Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms (9 page)

“On my way. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Make it ten if you can… See ya soon.”

§§§§§§§§§§§§

“So what’s the story this time?”

Frank shook his head, “would you believe an almost carbon copy from the last one…?”

“How so?”

“Some gang-bangers were hassling a homeless guy that was scavenging in their territory. They felt they needed to tune him up for trespassing. Then our guy shows up, some words were exchanged, then this mess was left. Some uniforms are canvassing the area, but I’m gonna guess that there’s no witnesses.”

“You’re probably righ—”

Cora and Frank turned to see an younger officer jogging up.

“Hey, we lucked out this time. Apparently one of the store owners got sick of having their fryer grease stolen, so they set up a security cam that covers a good portion of this area. I reviewed some of the footage, and you’re not going to believe it. Almost looks like they were filming a movie with the moves this one guy has.”

“Let’s go take a look then,” Frank said as he started walking in the direction the other officer came from.

“Gotcha one better. The owner burned us a copy,” she said, waving a disc at them.

“Good job.”

Frank turned toward Cora.

“Should we stop for some popcorn to go with this movie?”

“Oh. My. God!”

Cora paused the fight footage. She cast a sideways glance at Frank before she hit play again. He sat there with his mouth hanging open.

“How is that even possible?”

Frank’s mouth twitched. He looked over at Cora and worked his mouth, but nothing came out. He gestured at the screen and cleared his throat.

“That’s impossible…”

Cora rewound the scene, then played it again in slow motion. Although the footage was a little grainy since it wasn’t a great security cam, she knew it was Samuel when he blocked the 2x4. When he swung his arm up, she could see the flash of light reflect off the metal jewelry he wore on his left arm. Where he’d learned to fight was unknown, but there was no denying he was an extremely well trained, and an incredibly tough fighter. After blocking the 2x4, you could tell that Samuel had said something to his shocked attacker. Then he’d dropped down while throwing simultaneous palm strikes at his opponent’s legs, snapping both femurs at the same time. From there, it took him slightly over a minute to incapacitate the remaining eight men with similar results: broken improvised weapons and multiple broken bones.

“Did you see how that piece of pipe bent around his arm? How come his arm didn’t break? Or move for that matter. Every time he blocked something, it was like they were hitting a wall.”

“That’s what scares me. One thing’s clear though. He definitely has the capabilities and skills needed to have killed all those people at the warehouse, but we still can’t confirm he’s our guy.”

Frank paused for a minute.

“What?”

Frank stared at the screen, lost in thought before he responded.

“I just had a very disturbing thought. If Samuel isn’t our guy, it’d mean there’s someone else out there capable of this level of destruction who took our boy out…”

“Shit… That’s not a very comforting thought, but the bigger question is, why did we actually find him there? He didn’t have any visible injuries. Hell, they only suspected head trauma due to being unconscious for nearly a day after they brought him to the hospital. Granted, he looks tough enough to have taken a hell of a beating… But no injuries? I don’t think anyone can be that good…”

Cora trailed off as she stared at the screen. She hit the rewind button and played the video again.

“Frank, did you see that?”

“See what?”

She rewound the video again, slowing it down even more. She let it play again before she paused it.

“That.”

Frank squinted at the screen, staring at it for a minute before turning back to Cora.

“What am I looking at? I don’t see anything other than him dislocating that other guy’s shoulder like it was dry kindling.”

“Exactly!”

“Huh…? I don’t follow you.”

Cora rewound it again and played the fight back, frame-by-frame.

“Right there…”

“Cora, I still don’t see what you’re trying to show me.”

“Look at how Samuel’s positioned the guy…” Cora said, pointing at the screen.

“That guy’s neck is laid out like a Thanksgiving turkey. If you watch our guy’s hand, it’s obvious he was going in for a kill-shot. It’s only at the last minute right here,” Cora pointed to the screen again, “that he redirected the strike to dislocate that guy’s shoulder. He had him dead to rights and changed his mind, mid-strike. A strike, I might add, that was going too fast for either of us to follow at normal speed.”

