Rise of a Phoenix: Rise of a Phoenix (21 page)

The doors of the morgue flew open and two orderlies arrived with Pat’s body on a gurney and transferred it on to the wash table.

“Thanks, guys,” Tina said. She took a deep breath and put her gloves on, ready to search for fibres or anything that may have been transferred to him from the killers. She looked at his large round face and, even in death, he held what appeared to be a smile.

The door burst open in the other room and footsteps could be heard. Tina and McCall looked at each other and headed through. There stood the Captain, Tooms, and Tony, all with cell phones in their hands.

“So what’s the matter, Doc?” asked the Captain, shocked that he had been summoned

Tina looked at McCall and shrugged in surprise

“We didn’t send for you—for any of you,” said Tina, just as confused as the others.

“No, I did,” a muffled voice came from behind them, and then from the shadows came the figure of the homeless man, Pat, who they’d last seen in the gurney. Tina and McCall shot to the other side of the room, where their colleagues stood open-mouthed. Pat walked up to where Tina had been standing and reached for his left ear and pulled. They all looked away in disgust as he screamed. Eventually, the screams turned into laughter.

Daring to take a peek, McCall saw Steel standing there with pieces of latex still stuck to his face.”You asshole!” she screamed, slapping him on his padded shoulder.

“But I checked your pulse,” said Tony, completely baffled by the experience. “You were dead.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself, Tony. It’s special latex, real, feel it if you like,” said Steel still grinning. Tooms grabbed his hand and as he shook it brought him close and hugged him,

“Cool move, Bro,” he said.

The Captain, however, was not in a brother-hugging mood. “Steel, do you want to explain what the hell is going on?”

Steel’s smile vanished. “Sir, if I may get changed, then I’ll meet everyone in the briefing room.”

The Captain nodded. “You got ten minutes.”

As Steel entered the briefing room everyone was sitting around the large table, and he felt a touch of déjà vu, remembering the previous such meeting.

“OK, Steel, what the hell is going on?” asked the Captain. “You disappear and then you get people in a fire fight, I mean just what the hell are you up to, boy?”

Steel looked lost for a moment, as if a thought had just occurred to him.

“Well?” reiterated the Captain, who was by now at breaking point.

“They asked for a cop.” said Steel, with a long staring look above everyone’s heads, apparently at nothing as he sat down.

“At the bridge, they asked where was the cop. At first I thought he meant me but of course”

“You were in disguise.” McCall finished his sentence, sharing a conspiratorial look with him.

“Steel, what the hell are you talking about?” asked the Captain.

Steel pushed the thought away and started from the beginning. “I’m not sure. It’s still puzzling me, who they were and how they are mixed up in the case, unless this is now two completely separate affairs, but my gut says they are tied together somehow.” His expression was distracted, as if he wasn’t concentrating on what he was telling them.

However, with a shudder he finally came back to earth. “Yesterday I got to thinking about the homeless guys we have been looking for.” He took a sip from the coffee, and his eyes rolled back with pleasure at the excellent taste.

“I was thinking that the occasion when they moved Marie-Ann move was not the only time these guys were used.” Steel put his cup down for a second. “We have been thinking about routes for vehicles, and how long it takes to drive from here and there. Well what if we were looking for, say, a shopping cart or something similar?”

McCall’s face came alive as his words started to make some sort of sense. “Of course! Everyone would remember a van or a car, but they wouldn’t think twice about seeing a homeless guy moving something,” she added.

“Anyway,” Detective Steel continued. “I got to thinking that the only way to find them is to become one of them.”

“And did you find them?” asked the Captain

“It took some time but I got them. They were talking about doing another job for ‘the man’. My idea was to stir up their interest and, well, get noticed.” Steel nodded as he took another sip of coffee.

“So what went wrong?” Tony asked, leaning forwards with interest.

“At the most I thought ‘the man’ would pay me a visit, not some goons from The Expendables. I was just trying to get a reaction.”

