Chapter
One
“I’m pulling you off the case.” Karma
eased into her chair as a devilish smile spread across her face, reaching her
kohl lined eyes; one blue and one green.
“Understood.” Fang agreed gruffly; leaning
back in a chair that was three sizes too small for him and attempting to look
halfway comfortable as he prepared himself for the coming lecture.
“Isn’t this something we can discuss
further?” Devon asked, sitting on the other side of Frankie. He’d cut his black
hair closer to his head, eliminating the long locks she was so accustomed to
seeing frame his face.
Karma shook her head, her golden curls
dancing around her shoulder. “I’m sorry, this isn’t up for debate.”
“You can’t do this.” Frankie’s green eyes were
large with shock.
Karma leaned back in her chair, and put
her high-heeled feet on her desk. “I can, and I am.”
“But what about Willow?” Frankie asked,
trying hard to keep the emotion out of her words. Her emotions were what landed
them in this mess in the first place.
Karma glanced at Tucker Jackson and
Persephone DeLuca sitting on the opposite side of the room of Frankie, Fang and
Devon. “Tucker and DeLuca will stay on as liaisons with the FBI. Besides, I
need you three on another case.”
“But we are the ones that have made
progress?” Frankie continued her argument.
“Sure
you have, if you consider alienating the suspects progress. The FBI, on the
other hand, considers what you did harassment.” Karma removed her smile, and
narrowed her dual colored eyes on Frankie, “we are a low profile agency,
Francesca. We don’t need to draw attention. Our job is to keep the attention on
other things.”
“All we did was try and take control of
the situation. Willow has been missing for almost two days, and the longer she
is gone the less likely we are going to rescue her alive.”
Karma
shook her head, dropped her feet to the floor, and leaned dangerously across
her desk eyeing Frankie coldly. “You are new to this position so I’m going to
chalk this up as a lesson learned. We adhere to rules. People have rights which
don’t include harassing a suspect at his place of work unless you have
something that supports the interruption. Walking into a room full of clients,
accusing him of kidnapping a little girl without any evidence to support your
claims is unacceptable.” She turned her attention to Devon and Fang. “And you
two know this, which is why I’m surprised we are even here having this
discussion.”
“The FBI isn’t doing anything to save that
little girl.” Frankie pleaded for some sort of understanding.
“The FBI happens to be the agency the
public sees on this case. They take the responsibility of what all the other,
non-public agencies do. Your actions put them in a very uncomfortable position,
and they are insisting you be removed from the case.” Karma shot back, it was a
volley of words, each person attempting to spike the ball in order to finish
the discussion.
“Frankie’s actions may have been a little
impulsive but…” Fang tried to intervene, but was cutoff, like a casualty of
war.
“I don’t need you defending me, Fang.”
Frankie shot her verbal assault at him without even turning in his direction.
She was extremely unhappy with the man for so many reasons, and the last thing
she wanted was the dumbass Neanderthal jumping in and saving her. “We all know Matthew
and Rhonda are involved in this kidnapping, and no one is doing anything to put
the pressure on them. Perhaps if there was a little pressure applied, one of
the two might mess up.”
“But neither one of them did anything to
implicate themselves. Instead, they called the FBI, and threatened to take
legal action against all the agencies involved in the harassment unless you are
removed from the case.” Karma eyed Frankie with a look that dared her to argue.
“So we let it play out and recover a
corpse instead of a live child?”
“You don’t get it, do you, Frankie? What
you did put Willow’s life in danger, especially if you are correct.” Which
Karma was sure she was. Frankie may be impulsive, and often takes crazy risks,
but her instincts were generally on point, which, when controlled, made her a
good agent.
“That’s not fair, Karma.” Devon came to
Frankie’s defense this time. “What Francesca did was put them on notice. Now
the FBI can keep an eye on the two, and see if either of them leads the
authorities to the girl.”
“Don’t you dare sugar coat the situation,
Dev. She needs to understand her actions have consequences.” Karma turned her
fury on Devon.
“I understand that.” Frankie defended
herself, “which is exactly why I did it and I would do it again. My actions
forced their hands. Just wait. They will react.” She was sure of it. She just
hoped they didn’t react in a bad way by eliminating the evidence of their
crime.
“I know you have a strange knack of
understanding human behavior, but you aren’t always right, Francesca.” Karma
stood up and walked around the desk, sitting on the other side of the cherry
wood ledge in between Fang and Frankie. “Besides, the case is turning out to be
as un-supernatural as possible, and in case you didn’t notice, we only
investigate paranormal crimes. When they prove to not be part of the
supernatural world we remove ourselves from the equation and allow the proper
authorities to take over.”
“Willow is a shifter child, how much more
supernatural can that be?” Fang argued.
“She has shown no indication the shifter
gene has activated or transferred into her genetic makeup, and her suspected
kidnappers are very human. Case closed on our end.” Karma examined her
perfectly manicured blood red nails. “We’ll leave Tucker and DeLuca in the loop
while I send you three on another case.”
