Page 52 of Shenanigans

“No! I just need a minute.”

“You’ve got it.” There was a wealth of concern in Dutch’s voice.

Grandma Hester said God gave us our gifts for a reason. My new power had helped the poor victims cross over, but how many lost souls were still out there? I would do whatever was necessary to stop those sick, twisted bastards from ever harming another innocent. I wiped the tears off my face. It was time to suck it up and help the police shut down the slaughterhouse and the cage matches. I opened the door and bounced off Dutch’s chest. “Ooops! Sorry.”

Dutch backed me into the bathroom. “I was wrong to force you to help me.”

“I want to do this. Ineedto do this.”

“You’re sure?”

“Very sure,” I said with grim determination.

“That’s my girl.” Dutch kissed me gently. “Ready to kick some butt?”

“You bet your ass I am.”

“Let’s do this.” Dutch escorted me to the command center.

Lieutenant Wilson looked me over. “Feeling better.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“We have thermal imaging,” Dutch advised. “Do you have an idea of where the bodies are buried?”

My stomach roiled. “They weren’t buried. They turned them into hamburger meat.”

“Sonovabitch!” The Lieutenant threw his burger in the trash.

The color drained from Dutch’s face and he stared down at a sack of burgers he had just picked up. “Hamburger meat? Like they put in Rocket Burgers?”

“Yeah, that kind. I think Lopez ships the meat south of the border. Fewer health inspectors, but I could be wrong.”

The lieutenant turned to the tech guy. “Any way you can track their shipments, Jerry?”

“Hell, yes.” Jerry’s fingers flew across his keyboard.

“They ran Dead Maria’s sister through their meat grinder. Her remains are in the freezer, along with a couple of losers in the cage matches,” I added.

Dutch growled, “Those sick fucks are going down.”

“It’s enough to turn you into a vegetarian,” an officer muttered.

Lieutenant Wilson asked, “Can you identify the victims?”

“Only the ones killed in the last couple of days. Maria and two men,” I said.

“We have eight missing persons reports on men we think Lopez used in his cage matches.” The Lieutenant opened a laptop and showed me a screen full of photos. “Any of these people in the freezer?”

I pointed at two Hispanic men. “They were beaten to death by a fighter in a red mask.”

“Gotta be El Muerte. My informant said he’s Lopez’s top fighter. His opponent tonight is Julio,” Dutch said.

“Julio doesn’t have long to live then. El Muerte wears brass knuckles with spikes. He enjoys making his opponents suffer. He wants them to beg for their lives while he beats them to death,” I interjected.

A burning rage flared to life in the Lieutenant’s eyes. “This ends tonight.”

Jerry swung his chair around and announced, “Lopez’sspecialshipments go to the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, Lieutenant.”

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