FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

No ... oh, no! The flashing lights caught Corona's attention from blocks away and several hundred feet below. As young as she was, she'd seen enough to know exactly what they meant. She changed the angle of her wings and put herself into a steep dive, squinting as the wind whipped at her face and the ground rushed up toward her. She leveled out, glided over the street leading to Skyview Park, descended to the pavement, stumbled, and sprinted toward the park entrance.

Police cars, two ambulances, and other emergency vehicles crowded around the entrance. Four cops spotted her and rushed to intercept her with their hands on their guns.

"Stop!" one of them snapped. "Don't come any closer!"

"My friends are in there! Someone was stalking them. I -"

"Just stay back!" Another officer took a step toward her and reached out to brace his hand against her chest.

Corona sighed and reached for her ID. "Look, I'm with the Jus-"

All four cops drew their guns and she froze. She took a few slow breaths, made eye contact with each of them, and bared her sharp, pointed teeth.

"I'm reaching for my badge." Moving slowly, she extracted the badge and held it up. "I work for the Justice Foundation. Two of my friends are in the park. One of them called me on my phone and begged me to get here as quickly as I could. She was terrified and crying - and point those guns somewhere else before I make you fucking eat'em!"

"Corona!"

She glanced in the general direction the voice had come from, found Hiro standing near the back of one of the ambulances, and jogged over to him. He pointed at the ambulance as it launched into the street with its siren blaring.

"They're taking Kim to the hospital now. Lola's riding with her."

"I - I'm too late? I didn't -"

"So were we. Kim was already badly hurt when we arrived, but she's still alive."

Corona moaned softly and turned to the other ambulance. "What ... what about Myaku? How is she?"

Hiro stared at her and shook his head slowly. Her guts turned cold and the world sort of swiped sideways. She stumbled over to the nearest car and leaned against it.

"What?"

"She was dead when we got here." Hiro's voice faded until it seemed to be coming from a distance. "I'm sorry."

"Wh ..." She sank to the ground, leaned back against the car, pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her wings around herself. Everything turned blurry as tears filled her eyes. "What happened?"

"The police wouldn't talk to me, but I overheard one of them with Lola. He said something about multiple stab wounds."

The stalker._Corona hunched forward, sobbed, and couldn't draw another breath. On the phone, Kim had told her who she thought was following her and Myaku. _The bastard they hired me to scare off. She'd all but forgotten about him since that night. They'd all become close friends, and when the creepy son of a bitch never got near them again, they'd all thought it was over.

This is my fault. I shouldn't have just scared him off. I should've killed him. Corona finally sucked in a deep breath, let it out in a deafening roar, and continued weeping, sobbing so hard that her whole body shook. I should've fucking killed him!

Time slipped away from her. She cried until she was spent, and then a weird, floaty sensation washed over her, as if her mind had come untethered.

Finally, a familiar voice pulled her back. She sniffed, wiped tears away with her palms, and glanced over to the left. A taxi had parked across the street. Jack, Taura, Otto, and Shakira ran over to her from it. She tried to stand, but Jack and Taura dropped to their knees and put their arms around her.

"What's going on?" Jack reached up to stroke her muzzle. "How bad is it?"

"K - Kim's on the way to the hospital," Corona whispered. "Myaku ... it's too late. I didn't get here in time. She's ... she's ..." Corona sobbed again. "That piece of shit killed her!"

Jack stared at her for a long moment. "Kim told you it was the guy who was harassing them a while back? The one they called Pervy Patty?"

Corona nodded. "I should've killed the bastard!"

"Hey, you didn't know this would happen. You couldn't have."

"You were worried that he might try something worse."

"Yeah, but he stayed away from them after that night. You put such a huge scare into him, it seemed to be enough." Jack sighed and rubbed her back. "It's not your fault. You did what they hired you to do. You can't start killing people because of what they _might_do, no matter how fucked-up and crazy they are."

"Jack's right," Taura whispered. She brushed some of Corrie's hair out of her face. "Our job description doesn't include the word,executioner."

"Maybe it should." Corona pushed herself to her feet, leaned on the car and took another long breath. "I'm not letting that motherfucker get away with this."

