Rise of a Phoenix: Rise of a Phoenix by phill syron-jones Read Free Book Online Page A

“at first. Until we knew it was bleeding.”
    “Bleeding!” McCall had a disgusted look on her face as she spoke.
    “Yeh, two fishermen this morning tagged it by accident and they said they saw blood in the water.”
    They were interrupted by shouts from down in the water:
    “We are ready here, you ready up there?”
    “Yes, OK, cutting now.”
    The CSU had cut the rope holding whatever was hanging over the side, and another crew below in a patrol boat caught it. McCall and the others made their way to the other side where the boat was about to dock so they could see what all the fuss was about.
    As they got to the dock they noticed a crowd of people in blue overalls with CSU lettering on the back of their uniforms. Some were taking photos, others just acting as a barricade against prying eyes.
    McCall and the other three drew near the scene to find Tina bent over something; it was around three feet long, wrapped in what appeared to be brown-stained bandage wrappings. The MD cut the fastenings open carefully, using a scalpel from her medical bag. When it opened, the audience standing behind her, suddenly reeled away holding their mouths.
    The open sack contained what used to be a woman; both her arms and legs had been removed, but unlike the other bodies there were small amounts of blood visible, that had found their way to the bottom of the cocoon. Taking out a small white device that looked almost like a pregnancy testing kit, Tina dabbed some of the blood on to it and waited. She searched the body and sack for any evidence that may have been left behind, but she knew there would be nothing. She was only too aware that the killer was too smart to leave anything incriminating, unless he put something there to deliberately mislead them. The CSU team began to take photographs but would have to wait until they took the remains back to headquarters before they could look for fibres and fingerprints.
    Tina examined the corpse painstakingly to see if there was any evidence, but came up empty, working from the lower part and slowly moving up the body until finally reaching the head. Carefully, she opened the woman’s mouth, noting that everything seemed normal. Then she opened an eyelid to check for any signs of eye dilation or other unusual signs.
    “Uh, guys, we have a problem,” said the doc, sounding confused.
    “Why? what’s up, doc?” asked the Captain bracing himself against the sight and trying to hold on to his breakfast.
    “Her eyes are gone.”
    “What do you mean, gone?” replied Tooms, horrified at the thought.
    “I mean gone! Not there anymore.” Tina stood up and waved the two orderlies to bag the body and take it downtown. The atmosphere was tense, as the Captain looked as if he was about to explode.
    “OK, people, I have had enough of this dirt bag taking our city apart! We are going to find this son-of-a-bitch.” He clenched his fist and shook it at them, more as a gesture of anger and promise than a threat.
    “Call in all shifts,” he announced angrily. “We work round the clock if we have to, but I want this guy.”
    The teams in front of him were New York City’s finest and if anyone could get the killer, it would be these men and women. McCall knew it and felt the surge of energy that the Captain gave off just in those few words, words that inspired everyone to think that they could do the impossible.
    From behind them came a voice that broke the silence, like a soft breeze on a still morning. It was softly spoken but had a hard tone to it:
    “Maybe I can help.”
    The group turned as one, to find a man dressed all in black; he was sitting on the backrest of a bench, his black shiny boots that rested on the seat of the bench were glinting in the morning sun, and the long black jacket he wore that had fallen behind the backrest was flapping in the breeze.
    “Who the hell are you?” asked the Captain, shocked not just by the arrogance of the suggestion that they required help, but