Chapter 3

Koda didhis best to not stare at his new partner's ass. It would have been easier if it weren't so darned perfect. Slap-able. Bite-able. A perfect cushion for pushing.

Not that any of those things would happen. Agent Marissa Smith had made it obvious she didn't like him. Not him specifically, more the fact they'd be working together. Then again, he couldn't entirely blame her. From the sounds of it, her last partner had been an asshole.

He knew all about Ralph, courtesy of Abe Kowalski. He and Abe had met each other long ago while on military missions, and after going civvy, Koda had worked with the man on several government jobs. Only a few days ago Kowalski had contacted him to brief him on the latest gig.

"I put in a request to have you temporarily transferred to my precinct."

"Is this the one you're restructuring because of corrupt management?"

"Yeah. It's still a bit of a mess, but slowly but surely, I'm getting it sorted."

"Just tell me what you need, and I'll be glad to help." Koda didn't mind. His current CA office in New York had been quiet. Too quiet. Blame the fact he'd helped the city wrangle their local cryptid problem. After all, it was what he did. As a super-agent, he was known as the CA's problem solver. If an office had a tricky situation, they called him in because he knew how to get the job done.

Unusual in this case? The fact Abe wanted him to pair with another agent. Most times, Koda worked his jobs solo. But he could handle whatever challenge got tossed his way, even that of a prickly woman who preferred to work alone.

At least she seemed competent. According to Abe, she stood head and shoulders above the other agents, a claim backed up by her personnel file. Her career and accomplishments proved to be quite impressive. On top of her high success rate when it came to solving crimes, she stood out as one of the few agents not caught up in her precinct's corruption. As a matter of fact, she'd actually helped put a stop to it. More recently, she handled not one but three monsters on her own.

Yes, monsters. While the Cryptid Authority and many others tried to use what they termed non-derogatory language, Koda called it like it was. Beings that caused harm for no reason other than because they enjoyed it were monsters, and this woman knew how to take them down—and look sexy doing it.

The swaying ass exited the precinct and crossed the road to a place titled "Fiesta in Your Mouth." They entered to lightly playing music and the smell of refried beans. Agent Smith didn't look at Koda or the menu as she ordered. "Taco trio, extra hot sauce and cheese."

"And a strawberry lemonade," finished the young woman behind the counter with a smile.

"You know me too well, Bianca. What do you want?" Marissa asked, finally glancing at him over her shoulder.

"I'll have the same," he stated as he pulled out his wallet.

Too slow, as it turned out, seeing as how Marissa had already tapped her phone on the debit machine and paid.

"How much do I owe you?" he asked as he followed her to a table for two by the window.

"Nothing. I buy this time. You get the next."

"Sounds good." At least she assumed there would be a next time. Given the way she'd reacted in Abe's office, he'd expected her to do her best to get rid of him.

"So, Whiteclaw, is it true you're a skinwalker?"

"I am."

"Since you're the first one I've met, I have to ask, do you shift on the full moon only or at will?" A valid question. Many shapeshifters required the moon's rays to morph.

"At will. Now my turn to interrogate. You're a witch." Stated rather than asked. He already knew. All CA agents had some kind of ability. "What element do you specialize in?"

Her lips pursed. "A few. Depending on my goddess's mood."

"Rumor has it you're pretty gifted."

Her shoulders lifted and fell. "I do all right. How much magic I have kind of depends on Hekate's mood. She doesn't always answer when I pray for help."

"Gods can be fickle," he conceded.

Their order was called quickly, and the next few minutes were spent actually enjoying his meal. Flavorful and plenty of, he finished two of his tacos, one beef, one fish, and took a sip of his drink before tackling his third one of chicken. Only once he'd devoured the last bite did he speak again.

"So where do you want to start our investigation?"

"Our?" she repeated with a grimace. "I don't need a partner."

"Neither do I, yet here we are."

Her lips pursed. "Listen, I'm sure the last thing you want to do is be stuck doing some boring research. Feel free to do whatever. If Abe asks, I'll tell him you were a diligent digging mole."

He arched a brow. "How generous, but here's the thing. I enjoy digging. As a matter of fact, I'm known to be a most excellent forager when it comes to information."

She leaned back in her seat and eyed him. "I find that hard to believe."

"Let me guess, because I'm good-looking?" It wasn't just females who had issues being taken seriously where attractiveness was concerned.

"You're not shy, are you?"

"Not one bit. But then again, neither are you."

Her lips quirked. "I never was good at keeping my mouth shut."

"A good thing or the corruption in your precinct would have lasted longer."

At the reminder, she grimaced. "It should have never gone on for that long in the first place. I knew something was amiss; I just lacked the proof."

"It didn't help how many agents, including your previous boss, were caught up in the corruption." He'd been appalled at how deep the rot went. To him, the Cryptid Authority stood for justice.

"I see you read up on us."

