Flame in the Dark (Soulwood #3)(17)
Pierced Dreams was the only four-star restaurant in Old City Knoxville, and the location was not good for armed response. East Jackson Avenue completed its evolution into West Jackson Avenue at the intersection with South Central, which was a hub of the Old City revitalization. The intersection was not a perfect ninety degrees, but a skewed crossing of angles, with nearby access to I-40, Highway 158, and Hall of Fame Avenue, as well as industrial sites and multiple railroad tracks. The Tennessee River cut the city in half and it was always close to anything in Old City, not that the river was any sort of getaway route, not with RVACs and drones and such. But the shooter could get away easily by car, motorbike, or bicycle or on foot. Or take hostages. Or hold law enforcement or the populace in place, pinned down, and take them out at his leisure.
Into my comms unit, JoJo said, “More shots fired. And a fire alarm is going off. One report says flames are visible inside Pierced Dreams. Another says flames are shooting up from a nearby building. Rural/Metro Fire and KFD are all en route. This is an active shooter scene. Repeat. This is an active shooter scene.”
“Copy,” I said. I took corners too fast, hearing sirens converging on Old City, seeing the city’s blue law-enforcement lights interspersed with the red flashing of other emergency units and the Christmas decorations on buildings and streetlights. Leaving the rest of the city with a decreased policed presence. If there was a second incident, things could get difficult. Law enforcement concentrated in one area was a major concern. A few well-placed bombs and the city could lose a large percentage of its officers. It also gave criminals the opportunity to commit crimes in other parts of the city, places with less coverage.
My headlights bounced across the greenery as I took a turn too fast. My heart was speeding up, my breath growing fast and shallow. I forced my breathing to slow down and tried to relax my shoulders.
“Info coming in,” JoJo said into my earbud. “Feds are on-site. Uniforms are on-site. We have two civilians down and two security personnel stationed outside not answering comms. According to Secret Service, Abrams Tolliver is among those inside, uninjured. I do not have a name for the SAC. Repeat, do not have the SAC.”
The SAC was the special agent in charge, the person coordinating law enforcement and making demands. Secret Service superseded the FBI, the state police, and the city police. And PsyLED unless we proved that the suspect was a paranormal, and that hadn’t happened. Since it hadn’t been backed up by a reading of a known paranormal creature on the psy-meter 2.0, and all I had was a possibly anomalous spike, my reading about the shooter from the Holloway party was opinion. If Ming of Glass hadn’t been involved in the first shooting at the Holloways’, I doubt we’d have been part of it at all, but mundane human LEOs hated to deal with the blood-suckers. That I could deal with. Not knowing who the SAC was complicated matters because it said that the chain of command had not been established.
“More info,” JoJo said. “Tonight was also a fund-raiser event, and I have the guest list. Scanning and comparing to last night’s event.”
“Copy,” I said, taking another corner too fast.
JoJo said, “Meanwhile, we have Occam heading that way as part of the fed contingent, ETA one minute, and T. Laine and Tandy coming in from the medical examiner’s office, ETA seven.
“Occam, you copy?”
“Copy. Arriving on-scene now with feds. I was liaising with them when the call came in.” The sounds of shouting and sirens came through Occam’s comms system. “Don’t know which way our people are coming from, but enter from the west. City streets are being blocked off by uniforms. Staging area is on West Jackson, half a block from Central. According to on-site security, there were multiple shots fired. No shots for the last two and a half minutes. No sign of the shooter or shooters, but it’s getting dark, so we may have missed something. Activating vest cam. JoJo, you getting this?”
“Acquiring direct video upload now. Feds are sending up an RVAC, people. Tandy and T. Laine, you copy?” JoJo asked.
“Copy on active shooters, staging area, and RVAC. ETA four if traffic holds,” Tandy said, his voice tense. I hoped T. Laine was sending out soothing vibes. The empath on a meltdown at an active shooting scene would be a problem.
“My ETA is thirty seconds,” I said. I took yet another corner too fast, seeing blue and red lights just ahead, grateful for the RVAC. Remote-viewing aircraft were small, quiet, and easier to control than drones. The lack of wind, the presence of city lights, and the location made them useful tonight. They could buzz rooftops, clearing them for shooters, drop into alleys and take a look with infrared and low-light cameras, and follow unknown subjects from above. They were freakishly expensive and if the shooter spotted one and shot it down, there would be no replacement until next year’s budget. But better a dead plastic toy than a dead human; I didn’t care how many got trashed.
My talents were pretty useless in the inner city. If I recalled, there was nothing green within blocks. The closest green would be the artificial berms near the loops of major roads.
“People,” JoJo said. “We got some major players at both events—the party last night and the dinner venue tonight. Abrams Tolliver and his brother Justin Tolliver and their wives. Justin is one of the überwealthy. He is heavily involved in, and financially supports, the state’s political scene. He also runs the family finances, a wheeler-dealer in real estate development and hedge funds. He’s got so many enemies it’s easier to figure out who doesn’t hate him. Mayor Morning was present both nights. Ming of Glass, the vampire VIP, is on both guest lists. Ming justifies our presence. I see Matilda Johnson, Irena Hastings, and Samuel L. Clayton. Johnson and Hastings are big in the arts scene and Clayton is a local preacher and political up-and-comer. All three are on tonight’s guest list but were not on last night’s.” She paused and added, “I see here that Clayton is not attending because of his sister’s death at the Holloways’ party. That would be Margaret Clayton, deceased. There may be more last-minute inclusions or cancellations, names that didn’t make it onto tonight’s guest list as compiled by the Secret Service and just sent to us.”