Disclaimer: This is a fictional work and any names, dates, and/or events that are the same are purely coincendental.
"Sir, we've found another John Doe," said Anthony Roberts. "He matches all of the other killings. The complete package, nay one detail. Taylor,the new coroner, said that the heart puncture wound was three inches deep instead of two and a half. Do you think that the old blade finally grew tired of being used for murderous intent? Sir?"
The lead investigator removed the cigar from his mouth and blew a smoke ring while opening his foggy blue eyes. "We're the first and only completely mobile military/forensics unit. Am I correct?-" Anthony nodded his head yes. "-I don't plan on letting down the Director or myself, so I'm- no, wait, we're- going to catch this sicko and put him in jail and make sure he stays there."
Anthony wanted to ask General Cody Sellers- the lead investigator- how he was so sure the murderer was a man, but the lieutenant colonel held his tongue. Anthony slowly ran a hand through his thick mop of red hair when a fellow comrade burst through the door.
It was Colonel Justin Cleary.
Anthony's hand immediately went to his forehead in the traditional military salute. The colonel paid him no heed. "Sir, one of our own has been murdered!! By the same murderer apparently." The colonel's clothes were in disarray, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. Feeling the need, Justin explained, "You needed to know ASAP, so I didn't bother trying to find Second Lieutenant-" Cody cocked an eyebrow. The higher ranks were always supposed to drive the cruisers. "-Sir, I was up on an all-nighter working on the four case files last night and-"
"Excused, who was it that was murdered, Colonel?" The four-star General asked.
"It was Sargeant Becton, Sir. Wade Becton." Justin took a deep breath, trying to replenish his body of the oxygen he depleted it of. "This is also for you." The Colonel slid a photograph across the mahogany desk.
"What's this?" Cody inquired. He surveyed the photo for a moment then exclaimed, "This is so clinched!" The photo had a message written in blood, presumably in the victim's blood, and said: GIVE UP YOUR INVESTIGATION IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE GENERAL SELLERS.
"This writing appears to be femine," Anthony commented, "Would you care for me to conduct an experiment just to be sure of it being female? Although, the possibility of a man writing like this will complicate matters slightly." Anthony began to leave the spacious office.
"Make sure to especially include the letters I, E, F, and V. These appear to be the main letters," the General said.
Anthony waved him off, "I will Sir, I will." As he was walking out of the office, he bumped shoulders with a woman accidently. Her purse dropped to the floor, spilling some of the contents. "Oh, I'm sorry mamn, let me help you with that." As Anthony bent down, a silver glint caught his eyes. He handed her a couple of papers, and waited for her to turn around. "Mamn, I suggest you put your purse down and slowly raise your hands where I can see them."
"And if I don't?" The woman's voice had a bitter-sweet melody to it, like a sweet sorrow.
"Mamn, I have my gun out, and if it comes to it, I will use force." Normally, Anthony wouldn't hurt a fly, but him, the Colonel, and the General had been raised tight, especially him and the General.
The woman slowly placed her purse upon the ground and raised her hands even more slowly. The Lieutenant Colonel was so focused on watching the woman's hands, he forgot all about her feet. She slowly raised her right heel and slid it across the heel of her left heel. The sole fell off, revealing a small blade of about three inches from the stiletto heel.
The woman made a roundhouse kick aimed at Anthony's neck. He narrowly avoided the blade that would've killed him. Anthony could hear the blade whistling through the air as the blade cut through the air. Yet, in that same split second, Anthony grabbed the woman's leg. "I counted on you doing that," the woman said. She smiled a grin full of big, shiny white teeth. Never in his life had Anthony wanted to punch a woman so badly, nay maybe his ex-wife.
The woman used the momentum of her stopped kick to snap up and kick Anthony in the temple. He collapsed like a sack of bricks. A thin trickle of blood was coming from his right ear.
By now, the Colonel and General had heard the commotion and were about to move out and investigate. However, the woman was much faster. She stepped into the office with two nine-millimeter pistols and said, "You die now General Sellers." The whip-lash report of a pistol was sounded. Blood, tissue, and skull fragments went flying across the floor. Cody fell back into his chair as the woman collapsed, dead. Anthony stood in the door frame, slightly panting. He too, collapsed, except for his was from a concussion.
