by T S Paul
"Keep those hands raised! You're under arrest for bringing weapons in here!" The speaker was a young Agent with blond hair and brown eyes.
"We have orders from Washington to present to Special Agent Jeran Ford," I called out to the man now pointing a gun at me.
"Hands on your head." The Agent motioned with his gun.
"No. I've presented myself and my people as Agents of the Magical Crimes Division of the FBI. We have badges. Put your weapon down, now, Agent."
Another Agent stepped through the door and saw all of us standing there. He took one look at us and yelled "Gun!"
I glanced at Bill. "What is it with you people? This is an Open Carry State, and I'm an FBI Agent. Enough." I snapped my fingers, and everything stopped.
"Uh, what did you do Agatha?" Bill lowered his hands and stepped forward to check the Agent.
"He's not dead. The freeze spell should last a half hour or so. I expect that the rest of the building is frozen too. I wasn't all that specific."
Bill took the two Agents weapons from them and set them on the table. "This happen to you a lot?"
"Almost every day. Magical Crimes is so small that many have never heard of us before. This larger group should change that I think. It may have been Washington's idea all along." I levitated the two frozen Agents and moved them to the waiting room couches.
Cat jumped the front counter and retrieved the frozen Agent sitting on the floor. She opened the door to the rear. "Chuck, check the back of the building. We'll handle the rest."
Bill and I found the other Agents in mid-step headed toward the front. All four of them had weapons drawn.
"That could have been ugly." Bill looked at the literal pile of Agents on the floor.
"Yeah. Something is wrong with the training I think. They're acting before they think. Did you get their guns, Bill?" I just levitated them in place and let them pile up.
"Yeah. Even the holdout guns. I still know a few people at the San Diego facility. I'll relay your observations to them." He held up a box of guns.
"That would be great, thanks. One of these days my spell might not work. Blue on blue would not be fun to write up."
"It's not." I glanced in Bill's direction where he was sorting through the weapon box.
"Oh? Something you can talk about?"
"We can wait if you like for the others." He waved his hand.
"Don't worry about them. They're Weres. Cat could tell you if a guy was using the toilet in the building next door if she wanted to. Something as faint as a phone conversation isn't a secret around them." I refrained from telling him that I was getting to be the same way. Some secrets should stay secret.
"It's not a great big hairy secret. I was put in charge of a protection detail of Agents for a Paranormal with mixed powers. He used them to do something stupid, and local LEO's drew down on him. I tried to intervene, and shots were fired. The inquiry freed me of all potential charges, but two of the men were hospitalized. There was a video to show them in the wrong. I requested field duty after that."
"Ouch. I assume you know about my first day at the Academy?" He nodded. "If that had been my Grandmother, there wouldn't be an Academy now. She would have leveled the place. I'm much nicer."
He chuckled waving at the Agents on the floor. "I can see that. It's a pleasure to be working with you."
"Yes, well we need to start working soon. Mustn't forget about our assignment. That one over there is waking up. Cat, I need you."
Bill and I leaned against the desk and watched the seven Agents on the floor. The ones from the rear of the building began to stir first.
Special Agent Ford blinked his eyes several times. The last thing he remembered was responding to an alarm from the front door. The door! He opened up his eyes right onto an FBI badge with the words Special Agent in Charge on it.
"Please don't make any sudden moves. Do you recognize my badge as FBI issue?" I pulled my badge away from his eyes.
"I do. Why am I on the floor?" He looked to either side and saw his entire office lying there with him.
"Sorry about that. Your Agents in the front were pointing guns at us. I'm not a big fan of that. You can thank Agent Maxwell for the floor. He thought it might be more comfortable than the loading dock." I pointed to Bill.
"I know you, I think. Your name is Will or Bill, right?"
Bill smiled. "I thought you looked familiar to me too. What was it, seven or eight years ago in Wichita?"
The man on the floor nodded. "Right. That case was a nasty one. So, who are you, people?" He looked right at me.
"Magical Crimes Division. We are here about the Were slavery in Arbor."
"That. I was informed you were coming, but I thought Jack Dalton ran that outfit."
"He did. Jack took a leave of absence for a while. I just finished my year of working with him, so they gave the division to me. Bill here is my facilitator. My other Agents..."
Cat and Chuck burst into the room.
"Are right there." I gave each of them a questioning look.
"Sorry. We wanted to tell you that a car just pulled into the back lot." The words stumbled out of Chuck's mouth. Cat just rolled her eyes at me.
"I think we will allow Agent Ford here to handle it. They are his people after all." I motioned Cat to the front door.
Agent Ford stood up and gave my team a good look. "Is this all of you then?"
