"Can I come in?"

Junaid asked as he peeked inside Gail's office.

"Why?" Gail asked instead, not bothering to look up from the case file she was going through.

"Because, I got the old case files, you had asked for. They contain all the victim profiles, incident reports, crime scene photos and lab reports on the previous murders," Junaid answered as he let himself in.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about those," Gail said with a smirk.

"I would have gotten these to you sooner," Junaid said, "but thanks to someone, I was busy moving in and out of offices for the major part of the day." Junaid gave Gail a cheeky smile.

"Well, you should've checked before you just waltzed in, and called this your office," Gail replied in a blunt tone.

Before Junaid could say anything, there was a knock on the door. It was Captain Hale. She gave them a warm smile as she entered Gail's office.

"I hope I'm not intruding?" she asked, as she made her way towards them.

"No, you're not." Gail said, as she pushed her chair back and stood up. "Did you need us for something?"

"Since you are now officially on this case, I think it's time to introduce you to the other officers who'll be working with you," Captain Hale said.

Junaid may have missed the concern in Captain Hale's eyes, but Gail did not. She gave Captain Hale a smile. "Lead the way," she said in a confident voice.

Confidence was something, Gail had lost a long time ago. But today, walking through the familiar corridors of the precinct, she had felt strong, like she would finally able to move on. Maybe, her Mum was right, this case might finally help her find closure.

Gail and Junaid followed Captain Hale towards the center of the precinct. They walked past tables, where officers were working on their computers or filling out incident reports. They stopped near a whiteboard, that had been placed a few feet away from the tables.

There were two rookie officers standing in front of the whiteboard, arguing about something.

Captain Hale cleared her throat, trying to get their attention. But they were too engrossed in whatever it was that they were arguing about.

"Should I even ask what you guys are arguing about?" Captain Hale called out, when both of them had failed to notice the newly arrived trio.

"It was nothing!" Robert answered, startled. He looked visibly embarrassed. His dark brown eyes beautifully complimented his brown hair, that had been neatly set in place, using generous amounts of hair gel.

"We were just discussing about the case!" Jenna answered, a little too loudly. Her blonde hair had been pulled into a high ponytail. Her blue eyes settled on Gail, trying to recognize her.

"Oh," Captain Hale chuckled. But then her expression turned serious and she said, "I want you guys to meet Special Agent Abigail Parker, one of the most finest of the Special Task Force...."

While Captain Hale talked about Gail's achievements, she was busy studying the whiteboard. The details of the latest victim has been written on it, next to the crime scene photos. There was also a photo of a beautiful woman with a warm smile lighting up her face, the victim. Her name was Candice Morgan.

".... She will be working alongside Junaid on 'The Unborn Killer' case," Captain Hale concluded. This sentence brought Gail out of her thoughts, and she turned to face the​ group.

"Gail, this is Officer Jenna, and Officer Robert," Captain Hale introduced them. "Since Junaid did not have a partner, they are helping him out with the case."

"Welcome to the team, Special Agent Parker," Robert said, trying to break the ice.

"It's a pleasure, Special Agent Parker," Jenna said with a smile.

"You can call me Gail. There's no need for any formality," Gail said, as she shook hands with both of them.

This was the first time in four years, Gail had interacted with so many new people in a single day. The desk job she had taken at the police headquarters, had given her something she had desperately needed, solitary. But she knew, the only way to solve this case was if they worked as a team.

"I think my job here is done," and with that Captain Hale left them to start work on the case.

Just then Junaid's phone began to vibrate. He removed the phone from his jacket pocket, to check whom the message was from.

"Mark just received the autopsy results. He wants us to come down to the crime lab," Junaid read the message out loud.

"So, while Gail and I meet Mark, you guys start canvassing the area around the crime scene," Junaid instructed Jenna and Robert.

"On it, boss," Jenna answered, as she and Robert grabbed their coats and headed towards the elevator.

~

Robert punched the ground floor, as the elevator doors closed behind them. He turned to face Jenna, as he leaned on the cold metal wall of the elevator.

"What are you thinking, Jen?" Robert asked Jenna, a few seconds later. She had been staring at the ceiling of the elevator, with her forehead creased in thought.

