Anonymous Rex

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan swore as he watched the Progressives retreat, ducking quickly back towards another set of stairways leading back towards the lobby.  At this point, he figured the police were already on the way, and, if there were any saurians among them...well, he didn't feel like dealing with that right now.  After all, as far as the Council were concerned, he was as much a threat as the Progressives, all for his radical ideas.  As he made his way to the first floor, he heard the sounds of police shouting, and froze, sighing and fixing his hair before opening the door...

[bushwacked]

When the doors behind him thumped open, Nicky almost had a heart attack. "Jesus!" he gasped as he spun around to train his gun on her. He moved forward to follow Dan's order, keeping the barrel level with the woman's chest. As he approached, his nostrils caught a familiar scent. An Ornithomimus. She's one of us. "Keep your hands up," Nicky instructed as he reached her. He patted her down with one hand, and couldn't find a weapon or anything else suspicious. "All right, she's clean!" he called back to Dan, then put a hand on the disguised dinosaur's shoulder. "The rest of the police force is almost here. Can you hear the sirens?" he asked, trying to reassure the trembling female as he guided her quickly towards the double doors. Through the glass, he could see flashing lights as the police vehicles circled around to the entrance of the parking lot. He opened a door and pushed her lightly outside. "Go down and wait for them. Keep your hands up in the air, and when they come for you tell them what you just told us. Don't worry, they'll take care of you." He held his badge high up so the approaching officers could see it, then retreated back inside and joined Dan.

"Did you hear? Eighth floor, multiple perps. Heavily armed." He leaned over the desk to check the two bodies, noting their clean, precise gunshot wounds. "And it looks like they're professionals..." he added darkly. Just as he finished talking, he heard movement on the other side of the opposite stairway door. Nudging the brontosaur, he raised himself up and took aim.

[Pterano]

The woman smiled slightly as Nicky patted her down, ready to unleash a massive amount of pheromones onto him that would leave his head spinning and his mind thinking it was back in the Jurassic. As it was though, she wasn't detained by him, which was exactly what she had been hoping for but hadn't been expecting. She was technically a murderer now, having snapped Mitchell's neck up on the eighth floor, but Detective Chaseman had no way of knowing that. She carried no weapon of course... she abhorred personal weapons and had an even bigger dislike for them now after what her former mentor and confidante had done... She also had no love for the dinos up on eight, and therefore had no qualms about killing them.

Relaxing, her smile grew as Nicky told her to surrender herself to the police outside. Not likely she thought. She had come here for a very specific purpose, and now that that purpose was complete, she was disappearing. She wasn't sure what kind of dino he'd pegged her as, but she was purposely emitting only a very weak scent for just such a purpose. While most dinos had absolutely no control over their own scent glands, she had perfected hers through years and years of training, which had started at a very young age. Not only that, this particular female raptor had a gift for it, which is why she'd been targeted as a youth. But it had all been a lie... a lie she was intending to correct with each passing day.

Detective Chaseman had fallen for her innocent girl act, and that was fine by her. She even threw in a few tremors for him as he escorted her to the front door. The cops were on their way in, so it was time to beat a hasty retreat. "Thank you so much, detective." she said graciously, giving his arm a grateful squeeze and watching as he turned back around to confer with his partner over the dead security guards.

Keeping her hands up for show, she walked purposefully out into the lot and towards the approaching cop cars, and then suddenly, dropped her hands and raced around for the rear of the building, vanishing from sight before the squad cars had screeched to a halt out front. In a few more seconds, she was inside her car and making for one of the side exits to the lot before the police had a chance to close those off. In another three minutes she was back on Westwood's main roads, and in another twenty she'd be just another anonymous car winding its way up to the Hollywood Hills. Circe sighed to herself as she sank deeper into her seat. She hated having to hide like this, but she had no choice. She'd been wanted when she'd last been "alive", but she'd also been a complete dupe for Raal and his organization as well without even realizing it. And now she was a fugitive... this life had to end at some point... it just had to. Maybe she'd turn herself in and explain things... but not yet... not until she saw... him again.

Detective Patterson was examining the bodies of the deceased guards now, and shaking his head as he pointed with a finger. "See that? Two shots to the neck and forehead... first one was most likely the neck. The second guard was hit in the heart... he never had much of a chance. You're right... these guys know what they're doing..." he trailed off as the stairwell door opened again, and he brought his Smith & Wesson back up rapidly, training it on the male guised dino exiting now. "LAPD! Let's see your hands!" Dan ordered, wondering how many were going to start pouring down the stairs now that they realized something was clearly wrong in the building. Didn't these people realize that it was safer to stay indoors?

