13 Degrees of Separation (58 page)

He
oriented on the smell again, and moved to his left to try to get a read again.
It wasn't easy, the wind was still wrong, but when it ebbed he had the barest
hint of something. He heard scrambling on the side and fought the urge to rush
in. Instead he cautiously crept around, going wide, keeping from going in a
straight line. He wanted to flank this bastard if at all possible.

He got
to the ledge in time to see a hand paw. He rushed to it just in time for it to
let go. He looked over the side to see the bastard had dropped onto an awning
below. The awning ripped, spilling its contents into a fruit stand below. The
proprietor screamed, the killer struggled to get up and slashed at the man's
throat.

Nohar
snarled. “Market! MARKET!” he roared and then bellowed a challenge. The lion
looked up with mad golden eyes as he plucked a top hat off a hook on the stall
wall. He put it jauntily on his head and then snapped a cane up.

“Next
time we meet,” he growled, rumbling a soft growl before flipping the tiger a
one fingered salute and then he turned and melted into the market. There was an
occasional scream to mark his passing and then silence.

Nohar
holstered Matilda and looked at the side of the building, the bastard had used
a drain pipe to slide part of the way down. He wasn't that stupid. But if he
lost him...

Recklessly
he climbed over the side, not onto the drain pipe, but onto the nearby fire
escape. He slid down the ladder, vaulted to the next level, and then yowled as
his weight ripped it from the wall and dropped the mess to the hard concrete
six meters below.

He
covered his head and tucked into a ball as the pile of iron thundered down
around and under him, then brushed it aside as he climbed out. He could feel he
was hurt, but adrenaline was kicking in. A cop rounded a corner and pawed for
his gun.

“Call
it in! Killer headed east!” Nohar snarled, pointing towards where the killer
went. “Black Neolion!” he said moving off.

He saw
the young frightened cop freeze and then nod dumbly, turning to the body of the
fruit stand guy. He blinked and then turned and rushed to the nearest phone box
with a police symbol on top.

Nohar
tried to track the bastard but the smells were throwing him off. He got to the
main intersection and paused. He closed his good eye and tried to orient but
that damn cheap cologne was everywhere around him. He was gone. He yowled in
frustration. Humans around him backed away in fright.

“Next
time you bastard!” he snarled, ears flat. Hyde, but a little Moriarty as well.
And all too much Jack the ripper, he thought.

...*...*...*...*...

Magnum
caught up a minute later, dropping his hands to his knees panting. “Lost him?”
he said.

“Yes,
damn it,” Nohar snarled, rolling his shoulder. He felt bruises on his hip,
shoulder, and left leg. He'd strained a ligament or something in one of the
jumps... or that last landing.

“We'll
get him next time,” Magnum said as Draskin approached. The detective stopped at
the body and whistled softly. Magnum looked under his arm. “What's he...”

“Body,”
Nohar answered softly, straightening.  He turned to see the detective approach
the body. “I think we have our jack the ripper. Definitely not a witness.
Bastard did it in front of me,” Nohar snarled. I couldn't get a shot from above
either,” he growled.

“Damn,”
Magnum muttered, straightening. “We'll get him. We kept trying to get a
perimeter around the buildings but he kept jumping. One step ahead. Slippery
bastard.”

“Save
it. We'd better get him. I've got to report in,” Nohar sighed.

...*...*...*...*...

Into
the evening Draskin divided his time between the call box to be chewed out by
the chief of police, the new fresh crime scene, the processing on the roof
tops, and the man hunt. Lion hunt really, Nohar thought. They had pulled just
about everyone away from the last crime scene to cover this.

He
understood why the cops were having so many problems, they were being buried in
bodies and crime scenes, the CSI's were swamped and couldn't keep up. Keeping
it all straight was also a problem. This new vic was a human though, killed in
the market as a casual thing, so that elevated the situation.

A radio
playing nearby paused its' musical selection to play a press release from the
chief of police. He gave little detail of the chase, but vowed to bring the
killer to justice. Then the music started once more. Nohar snorted.

He
logged the incident in his bag and then turned just as a cop swore. “Draskin!
You gotta get back to the park detective!”

“Why?”

“Someone
just found a couple of bodies! Otters! One's bleeding out now!”

“Shit!
The bastard went back again!” Draskin snarled, throwing his hat onto the
ground. Nohar sighed and started to trudge to the nearest car with the others.

...*...*...*...*...

The
hustled back to the scene of the new crime, the otter family of course, Nohar
noted. Pick pockets, the ones who had been working the crowd watching the
police. And since the police were down on them they hadn't reported anything
when their cubs had started disappearing as if by magic. Since criminals and
cops didn't intermingle by choice, unless the cop was on the take, they were
pretty good prey for the killer. After all, no one was going to believe the
criminals, and the cops weren't going to care. Tough luck right?

And the
cops wouldn't believe the bastard had doubled back so quickly. He must have a
set on him, a big damn set.

Somehow,
the killer had found a manhole big enough for his frame, gotten into the sewer,
and then doubled back through the sewer. That told Nohar he had an extensive
knowledge of the area, far beyond his own.

The
killer had used the sewer drains to attack the otters. He had grabbed them by
the ankles, knocking them onto their chests to knock the wind out of them and
then dragged them in and killed them. All fast, blindingly fast, no one had
seen a thing until the last otter.

That
one however had been witnessed, the body of the male was too fat to fit through
the narrow slot drain. He'd been disemboweled before the killer had run off
though.

Grimly
the cops found a nearby manhole and popped the cover. Draskin was ordering
others to find maps of the sewers, but by the time they did it'd be over. They
were cautious, covering the darkened hole with their pistols.

“Find
me a flashlight! Or a lantern!” Draskin called.

