “No. This is my scanner, and you can’t have it.”
Jamie smiled, and when he smiled, he was creating trouble somehow. “Isaac would be happy to send you to nappy land on my behalf if I think you’re having any issues. I might even be a kind soul and call Ray instead of your old man.”
I shook my head so hard I made myself dizzy. “Absolutely not.”
Luke’s quad laughed at me.
“You’re not bodyguards. You’re heartless traitors.”
Luke got out of the SUV, circled the vehicle, and held the door open for me. “Just show us where to go so we can try to figure out where this bastard is going next. Once we have a better lead, we’ll bicker and fight over how much sleep is actually required while working the case. We’re not listening to you about the food, though. We’d starve to death. We’re spoiled, boss. You wouldn’t want us to perish from hunger, would you?”
I recognized the joking for what it was: a distraction from the reality of our case. We’d be losing sleep and jumping at shadows before too long.
Humor made the job bearable, even when people on the outside found the humor inappropriate.
“Just keep the jokes mild when the cops are around. Let’s not offend them too much.”
The quad stared at me as though I’d grown a second head and started breathing fire.
“What? I can’t be mean to the local cops all the time, and it’s not worth trying to explain you cracking jokes is how you keep from snapping at them because you do the hard jobs so they don’t have to. The last time I whipped out that explanation, do you know what happened?”
Luke sighed. “You went into graphic detail over one of our worst cases and made one cop cry and several puke.”
“Yeah, that was a bit rude of me, but they were giving one of my folks trouble over a joke, and I didn’t appreciate it.”
“When most people say they didn’t appreciate something, do you know what they do? They quietly deal with it. When you don’t appreciate something, you go on a mission. You terrorized them.”
“It’s not my fault I pay attention to what my quads do and remember the little details people wish I wouldn’t. It doesn’t help the cops should’ve known better than to piss me off when they’ve been part of the force for years. I’d bailed all of them out numerous times. If we want to have a bad sense of humor, let us. We’re the ones who have to go deal with the real nasty shit.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “Are we discussing literal or figurative shit here?”
“An unpleasant mix of both.” Taking my time, I slid out of the SUV, slung my purse over my shoulder, and did a check to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, including my firearm. “Most of them know better now.”
“Where does the scanner say we’re going?”
I pointed up the steep hill flanking the road. “Up and over that. There should be a vineyard in the valley beyond. There are several estates overlooking it. According to this, the estate halfway down the hill here is the one we’re after.” I pointed farther south. “There’s another estate there just below the peak of the hill.”
“None north?”
“None north. There’s an access road for the estates and the vineyard, that’s it. There also looks to be a second access road on the other side of the hill.” I was willing to bet the estate owners avoided the neighboring properties despite their driveways being connected. “If the scanner is accurate, the trail ends right inside the estate.”
Luke peeked at the device and tapped on the scanner’s larger map, which showed we were still in Alameda county but getting close to Union City. “We’re outside of Ray’s jurisdiction if this is where the statuette was stolen from.”
“Hayward from the looks of it.” I tapped the screen to show law enforcement jurisdiction zones. “Yep, we’re in Hayward still. We’d have to go another few miles to get into Union City’s jurisdiction.”
Luke sighed. “That means you might get into a jurisdiction war with Chief Thomas and Chief Patterson.”
“Thomas and Patterson don’t worry me. If anything, they’ll beg me to deal with it so they’re not brought into a terrorism case.”
“Think Ray was granted jurisdiction here?”
Damn it. Luke would poke and prod at me until I called Chief Thomas. “Okay, okay, hold your horses. I’ll find out.”
Already dreading the phone call, I fetched my phone, dialed the main FBI switchboard, and requested to speak with Chief Thomas. Since my day was heading south in a hurry, I told the operator I needed to get a hold of him in a hurry and to have him call me on my cell phone.
Then, shooting glares at Luke, I waited. “I’m going to stand here for five minutes. If he doesn’t call—”
My phone rang. I sighed, bowed my head, and answered, “Abrams.”
“It’s been a while since you switchboarded me, lady. What can I do for you?” Chief Thomas asked.
“Did you give Detective Raymond Davis jurisdiction for a theft case in your turf?”
“Ah. The statuette? Yeah. Kirkland owed me a favor, so I borrowed his detective. You need a theft specialist? He’s your man.”
Well, that was something. News of my co-lead hadn’t spread everywhere yet. “He’s my co-lead on the Oakland City Center case. By any chance, was the statuette stolen from a hillside estate overlooking a vineyard just shy of the Union City line?”
“Sure was. Why?”
“I’m going to be stomping all over your turf for this case, and I thought I’d like to give you a heads up in case you see me around. I’ve already started. I’ve parked one of my SUVs on the side of your road.”
“I’ll have one of the cops already at the scene skip over the hill and move it for you if you’d like. That’ll free up your quad to do the heavy lifting. You hear anything about the site yet?”
“Beyond my scanner directing me here? No. I’m about to go have a look.”
“Some things are best seen directly. Go on and have a look over the hill and give the keys to one of my cops. They’ll go park your SUV somewhere tolerable.”
“Hey, can I ask a favor?”
“That really depends.”
“My old man needs me to yank on his chain. Can I have one of your cops as a pet?”
“Take Sergeant Flores. She’s got a sense of humor and is already at the scene. I’ll drop her a line and tell her you’re
temporarily adopting her. Use her as your contact. She’s itching to climb the ladder, and this’ll give her a good chance to see how she melds with you FBI types.”
“Nobody melds well with us FBI types. We’re abrasive, nosy, and cause you cop types trouble.”
“And heartburn.”
“Only when you tell my mother you like spicy food and she tries her best to cook to your tastes. You only have yourself to blame for that, Chief Thomas.”
“Right, right. Anything else I can do to help? I’ve got the feeling you’re not going to be up for the usual fun and games on this case.”
“I’ll definitely take a raincheck on the fun and games, but we’ll get in some posturing later so you can complain to my old man how cruel I am to you poor cops.”
“I’ll just tell him you made off with my best sergeant.”
“Sounds like a plan. Take care of yourself, and if you get any reports of weird ghost fish, hit my private line,” I ordered.
“You got it, Olivia. Have a good day. I’ll keep my cell charged and with me so if you need me, I’m a call away.”
“Mine’s usually with me, but its status as charged, dead, or dying is questionable at best.”
“Of course it is. You’re a water elementalist. You must cost the FBI a small fortune in phones.”
I laughed but didn’t correct him; I just kept forgetting to charge my phone, which made the damned thing useless. I hadn’t trashed a phone with my magic in years.
It helped when I could prevent even a hint of moisture from getting into my electronics at my whim.
“Thanks, Gerry.” I hung up. “Luke, do me a favor, would you?”
“What do you need?”
“I need to know how often Detective Davis is passed around between the police chiefs.”
Luke dialed a number and said, “Luke Doloman with the FBI. I need to speak with Chief Kirkland, please.”
Ethan snickered. “Ten bucks says he’ll get the—”
