AN: Thanks to all who have read this story so far and to Berniej for reviewing the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy the continuation.
The team rushed from the house; Dunham took with her the papers she had found. Nothing they had found betrayed their quarry's current location but his future targets had been identified.
"So why our vic?" a mystified Bishop wondered aloud. "What made him a target?"
"Circumstance?" suggested Dunham. "It could be as simple as that; he'd carried out his technique on inanimate objects, maybe he just wanted a live test subject before focussing on his real targets. That could be why the body was just dumped in the woods rather than kept as a trophy like his earlier efforts. This guy had no meaning for him; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and left on a trail that hardly anybody ever uses."
"We won't know for sure until we find this guy" Broyles interjected "We have a list of possible targets so let's start looking."
Torrington, Connecticut
The black car pulls up around 100 yards from the front door of the driver's target. He gets out and dons a skin-tight plastic glove, pulling it taut over his right hand. With his left he unstoppers the test tube; he then shakes the tube briefly over his gloved hand. He balls his right lightly into a fist and massages the palm with his fingers before depositing the tube back in the car. He gathers up a pair of gold tweezers, sliding them into his jacket pocket, shuts the car door, turns and walks to his destination.
The shadowy figure raises his left fist and raps on the door.
"Hello David!" the householder greets him in surprise upon opening.
The other extends his right hand with a smile and they shake hands before the householder registers the texture on his palm, realising it's a glove.
"Why - ?" he begins, cocking his head in confusion before gasping at the sensation his right hand is experiencing. He looks at the appendage as it turns yellow and metallic before his eyes; he realises the transformation is spreading – and accelerating. His expression duly turns to one of abject horror, an expression which is frozen on his face as the metamorphosis swiftly completes.
The shadowy figure gathers the statue under his right arm, turns and walks back to his vehicle. He stows the metal figure in the trunk, retrieves the tweezers from his pocket and uses it to carefully remove the glove from his hand, dropping it lazily on top of his victim.
Massive Dynamic, New York City
"My name is on your list?" Sharpe asked in annoyed incredulity; the team had contacted her and called her back to the office with the latest developments in the case. Broyles confirmed her query. "Where did you find this list?"
"At David Myers's house. We know he worked for you and that you fired him. Were the others on the list involved with him as well?" the dark agent demanded.
Nina confirmed wearily, disclosing that the list contained team members, managers and people further up the company's food chain.
"You could all be his targets" warned Dunham.
"Why go after you all?" Bishop wondered aloud.
"Revenge?" Broyles suggested. "Was he the fall guy for something? He was fired; maybe he feels others should have been as well so he went after them, along with those who did the actual firing."
All eyes turned to the Massive Dynamic executive. With great reluctance she pulled up the file on Myers's dismissal; Dunham stood over her shoulder and pored over the document looking for inconsistencies, for any evidence of a cover-up. They soon found what they were looking for.
"Here, Investigation into the collapse of Project Omicron" Dunham pointed to the screen and began to read selected highlights aloud. "Security failings, corporate espionage, suspected leak of research to competition."
"He took the fall for the entire department" Dunham gasped. "No wonder he's pissed."
"All these names are on his list" Broyles noted. "We need to start notifying these people."
"But that project had nothing to do with alchemy" noted Bishop, scouring the screen from over Sharpe's other shoulder.
"No, but this project that Myers also worked on does" the red-haired woman conceded with deep reluctance.
"Project Aurora?" Dunham began to scan the synopsis. "Using Genetically Modified bacteria to convert matter into different elements?" She continued reading, muttering under her breath until she came across relevant information. "Finally isolated bacterium that could produce gold… Project terminated… bacteria put into deep freeze."
"He must have defrosted them" observed Broyles dryly.
"We had to develop special materials when we began this project" Nina explained "We coated the equipment used in different polymers until we found some that the bacteria didn't interact with; otherwise we'd simply end up with all our lab kit turning to different materials."
"Let me guess; a batch of that material has gone as well."
"I haven't been able to confirm the bacteria gone yet, Olivia, never mind anything else" Nina began before admitting "it's likely though, yes."
"How are we going to warn everyone?" Bishop demanded. "There are over twenty names on the list."
"I'll call them in for a briefing tomorrow" Sharpe promised.
"It may be too late if he's decided to act already" Dunham mused.
"He's trying to avoid detection" Broyles reasoned. "Do any of the people on the list live alone? They'd be likely to be his first targets."
"Or maybe a cluster who live close by one another" suggested Dunham.
"I'll pull up their personal files and get addresses and phone numbers" Nina sighed and began to pull up the information. She had a feeling that this was going to be a long evening.