Dan's nostrils picked up Cailan's scent though, and he relaxed, if only ever so slightly, still keeping his weapon trained on him. Even though this newcomer was a dino, Detective Patterson wasn't taking any chances.

===================

Up on the eighth floor, Kauffman and his team were busy readying wires for their exit off the balcony of the apartment they'd breached. It had been exactly ten minutes since their entrance into the building, and they were right on time, as far as the carnotaur was concerned. Anchoring their mechanized wires to the balustrades, the team began their rapid descent to the parking lot below. "Let's make this snappy, folks!" Kauffman ordered. "I'm allergic to sirens!" he commented as he could hear the police entering the front lot.

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan stepped out from the stairwell, hands raised in surrender.  He had already scented the fact that the two cops were Dinos, and had resigned himself to the fact that this encounter was *not* going to end well.  
"Yeah, yeah...I hear you.  No need to shout."
He said coolly...

[bushwacked]

Nicky furrowed his brow. Something about the raptor who'd just emerged seemed familiar. Then it clicked. "I've seen him here before, the last time we had to come down when the security system buzzed for no reason," he muttered to his partner, "But that's not enough to determine if he lives here."

The man's placid demeanor made Nicky uneasy. "Something's up with him... he isn't a normal civilian." He raised his voice. "Come closer and keep your hands where we can see them!" Damn it, if anyone's still alive on the eighth floor we're wasting too much time down here...

[Ducky123]

Heather lead Vincent to her car and hurried to jump on. Navigating through the streets, she wondered what was happening this time. It sure seemed to be a priority A call, Vincent received.
"Hey Vincent," she called. "Mind telling me what that's all about?"
For some reason, she could already feel there was trouble with the Progressives again..

[Pterano]

Vincent shook his head. "The security alarm's been tripped at the condo building I live at. It's probably nothing but... several prominent dinos live there, including some councilors." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began fiddling with it, noting he had a new text from Dan. Opening it up, his face fell. "There's been shots fired at the building. I'm sure the police are there now but... you really sure you want to accompany me?" he asked, looking over at her. "I wouldn't want you getting in the middle of something, after all." he said with concern.

=============================

"You a resident?" Dan asked, approving of Nicky's order for Cailan to approach them. "I'm gonna need to see some ID." he commanded, starting to walk towards him now.

The police began entering the building, led by Lieutenant Culverhouse. "What's the situation, gentlemen? Detective Chaseman, who was that woman you sent out of the building?" he asked. "We couldn't get to her in time before she moved off. Was she clean?" he inquired. Lieutenant Culverhouse was an iguanodon, though none of the cops at his back were dinos.

Dan's face flicked for just an instant, but his eyes didn't leave Cailan. "She moved off?" he queried, confused all of a sudden. "Did you happen to get her name?" he asked his impromptu partner.

Before any further talk could pass between them however, gunfire could be heard coming from the building's rear. "We're taking fire from some black vans!" the radios crackled, and Dan stiffened.

"Jesus!" he uttered, listening now to the firefight taking place in the back of the building.

"All right... get some backup out there!" Culverhouse ordered. "Detective Chaseman, head up with a team and secure the eighth floor. Use extreme caution. Detective Patterson, clear this guy." he nodded at Cailan.

==========================

Two police cruisers had rounded the building to secure the flanks, but had been opened up on almost immediately by the retreating mercs. Kauffman poured rounds into the windshield of one of the cruisers as it swerved to avoid the oncoming fire, the cop in the passenger seat struggling to get a clear shot.

Peppering the police vehicles, the mercs quickly piled into the back of the vans which began roaring off, zooming for the side exit Circe had taken. The two police cruisers began a chase, though it was clear they were outgunned. They began requesting heavier support as they wove through the lot, having to keep a respectable distance as the vans tore into the main thoroughfares of Westwood.

The escape route had been carefully planned however, and only a few blocks away, a large semi-trailer suddenly started backing up into the main road, pulling out just after the vans had cleared it, and causing both cruisers to slam hard on the brakes to avoid a collision and try and pull around the trailer's back.

Taking advantage of the momentary delay, the vans shot right into a parking garage, screeched to a halt, and their occupants quickly exited and made their way to a series of SUVs where their coveralls were ditched and they piled into the new vehicles, which started quietly making their way out of the building's garage at the rear entrance.