“Yeah! You’re right. He did change the angle of his strike. Rewind the fight again.”

Cora rewound the fight again, playing it back frame-by-frame again. After going through it again several times, they both sat back in their chairs.

“He gave up a killing shot every time for a crippling shot instead. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a very vicious fighter, but it’s obvious from this footage that our guy doesn’t kill indiscriminately.”

“That’s what it’s lookin’ like, but that doesn’t rule him out for the warehouse slaughter. Maybe he had a good reason, in his own mind, to turn them into greasy smears.”

“I don’t know… Something doesn’t feel ri—”

“How about we ask him if he had a reason, after we catch him? All I know is that he was found in the middle of a slaughterhouse, and since he escaped from the hospital, he’s been the cause of at least twelve people going to the ER, including the other three from yesterday. The longer he’s out there, the higher the body count’s getting. At this rate, he’s going to have the hospital full by the end of the week.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed, ”since it’s going to be several hours until we can interview those guys, let’s say we get back to checking out the funeral homes and shelters. Feel like swapping for awhile.”

“Nope.”

Cora though she caught a slight smile on Frank’s face when he said it.

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Cora sat in her car, staring at a city map she’d just picked up at a nearby gas station. She put a dot where the hospital was. Then she put dots at the location of both fights. She put a dot where the warehouse was, but could tell it was well outside the radius of where the rest of the dots were.

“Where are you hiding…?”

So far, the dots covered an area roughly around five miles square. It was a lot of area to cover by herself, but she would guarantee Samuel would be found holed up somewhere in that area. The big question was, what was he doing. He wasn’t acting like a fugitive. Most fugitives wouldn’t be leaving a trail of bodies everywhere they went. They would have made a bee-line out of town. Instead, he was leaving behind a mess wherever he went.

“I wonder…”

Cora pulled out her smartphone and opened a searchbar.

>can someone loose their memory and still be able to fight?<

Cora spend a few minutes refining and reviewing her results.

So it’s possible to lose your memory, but still keep your reflexive skills. This whole time, we’ve been thinking that he was faking his memory loss, but what if he wasn’t faking it. What if really can’t remember who he is…? If I was in that situation, what would I do?

Cora started at the map, trying to get into Samuel’s head. As her eyes trailed across the page, they came to a stop.

Of course, the library. He knows that he was found at a warehouse and bodies were involved, so there’s a chance he might try and look it up. If that’s the case, maybe he might go to the warehouse, hoping something might jog his memory. At least that’s what I think I’d do in his situation.

Cora put her car in gear and headed out toward the library, following her hunch.

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Cora pulled up to the front of the library and parked. Glancing up the steps, she couldn’t ever remember being at this library before. Then again, she hadn’t been in a library since she was in high school, so that didn’t mean much.

I wonder how much longer this place can keep going, with things like the Internet and online bookstores allowing such easy access to information. Not really much reason to go to one anymore.

She got out of her car and headed up the steps. As she climbed, she examined the metal statues at the top of the stairs. Whoever had made them did an amazing job. They appeared almost lifelike. The muscles of the centurions almost looked like they were getting ready to flex at any moment, hurling the spear they were holding at some perceived threat. The chain leading down from his other hand to the seated lion looked just as real. She had to resist the temptation to see if the fur cast into the iron was as smooth as it looked.

Cora shook her head as she smiled.

Yeah, sure. The ‘fur’ on that iron statue is really going to be all soft and fluffy. It’s really been a long, weird week so far…

Cora opened the door and headed in. For some reason, the hair on the back of her neck stood up, almost like a cold draft had blown across the skin. She shivered slightly, then adjusted the collar on her jacket before heading over to the counter.

As she approached the desk, she looked around for someone to help her, but it wasn’t until she was at the desk that she noticed someone squatting down behind the counter sorting something.

“Excuse me.”

