Silent Evil

Part 1: Voices of Delilah

Chapter 11

Madison rolled out from under a groaning Harvey with a headache throbbing in her temple and a strong high pitched ringing in her ears. Her jaw hurt and a dull pain came from where the bullet had ricocheted. She could barely hear anything over the ringing, but she could see just fine.

What was left of the warehouse was a fiery inferno. The place had literally gone from an old, losing its foundation, grand warehouse, to the pits of hell. Everything was engulfed with tongues and pillars of fire licking their way up to the sky.

The smoke was everywhere. Enveloping everything in its gray fog. Madison coughed, trying to clear her lungs, but only inhaled more smoke. They were too close to the building. They needed to move away. Madison shook Harvey, who was lying on the ground, his face in the dirt.

“ Harvey?” she said, not hearing her own voice. “ We need to go. Now.” The urgency was palpable in her voice, even though she doubted Harvey could hear her. But her shaking roused him, and his face, full of dirt and soot, rose from the ground and observed the scene. He said something that Madison couldn't hear, but she got the gist of it.

They really needed to leave.

Madison got up, unsteady on her feet, and limped toward the flashing lights of the firetruck. Harvey was a step behind her. She felt something warm sliding down her ear and traveling down her neck. She put her hand on it.

And groaned.

Her ear was bleeding, a very alarming feat, and soon, her nose followed the same path. They both needed to get to a hospital. The ringing didn't stop, but it dulled a bit. She was able to hear things, but not from long distance. That's why she wasn't able to hear the voice of the sheriff shouting at her. But when he got closer, what he was saying became clear. She and Harvey both turned around to get the full impact of his vicious yelling. Though she could hear, it sounded like she was in water.

“ What in God's name are you two idiots doing here?!” he shouted, his face, drenched by the rain, red and angry. Madison couldn't find the right thing to say without it being stupid. Um, we were just here defying you because, well, that phone call you said I didn't have turned out to be the real deal. So, yeah, Harvey came over, we discussed some things, found out there was a BOMB over there, and decided to go against all your rules, 'cause you wouldn't answer the phone? None of that sounded right, even though that's exactly what they did. But, like always, Harvey had something to say.

“ We were following a very strong lead, sir.” he explained, looking like he was about to fall off his own feet. “ We tried calling you, so you'd be able to check things out, but you weren't answering your phone.” That was a lie, at least where Harvey was concerned. He would have went even if the sheriff had fired him. Madison didn't say anything, though. The sheriff was unaffected by Harvey.

“ You didn't think about waiting-”

“ If we waited, sir, the building would have blown up anyway, and we wouldn't have retrieved any of the information we found.” Harvey interrupted. Henry looked a little less angry, but his eyes were still glinting.

“ Whatever evidence you found, officers, I want you to return it to the department. After you get yourselves cleaned up, though.” when his eyes shifted and began looking disappointed, Madison could already hear his next words. “ And Madison, I want your gun and badge on my desk tomorrow morning. You are now relieved from this case.” Madison wouldn't believe it. The ringing in her ear sounded louder to her.