The Frenzy War (19 page)

“They call themselves Wolves. They're shape-shifters who have lived here and on other continents for centuries, their existence predating Cro-Magnon man. When the Europeans invaded the continent, the Wolves adopted the forms of those men. They've been living among us ever since.”

“Begging your pardon, Captain,” Karol said. “But that sounds like bull to me.”

Willy never looked at his partner as she spoke but continued to stare at Mace. “Either you've had too much to
drink, or I haven't had enough.”

“I know what I heard Janus Farel do to Patty,” Candice said. “He wasn't human. And like you said, witnesses saw this wolf man or werewolf or whatever he was. But what you're telling us now … an entire race?”

“They're peaceful,” Mace said. “They're also endangered. All they want is to be left alone.”

“Janus Farel had a strange way of showing it,” Landry said.

“He was a renegade,” Mace said. “For reasons Angela didn't know, he broke with his society. His goal was to expose their species and start a war between us and them.”

Karol leaned forward. “If she was part of a secret species of werewolves, then Gabriel and Raphael—”

“—are our links to that society.”

“And Jason Lourdes and Rhonda Wilson—”

“Probably belong to the same species and society. Why don't you and Willy tell everyone about the bodies found in the Lourdes' home?”

“You mean the
ruins
of the Lourdes' home,” Willy said. “Six bodies, only one of them human. The rest were canine … and decapitated.”

“Like Jason,” Karol said.

“I'm willing to bet two of those canine carcasses belonged to Jason's parents,” Mace said.

“Even accepting that Janus Farel was some kind of monster, this is more than a little hard to believe,” Landry said.

“Really? Maybe for someone who hasn't spent two years contrasting werewolf legends to what happened here. Except for Karol, I'm sure we've all read Terrence Glenzer's book.”

”Transmogrification in Native American Mythology”
Willy said. “I read it twice.”

“Janus made believers of us when he killed Patty. The other murders, from Glenzer to civilians to cops, just made that belief irrefutable.”

“And the bosses covered everything up,” Candice said.

“They tried to save their careers. It didn't work. None of them even live in the state anymore.”

“But the forensics … the eyewitnesses … the photos and videos …”

“Buried, discredited, and ridiculed. As far as the world is concerned, the Manhattan Werewolf retired when the National Guard came in.”

“I'm not saying I believe you,” Karol said. “In fact, I'm telling you all right now that I don't. But just for the sake of argument, you say these creatures want peace.”

“For the sake of argument, let's consider them human beings with highly unusual DNA. Our own government calls them Class L humans.”

“You believe they're victims in whatever's going on?”

“They
are
victims. Someone's declared war on them.”

“Who?” Landry said.

“The Brotherhood of Torquemada.”

Understanding settled over Landry's face. “The ones who fashioned the Blade of Salvation in the first place.”

“An order of self-proclaimed knights who served Torquemada during the Spanish Inquisition, executing witches and werewolves for him. Glenzer wrote about them, but I've spent so much time doing my own research the last two years that I could teach a college class on that period in European
history. When the Inquisition fell out of favor, the knights formed a secret society—the Brotherhood ofTorquemada—and continued their war against the Wolves.”

“And you believe they still exist?” Landry said.

“Glenzer came into possession of one half of a broken Blade of Salvation. I believe he contacted the Brotherhood and tried to sell his half of the sword to them. He discovered who they were from his own research, or maybe they contacted him. The night that chopper crashed in Central Park—chasing a
wolf—
—two men who weren't cops were also killed. One was a priest named Francis Hagen. I spoke to him shortly before he was killed. He admitted that Glenzer had arranged to give the Blade to a monsignor in the Vatican, and this monsignor had contacted Hagen to assist in the transfer of ownership.

“The other man killed was Pedro Fillipe, a Dominican who was conveniently raised in Italy after his parents died in a hurricane. Fillipe arrived in the US the same day Glenzer was murdered. I think he was sent here to retrieve the Blade for the Brotherhood. In Central Park, Hagen was torn to pieces, but Fillipe was killed with the blade of a broken sword—the other half of the Blade of Salvation.”

“You believe this mysterious monsignor belongs to the Brotherhood?” Willy said.

Mace nodded.

“And Janus Farel already had one half of the Blade?”

“More likely, Fillipe brought it with him to kill Janus.”

“The Vatican claimed both halves of the sword,” Landry said. “I remember them saying it was some sort of—”

“—religious artifact.”

“The Vatican. Shit.”

“I'm Catholic,” Willy said. “Are you telling me that my church has its own army of werewolf killers? Because that sounds pretty cool.”

“Not necessarily. This monsignor that Hagen told me about may have only been acting on the Brotherhood's behalf.”

“Or maybe he's funneling cash to them,” Landry said.

“That's a savvy speculation, Ken.”

“The church is one of the biggest corporations in the world; it just isn't classified as such. And the Vatican is its home office. Depending on his clearance level, a monsignor working there could divert funds to another entity.”

“A
secret
entity. Torquemada had six Blades fashioned. Six knights did his dirty work for him, and each knight had an apprentice. So conceivably, twelve men formed the Brotherhood, and twelve may exist today.”

“You still haven't told us our objective,” Willy said.

“As I said, Norton and Shelly are working this with us. Who knows how long the FBI's been sitting on evidence that these Wolves exist. Norton and Shelly told me they know the Wolves are peaceful. They supposedly want to make contact with them, possibly study them. Whatever their motivation, they want to prevent a panic. Our job is to do just that. We need to make sure no one else discovers the Wolves' existence and makes it public.”

“That cock-and-bull story about Jason Lourdes and his family being killed because they crossed drug dealers …” Landry's voice trailed off.

“Are we just a mop-up crew?” Candice said.

