Chapter 5

Koda wonderedwhat Agent Smith thought as she read the article about the sex shop clerk's death. She showed nothing of her emotions, and yet she had to be freaking. He knew he was. Whoever covered the chimera's tracks appeared willing to kill… and they seemed to be keeping an eye on his and Smith's movements.

"Could be the chimera had been sticking around, admiring her handiwork." He offered the most logical suggestion. "Saw agents go in and talk to the clerk and only then realized she had left a loose end."

Agent Smith shook her head slightly, seeming as unconvinced as he felt. Her voice emerged flat as she said, "I'm grabbing a coffee from across the street. Want one?"

"Sure."

They didn't speak as they exited the precinct. She waited until they were midway across the road before murmuring, "If the chimera had stuck around after she burned down the phone store, then she would have already seen the witness talking to the cops and taken him out sooner. I'd bet anything it wasn't her. Who knows we went to see the clerk?"

"I didn't tell anyone."

"Not even Abe?"

"Nope."

"Me either, but we also didn't hide our presence. Anyone could have seen us go in, not to mention the store cameras would have a record of us. The interior ones probably even caught me casting that spell on him for his memories."

A few choice words emerged in a mutter before he growled, "You heard the guy yesterday. He's no stranger to robberies."

"Please," his partner drawled as she pulled on the coffee shop door. "You don't really believe it's a coincidence, do you?"

No, he didn't.

They ordered their coffees, but rather than drink them at the tiny, cramped tables, they returned to the sidewalk.

She took a sip before speaking. "I wish we could go there and I could pull a memory from the store, but the article said he was shot as he exited the shop."

"And your powers can't replay a past event from outside."

"Open air has no way of holding memories." She shook her head sadly. "So now what? If we rule out that this was the chimera's handiwork, and we table the idea that this was an armed robbery, then what are we looking at?"

"Someone trying to cover the chimera's tracks. Someone who thought they did that when they ‘lost' the original video and ensured any mention of the witness was left out of the file."

"And if the person wiping the chimera's existence is willing to kill, we might have made ourselves a target. After all, we've now seen with our own eyes the same thing that clerk did. Not to mention, we're actively seeking her."

"I'll talk to Abe about putting you in protective custody."

"Oh hell no." She shook her head. "You're not locking me away like some damsel in distress."

"But you're the one who just pointed out the danger."

"I'm a Cryptid Authority agent. Danger is part of the job. I am not going to let whoever is manipulating events get away with this. It just makes me more determined to catch them."

"Very well." He respected the fact she wouldn't back down. "Guess we need to plan our next move."

"We don't have many. We don't know why the chimera wanted a phone bad enough to come out of hiding after all this time."

"To call someone." He said it deadpan, and she snorted.

"Ha. Smartass. Still doesn't help us know why someone is wiping evidence. Just like we don't know who or why someone put a bounty on her."

"Could be the bounty is encouraging hunters to hide evidence of the chimera's movement so other hunters are thrown off and they can claim the reward for themselves."

"That wouldn't account for why our official files lack information, or why so much is redacted."

"That's assuming there's only one cover-up person. Could be one person in the CA did the inside cover-up and someone unrelated is wiping the internet, stealing videos, and killing witnesses. We have no idea how many could be involved."

"I don't know." She tapped on the lid of her cup thoughtfully. "I don't think a bounty hunter is going to take that much time and put that much effort into covering their target's track. It would put them way behind if they hung around one spot when their target is on the move."

"I think you're right. We can probably rule out bounty hunters."

She nodded, then looked off into the distance, her jaw set firm as her mind worked. He couldn't help but admire her beauty as the wind picked up strands of her bright pink hair. Despite the unconventional color, Marissa looked the picture of an ideal agent. Smart, determined, capable. All attractive traits—which he really shouldn't be thinking so much about.

"Right now I'm racking my brain as to where we should poke around next." Her words knocked him out of his thoughts.

"How about the other three fires being attributed to her?"

"What's there to look at?" She shook her head in frustration. "At least we had a video to go off of for the last one. The first three have no videos, no witnesses. I can't run a memory spell to replay the structures' last moments since they're nothing but ash, like the phone store."

"All we have to go off of is some CA agents' determination that those fires were caused by the chimera.

"And quite frankly, I'm not convinced they were."

Koda blinked at her in surprise. "Why do I get the impression you know something I don't?"

"More like a niggling feeling that we're missing something." She stood abruptly. "We need to hit the library."

The oddness of her statement had him frowning. "What on earth for?"

"Research."

"Wouldn't it be easier to do that on a computer at the precinct?"

