Part 7 (1/2)

19.

Garrett stood as still as he could make himself and glared at Rivers and Rice. ”Seriously? That's the story you're sticking to? You're interested in this girl mainly because her sister is a witch? Like a real, pointy-hat-wearing, black-cat-having, broom-riding witch?” Garrett was already regretting letting Pel talk him into meeting with the mysterious agents again. They'd called Rivers and Rice the next morning, followed their directions and eventually ended up waiting in a walkway that crossed over Eastern Avenue to the mall. Eventually, Rice showed up and led them to an SUV driven by Rivers. When everyone was in, the vehicle took off. It was all too cloak and dagger for Garrett's tastes, but he let it go, hoping things would make more sense soon. No such luck. ”Are you s.h.i.+tting me?”

”You weren't really listening were you? We don't think she's a witch, we just think she has an unusual power.” Rivers held up a tablet, which Pel quickly took and started tinkering with.

”I'm no scientist but it looks like your only conclusion to these crimes involves magic. Locked doors, heavily guarded cells, armored cars. All of these things seem foolproof but people still got killed, money stolen, whatever,” Pel said.

”No, that's not our conclusion. Those stats are from various police departments and agencies around the country. They list the crimes as unsolved and/or open,” Rice said. ”We know exactly what happened.”

”Rogue tooth fairy?” Garrett asked.

Pel laughed.

The conversation went nowhere, until they pulled into an old parking garage on the west side. It was crumbling, with graffiti on the walls and a number of cars in disrepair on the first floor. As they drove around in a circle that led them to the next floor down, there were more dark SUVs, unmarked cars and plain white vans.

”Follow me,” Rivers stepped out when the vehicle came to a halt and motioned everyone to the nearby elevator. Pel and Garrett fell in behind with Rice in the very back. As soon as Rivers stepped in front of the elevator, the doors opened and they entered. The doors closed and the elevator started descending on its own, no b.u.t.tons pushed.

”This is getting a little too 'Mission Impossible' for me,” Garrett said. ”What in the h.e.l.l is going on?” He said it more to himself, rather than as a question to the agents who'd brought them there. Truth be told, he was now more intrigued than annoyed. The secret underground base put him over the top. The FBI, as a rule, was pretty mundane. There was an office, or field office, desks, security guards and so on. There was nothing cool about it. Nothing intriguing or mysterious. Agents showed up. They did their jobs. Kind of ho hum. Whatever happened with Rivers and Rice, at least it wasn't boring.

The elevator stopped abruptly a few seconds later and the doors slid open again. A small, bare room awaited them with just a single uniformed guard with an a.s.sault rifle. The man nodded to Rivers and a new door opened onto a long, narrow, hall. After another door, they all stepped out onto an elevated metal walkway that went all around a huge circular room. Below, in the middle, was an expanse full of desks, computer monitors, and uniformed personnel.

”This way,” Rivers said and opened a door by sliding a badge across a lighted panel. In the next room, Garrett saw several men standing around a table in lab coats and goggles. Along the walls, more men sat at computers and microscopes, none looked up. Garrett noticed a bank of monitors on the far wall. Two had maps; another had what seemed to be a close up of a drop of oil.

”What's going on here? Seriously, it's just one thing after another with you guys. If you've got something that will help us understand what's going on, great. If you don't, we'll just take our tape that you snaked and be on our way.” Garrett said.

Rice ignored the question. ”See the map on the right? The red dots represent crimes that we're pretty sure one of these subjects is responsible for.”

Garrett looked up and squinted. He guessed there were close to one hundred of them. ”So it's not just this girl you think we're dealing with.” He found himself biting on the premise that this girl was a killer, but not that she was supernatural.

Rivers pointed to the other map. It had far fewer dots on it. ”We believe these nineteen are all the work of this one girl. We can't be sure but they seem to fit the pattern and we have some inside information on things this girl has been a.s.signed to do.”

”If you have someone on the inside, why not drop the hammer and arrest the girl, why all the cloak and dagger X-Files bulls.h.i.+t?” Pel sounded just as confused as Garrett felt.

”We're working on it. We've only just established the informant. We can't spook him.” Rice absently added to the conversation while he scanned the map.

”And this informant tells you the girl is a magical fairy?” Every time he started to feel comfortable with the agents, the same nagging concerns came back to Garrett; he had no idea who these guys were and they had some fairly messed up ideas. ”I think your informant is already spooked. Spooked in the head.”

”No. The girl has some of the same traits as others we've come into contact with and captured,” Rice said. He pointed up to the blob on the screen.

”What's that?” Pel asked.

Rivers leaned over to one of the men at the computers. ”Can you pull back on screen two?'

The image got further away a little at a time until it was obvious that the blob was on someone's arm.

”Is that a birthmark?” Garrett asked.

”Bad tattoo?” Pel suggested.

”Good guesses.” Rivers stepped to an open terminal and typed for a moment. The map of all the crimes disappeared and showed a picture of a large black blob writhing on a table. ”Near as we can guess it's some kind of parasite.”

”Wait. That blob is what you got when you removed the tattoo?” Pel put her hand to her mouth. ”There's one of these inside the girl you're looking for? Ee from and how did they get there?”

”Yes. That is the question,” Rice said.

Pel was right at home with all of the computers and tech that gave Garrett the w.i.l.l.i.e.s. She'd quietly asked if she could sit at a terminal and nudged a technician out of the way. She tapped away madly at the keyboard. A beep and a warning screen stopped her progress. ”Pa.s.sword?”

Rivers and Rice looked at each other. ”You don't have clearance yet.”

”So give it to her,” Garrett said.

”You're onboard?”

”I think we are,” Pel said. She looked to Garrett for confirmation.

”So let me get this straight, you want me come help you track down this freaky powerful girl and her friends? You guys are like the Men in Black and I'm Will Smith?”

The other three agents all chuckled at once.

”What?” Garrett asked.

Pel spoke up. ”I wouldn't say Will Smith. Wow. Vain much?”

”Samuel L. Jackson in the Avengers?” Rivers asked.