Jack sighed and held her hand between both of his. "I'll talk to Machiko. If we can get access to every traffic and security camera around the park, we should be able to get a good look at him." He held Corrie's gaze. "We have to be sure it was him before we do anything."

She let out a quick sigh and nodded. "Okay. You're right."

He put his arm around her waist and guided her toward the taxi. "Let's get to the hospital so we can be there for Kim and her mom. I'll make the phone call when we're there."

---

"How is she?" Corona rushed over to Ramirez as soon as they found her sitting in the waiting room.

Ramirez didn't seem to realize they were there for a few seconds. Finally, she glanced up, stared blankly, blinked several times, and pulled herself together.

"Still in surgery," she mumbled. "They ... I overheard one of the EMTs ... saying she was stabbed nine times." Ramirez slumped over, propped her forehead on her palm, and held her breath as tears trickled down her cheeks.

_Damn._Taura couched beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Corona, still weeping, sank to her knees and clasped Ramirez's hand.

Jack reached over to touch Ramirez's other shoulder before stroking Corrie's hair and whispering, "I'll go make the phone call."

She nodded, held his hand for a moment, and let go so he could walk back into the hallway. He stepped through the doorway, glanced to the left, and motioned into the room.

"She's in there." He moved aside. Montoya and Hiro hurried past him and he continued on out of sight.

Taura stood and moved out of Montoya's way. He took her place and laid his hand on Ramirez's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "Is she ...?"

"They're still working on her." She patted his hand, glanced up at Hiro, and held her arms out to him. He leaned over to hug her, and she stroked his beak and then kissed him.

"Hiro called me," Montoya said after giving them a moment. "He told me what happened. I drove straight here. Saw Hiro land just as I entered the parking lot."

"Thanks for coming." She took a slow breath. "Both of you."

"Hey, I'm Kim's Uncle Ricky. Somebody could've shot me square in the chest and it wouldn't have kept me away."

"I'm here for you, Lola. I always will be." Hiro sat on the floor directly in front of her, leaned over, and held her hand.

Taura trudged over to the door, paused to pat Corona's shoulder, and returned to the hallway. She found Jack in the lobby, holding his phone to his ear and staring through the glass doors. Over on one of the sofas in the center of the room, Otto and Shakira sat side by side, Shakira leaning on his shoulder and Otto keeping one arm around her and holding her hand with the other. Jack glanced over his should as Taura approached. She stopped behind him, put her arms around him, and held him silently. He leaned his head back against her chest, reached up, and stroked her cheek.

"Right," he muttered into the phone. "Okay. We'll get on it immediately. Thanks." He listened for a few more seconds. "See you soon." He hung up, slipped the phone into his pocket, turned around, and gave Taura a kiss. "Machiko has authorized us to hunt that bastard down, and given us access to all the cameras around the park, including the ones in police cars that were transmitting nearby."

"Good. I'll get started." Taura walked over to one of the sofas in the center of the large room, took her pocket-supercomputer out, leaned forward to place it on the coffee table, and brought up its hard-light interface. She checked her messages and found one from Machiko containing a list of authorization codes and the cameras around the park. Taura pushed the window to the side and searched for the cameras. Seconds later, she had several dozen windows floating in the holofield projected from her computer.

She narrowed the search down to the time the assault happened, and started the playback on each camera, one by one. The minutes dragged by with nothing coming up on the first seventeen windows. The next one, though, was a hit.

"Got something." She pointed at the image and the others leaned closer. It showed two tiny figures sprinting toward the fence surrounding Skyview Park. Taura zoomed in on them and made out two female humans, but couldn't get a clear look at their faces.

A male human entered the top of the frame, running straight toward him.

"He's got something in his hand," Shakira said softly before sticking a finger under her glasses and wiping tears from under her eye.

"Looks pointy," Otto said. "Probably the knife he ... used."

One of the fleeing girls had her hand up to the side of her head. Her phone, probably.

The other fell behind and then tripped on something and plowed face-first into the grass. Her mouth opened in a scream that wasn't close enough for the camera's mic to pick up. The girl in front turned to run back to her, but stopped abruptly.

The male reached the other and pounced. She managed to slide out from under him and bolt in a blind panic. She reached the fence, tried to climb over, but he caught up with her and pulled her back down. She scrambled across the ground, backed up against the fence, held her hands up, and shook her head. She sobbed and spoke frantically, probably begging for her life.