"That was a little too close for comfort Anthony. A second or two later, I would be the one wearing the toe-tag," Cody said.
Anthony nodded his bandaged head and laughed a little nervously. "Yeah, I guess so." He picked up the left stiletto heel and carefully removed the sole. A small blade popped out. "Our murder weapon lies hidden. Who would've thunk it? I mean, in a stiletto heel?"
"How are you so sure?" The beautiful coroner asked.
"Well, Taylor, get one of the vics," commanded Justin. Being a colonel defiantly had it's pay-offs, bossing people around was one of the. When Taylor bent over, both Justin and Anthony began to scope her.
Taylor returned. "Help me with the slab." Justin and Anthony suddenly became aware that Taylor had realized she had been a victim of the classic "Justin and Anthony's Amazing Scope", as they had called it back in their prime college days. "Were you just-" Taylor coughed, "-looking at me?"
Anthony's face burned crimson. "I- I'll help you get that, Taylor." Anthony stammered while the Colonel snickered in the background. Anthony waited until Talor's back was turned to flip Justin the bird. Justin's mouth went into an "O" of fake surprise and tsk-tsked at Anthony. Anthony got another bird in return.
Taylor turned back around. Her left ring finger wore a gold band studded with diamonds. The stones glimmered in the light like the sun would reflect off a calm ocean surface. She had missed the silent bird-flipping ordeal between the Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel. She looked at Justin and said, "I know you were looking at me sweet-heart. Looking back, who would've thought it? Anyway, come help Anthony. Just because you have a higher rank doesn't mean you get to be lazy."
"I probably won't be a higher rank after Anthony saved the General's hide today. So I plan being as lazy as I can be for as long as I can, so-" Justin flopped down in the easy chair that was right outside the autopsy room,"-I plan on being as lazy as long as possible. Plus, I love hearing Anthony call me "sir". So get to work, Anthony." Justin put deliberate force on Anthony's name for his own devious reasons.
"Yes, sir." Anthony sighed. Some things never change. He thought to himself.
Taylor and Anthony loaded the slap on the coroner table. Anthony then picked up the stiletto heel. The blade popped out. Anthony slipped the blade into the wound.
It was a perfect fit.
Anthony slipped the blade back into the heel. Justin help his hand out, wanting the stiletto. Anthony passed to him. "Tay', get me some of that clay over there. Yeah, that's it." Taylor precede to hand him the lump of clay, then stand back and watch her husband perform his magic. Justin looked on the bottom of the heel, then jammed the heel down hard enough to make the table shake from the force of the impact. "Well, I'll be damned. Look at what we have here." Taylor leaned over to look at the clay. In the center was the coat of arms for the Sellers family. Justin pulled out his cell phone and typed into it, "Yeah, Juice. You might wanna come and see this is. This just became a whole lot more personal for you..." Justin took a picture of the coat of arms and tagged it in the text message.
Taylor couldn't resist. She just had to kiss her man. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. Justin savored the taste of her lips for a moment, then looked around. "Where's Anthony?"
"I don't know. Maybe he went to talk to the General. God knows he's always over talking about the case. But forget about him. How do say that word for our meeting that I'm planning on you coming to in a few moments at my place?"
"Fotte? That sounds good. I'll meet you at the 'Vette in a couple minutes."
Cody was just getting done praying over his food when his phone went off from a text message. He flipped it open and read it aloud to himself. "Yeah, Juice. You might wanna come and see this is. This just became a whole lot more personal for you..." The message was accompied by a picture of his coat of arms. "Oh boy, this can't be good."
Just as Cody was walking out of his office, the Lieutenant Colonel called him. "Sir, did you call me?"
Cody thought a moment about the text message and picture, then decided against it, "Yeah, I called you. Be at my office in five." Cody flipped the phone shut.
Anthony looked at the phone where the General's voice had just been minutes before. Be here in five, the General had said. Anthony gulped down a breath of air. Cody's office was on the opposite side of the complex. It would take about fifteen minutes just to walk when it was calm, but now the offices were alive and buzzing with activities from the four murders and the attempted murder of a four-star general.
