The Alphas Game - Complete Set (15 page)

Chapter8

The television will tell you that you can get the results from crime scenes in days, but in reality it can take several weeks. Even with the magical assistance to their labs it still takes time to process everything. On top of that, our case had to wait until it was on the top of the list. The Deputy Director wasn’t going to pull any strings to help get it put up to the front of the list and it seemed a little odd to me. People were dying because of these two, and they wouldn’t put a rush on our case. I made sure to make a mental note of that detail, hoping that my suspicions were nothing. Normally Schmidt is willing to work with us, but it seemed like we had to wait to get permission for all our leads on this case. It wasn’t like him and I’ve worked with him a lot in the past. I could tell that it was starting to bother Grey and Kevin as well.

It took almost four days to get the first results from the evidence in. A quick analysis of some of the dirt and debris from the basement showed a lot of flora from the everglades. The report came at a good time. “I’m probably going to have to replace my carpet.” Rosie commented as she indicated the part of her office that was free from furniture.

“Didn’t you have other cases to work on?” Grey asked her. He had arrived to tell her the good news, but had found her pacing from the chairs in front of her desk to the filing cabinet on the other side of the room.

“Yeah, but I just couldn’t make myself do the work. This case has me all worked up.” Rosie responded, not really wanting to admit the truth, but unable to find anything better to say, anything to hide the fact that she had been neglecting her other cases in a vain attempt to track down Alfi and Ysella. She didn’t have the energy to hide her burning desire to bring the two to justice.

“It’s got me twisted up too.” Kevin admitted as he looked at her. Something in her eyes captured his attention and he just couldn’t get the excited face out of his head.

“What did they find?” She asked again, hoping to draw attention away from her other problems and onto the important parts of the conversation.

“I don’t know the name of it, but it’s some weird endangered grass that only lives in the everglades.” Grey explained.

“How does grass get endangered?” Rosie asked. It seemed like a silly thing to do, to place grass as being endangered, but with a little thought she was able to realize why it was so important.

Kevin cleared his throat. “We’re taking away its habitat. People are moving more and more into these wild places and it isn’t just the animals that are being affected.”

“I know that, but I want to know exactly whose job it is to check which grasses are endangered. Doesn’t that seem like a weird job for someone to do? Do they just count each blade?”

“I don’t think so.” Kevin’s serious face broke into a grin. “I’m pretty sure they use some sort of equation that they use, calculating it from the area in which it lives.”

Grey had to get his two cents in there. “But someone had to make that equation. That means that someone had to get in there and find out how much of this grass was in a certain unit of area.”

Rosie shuddered at the thought of all the work that would be involved in that. “That’s pretty crazy, but I’m betting it’s a grad student doing that. Actual PhD’s wouldn’t lower themselves to that level.”

“I know quite a few PhD’s that would enjoy a break like that.” Kevin was thoughtful.

“How many PhD’s do you know?” Rosie asked, it had seemed like an out of place comment, especially with his strange tone of voice.

Kevin made his confession. “I pretty much grew up on college campuses. My father was a wildlife biologist. He dealt mostly with animals, but he worked closely with what he called the plant guys. Their time in the field was the happiest times. I went with him a lot and did plenty of counting.”

“Wow, that’s quite a switch.” Rosie smiled at him, trying to make him feel more comfortable. “I spent a lot of time in a diner growing up. My mother was a short order cook.”

Grey smiled, he had already known that about his partner, but liked the happy surprise on the detective’s face. “For a detective, I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”

“Hey, cut me some slack. I trusted the FBI to have ran background checks on you guys.” She defended her occupation.

“I thought that you were a trained observer.” Grey made the jab.

Rosie responded with a forced and sarcastic grin before changing the subject. “Have you guys gotten permission to head down to the everglades yet?”

“We were about to go talk to him, but we wanted to share the good news with you first.” Grey let her get away with the change of subject.

“Let’s go.” She grabbed her jacket and bag. She was already out the door by the time the guys had risen from their seats. She beat the both of them to the government issued black SUV and was already waiting for them to unlock the door by the time they made it to the door. Grey hit the button on the remote to let her in and she clambered into the back seat.

Leaning forward over the center console she saw the men put their seat belts on and it wasn’t until Grey turned to her and cocked one eyebrow up that she found herself remembering her own safety straps. She grinned sheepishly as he started the vehicle and pulled into busy traffic. “Should we turn the lights on?”

“I don’t think this is an emergency.” Kevin warned her of the dangers of abusing their power in order to gain an unnecessary advantage.