The male stared at her for several seconds. His mouth moved. The girl regained some of her composure, as if starting to hope she could get out of this unharmed.

The man lunged suddenly and rammed the knife into her belly.

"No," Shakira groaned.

Corona clamped her hands over her muzzle.

The girl doubled over and let out a long scream, fell to her knees, and continued screaming and weeping. The man stared at her for a few more seconds before plunging the knife into her again and again.

Corona sobbed again and squeezed her eyes shut.

Taura turned away from the image for a few seconds, but had to force her eyes back to it to try to see the killer's face.

The other girl released a shriek of her own, turned, and ran. The phone sipped from her hand. She'd almost made it to the gate when the man tackled her. Both hit the sidewalk, the man landing on top of her, and struggled for a few seconds.

He raised the knife and drove it into her chest, raised it again, and brought it back down, over and over and over.

Taura's stomach churned and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"That ... evil ... bastard!" Corona glared at the image with her clenched teeth exposed and her quick breaths hissing through them.

The killed glanced up suddenly, pushed himself to his feet, and bolted.

_There._Taura ran it back to the moment when he looked up, and paused it. She reached into the window, circled his face with a fingertip, and copied it into her facial-recognition app. Then she pointed at the spot where the girl had dropped her phone.

"I'll check with the police and see if they found that phone. If it didn't cut off when she dropped it, we can get a voiceprint." She opened a new window and ran the search, then she resumed the playback.

Two familiar figured charged into the frame, one a human woman in jeans and a denim jacket, and the other a young draconid in shorts and a T-shirt made to fit around his wings. Taura drew in a quick breath.

"Fuck. It happened right in front of her. She got there just in time to _see_that piece of shit stab her little girl!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Shakira mumbled. Otto gave her shoulder a gentle tug and she leaned over farther until her head rested on his chest, and he slipped both arms around her.

In the camera feed, Lola and Hiro dropped to the ground beside Kim. Lola dug her own phone out, fumbled it, picked it back up, and dialed a number. Taura sighed and stopped the playback.

"I can't even imagine how Ramirez must feel," Otto said softly. "To get there just in time to see it happen, but not soon enough to prevent it ..."

Taura glanced at one of the other windows and pulled it forward. "I've got four potential matches on the killer's face. The image wasn't clear enough to narrow it down." She flicked her hand and the four faces enlarged.

"That's him," Corona hissed, pointing at the second mugshot. "Patrick Henderson. That's the sick fuck who was stalking Kim and her friends."

Jack patted her shoulder. "We'll need an exact match. If you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do, we need more than a _possible_match. There can't be any doubt."

Taura pointed at the other window. "Well, the cops found the phone and logged it in. According to this, Kim was on the phone with the police when Myaku was killed, and it picked up Henderson's voice." She sighed and glanced over at Corrie. "They ran a voiceprint and its an exact match. An arrest warrant has been issued, but he hasn't been brought in yet."

Corona and Jack exchanged a glance, but said nothing. Both faced Taura, and the ferocity on Corrie's face made her heart twitch. She turned away, took a deep breath, and tapped Henderson's mugshot. The window enlarged and expanded to show his criminal record. Taura gaped at it.

"Look at all the times he's been arrested, but every time he was released an hour or two later."

"He must have connections," Jack muttered. "Someone protecting him, pulling strings to keep him out of prison every time he gets into trouble."

"Right. All those stalking, harassment, and sexual assault charges dropped. He's done it dozens of times, and the charges just ... went away."

"Not this time," Corona snarled. She stood and took a step toward the front door. "If Lola hears about this, convince her to stay. Kim needs her mom here. I'll make sure that piece of shit never hurts anyone ever again."

"Corrie, wait." Jack stood and grasped her hand. "Are you sure you want to do this? You're not a murderer."

"No, I'm not. Henderson is. I'm just going to make sure he doesn't get away with it again. All I need to do is find him."

"Here's something that could help." Taura pointed at another window in the holofield. "The officer who logged the phone into evidence has also arrested Henderson multiple times." Taura flicked her gaze down the list and counted them. "His name's Cody Dillingham. He's hauled this guy in twenty-four different times in the past few years, and each time he had to watch the bastard slip through his fingers. I bet he's motivated to take Henderson down, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knows where to find him."

