Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Dewi
“What do you mean you have Ray Dorland’s head in a box? Is that a euphemism?”
“No, Dewi,” Trent said. “I mean, we have Ray Dorland’s head. In a box. His literal head in a literal box. Apparently, it’s a gift from the Russians. The string attached to this gruesome gift is that they want us to shut down that line of inquiry, because they wrote ‘cease immediately’ on the box.”
“There was a string attached? What the fuck? What does that even mean?”
“A metaphorical string,” Trent said, sounding exhausted. “Not a literal string.”
“But you’re sure it’s a real head?”
“Dewi, yes. I’m looking right at it. It’s Ray Dorland’s real head. Badger identified him.”
“Well, fuck. Who sent it?”
“I’m guessing a Russian, given the warning. Name listed on the shipping invoice was Smith.”
“Then how’d they know we would know who sent it?”
“Uh, maybe because of the Russian warning written on it?”
“True.”
“Are Jake and Carl around?” Trent asked.
“Been around all day,” Dewi said. “No way it was one of them, if that was your question. Besides, they’d have no reason for the theatrics, and they wouldn’t hide that they did it.
Make sure to snap a few pics of it before you destroy it.
Text them to me. They’ll want to see it.
I’d say freeze it so they can play soccer with it next time they’re at the compound, but that’s probably not the wisest thing to keep around in a freezer. ”
“Uh, gee, ya think?”
“That sound you hear is me flipping you a bird, big brother. Do we even bother following up with the shipping company, like ask to see surveillance video or anything?”
“No,” Trent said. “Not worth it.”
“So what the hell was Dorland doing over here early? He’s not supposed to be here for over a week. He told me he was arriving the day before, but he hadn’t sent me the flight info yet.”
Ken had been listening to the conversation, which was on speaker. He stood, picked up his laptop, and showed her his screen.
From Seattle, a breaking news alert.
“Shit, hold up. Ken just found something,” she said. “Police recovered a headless body a couple of hours ago, naked, no hands, in Seattle. No ID, obviously. Freshly killed.”
“Well, I think that answers our question,” Trent said.
“Were his hands in the box?” Dewi asked.
“No, just his head. And that they didn’t put it on dry ice tells me they killed him over here, not in Australia.
They weren’t worried about him getting ripe.
Plus, they wouldn’t have bothered to bring his body here.
All three of us agree it’s fresh. No more than twelve hours old, and probably from this morning.
The blood’s still a little tacky in places. ”
“Ick. Well, do we keep looking into it?” Dewy asked.
“I’m not looking a gift corpse in the mouth,” Trent said.
“Ugh. Oh! Did you look in his mouth in case they put something in it like some Silence of the Lambs bullshit? Maybe that’s how they knew we’d know who sent it.”
“Dewi, I’m not looking in his mouth.”
“I’ll do it,” she heard Badger say in the background. “Looks like there might be something. Web, ye got more of them gloves?”
“Yeah.”
A moment later, Trent came back on the line. “You suck, little sis.”
She nearly crowed. “What’d you find?”
He heavily sighed. “A thumb drive in a sealed plastic baggie.”
Trent
After taking more pictures and ensuring the head didn’t offer any other surprises, they destroyed it in the small incinerator Web had behind his store.
This wasn’t the first time they’d disposed of body parts in it, but this was the first time the body part in question had been sent to them from elsewhere and not parted out on-site.
Taking the thumb drive back to Peyton’s office, Trent grabbed an old laptop that wasn’t connected to the internet—or anything else—and plugged the drive in.
The version of anti-virus software on the laptop was six months old and detected no malware. The only file on the thumb drive was a video.
He looked at Badger.
“Go ahead,” he told Trent, looking grim.
They hit play.
The video opened showing Ray Dorland sitting naked and bound tightly to a heavy metal chair, wrapped tightly with chain and duct tape. Behind him, black plastic sheeting had been draped, not only obscuring the location but in preparation for protecting it from…
Well, from what Trent guessed would happen next.
The time-date stamp on the video was from 5:24 am that morning. Trent assumed local Seattle time.
Trent hit pause. “I need something stiff in me before watching this.”
“Make it two, if ye please,” Badger said.
Minutes later, when they both had full glasses of scotch, Trent hit play again.
Dorland looked scared out of his mind. “I don’t know what the fuckin’ hell you want from me!”
The next voice, a man’s, spoke English with a thick Eastern European accent, most likely Russian, if Trent had to guess.
“Your side ventures have cost us time and energy, in addition to drawing attention to us. Why did the Mexican contact you? He literally called you not long after I left your office.”