Anthony began to run like he had never before.
"Excuse me!" Anthony shouted as he narrowly missed a portable filing cabinet. He looked behind him as he said it. When he turned his head back to watch where he was running, there was a low table being carted away. I really wished I would've free-ran some now, Anthony thought as he mustered his strength up to jump over the table. He dash-vaulted over it, his butt being a mere inch over the table, legs straight forward. Anthony landed, and got back to running.
Anthony glanced down at his watch; he had only two minutes left, and he still had a fourth of the complex to run. Time for a short-cut. Anthony thought as he veered off to a small corridor. The hall was narrow, but it was just wide enough for Anthony to go into a full sprint. As he veered another corner, he saw a lady walking toward him. Anthony hit her shoulder, spilling her purse contents onto the floor.
"Hey!" The woman exclaimed angrily at him.
"Sorry." Anthony said back at the woman. "See if I pick up her purse contents," he mumbled under his breath.
Anthony veered the final corner, relieved to see the General's office just in sight. Another brief glance at his watch told him that he was just in time. "Sir!" Anthony called out, offering a perfect salute while running, "Did you need me, sir?"
Cody had his cane in hand. "Yes, the council needs to see you."
Anthony swallowed his anticipation down, and forced his breathing to normal.
The General walked with a slight limp into the giant commons room, followed in close pursuit by the Lieutenant Colonel. As Cody walked in, a series of salutes fell like dominoes through the soldiers that were standing at each side of the "corridor". This "corridor" was actually created by them. At the end was a table that had three gentlemen and one lady seated at it, with one seat open for the General.
Three of the people at the table were Cody's immediate family: his father, also a Four-Star General, his older brother Matt, a Lieutenant General, and his other older brother, Jake, a Two-Star General. The lady sitting at the table was the Director of the FBI, Mariah Logan. Cody assumed his spot beside Jake. Cody began to speak, "I have called you three gentlemen, and one lady, here, to discuss a promotion in rank for Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Roberts.
"As many of you know, this man saved my life along side of another colonel. May you also know that he has been in the service for the same amount of time as many of you, and has put his life on the front-line multiple times for me and his fellow comrades. The vacancy for Brigadier General is open as of a month ago when a good man was gunned down by the Neo-Nazis. I believe the Lieutenant Colonel has long ago earned this position."
The other members of the council leaned in to discuss this. After about fifteen minutes, General Kaufman stood up with the announcement, "Council adjourned for two hours. We will reassume this meeting with the answer." Jake pushed his chair back, followed by the others scuffing the highly polished floors with their own chairs.
Those two hours had to be the longest in all of Anthony's life, other than when he was waiting for his daughter to be born, but that was slightly more than two hours. Finally, the Generals, the Lieutenant General, and the Director resumed their positions at the table. Cody stood up, his face hid slightly in the gloomy shadows of the room. He stepped forward, and a smile came upon his face. "We, the council, have come to a conclusion that Lieutenant Colonel Roberts should be promoted to Brigadier General. May you better serve your country, Brigadier General Anthony Roberts. I now make a notion that we adjourn this meeting," Cody announced.
"I second that," Jake said. That was the king's seal on Anthony's promotion, however, if he messed up, this seal could be removed. The system was strict; that was the sole reason it's the best.
"I got the promotion! I got the promotion!" Anthony happily chimed to everyone that got in close proximity to him. He practilly skipped into the coroner's office. "Taylor, I got the promotion! Wow, did you get a promotion or something? You look pretty satisfied yourself. Where's Justin?"
Taylor smiled. "Well, the satisfaction part, yeah, I guess you could say that. Justin's in the next room. I'm really beginning to worry about him. These case files have him really stressed out." Anthony began to walk out. "Oh yeah, and Anthony, congrats on the promotion."