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan sighed, walking over slowly and holding his hands up.
"Alright, alright.  I can just tell you now that I am armed, sets of bladed tarot cards in the coat.  I wouldn't want any surprises."
He said calmly, grinning a little...

[Pterano]

Dan took the cards out and looked them over, studying their intricate design. "Interesting choice of weapon." he commented. "Are you a resident here?" he asked.

"Copy that." Lieutenant Culverhouse was saying into his radio. "Seems a good deal of the perps fled in those vans. We're trying to track their whereabouts now. If there are any on the eighth floor, I want them alive!" he ordered. "Clear this building! Let's get teams in here!" he shouted, taking charge of the floor.

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan nodded, pulling out one of his myriad false ID's, this one under the alias of "Fujita Gorobei".
"Yeah, I do.  That's why I was here, actually.  Came in, saw the guards were dead, and I panicked, wanted to make sure that they weren't trying to break into my place."
He said, smirking a little...

[bushwacked]

As Nicky moved past Cailan, leading a group of three human policeman, he noted the smirk on his face. "You seem oddly calm for someone who's neighbors were just attacked, Mr. Gorobei." As he made his way across, his eyes met Dan's for a second. Be careful around him. The elevators were still moving between floors at random, so Nicky cautiously approached the stairway and lead the way up, his gun covering each corner.

As they reached the eighth floor, the smell of gun powder and blood became stronger. The air was still, and apart from the footsteps of the police following behind him, softened by the stair's carpeting, he couldn't hear anything. Nearing the top, Nicky held his hand up. Stop. Taking a deep breath, he poked his head around the corner, taking a quick glance in both directions. When he looked to the right, his mouth tightened. The bodies of two guards lay sprawled in the corridor, riddled with bullets. Blood spray and bullet holes peppered the walls, and as Nicky's eyes followed them, he noticed a door just further down the corridor which was slightly ajar. "Damn..." Nicky muttered as he made out a gold name plaque on the door. Senator Morrow. This didn't look good.

"Two bodies. Guards. It looks like a move's been made on Senator Morrow," he whispered down to the police waiting behind him. "Keep alert, the perps could still be inside." He rounded the corner and approached the door. The bodies lay in a way which meant Nicky had to stick to the wall opposite the open door, exposing himself to any potential gunfire... But nothing happened. He signaled for his team to get in position, then raised his voice. "LAPD! Lay down your weapons!" They waited for several moments, but there was no sign of any life. He nodded to the policeman closest to the door and raised his pistol to cover him. The cop kicked the door the rest of the way in and charged inside, his shotgun ready. Nicky followed behind, the other two bringing up the rear. Bodies were strewn across the suite, all of them Morrow's guards. The Councillor himself lay on his side, his chest torn apart by automatic gunfire. Looks like his body armour wasn't enough.

Nicky turned to the three cops behind him. "You two, secure the rest of the suite. Check the bathrooms, the bedrooms. And be careful." He already knew the assassins would be gone - this was a professional hit, but it didn't hurt to be thorough. He turned to the third policeman, the youngest, who'd gone pale and kept staring at the bodies. "Get out of here. Radio this down to Culverhouse. Tell him Morrow's dead."

As the young cop hurried out, looking unwell, Nicky surveyed the scene around him. Whoever the hitmen were, six professional bodyguards weren't enough to stop them. "Goddamnit..." he muttered.

[Ducky123]

"Oh gee..." Heather gasped as she heard the bad news. "Well, in that case, I better stay safe in the car. Maybe that'll prove helpful later."

[Pterano]

"And you didn't think to call the police?" Detective Patterson asked, pulling out his phone and photographing the ID. "Mr. Gorobei, I hope you appreciate that you're now a witness to this crime, and your statement will have to be taken." the brontosaur stated. He called a uniform over, and told him to run Cailan's name through the system... the assumed name of course.

"Are you sure?" Lieutenant Culverhouse was saying in the background. "Dammit... they were targeting Senator Morrow, from initial appearances." he said aloud, having received Nicky's preliminary report. Senator Morrow was also Councillor Morrow, one of the senior members of the South California Council. What exactly these mercenaries wanted with him Culverhouse didn't say, but he intended to find out. Sebastian Morrow was also newly elected to the United States Senate, but had been home for the holidays getting ready to see his family, according to the reports coming in from the precinct.

Dan waited patiently while the cop went off to the parking lot to run the name and number.

