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Major's phone rang in the middle of another boring meeting. He took a glance at it, seeing a text message from Ravi that said it was important and couldn't wait. Well, any excuse to get out of hearing more complaints from Hobbs and sneering from Lambert was a good thing in Major's book. He ended the meeting, shooing everyone, including Justin, out of his office, and called Ravi back.
"If this is about D&D, Ravi, I swear …"
"No, not this time. Emergency meeting in the morgue tonight. This is a big problem, and we can't let it get out." His roommate's tone left no room for doubt.
"I'll be there." Major closed the phone and used the rare moments of solitude in his office to get through some long-overdue paperwork.
He arrived in the morgue to find everyone assembled—Peyton and Ravi, Liv, Clive and Bozzio. "What's up?" he asked.
"We were waiting for you," Ravi told him. He nodded at Clive.
"We found the car from the attack video. We also found a wig, and—"
"Mucho empty calories worth of dyed corn syrup," Liv finished.
"What?" Bozzio frowned.
"There was no attack."
"So, the video was a hoax," Peyton said slowly. "No one's dead?"
"Every person whose cell phone pinged a tower at the time is still alive and accounted for," Clive confirmed.
"The corn syrup blood in the car is a pretty dead giveaway." Ravi looked proud of his pun, although in Major's opinion he could have done better. "And the blood found at the convenience store was from multiple people. All humans."
Liv added, "We also found a wig that matches the victim's hairstyle."
"What kind of a sicko fakes a zombie attack?" Peyton asked.
Major was way ahead of her. He was already seeing the fallout from that faked attack, in the increased hostility of humans to his patrols … and quite possibly in the van attack. Retaliation? He answered Peyton's question grimly. "Someone who wants to see the city burn."
She nodded. "I'll call a press conference, expose the video as a fake."
"And what are you going to say?" Major stood up, frustrated that even these people, whom he respected and trusted, didn't seem to get what was happening out on the streets. "'Hey, everybody, the video you saw of two zombies ripping a woman to shreds? It never happened. Oh, and we don't know who's behind the false flag, so, just take our word for it'."
No one was happy with his sarcasm, least of all Peyton, who looked nearly as weary as he felt.
"Well, Major, it has the advantage of being true," Liv said, shaking her head as if that was all they could offer.
Maybe it was, but it wasn't enough. "Well, the truth's not going to cut it. Look, our words won't trump their images, okay? People saw a murder. All right? If we're going to claim it was a hoax, we've got to put some meat on the bone."
There was silence, as everyone digested the reality of his comments.
"What are you suggesting?" Peyton asked.
What was he suggesting? He had a murder that never happened, an attack no one was willing to own up to … Maybe they could solve both problems at the same time, draw the attackers out into the open by giving them a new target. "We get people to confess. Say they fabricated the murder. They want to stir up zombie hate with fake news, fine. We'll fight them on their terms."
Bozzio frowned. "And you expect Seattle PD to get behind this?"
"Only if it wants to keep its homicide rate in check." They had to know how bad things were getting out there, how angry everyone was, how ready to be at each other's throats.
Ravi was looking at him with concern, really thinking over the idea. "Are you sure about this, Major?"
Major looked around the room. If anyone could save Seattle, this group of people could, if they would work together and get a little creative about it. "There's going to be a lot of heat on whoever takes the fall for this. We need to get them out of Seattle, and we'll have to do it discreetly." He looked at Renegade. This was going to fall to her. "Liv?"
"What?" Then she realized what he was asking. "No."
How could she possibly think she could stay clear of this? Disappointed, he shook his head. "I want to live in your world." Apparently this was one more thing the commander of Fillmore Graves was going to have to do on his own. He looked at the acting mayor and the head of Seattle PD. "Peyton, Lieutenant, expect my instructions."
He left them there, already working through in his head the denizens of his prison and freezer, identifying those who could be used as the scapegoats he needed. He had to fight fire with fire—none of his friends had argued with that premise. But they were only going to get one shot at this, and he intended to make it count.
Fortunately, when he arrived at Fillmore Graves, Lambert had a gift for him—the two zombies who had been behind the murder at Warmbloods. They were both Fillmore Graves soldiers, which sickened Major. He was led into a room where they both knelt.
"Voila," Lambert said. "Officers Chris Tader and Buddy Jackson. Jackson owns the blue hatchback, and residue shows Tader fired his weapon. Both have confessed."
"Couldn't keep it in your pants, huh, Spud?" Major asked coldly. These two were a violation of everything Fillmore Graves needed to do in order to keep this city safe.
Jackson lifted his head, displaying his beaten, bloody face. Major turned to Lambert in outrage. They couldn't have arrested these men without that?
Lambert looked away. "They resisted."
"I didn't shoot anyone who didn't deserve it," Jackson said.
"And you're judge and jury now?" Major demanded.
"Well, someone's got to be … Ol' Softy."
"That is your commander, soldier!" Lambert snapped.
"Chase Graves is my commander."
Lambert drew his weapon and moved to attack Jackson again, but Major caught him and pushed him back.
Jackson's eyes were on Major's face, challenging him.
"Your move, Commander," Lambert said stiffly.
As always. Major considered his options. Could he do this to his own men? But he couldn't keep these men on the force, not this insubordinate, and he needed a pair of scapegoats. "Lock them up. I'll deal with them later."
No one in the room saw this as a decisive move, but then, they didn't know what he knew. Major returned to his office to set his plans in motion.