"It would, but I'm going to assume any search we do will be noted. Possibly passed on to the wrong person."

"The corruption in your CA office should have been wiped out."

"Assuming everyone was caught. And let's say they were. Nothing to say an outsider doesn't have spyware keeping an eye."

The suggestion turned him pensive. "Meaning we can't trust even our phones or laptops."

"Now you get it."

"It could explain how even though we told no one where we went yesterday, we might have been tracked."

"Also correct." She held up her phone and made a show of cracking it open and pulling the battery. She tucked both cell and the battery in her oversized purse. "Now no one can follow me."

He mimicked her actions but noted, "Unless they've placed a tracking hex on us."

Her lips quirked. "As if I wouldn't notice. I scanned you as we exited the precinct. You're clean, and I've got a shield against magical interference."

"Good thinking."

"I'm not just good looks," she retorted.

While she might be super attractive, he did agree. She had a very sharp mind, could problem solve, and, even better, came up with solutions.

"Where is this library?" he asked.

"Not far, but we'll have to take a bit of a detouring path in case someone is following."

"Pretty sure I'd notice a tail."

"I'm not worried about the two-legged kind," she replied as she began walking.

"Are you always this suspicious?" He kept pace with her easily.

"Aren't you?"

"Depends on the situation."

She turned into an alley, her pace rapid, and as they passed the midway point, she waved a hand over her shoulder. A quick glance behind showed a shimmer across the narrow space, and for a second, a section of it trembled as if something had run into it.

They emerged onto the next street, and she skipped across the road right into another alley. Which led to another wave of her fingers. This time he didn't see any shimmering.

They did this several times before she ducked into an old church, the stone of it dark with grime that came from age. The inside offered up a dry musty smell. The carpet on the floor appeared worn bare in spots. A bulletin board held fliers, some printed, others handwritten. Bible study. AA group meeting times. Jesus loves you.

A part of him wanted to ask why they needed to go inside the church, but instead, he continued to follow. All would surely become clear.

His partner led him into the church proper with its wooden pews and worn red runner carpet going up the aisle. An altar with a white draping cloth sat under a suspended cross with a Jesus nailed to it, the head bowed with its crown of thorns, the body gaunt.

Having been raised on a reserve, he'd never understood the allure of a religion with one god, and a seemingly cruel one at that. He'd been taught of the primal gods, the ones of rain and sun, moon and the hunt.

The door tucked beside the organ proved to be her destination, and she slipped through it into a tiny chamber lined with hooks that held white robes. In a corner leaned several tall candlesticks.

He glanced around, seeing no exit, not even a window. "I think this is a dead end."

"Not quite." Agent Smith knelt on the floor and touched the planks. While he didn't see her do anything, she must have triggered some kind of mechanism because, with a soft click, a section of the wooden floor shifted sideways exposing a hole with stairs descending into darkness.

Without hesitation, his partner headed down.

He followed more cautiously. He almost flinched when the trap door slid shut, sealing them in the hidden basement—and the dark.

While unmanly, he did feel some relief when a ball of light appeared, meaning he could see Agent Smith and the passageway they found themselves in. The tightly mortared brick and stone formed a tunnel and appeared quite old but solid.

"Dare I ask how you knew about this secret place?" he asked.

"A few years ago, the church had a problem with their wine and wafers being stolen. They tried everything to stop it. Replaced locks on the outside doors. Installed cameras outside. They even hired a few security guards, but they all quit, claiming the church was haunted. The human pastor contacted the CA when he ran out of options. It took only one night on stakeout to realize it wasn't ghosts but goblins that were sneaking in, using this secret tunnel system to cause mischief."

"You arrested them?"

"No. They weren't being malicious. Just hungry and thirsty. The dumpster they used to feed out of stopped having food because a restaurant went out of business. I found them a new home with plenty of stuff to keep them satisfied."

"That was kind of you."

She rolled her shoulders. "I guess. To me, it seemed better than wasting time and resources convicting them of petty theft and putting them in containment." The centers being for the nonviolent cryptids that couldn't obey the rules of society.

"Where does this passageway lead?"

She walked slightly ahead of him, her ball of light bobbing. "A few places. This underground network was built a long time ago and links to some of the founding edifices such as the Griffon Hotel, the now-closed-down opera house, the original fire station before the town got too big, and the library."

"How many people know about them?"

She shook her head. "None that I'm aware of. I avoided mentioning it in my report once I fixed the problem."

"Why?"

Her glance over the shoulder showed a mischievous smile. "Never know when a girl might need to go skulking around town without notice."

