“Hello, Derek.” There was some interference – this far north, the aurora borealis could make even satellite connections a bit flakey – but the smooth voice at the other end was unmistakable.
“Calling a little late, aren’t you, Norah?”
“Not really. It’s not even dusk down here in D.C., and can we please keep this professional?”
Derek inwardly sighed. “Sorry, Agent Caseman.”
“Thank you. Now, Derek, we have a...”
“Dr. Jenner.”
“Excuse me?”
“You just said to keep this professional. Derek sounds so informal. Almost like ... you were my best friend’s wife.”
“Ex-wife,” she snapped.
“I thought the papers hadn’t been signed yet.”
“I didn’t call to talk about Jacob. Oh, and just for the record, that’s none of your business.”
Derek allowed himself a momentary smirk. He had always liked Norah, but now with the split happening, he could sense some strain. Unfortunately, couples tended to divide their friends up the same way they did their belongings when they went their separate ways. That she had been recently reassigned as his team’s liaison within the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the U.S. government, well, that had to have been someone’s idea of a karmic joke. “Sorry. I officially rescind the statement.”
“Accepted,” she said, then hesitated a beat. “You haven’t spoken to him, have you?”
“Didn’t you just say it was none of my business?”
“You’re right ... I...”
“Although, for the record, no. I’ve been too busy hunting Thunderbirds. The cell service kind of sucks up here anyway.”
There was another pause on the line, then Norah quietly said, “Thank you,” before resuming her official tone. “How goes the hunt?”
“Fragged and bagged.”
“Evidence?”
“Nothing but ash.”
“Good. I’m sure the villagers are relieved.”
“It’s definitely a weight off their shoulders. By the way, who exactly are we mollifying by keeping this one quiet? Don’t tell me the Audubon Society has a powerful lobby.”
“You know I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Of course not,” Derek replied, unsurprised. The government paid them to cull cryptids – creatures not formally recognized by science – that became a threat to humans. However, they were always mum about their reasons why it needed to be covered up, leading his team to eternally speculate as to the motives behind their work. Their theories ranged from the mundane to the far-out. Francis in particular favored some outlandish ideas about government cover-ups – but that’s all they were, theories. Unfortunately, that information was always on a need to know basis, and Derek apparently didn’t have that need. “Shall I assume this isn’t a social call?”
“You assume correct. I’m sorry to dump another case on you so soon after finishing one.”
“No you’re not.”
Norah allowed herself a small chuckle. “Normally you’d be right, but this one is ... political.”
“Political?” Derek asked warily. That was new.
“Yes. The request came directly from Governor Jonas Yarlberg himself.”
Derek thought for a moment. “Yarlberg ... isn’t he from...”
“New Jersey.”
“And he asked for us by name?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure this isn’t about a convention appearance? Or maybe he wants us there for the opening of some mall?”
“Trust me, it’s not that. This is strictly business.”
“How the hell does some bureaucrat from the Garden State know what we really do?”
“Relax...”
“Don’t tell me to relax, Norah. I was under the impression that this was all classified.”
“It is. Yarlberg has connections. One of his former aides is now a director in the Bureau.”
“Great. Nice to know that nepotism is alive and well in D.C.”
“As if it ever wasn’t, but that’s neither here nor there as far as either of us are concerned.”
“Sorry,” he replied, trying to push down his annoyance. It was only a matter of time, he told himself. So far, most of their dealings with the government had the end result of helping people, but Derek wasn’t stupid. He knew that sooner or later they’d end up getting their hands dirty in the game of politics. “So what’s it about? Far as I know, the only real activity in Jersey is that small squatch clan in the southwest. Last I heard, they’d never bothered anybody. Are they...?”
“This has nothing to do with them. They’ve been quiet as usual.”
“So what then?”
“Apparently they’re trying to control a potential media firestorm.”
“Go on,” Derek replied, caught unawares. Usually they were given a location, suspected creature, a casualty list, and that was it. That Norah had offered up the actual motivation behind a mission was definitely odd.
“I don’t have many more details, except that one of their agencies is trying to control a situation before it gets out of hand. From what I’ve heard, they’ve already lost a few people and folks are starting to talk.”
