“Did you see anyone when you came in or anything out of the ordinary?” Detective Jake queried.
Shaking his head fervently, the man replied with a staunch tone. “No”.
Detective Jake could spot a dead end when he saw one and he would do better snacking on some doughnut and washing it down with self-regret and paranoia in his office, about how one of the best homicide detectives in recent years was about being found out to be a killer and a damn crazy predator at that.
“Thank you mister… “, he paused and waited for the name.
“Walt… my name is Walt”, the response came in better and more composed tone.
“Mr. Walt… thank you”, he noted. “Should we need any more information from you, we will be in touch”.
He had lied through his teeth but it was necessary to keep up appearances still. He would mourn his situation later and in private but first, he needed to get out of there. It didn’t matter what it would look like, but he needed to and fast. He had barely taken five steps away from the ambulance trucks when the news vans began swarming into the site like cockroaches in an infestation parade.
“Here they come”, he thought while his stomach sunk deeper than it already had. “Fucking roaches”.
The melee was just about beginning but something else lurked underneath the water of secrets behind him and it soon reared its ugly severed head as he heard the cry, “We found another body! Eleven!”
Detective Jake paused, looked befuddled and short on thoughts and words. “The count should be ten… the bodies should be ten and not eleven!”
He was sure as he could ever be about the body count; one for every year and eleven just wasn’t right.
“Something is wrong!” he concluded, looked back and gasped as they dragged bagged body just like the ones he had dropped in there.
There was never meant to be an eleventh body… something didn’t feel right… something definitely wasn’t.
Chapter One
W
atching the cloud stroll by and the heavens looking like it was about pouring down torridly, Sean Stein stared at his watch and temporarily dragged himself out from the outside view of the office he had not once but many times been invited into for the wrong reasons. His persistence towards finding out what he had been called to the head office for had been shut down time and time and again, but he senses something deeper was at work.
“I didn’t get into trouble this time around, did i?” he thought to himself with a rather whimsical smile tearing his face apart.
He had been warned and his last straw was the last time he shot a witness in the name of self-defense during a drug bust gone bad. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat and clearing his throat while he tossed a mint gum into it, he felt his stomach get unsettled and his neck cringe with pan from the sleepless night upon getting the text message.
The door swung open behind him and his senses kicked into place. The oval looking room, decorated like a third world war room suddenly sent shivers down his spine while the recording camera hanging in the Far East corner of the room continued to focus solely on him. He was being watched and he didn’t need anyone to tell him just how important it would be to be at his best behavior.
“Agent Stein!” the rough sounding voice came calling before some more footsteps crashed the silence within the room.
Sean remained still and made certain not to turn around as his superiors took their seats opposite of his.
“Sean”, Martha McGregor, greeted, combing through her red hair and settling her perfectly shaped behind into her seat before resting her elbows on the table.
Silence aired within the room and anxiety soon followed. Sean Stein shrugged and stared at the two before him with some level of expectancy in his eyes but they seemed reluctant and for reasons that baffled him.
“You called for me?” he shrugged, smiled and rested his back into his seat.
Their refusal to speak or break the air continued to unsettle Sean, who knew Mark Hammon to be nothing but a stickler for being blunt regardless of what he had to say or offer. His colleague was different but even there and then, their countenance wasn’t the most comforting one and it prompted another inquiry from Sean.
Raising his hand and clearing his throat, he spoke again. “Are we here for business or I’m getting kicked off the force for some stupid shit I pulled off?”
Martha leaned closer, shook her head and replied, “I wish it was that easy Sean but your being here is for something else”.
“We have a job for you but you wouldn’t like it and we don’t think anyone else can handle it but you”, Mark Hammon finally found his tone.
Feeling gladdened by their sudden response but still skeptical about what they had to offer, Sean remained mute while Mark tossed over a thick case file he had retrieved from his brown leather bag. Sean retrieved the file from the table where it landed and slowly looked from the man to the lady by his side before casting his gaze on the file itself.
Perusing the first image on the first page, his lower jaw felt unhinged and threatened to drop to the ground, while his stomach churned with disgust and some degree of anger.
“What is this?” he looked up to ask with his eyes reddened with rage and his cheeks flushed red with confusion and anger.
Martha shrugged, shook her head and sighed. “Ten bodies of ordinary citizens and one of a law enforcement officer like you and I found a few days back and it gets more interesting than that”.
“Interesting?” Sean looked up at them with a frown.
He couldn’t perceive any form of interest from the case let alone want anything to do with it.
“When two of the topmost CIA operatives in the country