“I think it is. Your office is actually working with us for once. We should get there before our luck runs out.” Rosie had no problem pointing out the same problems that the men in the vehicle with her had trouble facing. The words made them uncomfortable, so they ignored them and instead focused on reaching their destination safely.

“We’re not turning on the lights. It’s not that big of an emergency.” Grey insisted. “I would love to, but it would be wrong.”

The office was buzzing with anticipation when they arrived. It looked like everyone was excited by the fact that they were getting closer and closer to catching Alfi and Ysella, the evil team of fairies that had plagued them for so long. Everyone except for Deputy Director Schmidt, who still had his typical stern look on his face. They walked into his windowed office and the man immediately turned on Rosie. “What did you think you were doing?”

“I was gathering evidence that you weren’t in any hurry to get. I want to take these guys in.” She defended her actions. “I didn’t do this by the book, but I got it done. That’s better than your office managed to accomplish.”

The red on his ears started to deepen and spread to his face. “That was stupid. You should have known better. I’ve got half a mind to pull you off of the case and suspend your contracts with us.” There was rage in his voice, he was frustrated, angry and unable to fully express the issues that had arisen from Rosie’s breach of protocol.

“It doesn’t matter if you do that, I’m still going to bring these guys in.” She was resolute, playing the game and standing up for her actions in a calm and collected manner. She had been expecting this kind of reaction so she didn’t let him see it bothered her. It did bother her, and the men sitting on either side of the woman could see her shoulders tense up almost imperceptibly.

“Don’t you ever do something like that again. I’m warning you.” The man moved back to the order at hand. “I take it you guys want to head down to the everglades?” The question was pointed at Kevin and Grey, he was now ignoring Rosie.

“I think that might be a good idea.” Kevin’s voice was subdued. He knew better than to try to rile the man up again. “We’ve got to follow the lead, and this is the only one we have right now.”

“What’s the lead?” Schmidt asked. “The only thing that we have so far is some dirt that came off of the bottom of someone’s shoe. That doesn’t seem like enough of a lead to justify a trip like this. We don’t even know which part of the everglades he was in.”

“We’re going to go down and start asking questions, checking out the families of missing women in the area and ask them about strange people that they might have seen in the area.” Kevin laid out his plan, waiting for it to be shot down, but hoping for permission to be granted in order to proceed.

“You’re just going to go in blind?” The director noticed that there weren’t many specifics and that the men were planning to canvas a large area.

“We can get updates while we’re down there.” Grey assured him. “We’ll only be a few hours away and if we need to come back we can be here in a few hours.”

“That’s a good point, but still I think that you should wait for more information.”

“I don’t want this lead to get cold.” Rosie was staying silent, trying not to remind the deputy director of her mistake as she let Grey speak. “We should get down there and start poking around.”

“This might scare them off, then we’ll have to start all over and another team's going to take over your case.” Schmidt didn’t look very convinced, but that didn’t mean anything to them. He always looked unconvinced at first, playing the devil’s advocate before either denying or approving the request.

“That’s a possibility, but they might move on anyway, once they get bored of the area. You know how fairies can be sometimes.”

“No, how can fairies be?” Schmidt actually seemed to take offense to the words.

Grey looked down at his feet. “They can be, well for lack of a better word, a little flighty sometimes.”

Schmidt actually smiled at the man. “I guess you’re right, but let’s be sure about this. It’s a lot of our funding going to your little trip, because I’m assuming that you’re going to want to spend several days.”

“We were thinking that a week would probably be best.” Kevin volunteered. “What do you think?”

“Let’s start you guys off with three days.” He rubbed his hands on his head, rubbing his dark hair and moving it out of place. There was now a clump of hair sticking up on the side of his head. The three investigators in the room tried not to smirk as they continued to plan it.

“You’re going to drive down there?” He was doing math on a calculator. “Right?”

“Yeah.”

“Two rooms?”

“I can pay for my own and bill it with my expenses.” Rosie volunteered.

“I knew that was going to happen, that comes out of a different budget so I’m not worried about that. Someone else foots the bill for your services.” He smiled again. “That’s why I don’t mind hiring you as often as I do. It’s like a free resource for my department.”

“I was wondering why you didn’t just hire someone with my ability full time to work here.”  Rosie thought about what it meant.

