A neighbour of Wilson’s dropped by to have coffee with Linda. When Linda didn’t answer the door, the neighbour walked around and tried the kitchen door. She peeped through the window as she knocked. Seeing a man’s body, lying on the floor, she’d panicked and used her cell phone to call 911. Within a few minutes, the morning air was split by wailing sirens and bright flashing lights. Three white Shreveport Police cars screeched to a halt in front of the Wilson’s two-story house; several uniformed officers bailed out with orders to surround the building.
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Through bleary eyes, Liu glanced at the time on his cell phone, pinched the bridge of his nose and accepted the call with a sigh of exasperation. “Aren’t you up a little early, Sir?”
“When was the last time you checked on Hart?”
“Last night, before we left your penthouse at D’Netics, Mr. Forrest.”
“Why haven’t you checked on her since?”
Liu sat up on the side of his bed. “There’s no need, Mr. Forrest,” he yawned. “Miss Hart was dying last night. Unless the Almighty has intervened and sent an avenging angel, I doubt Miss Hart has had a miraculous recovery. Besides, if there had been any changes the guards would have alerted me.”
“Hold on a minute...” Forrest broke out in a coughing fit. “I’m back,” he wheezed and coughed a few more times.
Liu furrowed his brow. “Are you having trouble breathing, Sir? You sound out of breath.”
“I’m fine! I don’t care about a fucking avenging angel, or what the Almighty might have done. Call the penthouse. If Hart is alive, let me know. I want to question her again. With a steady drip of EIA, she should be more cooperative, this morning.”
“Just to satisfy you, I will call the guards as soon as I’ve had….”
“…You will call the guards now!” Forrest interjected, wheezing and gasping for breath again. “I will be at my penthouse in one hour. For your sake, dead or alive, Hart had better be there!” he roared and ended the call.
Liu clenched his teeth and growled. He knew Melissa was dead. In her deteriorating condition and the amount of morphine he put in her IV, there was no possible way she could have survived for more than an hour or two after they left. There was absolutely no way she could have survived the night. “But… why haven’t the guards called to confirm her death?” Liu asked himself. “Your paranoia is rubbing off on me old man.” Groaning in exasperation, he pressed a button on his cell phone.
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Several rings later, one of the guards shook his head, blinked and grabbed at the coffee table for his cell phone. “Hello,” he yawned.
“It’s John Liu. What is Miss Hart’s condition?”
“Dead… I would imagine.”
“Go and check. If she’s still alive Mr. Forrest wants to question her.”
“Hold on a minute, but I’m telling you, the bitch is dead.” The man staggered, bracing himself against the seat of the sofa and made a feeble attempt to stand. Wobbling, he groggily focused his attention on the open glass door, to the balcony. He reached for his gun, but it was no longer tucked in his belt. He shook his partner awake and pointed to the balcony.
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Liu could hear shuffling and muffled voices, but he couldn’t make out what was being said.
“What the fuck is that doing open?”
“I don’t know. Did you leave the door open?
“Hell no! Did you?”
“Check the front door. I’ll check on the bitch!”
“Oh fuck! She’s gone!”
“The door has been kicked out!”
“Kicked in - don’t you mean in?”
“No – I mean out. Somebody must have come in from the balcony, grabbed the bitch and then busted the door down.”
“Why in the hell would they do that when all they had to do was unlock the damned door?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know? What are we gonna do? Forrest will slit our throats.”
“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna get the fuck outta here right now!”
Liu’s eyes widened. “What’s going on? Hello! Are you there? Hello!” No reply. The shuffling and muffled voices faded, and then there was nothing but silence. Liu clenched his teeth and swore as he headed for the door. Jumping in his car, he peeled onto the highway and headed for D’Netics.
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Liu parked his car in Forrest’s private parking lot and made a run for the lift. As soon as he saw what was left of the apartment door outside the penthouse, he knew what to expect. He clenched his teeth and drew his gun, bracing it in his palm. Knowing the frightened guards had fled for their lives, Liu didn’t bother calling out. Cautiously he crept through the foyer and into the living room, glancing up, at the open door to the balcony as he scanned the rest of the room. He headed for the bedroom.
Upon entering his mouth gaped. The half-empty IV bottle hung from the rack. Dangling below it was the clear tubing. All that was left to show Melissa had been there was a bloody sheet. In the corner, next to the bathroom was a wooden chair with two legs broken off. Liu scratched his head and sighed. The only thing he could do now was check the security cameras.
He rode the lift down and used his key to get into Forrest’s office. A few clicks later, Liu started watching the penthouse feeds, on the sixty inch flat screen monitor, hanging on Forrest’s office wall. He stared in bemusement – nothing but white noise. He switched to the other cameras. Apart from the middle-age woman talking to herself in the mailroom next to the copy machine, nothing seemed unusual. Just ordinary everyday office scenes.