Anthony took on his victory walk into Justin's office. "I got the promotion! Justin, I got the -"
The colonel cut him off with the wave of his hand and almost sighed, "So I heard." Justin's face was almost haggard in the low light of his office; only a lamp light and a small corner lamp was on. "Did you know that they're calling the change of the millennium Y2K, for 'Year Two-Thousand'? They think that all electronic equipment will quit for good. Do you know what would happen if that did?"
Anthony had a vague idea. Chaos came to mind.
"The world most likely fall into chaos. Without electricity, most locks, virtually all alarm systems would fail, and looters would be amuck, guns would be put to use, the crime rate and death toll would dramatically increase, the stock market would crash, and we would fall into a second economic depression. I fear that we may not be able to clamor our ways out of this one either. Even if we fight teeth and nail," Justin explained.
"So Y2K is what has you stressed out?" Anthony asked. "Colonel, that is a myth, if you'll excuse me being so blunt. Listen, you have your wife worried sick about you; I guess she thinks your heart will bust or something. Just chill out, it's a myth, like I said," Anthony said, trying his best to offer some comfort.
"Yeah, you're probably right. It was crazy for me thinking it would actually happen. Yeah, you are right," Justin said placing emphasis on are, "By the way, congratulations on the new position, sir." Justin said, offering the traditional salute.
Anthony chuckled. "Alright, forget the salute. Just call me sir around the General and other higher-ups, okay?" Anthony spun on the balls of feet and walked back into the coroner's office. The General was with the other coroner, the extremely beautiful Katherine Fischer. "-and this just won't happen! All of that was in high school! In a small town called Millry, roughly 1,700 miles from here. We dated our freshmen year all the way through college. We dated for seven years! Seven years! I loved you from the bottom of my heart.
"You said it would only be one semester, possibly the summer too, and you would be back. Until a month ago, I hadn't heard a single thing out of you, a single call, letter, or even a text message! I graduated college and became a coroner, and the Director hired me onto this case. Here, I find you, the lead investigator and a Four-Star General! And yet, you still have the, the audacity to ask me to marry you, you, you cane-ridden hypocrite!" Anthony winced, and he was the General did as well, probably all through Katherine's scolding.
Anthony heard the General's cane taps on the ground. He ducked behind a set of filing cabinets before the General exited. Anthony peeped over the cabinets in time to see the General turn around and look at Kat. This is what the newly titled Brigadier General heard: "It was supposed to be single semester in the camp, then they realized I had potential, and lots of it. That was when I began to rise through the ranks quickly. I was up to my neck in paper-work and Spec Op missions. I thought of you everyday babyluv, but I lost your number, and you know how I am with remembering. Now you just remember, I still, and always will, love you." The cane taps resumed. Anthony ducked back down.
Anthony watched Cody hobble by. There was a small draw-string bag on his right wrist, and a tiny tear slipped down his stubbled face. Just like in high school, Anthony thought, Hard on the outside, sensitive on the inside. He waited until he was positive the General was gone and out of ear-shot, then slipped back out into the open. He peeked into the office and saw that Katherine was crying.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Anthony asked, knowing well what was the matter.
"It's nothing," Katherine said, still sniveling. "It's just after eleven years of not knowing where Cody is, he just suddenly appears and asks me to marry him. Sometimes I wonder why I still love him." Kat clasped a hand over mouth, then removed it slowly. "You didn't-"
"Hear a thing, yeah I know," Anthony interrupted her. He got up and turned to leave. Without turning, he said, "Oh yeah, Kat? Just a word from the wise, Cody means for the well, and is good at the heart, despite all of his faults, including being a 'cane-ridden hypocrite.'" Katherine winced. "You should really take his offer into consideration. He still thinks of you as 'Babyluv', trust me, I'm one to know."
It was only a matter of time before I saw her again, the General thought, Just when I thought I was over her, Kat has to return and rekindle that old flame. Women... In his mind, Cody sighed, Who am I kidding? I never was over her and I probably never will be. Better to get back to that blasted case. Jake, Matt, and Deddy have already headed back to 'Bama. They were only here for the promotion assembly. Maybe Katherine will actually take this ring into consideration.
