Chapter 22: New Partner

Five minutes later, we pulled up next to the patrol car hiding around the corner from one-two-four Castle Crescent. Sitting in the car was Officer Greg Myers. He was a good cop and we’d worked with each other before on several occasions. He’d picked the best spot on the road: most of the vehicles driving past wouldn’t see him at a glance. If there was anyone in Doctor Forrest’s house, there was a fairly good chance they didn’t know we were here already.

Officer Myers and I got out of our cars and shook hands.

‘Good to see you, Detective,’ he said.

‘You too, Officer. How have you been?’

‘Pretty good. Should be going for detective soon.’

‘Really? Which division?’

‘I think I might go for homicide.’

‘Good choice,’ I said. What’s more, I meant it too. Officer Myers would make a very good homicide detective. He’s smart, good with people and never scared to kick down a door with no idea what’s on the other side. When you’ve got to tell people their friends and relatives are dead, you’ve got to be good with people. I’d found that part of the job pretty difficult since Sarah was murdered.

‘I suppose you’ll need a new partner soon,’ he continued.

‘No, I’m still on the same partner I had last time we spoke.’

My partners have a tendency for getting shot. Or worse. It’s not a secret either. Some potential partners have volunteered for demotion or redundancy rather than work with me. That kind of sentiment from potential partners doesn’t exactly give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside but after a few years you just get used to it.

‘Wow, he’s lasted at least six months! Well, why don’t you use this opportunity to try me out? It might help to get me further up the waiting list when your current partner has had enough.’

‘Okay,’ I said reluctantly, ‘lead the way but I have to warn you, it’s a very short waiting list.’

‘Can I do anything?’ asked Agent Simpson.

‘Yes, wait there and keep the engine running,’ I said, expecting another sigh.

‘Okay detective,’ she said and saluted me.

Hang on a minute, is she flirting with me? I’d almost forgotten what that was like.

We walked across the road towards the house. There were no people around and no cars cruising up and down but I was sure I saw some curtains twitching in neighbouring houses for the second time today. The trees lining the long crescent swayed in the light breeze, which was a relief in the current heat wave.

I stood at the bottom of the steps at the front door, staying alert while Officer Myers pressed the doorbell. There was no answer so he tried the door handle. It opened and we drew our guns. Very slowly, he led us inside.

We were faced with a very plush upper-middle-class house. The carpet was so soft and expensive-looking I almost thought I should have taken my shoes off before going any further. There were gold fittings on the furniture and even though I had no idea who painted the pictures on the wall, I suspected they were originals or at the very least limited edition prints. A stark contrast to the cheap sofa, Dali prints and wafer-thin rug in my apartment.

I pointed upwards and Officer Myers edged his way up the stairs. I looked up the stairs and noticed that it was unnaturally dark up there. This struck me as very weird considering the blazing sunshine outside.

Rather him than me, I thought selfishly as I made my way into the kitchen at the rear of the house.

Chapter 21: "Check Your Weapons"

Captain Stein felt like he was being baked alive as he sat in the back of the cramped black van. It was one of two vehicles carrying a squad of soldiers who were speeding along the freeway. Their destination: the home of Doctor Forrest.

How many homes does this guy have? He hasn’t lived there for years, or so we thought. What else don’t we know about him?

Stein thought of the squad that had gone to the address they had for Doctor Forrest and feared the worst. He suspected he would never hear from Lieutenant Curtis again.

Little did the police know that The Brotherhood had been listening in to their conversations all day long. This Detective Ryder seemed to know what he was doing and he was leading them directly to Doctor Owen, one of the principal members of their scientific research team. Stein almost felt sorry for the detective. So much hard work, it was always a shame to steal a cop’s thunder.

The Brotherhood had used this tactic many times before but this time may be more difficult than usual. If their vans didn’t reach the house first then they would have the police to deal with in addition to the likely presence of them.

Captain Stein shouted to the driver. ‘How long to go?’

‘Only two or three minutes,’ said the driver.

‘Okay,’ Captain Stein announced to everyone in the van, ‘check your weapons and put your masks on.’

The soldiers all loaded their rifles and pulled black balaclavas onto their heads, wiping the sweat from their foreheads before they did so.

It had been a long time since Captain Stein or any other members of The Brotherhood had seen this much action. The Brotherhood had co-existed with them in a stable state for the past twelve months.

He had known all along that everything would change once Doctor Owen made progress in his research. They all did. The doctor was the key to the future of every living creature on the planet.

Captain Stein checked his rifle one more time as the van headed down the ramp, leading them off the freeway and into the tree-lined roads of the suburbs.

Five star review for Rebirth at spinetinglers.co.uk

Rebirth has received a five star review at www.spinetinglers.co.uk

"Scott Mckenzie’s Rebirth is a real page-turner that leaves you hungry for more from this new writer. If you aren’t absolutely thrilled by the exciting chase sequences and the bloody confrontations, the charm and wit of the characters will win you over. Spinetinglers highly recommends this book for anyone who loves classic vampire tales with a modern twist – five stars. "

To read the whole review click here

Chapter 20: Doctor Owen

The blackout curtains hadn’t been completely closed, allowing a little sunlight to spill into the room. The furnishings were expensive: an orthopaedic emperor size bed, a huge walk-in wardrobe and very deep carpets.

As Doctor Owen awoke from his chloroform-induced slumber, he cast his eyes around the room and instantly knew where he was. One-two-four Castle Crescent.