"Which station is he in? I'll go talk to him first."

"I'll text you the address, but be sure you delete it once you've memorized it, just in case. And stop by the Foundation and pick up your armor. It'll reduce the amount of DNA you leave at the scene. You can probably borrow one of the spare cars, too." Taura shivered at the thought of what her girlfriend was about to do, but shook it off and began typing a message. "I'm sending all this to Machiko. Hold on a moment."

Ten seconds passed, then twenty. A beep came from the computer's speaker and an incoming-call icon with Machiko's user image appeared in the holofield. Taura tapped it.

"Hello, Machiko."

"I've received the file you sent."

"Orders?" Corona arched a brow ridge and waited.

"You can probably guess what I'd do, but I won't order you to take any action you're not comfortable with. However, whatever you decide to do, you'll have my full and unquestioning support."

"Thank you." Corona let a breath whoosh out and turned back to the door. "Well. I'm gonna get this over with."

"I'll go with you." Jack hurried back to Taura and kissed her. "Let us know if you hear anything about Kim."

"I will. Both of you be careful."

Corrie darted over, kissed her, and strode to the door.

Taura watched Jack catch up to her and both of them charge out the door. She sighed again, brushed her hair away from her face, and stared into the holofield.

Shit.

---

Well, here we go. Jack almost held his breath as he and Corona got out of the van they'd borrowed from their headquarters and marched across the parking lot in front of the police station. The two of them bursting through the front door in full armor was bound to cause a stir. Even if they'd been wearing just their civilian clothes, given their history with the city police, he'd be amazed if they didn't open fire on sight.

"Hey." Corona nudged his shoulder and pointed off to the right. "That's Dillingham, right there."

Jack turned and zoomed his cybernetic eyes in on a tall, dark-skinned man in a loose-fitting polo shirt and cargo pants. His face matched the file Taura had sent them a few minutes ago. Beside him was a younger man with lighter skin, probably Dillingham's partner.

"Looks like we caught him at the end of his shift," Jack said.

Corona lunged forward. Jack grabbed at her arm with his left hand, missed, and caught her tail in his right hand. She stopped and frowned over her shoulder.

"Easy, Corrie. Try not to come on too strong. We need this guy to cooperate, so let's not make him an enemy right off the bat."

She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "You're right. Sorry."

He patted her back and walked over to Dillingham and the other guy. They didn't notice him and Corona at first.

"Thanks again for the lift," the other guy said as they opened the doors of an old sedan. "My car should be fixed in a few more days, then I'll be out of your hair."

"It's not a problem. After what we just had to deal with, I need to feel like I actually made a difference."

Jack and Corrie took their ID out and held them up as they approached. Dillingham and the other guy finally heard their footsteps and spun around. The former cocked his head and aimed a bewildered stare at them, while the latter gasped and stumbled back into the open door.

"Relax, guys, we're with the Justice Foundation. I'm Jack Hammer and this is Corona Borealis." When Dillingham turned to face him, Jack realized the man's eyes were red and puffy, as if he'd been crying recently. "We need to ask you a few questions about an assault that happened earlier this evening."

"I think I know which one you mean." Dillingham sighed and rubbed a hand over his forehead. "The two teenage girls in Skyview Park, right?"

"Yes," Corona growled. "We know who did it, and we think you can help us find him."

"Yeah, Patrick Henderson. I've lost count of the number of times I've arrested that asshole, then someone above me let him off the hook." He took another slow breath, glanced around, and motioned at something behind Jack. "There's a diner right down the street. We can talk there."

Jack raised an eyebrow and Dillingham shrugged.

"I usually stop there for a quick bite after work, anyway, and right now, I just need a comfortable place around me." He glanced at the station and grimaced. "At times like this, I just don't feel right when I'm anywhere near this place."

Jack shrugged. "Lead the way."

Dillingham began walking and the others caught up to him. He flicked his hand at the other guy and said, "Oh, this is my partner, Glenn Coleman."

Coleman glanced at Jack and Corrie, didn't smile or nod, and said nothing. He faced forward again and just walked alongside Dillingham.