That was more to the point. Derek couldn’t have cared less about some politician saving face, but if innocent lives were involved... “What’s been going after their people?”
There was another pause from Norah, then she replied, “They think it was the Jersey Devil.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“It’s not funny, Derek.”
“You’re kidding, right?” he asked, trying to get his laughter under control.
“No, they’re dead serious.”
“C’mon, Norah. If they want us to come in and do an investigation, they should call up the Adventure Channel and schedule something for next season.”
“It’s not like that. They want you guys there to scare off the real press.”
“Ouch.”
“You know what I mean. Do what you have to, so it all seems like a load of BS.”
“That shouldn’t be hard,” he muttered under his breath.
“Then, you’re to head into the woods to find and kill this creature so that the affected agency can get back to work.”
“That should be easy, too, since it doesn’t exist.”
“Skepticism coming from you?”
“Oh, please. You have access to the same ... hell, more records than I do. You know about squatches, teratorns, extant zeuglodons, and all the rest.”
“Obviously.”
“Then tell me how many legit case files exist on the Jersey Devil.” There was silence on the other end, as he knew there would be. “Exactly. Even in my circles the whole thing is mostly considered a crank. Hell, the stories can’t even get their facts straight. There’s a different description for the damn thing for almost every eyewitness present. You know what that says to me?”
“Do tell.”
“It says that maybe the folks who live there should limit their drinking to after ten in the morning.”
“You can tell them that in person.”
“Really? You can’t possibly convince me, based on everything you know, that you think...”
“What we think is irrelevant in this case,” she interrupted. “If you refuse, I’m ... authorized to cut ties with your group.”
Now it was Derek’s turn to hesitate. There had been disagreements in the past. Heck, he had even turned down some assignments because the evidence was too sketchy to draw proper conclusions. Never had they threatened to pull the plug, though. Was this some scheme by Norah to use him to get back at her ex?
Derek quickly pushed that thought aside. He knew she could be opinionated, but he’d never known her to be petty. “Why the ultimatum?”
“It’s not my doing. Yarlberg pulled some strings. Apparently his former...”
“Lackeys?”
“Associates,” she corrected, “are still loyal. They put assurances in place to make sure this gets done.”
“So they’re willing to screw this whole project over, all the innocent lives we save, just to keep their asshole buddy happy?”
“Isn’t that the way politics works?”
“This is the exact thing I told Jake I didn’t want to deal with when I signed up for this.” He knew it was low to bring up Norah’s estranged husband, but this conversation was beginning to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
She took a deep breath, no doubt, Derek surmised, debating whether to take the bait. “I’m sorry. I did my best to tell them this is a one-time deal. They try this crap again and I’ll register a full complaint.”
“And that will do what?”
“Nothing, but it’ll at least put us on record as objecting.”
Derek mentally counted to ten as he weighed his options. He knew his team did a lot of good. Even if the government gave them the boot, they could potentially keep doing it. Of course, that assumed the Adventure Channel didn’t pull the plug, too. They were currently riding fairly high in the ratings. But if the feds decided to be spiteful, which they probably would... And then there was the added fact that they wouldn’t have the protection of the law on their side.
Yeah, we’re screwed. “Fine,” Derek said at last. “You have our nuts in a vice and you know it.”
“Not how I would put it.”
“What happens if we don’t find anything or come to the conclusion that it’s some whackjob running around in the woods?”
“You guys hunt cryptids. If there isn’t a cryptid to blame, then your job is done.”
“Fair enough. Just make sure this guy keeps his minions out of our way.”
“No promises.”
“Why am I not surprised to hear that?”
“Because you’re too smart to not expect it.”
“But still not smart enough to say no?”
“You never were,” she replied, adding a little levity to her voice. This was the Norah that Derek knew and liked.
“Shoot me the details, okay?”
“Already on their way.”
“All right, then. Circumstances aside, it was nice talking to you, Norah.”
“You too. Take care.”
Derek ended the call. He had been planning on getting some rest, but instead decided to unpack his computer. The team had to be briefed and, from the sound of things, it needed to be done soon.
Guess the werewolf of Bray Road will have to wait for the next full moon.