Dark Purpose - VII

Part 1

VII.

                Greed came to with his own gun pointing at his face. He coughed and wheezed feeling the bruise on his chest from where she struck him. He felt so stupid for dropping his guard enough for her to kick him square in the chest. Her being athletic was an understatement. He regained his wits and stared her down.

                “You’re making a big mistake.” Greed wheezed.

                “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. This is way beyond your paygrade.” The woman said looking around yet not keeping her eyes off Greed long enough for him to strike back. He was pinned down by a woman with his own gun. His throat burned and his jaw clenched tighter than it had in months.

                “Why don’t you fill me in?” Greed hissed.

                “You wouldn’t understand. Now get up, slowly.”

                Greed slid up the wall stumbling slightly, his head still swimming. A bump had grown on the back of his head and a piercing headache pounded.

                “No turn around and stack those boxes.”

                “What?”

                “I can’t let you go so you’re going to help me.”

                “You can’t be serious.”

                The woman’s eyes were narrowed and her face was stern. Greed knew sincerity when he saw it and this woman wasn’t budging an inch. She didn’t look to want to kill him though so he’d play it cool until he had an opening. Though being bossed around by a young woman boiled his blood. Obliging he stacked the boxes enough to reach the fire escape and pulled it down for her.

                “Go up.”

                “What?”

                “I said go up. You’re going in with me.”

                “So you weren’t kidding.”

                “It worked as a distraction but I wasn’t lying. The butcher lives here, I’m almost certain.”

                “Who are you? Who do you work for?”

                “That’s not important.”

                “I damn well think it’s important.”

                And with that outburst the woman jabbed Greed in the chest hard with the barrel of his gun hitting the tender bruise on his chest causing him to wince.

                “Keep your distance.”

                That look returned to her eyes, the sincerity in her words, and her potential actions. She wasn’t bluffing.

                “If I help you, you need to talk to me.”

                “I’ll decide that once we’re inside, now climb.”

                Greed moved slowly up the ladder keeping a weathered eye on the woman as she followed up behind him gun raised and eyes trained. She might not look it from a single glance but she knew what she was doing. Trained, by someone, to use a weapon and to keep her cool.

                “Which floor?” Greed asked moving upwards the metal steps.

                “Third. That window there.” The woman pointed towards a window sill one platform up. Greed moved closer and peeked in. He didn’t see any movement inside.

                “No one is home.”

                “Perfect. Now open it up.”

                “What?”

                “You heard me, we need to get inside.”

                Greed looked back but deigned not to fight the woman. He tried pulling the window up but it was locked.

                “No good, its bolted shut.”

                “Step aside.” the woman forced him back with his gun and she surveyed the window for a second then brought her heel hard on the glass in a quick twisting kick. It shattered inward letting her unlatch the window and slid it up. Greed seeing an opening went for his gun grabbing the grip and her hand forcing it upwards. Without a beat the woman spun around and smashed her open palm into his nose. With a muffled shriek as his hands retreated to his damaged face Greed fell to his knees, blood erupting from his now broken nose.

                “You bitch!”

                “I told you! Now get inside. Or I’ll break something else!” The woman pushed Greed towards the open window practically pushing him in with her foot. He stumbled onto the floor and found a rag to hold to his face. His face pulsed with pain, his head throbbed and his jaw ached. The shock of the punch made his whole skull ring. Behind him the woman slid into the apartment. She pushed him aside and went about searching.

                Greed washed his face and blew bloody snot bubbles out trying to clear his nasal passage. Each breath hurt. He could feel his anger boiling over but he felt defeated. His one attempt at overcoming her was thwarted in a flash.

                “You’ll pay for this. I’ll see that you rot in a cell.”

                “Fat chance. Now start helping me look.”

                “Look for what!?” Greed wasn’t in the mood to be ordered around. Blood dripped from the soiled wash cloth onto the floor.

