42. Chapter 42

It turned out that it was indeed business as usual. We were standing in the mat room. Sidnee and I had both passed the takedown and cuffing tests and I didn’t know what the next one would be.

Sergeant Marks called, ‘Morning, recruits. I’m sure some of you are dying to know what the commotion was about last night.’

The murmurs got louder as the speculation started. Marks held up a hand. ‘Some of you already know that the arrests happened last night because Lieutenant Fischer and a group of students were running a kidnapping ring, finding recruits that fit a certain age group to sell into a slavery. As of an hour ago, they’ve been taken by the FBI and they’re now under their jurisdiction. I don’t have any further information at this time.’ The mention of a slavery ring shut everyone up.

Sergeant Marks looked uncomfortable and tugged at his collar to loosen it. ‘I’ve heard from the leadership of the academy and we will continue with this cohort until graduation but we’ll accelerate the schedule. To that end, we’ll skip graves’ week and do additional tests today.’

He took a breath and moved to the wall. ‘We’re doing the physical fitness exam today, so spread out on the mat and make sure you have plenty of space for burpees. We’ll start our warmup with those.’ Everyone groaned, even me. I could exercise all day – as long as I’d had blood – but no one loved burpees.

The physical fitness test consisted of push-ups, sit-ups and running. Sidnee and I watched the other female human recruits to make sure we faked failure around the time they gave up. Sit-ups were examined by counting how many we could do in a minute; Sergeant Marks had arranged for the supernats to be tested last so we could ensure we fell within human parameters. Sidnee and I had no trouble passing.

After the mat room, we moved outside to complete a one-and-a-half-mile run in fifteen minutes and twelve seconds. That was easy for me; since I was a university-level runner, I could let myself go a little and even pass a few men – although I had to be careful not to outrun them all .

Sidnee and I lined up when it was our turn. The wind had picked up and it was starting to rain. There were loud groans; nobody loved running in cold rain.

I pulled ahead of Sidnee; not only was she shorter and not built for running but I enjoyed it while she only tolerated it. I passed the other women and kept myself in the middle of the pack of men. Naturally, Sidnee and I both passed the run under the time limit.

I was walking up the hill away from everyone else to cool down when an icy wind swirled around me. An eerie voice sent chills down my spine even though I knew whose it was. ‘Petrovich,’ I called. ‘Is that you?’

A figure coalesced in front of me: a young man dressed in an academy uniform. ‘Yes. I wanted to thank you for helping the academy and finding my murderer.’ His voice was uncharacteristically clear and sharp, and I wondered why.

‘Your murderer?’ I blinked. I totally hadn’t found any murderers.

‘Fischer and I were roommates. He killed me when he found out I was a shifter.’

I let out a harsh breath. Could I get a note to the FBI to somehow link Petrovich’s death to Fischer? Then I realised that the word of a poltergeist wasn’t going to cut it; in terms of evidence, this was a colder-than-cold case

‘I’m sorry he did that to you,’ I said. ‘But I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to thank you for warning us about the danger. You saved us all.’

He smiled and looked pleased. ‘Tell Aoife, goodbye for me.’ He saluted and I hastened to return the gesture. His voice faded away on the last word and he slipped from my sight – and this world.

My hand fluttered to my throat; it felt tight and my eyes were burning. Murdered. That poor man. I hoped Liam Smith had fared better; he’d almost certainly been kidnapped by the MIB, but no one knew if he’d lived or died. Maybe Engell could help Danny find out and Smith could get closure, one way or another.

From what Sergeant Marks had told us in class, supernats hadn’t been admitted to the academy until about ten years ago when space had been made for a supernat instructor – Lieutenant Fischer, of all people. He must have been working this angle since then and I wondered how many supernat recruits had been taken along the way.

Most people were ignorant of our existence and it seemed safer that way. If having a few humans in the know led to people like Lieutenant Fischer furthering his own agenda, maybe it was time for us supernats to go back in the closet. It would be best to go back to no one knowing. Cloak-and-dagger shit saved lives.

I shivered. With the ghostly wind and the knowledge that Fischer had murdered Petty, I wanted to be back with my friends so I jogged back to the building. Thankfully we were dismissed to shower and get ready for flag formation and breakfast.

