The Alphas Game - Complete Set (19 page)

Chapter6

There’s something about Florida, a smell that always lingers in the air. Natives have pretty much forgotten it, but every time someone leaves the state and passes by the sulfur smell of standing water they find themselves reminiscing about their home. It’s an effect of being in such a swampy state, but this smell is uniquely Floridian, something special in the air that no one else can claim. The further south you go, the stronger the scent gets, but it’s just the wet air washing over the swamp, bringing the titillating aroma into my nose. Whenever I leave the state, I miss this smell, and I never feel quite right without it.

It never really seems like anything short of a hurricane ever causes any change in the everglades. Everyone took note of the fact that nothing had seemed to change from their last foray into the swamp. The sleepy little town still looked exactly the same, down to the cars parked in the parking lot of the bar where they stopped. Everyone in the room looked up at them as they walked into the room. “I suppose y’all are from the government about those bodies they found in the swamp.” Her eyes were heavy lidded and she barely seemed to notice them as she looked vaguely in their direction.

“Do you know anything about that?” Kevin nodded in response to the bartender’s slowly drawn query. He studied the woman, a middle aged, exhausted lady who had seen too many hard times and struggled a bit too much to really be surprised by anything.

“Nope, but it don’t surprise me none.” The woman chewed her gum slowly. “They find bodies in the swamp all the time.” She continued to wipe the ever-present layer of grime off the bar. It never seemed to get clean enough as she wiped the same spot over and over, only to do something while she examined the newcomers.

“Are you really that cold?” Rosie asked the question in disbelief before anyone could stop her. “There was a serial killer loose in your town and that’s all you can say about this?” Rosie’s voice was raised. She was appalled at the callousness of the woman behind the bar, and wanted to stomp out the general air of uncaring that seemed to permeate this quiet little bar.

“I’m not cold.” The woman’s voice lacked emotion as she coolly defended herself. “I just know the way the world works. Nothing I do or say is going to change anything.”

“There is something you can do.” Rosie balled up her fists. “You can help stop more people from dying. You can stop a murderer, or at least help us stop a murderer. You can make a difference, but you have to be willing to do it.”

Grey touched her arm, pulling her back into reality. “She doesn’t care if people keep dying, she isn’t going to help us. Let’s move on.” The pair walked out to the parking lot, leaving Kevin to continue questioning the uninterested bartender. “I don’t want this to be uncomfortable.” Grey turned to her as they stood by the solid black vehicle.

“Huh?” Rosie was still seething about the woman in the bar, so she didn’t understand what he was saying.

“I don’t want it to be uncomfortable between us.” He studied her eyes as she reached for the meaning of the words. He didn’t know how to explain what he wanted to say.

“Nothing’s uncomfortable between us.” Rosie looked at him, confused, before realizing what he was talking about.

“I understand that you’re pretty closed off when it comes to your personal feelings, so I’m not going to push it, but I want you to know that it is your life and if I ever start acting strangely about this, feel free to let me know.”

Rosie thought about it for a long time, discussing the possibilities in her mind as she wondered what she was going to do with this information. He let her think, the thoughts stewing in her mind as she pondered the meaning of everything that had happened between her and the two men who had walked into her life. “I’ll let you know. I think we have a case to solve and I’d like to focus on that first.” She was copping out of the problem and she knew it, but she did have bigger fish to fry. People were dying, there was no way that her mangled love life was anywhere close to as important as that.

“Whenever you’re ready to talk about it.” Grey studied the woman, trying to imagine his life without her, because it was looking like that was what the future was meant to be, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t imagine never seeing her again, and was tortured by the thought of seeing her with Kevin. Kevin was a good man, but it didn’t mean that he would be able to separate his feelings from her relationship.

“I’m not with him.”

“I know, I just want you to know that the choice is yours. I want you to be happy.” He forced a smile even through his breaking heart.

“I know it is.” She sighed and headed back to the bar, leading Grey inside and watching Kevin as he carefully questioned the patrons of the bar. He turned to his two partners, motioning for everyone to move back outside.  “Let’s go check out the scene.”

They followed the man, watching his careful movements as he advanced into the swamp. “There have been several new people hanging around lately. Not counting us, I’m pretty sure most of them were Ysella, and one of this sounds like Alfi.”

“Why would they talk to the locals?” It didn’t seem like the greatest idea when there were better ways to slip in and out of the swamp, places that no one would notice. Grey pondered on the possibilities.

“I don’t know why they would do something like that, but it doesn’t really matter.” Kevin seemed to be focused on other things, on other priorities, but the truth was that the motivation of the fairies was almost impossible to figure out.

“Did they say anything else?” Rosie asked, picking up on the meaning of the man’s words.

“There was one thing, but I really don’t know what to make of it.” Kevin paused, still unsure of how to give them the information that he had gathered through gentle coaxing.

“Out with it.” Rosie demanded.

“Ok.” Kevin sighed. “Apparently Schmidt was down here asking questions just before he died.” He watched his companions’ faces morph into varying degree of shock.

Grey’s eyes widened. “They were saying that he wasn’t moved. That meant that he was killed right there.”

“That probably means that he stumbled on something that he shouldn’t have and Ysella took advantage of the situation.”

“But why wouldn’t he pass the lead off?” Kevin pondered. “It doesn’t make sense, none of this does.” He was practically cursing as he tried to wrap his mind around the missing pieces of the puzzle.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll figure it all out soon.” Rosie didn’t sound so sure of herself. It had seemed like everything was spinning and twisting and that the second they seemed to have all of the answers in their grasp, they slipped away once again. She continued to follow, but hung back a bit, examining her surroundings.