Nohar
growled and brushed past him. He hunched his shoulders in and dropped in
through the opening.

“See
anything?” Draskin yelled from above.

“Only
muck and bodies,” Nohar said, turning in place. The bodies of the otter
children were there, torn apart, their fur and blood splattered all over the
inside of the concrete cavern. A brain was dripping off one wall.

Nohar
found other ravaged bodies in the sewer, most were the otter young. Magnum
followed him in a minute later, trusting in Nohar's night sight since he didn't
seem to have a light on him.

Draskin
and a rookie flat foot followed a moment later, each had a light. In the
brighter light Nohar finally recognized canine tooth markings in one nearby
body, and claw marks. Someone had carved lines in the concrete with a claw or
knife, marking off each kill, and filling the mark in with fresh blood.

There
were some feeding signs too. He also spotted a half print. It was large. It was
definitely feline, ruling out a bear, but he already knew that.

Draskin
nixed Nohar and Magnum's involvement in the chase so both of the PI's headed
back to the exit.

Topside
he wearily climbed out of the manhole to see a woman nearby. She was an
apparent overwrought witness,  crying her heart out. She babbled, Talking about
how she saw him from across the street. “Gold eyes glittering in the sewer,
blood soaked teeth, it was awful. Hideous!” she said and then saw Nohar coming
out and wailed again.

“That
one's on our side lady,” the cop with her reassured her, rubbing her shoulder.
“Miss...”

“He...
he... he just looked at me... put a finger to his lips, then stepped back into
the dark...” she mimed the action with her own hand in the classic shh motion
and then she shook hysterically as a female cop tried to console her, hugging
her to her side reassuringly, and rubbing at her arm. “He's going to get me! He
is, he is! He's going after me next!” she wailed hysterically.

“Someone
oughta belt her to shut her up,” a cop said, shaking his head. Nohar looked his
way and the cop froze and then looked away.

“A belt
might do her some good, some liquid courage,” O'shee said, coming over and
twisting the cap off a nip bottle he had in his pocket. He offered it to her
but she declined, sniffling. “Go on, take a belt. It'll get you sorted out
miss. Think of it as police orders,” he said.

“Well,
okay,” she said taking a belt. She coughed, hand going to her face. Her cheeks
reddened. “My that is rough,” she said.

“It'll
settle you for a bit miss. Now you said you saw him? Where?”

She
pointed a shaking hand to the sewer drain across the street. People were
milling about above, oblivious of the possible presence of a killer. O'shee
followed the line of her finger and then swore. He nodded to Draskin and the
others.

...*...*...*...*...

Nohar
scowled when he entered the lobby, the cat was talking on the phone. “Here he
is now sir,” she said and then held the phone receiver up.

“Shit,”
Nohar muttered, fairly certain he knew who was on the other end. “Let me
guess?” he growled coming over. The cat shrugged and nodded slightly. “Joy,”
Nohar grumbled, thinking about what he did to deserve this. All he wanted was a
shower.

“Nohar,”
he growled.

“What's
going on?” Solaximara purred.

“We've
got a Neo hunt on our hands,” Nohar replied. Quickly and grimly he sketched out
the recent events, what they had found, and the neolion.

“This
is bad. Very bad,” the red lion replied.

“You're
telling me?”

“You
must make it look like a human did this,” the lion growled.

“It's
too late for that. He's gone way beyond it and the authorities know it. They've
got forensics, tons of hairs, prints, the works. I'm sifting through the
reports now. Then there are the witness sightings. I chased him!” Nohar
snarled.

“You
don't understand. We must shift the blame. If it were to fall on us...”

“This
is our mess!” Nohar snarled, ears flat. The cat behind the counter was wide
eyes. Nohar clutched the phone, trying hard not to break it. “We clean it up.
We Neo's should have aborted this abomination. Now we’re going to make it
right. Not the humans us, ME!” he growled.

 “We
need to rethink this. I need to rethink this. You are too close. Pull out.”

“I'm
not going anywhere. I'm seeing this through,” Nohar growled. He owed it to the
cat who'd talked to him. Hell, he hadn't even gotten her name. Her or her kits.

“I'm
not paying you another credit Nohar,” Solaximara said, voice dropping into a
sneer.

“You'll
pay me for what I've done so far,” Nohar growled. “I'll send you a report. You
better pay up or I'll make sure there is hell to pay. Starting with the
recording of this conversation, I'll hand it off to a friend or two. Your
rivals would love to hear it.” Suddenly he was glad he had charged an upfront
fee.

“You
wouldn't dare,” the red lion hiss spat.

“Try
me,” Nohar growled back. “I'm not in the mood to play games Solaximara, this
killer is going down. Down the hard way if that's what it takes.”

“but...”

“He's a
male neolion, black mane, purple highlights. He's mad, drunk with blood lust.
He's going to slip up, and when he does I want one of us to take him down.
Balance. The humans are going to use him against us, I want it known it was one
of us that put the damn bastard in the ground,” Nohar growled.

“Yes,...”
the lion replied after a long moment. Nohar could see the wheels turning in his
politician mind. He was trying to see it from all the angles. It was a pity the
lion didn't understand he'd always be on the outside looking in when it came to
human politics. They'd tolerate him only so high, and if he tried to go
further... well, it was a long way down. A long, long way.

“Do
what it takes,” Solaximara replied and then hung up. Nohar snorted and hung up
as well.

“Yeah
well, what it takes right now is a shower,” he said. The cat behind the desk
nodded silently, waving a hand in front of her nose.

“I
won't even charge you for the water,” she said.

“You're
all heart lady,” Nohar replied, shaking his head wryly as he walked off to his
room.

Chapter 8