Touched by the Devil

Touched by the Devil #7

Gabe sat, lost in thought, in his favourite pub. He'd been sat there for a while now nursing the same glass of beer with his hand as he puffed on a half finished cigar in the other.

Last nights event had shook him slightly and the fact that the man's killer had more then likely been watching him when Gabe had found the body made him angry. He'd been so close to the bastard, Gabe had never lost a potential killer before, never, he felt like a failure.

Gabe rubbed his temple with one of his hands before taking a swig from the glass in front of him. He let the cool liquid trickle down his throat, chasing the dryness away.

Sentry Luis had been right of course, Gabe had messed up but that didn't seem to matter at that particular point in time. Gabe had been pissed at himself and then even more pissed that the old man had started on him.

Still, Sentry Luis was the commanding officer no matter how much Gabe hated that fact.

As he looked back on the dark scene from last night, Gabe could remember seeing somebody from the corner of his eye as he talked to the old man.

Nothing much, just a figure at the end of the alley, could have been nothing, just a random person walking by... then again it could have been the killer watching him, laughing at him...

Gabe clenched his fists with an effort to stop himself from tearing through the street of this underground grotto with its favela like houses and strange contrast between old and new technology.

Last night before going to bed Gabe had torn the radio off of his unused uniform and attached it to him today, for the one and only reason that he didn't want the son of a bitch to escape him again. This time he'd call for back up while chasing the damn man down.

Gabe put the cigar to his mouth again and took a long drag to calm his nerves.

The radio crackled to life in his ear, the speaking cord twisted free of the coil over his ear and pressed its wire to the side of his face so that Gabe could both hear and speak into it.

'This is Black bear, West Street, fevela block one, body found, killer still around, request immediate back up."

The line went dead as the Sentry on the other end of the line waited for an answer.

Adrenalin burst through Gabe's veins at the chance to catch the killer; he wasted no time in answering.

"Black bear this is The Devil, I'm on my way." Gabe said quickly as he pushed the door of the bar open and walked straight in to a woman.

For a few seconds Gabe was unable to move, she looked stunning.

Long dark brown hair with a hint of red knitted into the curling mass flowed down her back. Her eyes were grey, like the colour of clouds before a storm staring intently, slightly shocked. Her skin and lips were pale allowing her to melt into the colour of the cloak she wore.

No jewellery hung off her and dark worn jeans tucked themselves nicely into sturdy black boots.

Gabe stood there mesmerised for the briefest of seconds before the cigar in his mouth began to burn a little to close to his mouth.

Quickly he removed it and muttered an apology, or at least he thought he muttered an apology.

The woman smiled slightly at him, her eyes filling with something he couldn't understand before she turned around and walked away.

The radio in his ear crackled to life again.

'Devil this is Black Bear where the bloody hell are you!?' the young sentry asked him.

'I'm coming lad, keep your helmet on.' Gabe replied before rushing off to the waiting sentry.

It took barely a minuet to get to the West Street of fevela block one. It was a quite place, the first of the slums to be built. There were good people here that Gabe passed regularly on his patrol of the streets. The thought of one of these people lying dead and shredded in the gutter fuelled the adrenalin and anger coursing through Gabe's veins.

It was worse than before, the scene last night- although gruesome- wasn't messy.

The stench radiating out of the tiny street made Gabe's eyes water. Blood and parts of ripped and torn flesh clung to the dirty, brown walls and floor of the street.

The sentry who called for assistants was no where in sight.

Gabe touched the radio in his ear as he began to speak.

'Black Bear, this is The Devil, where in hells name are you?' the question was left hanging in the air.

'Black Bear this is The Devil, answer my bloody question lad!'

Still no reply, Gabe swore viciously before picking his way through the street careful not to stand on any of the chunks of flesh and organs.

Gritting his teeth to stop his stomach from lurching out of his mouth, Gabe made his way around the carnage, his eyes glued to the floor in case his foot decided to take a plunge into the hole ridden ground and blood soaked earth. When Gabe did finally look up he almost lost control of his stomach. There, pinned up to the wall of one of the make-shift homes, his face and the right side of his body half chewed off was the sentry.

Blood still pumped out of his body and pooled on the floor.

His arms were spread wide, pins in the palms of his hands his chest had been ripped open and the bones of his rib cage snapped outwards making the poor boy look as though the had small wings growing from his chest.

Gabe took a step back, almost falling over a piece of whatever was splattered all over the street, his mouth going dry the anger had fled from Gabe's body like a rabbit would flee from a cat.

His hands shook as he touched the ear piece again.

'Code red. I need every available Sentry to the West Street of fevela block one, I need a forensic team down here stat. We've got one dead- possibly more- bodies down here, every body else for god sake keep your bloody eyes pealed.'

"Wow." A calm voice spoke quietly from behind him.

Gabe spun round pulling his gun at the same time to point it at the woman in white.

His mouth opened as she walked straight through the bloody piles of flesh and tissues to stand beside him, the bottom of the cloak she wore soaking up some of the blood from the floor.

"Miss, you shouldn't be here this is a crime scene and you're destroying evidence." Gabe spoke tight lipped at her still holding the gun out and pointing it at her chest.