Heroes In Uniform (107 page)

Dr. Raymond Edwards had presented him with the kind of job that possibly ended with elimination, although Edwards hadn’t come right out and said so during their short telephone conversation. The doctor had skirted around the subject with the skill of a ballroom dancer, insisting time and time again that all he required were the services of a security specialist to assist with a problem at their facility.

Mick’s initial misgivings made him wonder why he had even come to the doctor’s office for this additional discussion. His typical clientele preferred meeting places that were much less public, but then again, maybe such transparency meant that the doctor had been truthful about the nature of this assignment.

He scoped out the office as he entered, taking note of the fact that there was only one entrance in and out. Not good in case of the need for a quick escape.

As he passed a credenza located beneath a wall filled with diplomas, framed news articles and photos, he noticed a small bronze statue of a horse mounted on a heavy marble base.

The size and weight of the statue would make it a handy weapon for either cracking open a man’s skull or breaking through the plate glass windows which lined one long wall of the office. The clear windows were now darkening, the color becoming as deep and dense as squid ink and likely for the same reason – concealment.

Mick had noticed all the high tech security on his way through the entrance of the building. He had expected it even while worrying about it. He knew his image would end up saved on a hard drive somewhere from the assorted closed circuit cameras, but if Dr. Edwards was on the up and up, this was one job that was too good not to consider.

“I thought you might like some privacy,” the man behind the desk said as he rose and offered his hand.

“Dr. Raymond Edwards,” the man said.

Mick shook his hand and nodded. “Mick Carrera.”

As Mick sat, he caught a glimpse of another security camera behind the desk, aimed directly at his chair. When Edwards tracked his gaze, he said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Carrera. I’ll make sure all traces of you are erased from our systems.”

“I appreciate your understanding,” he said, even while wondering again why a supposedly distinguished scientist like Raymond Edwards seemed compelled to seek out the services of a man like him. He wondered what else the good doctor had erased from the company’s security videos.

Dragging his attention to the man seated behind the desk, he listened as Edwards offered a rather lengthy introduction about the work that his biotech company did and their many accomplishments. Edwards' manner was outwardly confident and business-like, but Mick couldn't help but notice how the doctor kept his right hand on the face of the file on his desk and fiddled with one corner of the thick folder, thumbing it again and again. The curled corner of the papers confirmed that Edwards had opened that file more times than the good doctor wanted him to know.

When Edwards paused for a breath, Mick seized the opportunity. "Your mission is clear, Dr. Edwards. Your company specializes in developing gene therapies for the terminally ill."

The man stiffened and immediately corrected him. "Our present group of patients is terminally ill, but we hope that what we learn from our current research – ”

"Will help all of mankind in the future. So why do you require my services?"

Edwards thumbed the edge of the folder again before he laced his hands together on the face of the file. He leaned forward slightly, as if he was about to share something more intimate. A furrow of worry developed over the bridge of his nose, but the remainder of his thin face remained passive.

"I've been told your specialties are corporate security and discreet investigations," he said.

The dance had commenced
, Mick thought. He was almost amused by the way the man was twirling his way around the true nature of Mick’s work. "My experience – ”

"Is rather extensive. Army Ranger. EMT. Security consultant for one of the nation's top companies before you decided to go out on your own."

It hadn't really been a voluntary decision, but in the end it had worked out well for all involved. Except the two civilians who had been killed during his last assignment.

"You're background check seems to have been quite thorough which makes me wonder just why you need my . . . special skills."

A sly smile slinked across Edwards' face as he finally pushed the folder across the desk, but another thicker file still remained beneath the doctor's manicured fingers.

Mick opened the slim manila folder. On one side were copies of preliminary police reports on a murder which had occurred in the company's labs the day before. He recalled hearing about it on the early morning Philadelphia news and had immediately made the connection last night when Edwards had telephoned.

Dr. Rudy Wells, a top researcher and co-owner of the biotech company, had died a grisly death. The officer's notes and photos inside the file detailed the many injuries he had suffered.

Wells had been ripped apart. One arm and leg torn from his torso. The sharp point of a broken chair leg jammed through the
foramen magnum
at the base of his skull.

Mick flipped through all the pictures, imagining the kind of strength it would take to do that to another human being. Gauging the rage that must have been behind such a personal kind of attack since no professional would have done such a messy job.

The bruises visible on Wells’ body in the photos would likely yield finger or hand prints. With the kind of battle that might have gone on between Wells and his assailant, a treasure trove of DNA, fibers, and other evidence had probably been transferred to the dead scientist or left behind in the lab.

As he finished reviewing the last of the photos, he risked a quick glance at Edwards to study his reaction. The other man’s lips had stiffened with displeasure, but there was nothing else to give away what Edwards was thinking.

"This is the problem you wouldn’t discuss last night on the phone? Aren't the police already investigating this murder?" With a quick flip of his wrist, he tossed the file back onto Edwards' desk.

The clear gray of the other man's eyes chilled at Mick's apparent dismissal. Lines of tightness bracketed Edwards’ thin lips before he said, "If the police get wind of what actually happened here, everything we do could be in jeopardy. That's why we need a man of your caliber for this assignment."

Mick motioned to the file. "Let me get this straight. You don't want the police to solve this crime?”

"There's nothing to solve."

Edwards finally handed him the second thicker file. "We know who the murderer is – Caterina Shaw. One of our patients."

As he opened the folder, Caterina Shaw's engaging smile and intense blue-eyed gaze peered at him from the photo within the folder.
A beautiful woman
, he thought. A wealth of midnight hair surrounded a delicate face with pouty lips and contrasted nicely with her perfect, creamy skin, captured for posterity by the professional photograph.

