NIGHT STRANGLER

TEAM ALPHA

three weeks later

"Telephone. Telephone. Shit, where is it? Where did I put it?" She was tossing her discarded clothes from side to side. The phone continued to ring furiously. She grabbed her old sweatshirt and dug the phone out of its pocket. Margaret's name flashed on the display.

"What? " she said angrily into the phone. " That took you a long time Samantha," the caller on the other end continued, "I have wonderful news for you." That was Margaret, her enthusiasm and ardor could not be tamed by anything. You couldn't say she was the director of the police forensics institute. But she was, and she was a good friend of Samantha's. Their relationship grew stronger after Samantha lost her team. She moved to the capital, she wanted to be as far as possible from the place that reminded her of the loss of her colleagues, her closest friends.

It happened almost eight months ago, she collapsed then. She had no one else in that city, her relatives lived in another state. She didn't let them know about it, they would still convince her to return home. That's why if she communicated with them, she looked satisfied and balanced. But inside, loneliness was eating away at her, the more she convinced herself that she could cope with it, the closer she came to a mental breakdown. She met with dozens of expert psychologists, but apart from medication, they did not provide her with sufficient support. That's when Margaret came into her life, the until then cold boss suddenly turned into a compassionate willow.

Not a day went by that she didn't call her to make sure she was okay. She found the best help for her, sent her on paid leave. She has not worked and received a salary for the eighth month. However, she knew that it could not continue like this, she could not use her kindness indefinitely. She also got this new house thanks to Margaret. When she confessed to her that she needed to get out of this city, Margaret did not hesitate for a moment. She found her a cozy yellow house with a small garden. She had been here for the second week, but she had not been unpacked. She couldn't begin to get comfortable in her new home.

"Guess what," her friend's excited voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I have no idea," she replied sourly. She was in no mood for such childish games. Especially when she thought that Margaret was already over fifty years old.

"You're going to a job interview tomorrow," she continued, "I've arranged a new job for you."

"What did you do?" the phone in her hand felt heavy. Her head was spinning, she had to sit on the edge of the bed. It had to come sometime, she calmed down in her mind, you can't sit at home for years.

"Jim Johnson, my old good friend has a great team. But they lost one agent last year, and they're struggling," Margaret continued without a pause.

"Last year? " Samantha wondered, " and they haven't found a replacement for her in so long? " You have something to say, she scolded herself.

"You know," answered Margaret cautiously, "Jim is careful about choosing the right new candidates, he needs someone not only with good results and experience, but also with the ability to fit into the team and follow his procedures."

Complying with his ways, fitting in with the team... Samantha shook her head, but Margaret couldn't see it. However, she certainly did not meet these two criteria, it took her some time to adapt in her old team. But she had a very warm-hearted team leader, who often accommodated her.

Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of her old team, it still hurt.

"Don't worry Samantha," Margaret said as if reading her mind, "I told him all about you. And besides, he owes me a lot. He said he'd give you a chance to work on his team. When I showed him your success rate at your old team, he marveled. You were almost as good as his team, you know. His team is good, the best of the best. They started calling themselves the  'Alpha Team' because of their results in investigation."

From her friend's voice, Samantha understood her immense respect for Jim. He couldn't be a bad guy if Margaret believed him and said such compliments.

There was silence on the phone. Margaret waited for Samantha's answer.

"Okay." The most succinct answer Margaret could get. She expected protests, cajoling but not agreement. If the quiet 'okay' was anything to go by.

"Thank you Margaret, I'll try to team up with them," Samantha finished, even though she wanted to decline the offer and send her somewhere easier. Margaret had put in a lot of effort for her over the past months, she couldn't contradict her now, she was trying to get her back on her feet. .

"Then tomorrow at nine o'clock you will meet him in his office, I'll send you the address in a moment," she ended the phone call, all excited.

Samantha put the phone down on the nightstand. She arched her back and collapsed onto the bed. Today she has to unpack, since she is going to live here, she will arrange things here properly. And while she is unpacking, she can put tomorrow out of her mind for a while.

That evening she unpacked everything from the boxes, even though it wasn't all that much stuff. The house looked even emptier than when the cardboard boxes were lying around.

She looked at her watch. It was showing a few minutes past midnight.

AUTHOR: Do you find Margaret likable or should she act more 'adult' for her age? If you find a grammatical error in this book, let me know in the comments...