John Ringo - Princess of Wands

Dedicated to the memory of K. Steinberg, a fine Southron Jewish woman.

Raise a glass of something pink, frosty and alcoholic. Her voice and presence will be sorely missed.

As this book was being prepared for print, Hurricane Katrina came ashore and utterly destroyed many of the sites included in the story. It can only be hoped, at this time, that those scenes will someday return to us.

Our prayers go out to the people of Louisiana and Mississippi.

The body of the young woman had been twisted into a fetal position and strapped with duct tape. Then it had been dropped in a black plastic contractor bag and rewrapped. Which seemed like a heck of a lot of trouble if you were going to just dump the body in the woods.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Lockhart stroked his beard as the coroners assistant stretched the body out. The corpse had been in the bag long enough for decomposition to work its way on the ligaments that stiffened the body in rigor mortis. And for the smell to change. But Kelly had seen far worse in his ten years as an investigator. And the department wanted to know, right away, if she was another victim of the Rippers.

Kelly was six two and a hundred and sixty pounds when he was watching his weight. Most people describing him used thin because skeletal was impolite. Hed started growing his hair when he got out of the army and hardly quit in the ensuing twelve years. It hung down his back in a frizzy, uncontrolled mass and was matched by a straggly beard and mustache.

Technically, since hed worked his way out of vice and into homicide, he should have cut both back. But he still worked, occasionally, under cover and hed managed to convince his bosses to let him hang onto the whole schmeer. Since he had a good track record for running down even tough murder cases, the powers-that-be turned a blind eye to someone that looked like a cross between the grim reaper and Cousin Itt.

As the corpses legs were stretched out the open cavity of her torso and abdomen became evident and he squatted down to look at the incision. Something sharp, but not as sharp as a knife, had opened the young womans body up from just above her mons veneris all the way to her throat. The edges of the cut were haggled; it was more of a rip than a cut, thus the name the papers had slapped on New Orleanss latest serial killer. And, as usual, all her internal organs were missing.

Fuck, he muttered. You know the problem with being me? Its always being right.

Same MO, the coroners assistant said, pointing at the cut. Id love to know what hes using.

Theyre using, Lockhart replied, standing up as another car pulled down the dirt road. And if I didnt know better, Id say its a claw, a big one like a velociraptors.

A veloco what? the coroners assistant said, confused.

What, youve never seen Jurassic Park? Kelly said. A dinosaur, you Cajun hick.

The edge of the bayou made the roads wet and treacherous but the driver of the black SUV expertly avoided the worst of the puddles and parked next to one of the parish unmarked cars. When he saw who was driving, Lockhart tried not to groan. And it looked as if the FBI agent had a boss with him.

Detective Lockhart, Special Agent Walter Turner said, nodding to the detective. The FBI agent was black, just short of thirty, with a heavy build from football that was getting a bit flabby. This is Mr. Germaine. Hes a consultant we sometimes call in on serial cases.

Germaine was a tall character, about six four, maybe two hundred thirty pounds, very little of it flab. Sixty or so, clean shaven, short black hair with gray at the temples, and a refined air. The suit he was wearing hadnt come off a rack. A very expensive consultant, Lockhart suspected. Then the consultant stopped looking at the body and locked eyes with the detective for a moment.

This is one dangerous bastard, Lockhart thought. As an MP hed spent just enough time around the spec-ops boys to know one dangerous mother when he ran across one. Not the gangbangers, although they were nobody to turn your back on. But this was somebody who would kill you as soon as look at you and whether you put up a fight or not. He kept looking around, not too obviously but obviously enough, keeping total situational awareness like a cat at a dog convention. No, a lion at a dog convention, wondering if he should just go ahead and kill the whole pack. What the fuck was the FBI doing carting around somebody like that?

Can you tell me anything thats not in one of the earlier reports? Germaine asked, quietly.

The consultant walked strangely. Kelly had seen a lot of walks in his time. The robotic walk of a tac-team member, arms cocked, fists half closed, legs pumping as if trying not to leap all the time. The street slide, feet half shuffling, hips moving. Military guys with their stiff march. Germaines wasnt like any hed seen before. His hands, instead of being turned in like most people, were rotated with the palms to the rear and barely moved as he walked. Legs were slightly spread, heel strike then roll to toe, stand flat foot as the next rose up in the air and forward. The ankles hardly flexed at all. Back straight but shoulders held down.

It was almost as if he had to think about each step.

He had an accent, faint, not one that Lockhart could place. European anyway, not British. Other than that faint trace his English was perfect. As perfect as his suit and just as obviously a disguise he could take on and off. The accent might not even be genuine.

If its like the others, not much, Lockhart replied with a shrug. All the previous bags were clean of prints, body had been washed. Semen in the remaining vaginal tract, multiple DNA, none from any known sex offender. FBIs already gotten samples, he added, nodding at the special agent. Whats your specialty? Profiling?

Im called in when the FBI suspects there are Special Circumstances to an investigation, Germaine said, walking over to the corpse. He squatted down and pulled out a pair of gloves, putting them on before reaching into the gutted corpse. He fingered the cut for a moment, lifting a bit of the mangled flesh along the side and then pushed the abdominal wall back to examine the underside. If he felt anything about manipulating a violently mutilated teenaged female, it wasnt evident.

What are special about these circumstances? Lockhart said, a touch angrily. Weve got five dead hookers and a group of rapists and murderers. Sick fuckers at that. Where are the guts, thats what I want to know. Draped on display? Eaten? Pickled in jars to await the bodys resurrection?

Partially the group aspect, Special Agent Turner said. Serial rape-murders are almost always individuals. And usually when there is a group, somebody cracks and burns it.

The papers are saying its a cult, the coroners assistant replied. Ritual killings.

Perhaps, Germaine said, reaching up to close the girls staring eyes. It was a gentle action that made Lockhart rethink his initial evaluation of the consultant. But cults can be taken down as well, the consultant continued. He stood up, stripped off the gloves and nodded at the FBI agent. Ive seen everything thats important.