Flying Blind Ch. 05

Within moments, Madison looked ill. She killed the current play list and started the "emergency warning" broadcast.

"Is it --" Sasha started to say, then stopped when Madison put her hand up.

"This is an emergency broadcast to any and all students at FCU," she started, her voice breaking. "FCU campus has requested that all students, faculty, and staff please go indoors. Make sure that your are with a minimum of at least one other person. This is a mandatory curfew for the FCU campus. Do not open your door for anyone you do not know except for FCU Police. Police officers will always go in pairs, so do not open up if there is only a single officer present. Please keep your radios on and await further instructions. This is NOT a drill."

Madison droned on almost blankly for several more minutes, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation before signing off.

"They found her," Madison whispered. "And it doesn't sound like they found her alive."

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Back at the house . . .

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Edgar got back to the house far too late. They had finally sent him and the other investigators home while the morning crew showed up. The evidence had been collected, the scene blocked off, and the victim . . . well, there was nothing left that could done for her.

"What happened?" came a voice from the dark before Ed could even close the door. He figured his sister would have waited up.

It was an official investigation, so he knew that he should not be sharing information with anyone. But he also knew that his sister often saw things that he missed, and he needed a fresh pair of eyes anyway. His hurt from the strain of what he had seen. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Have you ever known me to ask and not want to know?"

"I . . . I think I need a drink first."

Heda picked a bottle of wine from the floor and a glass. She and Joanna had picked it up on the way home, because Heda knew that her brother would need it. "How bad?"

He sat down next to her. "He skinned her," he whispered, putting the files down on the coffee table. "Dammit Heda, he took the skin off from over her heart after he killed her and put it in her mouth. He put her on something called a Judas Cradle where he put her --" Ed was breaking down.

Heda did a quick search on her laptop and saw what he was talking about. A victim was forced to sit on top of a small pyramid while weights were tied to her waist, or they were lowered and raised via a pulley system. It was painful and demeaning and crippling.

"He put her on that, he whipped her, and he killed her and then he took her skin. And he wrote something on her back in her own blood."

"What?"

"It said, 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.' Some of the guys are saying that this guy sees himself as the king and he's daring us to come after him."

Heda leaned back. "Or maybe he's going after the king," she whispered.

Ed nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I think this guy is going after Reichert."

"But why? Is this some bizarre challenge to his crown? Did you tell Reichert?"

"I've got an appointment with him tomorrow. Meanwhile, each of us is going through the files on all the students."

"Found anything?" Heda picked up a manila folder.

"Well, they all took one of Reichert's classes, but that is apparently not surprising."

"No," Joanna said from the bottom of the stairs, "every shifter takes one of his classes in their first year."

"What are you doing up?"

She tried to smile, but there was not much behind it. "I doubt anyone is asleep right now," she added, moving behind Ed and massaging his shoulders.

"She's got that right," Kevin chipped in, coming out of the kitchen with Carla, Anthony, and Peter. "We've been downing coffee and . . . other things . . . for about six hours."

"I'm going to check on Madison," Heda said.

"Here," the bat-shifter said as she came out of the back with Billy and Sasha. "We were just talking," she said, letting herself get pulled into her girlfriend's lap. She scanned and found Ed. "We want to help. Whatever we can do. And we're not leaving."

"Babe, Mr. Hannity can help you relocate --"


"Would you ask any of the others to leave?"

Heda nodded. "Damn straight. And I don't think they'd listen to me either, but YOU I have to try with."

Her girlfriend smiled, then sighed. "I can't really do much with researching unless they have police reports in braille." She stood up. "But I can get you guys coffee."

"Listen," Ed said, "you guys really shouldn't --"

"Be any more involved than you were going to let Heda be?" Billy observed, grabbing another file.

Ed slapped his hand on a folder that Joanna was trying to grab. "You don't want to do that sweets."

"But --"


"No, that one has pictures."

Joanna pulled her hand away, though she let it trace across Ed's.

"Okay," he said, then handed the bottle of wine to Madison. "Coffee with two sugars."

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The next day . . .