Out front, Heather's car pulled up to the condo building now, and Vincent pursed his lips. "This looks serious. Wait here... I'll be right back or tell you it's OK to come in." He opened the door before the car had fully stopped, and hopped out, jogging to the entrance, where he was stopped by a swarm of officers. "Look, I just need... can I get by?"

"Sorry sir, this is an active crime scene, I can't let you in." One officer said.

Vincent sighed. "Look, I live here... I'm a private investigator... call Detective Dan Patterson, he should be on the scene... he knows me..." Vincent insisted.

Sighing, the officer radioed for Dan, who responded back in the affirmative that Rubio was OK. Dan headed over to Culverhouse, who was attempting to stop Vincent from entering the building. "Sir... he helped break the Progressives... I mean really break them. Remember that case?" Dan muttered under his breath.

"Oh..."

"I'd like him to look at the scene, sir." Patterson continued.

Nodding, Culverhouse caved, and had Vincent granted access. The raptor PI turned around to Heather and motioned for her to join him now.

=================================

There was one detail that Nicky would notice on Senator Morrow's body. A piece of cardboard was on his chest, and written in blood were the words:

PROGRESS CANNOT BE STOPPED

It wasn't clear whose blood it was, and if it had been made on the spot or prefabricated, but the words glared at him with their red lettering, demanding attention. Other than that, the place appeared to have been cleaned. Blood was conspicuously absent, the only shell casings present belonged to the security detail, and scents of dinos lingered everywhere.

"Uh... detective?" the young cop that Nicky had sent away to radio in the status poked his head back into the door. "There's a dead body around the corner. I caught sight of him as I was heading back. He's dressed like a cleaner, but there's a silenced MP5 next to him. He's lying in front of an open apartment." the cop explained.

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan smirked a little, then shrugged.
"This isn't the first time I've had something like this happen.  Let's just say I had a rough childhood.  That and my run-ins with cops haven't always been so amiable."
He said blithely, though he knew that if his ID was run in the saurian database, he would be found out as a wanted man...

[bushwacked]

Nicky gave the young cop a nod. "Thanks. I'll head over to take a look now." The other two cops came back into the main room.

"There's nothing else. Whatever happened, it all went down in here," the older of the two reported.

"Alright. We'll still comb every room down, just to be sure." Nicky rubbed his jaw, then inclined his head down to Morrow's corpse, and the sign tied to it. "What do you make of that?"

The cops shrugged. "Looks like the work of a f***ing psychopath to me," the one holding the shotgun grunted.

"Hmn. Sounds like whoever did this isn't finished." Nicky sighed and started to make his way back out of the room. "Stay here and wait for the photographer. Don't let any of this get messed with, and don't touch the bodies." Stepping through the doorway, he made his way down the corridor in the direction the young cop had indicated. He turned the corner and there was the body of the supposed 'cleaner' sprawled on the floor, an MP5 laying a short distance away. The open door the cop had described belonged to a 'Vincent Rubio'. Nicky crouched down next to the body. The neck's broken... He sniffed. And he's a dinosaur. Who'd killed this guy? A human wouldn't have the strength to snap a dino's neck...

Nicky stood up. He was picking up another scent, and it seemed familiar. His eyes widened. "The dino from the stairway..." he whispered to himself. It seemed slightly different, but still recognisably hers. She ran away before the police could question her... What part did she play? Did she break his neck? He drew his gun again and started to step into the apartment.

[Pterano]

As it was, Dan Patterson had every intention of running Cailan's ID through the dino database, but he didn't have access to that at the moment and would have to wait until he got back to the station.

Approaching now with Vincent and Heather, Dan shifted his attention once more to Cailan. "So... did you witness anything?" Dan asked, taking out a notepad now. "Get a good look at anyone?"

======================

Vincent's apartment was mostly tidy, though had some of the usual sloppiness of a bachelor pad. It was nowhere near as big as Senator Morrow's, but it was still spacious. It was mostly all white, with white walls and a while marble pillar here and there, and was completely built in the contemporary style (somewhat to the occupant's displeasure).

The most notable thing for Nicky though would be the scents. He would be picking up a Cuban cigar scent that lingered around, indicating it was most likely the owner's. There was something else too though... and it was heavy. It permeated the air like a freshly applied perfume, and it was nearly intoxicating. It was strong enough to make any dino's head swim.

It was an herbal mixture of basil, oregano, and cilantro, all noxiously sweet herbs that could inebriate a dino if chewed at large intervals. It seemed to be heaviest in the bedroom. Nothing seemed particularly out of place or disturbed in the apartment, though it was unusual that it had been unlocked.

