Page 9 of Corpse Roads

I’m numb in the face of what lies ahead. Into the dark. Into the unknown. Into... the future. A world that scares me to death, but it can’t be any worse than the life I’m leaving behind.

CHAPTER 2

HUNTER

NATURAL BORN KILLER - HIGHLY SUSPECT

Crunching the disposable coffee cup in my hand, I toss it into the bin and settle back in the leather chair. A steady thump behind my eyes threatens to distract me from filing this stupid incident report.

“That bad, huh?” Enzo chuckles.

“You could always file your own damn report.”

“You’re the bossman, not my area.”

I stack the papers and crack my neck. “I seem to remember all of us raiding that warehouse, dickhead. Would it kill you guys to do some paperwork?”

“If we had some new leads, we could be doing more important things than filing paperwork.”

I spread my hands, indicating to the walls of my office that are plastered with crime scene photographs, maps and reports.

“You know something I don’t? We've been at a dead end for weeks. Until another victim turns up, we’re screwed.”

“Since when do we wait for the bodies to pile up?” Enzo frowns.

“Since we’ve been three steps behind Britain’s most notorious serial killer for the last six months, and there is still no end in sight.”

Abandoning my seat, I pace beside the lengthy conference table to expel some of my frustration. Enzo is my best friend and second in command, but he sure as hell knows how to get under my skin, even after a decade of working together.

“We have other clients to get on with.”

“None more pressing than this,” he points out, his boots propped up on the table. “The SCU is clueless, Hunter. They can’t solve this without us.”

“They can’t solve this with us, dammit.”

Joining me, Enzo lays a heavy hand on my shoulder. “We have a better shot at it together. Plus, the retainer fee is too good to give up. Let’s go back to the evidence. Take another look.”

I turn back to the master board we have set up on the back wall of my office, spiralling into organised chaos. Each victim in the last five years has their own place on the board with all of their information and autopsy reports spread out. Tiny red cord connects anything relevant.

“Eighteen girls in five years.” Enzo runs a hand over the dark scruff on his chin.

At well over six foot six and two hundred pounds of pure muscle, he’s the enforcer to my stratagem and planning. Enzo is a scary motherfucker to all but those who know him best—my team.

We’re proudly known as the finest investigators and most prestigious private security firm in England. Sabre Security is a multi-million-pound success story, borne of determination and hard work.

After a tumultuous twelve years in the business and several high-profile cases in recent years, we’ve reached new heights. Everything changed after we took down Blackwood Institute and its parent company, Incendia Corporation.

Expanding into new premises was necessary as our team doubled in size with the influx of attention and new funding. While we run the main divisions, our trusted subordinates are working to build new areas of the firm.

“Too many lives,” I agree, an unbearable weight on my shoulders.

We were drafted in last year by the Serious Crimes Unit. Despite undergoing a full reconstruction and new in-house regulations to protect against corruption, they’re seriously slacking with this case.

Even after our work whipping them into shape, the fumbling fools took one look and swiftly surrendered all responsibility. That’s where we stepped in.

The SCU prefers to sign extortionate cheques rather than continue wrestling with this impossible case. We take on government contracts regularly, but this has proven to be beyond anything we imagined.

The victims are all the same—young girls from working-class backgrounds, many of them living in poverty and forced into sex work as a result. All brutally murdered, raped and carved with religious iconography.

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