"I honestly hope you can make the charges stick, this time," Dillingham said once they'd walked about a block. "This bastard has been stalking and assaulting people for years. Before, he's always followed someone around and harassed them and finally escalated to groping them, and when he gets arrested for it and then released, he finds a new target. This is the first time he's ever gotten this violent, though."

"He should've been locked up a long time ago," Jack said. "We're guessing he's got some serious connections. Friends or relatives who have enough pull to keep him on the street."

"Oh, you have no idea." Dillingham pointed at a 1950s-style restaurant on the right and held the door open for them. He followed them through, sat on the stool at the counter, and smiled when a waitress handed him a menu. He swiveled to face Jack and Corona again. "He's got an uncle who's pretty high up in the Weisser Corporation. Near the top, in fact."

Jack and Corrie flicked a sharp glance at each other.

"Them again," Corona growled softly.

"Ah, you've run into them before?"

"Yeah." Jack sighed and leaned on the counter. "Right after I quit my previous job and started working freelance with Corona. Kim and her friends hired her to scare Henderson off because he was stalking them, and I helped her out. Then we stumbled into a data-smuggling operation they were involved in, and it damn near got us killed."

"So, this lunatic has a rich and powerful relative protecting him." Corona sneered.

"Yep." Dillingham ordered a burger, fries, and soft drink, and put the menu down. "Each time I arrested him, someone would put a little more pressure on someone above me in the chain of command. When I entered that phone voiceprint as evidence ..." Dillingham held his breath, pressed his lips together, and closed his eyes for several seconds. When he'd regained his composure, he shook his head slowly. "I hope you haven't listened to that phone call. That poor girl screamed and cried and begged him not to kill her. And ... I'll never forget what he said to her. 'You shouldn't have dumped me, but it's okay. I'm releasing you.'"

Coleman shivered and folded his arms over his chest.

"Henderson and the rest of the world have vastly different definitions of the word, 'release.'" Jack grimaced and shook his head. Guess that explains why Myaku looked hopeful for a few seconds before that maniac killed her.

"Yeah." Dillingham rubbed a hand over his mouth and sighed. "The tone of his voice was the creepiest thing I've ever heard. I had a voiceprint analysis run on it, and it came back as a one-hundred-percent match. It's Henderson. There's no doubt. I don't know what the hell happened. Like I said, he was fucked-up, but he's never attacked anyone that violently before. Something tipped him over."

"A person like him is a ticking bomb," Coleman said, finally breaking his silence. "He would've escalated sooner or later, no matter what."

Corona winced. Jack reached over to take her hand.

Dillingham braced his arms on the counter, stared at the floor on the other side, and finally turned to raise an eyebrow at Jack. "I hope you have something solid enough to keep him locked up, this time."

Corona stared back at him for several seconds before speaking. "He won't be a problem anymore."

Dillingham tossed an alarmed glance at her. She held his gaze for a few more seconds.

"So. Where can we find him?"

---

"Nice place." Jack stared across the street at the large, square building with neon lights and strobes flashing each time someone opened the front door. The almost drumbeats shook the ground for almost a block in every direction. "If you're an anthropologist."

"Some of those humans look more bizarre than the early genetic experiments that eventually produced me and Taura." Corona gaped at the line of people stretching from the door almost to the street corner. "And I've seen some really fucked-up prototypes. Like the _spider_anthros." She shuddered at the memory.

"He's got someone who lets him stay in the apartment above that rave hall. They keep blasting that so-called music all night. I don't know how that guy even sleeps."

"The noise is a good cover for anything he does in there, though." Jack sneered. "He could scream as loud as he wants while ejaculating into his toilet and then rubbing his hand on the door frame, and nobody would ever hear it."

"Anyone in other apartments there?" The noise should cover what I'm about to do, too.

"There's only the one apartment, and he doesn't have anyone staying with him."

_Perfect._Corona stared at the line for a few more seconds before returning to her seat in the back of the van. "There's no way we'll get in without being noticed. Let's see if we can find a way in from the back."

Jack nodded and drove around the corner. He pointed at an alley and said, "How's that?"