Chapter9

I’m glad that I don’t live in the middle of nowhere. At least the road to the swamp that covers the southern tip of Florida isn’t a flat plain like it is elsewhere in the country and I have something to look at when I do look up from my laptop as I’m trying to get my paperwork done. Hope is back at home, telecommuting to help me finish up my required paperwork, and my office is closed for a few days.  I have a contact number listed and Hope will be able to explain to anyone who’s coming to see me that I am out of town on a case at the moment and that I’ll get back to them as soon as I am able. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this, so it’s an old habit. The FBI has me traveling so much that even my long term clients are used to it by now.

Rosie looked out the window. The southern part of Florida seemed to be full of cities with only the occasion dot of natural countryside scattered through the tall buildings and housing communities. Rosie missed the countryside sometimes, but during a road trip she was glad that the scenery was always changing. She knew that the most southern tip of the peninsula was covered in grassy, wet, miserable, stinking muck, but that didn’t really bother her. What got to her in regards to the everglades was the mosquitoes. They seemed to get as big as a person’s hand and had no shame in attacking anything with blood. For some reason the loathsome little beasts seemed to find her especially attractive. “Do you know where you guys are staying down there?”

“Holiday Inn.” Grey stated blandly. “The same kind of place they always put us in.”

“There are worse hotels to stay in. Trust me, I’ve been in quite a few of them and they’re terrible places.” Rosie picked up her phone and placed a reservation for herself, happy that she had racked up enough frequent stays to make one of her nights free. She didn’t use it however, the FBI was going to be billed for this trip which meant that she was going to save up her free nights to take a trip for herself later in the year. “After this I think I’m going to take a vacation.”

“Where do you think you’re going to go?” Kevin asked, turning in the passenger seat to face her. “I never thought that you were someone who took vacations.”

“I have no idea yet, but I need to get out of town and get away from work for a while. I think we’re all gonna need a break after this.”

“That’s the truth. I’d love to go to Hawaii.” Grey commented. “Lay on the beach and watch some Hula dancers at a luau.”

“That sounds like it would be pretty good fun, but I might go to Vegas. I like excitement.” Rosie told the men. “I’ve never gone and I think that it might be fun to go hang out on the strip.”

“You’re just going to watch the male strippers.” Grey teased her, there was a wide smile on his face.

“Not just for them, but that would be quite a treat.”

Kevin didn’t say much after that, his arms crossed over his chest and he found himself thinking about Rosie watching other men dance around for her pleasure. He didn’t like the fact that he was so jealous of her, but he didn’t know how to stop the thoughts from invading his mind. The other’s noticed his uncomfortable silence and the conversation started to die down.

Rosie looked out the window once again. She was trying to avoid the tension that had suddenly filled the car. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do, being trapped like that in the car with Kevin brooding like he was. She wondered why he was so territorial, why he could turn an innocent comment into something that was going to make everyone around invisible. The thoughts rolled around in her head and she was starting to wonder what she had ever seen in him when she noticed the car coming up fast behind them.

Her eyes locked on the front bumper as it left her line of sight, getting so close to the SUV that she couldn’t see the headlights through the window. Not responding, she noticed that the white car stayed at that distance. She recognized it. If it wasn’t the same as the car that Grey had been using during his time under Ysella’s control it was at least very close to it. “I think that guy’s messing with us.” She squinted, trying to get more details about whoever was behind the wheel, but the light was at the wrong angle and ended up just reflecting off the slight tinting that lined the top part of the window.

“Do you know who it is?” Grey asked, looking in the rear-view window.”

“I can’t really see anything.” She told him, knowing that it wasn’t a good enough answer from the ‘trained observer’.

“Why not? Look closer.” Grey demanded.

“He’s up on our ass and the sun’s at the wrong angle. There’s something fishy about this whole thing. We should turn to see if whoever this is is really following us.” Rosie was starting to get frustrated, there wasn’t much that she could do in this instance. She related the details that she had been able to see at this point.

“OK, maybe you’ll be able to see in his window if he does end up following us.” Grey hit his signal, but the headlights were too low for Rosie to be able to tell if the vehicle behind them indicated the future turn as well.

The next possible exit, Grey made his way off the interstate and everyone was pleased when their tail didn’t follow. “I guess it was nothing.”

“This case really is getting to you.” Grey put the car in park after stopping in front of the small gas station and reached his arm back to place it comfortingly on the detective’s leg.

“I swear, I’m losing my mind, but that was really weird. There were plenty of places to pass us, they came rushing up and slammed on the brakes just enough to slow down to our speed. I’m pretty sure that they were less than a foot off our bumper and traffic is not that bad today.”

“That’s cuz we’re not in rush hour.” Grey indicated to the clock that was just turning to 2:32.