The lady behind the counter jumped in surprise, rapidly standing up as she adjusted her glasses.

“I’m sorry. How may I be of assistance?” the librarian asked, smoothing out the front of her white blouse.

“Yes, I was wondering if you could help me… Ms Renault?” she asked, glancing down at the other woman’s name tag as she flashed her badge.

“I was wondering if you’ve seen someone here within the past day or two…”

Cora noticed a slight tightening around the the other woman’s eyes as she asked her question, filing the information away for later.

“I would be glad to be of assistance, Officer—”

“Detective.”

“Excuse me, detective… As I was getting ready to say, I would be glad to be of assistance, but a lot of people come in and out of here all day, so I’m not sure I’d be of much help.”

Cora glanced around the library, noticing security cameras located strategically around the room.

“I couldn’t help but notice you have a bunch of cameras around the place… I don’t suppose I’d be able to take a look a—”

“No!”

Cora’s eyes opened slightly wider in a questioning look at the other woman’s interruption.

“Excuse me again, Detective. What I meant to say is that those cameras are just there for show. They’re not actually functional. The board thought it might help deter possible theft if our patrons thought they were being recorded… not that we have a lot of theft here to start with I might add. It also helps us get a slight discount on our insurance rates as well, I believe.”

“Okay…” she said slowly, “anyway, I have a picture of the person we’re looking for.”

As she said that, she pulled out her smartphone and pulled up a picture of Samuel while he was laying unconscious at the hospital.

“This is a shot of him before he disappeared. We just have a few questions to ask him to clear up something he was a witness to a few days ago. We believe he’s in danger, so the sooner we can find him, the better.”

The librarian gave the picture a cursory glance before looking back at Cora.

“I’m sorry, detective. I can’t say I’ve seen him before. But now that I know law enforcement is looking for him, I’ll be sure to contact you if he comes in to read the latest copy of the Enquirer.”

She raised one of her eyebrows, “Is there anything else I can be of assistance with, detective?”

“No, thank you,” she said as she put her phone back in her pocket, “I think that’ll be all for now.”

Cora pulled out one of her business cards.

“If you hear anything,” she began, handing the card over to the other woman, “please give us a call.”

Reaching out like she was picking up a dead mouse, the librarian gingerly took the card out of Cora’s hand.

“Absolutely.”

As Cora started to turn around to leave, she caught a flash of movement near the back of the library. All she caught was a flash of what appeared to be a black trench coat disappearing behind some shelves.

She glanced back at the librarian again.

“Thank you again,” she said before she hurried back toward the shelves where the person had disappeared. As she reached the bookcase, she cast a quick glance around the corner. She caught a flash of someone turning another corner, dressed all in black and wearing a watch cap. She rushed over to the next isle, trying to catch up with the other person. As she got to the corner, she noticed the person was only halfway down the isle.

She picked up her pace, breaking into a jog. Before the person had a chance to reach the next turn, she reached out and grabbed their shoulder.

“Hey, I wanna talk to you,” she said, spinning the other person around.

“Excuse me?” he said. “Do I know you?”

“Oh… Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” she said as she examined the man standing in front of her. He was dressed exactly like Sybil was, with a neatly trimmed goatee and mustache. She was getting ready to excuse herself when she caught a flash of light from his right hand. Glancing down, she noticed a now familiar looking piece of jewelry. She reached out quickly, trying to grab his hand, but he smoothly moved his hand out of the way.

“What, may I ask, are you trying to do?” he asked, a hint of humor tinging his voice.

“That thing on your hand. Where’d you get it?” she demanded.

“Pardon me?”

“That jewelry, where’d you—”

The sound of a pile of books crashing to the ground caused her to turn her head to look behind her for a second.

“As I was saying,” she said as she turned back, “where…”

The man was gone.

Samuel sighed. He’d already been up to the food line several times, but he was still hungry. From the feeling in his stomach, he was pretty sure he was getting ready to rupture something, so he wondered why was he still thinking about another trip through the food line?