Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
One piece of the doctor found its way into the clinical waste disposal after all. Since this was about making a statement, Guerrero carefully cut off the doctor's hand, ensuring to leave part of his wrist attached to it, discarded it into a biohazard bag and replaced it with the hand that had been sent to him in a parcel through one of his contacts.
No mistake had been possible. Guerrero had immediately recognized the traces of a clumsy suicide attempt and some only just removed stitches on the part of the wrist that had still been attached to the hand. Further research had brought up a Canadian police report about an unidentified woman's dead body found in the limits of Richmond Community police station. According to the report it had been an execution-style murder. One clear shot to the back of the head. The victim's right hand had been cut off postmortem.
Since Guerrero was the an-eye-for-an-eye type of guy, the postmortem part had been good news for the doctor.
Well, at least sort of.
The MO of the killing pointed to Baptiste and in a way Guerrero was grateful it had been him. Baptiste strongly disliked torture for its inelegance. He saw his jobs as works of art. His habit of taking away his victim's watches was creepy - trophy-gathering was so serial-killerish - but other than that he was a true pro. Guerrero was sure death had come fast and painless to Angela.
The sending of the hand, though, was a totally different story. The Old Man himself must have ordered that, no way Baptiste would have come up with something like this on his own. He knew better than to provoke Guerrero.
Killing Angela made sense – there had been a client to please.
Cutting off her hand and having it delivered to Guerrero didn't. It was a crude taunt, an act of pure revenge to punish Guerrero for not doing what he was told and leaving.
The Old Man was running a gruesome business for sure, but that didn't mean he had ever conducted it gruesomely. Clean, professional work, no more mess than absolutely necessary had always been one of his guiding principles.
Junior's departure had obviously changed that. The hand had been sent to inflict pain.
Now, if the Old Man was doing this to him, Guerrero, somebody he had never had such a close relationship with, what would he do to Junior, once he found him?
No postmortem in that case, that was for sure.
Junior was in danger.
Of course that wasn't exactly a new realization. But with Angela's hand delivered to him in a gift box, it had certainly gained more and different weight.
He needed to find him.
Junior needed protection.
the end
AN: Should your name be Messer Victo: THANK YOU for leaving a comment on aftermath, it means a lot to me!
