Part 24 (1/2)

”Don't do it there. I'll dispatch a meat wagon to your location, so we can bring them back to headquarters for a complete a.n.a.lysis. I want to go over those corpses with a microscope. Your a.s.signment is to make sure they get here.”

”Yes, ma'am,” Aaron said. ”What about Marina?”

”Find an ambulance,” Ethel said. ”Have her taken to the nearest hospital. We'll pick her up after she recovers. Don't disappoint me again.” She hung up.

He closed his phone and put it away. ”Did you hear?”

Smythe nodded. ”Every word. She's a tough boss.”

Aaron gently stripped off Marina's weapons and body armor and left them on the ground. He picked her up. She was soft and vulnerable in his arms.

He carried her towards the burning house while Smythe walked beside him.

”How do you want to play this?” Smythe said.

”Simple,” Aaron said. ”We're dressed as FBI agents. These hick cops better stay out of our way.”

”In other words, act like a.s.sholes.”

”Exactly.”

A fire engine was parked on the driveway. Several firemen held hoses and were spraying water onto the house. The structure was a total loss, but they were making sure the fire didn't spread to the nearby trees.

Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies were inspecting the surrounding area. They had already marked the storage shed with yellow police tape.

Aaron spotted an ambulance behind the fire truck. ”Hey!” he yelled. ”We have a hurt woman! Stretcher!”

Two paramedics grabbed a stretcher and ran over. He carefully transferred Marina.

”She has a head injury,” he told them. ”Get her to an emergency room!”

The paramedics carried her off. He sighed with relief. She'll get proper treatment now, he thought.

Two deputies came over. The older one had a name tag that read ”Sgt. London.” Thin wisps of brown hair lay across the top of his round head. His mustache was trimmed straight across on the bottom.

”Who are you?” London asked.

Aaron took out his wallet and showed his FBI identification. It was indistinguishable from the real thing. The Gray Spear Society prided itself on the impeccable quality of its forged credentials.

”This is an FBI operation,” Aaron said. ”Make sure your people don't touch a thing.”

”What kind of operation?”

”The keep your f.u.c.king nose out of FBI business kind! You want to make yourself useful? Set up a perimeter. I don't want any civilians wandering into my crime scene and touching my evidence.”

London stood in place and scowled.

”Is there a problem with your hearing, sergeant?” Aaron said. ”I thought I made myself very clear. If you want, I can call the Bureau in Was.h.i.+ngton.”

London muttered something foul and walked off.

For the next twenty minutes, Aaron and Smythe did their best to protect the dead bodies from evidence contamination. The deputies stayed out of the way, so the task wasn't hard.

Finally, the ”meat wagon” arrived. It was a gray van with the word ”CORONER” painted on the side in white letters. Aaron expected that the driver actually worked for the county corner, but he was also on the Society's payroll. Making dead bodies disappear was a recurring problem.

Aaron helped the driver load all the dead Eternals onto gurneys. One body was in the shed and another was in the woods. The last two in the truck were completely burned, but they were taken away regardless. Any kind of evidence was potentially useful.

Sergeant London rushed over. ”What are you doing?”

”What does it look like?” Aaron said.

”You have to take pictures. You have to doc.u.ment the crime scene.”

”These stiffs are all the doc.u.mentation I need.”

London frowned.

Aaron wished Marina were here. She was the professional liar.

”You're really chapping my a.s.s,” he said. ”What's your full name?”

”Jeffery London.”

”Hold on.” Aaron called Ethel, and she picked up immediately. ”I'm having a problem.”

”Oh?” she said.

”A deputy named Sergeant Jeffery London.”

”I'll take care of it.”

”Thank you.” He hung up.

Aaron stood with his arms crossed and stared at London. The sergeant stared back with a stubborn expression on his face.

A few minutes later London received a call on his own phone. ”h.e.l.lo?” he said. ”Oh. Yes, sir. I was just... No, sir. No. Absolutely not.” He put away his phone, shot a final angry glare at Aaron, and walked off.

Smythe came over and whispered, ”Who called him?”

”I don't know.” Aaron shrugged. ”It doesn't matter. The sergeant won't annoy us again.”

They finished securing the dead bodies in the coroner's van. Then, drooping with weariness, Aaron and Smythe walked away.

Aaron looked at the corpses on the floor. Two were in good condition, but the other two looked and smelled like burnt meat. They were laid out on a plastic sheet in the workout room because it was the biggest s.p.a.ce available in headquarters. The entire team had gathered near the remains, except for Marina.

He noticed her absence every time he looked around. The latest word was that she had regained consciousness and was stable. He wished he could be with her.

Ethel crouched over one of the unburned corpses with a pair of scissors in her hand, and she began to cut off the black robes. ”Every body tells a tale,” she said. ”We cover ourselves with clothes to hide our secrets.”