Allison Brennan - Cutting Edge

Nora stood and watched as duck after duck was scanned, killed, and sorted into an orange bag or clear bag. Even the wild ducks would be tested-blood drawn and dissected-in case the virus had spread in the day they’d swam with the contaminated birds.

It wasn’t the sight that bothered Nora the most.

It was the sound.

Like a thin, dry tree branch, each slender neck was snapped, the carcass disposed of in the correct manner.

Nora watched with wide eyes, fearing that if she only heard the sound she’d fall apart.

She remembered the day, years ago, when Lorraine had freed the wild horses. The horses Nora’s mother told her had been born free, and should be let free. Nora had helped. She desperately wanted to please Lorraine, who just told Nora the day before that she was pregnant.

Nora would never forget the stampede. Hiding in the brush. The shouts and curses of men and women trying to recapture the animals. The horse falling in front of her, the snap of his leg loud enough that Nora knew he was lame.

When a man found the distressed horse, Nora saw pain in his expression. Pain and shock and anger. He talked to the horse quietly, whispering so softly, so soothingly that Nora was almost lulled into believing what he said, that the horse was going to be okay, that he was safe. Nora didn’t hear the words, but she felt the rhythm, the tone.

It’s okay, boy … You’re safe … Shhh, relax .

The man, who looked like he might have been a cowboy though Nora had never seen one outside of a book, knelt by the horse’s injured leg. He gingerly touched it and the horse tried to stand, stumbled, and fell, his whinny full of agony.

“I’m so sorry.”

The cowboy took a gun from his belt and put a bullet in the horse’s head.

Nora froze. Stunned. She’d believed …

Then the man turned away from the horse, looked at the sky, his face wet from tears. Before then, Nora had never seen a man cry. She’d never seen such real pain.

Later, her mother told everyone who would listen, “That bastard just killed the poor animal in cold blood. Didn’t even try to save the horse. Probably enjoyed it. Or didn’t even think about it, just a stupid animal,” she added sarcastically.

Nora went to her mother later and said, “He was crying, Mama.”

“No he wasn’t,” Lorraine said. “And don’t call me Mama.”

That had been the day Nora realized that her mother was wrong, and if she would lie about the sad man, she could lie about anything and to anyone. That had been the day Nora started believing in herself and not in her mother, the day Nora had decided she wanted a different life, and she would do everything to get away.

Quin was born six months later, and Nora realized she couldn’t let her beautiful baby sister grow up like she had. She would find a way for both of them to be free.

Nora had been nine.

As Duke watched, a pair of mallard ducks, male and female, waddled up to where Nora was standing on the edge of the gruesome scene. Some of the Fish and Game people were enticing the ducks from the water with bread-they were all quite domesticated. Evidently, these ducks thought Nora had food for them.

“Hey, Agent English, can you grab those for me?” one of the men called.

Nora didn’t move. Her face was hard, icy, her entire body rigid. Something was wrong, even though he couldn’t see her eyes through her sunglasses.

Instead, Duke managed to catch the birds and bring them over to the assembly line. A moment later, Dr. Thomsen, the vet, ran a scanner over them. It beeped.

“That’s ten and eleven,” Melanie Duncan said, her voice thick with emotion as she sealed their dead bodies in the biohazard bags. Her face and eyes were swollen from tears, though her red eyes were now dry.

“Team B is done as well,” Barry said. “That’s it.”

“We’re missing one,” Melanie said.

“It’s not here,” Barry said. “But I’ll send the team out to canvass the area one more time.” He walked away, wiping his brow.

Duke went back to Nora. “Hey.”

She didn’t acknowledge him.

He reached out and touched her shoulder. She jumped, her body so tense he expected her to snap. Her face was pale, as if all the color from her tan had been leached out of her skin. “Please don’t touch me,” she whispered.

“It’s okay. Hey, Nora, it’s okay.”

“Go away.”

Was she angry with him for handing over the ducks? “They’re done for now,” he said. “Why don’t you sit down?” He looked around, saw a private place about twenty yards away, shaded by trees.

“Leave. Now.” She swallowed. “Please, Duke, leave me alone.”

Her voice cracked and Duke realized how precarious her emotional balance was right now.

Barry from Fish and Game approached. “That’s it, one’s missing. I sent everyone out to scan the area one more time, but we’ve already been around it three times. The vet said he’d drive around with me along the entire perimeter. Dr. Duncan said it’s a male, and he couldn’t have gone far, since their wings are clipped. I’m sending these other birds to the lab now. The CDC guy is getting a bee up his ass with the media here, and wants me to clear out ASAP. Is that okay with you?”

Nora nodded.

Duke had a half-dozen questions he wanted to ask. Then another voice from behind them called, “Sheriff, I found these in the Dumpster behind the bathrooms.”

Duke turned and saw a deputy carrying two cages.

Duncan exclaimed, “Those are from the lab!”

The sheriff of Nevada County, Donaldson, approached. “Tag them as evidence, Boyle.”

“Will do.”

“Agent English,” Donaldson said, “I think we should sweep the public restrooms. Don’t know that we’ll find anything-they’re not the cleanest of facilities-but we might get lucky. Is your lab handling the evidence? This is getting to be a jurisdictional problem, but we don’t have a big lab here. We send most of our big cases to Sacramento or the state lab.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Nora said, her voice restrained.

“Great. I’ll get it packaged up and off to your people. Wish this wasn’t so damn depressing. When my kids see the news footage, I’m not going to hear the end of it.”

Nora jerked her head toward the sheriff and snapped in a surprisingly harsh tone that sounded nothing like the Nora English Duke knew. “When criminals break into high-security labs and steal what doesn’t belong to them, bad shit happens.”

Her stance shifted, she tightened her jaw, making her cheekbones appear sharper.

“It’s a tragedy,” Duncan said. “Didn’t they think through what they were doing? A man died last night because they wanted to free a dozen research animals-and one hundred fifty-seven ducks are dead because of their reckless act.”

“Who’s talking to the press?” the sheriff asked the assembled group.

“The CDC,” Nora said.

“I’ll give him the stats,” Barry said. “He’s going to need some spin on it.”

“They’ll keep the lake closed for a few days, until we find that last duck,” Dr. Thomsen said. “We need to look-every minute we waste …”

He didn’t have to finish his thought. The group dispersed and Duke stood alone with Nora.

“Nora?” he said, gently but firmly putting his hands on her shoulders. He pulled off her sunglasses. Her eyes were dry, so dry they were red. She grabbed her glasses and put them back on, though the sun was setting and she no longer needed them.

“Why don’t I take you home?” he said. “Your partner can take the car back, right?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

She was anything but fine.

She stepped forward and a loud snap had her jumping as if she’d seen a ghost. She looked down and saw she’d stepped on a tree branch.