Page 34 of So Savage

Faith shook her head.“No, that still leaves the accelerating chemical.I can’t imagine that’s something you can get off the shelf.”

“It’s not,” Marcus confirmed.“Dr.Parker said that it’s possible to synthesize it, but it would take days and involve about nine pounds of ingredients for every CC of drug.”

“So it’s not likely the shooter had to pick and choose the easiest drugs to get to,” Faith summarized.

“And that leaves the other possibility,” Marcus continued.“There’s more than one shooter, and they each happened to have different darts on hand.”

Faith bit her lip softly.“I was thinking the same thing, but that still leaves the question of how they got the darts in the first place.Even if we assume that there’s an armchair quarterback running this whole thing, how does he or she have access to two different experimental drugs?”

“I have a hypothesis,” Marcus said.“I was thinking about it when I learned about the drugs in Daniel Ross’s apartment.Ross is the distributor, right?He receives drugs from producers and then gives them to sellers who deliver the individual products to buyers.I think our guy might be the distributor.”

“You think that the person behind this works maybe for a drug company, and he’s lifting some of the tranquilizers?”

“It’s possible.The primary connection between both compounds is the accelerating chemical.The primary difference is that one is a formula preferred by civilian agencies while the other is an experimental formula being tested by the military.”

“So this guy is working for the pharmaceutical company, skimming a quantity of each drug that’s probably within the margin of error and then hiring people to use it to kill other people?”

Marcus frowned.“It does kind of fall apart at the end there.That’s a lot of margin for error.”

"That doesn't mean you're wrong, though," Faith mused."It could still be one killer."She nodded."Occam's razor.The simplest solution is usually right.We have a killer who wants people dead and has access to both drugs but has to be careful about how much of each he uses."

“That sounds like a working lead to me,” Marcus concurred.

Fatih nodded.“All right.If you don’t mind, I’d like to rely on your expertise to lead the search party while I follow up on this new angle.”

“I’ll help,” Wayne volunteered.“I can get you access to anywhere you might need to go on the base.MPs can use emergency permissions in cases like this.”

“That’s fine with me,” Marcus said.“Thank you.Faith, you don’t think she’s still alive, do you?”

Faith doubted very strongly that Maria Delgado would be found alive, but she didn’t want to say that in front of Wayne.Instead, she said, “I think we shouldn’t lose hope.I’ve found people in dire situations like this one before.We don’t give up until it’s over.”

Marcus nodded grimly.“All right.”He handed Faith the keys.“I’ll get a vehicle from the base.If Hostler wants to pitch a fit, I’ll go over his head.”

“Thank you.”She called for Turk.“Come on, boy.We’re going back to the precinct.”

Turk dipped his head and followed, his head hung low.He was clearly upset that he hadn't found the killer yet.She reached down and ruffled his fur as they walked back to the police truck."I know boy.I'm upset, too."

She’d put a brave face on it, but she was upset.Just when she thought she was going to escape a case without another victim.She could almost see West’s taunting grin.

That image made her wonder if, a thousand miles away, another killer was creating his or her latest "masterpiece."

Faith felt an awful lot like a wounded animal in the dark surrounded by wolves.

No, not wolves.Hyenas.Hyenas cackling madly as they circled and waited for the right moment to rush in and tear their victim limb from limb.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Faith sighed and leaned forward, rubbing her temples with her hands.Turk slept next to her, and she felt a touch of jealousy.Dogs, in many ways, had the easiest lives.Turk could essentially sleep anytime he wasn't actively using his nose to hunt for clues.Meanwhile, Faith was on the back end of another all-nighter, once more greeting the sun with zero hours of sleep and a groggy mind only barely kept alert enough to function by copious amounts of caffeine.

I’ll probably die of a heart attack before I reach fifty.

She sipped more coffee anyway.She needed to find a missing woman, or if nothing else, find the person killing K9 handlers and make sure he couldn’t kill anyone else.

She wondered why the killer hadn’t finished Delgado off the way he had the others.That supported the hypothesis that there was more than one killer.It was possible this one liked to beat people instead of use knives.

Or maybe it was possible that the killer hadn’t been successful at keeping the element of surprise.If Delgado had seen him coming, and if she was a boxing champion, then it was likely she had put up more resistance than the others.It might even be the killer’s blood they had seen and not hers.Wayne had heard a male shouting, not a female.Maybe he’d heard the aftermath of one of Delgado’s blows finding its mark.

Faith hoped so.If Delgado was dead, it probably didn’t make a difference if she’d gotten a shot in or not, but it would make Faith feel better to think that she’d gotten her licks in before she’d lost her life.

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