Conjuring Quantico (The Federal Witch Book 1)

by T S Paul

  I stepped closer to the agent. “Nita, why take us so seriously? We aren’t even agents yet.”

  “You found something that veteran agents missed more than once. None of us saw what was right in front of us. You both have fresh eyes and powers we don’t understand. Maybe, just maybe, you have some insight we can use.”

  That made sense. I stepped over to the boards and began adding the information as it came in. Nothing matched up. The mothers went to different schools, grew up in different states, and even belonged to different charity organizations. Three of the mothers went to different colleges than their parents, but the one that did was the one with the medical condition. Whatever the link, it wasn’t something obvious. It was very frustrating.

  Then Nita got a call from forensics and we had our first break in the case.

  “Anastasia traced the maker of those statues! It’s a local manufacturing plant here in Alexandria. Want to come along?”

  ~~~~

  Warrants were acquired in a hurry. Possible Demonic activity was a guaranteed way to get them. Two tactical teams hit the plant just as they closed down their operations for the day. A team of agents served the warrants to the front of the building while tactical came in the rear and from the side. Many of those inside thought it was an immigration raid, and all exited as fast as possible. Fortunately the building itself was surrounded by a ten -foot chain-link fence with one gate in or out. Those that tried to climb to get away were easily apprehended.

  Cat and I went in last along with Agent Lowrey to interrogate the owner and manager who happened to be the same person.

  “… I had no idea that many of my workers were illegal! As far as I knew they were OK; I mean, they had proper documentation. I don’t understand this, INS was just here last week.”

  “Mr. Dawn this has nothing to do with INS. We will be informing that agency about the results of this raid, but we have nothing to do with any of that. What we require is any information about these.” Nita laid four pictures in front of the man of the dragon statues.

  He studied the statues for just a moment and looked up. “The hydras? Those were a special order for a new customer. I would need to check my records but we did those about a month ago. Short run, guy said they were for a fantasy group I think.”

  “Do you remember what he looked like or anything about the man?”

  “Like I said I would need to check my records. I just remember the dragons. We make lots of stuff like that.” Nita looked at the milling agents. “Someone take Herman here and pull the records for that order. Get everything.”

  Two of the larger agents took the man in tow and went to his office. Nita looked over at me. “Agatha would you do that diagnostic spell of yours and check the warehouse and offices? See if there is anything out of order around this place. Cat, tag along with her and check for unusual smells as well.”

  As we headed into the warehouse proper Cat mentioned that she didn’t want us to be Team “Scratch and Sniff.”

  I sank into my meditation and cast the diagnostic spell again. This time small spikes of magic lit up around the small factory. With Cat in tow we poked and prodded the machinery and molding systems. I found small traces of magic and what might be called a whiff of a psychic trail that I followed back to the owner's office.

  Nita and some of the forensic techs were there along with Mr. Dawn.

  “So you don’t remember anything about the man that ordered these?” Nita waved the pictures at the Herman again.

  “Well, no. He was only here three times. The first to place the order and later to pick it up. He came by when we first started to press the molds. It was a quality control check is what he said.”

  “So three times and you can’t describe him? Is that what you are saying, Herman?”

  Herman shook his head and repeated his answer.

  “What about the cameras? Did they get a picture of him?” I was looking at the hidden camera inside the picture on the wall.

  “Cameras? What cameras?” Nita looked at Cat and I.

  “Behind you, in the picture.” One of the techs lifted the picture of an older woman off the wall. Embedded in the frame was a small multi-angle camera lens.

  Nita looked at us and smiled. “Thank you Agents.”

  She called us Agents which made my day. The whole experience back at the Academy had made me hypersensitive when it comes to cameras. I looked for them everywhere.

  “Where’s the receiver and memory storage, Herman?”

  The man sighed and pointed at the potted plant next to the door. “Look under the plant.”

  “Herman, Herman, Herman we were just looking for the statues, but now we need to see what else you have cooking around here. Naughty naughty.”

  That reminded me. “Agent Lowrey, we found spell traces in the warehouse but most of them are small equipment tweaks and repairs that are benign at best. I followed a magical trail that had a familiar psychic scent into this office.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not sure. It started at the molding machines and runs back to this room. I need to run another spell.”

  “Do we need to clear the room?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve gotten better at the spell.” I slipped back into my trance and triggered the spell. I was starting to run out of salt, it's a good thing I’d brought almost fifty pounds of it with me.

  “There are traces of whatever it is in the room but the strongest is coming from under his desk. I think there is a floor safe or a hidey hole of some kind under there.”