"One more. Anastasia is out in the RV." Bill hooked a finger over his shoulder.
"You got Anastasia to give up forensics? How? I've been trying for years to get her to come out West." The Special Agent looked at me with wide eyes.
Cat broke in. "That is all Agatha. She wanted to work with us for some reason. Uh, Agatha, the others are waking up, and a guy is walking down the main hall toward us."
"How..." The door opened, and a tall man stepped out into the lobby his hand was underneath his jacket.
"Does she know that?" Agent Ford looked at the man. "Jake these are friends. Stand down."
"Catherine is a Were. They can both smell and hear better than humans. She could tell you what they are saying in the building next door if she wanted to."
Cat had her head cocked to one side. "It's pretty boring over there. Are they actually using old fashioned electric keyboards?"
"They build them over there." Ford looked at me. "That is incredible. How come they never told us about those abilities? I would have asked for Were Agents by now."
"Something has to be wrong at the facility in San Diego. Too much is being missed. Take your Agents a short while ago. They completely overreacted to us entering with holstered weapons." Bill pointed to the now waking up Agents.
Chuck stepped over to them in case they tried anything stupid.
"I'm missing something here. How did you disable the entire building?" Ford looked back at Bill.
"Not me Jeran. Her. She's a Witch. The FBI's first official one." I smiled at him.
After that, everything was easier. The orders Washington sent informed Agent Ford of who we were and authorized us to requisition a vehicle from his office.
"There is a small problem with that request. I have an extra car, but it's not in the greatest of shape. Our good one was in an accident just last week and was totaled."
"At this point, we'll take whatever you have." We were sitting in the Agent's office.
"Good. I have the case file here for you. That place is a mess. My predecessor failed to mention to me that the entire area was under the control of a Were pack. When slavery was mentioned, the whole town clammed right up. My Agents haven't been able to find too much, but what we have is yours." He passed Bill a thick file. "Is Washington aware that they control the whole town?"
"They are. Were's are people too. Just a different kind. What they didn't know is that you actually have four Packs here in Arkansas. Each is vying for the same general area." I hated to tell him, but he needed to know.
"Four? For real?" Agent Ford looked terrified.
/> "Contact Washington and get them to send you a couple of Probies. There are several dozen Weres about to graduate at Quantico. Weres in government service are supposed to be neutral and outside of Pack matters. They can alert you to potential trouble as well as help with other cases. Don't discount them."
"If you recommend them I will try to get them. Agent Blackmore, it has been a pleasure. Sorry about the car but I suspect your people will adapt. Please keep me informed if you are able." We said our goodbyes and got back on the road. We have a case to solve.
Chuck got the short straw and was forced by Cat to follow us in the loaner vehicle. I pitied him and his nose. Because the car was a nasty looking older model Chevy Suburban, that smelled like old smoke and french fries.
"Sorry dude. I have to stay in here because I'm the boss and Cat is your boss. She makes your rules." I apologized to Chuck but wasn't very convincing.
"This thing just sucks!" I could barely hear his voice over the loud engine. It needed a tune up badly.
Laughing I handed the phone back to Cat. "That really was mean of you."
"Me? You too. Did you see the inside of that car? It was like someone went on a stakeout and didn't clean it for a month. The smell alone can knock you out."
We both snickered. Poor Chuck.
"How far did Agent Ford say Arbor was from Fort Smith?
"He didn't, but my phone says about an hour. Has anyone called the locals to tell them we are coming?" Cat looked up at me.
"Bill is supposed to. It's one of the reasons they put him with us."
"What's the other reason? Do you know?"
"I suspect that he's here to spy on us. We won't know until something happens. I've been pretty straight with him so far." My bracelet tingled for just a moment. That was the fourth or fifth time it had done that in the last couple of days. I thought we had come to an agreement on some things, but this felt different. I let my mind wander trying to figure out what it could be trying to tell me.
"And has he been that way with you?" Cat glanced in my direction.
"Maybe? He's told me a few stories and didn't freak out back in Fort Smith. Too many Agents have negative reactions to Magick."
"But that might mean he's been exposed to Magick before. Did you scan him to make sure he's human?"
Looking in Cat's direction, I smiled at her. She was starting to think like an investigator. "Of course I did. He's human."
"It could be Anastasia that's the spy."
"Cat, I love you like a sister, but now you're reaching. Don't worry about Ana. I have her covered. She won't cross me."
"How can you be so sure?" Cat was staring at me.
"That is my secret to keep. Sorry, I can't tell you. Just trust me. She's on our side in all things."
Cat arched her eyebrow at me but didn't say anything.
"Was there anything in Ford's file that we didn't already know?" I pointed at the archive in Cat's lab.