“If I’m such a royal screw up why would
you send me?” Frankie regretted the words the moment they left her mouth.
“Because Mercy and Harmony requested you
specifically. That and, for the most part, you’re a decent operative. As long
as you follow orders and stick to procedure.”
“We’ll keep you updated on the case,
Francesca.” Tucker offered a look of sincerity from his warm brown eyes. “I
know what it’s like to get invested in a case.” A toothy grin lit his mocha
colored face when Frankie gave him an appreciative glance.
He was a very handsome man. Strong, lean
muscles, and great hair. But his personality made him extremely adorable, if
she were to choose a man to date in this agency, not that she’d date a fellow
agent, but if she did, he’d be on the top of her list. “Thank you.”
A growl rumbled from Fang’s chest, and
when Frankie turned and glanced at the blond giant man that was a mass of
muscles his brown eyes were narrowing on Tucker. Frankie couldn’t hold back the
eye roll. Fang was beyond irritating with his overly protective and possessive
attitude toward her, and she needed to do something about it.
“Quite frankly, I think you get far too
much leeway in this agency.” Persephone stood up, straightened her black jacket
over her frilly lace skirt, tossed her dyed, jet-black hair over her shoulder
and asked, “May we be excused to get back to work?”
Karma nodded, “thank you, DeLuca and
Tucker.” Karma straightened her own form and walked back to her position behind
the cherry wood desk. “As for you, I’m sending you to Half Moon Bay, California
to join the ABI in the investigation of Avalon flight 370.” She pushed the
files forward on her desk and each of them picked up the one in front of them.
“The plane that disappeared over the
Pacific Ocean?” Devon asked without flipping open the pages of the case file.
Frankie bit her lower lip. She wanted to
point out they’d be of little use on this case, to reinforce the fact that
they’re better suited for the missing person case, but she knew that argument
was over. If the FBI kicked her off the case what more could she do? DeLuca,
despite her snotty attitude, and Tucker were good agents and she had a feeling
Tucker would keep his promise and keep her posted. Instead, she decided to
focus her energy on a different issue.
“That’s a pretty high profile case, don’t
you think…” Fang began as he started flipping through the pages more at ease
and relaxed now that DeLuca and Tucker were gone.
“As I mentioned earlier, Mercy and Harmony
asked for Francesca personally, and there are no other agents I’d rather send
with her. If it were up to me, you’d be suspended.” Karma directed that last
part at Frankie who shrank back in her seat a little. “The plan was to pull
Tucker and DeLuca from your case and keep you there, however, that all changed
when you were removed from the FBI cleared list.”
“Okay! I get it! I messed up.” Frankie
held up her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, but if it helps break the case,
which I know it will, I’ll be the one getting the apologies.” She set the file
on the desk. “Why did Mercy and Harmony request me?”
“I know Mercy was impressed with how you,
Fang and Jasmine handled the case of the Florida outbreak. I also know Harmony
is curious as to how you survived the mutated Ebola virus.”
“Well, that makes two of us.” It had been
a month since she was bitten by the child carrier of the zombie-like virus
which the doctors discovered was a mutated strain of Ebola. According to the
newest update last week, the virus mutated because it unlocked a recessive
supernatural gene in patient zero. By all accounts, Sarah said it could’ve
resulted in the zombie apocalypse, and her team was the one that had closed the
case. It was why she was moved into the field as a permanent agent so quickly.
Frankie was bitten by one of the carriers
and she was infected. Her life was pretty much over. They all knew it, as her
organs failed one after the other. Then, she was on a respirator, on the verge
of a coma, and suddenly she made a miraculous recovery. She was the only person
out of the twenty-four infected by the virus that survived. Defeating the virus
made her stronger, physically, mentally, even spiritually. Her experience on
death’s door was hazy, but she was positive there was more after this life.
What it was, she had no clue. She couldn’t access the memories, only the
feelings. Even the therapist she was seeing had failed to help recover those
memories. After three hypnosis sessions and no results she stopped going.
Since the incident, she had the strangest
feeling that people were keeping a secret from her. She and Sarah tried to
discover the big mystery, but everyone who’d been involved was pretty tight
lipped. She was convinced the agency injected her with some experimental drug. Why
it worked on her and no one else, she had no clue. Why they wouldn’t tell her
was an even more frustrating point. The supernatural strength and enhanced
senses did little to ease her mind. Whatever they did to her, she would eventually
find out. She needed to know.
“Half Moon Bay is the closest point to the
last transmission from the airplane so the teams have set up a temporary
military base just outside of town. Harmony reports there is no evidence that
aliens were involved, despite the conspiracy theories that assumed this missing
flight was a massive abduction. Disproving alien involvement is why they asked
for the PBI to join the investigation.” Karma continued the briefing.
“What makes them think this was
paranormal?” Devon asked. “I can’t think of any supernatural creature that has
the ability to make an entire plane with passengers disappear. The most logical
conclusion would be a crash into the ocean. I would think this is a human
case.”