  The desk was moved and carpet ripped up. Set into the floor was a small metal door with a digital lock embedded into it.

  “OK Herman. Give us the combination.”

  He shook his head and replied. “No more help.”

  The techs told Nita they could drill the lock but the best way would be to remove the whole safe. That would take anywhere from hours to days to get inside.

  “Cat, can you give it a try?”

  We all watched as my roommate, this little slip of a girl, walk over to the safe grab the handle and give it a jerk. The door of the safe came off in her hands with a loud clang. She handed it to one of the techs who had taken a huge step back from her.

  “Thank you. Agent Moore.” Cat gave Nita the cutest smile.

  The forensic techs began to reach into the safe when I caught a whiff of what they were removing. “Freeze! Agent Lowrey, I have demonic traces just like the statues in there!”

  The lab techs turned sheet white and backed slowly away from the hole in the floor. No one wanted to be locked away forever as being possessed.

  I approached the hole and looked down. Carefully I telekinetically removed the items one at a time. A large bundle of money, jewelry, some odds-and-ends gemstones, and a small bag of what looked like coins. The coins were the danger.

  “It’s the coins. That other stuff has a faint glow about it but it’s from contact with the coins. That glow should fade with time. Just store them separately and wear silk gloves if you have to touch them. The coins are another thing altogether. They are demonically enhanced.”

  Nita grabbed Herman and dragged him over to the desk. I levitated the small bag and set it in front of him. Without opening the bag I could see they looked like gold.

  “What are they and where did you get them? Let me tell you up front a few things. Demon worship is not illegal, but kidnapping is and if you don’t start talking right now, you are our only lead on four child abductions. You are looking at going away for a very long time.”

  Dawn was sheet white. “Demons, Kidnapping, what the hell are you talking about? The man came in here to order the statues, he wanted twenty of them. Special he said. He paid up front and gave us all the designs and mold settings. He showed up the day of casting out of the blue and said he wanted those coins embedded inside the statues. I was like ‘Sure, anything you want.’ We poured the mold, and he watched as the coins went into the first batch. He slapped m
e on the back and left. I checked out the coins, saw they were solid gold and thought payday! I kept the rest and put washers in place of them in the other statues. How was he going to know? Right? He came back, picked up the order, and left.”

  Nita could only shake her head at this guy. “Get him out of here. Agatha, can you get those to Anastasia? I don’t feel safe letting the regular human techs touch them.”

  I nodded and reached into the backpack Cat was wearing. I had packed several silk bags to use for carrying artifacts or spell components. I carefully lowered the coins into the bag and then sealed them into an evidence bag. The forensics truck was just pulling in as we walked out of the building. Since the FBI had seized this warehouse and fenced area, it made a perfect spot to work from. Easy security once the cars were removed from the lot.

  To preserve the chain of evidence, I handed the bag to Anastasia personally and watched as she signed for it. Procedure was very important in our job.

  She got to work immediately analyzing the coins and looking for trace evidence. Other techs had the camera footage and were scanning for familiar faces and looking for our guy.

  The techs found several underworld representatives and a drug runner on the tapes which explained why they were hidden. The DEA and RICO boys would find much of this very interesting, but it didn’t get us closer to our kidnapper.

  Finally the tape rolled past a man I thought I recognized. “Stop. That guy. Back up a bit.”

  The man in the picture was a very large man in a suit. The cameras were set too low the catch his face in the first scene. On the second visit they only caught his back and front of his shirt. The final shot was of him and Herman shaking hands. He leaned down to pick up the box of statues and his face was revealed.

  “We’ve seen him before! It’s Senator Emery’s servant!”

  Chapter 14

  Senator Seymour Emery’s house was the first crime scene we’d visited. The man on the screen was the one who both answered the door and escorted him back up the stairs. This was bad. Senator Emery was a major mover and shaker in DC. He had a lot of money and was not afraid to use it. His was also the house where men attempted to break into our vehicle. This had the potential to be a political nightmare.

  The command center was tightly filled with all the agents involved. “What do we know?” Nita looked very tired.

  I looked to the whiteboards and studied them. The other agents filled in Nita with what we knew and didn’t know. Our prime suspect was a member of the Senator's own household. According to background checks run by Agent Mu’s team his name was Aalu Kovacic. He was of Croatian descent and had worked for the family for many years. We knew that the Senator was conducting his own investigation and had attempted to break into an FBI vehicle. Agent Mu was now being investigated for both that and some of his other orders by the FBI’s version of Internal Affairs. We had the statues and knew how they were constructed. But we had no proof connecting the Senator to the investigation. Only his hired help.

