FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Sir?" The receptionist came over his internal line, "There's a Detective Flint Sagan here to see you?"

Zikabar nodded to himself. "Send him up." It had been two days since Denton told him to expect a call from the detective, he's wondered what was taking him so long, but he hadn't expected an official visit.

Zee walked out of his office and only took a moment to let the hubbub of his people working soak into him. The FBI never slept, the saying goes, and it was even more true when dealing with a looking for the killers of a dozen people, on top of the counterfeiting rings, cyber-crimes and terrorism, and the surge in neo-nazis the centennial of the end of world war 2 a few years ago had caused.

Zee couldn't understand those canines. Their oh so precious ubber-wolf had been defeated and they thought it was something to rally behind. At least they'd disappear into their holes in a few years, and if he was lucky, a new Agent in Charge would be dealing with the next resurgence.

He reached the elevator as the door opened and Zee extended his hand "Detective Sagan, It's--" he trailed off as the German Sheppard standing next to the fox grinned.

"Hey, if it isn't the governmental bitch."

"Reilly! Come on, show some respect, he's the FBI."

"Nah, that's the FBI," the Sheppard motioned to the room. He pointed to Zikabar. "This is... what exactly are you Malhotra? His mole inside the agency? His cum d--"

"Reilly!" The fox glared at the Sheppard. "I'm sorry for his behavior."

"It's quite alright, Detective Sagan," Zee said. "I quite understand Detective Waldman's issues with me. Impotence isn't something a man like him handles well, is it?" The deer smiled. "And it's Special Agent in Charge Malhotra Bodenman, if you are going to insult me, you should definitely use my full title, I insist."

The canine snorted, but remained silent.

Zee turned to the fox. "And to what do I owe this visit?"

"You're looking into a multiple murder, down in Lamar, I'm wondering if I can get details about it, we have something that might be connected to that, knowing more about your case might help us with outs."

"As if the guy holding a leash is going to let him talk to us," The Sheppard sneered.

"Leashes are a canine thing, detective, as you should well know."

"What do you call that thing around your neck?"

Zee smoothed his tangerine tie. "This is a tie, something anyone with an ounce of taste would wear."

"You do know where they come from, right?"

Zikabar rolled his eyes. "I am very well aware of its origin, but at least it's something dignified, now. Not a leash."

"Keep telling yourself that. I bet he forces you to wear it."

"No one has to force me to dress well, unlike you, it seems." He forced his gaze away from the Sheppard before he lost his patience. "How did you find out about the Lamar case, Detective Sagan? We've been doing all we can to keep it quiet."

"The Sheriff there is an old friend of mine, from my academy days."

"I see. I'll have to remind him cases are not to be shared, but as you are here, maybe you can let me know what you have so I can--"

His phone rang, and he thanked the distraction. He'd been ready to have a conversation with Detective Sagan about the case, but the Sheppard's presence made that impossible. Azrael's name was on the display. "Excuse me, I need to take this."

"Zee, I got your--"

"Director, what can I do for you?"

"Dir... Zee it's Azrael."

"Yes, Yes. Let me get to my office." He covered the microphone. "I'm sorry, I'll get someone to help you with the case." He headed for Celeste's desk. A woman should throw the Sheppard off his game since he was under the impression Denton only dealt with men.

"Zee, did my call actually get you out of an uncomfortable situation?"

"Uncomfortable might be pushing it, Azie."

Azrael laughed. "I thought those only happened in the movies."

"Clearly not, Give me a moment." He covered the microphone again. "Olsauskay," he called to the hog, "I need you to talk to the two police detectives about what's going on in Lamar, there's a possibility a local case has a connection to it."

She looked at the fox and Sheppard who were in a heated discussion. Probably about the canine's atrocious behavior. "How free should I be with our information, sir?"

Zee considered the question. If it was only the fox... "Let's keep the flow of information one way for the time being. It's better to see if the two are even connected before we muddle the waters of their investigation."

"Alright, Sir."

That handled Zee headed for his office. "I'm now free Azie."

"Really? When did the divorce happen? I'll tell you I never thought Marcus would allow you to go, you are far too good of a catch."

"Very funny, mister has the worst luck with men there's ever been."