                “Clues. Or just stand there bleeding either way try to be useful.” The woman stepped into the living room and Greed decided to deal with his broken nose. The woman wasn’t out to kill him otherwise, he was sure, she would have done it by now. Without the gun, as her martial ability showed him. So he searched for the bathroom to hopefully find something to stop the bleeding. In the medicine cabinet he found a bottle of pain killers, that he threw back with a gulp of bloody spit. He looked in the mirror and lamented his twisted bloody face. He would find a way to kick her ass he had to for his pride if not for anything else.

                In a linen cabinet next to the sink he found a first aid kit and set about bandaging his nose. He’d have to make another trip to the hospital this week but for now best he could do was stop the bleeding.

                Once he was set with a gauze bandage and some stuffing in his nose he set about surveying the apartment himself. The woman, though obviously not affiliated with the police, was looking in the same places that he was for the Butcher. Maybe she was a fed? Maybe it was a classified nature and she couldn’t work with him officially? That thought didn’t assuage his anger much but he felt while he was here he might as well look for his own clues. Perhaps he would have been lead here on his own given he had access to the same papers she did. He had no reason not to look.

                Greed could hear the woman milling about in the forward rooms so he moved towards the back. He peeked inside one room that was set up like a study. A small desk, a book shelf, and a chair in the corner. Nothing out of the ordinary. Next was the bedroom. A small bed, an armoire with an old mirror, not really what Greed assumed a man would use but nonetheless standard fair for any old room. Also not what he’d expect of a serial murderer but perhaps perceptions could be deceiving.

                “Find anything?” the woman asked from down the hall.

                “Fuck you.” Greed said under his breath, his voice muted by the padding on and in his nose.

                “What?”

                “No, I haven’t found…” Greed spoke louder as he opened the last door in the hallway. Immediately he was bombarded by the strong smell of burnt incense and candle waxes piercing even his nose coverings. Inside it looked like a shrine was built out of spent wax, animal bones, and plaster. The walls were covered in a dark maroon paint and covered in strange simples etched out from finger strokes.

                “My god.”

                “What is it?” the woman came up behind him and pushed him aside.

                Greed was awestruck by what he saw. Atop the shrine was the abstract form of a man or a beast he couldn’t know which from his own eyes. It was grotesque and damp and seemed to glisten in the light. It made his stomach churn. The woman didn’t seem to have the same reaction to it. She did share his look of surprise though for a different reason. As if she was half expecting to find this abhorrent statue and shrine in here somewhere.

                “What the hell is that thing?” Greed stammered out.

                The woman stepped inside the small room, only large enough for one person to stand or kneel and examined further pulling a flashlight out of her bag. The symbols jumped out with more sharpness in the light but it made no more sense to Greed. They weren’t the same as the etchings on the walls of the secret rooms at the murder sites, but the resemblance was stark.

                Kneeling down herself the woman withdrew a hand stitched book from the floor placed neatly in a case of red wax. She thumbed through it as Greed stared on trying to decipher what he was seeing.

                This is more than just derangement. This is abject insanity. Occult nonsense! Greed thought looking over the symbols and the shrine again and again. The women paid him no mind in his confusion simply flipping through the notebook.

                “I can’t believe it.”

                “What?” Greed said snapping his head around.

                “You wouldn’t understand. You should leave now detective. Forget you ever saw this and just leave. We can handle it from here.”

                “No goddamnit, I need some answers. You think you can do all of what you did to me, find this and just cut me loose with no explanations?”

                “Yes, and I expect you to leave without a fuss. This way above you.”

                “Help me to understand. What am I looking at here?”

                “You wouldn’t believe me if I said, its easier for you just to step aside. Or do you want me to break something else on your face?”

                “Now listen here, I’m still the lead detective on this case. I’m meant to bring this bastard in. No fed or whatever the hell you are is going to stop me.”

                The woman laughed.

                “A fed? Please. You’re all bumbling fools. Just stay out of the way.”

                Greed opened his mouth to yell some more but the sound of a key unlatching the door made him freeze.