 “Well you got that, my man, big time.” Tooms laughed

“Yeh well I was expecting hordes of homeless guys on a pay check, not mercenaries with a death wish.” This struck a chord with everyone in the room, and the mood changed.

“What makes you think they were mercenaries?” asked Tooms, a strange look on his face.

“Tooms, man, you were in the forces, you would recognize a private soldier, right?”

Tooms nodded in agreement.

“They did appear to me to be professional solders, bought and paid for.”

“Well, for a start these were not some last minute buy types, they were organized and kitted out.” Tooms added, nodding in agreement with what Steel had said.

“So what are you thinking, Detective?” asked Dr Davidson, who had been sitting through all of the previous revelations watching not the room but Steel: his gaze was focused on Steel alone.

“Actually I’m wondering how a group of highly trained soldiers, a couple of homeless guys and a psycho killer come together in the mix.”

The Captain stood up and put his hands on his hips. “So, how do they?” he asked Steel, but deep inside he knew he didn’t want to know the answer.

“They don’t,” said Steel, taking a sip from the cooling coffee.

“What do you mean they don’t?” yelled Tooms.

“Let’s go over it again. The mercenaries asked for a
cop
, not a bum, a
cop
.”

McCall’s suddenly looked scared, and then she glanced up at Steel, who must have read her mind because he nodded in confirmation; he had also had the same thought.

“The hotel room,” she said, her mood one of mixed emotions. “Did we get the sniper rifle from the guy you lads so brilliantly found under the bridge?”

Tony and Tooms looked at each other and both simultaneously began to make for the door.

“Ballistics should match the hotel room,” said Tony, as they left.

“You know, it’s so cute the way they do that, are they a couple?” Steel asked, making the Captain and McCall smile.

Steel saw Dr Davidson out of the corner of his eye, and felt himself being carefully observed. He shuddered with revulsion.

“So what now, Steel?” Sam McCall asked.

The Captain was sitting on the other side of the table and crossed his arms.

“We carry on,” John Steel replied. “We carry on as though last night never happened. If we go chasing mercenaries we lose sight of what we are really after.” Steel sunk back into the chair and finished the now-cold coffee.

“And what about the mercenaries?” the Captain asked.

 Steel thought for a moment. “We have no idea who sent them or why.” He paused. “But we do know that someone knew that either I was going to be there or Sam McCall was. Bottom line, you got a snitch in the department.”

The Captain looked round the room and shook his head in disbelief.

“Our best bet is to forget about them, carry on, and solve this investigation.” Steel stood up.

“And if they try again?” asked McCall with a lump in her throat.

“Then we make sure we catch one alive. Either way our plan should be if we don’t bother them they don’t bother us.” Steel shrugged.

They left the briefing area, and Steel headed for the coffee room. He badly needed a refill. Hours of drinking bad coffee and bad booze had numbed his taste buds.

THIRTY-NINE

As the afternoon grew late the workforce had cross-checked known whereabouts for the two homeless guys, possible sightings, indeed anything to find a pattern. Earlier McCall had told everyone to focus on the two drop-off guys, as they were the link. Find them, she explained, and they were one step closer.

Steel walked in to the office with a large box which looked and felt quiet heavy.

“Hey, man, what’s with the box?” asked Tooms, as he peered over the top of his monitor screen. “Is dinner on the way?”

The team dropped everything to see what the English detective had brought.

“Wow, Chinese,” said McCall, helping to lay out the boxes on desks.

McCall walked up to Steel who had half a red-hot spring roll in his mouth. She smiled as he tried fanning cool air into his open mouth to cool it down.

“Can I have a word with you, please?” she asked standing over him, stretching out an arm towards the coffee room.

“Yeh, sure, after you,” he said, dabbing his mouth with the logoed napkin. They walked into the room and she shut the doors.

“What’s up?” he asked, his voice calm and soothing.

“Look, about the other night,” she began to explain. “I never gave you a chance to explain that it was your friend who got killed. I’m sorry.” She looked into his sunglasses and hoped he was staring back at her with the kind of emotion she was feeling.

