The Trill's claws scraped wrought iron like a rake against chalkboard. Ross's heart pounded as he suspected the bars would give out at any second. He aimed the long, fat barrel of the sheriff's .44 between its eyes. "Give me a reason, you piece of shit. C'mon!"

It strained and pulled against the metal until its pallid face turned blue. The bars only moved a fraction of an inch. In a flurry, it slammed its fists and shoulders into the three-foot wall behind it. Chips and small chunks of brick sprinkled to the floor. After a few minutes, and a hearty chuckle from Ross, it gave up. Tiny shards of bone poked through the skin on its hands and shoulders. Blood trickled from the wounds. Each shoulder had dislocated and several cracks of skin and lumps covered its scalp.

Cuts stitched together. Bones snapped into place. Joints realigned and the bruises disappeared as if the injuries had been erased from a drawing. Other than the Ken doll-ish genital area the creature in the cell had the physiology of a hairless young adult male. Not one hair on its head, no eyebrows, no chest hair and no pubes. The plastic look freaked Ross out, but most of all; its eyes sent chills through Ross. The glossed-over shards of wet coal filled the entire area around an almost Neolithic raised brow bone.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Ross slammed his hand against the bars.

The Trill stopped pacing, turned and glared at Ross. Those eyes, ebony pools of carnal thought, burned into him. It stared at his chest and licked thick, calloused lips which curled into a snarl with two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"You want it? Come and get it? Not so tough trapped in there are you, Guy?" He kicked the side of the cage. "That's your name from now on, you goddamn murdering bastard."

Guy sniffed the air as if taking a whiff of a fresh baked pie. Froth oozed from the corners of his mouth. He opened his mouth and let out a high-pitched screech like several wolves howling at the same time.

A call came over the radio. "Independence Fire and Rescue, Monmouth Fire Department, Medic Three, respond with local police to an MVA Highway ninety-nine between Highway twenty-two and Monmouth. This is a single car accident. The caller thinks one of the creatures may be involved."

Ross heard all of the units copy.

"Dispatch, this is incident commander George. All units hold off until SWAT gets there. We're sending a rig now, over."

"Copy, Commander. All units hold back until SWAT arrives."

The rest of the units copied.

A moment later sirens blared from outside. Where the hell did the fire department come from? Ross wanted to go but knew he needed to stay and babysit Guy. He pulled out his cell phone and clicked on Alexa's name.

"Just a minute she's playing with her toys." Ray laughed.

Alexa took the phone from Ray. "Give me that. Sorry. I was working with the centrifuge and left my cell on my desk."

Ray did a drive-by whisper, "Her toy."

"Very funny," she said. "What can I do for you, Agent Harris?"

"We have a Trill in custody. And you can call me Ross."

"You captured one?"

"Yeah. It kinda fell into my hands."

"Is it still alive?"

"He is ... and looking at me like I'm a raw steak."

"Where, um how did you..."

"In Independence. He attacked the police station and we trapped him in one of the cells."

"Why do you keep calling it...him?"

"Because he's purely male, I named him 'Guy'. Don't worry; he can't get through the bars."

"Makes sense. They said in Europe they're delivering them early and keeping them in cages."

"I'm sorry, but that's insane. I think the President got it right. Those pregnancies need to be terminated. You should see the carnage here. Everyone's dead, except the sheriff and a little girl. Sonnofabitch was smart, he hid in the jail cell and kept it at bay."

"That's awful. It really can't bend the bars?"

"Just a little bit, can't smash through the cement at all. The bars are too thick and he's just staring at me, standing, smelling the air."

"From what we've seen on TV, the males have an innate lust for the human heart, and our females...unfortunately."

"But why such an intense sexual desire?" That's one thing Ross couldn't understand. Why the vicious sexual attacks?

"Any organism introduced into an environment works as hard as possible to take over. The Tri-Allele makes them the dominant species. They may be trying to breed us out. Though, that would be counter productive as their sexual organs do not seem to be compatible with ours." She seemed to stop to think for a moment. "Now, how are you going to get it here?"

Ross said nothing.

"You have no idea do you?"

He imagined her shaking her head. "Nope. But there's a backup plan."

"What's that?"

"They have the Staten Trill trapped inside of a house not too far from here."

"Oh. No."

The response startled him. "What?"

