The Order of Brigid's Cross - The Wild Hunt (Book 1): The Wild Hunt Read Online Free Page B

pieces.”
    “Hacked?” Sean asked. “Like knives?”
    “Uh, uh, had to be bigger than that,” Adrian said. “There
were heads laying a couple yards from the bodies they belonged to, and those
heads, man, they were sliced clean off.   Arms, torsos…laying everywhere. It was bad. It was like
nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve seen a lot.”
    “So, maybe machetes?” Sean asked.
“Maybe we got some international throw down going on here?”
    “Yeah, could have been a machete,” Adrian said, nodding
slowly. “But the perps who used them had to have been
on roids .”
    “Or high on something,” Sean added. “So
have you done any blood work?”
    Taking a deep breath, Adrian leaned in a little closer. “Well,
if we had arrested someone we would have done blood work. But we’ve got
nothing,” he said quietly.
    “No perps ?”
    “We’ve got nothing but a hundred maybe a hundred and twenty
dead bodies,” he said. “Two different gangs, almost everyone’s a corpse.”
    “Almost?”
    “Yeah, well, that’s why I called you in,” he said. “We got
this kid, looks like a new recruit, who got there a little late. Probably saved his life. He saw it going down, but he’s not
making any sense. I figured if anyone was an expert on not making any sense, it
was you.”
    “Funny, real funny,” Sean said. “Do you think he’s covering
for himself?”
    Adrian shook his head. “I found him huddled against an
abandoned building, crying his eyes out,” he said. “His hands were ripped to
pieces, but he didn’t even seem to notice. He was in shock. And when I told him
who I was, he about jumped into my arms he was so happy to see me.”
    “Well, Skinny, you are kinda cute,” Sean said.
    “Yeah, not that cute,” Adrian replied. “This kid is scared,
past scared. And whatever he saw, it doesn’t sound normal to me.”
    “Can I talk to him?”
    “Yeah, they took care of his hands, but it’s his head I’m
worried about.”
    Sean followed Adrian through the security doors of the emergency
room and back into one of the triage rooms.   Adrian pushed open the door and stepped inside. “Jamal, I want you to
meet a friend of mine,” he said as Sean entered behind him. “Detective
Sean O’Reilly.”
    “Hey, Jamal,” Sean said, coming up alongside the hospital
bed. The kid couldn’t have been more than twelve. His head was pressed against
the pillows like he was trying to hide.   His eyes were round and wary as he looked beyond Sean, searching the
room.
    “The place is secure,” Sean reassured him. “We got the
hospital on lockdown. Nothing could get this far in.”
    The boy relaxed visibly. “They was in the cloud,” he stammered. “They was in the freaking
clouds.”
    Pulling a chair next to the bed, Sean sat down so Jamal
could look at him, face to face. “Why don’t we start from the beginning?” he
suggested. “That way, I get a whole picture of what happened and we don’t miss
anything important.”
    Jamal nodded rapidly. “Yeah, okay,” he said.
    “You hungry?” Sean asked him,
sitting back against his chair, trying to look relaxed.
    “I ain’t ate since supper,” he answered.
    Sean smiled at him. “Well, I remember when my brothers and I
were your age,” he said. “We’d have to eat every hour or so. I bet the
cafeteria has something. What would you like?”
    The boy glanced quickly around the room and sunk further
into his pillow. “I don’t care,” he whispered.
    “Hey, Skinny,” Sean said to Adrian, relieved to see the
young boy smile at the name. “How about picking up some food for us?”
    Adrian nodded, understanding that a calm and relaxed witness
was a better witness. He and Sean had played this routine before, each one
getting the chance to be the errand boy. “You want me to get you some food?” he
asked and the boy retreated further into his pillow.
    “Yeah, and don’t get us that green crap you eat,” Sean
replied, sharing a grin and wink with