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xp_logsQuentin receives the news of the pictures found and alerts Sooraya.
Quentin's phone vibrated, and he dreaded picking it up after the news broke about the Church of Humanity raid. Instead, he hoped it was just another Grindr message with the guy he'd been texting on and off with for the last few days. Not a particular catch, but he was bored and needed someone to pass the time these days. And besides, he worked at a nearby Sephora, and Quentin was running low on Pretty Vulgar Nail Liquor.
He sighed when he saw it was just Alex letting him know he and Hope had uploaded photos from their investigation to the XFI cloud system. Not exciting, but it meant he was still on the clock so maybe he could afford his own nail polish with this overtime.
He nearly dropped his phone when he got halfway through the photos. What he saw was unbelievable, and he had to sit down and open his laptop to see the pictures on a bigger screen to make sure he was no hallucinating. But no, there it was on 1920 by 1080 right there: Kaori and Ray, acquaintances and a pair of mutant underground runners, their dead bodies hanging from a fire escape, their murders gone unsolved for 2 years now. The only way these photos could be here is if they were taken before Quentin and Sooraya discovered them in that alley.
Hands shaking, Quentin quickly opened and email and forwarded half a dozen of the files to Sooraya, with only the subject line "K&R WARNING."
***
Sooraya ignored the first buzz of her phone, but when it buzzed a couple of times more in quick succession, she turned on the blinker of the car and pulled over at the first opportunity. Quickly digging her phone from her purse, she frowned at the subject line. It was only that and the extension showed a couple of pictures were attached.
Then she noticed that it was QQ who had sent it to her and the word warning and the puzzle pieces finally felt into place. With a deep breath she tapped to open the first picture... and there they were... still as stark as in her memory. Her hands shook and she nearly dropped the phone, but she pulled all her self-control together and proceeded to open the other pic-tures.
Kaori and Ray... some shots were more zoomed in, others from a different angle... exactly as she remembered.
It took her over fifteen minutes for her body to stop shaking, to gather herself enough so she could start the car again and immediately she turned around, heading towards where she knew the XFI office to be.
***
"Where did you get these?"
Quentin was still sitting at his desk, flipping through the photos on his laptop with Sooraya arrived. There was plenty more evidence to go through, but he could not stop looking at the lynchings. He had always assumed the murderers were local, but thought they were an un-derground hate group. That they hid behind a church surprised him, even though he knew it shouldn't.
"Turned up in an investigation of a missing kid," he answered, wearily rubbing his eyes. "Wasn't so random after all."
Sooraya moved closer, her face still pale. "You mean there are more? What is going on here? The full picture..." She spoke, her voice trembling.
"No idea if the exact people who lynched Kaori and Ray are the same ones who kidnapped this girl, but it's possible. But we figured it was the 'Church'"—the venom with which Quentin uttered that word could have melted through steel—"And now it seems they have a massive body count."
"Church? What church?" Sooraya's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "Let me guess... the Church of Humanity?" The trembling in her voice didn't vanish, but on reaching that conclusion it was laced with a deep fury.
"Yo, tone it down a bit," he said, grimacing and rubbing his temple to alleviate the sharp pain from Sooraya's ambient rage. "I don't know what we're going to do with this. I messaged you first 'cuz you knew them so you needed to know this. But now I've got to tell Lorna and the others. Then we'll figure out how to fuck 'em up."
"Don't tell me you're feeling any different." Sooraya shot out, but she closed her eyes and focused on tamping down the rage as much as possible. Besides, she needed the clarity of thought to deal with this. "You said there were others? How many are we talking?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of extrajudicial execution here. I just don't need the migraine that comes from other people. It hampers my efficacy." He went across the room to pour himself a cup of coffee. It had long since gone cold (who would brew a fresh pot in the middle of the day, anyway?), but he had not brought his vape pen today so it was the only cure to a telepathic headache. "I don't know how many others. I found a bunch of murders across the country they can take credit for. But I'm betting it's just the tip of the iceberg."
"It's like history repeating itself..." Sooraya murmured to herself. "I wouldn't be surprised ei-ther. The way they did what they did with Kaori and Ray... they had to have done it before... Do you know if the authorities are going to get involved? What are XFI's next steps?"
Quentin chugged his coffee, grimacing at the cool bitterness, before returning to his laptop. "I don't know. They're all still out gathering evidence. After that, guess it depends on who's there. Lorna and Alex might be restrained, but if it's me? Well, I'll gladly suffer the migraine that comes."
"I might have another idea, but I need to talk it over with someone first." Sooraya said after a moment, thinking back to the things she had been planning with Alani. "I might need copies of the pictures though."
"As long as you don't bring the police into it this time. Here." He dragged and dropped the photos into an email and sent it, then shut his laptop, setting it aside as if the machine were cursed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Which gives you plenty of leeway."
"Thanks." Sooraya pulled her phone from her bag as it started pinging with the various pic-tures arriving. "Haven't the other called the cops though when they found this?"
"They might have, but that shouldn't stop you from doing whatever. Minimize their involve-ment so they don't get in the way, you know?"
"Everyone can say what they want, but the truth must be told." Sooraya's hand tightened around her phone. "There is no choice in that."
