Love in the Midst of Chaos

Sleuth

We quickly realize the only way forus to get out of the country is to get Jaime a fake id, somehow we are able to find someone to help us get her one. We spend our afternoon in a small warehouse, where this man runs his operation. Jaime has a bit of an issue getting her id photo, no matter how many times she protests to pause the photos, the man continues to click away, "we're good," the man lifts his camera, "I have everything I need."

Jaime walks up to me and Abe, who are waiting for her, neither of us wanting to leave her alone with this strange man, "I should just turn myself in."

"I know," Abe nods, "you said that."

I hand Jaime a cup, "just drink some iced tea, it'll help you feel better."

Jaime takes the cup and looks down at it, shaking her head, "look, seriously, I... I shot a man, an FBI agent. I can't just walk away from that."

"He wasn't FBI, he claimed to be FBI and then tried to kill Jackson. You defended yourself and Jackson, I didn't take any law courses, but I'm pretty sure you'd win that case."

"Not if we can't prove any of it."

"So let's do something about it. We can prove that not-really-FBI-Agent Been Shafer was working for Reiden or, worst case, we save the world. They can't imprison someone who saved the world."

"How are we gonna do any of that?"

"I don't know," I shrug, "we'll figure something out."

"But right now, we need to worry about keeping you safe, okay," Jaime and I both look up to Abe.

The man who is making the id looks up to Jaime and calls out to her, after a hushed argument with Chloe, "I need a name. For the passport."

"Um..." Jaime thinks for a moment, "Nancy Armstrong."

I leave Jaime with Abe and Chloe, before heading off to find Mitch and Jackson, who are in one of the small side offices. "Hey," I call out from the doorway.

"What do you think?" Mitch doesn't look away from the mother cell, instead gesturing it around and toward Jackson.

I chuckle, not able to pass up an opportunity to mess with Mitch, "I mean, he's very attractive, but uh... Don't really know if he's my type."

"What?" Mitch looks over to me, confused, "no, not..."

"Why am I not your type?" Jackson looks up to me.

I shrug, "not sure, you just seem to be more brawn than brains."

"And there's something wrong with that?"

"No, I just like a man who's a bit more mindful."

"Oh, I can be very mindful," Jackson chuckles.

"Oh can you?"

"Yeah, maybe when we get out of the country, I can show you sometime."

"Okay," Mitch shakes his head as he raises his free hand, "one, gross. Two you can't handle her, Jackie boy, trust me."

"What do you have some experience there, doc?"

"What, no, don't be ridiculous. But look at her and look at you. She's a bit too far out of your league."

"Well, I like to shoot high."

"Can we please get back on topic?"

"Which was?" I chuckle and cross my arms.

"What do you think of the mother cell?"

I shrug, "it's interesting, that's for sure. I also think there's no way we can take this to any form of government. Not yet."

"Let's assume for a second that everything that the chemist said was true. That molecules from this Mother Cell are in every single one of Reiden's products. We will need proof that this is what's causing the aberrant behavior in the animals."

I look over to Jackson, "we'd need that before we would be able to do anything with it."

"We need, uh... I don't want to say a smoking gun, that's way too dramatic, but a bloody knife?"

"If we had a bloody knife, then maybe we could build a decent case."

"We're going to Paris," Chloe announces as she pokes her head in.

"Not that I don't love that sentence," Mitch shakes his head, "but why? What's in Paris?"

"A pack of four Eurasian brown bears were being studied for migration and feeding habits. Two days ago, their trackers went offline. The bio-lab assumed it was
just interference with the satellite. Then, yesterday,
one of the bears showed up in an apartment
in the 16th arrondissement and nearly killed
the woman who lived there. That bear is now apparently deep
in hibernation in a research facility."

"Um, hibernating?"

I cross my arms, "in the middle of summer?"

"Yes," Chloe nods, "and the rest of the pack are still missing."

"Sleuth," Mitch comments.

"Pardon?"

"A pack of bears is called a sleuth."

"Whatever," Jackson points to Chloe, "there's your bloody knife."

"Yeah, well, if there's evidence of this Mother Cell in the bear's bloodstream, then, that would do it."

"Perfect," I smile as I turn to Chloe, "when do we leave?"

"Jaime's passport will be ready in an hour." Chloe looks down to her watch, "we'll have just enough time to make our flight." Mitch gets up and heads to the door, "where are you going?"

"Drugstore," He turns around in the doorway, "if we're getting on a red-eye to Paris, I need some melatonin."