Liu backed the feed up and watched the woman talking to herself again. He froze the image and studied it through narrowed eyes. There was something odd about that, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He glanced at his watch and unlocked his cell phone. “Mr. Forrest, I’m in your office. I have no idea how this happened, but Miss Hart is gone.”
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The image of the white wolf with glowing crimson eyes, from his dream came back in a flash. Forrest remembered the white wolf snarling over his prostrate body. The low, rumbling growl reverberating around razor sharp teeth dripping with saliva as the wolf pressed its weight down, burrowing all eight claws into the flesh of Forrest’s chest. Forrest shuddered; remembering the burning rage that danced in the wolf’s eyes as it stared back at him. He grabbed at his aching chest and slumped to the chair next to his bed.
“What do you mean gone?” Forrest hissed.
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Ten minutes later Forrest’s chopper touched down on the helipad, outside D’Netics. Liu met him at the penthouse. Forrest was fuming. “I want those two men found and dealt with,” he forced through his teeth and turned his attention to Liu. “How in the hell does somebody get into my penthouse apartment, through the most advanced security system in the country, waltz out of here carrying a dead woman and nobody sees a fucking thing? Oh,” he snarled. “I almost forgot. They also managed to wipe all the security cameras, and kick down my apartment door. Have I missed anything?”
Liu cleared his throat and swallowed hard. “I’m afraid it’s worse than that. While I was waiting for you to get here, I did some digging. I found out how this happened, but I don’t know who could have caused this much damage.”
Forrest slowly forced the air from his lungs. “What kind of damage are you talking about? If you tell me that Melissa Hart is not the only thing I’ve lost I’ll rip your fucking balls off!”
“I do not know what has taken place with your other operation,” Liu said slowly. “I was assigned to Miss Hart. If something has gone wrong you will have to take that up with the responsible party.”
Forrest narrowed his eyes, grabbed the front of Liu’s shirt, and yanked, putting his face inches from Liu’s. “You did not take care of Miss Hart. You let her get away.”
“Yes, I did take care of Miss Hart. Unless she has an extremely high tolerance for strong narcotics, no matter where she is, Miss Hart is dead!”
“What do you mean? EIA does not kill. It might have driven her to madness, but it would not have killed her. How can you know she is dead?”
Liu groaned. “Your bed is soaked with Miss Hart’s blood. Your men beat her to a pulp. When I checked on her, she was barely breathing. Since you can’t remember where you obtained the working serum, and we have very little of it left, I didn’t see any need of wasting it on a dead woman. Unlike you, I took mercy on Miss Hart. There was no reason for her to be in excruciating pain until she drew her last breath. I gave her enough morphine to knockout a horse. She will have died in her sleep, Mr. Forrest.”
“Maybe… I wanted her to suffer until she drew her last breath. She is responsible for all of this. She and Wilson are the moles who have been feeding information to Triplet International since Rigden started working here. That is why Hart lived in the same apartment complex as Rigden, so she could keep an eye on her!” He sneered and pushed Liu away.
“Speaking of Wilson, what have you done to him?”
“I have sent him to the UK to find Rigden.”
“What makes you think he won’t run straight to Triplet?”
“I sent two of my best security guards with him. If he makes a wrong move, they have orders to take him down. When Wilson leads us to Rigden, they have orders to take him down.”
Liu sighed deeply and slowly shook his head. More useless killing “Why does it always end at the grave?”
“Because his wife is extremely important to me, especially if we can’t get Rigden back. Without one of them, I am going to die. I do not intend to die, Liu. If this experiment works with Linda Wilson, I won’t have to die.”
Liu arched an eyebrow. “What experiment with Linda Wilson?”
The corners of Forrest’s mouth turned up. “You should have been paying more attention at our staff meetings, Mr. Liu.” Forrest walked out onto the balcony and pressed a button on his cell phone. He waited - no answer. “Fucking moron,” he muttered and pressed another button. He waited – again, no answer. He growled and rang Wilson’s house phone.
Several rings later someone picked up. “Wilson’s residence,” a dry male voice said.
“Who is this?”
“Shreveport Police – who is this?”
Silence – Forrest ended the call. A sharp pain went through his head; the familiar metallic smell filled his nostrils. He swiped the back of his hand under his nose. His vision blurred as he stared in horror at the blood on his hand. “Liu!” He winced and grabbed at the rail as he slumped to his knees.
Upon hearing the shout, Liu ran from the bedroom where he had been examining the broken chair. He saw Forrest collapsed on the floor of the balcony. He unlocked his cell phone.
“911, where’s your emergency?”
“2100 Fairlane Drive. It’s the penthouse apartment above D’Netics Research Facility. I need an ambulance sent immediately. Mr. Forrest has collapsed.”