“I don’t fuckin’ know, mate! I’m tellin’ ya! I swear, I never even heard of the drongo before he called me lookin’ for Jake and Carl! And when he called I told him I couldn’t help him and blocked his number, I swear!”
“You are trying to make me believe that the man stepping into the shoes of the former head of the Segura drug cartel—a cartel his father started, and his brothers ran, and his nephew, who disappeared, inherited and ran for years—suddenly called you out of nowhere looking for your brother-in-law and nephew?”
“That’s exactly what I’m tellin’ ya, man!
I don’t know! He said somethin’ about Carl worked fer him and disappeared.
And then some story about Jake showin’ up pretendin’ to be a Russian and talkin’ to his daughter.
Seriously, I don’t know what the hell! I thought Jake was dead—they told me he was dead! ”
“They?”
“Yeah! The lab wonks. They were supposed to get him outta the way. I figured he was with Maya.”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
“You mean she’s dead?”
He scoffed. “Nah! That crazy corg—I mean Welsh bugger, Faegan. We’d struck a deal for him to marry her, but then she went off and got married, and—”
Badger hit pause and sat back, taking several gulps of alcohol. “Those Russians don’t know about shifters,” he said.
“I don’t follow,” Trent said. “He talked about the lab in front of them.”
“Yeah, but he almost said ‘corgi’ and corrected himself and said Welsh.” He looked at Trent. “They might know about the lab, and mebbe even help procure people fer it, but they don’t know about shifters.”
“Fuuuck.”
Badger hit play.
“—got pregnant. I mean, I’m a greedy bastard, not gonna lie.
But as much as I didn’t want that kid around, even I’m not so cold to send her off like that.
Besides, he didn’t want her pregnant. Lied and told him she was signed up for university.
That, and I needed to figure out a way to get her away from Jake, didn’t I?
Not that it mattered, because Faegan came back with an even better offer, more money, and he had a buyer for her.
Offered to split it with me, and it woulda been even more than what he’d negotiated with me in the first place. ”
“And how did you do that?”
“I staged an accident. Found a druggie, knocked her out, then put her in the car. Investigatin’ officer’s in my, eh, family, and signed off on it fer a little cash, and—”
Trent reached out and hit pause. “Shit! Ken was right!” He stared at Badger. “She might be alive!”
Badger looked even more grim. “Yeah, but we don’t know what condition she might be in.” He grabbed his phone and called Dewi, putting it on speaker.
“Hey, what’s on the drive?” she asked by way of greeting.
“Listen to me,” Badger said. “Did ye tell Jake an’ Carl about Ray yet?”
“No, not yet. Why?”
“Hold off tellin’ ’em.”
She hesitated. “Badger, what’s on the drive?”
“It’s… We haven’t finished watchin’ it yet.”
“Watching what? What’s on the damned drive?”
“It’s a video. It might be of—”
“Badger, what the fuck’s on the drive?”
Badger closed his eye and rubbed his forehead. “We suspect it’s a video of Ray Dorland’s last minutes. We ain’t got that far yet, though.”
She gasped. “Shiiiiit!”
“I’ll upload it to the anonymous server once we finish watching it,” Trent added. “So don’t tell anyone yet.”
“Ken knows. He’s sitting right here, and you’re on speaker.”
“You know what I mean,” Trent said. “Let us finish watching this, then we’ll call you back.”
“Okay.”
Badger ended the call and looked at Trent. “Ready?”
Trent gulped half his glass, the liquor burning all the way down. “No, but we need to watch it.” He hit play.
“—and I put her on a small private plane that showed up.”
“She walked onto the plane?”
“Nah. Told her I wanted to talk and drugged her. She trusted me.”
“Even though she should not have,” the Russian said.
Dorland harshly laughed. “That’s life in the Outback, ain’t it?
My grandfather had it a lot harder when he got shipped here against his will, let me tell you.
And he taught me how to survive. He weren’t soft like my brother and old man.
I deserved to be head of the family, and my grandfather raised me to take no prisoners. ”
“Who are your business partners? With this Faegan man?”
“I dunno their names. Faegan, that cunt, he dealt wit’ ’em direct.
I didn’t want to be that close. I didn’t want Jake around when Carl got outta the military, right?
No tellin’ what those two coulda done, oustin’ me or somethin’.
So I took Jake out. Called Faegan and arranged it, and enjoyed the money that dropped into my account once they had him. ”
Behind Dorland a shadow moved, backlit from behind the camera, someone standing. Trent realized there was at least one more man in the room besides the speaker.
“So this business dealing of yours was completely separate from our agreement?” the man asked.