Fic - The Ninth (2/4)
Chapter 2
Esca really shouldn’t have been surprised when the next case was also a young, twenty-something man that had disappeared from Hadrian’s Bar. After the Gallant case, he’d gone back to look over the files that had floated across his desk, that he’d handed onto PIs that he considered not completely incompetent, kicking himself when he realised that there were at least six cases that all seemed to match up.
Of those cases, four of the men had shown up dead, all seeming to have met the end of some brutal weapon that the mobs liked to use, all with the same eagle tattoo on their left hand.
He couldn’t believe the coppers still hadn’t worked as much as he had out yet, but then, they really were a joke. If his family were still in the business, Esca would’ve laughed at how easy it was for them to run circles around the fuzz.
“Cunoval.”
Looking up, Esca saw Bends and Crofton appear next to him, both men looking grim. He’d started to notice a pattern in the warehouses that were used, and adding what he had learnt when he was younger, he was pretty sure that he knew the next warehouse the gang would use.
“Find anything?” he asked, looking up at the dark building.
“Kid’s already a goner. This time it looks like he went a few rounds with a baseball bat.”
“It’s not pretty, Cunoval.”
Nodding, Esca looked around, the thought that he should call the cops flitting through his mind before he dismissed it again. If the coppers couldn’t figure anything out, he wasn’t going to help them ruin the leads he had. He’d have a look first, find the next piece in the puzzle, and then he’d let the coppers get involved. Moving quickly he walked into the warehouse, giving his eyes time to adjust to the lighting, before moving further in.
He could smell the sweat and blood as he moved in further, stomach turning a little when he finally came across the kid. He was completely unrecognisable, Esca moving around the body to see if there was anything there that could lead him closer to figuring out who was doing this. As with the previous men, the kid had the eagle tattoo on his left hand.
A creak had him pulling his gun, eyes flicking to the corners of the warehouse, before tracking along the balcony above him.
“It’s the Night Jack. Your knight in shining armour.”
Bends voice had Esca whipping around, gun in front of him, finger on the trigger twitching, before relaxing as his ghostly companions words caught up with him.
“He’s up in the top room,” Crofts added, appearing next to Bends.
“You didn’t think to check upstairs?” Esca hissed at them, eyes moving up to the single room he could see off the balcony.
“You asked to check for the body.”
“Which we did.”
“And to make sure there was no one around down here.”
“Which we also did.”
“So maybe be a bit grateful, you know?”
“Yeah. Here we are, spending our ghostly eternity helping you out and this is the thanks we get?”
Rolling his eyes, Esca moved past the two ghosts, who continued to discuss his lack of gratitude, and made his way slowly up the stairs and along the balcony. The door to the room was already slightly open and he could see Aquila at the beat up desk, ruffling through some of the papers that had been abandoned there.
“You often skulk around abandoned warehouses, Aquila?”
Esca’s question had a gun being pointed into his face seconds later, the cold, calm, calculated look on the Detective’s face sending a thrill through Esca, even though he could have been seconds away from having his face rearranged.
“Ooh, the Jack knows how to handle a gun.”
“Good news for you, huh, Cunoval?”
“Cunoval?” Aquila asked, face changing to the one Esca knew, soft and inviting and fond looking as Esca took a step into the room. “What the hell are you doing here?”
And just like that the stupid feelings that Esca had started to feel whenever he was in Aquila’s presence were pushed back by annoyance.
“My job,” he replied, taking a step further into the room. “What are you doing here?”
“My job.”
“Without back up? Didn’t realise you guys could do things by yourself. Seriously, Aquila, do you guys go to the bathroom together too? Hold each other’s-”
Esca’s words were cut off by the sound of a metal door opening and closing again with a loud bang, Esca turning and crouching in one smooth motion, seeing Aquila do the same thing behind him. The sound of voices floated up to them, and Esca didn’t need to look over to know that Bends and Crofts were already down checking the situation out.
Aquila had slowly made his way next to him, the two of them crouched down behind the door. Their bodies were so close that Esca couldn’t help but notice the clean, musk smell that was coming off the other man, the way his warmth made him want to lean into the man more.
The sound of feet hitting steps had him forgetting his ridiculous thoughts, his body tensing up, as he felt the rush of adrenaline spike through him as he readied for a fight.
“Two of them.”
“Big guys, Cunoval, and they’ve got toys with them too.”
