EVO Universe 1: The First (14 page)

CHAPTER TEN

Mercer and Armitage arrived on the scene of the Martin's house, the quiet residential neighborhood now alive in the middle of the night with officers, paramedics, agents, local reporters, and half the neighborhood. They both looked up to see the front balcony completely blown open, and paramedics wheeling a half conscious Craig Martin with handcuffs attached to him and the gurney he was on to the ambulance. They met up with the Chief of the Sheriff's department on the scene flashing their credentials before debriefing on the situation.

Mark looked around asking the most famous law enforcement line, “What have we got here?”

To which the Sheriff answered, “Nothing I've seen or heard of before.”

“We're getting that a lot,” answered Dustin knowing this to be the running gag of this case.

“Domestic violence dispute interrupted by what was described as an Amazon wearing a black hood,” reported the Sherriff, “Apparently she tore the door off the back patio; we found it several yards away. She then ran upstairs, caught the husband pounding away on his wife, and grabbed him putting him through one of the walls in their bedroom. She then threw the son of a bitch through the bathroom door and half of another wall.”

“Not before he apparently broke his hand and a chair trying to hit the woman, that on top of the possible broken back and concussion the paramedics said he might have. She then carried him to the patio kicking out the glass doors,” the Sheriff pointed to the balcony, “ripped the guardrail off with one hand tossing it, taking out the windshield to his car, and then threatened to drop him off the balcony while she held him by the neck. Then after leaving him shaking in his own body fluids, by the wife and neighbors’ account she leapt from the balcony down to the street where you see that crater. After that, she took off like a jackrabbit through that neighbor's yard going god knows where. We actually have footage of that off someone’s phone.”

Dustin let off a sarcastic laugh shaking his head in disbelief.

It left the Sheriff a bit confused and irritated, “I miss the joke somewhere?”

Mark explained his partner’s outburst, “We believe the woman involved in this is our escape fugitive from Mountain View. We’re going to need a copy of that footage if that’s okay. ”

The Sherriff nodded, “Well off the record I think she deserves a medal; I've got a file thicker than a bible on that bastard and how badly he terrorized that poor woman inside. Chances are if this woman didn't show up, I'd have to notify someone tonight that their child is dead. And would you believe it…she’s finally pressing charges against him.”

“Is she okay to speak with us?” asked Mark respecting that this was partially the Sheriff’s investigation as well.

“She's pretty banged up, but coherent.” The Sherriff motioned, “You can talk to her for a couple of minutes before they take her and her son down to county for an examination.”

“Her son?” Mark asked not knowing a child was involved.

The Sheriff sneered in disgust looking at the ambulance Craig Martin was in, “Poor little feller was right there while that son of a bitch was beating his mother to a near bloody pulp.”

“Question, you guys were called for the domestic dispute right?” Mark asked a little put off, “What happened? Why’d it take so long to get here?”

“Believe it or not we weren't called for any domestic dispute,” the Sheriff said quite disappointed, “We got the call of a home invasion when someone heard the crash on the balcony and saw this "superwoman" holding that jackass by the throat threatening to drop him.”

Armitage and Mercer’s look of disgust mirrored the Sheriff’s as they glanced at each other. They thanked him before heading into the house.

“She goes from robbing a Goodwill store to stomping out a wife beater.” Dustin muttered, “This chick is all over the place.”

“You want to check upstairs with the team,” Mark asked getting down to business, “Or interview the wife?”

“You do the interview,” Dustin drew a breath in an attempt to contain his anger, “If I see her I might head outside and make sure someone doesn’t make it to the hospital alive.”

Dustin headed upstairs to meet up with the FBI and Houston forensic teams to survey the damage as Mark walked into the living room.

Instantly he wished he had switched places with Dustin. Seeing a woman sitting on her couch covered in a blanket with a left eye the size of a golf ball and a possible broken nose holding tightly onto her son with visible trauma in his eyes gave him the itch to kill someone. He had to bury that deep, put on his kid gloves, and professional hat putting personal feelings aside to obtain the answers he needed.

“Mrs. Martin...my name is Special Agent Mark Armitage from the FBI,” once again he followed up with the textbook apology, “I'm very sorry about what happened to you. I was wondering if you were well enough to answer some questions for me.”

Tammy slowly nodded as Armitage pulled up a seat on a nearby ottoman to meet her eye level instead of towering over her, trying to make her more comfortable than she already was.

He pulled out an old-fashioned notepad and pen from his jacket to take some notes, “Can you tell me in your own words what happened?”

“My…husband came home tonight,” she recounted, “He works this big insurance company, and found out it was in serious financial trouble…possible bankruptcy like that other insurance company that was on the news.”

“AIG?” he asked joining in the conversation to make her feel even more at ease.

She nodded as she continued her story, “He started freaking out about how he could possibly lose his job…blamed me for just spending his money.”

She held her son tighter as she began to tear up, “He called me a dumb cow because I wasn’t like his other friends’ wives who held corporate jobs, and could help pay for their day to day life. I…I said...but you wanted me to stay home, that I could have gotten a job…and then he got angry…called me a stupid bitch, and said if I thought changing bed pans could pay for this lifestyle…and then he threw his bottle of beer against the wall and hit me. I ran upstairs crying and he chased me…I tried to shut the door to the bedroom, but he was stronger than me and he barreled through the door knocking me down…then he got on top of me grabbing me by my throat, and he just hit me over , and over, and over again….”

The moment still fresh in her mind drew tears from her, “Our son came into the room crying, and he didn’t even stop…”

Armitage gave her a minute to compose herself as he pulled out a handkerchief from his jacket handing it to her.

