Consuming Fire

Chapter 34

It was easy getting into the FBI building undetected. All it took was a little tranquilizer in the neck of an agent coming out of the subway station next to the building. He had an FBI badge under his coat. Zac dragged him into a safe room in the basement, set himself plenty of time to be in and out, and then he entered; suit, badge and all.

The timing was perfect. A board meeting was about to take place upstairs in one of the briefing rooms with some of the top agents in the capitol. Zac buzzed with excitement.

He loved when playing the role of a real person went so well. Sometimes people just handed him clues to someone's character. Often they were small things that put people in their stereotype boxes.

The character he played today was far too easy to read. Things like a cheeky smile from two female agents as they passed and a fist-bump from a guy carrying donuts told Zac that Agent Lewis 'Mad Dog' Carpenter – the name he was referred to – was a popular guy in the Bureau. Sometimes when he changed, he felt as if he could do anything, beanything.

He made it to the briefing room with no questions asked and took a seat in the middle. He ventured a guess that Agent Carpenter was not high enough to be with the big boys, but not low enough to mingle with the common agents. His fist-bump buddy sat next to him, mentioning something about a bomb going off later when Special Agent Fitzpatrick finds out there's no more hazelnut coffee in the shop downstairs. Even though he couldn't give a fuck, Zac laughed anyway.

When the meeting began, Zac didn't pay attention to who all the official men and women were. He knew Barry and Fitzpatrick from the plane. They both looked a little stressed. But his mind only retained the simple things, so he focused instead on the FBI's strategy.

The FBI's main objective was to find Dr. Wolfe, but after turning up empty in Wyoming, they started searching the surrounding areas. Marcus's security system for ICE that Dr. Wolfe forced him to develop must've been working, for apparently the communications signal was sending the agents and their tech team all over the state.

"You okay, Mad Dog?"

Zac nodded, pulled at the collar of his shirt and gave his friend a smile. He wasn't sure why he was sweating so much. "It's hotter than a Victoria's Secret model in here."

Fist-bump buddy chuckled.

No one had come forward with information on 'altered DNA' human beings. Those at the SSS who were called the 'fans' had reported an increase in number of users on the website that formed their compound. Some admitted to seeing supernatural things occur, others claimed to have a 'superpower'. Some of these people actually showed up at the SSS and decided to join, because they wanted help but didn't feel up to revealing themselves to the Feds. Their numbers had almost doubled over the past few days, and the SSS was becoming more overcrowded by the minute.

After the meeting, Zac had exactly one hour to get out of the building before the real Mad Dog woke up. He mentioned something to his mate about taking a dump and hurried with his head down to the ground floor.

Just as he was crossing the lobby to the exit, he walked straight into a woman with beautiful blond hair in a cream pencil skirt and a pale pink blouse holding a cup of coffee that spilled all over her front.

"Oh, I am so sorry ma'am," he said in the tone he imagined Mad Dog would use to seduce women. "Let me buy you another cup of coffee, or maybe a new shirt?"

The woman smiled, her cheeks filling with color. "It's fine, it's laundry day anyway. Could you hold this for me?" she asked and handed him her bag.

"Uh, sure."

She started removing her gray cardigan, carefully holding her hair up as she did. Her blouse was very see-through. "It's a little busy here today, huh?"