Rosaline

XXVI.

"We got confirmation on all the injuries. The bruises and swelling on the right knuckles indicated Angelo put up a fight before he was outnumbered. Angelo also had four fractured ribs that caused internal bleeding. Even if he hadn't been shot in the head, his lungs were severely punctured. He wouldn't have made it," Erik finished softly as he laid his tablet on Xavier's desk.

Erik, Xavier, John, and I were all huddled in the office, gathering information and going through Angelo's case again. I didn't mistake the softness in Erik's tone as any emotion but simmering anger. I clenched my fist at the treatment one of our brothers had suffered. Looking at Xavier and John, they were just as furious and desperate for vengeance.

"They made sure all their tracks were covered. There were particles found under Angelo's fingernails. While prints were found on the body, it couldn't be identified by forensics in their database. Whoever was involved are ghosts. We found a security feed of where they dumped the body, but no one could be identified. Then, the damn security feed was dead before they arrived and when they left, there was no way to see where they went. The black van used had a stolen license, most likely switched so they wouldn't be tracked. It's practically a dead end," Erik finished and ran a hand over his head in frustration.

"Sounds like they are taunting us. Have you found the results yet for the nail particles?" Xavier asked as he crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair at the head of the table, while I stood at his right side. The tension and debriefing left me too restless to stand.

"There were multiple dioxins and furans, which can mostly be found in wastewater, or sewage sludge. Angelo could have been scratching or clawing at something with the substance on it." Erik said.

"Like a sewer," Xavier confirmed. "So the people we're looking for were at least navigating underground to stay hidden. That's probably how they got Angelo in and out."

"Yeah, but there are too many ways they could move through the city. It would be impossible to find where they entered or exited."

Xavier nodded in agreement, his eyes staring out into the room.

"What do you have on the sensors from the bomb in Rosaline's apartment?"

My fingers twitched at Xavier's question but kept my face neutral. Erik swiped through his device, showing pictures of the bomb design.

"I hacked into the NYPD service. It turns out that the mechanism wasn't a knock-off. The company name was barely legible on the device, but they were able to retrieve it. I sent it to our analysts, who are having a field day and drooling over the damn thing. It's a bomb used in war zones. The company, Arms and Protection Corporation, is widely popular with the US Army." Erik explained and pushed the device to the center of the table.

"Let me see this," John said before getting a closer look at the image. He analyzed the picture before nodding his head. "I recognize these. When I was deployed, my squad would place several of these on the field. It was meant to take out groups before they could infiltrate our site. But the blast from those is too big to only take out Rosaline's apartment. It would stretch to the entire hall."