Chapter 12 Garrick
Garrick
This has been one of the most stressful few days I’ve had in a long time. I want to shift and go for a run outside the compound but something tells me I really shouldn’t leave right now.
Instead, I’ve spent the last two hours in the Officers’ gym, pounding my body with the weight machines and practicing my knife throwing skills.
I launch another dagger at the wooden board a hundred feet away.
It hits the bullseye, which in this case is the drawn on left eye socket of the human shaped target.
I’ve already placed a knife in the right one, and the heart and the neck.
Swiping the sweat off my forehead, I walk the distance to collect the knives, ready for another round.
This whole thing has the very real possibility of going to shit.
I thought we only had to be on high alert from an attack from the Angels.
But clearly some jumped up little prick thought they could flagrant the rules of the games and start taking out competitors in the rest weeks.
Unless it was the spy from the Heaven Realm that started murdering the contestants.
In which case we are double fucked because not only do we not have a clue who the perpetrator is, we have no idea how to stop it happening again. I’ve placed a few officers on double shifts for the next few days so we have more on patrol at all times but it’s not sustainable.
Unease sloshes like acid in my stomach. I’m meant to be in control here.
If something gets fucked up, its on me. If anyone dies, it's my fault. Not that I really care for the victim from this afternoon but if anyone is dying around here it should be on my orders, or within the fucking challenges we’re setting.
I throw the first of the knives, launching it harder than any I’d thrown on the previous round. It strikes the wood directly where the base of the throat is. The dagger sinks in to the hilt with a crack.
One after the other I aim them down in a straight line. They all hit true. After the last splits the wood I rise out of the throwing stance, panting.
“Feel better?” A voice behind me has me spinning, and my claws almost pushing through my skin.
Instead of unleashing my pent-up fury on the officer that has dared to disturb me though I’m straightening before dropping my eyes. “Sir, I wasn’t expecting you to still be here.”
Hades stands before me in one of his perfectly tailored suits. The expensive black fabric somehow making his dark eyes shine like onyx, and his demeanour scream power. Not that he needs the suit to do that, the Lord of the Underworld is practically a god with the amount of magic he possesses.
“Relax Zephyr, I only came to check on you. How are you doing after today?” He leans back against the wall acting casual although he is the furthest thing from it.
“Truthfully, sir?” I ask, waiting for him to nod before continuing, “I’m pissed. With every procedure and safety measure we’ve put in, I am livid that we couldn’t stop this.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much, I’m as perplexed as you are.”
“But this shouldn’t have happened.”
He releases a long breath. “No, it shouldn’t but we shall deal with it. In fact, that’s why I’m still here. There is something I need to tell you.”
I take a step towards him, curious at the look that crosses his features. I’m about to open my mouth to get him to continue when the doors to the gym burst open.
Zafihra, one of the female officers, storms in looking shaken. She’s the only dragon shifter on the team and it takes a lot to unnerve her.
“Sir,” she addresses me, and then notices Hades lounging a few meters away. “My Lord, there’s been another murder.”
Fuck. My. Life.
“What? Who?” I force through clenched teeth.
“Number Twenty-One, sir. She was found in her room by her roommate. They’d been in the shower but when they’d returned to the bedroom, she was lying on the floor with her throat cut.”
My brain flits through all the files I have memorised. Twenty-One was a paid assassin for some rich governments. She’d held no loyalties and eventually got caught up with some public relations that had broken down between two of the major presidents. She’d been jailed as a spy in the crossfire.
“When was this?” Hades asks, standing to attention.
“Just now, my Lord. Her roommate, number Forty-Three, came out of the dormitories screaming for a guard. Teddy and I were patrolling around their building as she ran out of it. He’s outside with her now.”
“Fuck. We need to secure the entire floor. And I need a look at that body.” I walk over to the bench where I’d left my towel and quickly dry the sweat off my forehead and neck.
“I’m going straight to Charon. Hopefully, I can beat the soul this time. Go and see if there are any clues on the body, and alert whoever is monitoring the cameras right now.” Hades barks the orders and then he’s gone, vanishing into nothing with a swirl of black smoke.