She dried her good eye and found the strength to continue her story, “And then she just came out of nowhere…and she stopped him…she saved my life...”

Little Ethan then chimed in meekly, “Super lady…made daddy…stop hurting…mommy…”

Mark cracked a smile and bent lower to meet him eye level, “Did she?”

“Yes…” the little boy slowly nodded.

Mark remembered he had to finish his investigation as he sat back up to question his mother, “Mrs. Martin, did this woman say anything to you?”

Tammy thought about it for a minute, “Other than for me to wake up from this hell I was in for my son…she knew my name…I remember her calling me by my name.”

“Do you remember a Sophia Matheson that used to live here?” Mark gestured to next door.

“Yes, right next door; she was very nice to me,” she said mustering up a bright smile out of nowhere despite her pain and obvious appearance, “But this woman was much larger…Sophia was like my height…and…wasn’t she executed; this week…for what she did to her husband?”

Mark threw on his textbook fake smile figuring it was best not to draw her into the madness, “Uh…yes, she was…listen you need to go get checked out…here’s my card…if you can think of anything, or need anything…please give me a call.”

Tammy nodded taking the card, “Thank you Special Agent.”

Mark gently rubbed the little boy’s head, “Take care of mommy Ethan.”

The little boy waved goodbye as the paramedics escorted Tammy and him out to the other waiting ambulance to take them to the hospital. Mark drew a sigh more lost than ever; he then headed upstairs to see if Dustin came up with anything. Sure enough upstairs looked worse from the inside than the balcony looked from street level.

“What do we have?” he said again thinking in the back of his mind he needed to come up with a new way to asked that question.

Dustin drew a sigh to the obvious, “World War III in stereo…blood samples…possibly from both the wife and husband. I have to say I like her work…I know a couple pedophiles and serial rapists I’d love for her to meet.”

Mark confirmed what they already knew, “Dennison came home alright.”

“So she just dropped by her old stomping grounds, and happened onto this mess?” Dustin concluded.

“We need to get a team next door,” Marks formulated, “See what she either found or was looking for.”

“I’m waiting for when we find some actual clues as opposed to chasing our tails. This path of destruction makes no sense to me,” an irritated Dustin said to his partner.

Out of nowhere, an old woman’s voice screeched from outside, “Excuse me! Excuse me!”

Armitage and Mercer looked at each other wondering what the hell now, as they headed to the balcony to see one of the Sherriff’s deputies attempting to calm down an irate elderly woman.

“Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to please calm down and step back,” ordered the deputy.

“I just want to know when this will be over?!” she yelled back, “This is upsetting my cats! I pay my taxes to live in a nice respectable neighborhood!”

“Ma’am…” a now frustrated deputy tried to explain to her the situation.

Mark finally having enough decided to step in from his perch, “Hey! You! Yeah you!”

The older woman adjusted her glasses looking up at Mark who pointed to her, getting her attention as well as everyone else outside.

Mark came to the edge of the broken balcony as if to leap down on top of her if he could, “My name is Special Agent in Charge Mark Armitage from the FBI; did
you
call the Sheriff’s department to stop the asshole that lives here from almost beating his wife to death in front of his kid?!”

“No…I did not…,”she began to stutter.

Mark cut her off before she could say anything else, “Then take your brittle ass back to your stupid fucking cats before I lock you up for obstructing a Federal Investigation!! Then I’ll shoot your cats! Don’t talk! Go!”

The stunned old woman scurried back to her house close to tears.

Mark surveyed the street of onlookers daring someone to say something, “Anyone else got anything to say?!”

The old lion seeing that he was unchallenged, marched back into the bedroom as everyone save for Mercer who had stopped to hear him tear into an old woman scattered back to their work on the investigation.

Dustin walked up to him with a bit of sarcastic advice, “You really need to work on your people skills.”

“I hate people,” Mark bluntly said.

“Even me?” Dustin knit his brows pretending to be hurt.

“Especially you,” Mark said without even looking as his partner.

He walked off heading back downstairs before Mercer could respond to him face to face for the obvious ribbing.

“You’re gonna remember you said that,” Dustin muttered, “When you’re …crying at my funeral…like a bitch…you…”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

With less than five hours of sleep after the incident at the Martin’s home, and then casing Sophia Dennison’s old home looking for clues, only to come up with a couple of fresh fingerprints indicating that she was there, but nothing much else; Armitage and Mercer decided to take a break from hunting her. Obviously she was in Houston and not going anywhere for some reason, so they focused their efforts on finding out what exactly was she, and if she had any possible weaknesses. They now stood within the Federal Bureau of Investigation Houston office’s Forensics Department headed by Doctor Senji Kumamoto.

The doctor started his findings with the basic theme of this investigation, “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

“We’ve been getting a lot of that lately doc,” Mark sighed.

“To begin with,” Doctor Kumamoto explained, “This blood should have killed the subject a hundred times over. It’s literally saturated with adrenaline…twice the amount of possibly two full grown bull elephants, this partially explains why her heart started again after the lethal injection, and displayed the unbelievable superhuman strength shown in the video footage, however she should have dropped dead from a massive heart attack seconds afterwards.”

“Was it in the canisters?” Mark asked hoping they were the key to all of this madness.

“Negative,” Doctor Kumamoto confirmed looking through his notes, “The canisters tested contained the usual sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride used in textbook lethal injections. And she still would have died even if they were mixed; the adrenaline alone should not have saved her from the deadly combination of the pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.”

“So how did she produce that much adrenaline,” asked Dustin, “Manage to survive a poisonous combo, go down again to a hail of bullets, and rise again bullet proof and a thousand times stronger than before?”