Why am I in the boss’s old house? He hasn’t lived here for years. How did I get here?

He was gagged and tied to a chair in Doctor Forrest’s bedroom. It occurred to him that he was alone. The last thing he remembered was booking into a motel a hundred miles north of the city and getting his head down. He knew this was coming but had hoped to make a better run for it and finish off his work before they found him.

He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone the full details of his work but his wife, Emily, knew everything.

Please God let her be safe. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to her.

The next question was: where is Doctor Forrest?

Is he gagged and bound to a chair in another house somewhere else? Is he in this house? Is he dead? What about his family?

All these questions and more buzzed around his head, but his thoughts were interrupted when a tall figure suddenly burst into the room. The figure ran over to the window and closed the curtains.

There was very little light illuminating the room and all Doctor Owen could see was a huge frantic shadow. The shadow turned to the doctor and growled, ‘Don’t move or make a noise or you’re dead. Understand?’

Doctor Owen didn’t move a muscle, knowing exactly the fate that would be in store if he didn’t comply. This was the first time he had knowingly come face to face with one of them. The atmosphere and attitudes did not surprise him one bit.

‘Good,’ said the shadow and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Something’s happening, Doctor Owen thought, is someone coming to rescue me?

Chapter 19: Short Cut

Within half an hour, the forensic team arrived at Doctor Owen’s house so we left them tagging and bagging everything that looked like it might hold some evidence that would lead us to who was doing this. There was so much stuff to go through and so many rooms in the doctor’s house, they would be there for hours.

We were in the car, heading back to the police station to talk to Doctor Owen’s wife Emily. She had been staying with a relative and it was only a matter of time before she was found and taken into police custody for the sake of her safety. So far she hadn’t said a word on the subject of her husband’s whereabouts but I was hoping to break her down.

I looked in the mirror and noticed a black saloon hovering about fifty metres behind us. I hit the brakes and turned the car down a street to the left. I’d been followed enough times to be able to spot a vehicle on my tail.

‘What are you doing, Detective?’ Agent Simpson asked, clearly rattled by my impulsive driving.

‘It’s a short cut,’ I lied.

We turned off the main road and the black saloon followed us. I swung the car to the left again and, as expected, the saloon followed.

‘But we’re going back on ourselves,’ Agent Simpson protested.

‘Trust me,’ I said, and heard her sigh, like she knew I wasn’t going to tell her what was going on. She looked in the wing mirror and started to turn round to look through the back windscreen.

‘Don’t turn around,’ I said, ‘there’s a car on our tail.’

Agent Simpson looked in the wing mirror again. ‘The black one?’

‘That’s right.’ I picked up the radio and kept an eye on the registration plate of the following car as I spoke.

‘This is Detective Tom Ryder. I need a name and address check on the following registration plate: Whisky Seven Four Seven Bravo X-ray Charlie.’

‘Okay Detective, I’m on it,’ was the reply on the radio.

‘Detective!’ Agent Simpson shouted.

‘What?’ I asked. I took my eyes off the rear view mirror and looked at the road ahead, immediately realising what Agent Simpson wanted me to notice. I’d been looking in the mirror at the car behind for so long, I hadn’t noticed the traffic was slowing down in front of us. I slammed on the brakes and we both lurched forward, the seatbelts just holding us in our seats. The car screeched to halt just behind the car in front. ‘Sorry about that,’ I said.

I looked in the mirror and the car tailing us had disappeared. Damn. I just hoped the address check came back with a useful lead. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence in the car, a reply came on the radio: ‘The car is registered to a Doctor Forrest at one-two-four Castle Crescent.’

‘That’s at the other end of the city,’ I said, ‘is there a black and white that can stop by that address? A missing person may be at that address. Proceed with caution and do not approach the target until we get there, target is a possible abduction victim.’

‘Understood. I will get back to you when a patrol car is on site.’

I turned the car around in the middle of the road, narrowly missing some of the traffic, rolled down the window and stuck the portable siren on the roof. I found the ramp onto the ring road and jammed the accelerator to the floor, dodging in and out of the vehicles and onto the freeway.

‘Do you really think he’s been abducted?’ Agent Simpson asked.

‘I think we have two options,’ I said, ‘Either Doctor Owen blew up his own lab and did a runner or someone else did it and abducted him. Which one do you think is more likely?’

‘I see. Is that what’s called a cop’s hunch?’

‘Not really. This is about playing the odds. We need to proceed as if Doctor Owen and Doctor Forrest are both in danger and we have to assume we can get to them first.’

‘Why?’

‘Because if we don’t we’ll probably have four homicides to investigate rather than the two we’ve had so far today.’ A thought occurred to me. ‘Do you want me to drop you off? You work for the World Health Organisation, not the police. This is probably going to get dangerous from now on.’

‘No, don’t worry about me, Detective,’ she replied very quickly, ‘I’ve been in worse situations.’

‘The World Health Organisation must be more exciting than I thought,’ I said. To be honest, I had no opinion on the WHO at all. For all I knew, they sat around in offices all day long, reading reports and deciding which rat-infested restaurants to close down next.

‘You’ve no idea,’ she said cryptically with a sly smile in the corner of her mouth.

‘The patrol unit has arrived at the address,’ said the voice from the radio, ‘please advise.’

‘Do not approach the house, we’re nearly there,’ I said as our car bounced down the off-ramp. ‘Only observe for now and do not take any action unless there is a life in danger.’