The swamp was a gloomy place, full of shadows that seemed to move as the tree branches waved in the woods. It would be easy to say that the place was haunted by the spirits of those who had lost their lives in such a desolate place, but her sharp eyes picked up the cause of the shades. It was the trees and grasses, playing in the humid wind that blew in off of the ocean. The saltiness of the wind meshed with the stagnant aroma of standing water, causing her eyes to moist up a bit as she pushed her way through the tall grasses, carefully checking over her shoulder as she tested the places where she walked. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if she was to sink down to her hips in the muck.

“What’s taking so long?” Grey interrupted her thoughts by calling back to her.

Startled, her head snapped up and she noticed how far ahead both FBI agents were. She hustled to catch up and they waited. “Sorry, I was looking around.”

“Looking for clues that everyone else must have missed?” Kevin teased her for her nerves and she frowned.

“Yeah, actually.” She still sounded distracted as she looked around.

“Is something wrong? Did you see something?” He asked her as she questioned what she was seeing, every detail seemed to be too perfect, untouched by human hands.

“No, I just feel a little strange. Something feels off. How much further do we need to go?” She tried to identify the problem, but continued anyway, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be able to identify the problem until it slapped her in the face anyway.

“It’s not that far now. I can see the yellow tape across that tree.” Rosie looked up, but she just wasn’t able to see as well as her shifter companion. She squinted and thought that she might be able to see a flash of the color, but was unable to identify anything more than that.

“Shouldn’t there be someone here to keep people from snooping and disturbing things.” Grey asked the question as they saw the man slip out of the shadows, a rifle slung over his shoulders.

“What are y’all doing out here?” The man’s drawl echoed in the shadowed swamp. It was late afternoon as he stepped into a shaft of sunlight that filtered through the trees. He had a strange smile on his face, the smile of a hunter with unnatural origins.

The men pulled out their badges and Rosie produced her Identification card, listing her as a licensed consultant. They were waved through the line. “I wonder where he came from.” Rosie asked, looking around for the man’s hiding spot.

“He’s like us, but not like us.” Grey sniffed. “It’s his nature and why he’s picked for this kind of work, I suppose.” The man didn’t go into more detail, there was something about this location that made him not want to announce anyone’s abilities and everyone respected that. Rosie would ask more later, but she already had a good idea about the officer’s nature, a creature of the night, someone who worked for justice instead of hurting people around him.

They wandered the perimeter, seeing the holes that had been dug up before heading further into the swamp. Anything that was to be found here was already located. The swamp seemed to get darker and darker as they trudged through the mud, muck, and plant life, scaring small creatures from their burrows as they scurried toward safer ground away from the predators that they smelled and heard stomping through their homes. Rosie felt her foot sink into the muck and knew that she had just destroyed some tiny creature’s residence.

The sucking noise of the mud was accompanied by a gripping tightness as she fought to extricate her foot from the sticky situation. “Uh, guys, a little help please.” She called out, but it was a quiet noise, something full of embarrassment for needing to ask for help.

“Go on up ahead. I’ll get her out of it.” Grey turned back toward the detective and looked down at her leg. “You really got yourself in a bind didn’t you?”

“Just get me out of here.” She groaned as she tried to pull her boot out once again.

“Stop fighting, I’ll get you out.” Grey warned her as he squatted down and started to direct her, helping her rock her foot out of the mud. It wasn’t a difficult proposition, but he couldn’t help but find himself smiling about her embarrassment.   He turned away before she could see his wide grin and fought the urge to offer her a piggy back ride.

Instead they walked on in silence, carefully making their way toward Kevin’s location. They crossed under two large trees that nearly formed a perfect arch over their heads when they heard the shout echo toward them in a deafening rush. Rosie and Grey looked at each other and burst into motion, rushing toward the sound of Kevin’s call. “What’s going on?” There was a hole in the ground and Kevin was nowhere in sight.

“I’m down here. I fell in this stupid hole.” Kevin groaned as he picked himself up off the ground. He looked up, squinting into the light that shone in on his muddy form. “It looks like I’m ten or fifteen feet down.”

Rosie groaned. “Why didn’t we bring a rope?” She realized how many of their problems would be solved right now with the addition of some basic equipment. “Are you hurt?”

“Because we didn’t think we’d need one. Who would have guessed anything like this would happen.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better, and no, I’m not hurt.” Kevin examined his surroundings, but it was almost impossible to see anything. “Can you toss down a flashlight?”

Grey reached onto his belt and unclipped the tiny Maglite he kept there. “Don’t lose it.” The warning was a joke and everyone knew it.

“I won’t.” Kevin caught the light with very little effort and switched it on. Slowly he swung the light source around the room, and that’s when he realized what he was seeing. “I’m in a room.”

“A room?” Rosie questioned. “Why would they put an underground room in Florida, it’s just going to flood every time it rains.”

Kevin was silent as he continued to examine the room around him. Eagerly looking for clues as to who would have put it there. He stepped out of the sliver of sunlight that marked his descent into this dimly lit place. “It looks like the roof was basic plaster.”

Grey shrugged. “It was probably a matter of time until it fell in.”

“I just happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The dry laugh echoed out of the hole.

“Can you find any way out of there?” Rosie asked, focusing on what she believed was more important.

“I’m getting my bearings, give me a moment.”

Grey smirked as he looked down the hole. “Hey, I thought cats were supposed to land on their feet.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” The lion didn’t sound very amused as he shone the light over the walls, searching for an exit. “This place looks like a hideout. There are tools down here.”