Cody peered at the ring. It only had one diamond on it, but what made it so unique was the mist inside in it. There was a rose inside it. The General resumed his thinking. Well, it was my grandmother's. Oh well... -Ah, the office! Time to get-
"Back to work." The General jumped at the sound of his own deep, guttural voice. He stepped inside his office, and sat behind the desk. However, instead of working on the case files like he planned, Cody tipped his hat forward, and closed his foggy-grey eyes to the cruel world of murder and blind love.
"Have you found a name for our Jane Doe?" Justin asked Taylor, "The one that attempted to assassinate the General?"
Taylor shook her head no, "And that's not the worst of it. The whole forensic lab just crashed. Everybody's having trouble going old school, except for Hannah." Taylor lowered her voice a little bit. "Personally, I think that-"
"I would love to see what you have to say. Please speak up," Hannah interrupted Taylor. Tay's face turned at least seven shades of crimson at the sound of Hannah's voice. "Personally, I don't mind the change. Maybe it'll make the other lab techs work for their pay-checks for once. Speaking of money, the wallet inside the purse didn't have any ID in it, so we're gonna have to do some asking around. Give these photos to Brigadier Roberts and Cody. I'm going to ask around also."
Justin flustered at the amount of disrespect Hannah was showing toward the General, but swallowed it down. "Okay, you leave two options total. Let you go, or, let you go. It's your choice, but personally, I think I would go with the latter. I'll give these to Brigadier Roberts and General Cody." Justin placed deliberate force on 'General'. "I have a slight feeling that DeWayne will know who our little Jane is," Justin said.
"Who's DeWayne?" Hannah asked.
"The local pimp. If he doesn't know, then maybe one of his two bodyguards, Kaleb 'KK' Powe, or Nehemiah 'Nardo' Henry, will. Those three own the largest prostitute ring in all California; if they don't, then no one will," Justin said.
"Turn right here," Justin commanded. The black sedan that the General was driving veered to the right. "Okay, make another right here, now a left. The big house right there." Cody pulled into the driveway; directly behind two Escalades, and a high sitting Coupe De Ville.
Cody walked into the large house. Cody figured he didn't need to draw his gun because he had grew up with these people. His "pimp" cane, as Justin and Anthony had recently dubbed it, left a series of resounding echoes. "It's unnaturally quite. I figured I would've heard DeWayne by now, or KK at least," Cody said.
"Maybe they went JCPenny for the Red Tag specials," Justin said, "Or maybe K-Mart for the Blue-"
"Justin, just shut up. By the way, how did you know that this is DeWayne's HQ? Been doing some 'shopping'?" Anthony asked.
"No, me and DeWayne just swap stories that's all. Reminence on the good old days. I-" There was a loud laugh down the hall. "Think that is where we'll find DeWayne."
The group walked into the room and saw a tall,lanky man strewn across a high-backed Queen Anne chair. It was the pimp of this joint, DeWayne. On either side of him was KK and Nardo, standing as still as statues. "Yo, my home dawgs! What brings you to my humble crib? Oh. Oh. Oh my. You brought me a new 'employee'? I must thank you. She is quite the piece of eye candy too!" DeWayne thought the group had really brought him a new "employee".
"Actually, DeWayne, this is a lab tech from the forensics. We need to ask you a few-" Nardo and KK took a few menacing steps toward the team.
"Now, Justin you and I know damn well that my business and crib are both completely legal. I haven't done anything to break the law. I fought to open up this joint, and I sure as hell won't let it go up in smoke without a fight. Nardo, KK, step down and allow these nice men to ask their questions that have nothing to do with shutting us down. Isn't that right Justin?"
"DeWayne, if you would have just let us ask our questions, you could've saved your breath. Now, answer my questions, holmes," Cody said. He fished a photo from his trench coat. "Do you know who this woman is?"
DeWayne looked at the photo a moment, then rubbed a hand across his afro. "Nardo, who was this again? She was an expensive bimbo; I'll always remember that. You have any ideas KK?"
KK looked at the photo for a few moments, observing all of the facial features, slowly deducting all of the women he had copulated with in the last few months; that was a difficult task, for he copulated with quite a few women. "Wasn't that that Parker woman? Her name was, aw hell, what was it?"