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"That is an interesting theory," King Reichert said, looking quite tired on the other side of the desk. Edgar, Heda, and Carla had dropped by. Edgar was an official representative, Carla was involved and thought she might jog Reichert's memory about something, and Heda . . . Heda just needed to feel like she was doing something.

"The other option is that he wants to be king or is claiming to be a king, but this feels right to me," Edgar replied. "Which begs the question, is there anyone you know who might want you dead?"

"I am a shifter monarch," Reichert replied. "So the answer is a lot of people."

"Any feuds that come to mind? Something connected with the University?"

Reichert looked thoughtful. "Nothing comes to mind."

"Okay, you've been working here for how many years?"

"Four. I did some seminars here before that, but four years as full time faculty."

Ed looked at the professor. "Sir, do you remember Carla Cowan?"

"Of course. She took my intro class a year ago. I am so sorry, my dear, for everything that you went through. It this winds up being because of me --"

"I'm still alive," Carla said. "That last girl isn't. And this is about some psycho. Not about you, not about me."

"You are a wise girl," he said. "You deserved that grade." Reichert noticed Ed's raised eyebrow. "Carla was my number one student that . . . class." Reichert had stopped.

"Sir, what is it?"

"Carla was my number one student. It may just be coincidence, but the girl that was killed . . . this latest victim, Twila Morgan? She was the highest score in my History of Prehistory class last semester."

Edgar was on edge now. "John Stein, the second victim."

Reichert rolled his chair over to a filing cabinet. He unlocked it and started rifling through his filed. "Mr. Stein took one of my seminars when I was just a visiting professor," he muttered. "Here it is." Reichert's eyes widened, then he handed the sheet to Edgar. "Highest score in the class."

"Someone's targeting your best students?" Edgar said. "That makes no --"

"Oh shit!" Heda said, jumping to her feet, then reaching for her cell phone.

"What?"

"Madison," she muttered as she started punching numbers. "Madison got the best score in one of your classes, didn't she?"

Reichert nodded. "She tied with . . . she tied with Alvin Hannity."

A short while later, Edgar was talking with the other investigators who were in turn trying to get in touch with the list of students provided by Reichert, containing every top student he had for every class he had ever taught. While overall security would not be lessened, it was a solid lead and the students on that list would be notified. The ones still on campus were given top billing, while the ones who had moved on would be placed under the protection of their local law enforcement branches.

"Some student that felt jilted perhaps? I've heard of stranger motives."

"I can't remember any student with anything close to an extreme enough reaction. There were always those who thought that simply being a changeling meant that they should pass the class, so they got upset when they saw their 'F.' And there were always the point miners --"

"Which are?" Edgar asked.

"People who are so obsessed with their GDTAs that they came and screamed at me about every little point. Calm down, Miss Adler," Reichert said when he saw her glower at him, "I actually was not referring to Madison, however similar the behavior. She is an exceedingly bright young woman, so any chip on her shoulder had nothing to do with academics. That was the only time she challenged me on a grade. It was not a trend."

Heda felt a bit embarrassed. She did not need to go jumping down someone's throat every time that someone might be insinuating something about her girlfriend. Madison could take care of herself.

"I know this is awkward, but would you mind giving us access to your teacher reviews?" Ed asked. "Maybe someone took issue with you, but quietly."

"I don't have those. They're kept in the records room at the Anthropology Department office. I could --"

"Office," interrupted Edgar. "I can't believe that I didn't see it."

"See what?" Carla asked.

"At the beginning of the semester, there was a reported break in at the Registrar's Office. Nothing was actually stolen as far as anyone could tell and none of the financial aid records were accessed, but --"

"The Registrar's Office has copies of grades," Reichert said.

"And it wouldn't be too much trouble to find out housing assignments from any of those computers," Edgar said.

"But how did he get them in and out without anyone seeing? And with those torture devices?"

Ed shrugged helplessly. "That we're still working on."

"I have to get to a Council meeting," Reichert said as he stood up.

"Thank you for your time. Would you be available to speak later, or even early tomorrow? I want to give the guys a chance to chew on this, and we need to make sure all potential primary targets are under guard."

"Tomorrow morning would work better for me, but please call me on my cell if you have any imperative questions. Whoever this is, he isn't done. He has my attention now."