Quentin's phone vibrated, and he dreaded picking it up after the news broke about the Church of Humanity raid. Instead, he hoped it was just another Grindr message with the guy he'd been texting on and off with for the last few days. Not a particular catch, but he was bored and needed someone to pass the time these days. And besides, he worked at a nearby Sephora, and Quentin was running low on Pretty Vulgar Nail Liquor.
He sighed when he saw it was just Alex letting him know he and Hope had uploaded photos from their investigation to the XFI cloud system. Not exciting, but it meant he was still on the clock so maybe he could afford his own nail polish with this overtime.
He nearly dropped his phone when he got halfway through the photos. What he saw was unbelievable, and he had to sit down and open his laptop to see the pictures on a bigger screen to make sure he was no hallucinating. But no, there it was on 1920 by 1080 right there: Kaori and Ray, acquaintances and a pair of mutant underground runners, their dead bodies hanging from a fire escape, their murders gone unsolved for 2 years now. The only way these photos could be here is if they were taken before Quentin and Sooraya discovered them in that alley.
Hands shaking, Quentin quickly opened and email and forwarded half a dozen of the files to Sooraya, with only the subject line "K&R WARNING."
***
Sooraya ignored the first buzz of her phone, but when it buzzed a couple of times more in quick succession, she turned on the blinker of the car and pulled over at the first opportunity. Quickly digging her phone from her purse, she frowned at the subject line. It was only that and the extension showed a couple of pictures were attached.
Then she noticed that it was QQ who had sent it to her and the word warning and the puzzle pieces finally felt into place. With a deep breath she tapped to open the first picture... and there they were... still as stark as in her memory. Her hands shook and she nearly dropped the phone, but she pulled all her self-control together and proceeded to open the other pic-tures.
Kaori and Ray... some shots were more zoomed in, others from a different angle... exactly as she remembered.
It took her over fifteen minutes for her body to stop shaking, to gather herself enough so she could start the car again and immediately she turned around, heading towards where she knew the XFI office to be.
***
"Where did you get these?"
Quentin was still sitting at his desk, flipping through the photos on his laptop with Sooraya arrived. There was plenty more evidence to go through, but he could not stop looking at the lynchings. He had always assumed the murderers were local, but thought they were an un-derground hate group. That they hid behind a church surprised him, even though he knew it shouldn't.
"Turned up in an investigation of a missing kid," he answered, wearily rubbing his eyes. "Wasn't so random after all."
Sooraya moved closer, her face still pale. "You mean there are more? What is going on here? The full picture..." She spoke, her voice trembling.
"No idea if the exact people who lynched Kaori and Ray are the same ones who kidnapped this girl, but it's possible. But we figured it was the 'Church'"—the venom with which Quentin uttered that word could have melted through steel—"And now it seems they have a massive body count."
"Church? What church?" Sooraya's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "Let me guess... the Church of Humanity?" The trembling in her voice didn't vanish, but on reaching that conclusion it was laced with a deep fury.
"Yo, tone it down a bit," he said, grimacing and rubbing his temple to alleviate the sharp pain from Sooraya's ambient rage. "I don't know what we're going to do with this. I messaged you first 'cuz you knew them so you needed to know this. But now I've got to tell Lorna and the others. Then we'll figure out how to fuck 'em up."
"Don't tell me you're feeling any different." Sooraya shot out, but she closed her eyes and focused on tamping down the rage as much as possible. Besides, she needed the clarity of thought to deal with this. "You said there were others? How many are we talking?"
"Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of extrajudicial execution here. I just don't need the migraine that comes from other people. It hampers my efficacy." He went across the room to pour himself a cup of coffee. It had long since gone cold (who would brew a fresh pot in the middle of the day, anyway?), but he had not brought his vape pen today so it was the only cure to a telepathic headache. "I don't know how many others. I found a bunch of murders across the country they can take credit for. But I'm betting it's just the tip of the iceberg."
"It's like history repeating itself..." Sooraya murmured to herself. "I wouldn't be surprised ei-ther. The way they did what they did with Kaori and Ray... they had to have done it before... Do you know if the authorities are going to get involved? What are XFI's next steps?"
Quentin chugged his coffee, grimacing at the cool bitterness, before returning to his laptop. "I don't know. They're all still out gathering evidence. After that, guess it depends on who's there. Lorna and Alex might be restrained, but if it's me? Well, I'll gladly suffer the migraine that comes."
"I might have another idea, but I need to talk it over with someone first." Sooraya said after a moment, thinking back to the things she had been planning with Alani. "I might need copies of the pictures though."
"As long as you don't bring the police into it this time. Here." He dragged and dropped the photos into an email and sent it, then shut his laptop, setting it aside as if the machine were cursed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Which gives you plenty of leeway."
"Thanks." Sooraya pulled her phone from her bag as it started pinging with the various pic-tures arriving. "Haven't the other called the cops though when they found this?"
"They might have, but that shouldn't stop you from doing whatever. Minimize their involve-ment so they don't get in the way, you know?"
"Everyone can say what they want, but the truth must be told." Sooraya's hand tightened around her phone. "There is no choice in that."