Nehemiah suddenly snapped his fingers. "That's Alexis! Alexis Parker.... She died? How did that ever happen? She always toted two 9 millimeters."
Justin nodded at Cody. His eyes said, That's the bitch that tried to kill us man. Cody nodded back. "DeWayne, do your prostitutes have licenses to tote weapons?"
DeWayne glared at Nehemiah a moment longer. "Alexis did. She's, was, the only one that was smart enough to do it. You never did tell us how she died. And Cody-" DeWayne reached behind his back and grabbed a small sub-machine gun- "if any of your men are responsible for the death of my very productive client, you'll regret it very badly."
Cody cocked an eyebrow at DeWayne. "Is that a threat?"
DeWayne looked back with menace. "You better damn well bet it is."
"Then, in that case, I'll arrest your sorry-"
Suddenly, a rain of bullets began. Cody shook his head as he threw the couch over for cover. He then unholstered his .357, and returned fire. The first blast caught KK in the ankle, well, what was now left of it.
"KK!" Nardo shouted.
Hannah pulled her service revolver out and picked Nardo out of the equation. She shot him in the head as he bent over KK, attempting to pick him up and run out. The lead caaught the upper half of his head. Cody saw KK's eyes go wide as the blood sprayed on him.
Cody looked over the couch and another flurry of bullets sprayed right over his head. DeWayne was approaching slowly like a storm just over the horizon. This wasn't good. Cody leaped out from behind the couch, and began to pick random objects to hide behind. DeWayne then just went Rambo with his machine gun.
The only bad thing: this wasn't a movie.
The machine pulled up fast, and this suprised the pimp so bad, he just dropped thegun, when some blasted off ceiling plaster collided with his shoulder. The Cody then unleashed a metal rain upon his former school-mate.
When the dust and smoke cleared, a wail rose up from the survivors. It wasn't KK, he had passed into unconciousness. It was Anthony, and he was leaning over a body. "Shit!" Cody exclaimed. It was Hannah. There was a small trickle of blood coming from her mouth, and surprisingly, she was still alive. Cody could tell just by looking at her that she wouldn't be much longer until she passed into the clearing at the end of the path.
She had been shot in the right side of her chest. Anthony was crying and wailing, "Don't leave me baby! Don't you dare leave me," over and over again.
Hannah's eyes slowly glazed over as she muttered her final words, they were barely coherant through the blood that she was coughing up. "Anthony, you remember this, and you remember this well. I. Love." She was interupted by a long string of violent coughs. Suddenly, her hand went limp.
"NO! Don't leave me! Don't you dare go! Don't-" Anthony began to sob right there. As the tears flowed down his cheeks, he reached down to her left ring finger and briskly touched the ring that was on her finger. That was when he lost all of his sense for a brief moment. He snatched up his revolver and held it to his head.
"NO!" Justin and Cody shouted in unison.
Click. Click. Click. Anthony threw down the empty gun. "Damn you. Damn you. DAMN YOU," Anthony shouted at the empty gun, "Why couldn't you just let me end it? That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted." Anthony's head sagged down between his legs as his tears were reduced to watery croaks. Cody wiped his eyes clear of his tears as Justin knelt down to help Anthony. As Justin put one arm around him to whisper some encouraging and compassionate words to him, Anthony just collapsed into his arms, whispering "Why?", over and over again.
Cody reached down into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He briskly dialed a number and told them the situation that had took place. He glanced at Anthony who had just ripped a piece of his shirt off to mop the blood off of Hannah's face. "Yes, that's right. One ambulance, three.... three body bags," Cody choked up a moment, "and that's it." He paused a moment at the squawking voice on the other end of the line, whom was reading back what he had just said. "10-4."
Katherine looked at the corpse of Hannah McDougal. She wiped a tear away from eye. They weren't the best of friends, but a friend is still a friend, right? This was the logic that was sweeping through her mind as she began to cut open the chest. Katherine jumped at a small touch on her shoulder. She over her shoulder and saw Cody.