"I told you I like to dig. Now, on to the job at hand."

"How much did Abe brief you on the chimera situation?"

"I know they think she's setting fires and the sightings of her suggest that she's heading in this direction. That they want us to look at local fires to see if we can make a connection."

"I wish the file on her wasn't so useless." Her lips twisted. "Why even bother handing it over, given everything is redacted? We have basically nothing to go on, and his only suggestion is to investigate arson cases to rule out the chimera's involvement."

"Which is a waste of time."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Agreed."

"Personally, I think we should be looking into the fires where she was confirmed involved and see if we can spot a pattern."

"That's actually not a bad idea," she murmured. "I just can't believe that video footage was lost." She offered finger air quotes.

"Lost my ass," he stated, once more managing to surprise her judging by her expression. "The redacted file makes it kind of obvious someone is trying to cover for the chimera."

"If that were the case, why even have us investigate?"

"Because, while there might be some trying to hide her actions, Abe isn't one to turn a blind eye."

"Why, Whiteclaw, are you implying there's rot in the higher-up CA ranks?"

"I'd say it's obvious and expected given an organization of our size."

She leaned back with her drink, her full lips wrapped around the straw as she gave it a long suck. He shifted in his seat to divert his mind. which seemed determined to go down a dirty path.

"Why would anyone want a chimera, or any cryptid for that matter, to cause trouble with humans? The fact remains humans outnumber non-humans and, if they so choose, could easily turn on the nons."

"But would they win?" he countered. "I don't know if you're aware, but there is a faction that isn't happy with the rules imposed on cryptids."

"What rules?" she scoffed. "Cryptids live as free as humans."

"But are required to be registered."

"Which isn't a big deal."

"To you, but there are some that chafe. Who find it degrading. Who don't like the fact they have to keep their gifts harnessed. There are even some who question the rule of ‘do no harm to humans.' I know the vampires have been grumbling about the fact they have to drink from a donated bag and can no longer suck from the source unless they are legally entered into a binding agreement with a human."

"You make it sound like there's a massive cooperative conspiracy by some of the more violent cryptids to start a war with humanity."

"Because I think there is."

She stared at him before slowly saying, "I'm surprised you're telling me this. How do you know I'm not part of this conspiracy?"

"I've read your file. You're upright as they come."

"My boss would disagree."

"Your boss says you're the best agent he has." As she preened at the compliment, he tempered it with, "But he worries about the fact that you don't play nice and tend to rush in without a care for your safety. He's convinced it will get you killed."

The statement brought a scowl. "I'm not going to sit on my hands while bad shit happens."

"Agreed. Hence why he asked me to partner with you. Together, we're going to get to the bottom of this chimera mystery. And if it happens to uncover some uncomfortable truths…"

"Then so be it." She smiled, a genuine one that lit up her whole face. As people came in and sat at the table behind them, they gave each other knowing looks. Time to change the subject to something more innocuous in case they listened. "Where are you from?"

"New York."

"You're far from home."

"Not really. I moved away a long time ago, and currently, I don't have roots anywhere. I tend to live as a nomad, going where I'm needed."

"You don't get lonely?"

"Nah. What about you? Where are you from?"

"Here. I've lived in the area since I graduated and was assigned to this precinct."

"Not interested in exploring the world?"

She shrugged. "Never really thought about it, to be honest."

"Guess the fact you have roots and family gives you a good reason to stay."

At that claim, she shook her head. "Nope. Nobody in town to hold me back unless my houseplants count."

The people behind them rose and left when their order was called, leaving Koda and Marissa in privacy once more.

She drummed her fingers on the table and returned to business. "Your plan to study the previous suspected incidents is a good one. Guess we should hit the bullpen to see if we can snag a computer and start poking."

He grimaced. "Do we have to? I'm not much of an office guy."

"I don't invite strange men to my place." Her quick reply.

His lips quirked. "Wouldn't dream of it. I was thinking more like a park or something. Fresh air helps me think. I can hotspot my laptop if we need to do any online research."

For a second, he thought she'd refuse, but she nodded her head. "I know a spot we can go. I'll drive."

And by drive, she meant somewhat psychotically, if adeptly. She maneuvered through traffic as if she played Mario Kart, taking them just outside of town to a wooded area. The sign just before the small parking lot named it Penelope's Conversation Area.

He emerged from the car to ask, "Who's Penelope?"

"Legend has it she was a witch who long ago saved the townspeople from a devastating forest fire but lost her life in the process. The woods were dedicated in her name."

"Nice story."

"It is on the surface until you dig deeper and realize she was actually a sorceress who planned to open a portal to Hell, only to have her spell backfire and consume her."

"And no one has exposed the truth to get her cancelled and rename the park?"

"Oh, they know. They just choose to ignore it because her actions actually led to the town prospering, as the fire ended up exposing a vein of gold that they've been using to keep taxes low but residential services high."