                “Gotcha.” The woman leveled the gun and made her way towards the living room slowly and quietly. Greed didn’t move. He was in no condition to fight.

                 

Erika shouted pointing the gun at the man’s face.

                “Freeze!”

                In an instant the man saw her face knew he was caught and bolted out the door.

                “Fuck! Come on!” Erika called back towards the cop cowering in the shadows. He might not be as stout-hearted as he came off but he was more useful than not right now.

                On the surgeon’s heels Erika burst through the apartment door and down the stairs. She caught site of him running out the building and to the left as she descended. He was fast for a big guy. The cop was slow behind her but did his best to keep up. The two made it to the street quick enough to see the large man head north up the street. Erika tossing the gun into her bag bolted down the road to catch him. She noticed the cop start to follow then get into his car and speed up the street parallel.

                “Get in!” the cop shouted out the window.

                Erika jumped into the car and they sped off. The large man was bobbing and weaving between passersby on the sidewalk, pushing some out of the way. The cop put on his lights and siren that he attached to his hood and they gave chase running red lights and cutting off traffic. There was one advantage the man had on foot however and he took it at his first opportunity. A small alley opened up without car access and he disappeared into the dark.

                “Stop!”

                The cop slammed on the brakes and Erika jumped out to follow. Behind her she could hear the cop backing her up, telling bystanders to stay away. The alley turned and bent around the buildings leading deeper into the district. The man was fast but she was faster, she could feel herself gaining on him, finally spotting him through metal fences not a stones throw away. But the path was getting harder and harder to navigate. The man obviously knew his way around while she was lost trying to find a path through the backyards and fenced off areas before her. She started to climb a fence wet from the rain but lost her footing and fell to the ground. The cop came up behind her as she watched Childress slip away.

                “Where is he?” the cop said standing over her.

                Erika kicked the wet fence that let her down and huffed. Right through her fingers. But at least they had found his home and his primary shrine.

                “We need to stake out his home. He won’t leave it for long. He’ll want to extract his things from it and find a new place to lay low.”

                “I’ll get a badge on it.” The cop said sounding cooperative and less angry then before when she broke his nose.

                “I’m headed back there now myself. But feel free to go about your business.” Erika said pointing at the man’s busted face. Erika needed to go back to find Angela, all this running around meant that they couldn’t rendezvous as planned. This damn cop threw all her plans out of whack but she needed her sister. To tell her what they had found. To let her know The Enigma was actually in play.

                “I’ll make a call, but I’m not letting you out of my sight.” The cop said as they walked back to his car. A link had been made between them, a fragile link, but a link nonetheless. She might as well take his help, they were working the same case though with far different knowledge bases. She’d use him as long as he deemed useful. But since The Union was known for working outside the law, a partnership with a cop would need to be short and sweet. Erika was most concerned with Angela and taking the man’s book that she stupidly dropped in the apartment. With it out of play the cops could mop up the mess. She needn’t get her hands dirty with that.

                Arriving back at the apartment the cop, who introduced himself as Detective Greed, went for a payphone on the corner and Erika returned to the backlot. There was no sign of Angela anywhere which started to eat at her. This detective didn’t follow Angela like she expected so she should have arrived a least a few minutes after her or at least be there now. Erika went back into the apartment from the fire escape retrieved the book and came back down to the car to wait. Greed informed her that a PO was arriving soon to keep an eye on the place. He would need to leave to seek medical attention and sought to have her tag along to “keep” tabs on her.

                She wasn’t against that whole-heartedly if anything to cause less friction. She didn’t need to be in police custody against her will even though she essentially would be, the only difference being there wouldn’t be handcuffs involved. So she was okay with it for now, but the absence of Angela was giving her more trouble.

                “Where are you?” Erika whispered at the window looking up and down the street. Angela was tough but she didn’t like either of them being alone. They worked best together and needed each other, more than Angela liked to admit, foolhardy as she was. A fear was building in her chest that she couldn’t suppress.

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