Red Widow (Vivian Xu, Book 1) (15 page)

“
You’ll have to forgive me,
but I have urgent business to attend. I’ll speak with you when I
return—”

“
Does your business involve
the LaCroix investigation?” Nikolai stopped dead in his tracks as
he pulled on his coat. The woman savored the silence before boldly
intruding on his office. “My name is Tatiana Pražakova from the
Security Information Service. I’ve been assigned to the LaCroix
case to investigate any links to human organ
trafficking.”

Nikolai turned an astonished gaze on
her.

“
A slew of kidnappings have
occurred in Prague over the past few months, raising suspicions
about organ trafficking or organized prostitution. Most of the
victims who vanished are between ages 18 and 22, fitting the common
profile of a victim.”

“
Organ trafficking?”
Nikolai murmured, slowly registering her words.

“
Krista LaCroix may have
been a victim of an organ trafficking ring. I plan on conducting an
independent investigation, but your superiors assured me I would
have access to police resources. If it isn’t too much to ask, I
would like to be kept abreast of developments.”

“
Why is BIS
involved?”

“
We have received multiple
requests to intervene in this investigation. Unfortunately, many
concerned citizens do not believe the police are up to the task of
recovering their daughters.”

“
But we—” Nikolai
protested. “I can assure you we will find them, Ms. Pražakova. Our
department is perfectly capable of handling the case by
ourselves.”

“
You can use all the help
offered to you, Mr. Koslov.” She leaned close enough to him so he
could not escape her eyes. “I’m approaching you as a partner, not
an agent interested in hijacking your investigation. Surely, you
must be smart enough to understand that.” Nikolai recognized a
determination burning within her that he couldn’t possibly
extinguish. She would chew him up and spit him out if he failed to
comply.

“
Shall we go?”

Nikolai sighed.

“
We’re going to the sewers.
I’ll fill you in on the way there.”

* * *

Tatiana’s hand slipped on the ladder
as her heels clattered down the grungy rungs. She managed to cling
to the filth-encrusted ladder but not without an expression of
supreme disgust. Had she known her first day on the assignment
would drag her into the municipal sewers, she would have ditched
her bold heels for boots.

Nikolai seemed well-acquainted with
these murky depths, swinging down the ladder with the grace and
poise of a boy marauding through the playground. It seemed to meld
seamlessly with his child-like ego, thought Tatiana. It didn’t take
a criminal profiler to determine that Nikolai despised her
presence. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. A smirk
creased her glossy lips.

That was a shame.

Tatiana plunged from the last few
steps, landing in the caustic drains. She basked in the sordid
details of her surroundings, trying to gauge the distance between
her and civilization. The vaulted depths stretched into infinity
and the only escape route hovered far above.

“
Nikolai?” Only the moan of
black water burbling in dank corridors answered. Shrugging away her
revulsion, she followed the ripples Nikolai left in his
wake.

She rarely collaborated with homicide
detectives during her investigations. Unfortunately, this situation
dictated that she rely on Nikolai for his knowledge about the
serial abductions—knowledge he was obviously
withholding.

“
Nikolai?”

Her eyes swept across the ancient
labyrinth and settled on a pair of metallic, double doors. They
gaped slightly ajar, emitting a foul stench from inside. Even the
light that oozed through the crevice seemed somehow menacing. A
reckless impulse goaded her closer. Her fingers almost brushed
against its rusted surface when a noise stopped her
cold.

Voices echoed from the
tunnels.

“
What in the hell happened
to her…?”

“
I don’t know how to
describe it… There is no way a human could do this to another
person,
it’s not possible!
There’s nothing left of her to
identify!”

Tatiana peered down the tunnel as
Nikolai spoke again.

She jerked when she glimpsed a girl in
the darkness. Intricate tattoos weaved across her body in a
waterfall of ink. She couldn’t be more than eighteen years old,
barely on the cusp of womanhood. The girl pulled away from Nikolai
as soon as she met Tatiana’s gaze.

“
Who the—?” The girl bolted
down the slippery tunnel before the words made it past Tatiana’s
tongue.

“
Who was that?”

“
A sewer scavenger,”
Nikolai smiled, emerging from the tunnel. “I swear those things can
smell corpses better than our canine units.” Tatiana’s eyes flashed
suspiciously. When the mysterious girl did not resurface, Tatiana
turned her attention elsewhere.

She peeked through the metal doors
into the cellar. A caricature of human flesh knelt in the heart of
the room. Nikolai brushed past Tatiana, eager to claim dominion
over the crime scene.

“
She’ll be hard pressed to
find any valuables on this girl in the condition she’s in,” Tatiana
murmured. Indeed, the victim’s body was caked in grime. Her jaws
were unhinged in a silent plea to Heaven, but her prayers were
obviously smothered in sewage.

Grainy sunlight mottled her flesh,
transforming her once beautiful features that even now turned
Tatiana’s stomach. The surface grate seemed miles away from where
they stood in a basin of decay. How any sunlight could pierce this
basement astonished Tatiana. That same glow danced across words
painted in rosy blood on a column.

YOU CANNOT HURT ME ANYMORE

“
Every crime scene is
haunted by that message,” Nikolai said, casually striding toward
the words. “Only the killer truly understands the meaning behind
it. Are we to assume these victims wronged him in the past and he
was merely exacting revenge?”

A leaking pipe sputtered in reply,
digesting the offal of society. At once, Tatiana noticed a gas mask
with a rubber hose coiled on the floor. That same hose stretched
toward the pipes, from which it delivered a toxic cocktail to the
victim.

“
This is a defilement of
the human body.”