Beside the bed, on a nightstand, there stood a solitary card, gift wrapped with a green bow affixed to its front. Vincent was scrawled in handwriting along the front, with no address, indicating it might have been dropped off or personally handed to the occupant, though it hadn't been opened.

[Ducky123]

Heather jumped out of her car and locked it. Eventually having arrived at the building, she scanned the room. "Whatever has happened is already over, eh?" she asked Vincent.

[Pterano]

"It seems like it." Vincent nodded. He was in fact, very grateful for that, as he didn't want to put Heather in any real danger... and wasn't so keen on facing armed assailants himself. "Any leads on who did this?" he asked Dan now.

"Detective Nick Chaseman is handling the crime scene investigations upstairs, but from the information that's coming in, it seems Senator Morrow was the target." Dan replied, nodding towards the elevators, which had stopped once the security desk had been rebooted.

Vincent bit his lower lip. "I see..." Councillor Morrow was a senior member in south California... though Vincent couldn't think of any direct reason he'd be targeted. He hadn't started any new initiatives as of late in the South California Council, as far as Vincent could tell, and had only recently been elected to the US Senate. Why anyone would murder him was a mystery, as far as Vincent was concerned. There were far more... productive targets in the Council, at least as far as Vincent was concerned.

"Why don't you go on up? Talk to Detective Chaseman. Tell him about the..." Dan paused here, lowering his voice. "Well... what happened in March and April. I told him briefly about you."

Vincent nodded, and looked at Heather. "Come on... let's go up. I'll show you my place." he suggested, and strode over to the elevator now.

In a few minutes more, Vincent was nearing his apartment, noting the dead... was that a cleaner? He certainly didn't look like the cleaning staff the building employed. He had a sub-machine gun by his side, and was sprawled a few feet down the hall from his door, his head twisted at an odd angle, the neck clearly broken. "What the hell?" Vincent asked, noticing his door was open. He'd locked it on his way out... or so he'd thought.

Jogging forward, the first thing to hit him was the scent... that sickly sweet aroma of herbs that flooded his nostrils and caused his mind to soak it in in wonderful, poignant flashbacks. That voluptuous tail, those emerald scales, those deep wells of eyes. And that scent... it was her. She had been here! But... how was that even possible? He'd watched her plummet to her fiery death... but unless someone was burning an insane amount of herbs in his apartment (and he didn't smell smoke), it was her.

Realizing he'd closed his eyes during his daydream, Vincent slowly came back to reality as he looked around now. "Hello?" he asked, noticing what looked like another LAPD detective in here. "Detective Chaseman?" the PI inquired, stepping forward now with his hand out. "I'm the owner... Vincent, Vincent Rubio. Detective Patterson is a mutual friend. He suggested I talk to you about..." he looked around to make sure no cops or other mammals were present. "The Progressives." he said softly. "But before that... has someone broken in? I'm pretty sure I locked this place before I left this morning."

[StarfallRaptor]

Cailan shook his head.
"I didn't get a good look at any of the assailants.  Too many bullets flying and all.  But I can tell you that one of them'll have a nasty scar on his chest, and another one on his hand."
He said calmly, grinning a little...

[bushwacked]

Nicky, who was just coming back out from the bedroom, started slightly at the sound of Vincent's voice. "Mr. Rubio," he said, making his way over to shake the raptor's hand. When Vincent mentioned the Progressives, Nicky met his eyes. Is this the 'guy' Dan mentioned? "I hope you don't mind - I decided to take a look around. To be honest, I was half expecting to find you in here and not in your current... healthy condition."

He nodded in response to Vincent's question and walked over to the door. "The door was already open... but as you can see, it wasn't forced. And," Nicky continued, leaning out of the doorway and indicating the body, "From the position he ended up in, it looks like he was thrown away from the door."

He looked up grimly at Vincent. "I don't want to alarm you, Mr. Rubio, but it looks like the people who attacked Morrow were also after you... but obviously, something went wrong. I think someone beat them here, someone who'd already let them-self in, and who was able enough to surprise and then fight off the assassins when they came for you."

Nicky paused. "There's a card left for you in the bedroom. I'm assuming you don't know about it, considering it's still in the envelope and wrapped with a bow. Do you know who might want to, ah, get your attention? If it helps, the writing on the front seemed feminine." He looked up at Vincent's face and studied his expression. It was a far shot, considering how easy it was for dinos to get new disguises, but if Vincent was involved with a woman who resembled the one who'd come down the stairway...