"Sorry to startle you." Cody looked at the body. "Sad thing isn't it? She was one of my best friends. Known her for about twenty-three years now, I think it is. I volunteered to be the assistant coroner."
With the autopsy finished, and back in the lounging room, Cody said the one thing that shattered the silence in the room. "I still love you." Kat looked back at him in mixed emotions. I still love you." Cody slowly embraced her in whispered, "Babyluv." He said witha sort of finality, as if that one word would portray and describe everything and the emotions he was feeling.
To Cody, it did.
Apparently, the same went for Katherine. She allowed Cody's frame to embrace and hold her. She buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder and cried for the eleven years of not if he was dead or alive, for Hannah, and for Cody. "What's in a name"? She asked after she stopped crying. Cody stopped stroking her long silky hair. "What's in a name?" She repeated, "In a rank's name?"
The General considered raising his fist and shouting "Powah!", but this wasn't high school anymore, or even college for that matter. Cody leaned down and lightly pressed his cheek down on the hollow of her shoulder and whispered, "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Katherine pulled herself out of his embrace and looked at him with her big emerald eyes and said, "Then why don't you leave the military? After this case, why don't we just leave? We could get married, and live off my inheritance and your-"
"Inheritance?"
Katherine looked perplexed, then sad. "So, you never got the word, huh? My parents and brother were in a plane accident. I found some old papers of stock they invested in, and they were worth millions. Not to meation Art left over two million in my name."
Cody rubbed a callused hand over his stubbled cheek. It sounded like sandpaper on sandpaper. His eyes were filled with grief. "I'm so sorry Kat. Art was like a brother to me. I just had no idea. I... I'm so sorry."
"It's need to worry about it. It's cool." She said it strong, but her face was telling a completely different story. Being in the military, Cody had learned to read faces. Currently, Kat's face was discontorted by pain, sorrow, loss, and amidst it all, a hope for new future. Kat's sudden change and preposition frightened the man who had been shot at several hundred times and stabbed twice.
"Give me some time to think about it." Cody finally said.
Dallas nodded her head yes, and said, "Okay." Cody left the room and walked down the corridor, not using his cane, back straight,chest puffed out, and his chin high. Kat looked out the door down the corridor and chuckled. "I sure hope it doesn't rain. She said, chuckling.
As Cody approached the forensics room, a sudden feeling of dread swept over him. He switched his grip on his cane so that he was holding the rubber tip of the cane; he was prepared to club anything that dared to threaten him. As Cody slowly turned the brass knob, he slowly began to realize where the dread was originating from. He slowly and soundlessly walked to the center of the room, where a sickly odor was rising. That was when Cody saw the edge of the maroon pool.
Cody stepped around the corner cautiously, thinking he was prepared for the worst, but the flouresent lights brightly illuminated the carnage that lay before him. His stomach flipped over several times at the sight of it all. His mind was having trouble comprehending the mutilated bodies that was at his feet. "God almighty on high," Cody muttered under his breath.
"Cody, are you in here?" Kat asked, entering the room.
Cody heard her tromping around, trying to find him. "No stay back! Don't come in any closer!" Cody yelled. The foot-falls stopped. "Go back out. Go find Justin, Anthony, and Taylor and stay with them until I say it's safe." The foot-falls resumed, but were falling instead of growing. The General stood still for a moment. The only sound he could hear was the constant, lazy sigh of the air conditioning. But there it was again. The small scurrying sound. A tiny splash in the slowly coagulating blood of the deceased. Cody spun on the balls of his feet, and brought the cane down hard on his new opponent.
There was a small 'squeak!', and then the AC reigned over the silence again. "It was a mouse. It was just a damn mouse," Cody mumbled under his breath. He glanced at the carnage again, sickened by it, then realized just how big of a fool he was. Cody looked at the tip of his cane in horror, viewing the blood and fur that coated that golden knob. He wiped the blood off on one of the cleaner coats, not really caring that he was contaminating the scene, because in a sense, he already had. He headed off toward the Director's office in a hurry.
Cody stole himself one last glance at the carnage that lay behind him. The mouse's foot twitched.