The photo was clearly intended for business purposes as Ms. Shaw was dressed in what looked like a sedate black gown, a motherly string of pearls at the long elegant line of her throat. Mick couldn’t help but notice that the low cut of her gown provided a delicious glimpse of her other endowments as well.

It took all his willpower to battle the very visceral response that just the photo created. He definitely had been without a woman for too long and with good reason.

Women seemed to find him physically attractive, but he always felt it was his bad boy aura which really drew them. Neither reason generally lead to anything of lasting value. Relationships based on such shallow motives lacked the kind of trust necessary for a permanent relationship.

Reviewing the short bio on Caterina Shaw, Mick realized that permanence was something she was used to. Caterina had been born in the Philadelphia area and had stayed there for most of her life. The only breaks from the city had been for schooling, but each time she had returned home to Philly. Even her employment record screamed of stability. She had been with the local orchestra for several years.

He gazed at her picture one last time before turning his attention to the final entry in what appeared to be a lengthy medical history.

Patient has recently developed uncontrollable seizures leading to episodes of memory loss and rage combined with full expression of the implanted gene sequence
.

Medical mumbo jumbo for she's a raving psycho.

As Mick flipped back to the photograph of the woman, he was struck again by her beauty – not that beauty wasn't capable of the kind of violence perpetrated on Dr. Wells.

"Why is Ms. Shaw one of your patients?" he asked as he closed the file and returned it with greater care than the one before.

Edwards flipped open the folder and removed the photo, glancing at it almost wistfully before he said, "She was beautiful wasn't she?"

"Why is she here, Dr. Edwards?" Mick pressed, annoyed by the man's almost staged theatrics and his use of the past tense for a woman who was still very much alive as far as he knew.

"Sad sad story," the physician said with a tsk and dramatic shake of his head. "About three years ago, Ms. Shaw was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Slow-growing at first, but then some switch must have flipped and the tumor became more aggressive."

"So she came to you?" he asked, wondering just what state the young woman had been in when she arrived at Edwards' facility.

"Not at first. The only patients we are allowed to admit are those with no other recourse."

"Which means?"

"Ms. Shaw went blind from the tumor's invasion of her optic nerve, but she managed to deal with that. Laser treatments kept the growth confined for about another year.”

"But then it spread and she came to you for help." A note of disdain escaped with the comment, obviously irritating the man across from him.

Edwards jerked Caterina Shaw's photo into Mick's line of sight. He jabbed at the image of the woman. "Just twenty-eight and already at the height of her career. Her brain was rapidly being destroyed. Even if our treatments were untried, Ms. Shaw understood the possible reward. Wouldn't you do the same?"

Mick would have probably put a gun in his mouth and blown what little brains remained out the back of his skull, but he suspected the doctor sitting across from him wouldn't appreciate hearing that solution.

"What do you want from me?"

Edwards picked up both files and thrust them across the width of the desk. "After killing my partner, Caterina escaped the confines of our facility. Find her. If you can, bring her back so that we can get her under control before we turn her over to the authorities."

Something about the tone of Edwards' voice didn't ring true.

As Mick met the other man's icy stare, he got the sense that the seemingly proper physician was much like he was.

Determined.

Ruthless.

And possibly not above breaking a few rules to accomplish his goals.

"What if I can't bring her back? What if – ”

"Caterina resists? Chances are she will. She's quite dangerous in her current state. My partner found that out the hard way."

Mick glanced at the files in his hands, debating if he would take the assignment. As if sensing his hesitation, Edwards leaned forward once again and passed him a check with too many zeroes to refuse.

He examined the check for only a second before folding it and slipping it into the pocket of his black leather jacket. As he rose, Edwards held out his hand to seal the deal.

Mick ignored the man and walked to the door, certain of one thing as he exited.

If Edwards wasn’t telling the truth, what happened to his buddy Wells would seem like a cake walk compared to what he would do to him.

Sins of the Flesh: Chapter Two

Caterina struggled to contain the thoughts rampaging through her brain. Scattered ideas and images collided there, creating a convoluted maze which kept her a prisoner of her own mind. The images surprised her, prompting other vague memories of unending darkness.

Unwelcome darkness that had lasted for too long. Darkness that had been accompanied by pain only . . .

Little pain remained anymore and the darkness was gone, replaced by the bright images swirling around in her brain, a weird melding of colors reminiscent of a Peter Max painting.

Peter Max.

She forced herself to focus on that concept, remembering other pictures and artists. Lots and lots of paintings and artists while people gathered together at some kind of event.

Had she been an artist as well
? she wondered, confused about who and what she was as she gazed around again at the multi-hued shapes surrounding her. As unnatural as the colors were, she was grateful she could see, suddenly aware that she hadn't been able to do so in some time.

Trees.

Bushes.

The cool dirt beneath her feet.

Birds twittered overhead. A tiny flash of brown and white scurried into the underbrush.

She was outdoors which meant . . .

She was free.

She had escaped.

Escape
, she realized, honing in on that idea as she tried to make sense of the thoughts and memories creating havoc in her brain. Finally a picture formed in her mind of a hospital.

No, not a hospital. An office maybe? Or a lab? Yes, a lab.

I escaped from one of the cells in the lab the night before
, she realized as she skirted the edge of a stand of scraggly pines, their fragrant needles soft beneath her feet.

A step later, Caterina stubbed her toe on an exposed root.

Fearful of discovery, she contained her cry of pain and examined her foot. Like everything around her, the colors were off.

Bright yellow-green blood at the tip of her stubbed toe glowed against the darker browns of dirt and leaves along the rest of her foot.

Caterina forced herself to focus on that appendage, gathering her thoughts. Reality momentarily returned, restoring with it the peachy hues of her healthy human skin, although something else was odd.