“It’s fine,” he reassured her. “It’s my fault for being so—well—secretive. I’m the one who should be sorry. Like I said before, I have some trust issues and after the bridge I think I was right to” She gave him a sharp look of anger and disappointment, which he picked up on straight away.

“I didn’t mean you guys,” he assured her. “It’s someone else, here. I trust you guys with my life.”

He held out a hand in friendship. “Friends?” he asked.

She looked at him and smiled. As she took his hand he pulled her close and hugged her. “I’m so happy,” he said jokingly.

She pushed him off quickly. “You are such an ass,” she said. But as he walked off, she felt her knees go weak at the lingering sweet smell he had left behind: a mixture of male pheromones and sweet-smelling deodorant and aftershave. She looked round and straightened herself up as though nothing had happened.

McCall and Steel returned to the group and delved into what was left of the meal once the guys had stopped feeding.

“OK, people it’s getting late, we have all had an excitable day so let’s get home, shake out and come in fresh tomorrow,” the Captain said as he stood in the doorway with his coat over one arm. And with that the police staff gathered there started to thin out once they had shut down their computers and tidied their desks.

Steel was sitting in the chair next to McCall’s and shouted after the Captain: “Hey, Captain, when do I get a desk?”

The Captain smiled as he stepped into the elevator, saying, “You find one, it’s yours!” And with that the door shut

Alan Brant blew a sigh of relief at the thought of another day gone. But in truth he knew that once this case was done Steel was gone. It wasn’t that he didn’t want him there, but that was the nature of the man.

Steel stood up and put on his long coat “Did you want to get a drink or something?” he asked Sam McCall. “It’s not a date or anything, just two people getting a drink,” he tripped over his words.

She looked up at him and smiled. “Sorry I have plans, but you go ahead.”

He returned the smile.

“Hey, guys, want to get a drink or something?” he shouted to the other two.

“Cool,” said Tooms, putting on his jacket.

“Where we going?” asked Tony, logging off on his computer.

“Oh, I don’t know there is a little place I know.”

And all three detectives walked off towards the elevator. McCall watched them leave and shook her head with a large smile on her face.

FORTY

The dimly lit bathroom was aglow with the tiny flames of a dozen candles and the steam from the running shower caused a haze that hung in the room. A fog of condensation blanketed the mirror over the sink, and the screen around the shower unit was full of mist that billowed from its open top.

Sam McCall took a sip from the large glass; the red wine appeared almost black in the dimly lit room. Placing it down on a small side cupboard she moved to the shower and slipped off her robe, the silk of the gown caressing her firm body as it fell to the floor. She placed the toes of her left foot gently under the running water to test the warmth;
just right
, she thought, and then entered the small glass compartment.

The cascade of water ran down the contours of her athletic body, washing away the troubles of the day. She lathered up a sponge with sweet-smelling soap then with care she massaged the soapy foam into her skin. Soft music played in the background and the strong smell of candles and soap filled the air.

Placing both, hands against the tiled wall of the booth she stood under the shower head and let the water pour over her. McCall was lost in the moment, when suddenly she felt a pair of strong hands start to run their way from her shoulders to her hips. She shuddered as she felt small kisses caress her back, moving slowly downwards. Her nails pressed against the wall, making scratching motions as her body tingled with excitement.

Then the hands moved back up towards her firm breasts and pulled her back, as he began to bite her neck and ears.

She reached back and felt his firm hard body as he pressed against hers. Slowly she leant forwards and her hands steadied herself against the wall as the couple slowly became one in a passionate embrace. Feeling his hard body grind against her she began to groan with pleasure, her hands moving backwards, digging her nails into his muscular thigh as the speed of his movements began to increase. Water splashed against the glass, and bottles of soap and conditioner cast aside in all directions as they began to reach the ultimate.

Her knees began to buckle as she felt him move against her, her arm reached back and grasped at his hair as he began to bite hard into the side of her neck, his hands ran up and down the front of her body, gently feeling the shape of her breasts. She began to gasp as she felt every hard muscular inch of him, her moans of pleasure drowned out by her hands banging against the safety glass.