When Cody stepped into the Director's office, he vomited into the waste-basket that was beside her door. He coughed and moaned through the bile, "Man, that was some good sushi too." Cody leaned back over and vomited again. Despite the carnage, Cody couldn't help but laugh at himself for missing the sushi. His stomach threatened to dump the remaining contents that it with-heald in it's dormants, but Cody spit up nothing but bile.
The Director walked out of her small wash-room and saw Cody leaning over her "good" waste-basket, spitting up bile. "Cody, are you alright!?" She questioned him with alarm.
Cody leaned up. "Yeah, I'm fine 'Riah. Don't worry about me, but about the mutilated bodies in the forensics room. Also, there should be a crushed mouse a little bit into the blood-pool, along with mixed blood and a small pinch of fur on one of the cleaner lab-coats. Don't ne surprised if you find a chip of gold paint on or around the mouse or lab-coat. It's from my cane."
"Okay," the Director said. She pulled out her cell-phone and hit the speed dial buton. "Yeah, Joel, send a several units out here. We have several mutilated bodies in the forensics room and the perp may still be at large." There was a brief pause as the Director listened to Joel. "Yeah, and bring an ambulance out just in case one of the vics is still alive or one of your men gets injured. Yep, ASAP." She flipped her phone shut with a flick of the wrist that comes only with endless previous times.
While the Director was talking, Cody couldn't help but realize all over again just how beautiful the Director was. Her true name was Mariah Logan, 'Riah to her friends, and was tall for a woman. She stood atroughly 5' 11", had dark brown hair, sky blue eyes, and had managed to keep a physique that women ten years younger than her would envy.
"Well, Cody, I'm required to get you to completely write out a statement saying everything you saw. But, on a lighter note, can you believe we're less than three hours from a brand new millenium? But it looks like we're going to be spending it here." Mariah smiled. "Office gossip has it that you and Kat might be getting back together. Is it true?"
Cody smiled back. "Might? There isn't a might to it. We are back together, and after this case we plan on leaving the military for good. Maybe this time I won't disappear for eleven years."
Mariah chuckled and leaned back in her chair, "That's good to know." Cody realized that the Director really didn't relax all that much anymore. This was a side that he missed, and really hadn't seen since high school.
"Well, I hate to kill the mood, but I suppose I have paper-work to fill out. Could you buzz the coroner's office and tell the guys that the clear's out? I told Kat to get Taylor, Bambino, and Anthony and head somewhere safe. I'm assuming that's where she went."
Mariah nodded and said, "Okay. But why the office?"
"Because there's dead-bolt doors and only two exits: the door, and a five floor fall to the concrete ground. That, and that's probably where Anthony and the others were to begin, most likely goofing off in the lounge, as usual."
"Well, that would certainly be a good place to go, and come to think of it, that really does sound like those two."
Cody looked over shoulder as he walking out and said, "Yeah, it really does."
As the General entered his office, he was relieved to see that the whole gang there. Justin, sitting behind his desk with his feet propped up on his desk and Taylor in his lap, Anthony propped up against the wall, whittling, and Kat sitting in one of the guest chairs, with it turned toward the door. "Oh thank God you're alright!" Kat exclaimed as she jumped up toward him and embraced him fiercely.
"Yeah, I'm okay, and I'm relieved to see that you're all alright, especially you," Cody said, poking his index finger in the center of Kat's forehead. "So, who's up for coffee and some waffles? I'm tr-"
A gunshot rang through the office, and suddenly the General sagged into Kat's arms. "Cody!? Cody!?" Kat screamed. Suddenly, Anthony threw the knife he was whittling with and hit the perp square in the chest. As the shooter staggered into the room, the echo of stilletto heels rang through the shattered silence. A woman fell out of the open doors of a large vault, and landed in a spreading puddle of her own blood. "What the hell are you waiting for? Call a damn ambulance already! Hang in there baby, you're gonna be okay. Hear me? You're gonna be okay."
Well this is a BIG chunk of time right here. I hope you enjoyed it so far. This is kind of a one chapter unless some people say they like it. Then maybe there will more chapters (shorter, granted), and maybe this will turn out to be an okay story. Hope you enjoyed an please review!