Page 48 of The Devil's Viking

“Yeah, I figured we had it too easy for too long.” Wolf sighed, rolled his head. “Tell me.”

“We’ve seen men from the cult compound in the forest, right at the spot that Viking got rid of Fielding. We watched them through binoculars all day today and they’re finally digging – it took them a week to thaw the ground without the right equipment, but they’re on it now. We went to the site after they all left for the night, and they’re only about three feet deep, but they’ll undoubtedly be back tomorrow.”

“Goddamn it,” Wolf snarled. “OK, Viking, you’re up. How deep did you go, and what did you leave in that hole?”

“Ummm.” Viking paused. “Well… about eight feet deep. And there are maybe – what? Half-a-dozen bone fragments that didn’t burn and which I buried.”

“Enough to get DNA?” Scars asked him.

“Honestly? No.”

“OK, what?” Wolf was totally alert. “Why no?”

“Because the primary reason to burn a body is to degrade the hard tissues – like the bones – which will compromise forensic identification techniques,” Viking rattled off, sliding right into doctor mode. “Extreme heat will modify the bone structure through combustion and pyrolysis of chemical substances. In addition, heavily burned bones are very prone to contamination with external DNA and so anything present in the soil will most likely seep into the bones themselves, further degrading the original DNA.”

A stunned silence filled the room; even the speaker phone seemed to blink in surprise.

“So –” Wolf said, trying to keep up. “So the bones –”

“Are useless. We’ve got nothing to worry about in terms of forensic evidence,” Viking told him. “I didn’t bury the teeth, remember, I disposed of those one by one across the whole of Utah. Even with burning, it’s teeth that you need to worry about, not bone. So we’re in the clear.”

“But – why didn’t you tell us this sooner?” Wolf demanded. “About not needin’ to be freaked out about DNA in the forest?”

“The deal is that you’re on a need-to-know basis when it comes to what I do,” Viking said succinctly. “That was your call, Wolf, and it was a decision made to protect everyone. I don’t volunteer jack-shit, and only answer direct questions when and if you ask them.”

“Yeah, OK,” Wolf said. “You’re right. Sorry, man.”

“So –” Scars furrowed his brow. “So even if these cult assholes take the bone fragments to the cops, the lab will find nothing?”

“Exactly.” Viking shrugged. “Though I doubt very much they’d go scampering off to a crime lab or have anything to do with the police. I mean, how do they explain how they just happened to dig up a bunch of burned bones? And does a cult leader strike you as the kind of person super-eager to get on the authorities’ radar foranyreason?”

“Yeah, well,” Drake –or maybe Dux –said. “That’s where we might have an actual, real problem. Not like Viking’s chemical combustion contamination…thing.”

“Jesus Christ,justwhen I see the light,” Wolf muttered. “OK, shoot.”

“We’ve seen a woman going in and out of the compound every night,” Ice said. “She’s like goddamn clockwork.”

“Yeah? And?”

“And she’s a cop.”

“Oh, my God,” Scars groaned. “Why, why, why?”

“So this Gideon prick has a cop in his pocket reporting to him,” Wolf said. “Yeah, I’d say that qualifies as a fuckin’ actual, real problem. Ice?”

“I suggest that we go for a charm offensive,” Ice said, answering the unasked question. “See if we can get something from the cop with a less-confrontational approach.”

“We sic one of the twins on her?”

“Yeah. Youdidsend them here in case flirting was needed, Wolf. I’d say we’re there. Bring out the big guns.”

“Well,” Wolf mused. “This cop is only human, and I have yet to even hear of a straight woman who wasn’t taken with our boys once she was in their sights. Dux? Drake?”

“We’ll flip a coin, Wolf,” Dux – or maybe Drake – said. “Then one of us will take one for the team.”

“It’ll be no hardship,” chimed in Drake – or maybe Dux. “Cop lady is alooker, believe me, and you guys all know how we feel about tall, cool blondes. Ice excepted, of course.”

Wolf, Scars and Viking all rolled their eyes; over the speaker they felt Ice do the same.

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