Looking over at Aquila, he held up two fingers, not missing the frown that crossed the man’s face before he nodded.
“… can’t believe the old man is sending us here to pick up some papers that are probably useless anyway. And then telling us to dispose of the body. That’s the whole reason we pick these places, so we don’t have to do the clean-up.”
“The Old Man’s worried, now that his kid’s back out on the beat. Thinks he’s going to start putting things together.”
“And? What, the kid’s going to snitch on us?”
“He is a copper.”
“He’s family. And family always comes first, even for the kid.”
“I think it used to, back before, but now … It was one of us that shot him, Aran, think that might have shook some of the loyalty out of him. I know it would’ve if it was me.”
Esca frowned as the words got louder, as more pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. The ring was definitely being run by one of the gangs and they were worried now that someone, a cop, who clearly had ties to them, had been put on the case.
His thoughts focused back on the situation at hand when the door was pushed open further, his heart racing as he saw the shadows of the two men. Bends and Crofts had been right, the two guys were massive, maybe even bigger than Aquila, which was saying something.
Aquila’s eyes met his for a second, before they both moved, Aquila taking the man on the right whilst Esca took the one on the left. They had the element of surprise, which worked for them, but these two clearly weren’t the usual low on the chain thugs that Esca had been thinking they were, because they soon started fighting back.
Focusing on dodging the big fist headed his way, Esca used his size and speed to hit the other man, but dodged the hits headed his way. It was one of the reasons why he had been one of the Brigantes best fighters, able to use his opponents strengths against them.
It didn’t take him long to take the other man down, jumping on the man and twisting his arm up behind his back in a hold that he knew the other man could tell would break his arm if he struggled too hard. Looking up, Esca wasn’t surprised to see Aquila had taken the other man down also, although his man had clearly been knocked out by something.
“Aquila?”
Esca twisted the man’s arm a little more, frowning down at the man below him, as he recognised surprise, shock and recognition in the man’s voice. His eyes flicked back up to the Detective and he was surprised to see a blank mask looking back at him. Aquila was usually easy to read, like a big puppy, all clumsy grace and grinning most of the time. But in that moment, Esca couldn’t help but wonder if that was all a mask to the guard dog underneath.
Pushing the man’s head into the ground, it was then Esca noticed the tattoo on the man’s arm, a nine surrounded by an eagle.
Esca hadn’t been involved with the Ninth Gang before, but he knew enough about them to recognise their tattoo when he saw one. The more intricate the design, the higher up the person was. The man under him only had a very basic design.
“You going to rat me out, Aquila? Huh, you traitor to the eag-”
Whatever else he had been going to say was lost when Esca slammed his head into the floor, grim satisfaction running through him as the man went limp underneath him, although his chest was still rising and falling telling Esca that he hadn’t done it too hard.
“We should go, Cunoval,” Aquila said, standing up and moving towards the door.
“Shouldn’t we search them?” Esca replied, not missing the stiff movements the other man was making. “You know investigate?”
Aquila looked down at him for a moment, a number of emotions crossing his face, before he shook his head.
“You already know who they are, don’t you?” Esca asked, standing up from where he had been sitting on the other man. “And he sure as fuck seemed to know you. So why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on here?”
“Jack doesn’t look like a crook.”
“He’s too … clean. Sure he’s big enough, but … I mean look at him.”
Esca had to agree with the two ghosts who had appeared near the door in front of where Aquila stood. He had seen crooked cops during his life, and Aquila didn’t fit the bill at all.
“We can’t discuss this here,” Aquila responded, looking away from Esca, shadows falling onto his face and making it even more difficult for Esca to read anything.
“Fine,” Esca bit out, striding past the man, making sure to bump him as he did, before he headed across the balcony and down the stairs.
“He’s following you.”
“Looks like someone kicked his puppy too … and he’s not only upset but pissed about it. Kind of sad rage, if that’s a look.”
“I think it’s more angry unhappiness.”
“I think he’s upset cos Cunoval’s angry at him, and he wants-”
“Shut up,” Esca hissed quietly, hoping Aquila couldn’t hear him, glaring at the two men as he made his way outside. He spun around as soon as the cool, night air hit him, glaring at the other man as he made his way to stand next to him.
“Well?” he asked, throwing his arms out to the side.
“Not here,” Aquila repeated.
“Where then?”
“Come on.”
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