"Touche. So, in regard to your message. I had the lab go over the DNA from the campsite, and we identified two tiger donors, one male and one female. Their names are--"

"You can courier me that information, it isn't urgent, but I was hoping you'd have something from inside the cave." Zikabar couldn't believe he'd asked that, but Denton had been confident Damian had claimed to have been resurrected. If that was true, there should be some sort of evidence.

"No, sorry, the lab took the ashes, but that's all they are. Even the drag marks didn't contain anything with DNA, which I'll admit if odd. You'd think that dragging a body through those ashes would scrape the skin and leave something."

"You would think." Zee went over what he'd seen. Unlike what Azrael thought, he didn't see a body being dragged, but someone dragging themselves. And the way the ashes had been disturbed marked that as the starting point, not something that was dragged over.

"How about outside the cave? Any luck there?"

"Zee, that's all woods and brush, you know how impossible it is to get anything out of that even when it just happened. The time frame says almost a week before we were informed. We got lucky it didn't rain, but even with you indicating where the body was dragged, there's nothing left."

"It was wishful thinking on my part."

Azrael chuckled. "Isn't that ninety percent of our job?"

"It does feel that way at times. I will let you get back to work."

"Yeah, the never-ending job. When are you and Marcus taking time off? We should get together again. Having the two of you at my place for a few days reminded me what Quantico was like." The fox sighed, "It's been way too long since I've had that kind of fun."

"Maybe you should visit us. Not only is it easier for one Special Agent to schedule vacation time than two, but I could introduce you to some people who would make those Quantico night feel like dinner with your family in comparison."

"Really? With that kind of pitch, I'm going to schedule this as soon as I can."

"We will be waiting." Zee disconnected and slotted his phone in the desk, bringing up the files he'd been working on.

Half an hour later he got a message. 'New cardinal murder' and before he opened it, three more message followed it. Each about another murder. He opened the first one. The New York Office had found the dingo in his home this morning, cut up like the previous two.

His phone rang, and he accepted the call as he read. "Special Agent in Charge Malhotra Bodenman speaking."

"Special Agent, this is Chaahi Moon, from News Chanel Seven, I'm wondering if you can comment on the church pedophile Murders?"

Zee glared at the display. "How did you get access to this number?"

"That's not important, is it true that the killer now as victims outside the country?"

Zee looked at the other messages, was that what those were about? "Miss Moon, this is a private number, If you want a comment from the Bureau, you will go through official channels." He terminated the call.

He'd have to let his provider know to upgrade their encryption. Or he could take Denton up on his offer to have his slicer friend do something to his phone. Denton had been vague if what the man did was technological, or magical, but the cheetah swore it rendered the phone on crackable.

His phone rang again. He checked the window on his desk first, then accepted it. "Director Patterson, how can I help you?"

"Tell me you know who that dammed killer is."

"Unfortunately, sir I have nothing new to provide."

The man sighed. "Well, he's not alone anymore. Interpol contacted us not thirty minutes ago, they found three cardinals dead, one in Paris, one in Kinshasa, and the last in Frankfurt. Not to mention the news found out, and they are having a field day with it."

"A local news network cracked my phone restriction and called me directly about it." Zikabar did a quick search on Kinshasa, capital of the Congo. He'd never guessed the church had a cardinal there.

"They're going all out on this. We're up to six dead, all high ranking cardinals, and while the most recent ones haven't been confirmed as such, the media already decided they're all pedophiles."

"I haven't had the time to look at the other messages, are the killings similar?"

"Enough that if Frankfurt and Kinshasa hadn't happened within three hours of each other they would say it's the same person."

Another search told him the distances between the two was over five thousand miles, even by plane it couldn't be done in three hours. "We are looking at a group of people. Dear God, if people are working together, there's no telling how many dead we'll have by the time we stop them."

"Yeah. Which is why I'm setting up a task force. Interpol is going to be here, and since the first one was in your jurisdiction, I want you here too."

"Sir?"

"Your teams have been working on this longer than anyone else."

"We're only talking days of difference here, not enough to make a noticeable difference." He hadn't heard anything from the basement team, which he hoped meant this was wholly mundane. As exciting as knowing magic was real, he didn't want to have to contemplate dealing with it within another case.

"Probably not, but it still makes you the senior agent working the case. Let your team know they'll be asked to conference at some point, but I want you in Quantico. This is probably going to be the largest task force the Bureau has had to assembled."

Zee was quiet, contemplating the implications. "I'll leave within the hour."