“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said urgently. He pulled Nick backward, lifting him and swinging him up the steps, away from the kitchen. Nick kicked against the stone stairwell wall, slamming Ty against the opposite wall. His breath left him in a rush and he saw stars.
They struggled silently for several more seconds, until Nick was hyperventilating and Ty had given up on getting him up the steps. Zane and Kelly crowded closer.
Ty fell to his back on the steps, using the weight of his own body to drag Nick down. Kelly reached for them and Nick lashed out at him.
“What the hell triggered it?” Kelly asked. “When did he start doing this shit?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this!” Ty answered, voice strained.
“I’m okay,” Nick gasped.
Ty could feel Zane hovering behind him, obviously at a loss. Zane had become well versed in how to handle Ty’s flashbacks and panic attacks, but he’d never seen Ty react like Nick just had. Ty’s instinct when the memories got too close was to freeze and curl up and wait for them to pass.
But Nick’s instinct had always been to stand and fight. He’d go on the offensive before he could be hurt. He’d expose himself to whatever triggered him until it no longer caused a reaction. And if he got lost enough in a flashback, he could be downright dangerous to anyone and everyone near him. He’d once nearly taken out an entire med bay on ship before he was sedated.
“I’m sorry,” Nick offered, voice hoarse and weak. “I’m okay.”
“Like hell you’re okay,” Kelly said softly. He shook his head at Ty. “He’s done. I’m pulling medic rank. No more of this shit today.”
Ty nodded. Kelly would find no argument from him.
“No!” Nick grunted. He took a deep breath. His entire body was trembling, though, and he couldn’t even look toward the bottom of the stairs. “We have to go down there.”
“I’m going to vote no on that one,” Zane said under his breath.
“You have to,” Nick insisted. He twisted in Ty’s arms, his muscles flexing. Ty loosened his grip, and Nick instantly began to relax. “The smell . . .”
“What was the smell?” Ty asked.
“Copper. Blood.” He reached to the small of his back and brought out his Glock, handing it to Ty. “It’s blood, Ty. Get down there.”
Ty left Nick and Kelly on the steps, and he and Zane hustled to the kitchen. He led with the weapon, clearing the kitchen silently as Zane remained in the stairwell, then signaled for Zane to join him.
Zane stood over the pool of deep dark blood spreading across the pristine white tile of the gourmet kitchen. The copper scent was almost overwhelming.
“He’s got one hell of a nose on him,” Zane said.
Ty nodded, taking in the gruesome scene. The cook lay sprawled on the floor, the blood still trickling from a wound in her back. One of her expensive knives was protruding from her spine, and her fine white hair was caked with blood. Ty bent to check her pulse. She was still warm, but there was no heartbeat and far too much blood on the floor for her to have lived long.
“Doc!” Ty called out anyway.
Ty turned when he heard the scuff of a shoe on the stairs. Kelly stood there, face pinched in concern. “Blood?” he asked.
“Lots of it,” Ty answered. “Don’t let Nick down here, okay?”
Kelly shook his head, but a second later Nick appeared at his side, peering into the kitchen. He was pale and shaken, and he was holding his shirt over his nose to prevent another bout of scent-induced panic. But he was there and he looked determined to stay.
“Victim?” he asked, his voice muffled.
“Cook’s dead. Knife to the back,” Ty answered.
Kelly moved toward them and bent to check her regardless.
Ty was watching Nick, though. “Irish, you don’t need to be here.”
The apprehension in Nick’s eyes said he completely agreed, but he shook his head. “Where’s Milton’s body?”
Ty glanced around for the walk-in freezer, making his way carefully over to it. There were no signs of a struggle in the kitchen, nothing out of place or messy. He covered his hand with his sleeve when he opened the freezer door to prevent his fingerprints from contaminating the scene. Not like they could fingerprint anything, but still.
He peered into the freezer and was immediately knocked back by what he found inside. He turned his head away from the sight, gagging and covering his face with his sleeve as he shoved his shoulder into the door to close it.
“Oh God,” he managed to groan.
“What is it?” Zane asked, voice laced with dread.
“He’s been gutted. He’s hanging from a meat hook.” Ty squeezed his eyes closed, trying to erase that visual from the databanks.
“That seems so unnecessary,” Kelly muttered.
“And hard,” Zane added. “Took at least two people. Or one very big one.”
“Need to find that big Snake Eater,” Ty said.
Kelly came closer, joining Ty at the freezer to crack the door open and look inside for himself. He didn’t have the reaction Ty’d had, but then, Kelly had always been able to compartmentalize with wounds and death and gore.
Nick sat on the bottom step and lowered his head between his knees. Ty knew why the smell of blood threw Nick back into a moment of terror. He was surprised Nick was managing to hold it together at all right now.
“He’s been disemboweled,” Kelly told them, then stepped into the freezer.
“Oh, please, no,” Ty whimpered as Kelly disappeared. “Please come back. Kelly. Kelly! Doc! I’m not coming in there! I’m not.”
Kelly’s voice echoed from inside the freezer. “They cut him open good. Looks like they were looking for something.”
“Looking for something?” Zane asked. “Inside him?”
“Means whatever it is, it’s small enough to swallow,” Nick offered. He sounded positively ill. “Is his watch still on him?”
“No, it’s gone. O, get out of here,” Ty said, almost as desperate to have Nick leave as Nick probably was. When Nick raised his head, Ty hardened his expression. “Consider that an order if you must.”
Rather than getting pissy about Ty pulling rank on him, Nick gave him a grateful nod and retreated up the stairs.
Kelly stepped out of the freezer wearing a pair of black butcher’s gloves that went up to his elbows. He was holding a section of Milton’s insides. He showed it to Ty and Zane with a frown, then squeezed it between his fingers. Ty backed away from him, covering his lower face with his arm. Zane coughed and put a hand over his mouth.