SPIKES

Untitled Part 1

                                                                                        The Spikes

Jacob Clark checked out all of the rooms, all was quiet nothing seemed out of place. He sniffed the air and from his life as a heart surgeon he knew there was death nearby. The cellar door was slightly open, it was never left open. The reason being that Duggy the Highland Terrier had once escaped through an open vent in the far corner of the basement, ran across the road causing a collision between two cars coming in opposite directions. Thankfully no one was hurt but Duggy was placed under strict quarantine basically for the rest of his life. The lights were on, Jacob cried out to his Dad. Steven Clark was always tinkering with something or other in his favorite place of this large old house. There was no answer. Jacob walked down the stairs and into a different world, a world of carnage and mayhem and with the cold gaze of someone who spent his life dealing with death he looked upon his whole family butchered and torn apart by what at first glance could only have been some kind of wild animal. He looked at his father, his sixty year old hero. He had been nailed through his head and gut onto an 8 inch square upright beam and sliced through his middle like a Steer in a slaughter house. His Mother Sylvie, his dear Mother, the woman who from the age of ten until that very morning had brought him breakfast in bed and rubbed his hair saying, "Good morning darling isn't it good to be alive" was hanging from a rope tied tightly around her neck. Her hands and lower legs had been removed as she bled to death. Her eyes held open by two inch nails presumably for her killers to soak up the fear in her eyes. On a disused mattress in the far side of the room lay his eighteen year old sister Claire spread-eagled and held down by Jacob's own exercise weights while her long hair had been tied behind her to a metal grill pretuding from the wall. Who knows what unbelievable things she had endured? Two days previous she had graduated High School and was heading for Harvard in the Fall. There was one person missing, his younger brother Trent. Where was he? Jacob had searched the whole of the upstairs, now he searched the Basement, under the stairs, in cupboards and even a secret room known only to Jacob and his Father where Steven Clark had a stash of 1960's Motown long playing records and a vintage record player on which to play them. There was no sign of Trent. "Maybe he had not come home from school? thought Jacob, knowing all to well that that scenario was not true, he was twelve years old and always came straight home after school. There were no tears in Jacob Clark's eyes, his body was as cold as his favorite Cobra bear straight from the ice box. He knew he should call 911 but there was no feeling in his fingers while his legs refused to move. Suddenly a voice from upstairs, "Claire are you home? It was Rachel Bing, Claire's best friend from next door born of an American mother while her father was South Korean. They had been inseparable since Jacobs Family moved to the area a decade and a half ago. "Claire, Claire" she shouted as she appeared at the top of the Basement steps. The shout of Claire was replaced by "Jacob, Jacob, what have you done? Jacob knew then and there that he had no need to call 911 that was in the hands of Rachel Bing.               Jacob hadn't moved, there were no tears, his eyes were firmly fixed on the body of his beloved Mother when he heard the voice of Detective Manny Rodriguez of the NYPD. "What the fuck? he said, tramping down the wooden stairs. "Stay the fuck back" he shouted to someone behind him, "And close that fucking door" When Rodriguez reached Jacob it was clearly evident to this old professional looking at a young late twenties man, dressed in an expensive suit and tie with no sign of blood on his clothes that he had no involvement in these brutal killings. Rodriguez looked at his rookie sidekick Gena Pollock, her life as a Homicide Detective had begun only six weeks previous and the now yellow complexion and the look on her face told him only one thing. "Ok Pollock" he said, "Clear the upstairs of non officers, set up a cordon around the house and get Pathology down here, tell them I need Santori"Doctor Leslie Santori was the leading Pathologist for the State of New York. Yes she was cocky, but a cockiness born out of knowing everything there was to know about the Human Body. Manny Rodriguez had never in his now forty years with the New York Police Department ever witnessed a crime scene like this. He put his hand on Jacob Clark's shoulder, "Come on son you'd better come upstairs" he said, but Jacob was cold and rigid, no expression, no tears, not even the sound of him breathing. "Is this the whole family? asked Rodriguez. This created a motion in Jacob's head as side to side he indicated, no. Jacob was beginning to come around. Once again the Detective motioned to help him upstairs saying, "There should be a Doctor here by now who can give you something to help you relax" Jacob now able to move took a card from his breast pocket and handed it to Rodriguez, it read. Jacob Clark, Head of the Open Heart Surgical Unit, St Byron's Medical Center New York. "Ok then Dr Clark you know the procedure now please let me get on with my investigation" said Rodriguez, and with a hand firmly clasped under the left arm of Jacob Clark he helped him ascend the stairs. Outside everyone of any importance was arriving including the District Attorney himself, Padraig Collins. After all being seen at a high profile crime scene was always good for votes. After seeing Jacob to a couch where he was attended by a nurse, Detective Rodriguez turned to his now getting familiar with her roll side kick Gena Pollock. "Have you found out who we are dealing with? he asked. "Yes Boss" was the answer, "Steven Clark, a local construction worker, Sylvia Clark a part time shop assistant, Claire Clark a student and the missing family member is twelve year old Trent who neighbors say arrived home as usual at around 3-15 and has not been seen since. Doctor Clark you have already met" "Good work" said Rodriguez, "Make sure nothing it touched until, "Hey Rodriguez what the fuck" Santori had arrived. "One minute I'm in MacDonald's ordering a double cheese burger with extra Mayo and fries, the next I'm in the back of a Cop car heading Up Town, this better be worth that Burger" she said in her usual friendly/unfriendly way. Down in the Basement no one spoke. Leslie Santori looked around in horror at what she was witnessing. The year was 2035 and not since the killings of Charles Manson in the twentieth century (a case she had studied at University) could she remember anything like this. Eventually folowing a quick tour around each body she spoke, "What are you thinking Manny? she asked. "I am thinking the SPIKES" answered Rodriguez, "And even this would be far out for them" The SPIKES were a virtual gang who periodically appeared on the Laptops and Computers in every Police Station, TV Network and News Room in the State of New York threatening to carry out vicious outrageous crimes and admitting to many more. But up until now not one of them had been seen in the flesh. This led the authorities to believe that they were six normal people, (if their actions could be classed as normal) who in their day to day lives had jobs, families, pets and all that gave the legitimacy, but behind the masks that they wore on screen they were the most vicious gang ever to roam the streets of New York. They went by the names of Spike, (there  leader) Blade, Razor, Nails, (the only female) Axe and Machete. On screen they dressed in disguises to suit their names and this brutal dismembering of a family was the type of ritual killing that they had threatened for the past ten years. Many of the killings claimed by the SPIKES until now had been Drug Dealers, Down and outs and the occasional Police Officer, but now if in deed they were responsible for this then they had reached a whole new level. "Get to work" Rodriguez told Santori, "Let me know what you find"     In the living room Jacob Clark was showing signs of life and Detectives Rodriguez and Pollock had some questions that needed to be asked. "Can you think of any reason why anyone would want to wipe out your whole family? he asked. "I have no Idea" was the simple answer. "To your knowledge has your father ever been affiliated to a Drug Gang? "No, never" answered Jacob. "This is no random killing Doctor Clark out here on the nowhere side of town" said Rodriguez, "This is a planned killing bordering on a revenge execution, now if there is anything you can tell me, you must tell me now""I know nothing that could warrant this" answered Jacob, "But where is my young brother, where is Trent? Have you any suspicions on who could have done this, these crazy bastards must be caught" "We have no suspects at the moment" answered the Detective, "But I can assure you that every available Officer in the NYPD and I am sure the FBI will be deployed to the case. Once again Doctor Clark if there is anything please let me know"