“No. Our objective is also to stop the Brotherhood from assassinating these Wolves, by any means necessary.”

“That sounds specific and vague at the same time.”

“The feds and the brass don't want these men to stand trial for obvious reasons. If we take them alive, the FBI will make sure no one ever hears from them again. And if we can't capture them alive, the FBI will take custody of their bodies. Either way, we'll never get famous for this investigation. We're sworn to secrecy.”

“National security?” Candice said.

Mace nodded.

Willy finished his beer. “We're a secret task force hunting a secret brotherhood that's targeted a secret species in a secret war. None of us had better change jobs, because that will look whack on our résumés.”

“I'll lay out the operation tomorrow morning, but I wanted to have this get-together without our colleagues to make a few points. First, we don't have to worry about interference from the brass. But on the flip side of that coin, we're on our own, so don't expect any backup from the department. The only other people assigned to this task force are Hector Rodriguez and Suzie Quarrel, and they don't know any of this. They'll continue to work from their department. If any of us reveals the nature of this task force to anyone, the bosses will deny it, and I promise their wrath will be swift and thorough.

“Second, you're not to trust our federal partners. We have to involve them, but they're here to keep tabs on us while pretending to share information. Be careful with your
e-mails, phone calls, even conversations with each other at our new home. I've just told you more than I've told them. We don't know what secrets
they're
keeping.”

“Where's home, Tony?” Landry said.

“Chinatown.” Mace passed out a business card to each person. “The city maintains an empty office suite in a walk-up on Mott Street. It was a social services office before the layoffs.”

“Chinatown?” Willy said. “Parking's going to be a bitch, T.”

“The Oh-Five precinct is two blocks away on Elizabeth. You can park there. We'll meet at base camp tomorrow morning at 0900. That will give everyone time to go to the motor pool and sign out your vehicles. The good news is you can hang on to them until this assignment winds down.”

“What's the bad news?” Candice said.

“Because we're such a small unit, we're going to be on call 24/7.”

Willy blew air out of his cheeks. “Overtime?”

“Unlimited.”

“Dress code?”

“Office casual.”

Willy raised his mug. “Let's go catch some werewolf killers.”

One by one, the others touched their mugs to his, Karol last.

Everyone makes it home,
Mace thought.

W
illy drove uptown with Karol beside him in his Accord.

“I can't buy into any of this,” she said.

“That's fine. You don't have to. Maybe it's better for your state of mind if you don't. We're after the people who killed Jason Lourdes and abducted Rhonda Wilson. You (don't have to believe that Jason was a werewolf—and Rhonda might be too—to know that the perps are bad guys.”

“They also killed five animals,” Karol said.
“Whatever
they were.”

“Disregard the victims and focus on the perps.”

“You seem to have come around to this assignment.”

Willy shrugged. “We're soldiers, and the generals tell us where to go. I'd rather be working under Tony than Aiello on something like this. Tone's already shown that he watches
the backs of his people. He's not afraid to throw himself on his sword, so to speak.”

“How can you follow someone who believes in fairy tales?”

“I guess because I believe in them too. But if you can't, you should get out now. You should anyway.”

“Back to that. Are you afraid I can't pull my weight? Or do you think I'll be a liability because I don't share your willing suspension of disbelief?”

Willy stopped at Karol's building on Pelham Parkway. A pair of lanky teenage boys stood on the stoop, chatting in a casual manner. Shifting the car into Park, he faced her. “Let me show you something.” Taking out his wallet, he removed a photo of a woman with red hair. “That's Patty.”

Karol studied the photo, then looked up at Willy. “I've asked you about her a lot of times, and you've never shared anything.”

He stuck the photo back into his wallet. “Some wounds run too deep.” He looked ahead at the passing traffic. “Every day we live with the fear that this could be the day we catch a bullet. Even if it's just a quiet voice in the back of our head, it's still there.”

“I try not to think about it. Live for today, not tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well, it's not that easy. Not when you've lost a partner. I don't just worry about myself; I worry about you too.”

“Look at me.”

He did.

“You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“That's what Patty thought, and she was one tough lady.”

“So am I. I didn't make it into Homicide by being soft.”

“See, that's what I'm talking about. Patty was pretty new to the unit too. Because she was a woman, she knew she had to be tougher than the men around her, and she was. Tougher than me, that's for sure. That made her take unnecessary risks. She always wanted to be the first one out of the car and the first one through the door. Not to get the collar but to prove she deserved to be a murder police.”

“Then that's one difference between us. I don't need to prove myself to anyone. I don't feel I have to be tougher than the guys, either.”

“It was the luck of the draw. Patty answered the phone, so it became her case. And there was no telling her what to do on her first big case. Me and Mace were in a surveillance vehicle when Janus Farel killed her. We had to listen to the sounds of him tearing her apart. It was the worst thing I've ever heard. Patty's car crashed into the Astor Place cube, and when we got there the whole area was pandemonium. Cars honking, traffic jammed, people running around like in one of those Japanese giant monster flicks. We had to leave our vehicle and run to the crime scene. Tony got there first. The driver's side door was on the ground. Patty's remains were inside. Blood was everywhere. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live.”

Karol touched his hand. “I'm sorry.”

“I was pissed when Tony pulled me off the case until I realized he was enabling me to work it from inside the squad. Then he got suspended and I was shut out. All I wanted was to get out of Homicide when I scored high
enough for a promotion, but then the freeze came down. I was the next man in line, so Aiello and Landry put me in charge of training. That kind of responsibility was the last thing I wanted.”

“You still could have asked for a transfer.”

“That isn't how it works. As a lieutenant, I would have been transferred to another unit. If I wanted it to be a good one, I had to stay put and not look like a flake. That's what it all comes down to: covering your ass and playing the game. It's a fucked-up system.”