It was a fucking massacre.
Seven men dead and judging by the blood splattered on the walls and pooling on the floor they'd died as violently as they'd lived. Except they hadn't lived that long because only one of them looked older than twenty-five; the Avtorityet, or captain, the rest likely being Boyeviks, soldiers, and Shestyorkas, errand boys. Tess's language lessons were coming in handy. From the looks of it they had died fast, and bloody, and trying to do their duty to save their captain. But whoever had killed them had wedged metal blocks under all the exits but the one he'd entered from, making escape all but impossible. And though there was no way to tell, their expressions of horror could have easily come from their fear at dying…
Jay felt like whoever had done this had enjoyed it.
Given that parts of their arms and chests had all been skinned, most likely to remove the tattoos that declared their allegiance to the criminal syndicate revenge seemed like a good motive. But given that the captain had clearly been tortured it just as easily could've been a rival gang and they'd taken the tattoos to throw people off. Or as trophies, depending on how sick they were.
And Tess had known them. Their captain anyway, Leonid, a man she hadn't known well but had apparently liked. She was on the phone with his boss right now, Alexei Genrich, but based on how unimpressed she looked it didn't seem like he was being very helpful. Whether that was because he didn't know anything or didn't care to share anything was another question but as much as he might like to find out for himself he knew that wasn't his role. Not yet anyway. And since his team was still on their way and Knox was standing next to Tess, looking both protective and like he had no idea what else to do Jay turned his attention to Liam and Drew.
"Is this kind of thing normal?"
"No."
"Define normal." Liam said dryly but while he appeared as unflappable as always Jay got the impression he was surprised by the bloodshed. Not surprised. Unnerved. "Gangs kill each other all the time and the bigger they are the more creative they get, but this… there's no way whoever did this didn't know there would be retaliation."
"Against who?"
Liam just shrugged and together they looked at Drew who made a small face before doing the same. "The news is making the rounds right now; it'll be at least a day until we find out if anyone knows anything, maybe a day more to sift through it to see if there's anything useful."
Why did he think there wouldn't be?
And why did he think this had something to do with Tess?
With whoever was so intent on hurting her?
"You don't know that." Liam said quietly but his face made it clear he was wondering the same.
The distant sound of sirens caught their attention, not unusual but since they were getting closer he figured it was probably patrol and the crime techs so he went out to meet them while Drew sent the rest of his men away. His Sergeant was the next to arrive, sharing short but respectful nods with the men while they filled him in before they took him inside. It was a sign of how long Voight had been on the force that he didn't react to the gruesome scene, and how comfortable he was with violence outside the job, but he too seemed rattled. It wasn't every day a criminal organization was attacked like this and however it shook out there was bound to be consequences.
One by one the rest of his team arrived, Hailey first, on her own which surprised him until he saw Kevin and Vanessa getting out of his partners car. Definitely dating. Voight looked like he knew too but was letting it go, either his old age was showing or he just knew there was nothing he could do about it, but that didn't stop Jay from giving them all teasing looks. Or from sharing a grin with Adam when he and Kim arrived.
"Where's Mak?" Hailey asked as they made their way over, stepping around a now covered body to make room for them in the small room they'd chosen to gather in.
"Gabby's got her." Kim explained as Adam gave a big nod.
"That girls a lifesaver."
"There's my Tinkerbell!" Kev said with a broad smile as Tess finally joined them and though her grin at his new nickname was immediate Jay caught the paleness in her cheeks. And the hand that Knox had hovering around her back.
His friend had a shit poker face, had from the moment he'd met him so it wasn't hard to tell from the way he was watching her that she'd had a moment, no doubt thrown into one where such blood and violence had been directed at her. He hated that she had so many to draw from. She was out of it now, her smile was small but it was soft, but he still wanted to comfort her. He just didn't want to call her out when she was already so vulnerable.
He didn't know whether he was thankful for it, but someone else had no such issues.
"Not exactly the sultan's dungeon huh?" Adam joked but even though his own girlfriend gave him an incredulous look, and a smack, Tess just laughed.
"No golden torture instruments here."
"Seriously?" Vanessa asked, the younger woman making a face when Tess nodded- he'd heard that story and while it didn't surprise him someone would craft such expensive tools for such a disgusting purpose it did anger him.
There were people who were fucked up because life had made them that way, no excuse, but then there were the people who were fucked up because they liked to be.
Which was the person who'd done this?
He'd bet his badge it was the latter.
They quickly broke up to examine the scene, the five of them already had but they followed his team to share their insights and make sure they hadn't missed anything but the thought kept popping into his mind. What kind of person had done this? And why? Revenge? Competition? Pure bloodlust? Jay hadn't realized he'd wandered away from Tess until he heard patrol outside start calling for Voight, franticly, and looked to her to see why, worry filling him when he didn't immediately find her. And then panic when the next sound that pierced the air was a scream. Her scream. He was moving in an instant, faster than the next one but when he burst into the room where she was standing with Kim, Hailey and Vanessa he was just as confused as Liam, Drew and Knox were, each of them also desperate to find her. Because those were definitely her screams.
But they weren't coming from her.