“Thank you, Zafihra. I think Dravos is on duty in the Surveillance Room, can you go see if he spotted anything untoward tonight? And get another set of eyes on those cameras in case the murderer is still loose. He could be watching them sneak back to their own room right now.”
She nods before marching off to carry out my orders. I’m hot on her heels but continue up the stairs to the ground floor as she darts left into the room we have set up with all the monitors.
Two murders in less than twenty-four hours. This is bad, really fucking bad. How the fuck are they getting away with it?
My initial thought was that it was the roommate of the first victim.
But they’d had a tight alibi, and it was able to be backed up with the camera footage.
They’d been in the outdoor rec area all afternoon.
The leading theory I’d had this evening was that it was someone in the same building, probably housed on the same floor.
But Twenty-One was in the other residence to the victim from earlier today.
Stomping across the entryway, I’m marching towards the front door when I’m stopped by Tarron.
“Garrick, I have a problem,” he says a bit sheepishly.
“Not now,” I growl at my second. “It’ll have to wait.”
“This can’t. I’ve fucked up.” He swallows and the nervous look in his eyes has me pausing.
“Tarron, this better be really damn important because there’s been another killing and I’ve just about had all I can take with this day.”
He visibly shrinks from me. “I…”
“Spit it out.”
“I’ve lost my pass.”
My jaw audibly cracks as the bones fight the shift. I want to sink my canines into my second’s throat. “What did you just say?”
“My pass, it’s gone.”
“Are you fucking joking right now!?” I bellow so loud at him that I hear a few crashing cups and plates in the kitchen down the hall from us.
“I’m sorry. I had it this afternoon, I swear. I didn’t use it to get back in here this evening as I came in with Zamboss and Mikelson so I don’t know if I’ve lost it in here, or whether I dropped it in all the chaos this afternoon.”
My head starts pounding painfully as I think through the ramifications.
We have a murderer intent on killing the contestants at a rapid pace, the Angels might be trying to derail this whole thing, Hades is already breathing down my neck, and now I apparently have the most incompetent second in command.
Oh, shit! What if one of the contestants has picked it up. What if the fucking prick who is getting knife happy around here has it? They could be in the building already, could’ve sliced open number Twenty-One’s throat and then walked straight into the Officer’s quarters.
“I’m so sorry, Garrick. I have never–”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snap over him. His apologies can’t do shit right now.
I take a deep breath and pinch the bridge of my nose hard as I run through the risks and try to prioritise the list of things going wrong on this absolute shit show of a day.
Ignoring Tarron and storming to the kitchen I spot three off duty officers making dinner, or maybe it’s breakfast. This night is turning into the next day already and I haven’t slept at all.
“I need the building searched. We may have a contestant with an officer badge. Check every single room and do it thoroughly. The contestant may be the one killing the others.” All eyes widen at the plural.
“Yes, others. There has been another murder. So uniform up and get this place locked down. I want someone at the door and another on the tunnel entrance. No one gets in or out without being checked. I want all of our badges disabled. And I want every millisecond of CCTV footage from the last twelve hours scrutinised. Got it?”
They all nod and give me an affirmative before springing into action.
“Can I help with the new body?” Tarron asks from beside me.
“No,” I bark at him. “You can clear up your mess here. I want this building secured within the hour and I want a full report. I want to know if you find anyone, and I want to know if even a single item is out of place. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.” Tarron doesn’t usually bother with the formalities, being my second and all, but from my tone I’m guessing he’s picked up on how pissed I am at him right now. He’ll need to be punished for this. And I’ll take pleasure in doing it considering the coronary he’s giving me.
But I need to get the new crime scene secured and hopefully start piecing together some clues as to who is doing this.
Four hours later and a few of the officers helping me with the body have to leave to prepare for the day.
We’ve deactivated all the locks in every building.
The contestants can’t exit their rooms as they wish anymore.
They’ll be escorted to meals and their lessons today and maybe for the foreseeable.
Those in this building won’t be leaving the dorms until they’ve been interrogated.
I need to find something, anything, that will help us determine which one of the fuckers is killing outside of the games.