Page 50 of Drift

0 fingerprints from the piping and stones. 0 DNA from emesis.

Fingertips acid-burned away.

Curious…. He linked that to how no DNA or fingerprints had been found at any of the crime scenes from the main marks as well.

Did they have a whole underground system here at play who burned their fingertips away?

Christ. Every main player here was a goddamn ghost.

No mention of music being played had come from any of the scenes except for the Bishop’s report, either. But if they were working in more than one pack, then most MOs would differ just slightly, along with a taste for music or not. And it still wasn’t clear why Jason had been singing “Every Breath You Take” by The Police in particular.

With the six remaining murders, rechecking detail took time. But with taking three families over the weekend, these killers were either upping their need for bone marrow or visibility. Gray had a feeling it was the latter. These pack killers were organised, knew what they were doing, and damn comfortable with doing it. So the change now was purely in pace, with victims who would get them noticed.

So why? Why these victims in particular? Who were they after? All victims were spread far and wide across the UK with no link beyond disorders and living next to parks and—

Oh…. Gray wrote something down.

Testing location reaction?

Was something big in the pipeline? All on the back of a drug that came with no trace?

Gray stilled.

Shit. The locations.

He wrote four words on the board.

Nation-wide biological warfare.

That changed everything, and he tugged out his phone before a code went through to Thorn. The warning was given to increase the UK’s threat level from the top down over domestic terrorism that crossed counties and borders into Scotland and Wales. The second called for more specialist involvement from the UK Health Security Agency on testing of the victims. No drug itself had to be present for the call to upgrade security because they had bodies and an MO already that marked the potential escalating threat, but the potential for this being biological warfare across the UK had to be known at ground level. He sent the same codes through to both director-generals at MI5 and 6. His father in MI6 was the first to respond, but then Gray expected no less off Cal.

Biological? National level with an untraceable drug? Symptoms?

Gray listed them down, with murder/suicide being the main driving variant.

Seriously. Evidence?

Gray stilled his touch on his phone for a moment.Classified,he typed eventually.

It fell quiet Cal’s end, but then Gray had just let him know that if information was classified even with him, then this was culler business, no one else’s.

No more communication came, and he sent a last text to Shaun Brennan, asking for MET security around Parliament and the Palace to be increased due to an upgraded threat level. He also asked that beat police be on the alert for dangerous behaviour changes to civvies.

It was all just precaution at this stage, but his primary focus would be the Monarchy no matter how small the politicalthreat over the Soames case. With the threat level increased, they’d be taking an unscheduled break come tomorrow, location unknown.

Standard protocol with any upgrade of threat level.

Slipping his phone away, he stared at the board for a moment. Under Marks, he wroteDoctor.

Patient information was being extorted, but if this markwasa Doctor, they’d know how to request information.

This was where he really needed Simon to run his checks. He’d know how to search the dark web. He was back tomorrow, and Gray wanted him on this, but Light’s no-go area on Simon working with the cullers was a line he couldn’t break.

And as for crossing lines…?

Gray set his jaw tensing as thoughts on Thorn crept in, and he tugged his phone back out a moment later.

“Boss?” Ray sounded distracted.

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