The End of the Beginning

William slowly opened the door. He flipped on the room’s lights. Both beds were neatly made. There wasn’t a spec of dust on anything. The room was immaculate. Any indication of what had happened appeared to be gone.

William looked down the walkway. He saw a security camera starring at him about twenty feet to his left on the wall. He ignored it and stepped into the room first. John hovered right behind him.

“Start looking,” instructed William. “How much blood would you need?”

“Not much,” said John. “We got some high tech stuff that can do a lot with a little.” “Okay, good. Just make sure you put everything back the way you found it.”

“Yep.”

William got on his knees over the area where he had tackled Samir. He took out a small LED flashlight from one of his pants pockets and turned it on. After a few passes with the light he saw nothing. He got down on his back and wiggled himself under Sergey’s bed.

William looked over at John who was also on the floor but under Samir’s bed. He had a UV flashlight.

“Where’d you get that?” asked William jealously.

“Every doctor has a backlight flashlight,” replied John with a giddy voice.

“No, they don’t. And, I thought blood doesn’t fluoresce.”

“It doesn’t, but other bodily fluids do, fluids that could also tell me whether or not drugs were present in his system.

“Gross.”

“I believe the correct word you’re looking for is science,” smirked John. “But, so far, this place has been scrubbed cleaner than a NASA Mars rover.” “Uh-huh. Just keep looking would ya. I don’t know when Sergey and his new roommate will be back.” William looked along the baseboard, on each bedpost, and amongst the bedframe. Nothing. He combed each wall. He searched the window and its blinds. William moved to the room’s air conditioning vent. As he peered through the vent, he heard John say, “Hmm.” “What?” asked William, not turning around.

“UV light got something.”

William rushed over to John. “Really?”

“Yeah. Look.” John pointed to a small vile filled with a white watery liquid. He had pulled it out of a small hollowed out compartment under one of Samir’s wooden bedframe legs. The vile was no bigger than William’s index finger. Under John’s UV flashlight the liquid glowed.

“What is it?” William asked.

“I’m not sure,” said John, picking it up. “I don’t think it’s anything that is organic.” “Let me see,” gestured William. John gave him the glass vile. William gave it a shake. “We’ll take it and analyze it.” “We’re going to take it?” hesitated John. “You know how many rules we’re already breaking!” “Yeah,” said William staring at the vile, holding it close to his face.

“Okay good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. Granted, I’m an occasional rule bender but not a breaker…” The two men jumped. Someone had slammed a door somewhere down the hall.

“Will, lets go,” pleaded John. “There is no blood in this room. ISAF cleaned it all to well.” “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

William left the room first. John did a quick sweep to make sure the room looked exactly the same as it did before they had entered it. Satisfied, John turned off the room’s light and shut the door, automatically locking it. William grabbed the handrail and looked out over the courtyard.

“Damnit,” he whispered.

He looked down to the ground below, to the spot where Samir had fallen. And then he remembered.

“I’m an idiot,” he exclaimed.

“No, come on,” John said, joining him at the railing. “Don’t beat yourself up, Will. Maybe I - ” “No. No,” grinned William. “We’re looking in the wrong place Doc. We need to be looking in there.” William pointed. John tracked William’s finger to the ground.

“In there? Oh no.”