"And that's what he's been wanting," Ed replied. He looked to his sister. "I think I need to go with his Majesty. Do you two want me to call you a ride or --"

"We'll be fine," Heda said.

"Yeah," Carla added. "Heda's never taken one of the King's classes and --" She stopped. How could she say, "and he already made use of me," without breaking down and crying.

Heda took Carla for a quick drive around town before heading home, including a stop for gratuitous cooking supplies. When Carla stressed about her ordeal, she turned to baking. Recently, she had also turned to using Anthony as her sex toy, but now she was in the mood for baking. Cookies. And maybe a cake.

When they got back to the house, they found that it was under siege. The whole crowd was home and standing on the porch, watching with some amusement as Madison screamed bloody murder. Sometimes she was yelling at her phone, and other times at several large SUVs with tinted windows on the streets next to the house.

"What the hell?" Heda asked as she Peter as she ascended the stairs. Madison looked incensed.

"Wait for it," Peter replied as Madison hauled off and readied herself for another outburst.

"God damn son of a bitch!" the blind girl bellowed. "You can all just collectively kiss my perfect round ass!" Then back to yelling at her phone. "Get them out of here, you invasive kumquat! You have no right to . . . no, I do not want to talk to . . . Morgan, put HIM back on the phone! I do not believe for a second that he just went to the bathroom. Tell him I can --"

"Her father . . . what?" Heda was completely confused.

"Hired personal security to follow her wherever she goes until she agrees to go to Dallas or until this blows over."

"How did Hannity find out so fast?"

"Once you started alerting the potential targets, word traveled fast. These guys rolled up, explained why they were here, then went to sit in their cars."

"Why their cars?"

"Because Madison was scaring the crap out of them."

To emphasize Peter's point, Madison grabbed a pine cone off their minuscule front lawn and hurled at one of the SUVs while still yelling at her sister to put "that lousy overbearing, goose-stepping, patriarchal, miscreant, asshole, dick-cheese" back on the phone.

"She gets creative when she curses," Billy noticed.

"I would say it's more like 'extensive,' but I get your point." Heda walked over. "Madison, it's me."

"Good, then you can tell this overbearing --"

"Sweetheart, I'll bet he's just wanting to make sure you're safe. Now please stop assailing the nice men who are just here to --"

"Don't patronize me when I'm venting!" Madison growled.

Heda sighed and walked over to one of the cars, where a clean-cut and surprised looking man rolled down the window. "You're Ms. Heda Adler, correct?"

"Yes. You work for William Hannity, correct?"

He smiled. "Of course. Please tell your friend that we mean her no harm. It's simply a precaution that our employer deems necessary."

"I agree. But she HATES being told what to do, and she's having difficulties coming to grips with her relationship with Mr. Hannity. She's going to be locked in a house for a while with a number of people quite capable of protecting her. It might help her calm down if you found a Starbucks or something to hang out at."

"I'm sorry, but we were given specific instructions not to let any point of access to that house out of our sights as long as she is in it. Our employer is quite adamant that no harm befall . . . watch out," he said, rolling up the window just a second before Madison hurled a rock at it. He rolled the window down again. "I'm sorry that I can't be of more help."

"Well, can you watch from a little further away? Use binoculars or something?"

The man rolled the window up as he pulled out his push-to-talk phone. When he appeared again, he nodded. "We think that we can manage. We won't be far."

"As long as she feels like she's getting a victory over the man, she'll probably calm down."

"She's quite . . . insane."

Heda might have gotten mad, but the man had said it with some humor. "You have no idea."

"I have four daughters," the man disagreed as his companion revved the engine, "I actually have a pretty good idea."

"And good riddance, you civil-rights trampling fucks!" Madison shouted as the last vehicle pulled away from her immediate scanning range. Billy had confiscated her phone and was talking with someone from the Hannity household.

"Yes sir, I'll make sure to suggest that. No sir, I'm sure she doesn't actually expect you to do that. It's anatomically impossible sir. Yes sir, I'm sure." Billy put his hand on Madison's forehead as she tried to get her phone back. "I agree completely. Thank you very much, and I'll make sure she gets the message." He closed the phone. "Madison, you are being quite unreasonable. Even for you."