They walked for several minutes and passed two intersections before she halted at a dead end. This time, he knew better than to question and waited while she pressed her hand against the stone with a tiny inscribed circle. Magic tingled his skin as the solid wall shifted to form stairs leading upward to a ceiling that suddenly had a gaping opening.

They emerged into a musty chamber filled with three rows of bookcases, the shelves packed tight with books. Sconces glowed, giving the space a warm vibe at odds with the ugly gargoyle statues perched atop the bookcases. The walls were the same stone as the tunnel, the floor as well. Only the shelves were made of wood.

He glanced around and noticed not only was there no other exit but cobwebs decorated corners and dust left silt on the floor and shelves. "I don't get the impression this library is used much."

"Because it hasn't been for at least a century. From what I've gleaned, whoever used to maintain this library was most likely killed during the cryptid purge in the early nineteen hundreds. It led to the texts hidden in this secret chamber being lost."

"Until you found them." He shook his head in wonder. "You are a woman full of surprises. And this is an incredible find. I'm surprised it's remained untouched."

"Before you give me shit for keeping this secret, I knew the books in here would be confiscated and tucked away where no one could ever see them. I'm a person who doesn't believe in hiding away knowledge."

"So am I. You needn't worry I'll tell. I'm familiar with authorities concealing uncomfortable truths and histories." It was a harsh fact written in the history of his people, so he appreciated someone who understood sometimes certain rules had to be skirted. He'd seen history being rewritten to hide inconvenient historical facts. It would be a shame for this veritable treasure trove to disappear.

As she began to wander the aisles, her fingers trailing on spines, he wondered aloud, "What are we looking for?"

Agent Smith glanced at him. "The clerk's recollection of the fire has been bothering me."

"You said the timing seemed off."

"Because it was. I mean, yes, it's possible the fire might have taken twenty minutes to get fully going, but I'm not sure a chimera started it."

Her claim gave him pause. "Who could it be then? The video footage didn't show anyone else exiting."

"Not from the front."

"You think it was the person that keeps wiping her tracks?"

"Maybe. Something about the flames is bothering me. Do you recall the color?"

"Purple-ish, meaning magic-induced."

"Magic, yes, but for some reason, my brain keeps insisting it's not the right color for a chimera's fire. Hence why we're here. I want to see if there's any information about a chimera's abilities."

"And you didn't want to do a search on the internet in case you're being watched."

"Yup." She paused before a book and pulled it out, the dust on it hanging lazily in the air before slowly dropping.

"Did you find something?" He neared enough to see the tight handwritten script on the yellowed pages.

"A book on fire-based cryptids." She slapped it shut and put it back.

"So? What's the verdict?"

Her head shook. "The index showed nothing on chimeras. It only mentioned the North American cryptids that have fire. Chimera are Greek-based, meaning we need something European or even Middle Eastern, seeing as how the manticore is considered to be a close relative. We should split up to look."

They spent the next hour checking out the titles on spines, pulling promising books out, looking for references. The amount of knowledge in this small room staggered. He would love to return to study a few when they solved this case.

Agent Smith joined him at one point, lips down, shoulders rounded. "This is impossible. I know there's got to be something in here, but some of the books are so old I can't read their titles or they're in a language I don't understand."

"Crazy idea, how about a spell to locate what we need?"

She blinked at him. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because usually, in a normal library, we'd be able to do a search on a computer and be told exactly where to find a book."

"Never thought I'd miss the old days of the Dewey Decimal System." She laughed, her cheek dimpling on one side, her eyes bright with amusement.

Beautiful. A good thing she turned away or she might have noticed his admiration.

She murmured to herself, "A spell of scrying to find a specific book. It needs a parameter, though, like a fixed image that might match a drawing." She closed her eyes and held out her hands. A faint glow surrounded her.

Her brow furrowed, and the air grew staticky. It sizzled his exposed skin and lifted the ends of his hair.

The books on the shelves began to vibrate, shook hard enough he heard thumps as books fell to the floor.

As quickly as it started, the strangeness ceased. The air returned to normal. The tomes stopped shaking.

His partner opened her eyes and said, "Did anything pop out?"

He strode to the two books lying on the floor, mere paces apart. One was labelled The Life and Times of a Nymph. The other had no title, though. As Agent Smith neared, he handed them to her. "I'll check to see if any others wiggled out in the other rows."

There didn't appear to be anything else of interest except for a single sheet of paper partially stuck under a bookcase that he didn't recall from before. As he stooped to grab it, he heard his partner exclaim, "We have company."