“
She isn’t the first to
succumb to this killer’s cruel inventions. He enjoys reducing the
body to a depraved state, something less than human. I doubt he
even views his victims as human beings.”

Tatiana almost delivered a biting
reply when she noticed something in the woman’s hand. She strapped
on a pair of gloves and approached. She carefully pried open the
fingers paralyzed in the throes of rigor mortis. Those perfectly
manicured nails now matched the color of a polluted night sky.
Tatiana couldn’t remember the last time she indulged in such petty
pleasures. In fact, the last thing she should be thinking about was
the eyeliner rolling down her cheeks in this ruthless humidity.
However, the body before her so vividly demonstrated how the
elements can defeat all beauty.

One stubborn claw at a time, the
victim surrendered a crumpled piece of paper in her
clutches.

“
What have you found?”
Nikolai demanded.

Tatiana immediately smoothed the
parchment and began to read.

Diagnosis: Natalie
Michalikova leads a promiscuous lifestyle and possesses multiple
sexual partners. She attracts mates with her cunning personality
and shows no remorse when she exploits them for money. Once they
have served their purpose, she discards them like trash. Her body
is her greatest weapon against men.

Something obscured the grate from
above and the sunlight died without even a whisper. Spidery shadows
danced around Tatiana, a veil that added to the woman’s chilling
mystique.

Tatiana drank in the horrifying
condition of the body. The barbed wire was so deeply embedded in
Natalie’s wrists that they looked like razor-sharp veins exploding
from beneath. Her creamy skin was blackened in grime that no amount
of soap and water could possibly cleanse. She had become one with
the sewers, a mannequin frozen in death. The dental gag twisted her
mouth in a demented smile that mocked Tatiana’s resolve.

“
Still think you’re dealing
with organ traffickers?” Nikolai’s voice echoed over her
shoulder.

Tatiana’s unblinking stare fell to the
gas mask congealed like a puddle of leather on the floor. She could
almost hear the echoes of Natalie’s screams preserved
inside.

“
Not like any I’ve ever
seen.”

EIGHT

The city swayed below Vivian. She
leaned further over the manor balcony as the cool wind stung her
cheeks. Slashes of red and yellow swam before her eyes, like a hive
of lost souls gelled into this world. One inch further and she
might tumble over the balustrade into the city haze. In many ways,
the third floor balcony had become her personal sanctuary, where
she could look down and feel detached from a society that rejected
her in every aspect.

Suddenly, she found herself asking why
she ever wanted to join them again. She leaned forward with her
tiptoes on the precipice of disaster, flirting with the idea
of—

“
Vivian?”

She lurched back. Camilla soundlessly
swept onto the balcony.

“
What?”

“
I need to talk to you
about what I saw.” Vivian winced. Camilla had returned to the sewer
basement to find her shaking uncontrollably, staring at the twisted
remains of Natalie. The last few hours elapsed in a blur as Vivian
tried in vain to repress the shock.

“
There’s nothing more to
say.”

“
Yes, there is! Is that
what happens to these missing women? They’re humiliated, tortured,
and killed?” The panic in her voice frightened Vivian. “When were
you going to tell me?”

Vivian gazed numbly into the
horizon.

“
I don’t know what I’m
doing anymore,” she whispered.

“
Neither do I! I feel like
I’m walking blindly into hell. You should have told me!”

“
Told you what? That these
missing women are strung up from the ceiling and drowned in filth?
Would you still have agreed to help me?” Camilla was unpromisingly
quiet. “You’ll still help me, won’t you?”

“
Yes, yes, I will,” she
mumbled, trying to convince herself as much as Vivian. “I’ll help.
I’m just overwhelmed to learn the truth. It’s nothing like I
imagined the police were concealing.”

“
Promise you won’t tell
anyone. If you start leaking details, Nikolai will suspect me of
talking. Try to hold it in until the investigation is closed,
okay?”

She could see the misgivings swirling
in Camilla’s eyes.

“
But
I can’t!
” she spouted, throwing her
hands up in the air. “The public deserves to know what’s lurking in
their community! And the families deserve to know what’s happening
to their daughters!”

“
No!” Vivian seized her by
the shoulders, desperate to make her see the truth. “Don’t do this!
You’ll ruin the investigation, and I’ll be hauled off to prison! I
don’t belong in a cell with convicted killers and monsters! Don’t
you understand?!”

“
Then what’s your solution?
Wait for the next body to turn up?”

Vivian gritted her teeth.

“
No one else is going to
die.
I won’t allow it.”

“
You can’t promise that,
Vivian! You have to go public with this information before someone
else is murdered!”

“
Listen to me! I’m not
letting you leave until you promise. Don’t tell
anyone
.”

Camilla glanced at the edge of the
balcony as she felt Vivian’s grip tighten.

What desperate thoughts may be taking
shape in Red Widow’s already unstable mind? She was a terrified
girl dangling to her freedom, backed into a corner by a cunning
homicide detective. Camilla couldn’t afford to provoke one as
dangerous as her.

“
Okay…I promise.” Vivian
released her, reluctant to place any weight in her words. Camilla
shuffled away, looking defeated. “But if you find another body, I
can’t promise my silence. Good night, Vivian. I’ll lock the door
when I leave.”

Vivian stood alone on the balcony once
more. She surveyed Prague in reverie, tossed about by so many
conflicting emotions. She had managed to drag another unfortunate
soul into this madness—the same way Nikolai had trapped her. How
would Camilla fare against the things to come? Would she crumble
when she devours the totality of this killer’s crimes?

Vivian heard the doors open below and
she watched Camilla weave through the gnarled gardens. She faded
into the rosy neon night as soon as she cleared the
gates.