"Come down here and say that!" Madison fumed, futilely trying to remove her friend's hand.

"Madison, you are pretty much A-number-one on the hit list right now," Heda said, trying to be soothing without placating. "This isn't about pride. This is just common sense. Falling a semester behind," she said holding up one hand, "or being kidnapped and probably murdered," she continued, raising the other. "I'm pretty sure that the possibility of choice number two should be holding a lot more weight than choice number one."

"You're not planning on running," Madison said.

Heda snapped. "I'm not the one he's after! Good grief, get it through your damn head that we're trying to help you! Why do you have to be so mental?" Heda was frustrated, but she still realized that the words she had just uttered were a mistake.

But rather than rail against Heda like she had done before, Madison's bottom lip was just quivering. She turned around started to storm back into the house. After Billy raised his eyebrows in a "hey, she's your girlfriend" kind of look, so Heda pursued and tried to wrap her arms around her girlfriend. "Please don't storm off again."

"And please stop treating me like a baby," Madison shot back, pushing Heda away.

"Stop acting like one!"

Now Madison was livid. She actually shoved Heda, or at least she tried. Heda was easily able to overpower the attempt. So Madison tried again, but this time Heda moved and the girl stumbled.

'Okay, making her look foolish is not going to help me,' Heda thought to herself. Sure enough, Madison seemed to be falling back into her fighting stance. "Fine," Heda said. "You keep wanting to play tough chick, we'll play. Out back." She turned on her heel and walked out to the small stretch of grass between the parking area and the house.

Madison was not going to be intimidated, and followed close on her heels. She really had no idea why she wanted to fight someone . . . well, that was not true. She knew. But she was not going to tell Heda. Bitch.

"Heda," Billy said, attempting to play the role of mediator, "you do realize that she is being watched by some very expensive and well-trained private security."

"Go find them and tell 'em we're sparring," the eagle shifter muttered, turning to face her opponent. Madison was behaving like a brat, and she needed a good spanking. 'Maybe that's not the best way of thinking about it,' she reminded herself, as it gave her an entirely separate set of ideas that had nothing to do with fighting. "Okay, I'll even let you take the first JESUS CHRIST!" she bellowed as Madison sent a right kick that was swinging for the fences. She leaned back in a Matrix-style maneuver that saw her girlfriend's foot an inch from her face.

"You dodged," Madison complained as she dropped back, then started scanning again.

"I was going to say you could take the first shot, but I wasn't going to say that I'd let it hit." Heda went on the offensive, pulling her shots just a bit. She did not want to hurt the girl. Madison was actually defending herself fairly well, but her few counter-attacks were slow and unsure. She really needed some more practice.

Madison was sweating. She could not help but realize that Heda was playing with her. Madison had been studying kick-boxing for just over a year. Heda had been trained in several forms of martial arts, starting when she was in diapers. She may have been a runner for most of her life and was in pretty good shape, but the bat shifter was outclassed in this kind of contest. So she needed to cheat.

In all her years of tournament fighting and weapons training, Heda had never had anyone do what Madison tried to do. The girl actually let herself get pulled into a headlock, then dug her teeth into Heda's arm. She was refusing to let go.

"Ouch ouch ouch!" Heda shouted. The only way she was going to get this girl to let go would be to knock her out. "Madison, stop that right now or . . . ouch ouch ouch!" Madison had gotten a handful of Heda's somewhat short hair and was pulling hard. Madison, as it turned out, knew how to fight like a girl, which was considerably nastier than most people gave it credit for.

"This is rather undignified," Billy said, astounded by Madison's tactics. She was only still conscious because Heda obviously did not want to hurt her, but the eagle shifter's patience was obviously nearing its end. "Madison, please stop," he told her. "She's going to . . . never mind."

Heda slipped her free arm under Madison's chin and started choking her out, tightening her grip as Madison's teeth finally let go.

"Fuck that hurt," Heda said. Once she had Madison's arms secured, she released the choke. Madison let out a little gasp, then her breathing slowly began to return to normal.