“Not yet anyway, it’s coming soon and all of the commuters are gonna be on the road.”

“We should get back on the road.” Rosie sounded embarrassed but she tried not to show it. “I guess we weren’t actually being followed.”

“Let’s get something cold to drink before we get back on the road.” Grey opened his door. They walked into the gas station and picked out cold drinks.

“Do you see that car in the parking lot?” Rosie pointed.

“Yeah?” Grey looked in that direction. “The white one right next to our car?” He squinted and recited the license plate number. “LJ5-432”

“That’s the one that was following us.” Rosie was positive about it. “Maybe I am not as crazy as we had originally thought.”

“Are you sure?” Kevin asked.

The detective turned to the lion. The look on her face was sarcastic and threatening. “No, I’m not sure. I’m just making things up. That’s what I always do. I wonder sometimes if you would ask these kinds of questions to a man.”

“OK, I’m sorry. I asked for that, I know it.” Kevin took a step away from the woman and shot a sheepish smile her way. “It’s not because you’re a woman, I swear.”

Rosie placed her drink down on the counter. “Should we do something about it?”

“Let’s just see what’s going on here after we get our drinks. There may be a perfectly innocent explanation.” It didn’t look like even Grey believed the suggestion and he was the one who said it.

Purchasing the drinks they carefully picked their way through the parking lot. There was no one in the white car, but they did take down the license plate number, deciding that they were going to call it in once they were back on the road. They climbed in and pulled back out, eager to get back onto the interstate. As they entered the interstate, Grey glanced into the rear-view mirror. “He’s behind us again.”

“It could be a she. Ysella could be behind us.” Rosie mentioned in a way that only a feminist can.

“I know that, I was just using ‘he’ as a filler.” Grey defended his word choice.

“You could have used ‘they’.” The retort was biting and determined.

Kevin butted in, he felt his voice run into a sharp snap. “Can we pay attention to the matter at hand? We have to lose whoever happens to be behind us.”

“I know that, I’m trying to lose them.” Grey started to change lanes, giving almost no space for the car to move in behind them. It was a violent movement, one that sent the passengers leaning to the side. Rosie was almost flat on the seat as she shifted from one side to the other. Struggling to put her seat-belt on she cursed herself for not remembering that tiny little detail when they climbed into the vehicle after they left that tiny little gas station.

Kevin smirked. “You should have remembered that.” He was looking back at her, seeing her situation.

“Shut up.” Rosie struggled with the belt as she tried to keep herself in a single position. The fight wasn’t an easy one, but she seemed to be making progress.

“No witty come back, I’m insulted.” Grey was teasing her through gritted teeth while he pulled the wheel hard to one side. He was swerving through traffic and the white car seemed to be keeping up with him pretty well. “It’s almost like this guy can read my mind.”

“We don’t know exactly what they are capable of.” Kevin reached up and grabbed the handle above the door to steady himself. “Whoever it is might be able to read your mind.”

“Don’t remind me.” The words were punctuated by another sharp turn of the wheel. “Damn it, will you just get stuck in traffic or something.” He was addressing the vehicle behind them, knowing that they couldn’t hear his words, but he hoped that the next swerving turn would get the point across. He darted between a pickup and a hybrid car.

Rosie pulled her body back to a straight position after the last swerve. “Watch it, you’ll curse us and we’ll get stuck in traffic.”

Grey swerved between two semi-trucks, it was a big risk, but he was hoping that it would end up being worth it. He had timed it perfectly as traffic in the other lane was beginning to slow because of an approaching exit. He sighed and settled into the place. There wasn’t really any place to go from here and he was able to see the white car get trapped in a lane that was forced to exit. There was no way for whoever had been following them to get over. “It should take him a little bit to get back on the interstate.” Rosie shielded her eyes with her hand.

“If I can get over I can start moving through traffic a little faster.” Grey started to look for an opening to squeeze the vehicle into, but it wasn't easy in the large SUV. This thing wasn’t exactly built for maneuverability.

“We might be able to get there without them being able to track us.” Rosie crossed her fingers. Even though she felt a little silly about the superstition she realized that it wasn’t going to hurt anything and continued.

Grey grunted as he continued to weave through traffic, carefully winding his way into a further lead, away from the chasing white car. They were less than an hour from their destination and Grey wasn’t stopping his maneuvering through the traffic patterns. He didn’t want that white car to catch up to them and get some idea of where they were going to start investigating. Not that they had any idea where they were going to start, anyway.