"It just came to me a moment ago. If I'm right about this, the females are attracted to the males or vice versa. It seems she's been making her way to the male in your area."

"If that's the case, why hasn't she left the house yet?"

"Perhaps she knows she's in danger. I'm thinking the tri-alleles are gaining brain power as fast as they're gaining strength and age." Alexa coughed. "Excuse me."

She continued. "It will be interesting to study one up close. You have to find a way to restrain it and get it here."

"I'm thinking tranquilizer darts. See if we can knock him out. These suckers are strong."

"Don't underestimate it. See if someone can bring you a horse tranquilizer and then give it ten times the dose." She suggested.

"I'll see if I can get someone at the Oregon Zoo. They knock out elephants for god's sake."

"That would be a wise choice."

Ross gave himself a mental pat on the back. The zoo had to have a drug strong enough to knock this one out. Then, maybe an armored truck or...

She cut off his thoughts. "I could come to you."

"No way. It's too dangerous."

"But maybe it's the only..."

"No buts about it. You stay put. I'll get him to you." In that moment he knew he didn't want anything to happen to this woman. Was it because of her work? Another reason stood between them. "There's another one in the area?" he blurted.

"Really?"

"One smashed up a car not far from here."

"Male or female?"

"What?"

"The other tri-allele, is it male or female."

"I have no idea. What the hell does its sex have to do with anything?"

"I'll place a wager it's a male."

"Why's that?" The thought of another male in the area did bring up a question or two.

"To my knowledge, the Staten tri-allele is the only female anyone has encountered. Like I said before, their attraction to each other is uncanny. My tests detected a distinct pheromone emanating from the skin of the female tri-allele. Musk like a doe would send out to a buck during the rut."

"That makes sense. Is there any anything else?"

"The pattern is very close to the natural pheromone a human female gives off. It's why we're attracted to some people more than others."

He laughed. "I thought you have to think someone's good looking to be sexually attracted to them."

"Not sexually...innately. And it's not always about looks, Agent Harris!"

Crap. Now she's mad. How to fix this? Maybe say something smart, she seems mildly amused when he says something intelligent. "So, it might be like some sort of homing beacon causing the male Trills to search out the female?"

"Exactly. I'm curious which way. If the one that attacked the car is male, then we might have our answer."

That made sense to him. "I'll see what I can find out."

"Ross?"

"Yeah."

"Can you hold on a minute? I'm getting a text."

"Sure."

Guy stood in the corner, his eyes fixed on a spot in the cement wall. The splendid perfection of the man-like body overwhelmed Ross. He'd never had any kind of feeling when he saw a man naked before, but the sheer perfection standing before him sent chills up his spine.

Alexa still hadn't come back. Ross could only wait and watch his captive. He mimicked Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line in Predator. "What the hell are you?"

Of course, Guy had nothing to say, he didn't even turn, only stared at the wall.

"Ross! Ross!" Alexa yelled through the receiver, startling him.

The urgency and terror he felt from her made his pulse pound. "What is it?"

"The text was from Ellie. She's using Teagan's phone. I'm sending you the exact GPS coordinates now."

"Why?"

"The car accident in Monmouth...it's them. I mean, Teagan was in the accident." She sniffed as if she were crying. This stoic woman with the personality of quicksand actually showed some emotion. But the emotion didn't come from the doctor. No. This emotion came from a terrified mother.

"What the hell? Why are they out here?" His ears felt on fire. Why would those girls venture away from their homes? He immediately thought of his daughters, he'd be livid. But like Alexa scared piss straight.

"She just wrote, crashed, Lys hurt, me n Teag okay, HELP! MONSTER!"

"Holy shit." His heart sank. I know Police, Fire, ambulance, and SWAT are on their way to the scene."

"Ross." Her voice trembled.

"Yeah."

"Please. Make sure they're safe? I know its breaking protocol. We need that Trill. But it's my daughter."

The plead in her voice got to him. "I'll get someone to babysit Guy. He's not going anywhere. I'll bring her back. I promise."

"Thank you, Ross. Thank you." She closed the connection.

Guy came out of his corner. A sinister smile crept across his face. Then Ross noticed blood flowing down Guy's chin. The stupid ass creature had completely chewed off his bottom lip. Maybe he'd bleed to death. But Ross didn't care, his priorities had changed. When he made a promise, he kept it.