“Quite possibly, but this disaster has
impacted over fifteen countries. Avalon 370 was an international flight so the
president wants every agency at his disposal on the case.” Karma sighed. “There
are also some strange facts to the case that have been pieced together so far.”
Fang nodded as he read the file. “Like the
communication gaps?”
Karma smiled, “yes, Fang. There were only
three communication checkpoints that came from the actual crew. The last one,
after two failed attempts, was static and mumbled voices. The remaining
communication from the flight came from the airplane communicating with ground
and satellite.”
“It’s also strange that there seemed to be
no warning from the crew. No distress calls.” Fang continued reading the file.
“And the flight path was not followed. The
amount of air traffic over the United States would result in catastrophic
events of two or more planes colliding if the plane did not stay its course.”
Karma added. “Too many facts in this don’t add up.”
Devon closed his file. He wasn’t convinced
this was a PBI case, but he agreed that getting Frankie off the kidnapping
would be a good thing, and this case might be a decent distraction. “When do we
leave?”
“Candy is working on getting a pilot and flight
plan approval now.” Karma answered. “I would expect her to have everything
ready within the next couple of hours.”
“Great. I’m going to take a shower and
pack.” He stood and headed toward the door.
Fang and Frankie took the hint and both
stood. “Karma, can I have a few minutes?” Frankie asked after almost colliding
into Fang when they stood.
“Sure.” Karma’s interest was piqued.
Fang grumbled something under his breath,
even with Frankie’s enhanced hearing she couldn’t understand the mumble as he
left with Devon.
Frankie closed the door after them and sat
back down. She had two things to discuss and didn’t know which one to approach
first which left her worrying her hands as she sat down. She pushed out a
breath and went for her first issue. “I was wondering if Sarah could come along
on this case?”
Karma’s forehead creased in confusion.
“Why?”
Frankie bit her lower lip, “well, we’ve
been looking into the attack on our parents and there are some leads in
northern California that I was thinking we could investigate after the case was
concluded.”
Karma sat back in her chair and considered
Frankie’s request. In truth, she was impressed with the human’s fearlessness.
Most people keep their heads down around her. They avoid private conversations,
fearing how karma would judge them, but not Francesca. She voiced her opinion. She
didn’t back down when she thought she was right. She fought for those she cared
for, and as a result, she’d racked up some awesome karma points. In the short
time Karma had known the spunky human, she’d gained a soft spot for her, which
was a bad thing since it was her job to dole out good or bad karma to everyone
whether she liked them or not. It was simply an expectation. It was fine now
that Francesca was on the side of good karma, but the moment she fell on the
bad side, Karma worried about her ability to deliver the swift hand of justice.
“I’m impressed that you’ve been working on
the cold case, but without something tangible to re-open the investigation, I
can’t justify agency funding to the investigation. Besides, you have plenty to
worry about with this case.”
“None of you think this has a paranormal
signature to it. We are just being sent there to reinforce the use of our
agency.”
“Sure, there are no signs this is
paranormal, but it’s strange, and that is what we investigate. If it turns out
to be void of the supernatural, I’ll pull you back.”
“Right, so if we prove it one way or the
other what harm would there be in allowing my sister and I an additional day to
look in on the leads?”
“Sending your sister will cost the agency,
and put her behind in her studies.”
“You don’t think a forensic agent would be
helpful in this matter?”
“At this point, this case is a tragedy. There
has been no crime committed. Forensics use science to investigate a crime.”
“Or possible crime.” Frankie was a force
to be reckoned with when she got an idea in her mind. As she pleaded her case,
she realized this request would actually help her with her second request since
she was sure Karma would not help her with her other issue. Her own father used
to call her the great debater. It was coming in handy in this case.
Karma examined Frankie carefully. She did
have a valid point about assigning forensic personnel. It would look like they
were putting their best foot forward, and after last month’s debriefing with
the president she needed to gain a few good points. The funding had been
renewed for a year, but there were stipulations that came with that renewal. “Perhaps
you’re right, but the last person I’d send on a case like this is the newest
forensic analyst.”
“Okay, if you can’t help with that request,
how about another one?” Frankie was disappointed but she could understand why
Sarah wasn’t the right choice to go on the mission.
“And that would be?”
“Fang.”
“What about him?”
“I’d like a different partner.”
Without any hesitation. “No.”
“Aren’t you even going to ask why?”
“I don’t care. He will protect you better
than most agents, and that is why he is your partner.” Karma didn’t want any
more human casualties. She couldn’t afford them with the new stipulations
placed on her to keep funding going.
“Yeah, well, he makes me uncomfortable.”
“Fang isn’t known for his social skills,
but he grows on you.”
“He kissed me.” Frankie answered quickly
before she lost her courage. She felt like a child telling on the boy next
door.
Karma couldn’t hold back the smile that
crossed her lips. “And did you kiss him back?”
Frankie shook her head, “no, I slapped
him.”
Karma laughed, “good for you.”
And he’s barely
spoken to me since,
she wanted to add, but decided to keep that to herself.
“If you have a problem with your partners
you need to find a way to work it out with them.”
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