"Looks good." When he parked and shut the engine down, she slid the door open and jumped out. She charged into the alley without waiting for the others. When she reached the back of the rave hall, she glanced around, found a fire escape ladder, and leaped up to it. She grabbed on, climbed to the roof, and gave the structure ahead a quick visual sweep. It looked like a block sitting on top of the larger block beneath her feet, and was about the size of a small house. She glanced over her shoulder and found Jack and the cops catching up to her.

"I'm running a thermo scan with my eyes," Jack said before grimacing. "I've got one human-shaped heat signature, and from the way it's moving, it looks like he's sitting at a desk and punchin' his munchkin."

Dillingham shook his head. "That sounds like our guy, alright."

Corona nodded and stormed around to the front, where she found a door. Without hesitating even a heartbeat, she cocked her leg back and drove it into the door like a piston, her foot striking beside the knob and snapping the bolt like a dry twig. She shoved the door open, launched through, and caught a glimpse of Henderson leaping off his chair and pulling his pants up. Corona didn't even look at his computer monitor, keeping her glare on him instead.

"What the fuck?" He fumbled with his belt buckle and backed away from her.

"I'm here about the two girls you attacked in the park."

His eyes opened wider and he sucked in a quick breath.

"One of whom you killed." Corona advanced on him. "Her name was Myaku."

"Shit," he grunted, and stumbled back until he bumped into the wall.

"She was my friend," Corona growled, and took another step toward him. "So is the other one. She's alive, but still might not survive."

His eyes appeared to glaze over and he mumbled, "They didn't want me, so I didn't want them. I released them."

Corona roared and lunged at him. He whimpered and scrambled into the kitchen. She hurled herself after him. He reached the counter, grabbed a steak knife, and slashed at her. She blocked it with her left arm and the point of the blade struck her armor and snapped off. She slapped the knife out of his hand, plowed into him, and shoved him into the wall.

"You can't!"

She snarled, pulled her fist back, and drove it into his left side. Several of his ribs shattered under her gauntlet and he doubled over and tried to breathe. She spun and slammed him into the refrigerator hard enough to crack the door down the middle and spring the hinges. He screamed and whimpered again.

"Christ," Coleman blurted.

Corona ignored him, clamped her talons around the back of Henderson's head, and smashed him face-first into the edge of the sink. He let out another shriek and blood poured from his broken nose.

"Oh, no need to get upset," she growled at him as he fell to the floor. "I'm releasing you!" She landed a kick to his gut that scooted him across the floor. She stomped over to him, leaped, and rammed her foot into his gut. He curled up and vomited blood.

She caught a glimpse of Coleman turning away, hunching over, and clamping a hand over his mouth. Dillingham reached out to rest a shaking hand on his back.

Jack stared at her, his face turning pale.

Corona returned her attention to Henderson, dropped on top of him, and smashed her fist into his face. She cocked it back and punched him again, and again, and again. Everything faded out until a hand touched her shoulder, and she found herself still ramming her fist into the mangled remains of his skull.

"It's over, Corrie," Jack said softly. "It's done. Come on." He tugged on her arm.

She sobbed and slumped against the wall as the realization of what she'd just done sank in.

"We need to go." Jack pointed at the sink. "Clean up first."

She glanced at her arms and hands, and found blood and chunks of brain all over them. She pushed herself to her feet, staggered over to the sink, and turned the water on. She washed the gore away, turned the faucet off, leaned on the sink, and stared at her trembling hands.

"We'll go back to HQ and drop the armor off," Jack said. "Then we'll head back to the hospital and check on Kim. Okay?"

Corona nodded, sniffed again, and trudged out the front door.

"What the hell," Coleman muttered. "We're just gonna let her go? You_saw_ what she just did!"

"No, I didn't," Dillingham snapped back. "And neither did you. Understood?"

Corona stumbled over to the ladder, climbed down, and burst into tears after taking a few steps along the alley. Jack put his arms around her and held her silently for a moment. Finally, he glanced over at Dillingham.

"Thanks for not getting in the way."

"Sometimes you gotta do what needs to be done." Dillingham turned to stare up at the roof, sighed, and then hung his head. "We just can't make a habit of it."

"Yeah." Jack held Corona for a few more seconds, stepped back, and waved a hand at the van. "Come on, honey. Let's get the hell out of here."