  “Can we get a warrant to search the house?” Agent Smith, one of the original team members, voiced the question we were all thinking.

  “With the evidence we have? I doubt it. He allowed us access to the child’s rooms before, but if he finds out we suspect him, he will cut that off quickly. Pull everything we have into a readable report. I will send it higher. This is going to suck.” She looked over at Cat and I. We were just about asleep leaning against the wall.

  “Agent Smith, take temporary Agents Moore and Blackmore to the hotel and get them settled. Ladies, we will come for you when we have something actionable. So get some rest. You deserve it.”

  We thanked Nita and followed Agent Smith out to our Suburban. A quick snap of my fingers dropped the shield I’d put up. The agent glanced at our bags piled in the back and told us to hop in.

  “What hotel are we going to?” I was in the back watching the cars go by.

  “We have rooms reserved at the King’s Inn for stay-over visitors. You two deserve it. For students you ask good questions.”

  “Thank you Agent Smith. I studied everything I could get my hands on about the FBI when I was given the choice to join. Cat there is the same way. A friend of ours, Chuck, reads even more than we do.”

  “It sounds to me like you have the makings of a good team. From what I remember from the Academy you may get that opportunity. Hold on to him or some other team may try to steal him.”

  Cat almost growled. “They can try.”

  The agent looked back at me in the mirror. I explained. “Cat is his Alpha. She is a bit possessive about some things.”

  Remembering the floor safe the agent could only nod. “There: your hotel.” He pointed to a multi-story building on the left of the highway.

  We didn’t have to check-in and Cat was able to carry the bags in. We said goodbye to the agent and got settled in. Our rooms were connected by a door. The room was on the third floor but I set my standard wards, anyway. I had just finished when Cat came in through the door. “Hey, whatcha doing?”

  “I’m setting the wards for the rooms. Let me know if you want to go outside and I will make a hole.”

  “Is it the same kind of ward you put on the car?”

  “It’s a bit similar. The ward I put on the auditorium is just like it. Anyone of ill intent cannot get inside. We are safe here.”

  “Thanks for bringing me along, Aggy. This has been fun.”

  “You’re just happy you got to show off in front of all those agents.”

  She rolled her eyes at me.

  “Why don’t you call Chuck and rub it in? You know he has to be dying to know what we’ve done and who we’ve met. We can’t talk about the case, but we can mention Anastasia the Vampire.”

  Cat ran back into her room and grabbed her cell phone. I could hear her chatting with Chuck and laughing. Fergus looked over at me from the table in the room. “Is hay all you brought? I could go for a salad right about now.”

  I gave him a ‘really?’ look.

  “Just saying. I’ve been listening to you and those FBI guys all day. And I had an idea on how you can get into the house.”

  At this point any idea, even one that comes from a Unicorn, might be a good one. “What is your idea?”

  “Use the daughter, the mother of Senator Memory’s granddaughter. Isn’t she the one that called the FBI originally, anyway?”

  “It’s Senator Emery and yes she is. I will mention that to Nita. Good idea Fergus.” I laid out on the bed and flicked on the TV. Center stage in the news was the kidnappings. It only took a day for them to ferret out the reason for the investigation. So much for secrecy. There were camera shots of the FBI vehicles and some of the agents walking around. I didn’t like what the one reporter said about how insiders report that ‘Magical support brought in by Washington had sidelined the investigation’. That was a prod at Cat and I. Although completely untrue it could hurt Nita. I looked up her number and dialed.

  She picked up after three rings. “Agatha is something wrong?”

  “No we are OK. Did you see the news? What they are saying about Cat and I?”

  “Calm down. We know it’s not true. Washington knows that it isn’t true. I checked with my boss. It seems that after Agent Mu was interviewed by internal review, he called a friend of his at the Post and spilled his guts about the investigation. He’s right out of the FBI. They revoked his credentials two hours ago. Charges are pending and he won’t be able to wriggle his way out of them at all.”

  “Oh, OK. I was worried. How goes the case?”

  “Not good. My boss says we don’t have enough to go against the Senator. He wields too much power in Congress to hit head on. Any hint of an investigation and he will come down very hard on us. We have to have solid evidence to even try.”

  “Fergus had an idea on how to get inside the house.”

  “Fergus, the Unicorn?”

  “Occasionally a gem of truth falls out of his ass but yes the Unicorn has an
idea.”

  “Do I really want to know?”

  “It’s not a bad one. What he suggested is that we use the child’s mother. She is the one that called us in the first place. We could go to her with either our suspicions or use her to get to the bodyguard.”

  “That’s actually not a bad idea. I will say it came from you though. I really don’t want to write in my notes that a mouse-sized Unicorn is making the decisions here. Get some rest. I’ll send an agent for you in the morning.”

  I relayed the information to Cat. She ended up in my room on the other bed. We both felt the big rooms were too much for us alone. The day had been incredibly long and both of us were very tired. I’m not sure what woke me up first, the man stuck to my window or my new bracelet.