Cat picked the folder up and flipped through it. "Lots of stuff. The town has been in existence since the late 1960s. It, like many others in the South, was on the site of one of the old Were reservations. The Jaeger Pack is predominantly in the town itself. The Petrovs hold the industrial area, what there is of it. The police department is mostly neutral with officers from both Packs serving. Daniel Jaeger is both the richest man in town and the Alpha. It was his son that was killed."
"This is going to be a rough one Cat." The implications were going to rock the country if it all became public. Slavery, warfare, and Werewolves is a small town nightmare.
"It is. A sweep by the local Agents turned up three registered sex offenders as well as an Internet Were porn ring."
I stepped on the brake in surprise. "Really? Did they investigate?"
"They did. The sex offenders were known to the police and have since disappeared from town. The porn ring was operating without a license. They too have left town."
"I'm not surprised. Nobody likes being investigated by the FBI. What else?"
"Lots of stuff, but nothing that relates to the case directly. Agent Ford's people are pursuing the case in other parts of the state looking for links. Finding the killer and stopping the slavers is up to us."
"If it concerns the Para community it concerns us. We just have to make it right. GPS says Arbor is less than thirty miles away so get ready. It's time to play with the wolves."
Chapter 9
Arbor, Arkansas was a tiny speck of a town. A lonely stretch of commercial buildings graced one side of Main Street and a concrete block building with the sign Sheriff's Office on one side and City Hall on the other. There was a single pump gas station as well as what looked like an old-fashioned general store. Only a blinking caution light signaled the speed change from forty-five to twenty-five.
"Nice place," Cat said sarcastically.
"Yeah. It reminds me of some of the towns Jack and I went through last year. Tell Bill to park on the street. We'll park out front of City Hall."
Cat got on her phone to relay instructions while I parked. Almost forty feet of RVs took up the entire parking lot. With luck, our federal plates and large FBI logos would prevent local tickets.
"Bill asked if you would wait for him. He is the facilitator after all." Cat closed her phone and followed me outside.
The basic idea of this case bothered me. A child was killed horribly, and now no one wants to talk about it. Something smelled in this town. Looking upwards, I could see the hills of the Ouachita National Forest in the background. Too many miles of empty territory to hide in if this became a manhunt.
"Thanks for waiting." I looked to my right and smiled at Bill. Time for him to do his job and for me to see if he was real or not.
"I spoke to the Sheriff earlier, and they have an office cleared out for us to work in if you like. According to them, the case is cold. They aren't happy we're here at all."
I looked past Bill toward Cat. She shook her head and gave me a noticeable shrug. I glanced skyward and said a small prayer. So much for that.
"What's wrong?" Bill looked first at Cat then at me. I had yet to say anything.
"Bill, what Agatha's not saying to you is you didn't read any of the literature on Weres did you?" Cat spoke gently to not spook the man.
Bill looked at my expression and said. "Why would I need to read... Oh, Crap. I screwed up didn't I?"
"Not completely. But then we haven't told the local authorities anything they didn't already know. Later today, make an effort and read the packet. Cat put it together for you special. Now let's go inside." I led the principle members of my team forward.
The inside of the building was like walking into either a time warp or a 1960s TV show. I would almost swear Barney was in the back room getting stretched. Four officers met us at the door.
"Hello, we're here to see Sheriff Adam Geri. I spoke to him earlier today. We're with Magical Crimes." Bill held out his hand to the first one.
"We don't need you here. Go away!" All three showed pointy teeth and growled at us.
Cat stepped around Bill and smiled at them. "Is that the best you can do?" She let her Cat loose for just a moment. All three felt her Alpha power and immediately bowed their heads in submission.
"There. Much better. Where is the Sheriff's Office?" Cat may be short, and she may be sweet sometimes, but down deep, she is a real bitch!
"What was that?" Bill looked at Cat in amazement.
"That Agent was what an Alpha can do. A very powerful one." We all turned toward the voice. A man in a Sheriff's uniform was walking toward us.
"Sheriff Geri?" I held out my hand.
"Yes, and you are?"
"Special Agent in Charge Agatha Blackmore. This is Agent Moore and Agent Maxwell. We're with the Magical Crimes Division."
The Sheriff just nodded his head. "You I've heard of."
"You have?" That surprised me. Most of the reports about what we do are classified.
"My cousin works and lives in Sugar Mountain."
>
"That, sir, was a hairy one. I can't speak about it, but I'm glad we got some justice for those people. How is the town doing?"
Sheriff Geri scratched his head. "According to my cousin, surprisingly well. The crops have started producing, and some new Federal money is helping those kids."
"Good. They got a raw deal."