2039

"Agent Kaleb Bryon! Can I have a word with you?" The Director shouts down the hall. I wince, he doesn't shout unless something or someone has majorly messed up.

With a sigh, I straighten up and turn to face him. "How can I help you, Director?"

"As much as I hate saying this, you need to tread carefully with this case. The parents are on the verge of hysterics and the missing girl is a hybrid. A Level Two hybrid." A miniscule shiver runs through the Director at the mention of a Level Two.

"Of course Sir, we'll do our best to find the girl and proceed with caution when we do."

"I wouldn't utter a care in this world for that girl if I weren't required to find her," The Director mutters bitterly.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

He clears his throat, "Nothing. You heard nothing."

"Of course, Sir. My team will head out at 0700 hours."

"No, I want your team to head out now. I want that girl found ASAP so I can forget about this entire case ASAP."

"Yes Sir."

I wouldn't dare say this outloud but I have a feeling our missing girl purposely went missing. My analyst searched all the footage from yesterday and found a clip of her leaving through the outskirts. But it's not the fact that she left through the outskirts, it's the fact that she made it obvious. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Or I am right. Either way, that is where we are. The Director told me not to take out the Savannahs since we shouldn't be wasting our best resources on a Level Two, but I don't care.

I give my team the signal to fan out and search, each equipped with two Savannahs, I follow the one going straight ahead. The Savannahs immediately pick up on a strong scent, in fact, I think one almost passed out. But, they do tell us the scent of a Level Two is so strong it will do that to you if you are not used to it.

After a good ten minutes all the Savannahs converge together and follow one path, straight to her dead body.

"Agent Bryon," One of my men signals to a bag next to her.

With her kind you can never know what kind of stunt they will pull, "Stand back. Let me handle this." An exciting shiver rushes through me as a yellow force field forms around my body. Slowly I crouch down next to the bag and examine it. Broken shards and clothes, all soaked in a very conflicting smell. "Where is Agent Donat?"

"Right behind you Sir."

"Can you identify these smells?" I ask, as I stand up and move out of her way.

She crouches down in my place, gloves and mask already on. "Well, I can tell you right away that it isn't any poison," she says after a brief waft. She removes the mask and gets down closer, sniffing the clothes. "I think this is our girl. There's dieffenbach, lavender and sea sponge."

"Excellent. Let's take her bag and body in for investigation."

I hate this part. I don't care whether the victim is normal or a hybrid of any sorts. Having to tell the parents you found their dead child is no fun.

I tug at the bottom of my blazer as I walk up the steps and knock. A woman with black hair and green eyes tentatively cracks open the door.

"Can I help you?" She asks.

"I am Agent Byron, from the BNR investigation branch. May I come in?"

Her eyes go wide, "Yes, yes of course." She widens the door and steps off to the side, gesturing for me to enter. I don't take off my shoes as I walk into the living room because frankly, I hope to not be here long.

"Can I offer you anything?"

"No, thank you," I say as I perch myself on the edge of her couch. "Is your husband home?"

"OH Rulers, yes! Nibian!" She forces a smile, "Let me go grab him, excuse me." Hastily, She gets up and rushes into the room behind me. It isn't long before it becomes obvious and argument has sparked.

At first it starts hushed, obvious they don't want me to hear them. But the longer it goes on, the louder Mr. Oceanshadow gets. Poor Mrs. Oceanshadow tries to calm him down so he gets quieter. It isn't much longer until they both come out, Mr. Oceanshadow more grudgingly. She sits down softly and perky but the smile is more strained.

"How may we help you, Agent Byron?"

"Before we start I would like to clarify, your daughter had yellow, orange and purple government distributed perfumes, correct?"

"That isn't any of your business!" Mr. Oceanshadow growls.

Mrs. Oceanshadow places a calming hand on his knee, "If they are searching for our daughter like they are? Yes, that is their business, Dear."

"Yes, Alecia had those three perfumes."

"Great, and do you know by any chance if those perfumes were here when you got home?"

Mr. Oceanshadow starts to quiver, "What? Like we normally go through her room everytime we get home or something?"

"No Sir, not at all what I was implying. I was just wondering if you had made that observation or not. Did either of you make an observation out of the ordinary for her in the last few days?"

They look at each other for a moment then Mrs. Oceanshadow answers, "No, nothing at all."

"Interesting." This doesn't make sense. "Was she having any trouble with her peers at all from your knowledge?"

"Ok, that's it! Stop with this interrogation and find our daughter!" Mr. Oceanshadow gets off the couch, his face redder than I have ever seen someone get.

"Nibian, patience please!"

"No Sena, I've had it!" He storms into the other room, slamming the door.

Mrs. Oceanshadow sighs, "I apologize for him, he had a tough upbringing with your organization."

"That's quite alright, I've seen plenty of outbursts by family members. What I came here to tell you was that," I clear my throat to kind of stall before I have to say it, but then my phone goes off. "Please, excuse me."

"Oh no problem, it's probably important government stuff."

Standing up, I turn away and answer, "Hello?"

"Boss, we have a problem, the autopsy just called in saying, the victim's body just turned to ashes."

"Excuse me?"

"The victim's body has disintegrated."

"We'll figure this out later." Great, I think as I hang up. Time to rip off the bandaid. I turn back to Mrs. Oceanshadow, "Ma'am, we found your daughter dead by the river but now her body has disintegrated."