Page 5 of Now Until Forever
Calling it “the Shrine” and how Carlos felt about that played into his opinions of this whole place, but his epic grudge against people who wanted to rule the world wasn’t something he could get distracted by on a callout.
“Excuse me! I need you all to take a step back,” he told the collection of people at the end of the row. When they started to turn, he said, “Thank you. Keep moving. Give me some room.”
He’d rather they left altogether, but the spectacle at the table was enough to have drawn attention, and he doubted they’d walk away now.
“If you could all make your way to the other end of the room…” He reached for his radio and called in the body, rescinding the order for EMTs to confirm the victim was deceased. “We need the ME, investigators, and CSU.”
“Copy that, Six-Five. Assistance on route.”
He let go of his radio and scanned the scene. Deciphering who killed this guy from the evidence available wasn’t for him to worry about. All Carlos had to do was ensure the scene was secure.
A couple of lab coats remained. Both men.
“Gentlemen, if you could return to the other end of the room.”
“We should take photos.” The one with a goatee glanced at the other.
“And samples.” The guy’s colleague lifted his smartphone. “Retain as much as we can of this. For posterity.”
“Excuse me.” Carlos blocked the phone’s camera with his palm. “Return to the other end of the room as instructed.”
Goatee Guy huffed.
“Now, gentlemen.” He wasn’t going to be ignored anymore.
“The display will be positively ruined by the police.” Phone Guy looked at Carlos like he was a piece of trash that had missed the can and fallen to the floor. “We have to preserve the scene.”
“That’s the job of the police.” Carlos glanced between them, matching him look for look.
This is whatDominatuswas. This us-versus-them, lording-it-over-people thing. None of them had changed.
“The loss of life is something that deserves dignity and respect,” he continued. “Not for you to turn him into a display.”
“That has already happened.” Goatee Guy waved at the victim.
Beyond him, at the far end of the stacks, she appeared in view. Eliana Jaxton peered around the shelves, looking at him. He could see her out of the corner of his eyes but didn’t look directly at her.
She had to know he was here some time. Why not now?
Carlos folded his arms, making him appear more imposing to these two scientists.
He had a couple of inches on his old man, but less breadth in his chest. But he was still bigger than these two guys, both of them at least sixty. Decades of lab work, or dusty research, or whatever it was they did here had kept them from being prime physical specimens no matter what genetic manipulationDominatushad been into years ago.
“Question.” Carlos paused. “Did you guys jump on theDominatustrain when they opened this place after the trial, or were you…preexisting?”
“You think we wereDominatusscientists?” Goatee Guy looked aghast.
Phone Guy, not so much.
Carlos eyed him. “So you were—what?—with the Smithsonian, then?”
A sniff. “The British Museum, actually.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.” Carlos turned to Goatee Guy. “How about you?”
“New York Museum of Natural History.”
“Prestigious credentials.”