The sudden lurch of the elevator broke Jenna's train of thoughts and she turned towards Robert, who had been waiting patiently for her to say something.

"Uh? Its nothing," Jenna lied.

"I have known you for too long to understand that when you say it's nothing, it's definitely something," Robert remarked with a cocked eyebrow.

"It's about Special Agent Parker," Jenna said, shrugging as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I feel like we've met before, but I can't remember where."

~

The familiar smell of bleach hit them as they neared the top of the stairs. The crime lab was on the floor above the precinct.

The walls of the corridor leading to the lab were painted in white and gave off a gloomy feeling to anyone who passed through them.

Junaid entered the crime lab pushing past the the glass panelled double doors, while Gail stopped a few paces behind him. She was about to face another person from her past, and that made her nervous.

She took a deep breath and entered the crime lab.

"Gail! I thought Captain Hale was joking," Mark exclaimed with a grin, taking off his gloves as he walked towards Gail. He was dressed in blue scrubs. "I'm so glad to see you. We all missed you so much!" Mark enveloped Gail into a bear hug.

Gail just gave him an awkward smile, when he finally released her from the hug.

She had expected Mark to lash out at her for not returning any of his numerous calls, messages and for completely locking him out of her life. But knowing him, he was never one to hold grudges. He would give people their space and let them be. This was why, Mark had been her best friend.

"You guys know each other?" Junaid asked, looking from Gail to Mark.

"We both had joined the Task Force together," Gail answered slowly.

"And we've been best friends since then," Mark added, completely unfazed by the fact that they were talking after four years.

"Oh." Junaid said. Then turning to Mark he added. "So, did you find anything?"

"As a matter of fact I did," Mark answered, leading them towards the surgical table he had been working on.

The corpse of the woman, who had been the recent unfortunate victim of a psychopathic killer, was lying on the surgical table with a white sheet covering her lifeless body. They were standing around her, with Mark on one side and Gail and Junaid on the other side.

"Candice Morgan, our victim, died of major blood loss and cardiac arrest, just like the others," Mark started. "She was seven months into her pregnancy. The M.O. was the same as before. First, he used chloroform to subdue her and then brought her to the warehouse and tied her up. There he gave her a paralytic, due to which she could see everything that was happening, but couldn't react. She was awake the entire time..." Mark's voice broke. "The surgical cut would have barely hurt her. But seeing her baby, stillborn, coupled with heavy loss of blood, caused her to go into cardiac arrest."

"What about the baby?" Gail asked.

"The killer didn't do anything to the baby. He just cleaned her up, cut the umbilical cord, wrapped her in a white cloth and placed her in a wooden cradle. The same as before."

Gail couldn't help the goosebumps that rose up on her skin when she heard about the unborn baby girl. She had balled her hands into fists, trying to control her rage. How ruthless could someone be?

"Except for red marks around her wrists and ankles and needle marks on Candice's arms, I found no other wounds. She was barely able to defend herself," Mark said with a sigh.

"What about the number?" Junaid asked. Gail had no idea what Junaid was talking about.

"This time the number six was written in Hebrew," Mark said as he pointed towards the area just above Candice's collarbone. A single syllable had been etched on her pale skin in black ink.

Seeing the confusion on Gail's face, Junaid explained,"The killer has been numbering his victims

Seeing the confusion on Gail's face, Junaid explained,"The killer has been numbering his victims. It's like, he's leaving his signature on them. He has been etching the numbers on their collarbone in different ancient languages. Seven different victims; seven different numbers; seven different languages."

"What is he trying to prove by this? That he's too intelligent for us?" Gail said in disgust.

"Or that he is a high-functioning psychopath," Junaid added.

"And, I found something even more strange," Mark said, drawing their attention back towards him.

"What?" Gail asked.

"I found this tattoo on her arm. It looked really unusual," Mark said, as he moved the sheet for Junaid and Gail to see Candice's arm. There was a tattoo, drawn in red ink, of blood dripping from a dice.

"It looks new. Can't you tell what it means?" Junaid asked, looking up to face Mark.

"No. I searched the entire database, but nothing came up," Mark answered, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "Maybe, she was into some religious cult or something. Or maybe it's just some random tattoo."

"I know what it means," Gail suddenly said, earning surprised looks from both Junaid and Mark.