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"He definitely does," Ethan said. "But he's also a public official in this city, and by all accounts, he's loving the attention and the ego boost."
"That's a good point," Jonah said. "He clearly likes the gig, and why risk his job? And even if he wanted something from Bryant Industries, why hit Grey House? Why hit your grandfather's house?"
"We now know the rioters hit Bryant Industries for a reason," I said. "So maybe he also hit Grey House and my grandfather for a reason. We just have to figure out what that reason was."
The room went quiet.
"Okay, then," I said. "We'll just mull on that for a little bit. Catcher, do you know anything about the syringe?"
"Nothing yet," he said. "There's a backlog in the forensics department. Might not be until tomorrow."
We all stared quietly at the board for a moment, irritated magic rising as we faced a problem we didn't have information to solve.
"I've got something," Jeff said, keyboard clacking in the background. He must have found a replacement for the computer that had undoubtedly been torched in the fire. "I know why McKetrick hates you."
Ethan leaned forward. "We're listening."
"It's in McKetrick's military history. Turns out, when he was special ops, he was part of an operation in Turkey."
Luc screwed up his face. "Jeff, buddy, as much as I love you, and you know I do, are you about to tell us something we aren't supposed to know? I mean, this doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd pull off the Department of Defense's Web site."
"I didn't do any digging myself," Jeff said. "I have a friend, who happens to also play 'Jakob's Quest.' Due to an unfortunate situation involving a winter elf, a pod of orcs, and a very nasty spell of dissolution, he owed me a favor."
Jakob's Quest was Jeff's favorite online role-playing game.
"Let it never be said that I don't support a man's God-given right to spawn," Luc said. "Continue."
"So, McKetrick was in an operation in Turkey in 'ninety-seven. Small group of special ops guys went in to deal with fallout from a national coup. The special ops team ended up in Turkey's Cappadocian region - that's the place where the fairy chimneys are, if you've ever seen them. Here, I'll send a picture."
Within a couple of seconds, Luc's computer had registered the message, and Luc was popping it up onto the screen. It was a photograph of an arid and hilly landscape, and sprinkled here and there were enormous rock formations that looked like pointy hats. Or something more lascivious, depending on your perspective.
"And why are we taking this detour through the geography of Turkey?" Luc asked.
"The special ops guys got into trouble there. Seven went in. Only one came out."
Dread tightened my stomach. "McKetrick was the one who came out?"
"He was," Jeff said. "The report is pretty heavily redacted, but it looks like the guys were lost over the course of a couple of consecutive nights. He made it out alive and started telling some pretty chilling stories."
"Oh shit," Luc muttered, apparently anticipating the same thing I was.
"Vampires?" Jonah guessed.
"Vampires," Jeff agreed. "They trained for this mission for six weeks, and special ops guys are always close. McKetrick was airlifted out, started telling stories about his friends disappearing, about these feral monsters who'd taken them at night. How they were strong, deadly, and no match for human weapons."
"No wonder he hates us," I said. "He thinks we're the reason his friends were killed."
"He thinks we slaughtered his friends," Jonah corrected. "And he's made it his personal mission to fix that."
"He's not going to stop," I said, looking at Ethan. "If that's his motivation, and he thinks he's a warrior bound to avenge his friends, he'll keep going until he's gotten all of us out of Chicago, dead or alive."
I walked to the whiteboard, uncapped a marker, and added "Lost colleagues to vampires" beneath the note we'd added about McKetrick's military experience. That done, I turned back to the group.
"He's trained, and he's got motive. We know he's willing to use his public platform to sway public opinion against us. We know he's willing to pay an assassin to take us out. We also know he has a facility," I said, "but we've never found any evidence of it."
"I'm beginning to wonder if that's just a rumor," Luc said. "He's never gone there, at least not in the car we've tracked. And we didn't find any property records."
Jonah's phone rang. He pulled it out and checked the screen. "It's the doc about Brooklyn," he said, lifting it up. "I'm going to step outside."
Ethan nodded, granting permission, then gestured back to Luc. "Catcher, you might request Detective Jacobs ask Alan about the location of McKetrick's facility. Maybe he knows something."
"On it," Catcher said.
"That takes care of the 'where,'" Luc said. "What about the 'what'?"
"The syringe," I muttered, glancing at Ethan. "Brooklyn, a vampire, is sick because of some unknown condition. McKetrick's now interested in the lab work done by a blood distributor. Does that read as a coincidence to you?"
"It does not," Ethan said, "but I still have no idea what it means."
"Research means new findings," Luc said. "So, maybe it's not about access or facilities. Maybe it's about the blood itself. New things it can do? New technologies?"
"New means to our destruction?" Ethan suggested. "He invented a gun that shoots aspen - the ultimate weapon against vampires. The perfect way to best them. Figuring out a way to manipulate blood - to use it against us - would be well within his wheelhouse."
Jonah appeared in the doorway, face wan, his magic chaotic. Ethan and Luc, still debating McKetrick's murderous intent, were oblivious to the shock in his expression.
Slowly, Jonah walked to the table, but he didn't sit down.
"Are you all right?" I whispered.
Luc and Ethan, finally realizing something was amiss, looked up at him.
"Jonah?" Ethan said.
"I need to go - to see Brooklyn."
"Did something happen to her?" I asked.
"They can't figure out how to make her better," Jonah said, complete befuddlement in his voice. "I think I should go see her."
Ethan and I exchanged a glance, and he was out of his seat within a second. "We'll go with you."
