Chapter Two - Links
The brick and wood shell of the old Warehouse loomed in the morning brightness as the black sports car carrying the STN-J Hunters rolled up. They parked next to the throng of ten police cruisers, and both got out almost as soon as they stopped with the smoothness of cats.
Two Officers standing off next to a one police car looked over at the two with suspicious eyes, as both seemed very out of place on scene.
" Those must be the STN, the Sergeant was talking about..." Snuffed the older of the two officers, now eyeing the demure girl of the two newcomers.
" The STN?" Questioned the other officer with a long breath, obviously not quite understanding what his partner was saying. " What or who the hell is the STN?"
" All I know is that they seemed to appear at some really strange crime scenes and we are immediately ordered away." Murmured the first, almost passively as he periodically looked over at the two new arrivals. " They seem to simply show up out of nowhere... and stay at these odd things."
" Are they like some sort of federal agents or something, Sir?" Inquired the younger officer.
" I am not sure just what the hell they are, but I know one thing... you don't ask any questions..." The older cop said. " I asked the Sergeant at one scene, and he told me to simply 'drop it' and walked off as if I had asked a question about something very taboo."
" That was odd..." Slowly responded the younger cop. " Did you ever figure it out?"
" You seen the body in there..." Started the older officer. " Would you venture to explain what is in that warehouse?"
" Well, no.."
" Then I advise you to shut the hell up and do what is asked of you, without any questions.!"
The young officer simply went silent, as he too, watched the strange duo walk past. He felt a chill, as the tall man of the two looked at him. It felt like he was staring straight through him with the dark orbs. The call from another sergeant on scene called out to them.
" Fall back people..." It called out loudly. " Our jurisdiction here in now handed over."
"Told you." Simply pointed out the Elder officer, turning away a little bit.
Silently, the two cops did as they were ordered, as the very odd twosome passed them and entered the building. Their own police brethren were hurriedly making a path for the dark clothed people in a very quick fashion, almost like Moses parting the red sea in the Christian bible. It was like they did not want to even be near the two that had arrived out of the clear blue. To the cops that had heard the order, it was a call to do it.
Inside the huge building, a scene like no else greeted both Amon and Robin as they began their work.
The body of a very well dressed younger man was on the ground, blood still oozing slowly out of both ears and his mouth. The skin was a dark grey pallor and his eyes were totally bloodshot and bulging unnaturally out of their sockets, staring up at the metal framing of the ceiling above His tongue was deeply purple and lolled out of his mouth, blood also coming right out of a rent in the oral muscle that seemed to be like if someone has squished it together on itself. The rest of the body seemed to be in perfectly normal shape, the suit on the dead man was not even messed up one little bit except for a small layer of dust as if the body had been there for a while.
Amon crouched down on his haunches as he examined the body. Robin stood a step or two behind the man, leaning over Amon's shoulder and looking at the body with great fascination. Even to her still learning eye, this obviously was not the scene of a normal murder that was layed out here. It was way far beyond that.
The large framed Hunter looked over the body with a very scrutinizing gaze, his eyes going over every single inch of the man.
" I have seen this before." He commented low in his chest.
" You have?" Robin asked.
Amon nodded, looking over at the pretty young partner of his.
" It was a few weeks before you arrived at the STN-J." He informed, dryly. " Another young businessman by the name of Yoshi Kanjia was found in a warehouse near the docks... his body was in the exact same shape as this chap is."
" You said earlier that it seemed to be connected to another case..." Softly said the girl. " Did you find that Witch back then?"
Amon shook his head, as he looked right at the young girl.
" We had a few leads to follow up on, but they dried up after a few days of hunting." Amon said with a flatness. " The leads came to a family tree, Nakisis family which seemed to have stopped cold. All three of that family, which exhibited the powers that could have done this here, were already in SOLOMON hands.. and there seemed to be a stop in the family line."
Robin stood up straighter, and seemed to be puzzling over the information given her. She stood for a second, pondering everything that she had been told.
" Could there be another line of the family you don't know of?"
" That is the possibility of it." Snuffed Amon, his face showing no real emotion. " I would say that there is another line in the family tree, but we could not find one single record of any possible inherited relations anywhere..." he looked deeper into her face. " It was like the family suddenly stopped right there."
" An affair might have done that..." Suggested the tawny haired girl, with a blushing face. " Could an adulterous affair spawned off another bloodline that is tied into this family you had mentioned?"
" On both sides of the family, they seemed to be pretty much monogamist, no sign of marital breakdown that might have lead to that..." He informed, seemingly becoming slightly agitated a little at the girl's constant queries. " Yet that seems to be the only real possibility." He stood up and fished his communicator out of his trenchcoat. " I will call for SOLOMON to pick up this body... perhaps identifying this man will give us more to work with."
Amon walked off a little, obviously now talking to Michael back at HQ. Robin now squatted down to have a closer look at the body. She did not know if she would see any more than Amon had, but she felt like she had to do something. She looked over the body as her partner had done, combing over every inch as cautiously as she could have.
The girl's large green eyes suddenly caught sight of something that was very out of place on the body. It seemed to be rather small in size, laying just under one of the dead man's outstretched arms. She leaned herself in a little closer, trying to figure out just what it was that she had spotted.
Whatever it was an off-yellow color, and seemed to be a small corner of a rectangle shaped object and was just under the back of the hand. It seemed to be not made of paper, as it was shiny but she was unsure of just what it was she had came across.
" Amon..." She called out softly, turning her head a little in the man's direction.
" What is it, Girl?" He said sharply, moving the communicator from his ear as he looked at the young Huntress.
" I think you might need to see this..." She cautiously said, hearing the way he had abruptly answered her.
The man strode over and knelt down beside where Robin was. With a gloved hand, she pointed out just what she had spotted.
" I came across that while looking over this poor man..." She said, very cautiously.
Amon suddenly had a pair of tweezers in his hand, and leaned in to collect whatever the girl had found. When he did so, he pulled free a light yellow laminated card that had been under the hand. He brought it out fully and looked at it. It was a small ID card, complete with a small black and white photograph on its front. The dead man that layed on the floor and the picture were a perfect match.
" We know this person's name now..." Said Amon, his voice seemingly very flat. " Yoshi Tanji."
Robin's eyes widened, as the name was spoken by her partner.
" Is this man related to the body you had spoken of earlier?" She asked softly, her mind sure of the fact already.
" I assuming so." He said, standing up and putting the card in a clear plastic evidence bag. " I will get Michael on it the minute we get back to STN Headquarters, after they SOLOMON arrives to get Mr. Yoshi here." He looked at the girl and nodded. " Robin... Good eyes." He simply said.
He walked off, still holding the evidence in his hand. Robin smiled, as she had never gotten a complement from the man before. It was not much of one, she knew that much, but she knew also that was as close to one she had ever gotten from the man.
Robin simply just took it in stride, and continued to look over the body of young Yoshi Tanji.