As I walked to our dormitory with Sid, I said quietly, ‘Petty talked to me in the woods.’

She stopped and turned to me. ‘No way!’

‘He told me he’d been murdered.’

Her huge eyes widened even more. ‘Who murdered him?’

‘Fischer,’ I hissed back.

‘What an asshole. And to think I looked up to him this whole time – well, until the end, obviously,’ she amended.

‘We all did,’ I said sadly. ‘Lieutenant Fischer murdered Petrovich thirty years ago. I guess he’s hated supernats for a long time.’

‘I wonder how many more he’s killed? And then he joined forces with the MIB?’ Sidnee shuddered. ‘There’s nothing worse than a monster with power.’

‘Yeah, he…’ My phone was ringing in my footlocker. ‘Hold on.’ I dug it out but it stopped. I was expecting Connor call since he was on his way to Homer where he would transfer to Edgy’s plane to ride home. But it wasn’t Connor, it was Gunnar.

A prescient chill ran down my spine and I hurriedly swiped to answer. ‘What’s wrong?’ I demanded.

‘Well, I missed you too, Bunny Rabbit.’ Gunnar’s voice was fake jovial but I knew the difference.

‘Sorry. I know you’re working flat out so you’re not ringing for chit-chat.’

He sighed. ‘No, I’m not ringing for chit-chat. Everything is mostly fine. Connor told me some about your troubles at the academy but that’s not why I called. I spoke to Sergeant Marks and he’s agreed to facilitate an early graduation. You know that VSPs only need to do the nine-week training which, as soon as you take the PT test, you’ve completed.’

‘We took it a few minutes ago.’ I gestured to Sidnee and she sat next to me on my bed. I put the phone on speaker. ‘He’s getting us to graduate early,’ I told her, then asked, ‘Gunnar, what’s happening? You wouldn’t pull us early if something wasn’t wrong.’

Sidnee cocked her head and leaned down to the phone. ‘What is it, Gunnar?’ she pressed.

I pictured him scratching his beard. He did that when something unpleasant was coming. ‘Couple of things,’ he said. ‘First, I’m not happy that you’re in danger. Connor said both of you had been directly targeted.’

I frowned. ‘That danger has been dealt with. We brought down a kidnapping ring.’

A familiar metal squeak in the background helped me visualise Gunnar leaning forward and putting his elbows on his desk. ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve no doubt you figured it all out. Truthfully, that’s why I need you both home. This one is going to need some out-of-the-box thinking.’

Sidnee and I were nearly vibrating with the tension he’d been building. ‘This one?’ I asked. There was a beat of silence.

Sidnee couldn’t take it any longer. ‘Gunnar, you’re hedging. Spill it, boss.’

He gave a flat laugh. ‘You know me too well. There’s been a death.’

A frisson of fear hit me. ‘Who died?’ I was trying to picture whom I could bear to lose and no one came to mind; I didn’t even want Liv to die and she’d made me want to throttle her on more than one occasion.

‘There’s been an incident at Chrome.’

I didn’t know the name and looked at Sidnee. ‘The chromite mine,’ she explained.

I scanned my memory. The three main industries in Portlock were fishing, lumber and mining for chromite, a crystalline mineral used in steel production among other things. ‘Was there a cave-in?’ That seemed the logical conclusion.

‘I’ll explain when you get back. The answer is – complicated.’

‘Complicated how?’ I demanded. Suddenly it felt good to have another mystery to look forward to, and if Gunnar’s perplexed tone was to be believed it was a doozy.

‘I’ll tell you when you get here. I’ve already arranged your travel and emailed the details. See ya when you get home.’ He hung up.

Something really had him worried. He’d never call us back home unless the shit was really hitting the fan. ‘What do you think?’ I asked Sidnee, who looked as taken aback as I felt.

‘I think Gunnar is scared or feeling he’s in over his head.’ She licked her lips. ‘Whatever happened must have been big .’

She’d hit the nail on the head and a shiver of apprehension ran down my spine. We were heading home for Christmas, but I couldn’t help feeling that something wicked was coming our way.