CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
A much younger and fitter Captain Billington headed into the bureau’s lounge one fine
Autumn morning in nineteen twenty eight, his mood subdued from the grief of the early morning
phone call out of Texas from his youngest son Emelio. Happy to have a new baby great grandson
to call his own, Cole grieved the boy’s mother’s death. Motherless, his son Emelio would need to
see to the raising of the boy. Stood in the centre of the room were Cole’s fellow colleagues
Robert Chu, the bureau’s twenty eight year old ballistics expert for the past three years and
Doctor Gilles Fontaine, the bureau’s forty eight year old doctor of both medicine and the exciting
new field of psychiatry.
Grown bored with the medical field, working out of a family practice clinic on the
grounds of McGill, the Quebecois transfer returned to his studies for a short period of time here
at the university where he’d been promptly recruited by the bureau. They’d been in quick need of
a new medic after their former one Doctor Blaine Giancomo chose to retire to the Roman
countryside four years previous. Next to the doctor stood Detective Calvin Edwards, on loan
from the Point Grey RCMP Constabulary. It was the Detective’s job to connect the dots in cases
involving possible criminal activity in connection to a bit of the otherworldly.
In the far corner, stood by the table was Maggie Rutledge, acting assistant and transcriber
to the bureau’s chief officer, General Tyson Montgomery. Maggie had a bit of a thing for Cole;
he wasn’t biting. Stepping further into the room, Cole’s eyes landed on the most beautiful sight
he’d ever seen. The General told him he’d hired a new recruit highly recommended for his talent
for deciphering complicated codes and unknown languages by the higher brass at the nearby
army base. This talent would certainly come in handy at the CPB next time they came across an
individual not speaking any of the planet’s present languages, or when stumbling across a piece
of technology written in unknown code. Cecil Smith was exactly what the bureau needed at
present. What the General failed to tell Cole about Cecil was how utterly beautiful the new hire
was.
When Cole’s eyes connected with those of the slight, light haired Cecil Smith, he forgot
about his dead grand daughter and the loneliness he felt each and every day; living here on his
own in Vancouver, thousands of miles away from family. He forgot for just a moment he was an
outsider in more ways than one, saying, “Hello.” His breath caught in his throat; Cole stared into
the most beautiful gray eyes he’d ever seen. Not even Horatio could compare in this physical
aspect.
“Hello,” Cecil’s reply was shy and retiring; the pair continuing to maintain eye contact.
The other three taller men moved aside, allowing the pair to get a better look at one
