Witnessing the pain that crossed Ellie’s face, Sarah held perfectly still and stayed quiet as Ellie worked through the moment before speaking. “After seeing how brazen you are, I seriously doubt you weren’t enough, Agent Miller. I’ve known you for half a m, read your file and I know that isn’t true.”

  “Thank you for the fidence, Director Powell.” Ellie chuckled, “I was ready to just sit here and think about Angelie’s eyes for the rest of the day.” Ellie forced her former lover’s eyes from her memory and resumed. “Things had deteriorated to such a degree that I kicked her out of our bed and forced her into another bedroom.” She shrugged, “I told her to figure out what she needed and wahen she could e back to our room.” Ellie shoved the captain’s insignia ba her bag, “What she ended up finding was a cult of some kind.” She once more paused and made an odd looking face. “I barely uood it, she said she would be awake, or they were woke, or awakened?” Ellie shrugged, “All I know is that out of nowhere Angelie was almost herself again. She said she was in charge of people and they were doing important things.” Ellie held up her hands and used air quotes. “She old me what they were doing, it was traal or some mess.”

  Freeing a se of a neer from the pile in the folder, Sarah poi another image. “This picture is much more detailed, yet very rare for this area. I suspect it wasn’t taken digitally, but with film. Looks too much like old soup kit photos.” Tapping her fi a figure standing at the end of a driveway, Sarah looked at her agent. “I believe that to be Angelie Kino.”

  Having learhrough years of practice, Ellie reached int and pulled out a small magnifying gss and studied the image for a couple seds. “Yeah, that’s her. I would know that stanywhere.” Ellie looked at the article attached to the image, “Feeding the hungry?” She looked at Sarah. “Why tell me it’s a secret the a reporter take pictures and allow publication?”

  Folding the paper back up, Sarah shrugged. “Good question. Perhaps ohat you look into.” Sarah looked at the fused look on Ellie’s face, then decided to relinquish the remaining information. “Since we are colborating here, you should know that the person c that story died of a burst appendix two days ter. This story never officially ran.” Sarah closed her eyes and sighed. “The editor’s wife is a friend of mine from college and asked me if I could do anything.”

  “This was a few years ago.” Ellie mumbled and tried to match the timeline. “I think this fits, Ma’am. She seemed to have found her ‘revitalization’ as she called it. She even wanted me to meet the leader, called her Dar, I think.”

  Retrieving another hazy picture, Sarah pced it in front of Ellie. “Probably for the better that you didn’t. Perhaps you might have had a revitalization as well.” Sarah shrugged and poi the rge building. “This building I am sure ynize.” Ellie affirmed by nodding her head and Sarah pressed on. “Good. Look at the date and time. This was early evening at Phantasmagoria.” She shuffled to another image that was just as lousy. “This was ter that evening, a wider look at the city from the building.”

  Using her magnifying gss once more, Ellie sed over the more wide angled image, “I’ve never seen these. Whatever took this was by act.” She looked up from the city yout. “All access looks to be cut off.”

  “Right.” Sarah chuckled. “A kid with his toy drone heard sirens and screaming. Uploaded them to a ‘Quirky news’ Reddit. The irony of a drone, Miss Miller.” Sarah poio the fe things blog the street. “All of the official satellite images have been curiously removed. One of my ents sent this to a post office box I have for personal use after seeing the Reddit. These were removed by the moderators without expnation.”

  Gazing over the wide angle picture Ellie shook her head, “You’d think from a drohe images would have been sharper.” She tapped her lip for a sed. “Looks like moonlight giving some detail, just not much.”

  Sarah waited until Ellie had finished with the picture before she pulled out a final ohat showed a formation of people marg into Phantasmagoria with batons. “I ’t be a hundred pert sure, but I think that is former Captain Kino out front. The building looks pletely drenched but it's not raining, and there’s no sense of fire inside.” Sarah tapped the image, “See anything straher than what I pointed out?”

  “Two figures on the roof, yes ma’am.” Ellie poked at the twin blurs and used her magnifying gss again, “If I had to guess that is a hole in the rooftop.”

  Quickly shuffling the things bato a workable pile, Sarah closed the file. “The agent that discovered this photo is in an insane asylum. I assigned anent to the oddity and she’s now missing. I ’t even find her credentials. She does, and I was told that she didn’t…that I might be losing my mind and to take a little time off, if I ’t hahe stress.”

  “This isn’t anything major, these terrible photos be called fake.” Agent Miller poi the mani folder. “There is nothing to iigate, I ’t question ah those. I know that it was Angelie in front. She’d been practig and looking at videos on how to use a police baton.” Ellie paused, “I even showed her how to properly ha.” Folding her arms, Ellie added, “I ’t prove any of it. Sitting here discussing this, we are no closer to the truth.”

  Handing Agent Miller the st evidence she had, the officer in Sarah came out. “I am aware of that, Agent.” She paused and opened her own cloth bag and handed Ellie a small manual. “SOP for our unit, Agent Miller. We have a little leeway when it es to iigation. Behavioral Sce is fairly enpassing. Typically seen as a bunch of psycho-babble for reasons to expin human behavior, there have been times in the past where we looked into odd cims such as ESP.”

  “Go on.” Ellie perked an eyebrow, genuinely ied in the versation. “If this lets me get my fingers around that River’s girl, I will do whatever I o.”

  Deputy Director Powell held up her hands, “Cool your jets. You ’t touch her without new evidenbsp; I mean, new legal evidenbsp; I don’t even want you poking around and spying on her.” Sarah held up a single finger. “If you so much as dig in the garbage for DNA without my permission, I will shoot you myself. Leave the girl alone for now. I think what you want is buried in those tiovers you have. Everything else has been stri from evidence or denied by Tatum Bckwell and pany. We iigate strange cims, Agent Miller. Use that to your advantage. Start with something that hasn’t been bleached .”

  “Phantasmagoria.” Ellie smiled at her boss and tucked away the SOP and the folder into her leather bag. “What does the Suffolk office have to do with this?”

  Looking behind her as a few stru workers passed by eating the remains of their lunch, Sarah whispered. “Suffolk is about halfway between both cities and has a nice bed to sleep in. It is also an off-books facility with private es for anything we need.” She got up and walked over to Ellie and patted her on the shoulder. “Bck ops. There are only about six people that go in there, with two of them being you and I. The other four are on our team as well. Get us something we use, Agent Miller. Legal. A new source.”

  Ellie felt a phone slip into her pocket and looked up at her boss. “How often do you wao che and ge this SIM card?”

  “Daily. There are spare SIMs in the Suffolk field facility.” Sarah helped Ellie to her feet. “Let’s get justice felie.” Deputy Director Powell headed for the gss door exit, “With some luck we won’t end up in a hidden missile silo somewhere in South Dakota.” She poio the darkened hallway, “Now get out of here.”

  Making sure that she’d gathered all of the evidence she had, Ellie theurhe behe two had used, then headed for the back exit.

  -Angelie, I hear you baby. I will set things right.-