He snorted. "So a good thing out of the bad situation."

"Exactly." She plopped the folder Abe gave her onto a picnic table before perching her ass on the wooden top, her feet planted on the bench. "How shall we do this?"

"Abe says you've got a fine eye for detail. How about you start reading the details of the fires and toss tidbits at me, which I can dig deeper into?"

"Do you always flatter your partners outrageously?"

"No." He didn't mention he usually worked alone. "But Abe doesn't give praise lightly. So let's see if his claims of your being smart are true."

Laughter burst out of her, a low husky chuckle that tightened his groin. "I don't know about smart. You never met my last partner. Anyone compared to him would come off as a genius."

"Guess we'll see then. I'll start by seeing what the internet has to publicly say about the chimera we're searching for."

"If it's a chimera."

He pursed his lips. "You think it might be something else?"

"I'm saying we should keep an open mind and see where the evidence leads." She thumbed through the folder with a frown. "Abe stated she'd been locked up for crimes against humanity, and that fires were her MO, but"—she poked a finger at a large, redacted section—"why would they have blocked out details of her crimes in her official file?"

"I find it even odder we don't have a name. You'd think they would have her legal appellation in here somewhere, but she's only referred to as the chimera. Shouldn't a known prisoner have something other than her breed to call her by?"

"I hadn't even noticed that, I'd just jumped to the meat of the case." Agent Smith pursed her lips. "Very odd."

And it got weirder. A search didn't bring up anything that could be attributed to this chimera. At least nothing in North America in the last few decades. The only stories he found revolved around Europe and the Middle East. Even the recent fire at the cell phone shop was labelled suspected arson and not cryptid. Very strange, to say the least, considering online conspiracy influencers loved to report on potential cryptid crimes.

He glanced at Marissa, who held up a sheet to the sun as if she could read through the blacked-out sections.

"Does that actually work?" he asked.

"No. This is ridiculous," she snapped, slapping down the paper. "Even the most recent fire being attributed to her has the bare minimum of details. The B and E and arson report doesn't even mention the word chimera, just possible cryptid activity suspected."

"I am not finding a thing online either."

"If I didn't know better, I'd believe you were right about someone intentionally scrubbing information about the chimera—not just the CA file, but also public-facing records."

"This is too thorough to be a coincidence."

Agent Smith played devil's advocate. "Is it, though? I mean, her original crimes would have been more than thirty years ago, when the internet was in the baby stages and the news media didn't have a big foothold. Add in the fact that once she went to prison there would have been nothing to report."

"But we do have recent news, and I'm not just talking about the fire. She's not listed anywhere as one of the escapees when the prison was destroyed."

"Really?" Her eyebrows rose. "Yet Kowalski claims she was one of the escapees. So what does he and the agency know that we don't?" She rose from the picnic table to pace around the area.

Koda snapped his fingers. "The lost video… Someone had to have watched it and known it showed a suspect, otherwise why turn it in to the cops? Is there a name of the owner of that video on any of the reports?"

"Good question. Let me see." She leaned over the folder, and he quickly averted his gaze, as the neckline of her shirt gaped enough for him to see the upper swell of her breasts. Not quick enough to avoid a bit of action below the belt.

Blame his lack of dating. It had been years since his last relationship. In his defense, he moved around a lot, and he didn't often meet women that piqued his interest. Agent Smith, though… She definitely intrigued. Sharp, beautiful, and not one of those giggly star-struck sycophants he usually encountered when he dropped into a new precinct.

She lifted a sheet and waved it. "The police report doesn't have a witness name. Just says video evidence from the adult store across the street showed a female exiting the electronic store before the fire started."

"Meaning those taking statements were either incredibly incompetent or purposely vague."

"Most likely the former. Initially, human cops were the ones investigating. Then they handed it over to the CA."

"And the CA didn't follow up."

"Um, what do you think we're doing?"

"Not our assigned task, which was investigating fires in this town to see if we can connect them to the chimera." He eyed her as his mind whirled. "Still don't think there's a cover-up happening?"

"Oh, I think there is, but I'm the kind of person who likes hard evidence before making accusations."

"Then let's get that evidence. Want to road trip?"

The abrupt question didn't throw her off balance, as she immediately asked, "To where?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not one to call witnesses and try to get them to spill their guts on the phone."

Her lips curved. "You want to talk to the sex shop employee who handed over the footage."

"I do. So, what do you say? Shall we take a drive?"

"It's a three-hour trip, and we're already midafternoon," Marissa pointed out.

"Would you prefer to go in the morning?"

She scuffed the ground with her feet before shaking her head. "No. Let's do it. Our chances are better of catching the person who was on duty that night if we arrive later in the day. Not to mention, we have no other leads currently."

"Do you need to grab anything before we go?"

"Nope. You?"

He shook his head, although he did wish he'd brought a spare pair of pants, given Marissa drove, and what should have taken three hours was done in just over two.