INVICTUS VEREOR
TEASER
Agent Tom Colton was driving home after a long and frustrating day at work. Shuffling seemingly useless data all day felt really taxing. The only thing that kept him from falling asleep at the wheel was cheap coffee that he had picked up from the FBI cafeteria. Colton rammed his hand through his sandy brown hair and rubbed his neck and cursed quietly as he hit yet another red light. He turned on his mobile and took another drink.
"Damn answering machines." Colton said just before their answering machine picked up, "This is Tom here." He checked his watch for the time, "It's near quarter past six now. I'll be home in about twenty minutes. So can you put on the beans? That is beans not peas."
Colton hung up the phone. The thought of having green pees made him want to choke. He wanted to take another mouthful of coffee because he wanted to finish it before it became undrinkable. For just a split second, it looked as if there was something swimming around in there. But then there wasn't so Colton just shook his head in disbelief as he took a closer look. On the second glance it turned out that a skin had formed. So the coffee was definitely undrinkable now.
An itch formed in the back of his throat and he attempted to clear it by coughing but the more he coughed the worse it got. It now felt like something was wiggling down his throat. The eyes widened in panic, trying to cough out the foreign invader but it wasn't intending to leave.
His heart pounded so hard that it felt like it was going to bounce out of his throat since it wasn't difficult to imagine the thing going deep inside his body and start eating through everything in sight. Since coughing wasn't helping much, Colton did the next best thing he could think of and that was two stick two fingers down his throat to induce vomiting. The vomiting part worked and his lap was covered in spew but the damn thing was still wiggling in his throat.
He started coughing again, and when he removed his hand it was covered in spots of blood so in a desperate attempt again he shoved the fingers down his throat to induce the vomiting.
The dull grey Chevrolet Tahoe veered off the road and rubbed against a mailbox before crashing head on into a light pole.
As soon as the car crashed to a halt, Colton opened the door and stumbled out, "Call an ambulance." He cried out to any bystander that had stopped, "Call a paramedic." His throat felt raw and he could hardly talk. Blood was dripping from a gash on his head and into his eye so he could hardly see as well. But he still was coughing since everything else really didn't matter to him, "Someone call somebody." He felt as though nobody was listening to him.
The driver of a bus saw the man stumble into the bus's lane. He slammed his foot onto the brakes as soon as he saw him but it was too late, there just wasn't enough time to bring the bus to a full stop. The screeching from the brakes and locking tires were unable to mask the shocked screams of horrified onlookers. There was a red splatter mark on the front corner of the bus and that was the only evidence that it had hit something. As if God was mocking the whole situation the vehicle came to a sudden halt.
CHAPTER 1:
News of Tom Colton's death was yet to reach the ears of the other FBI agents. Agent Taylor was in the right place at the right time and had gotten the case before it even hit the desk. He was out to the scene in a flash. This will be Taylor's first case since returning to the FBI and he wanted to make it a success. It had just turned dark when he got to the scene.
The local police had kept the witnesses and the bus driver there and were ordered not to touch anything until the FBI had gotten there. He walked under the 'Do not Cross' police after he flashed his FBI badge. A smile crept over his face, showing the badge still felt like a minor power trip.
"The witnesses are over there." The officer read his badge, "Agent Taylor. We have managed to keep them quiet so they couldn't possibly share stories."
"Thank you officer." Agent Taylor replied. Sometimes local police could be a hindrance and he knew that. But at times you had to treat them like children and praise them when they did something right, "Good work."
The witnesses were there waiting impatiently as he took some aside one by one.
"So what did you see?" He sat the witness down on the side of the road and took out his notepad to scribble down the account.
"Well I saw that the car almost ran off the road just before it hit the lamp post." Leon, the first witness said.
"It was the screeching of the tires that alerted you to it?" Taylor asked.
"There was no screeching." Leon answered, "There was just metal against metal sounds and then rammed into the lamp post."
"And then what?" Taylor asked.
"Then he got out of the car… He was bent over coughing and coughing and coughing. I think – " Leon relayed his story.
"Just stick to the facts Leon." Taylor said, "Nothing more." Yes, it sounded cold, but he couldn't sift through what people thought as well. That could come at a later time.
"He was bleeding from the head but he just kept coughing." Leon continued.
"Did he say anything?" Taylor asked.
"He told me to call the paramedics or the ambulance." Leon said, "He kept rambling. That's when he went to the middle of the road and the bus couldn't stop in time and then the man was hit."
"Thank you." Taylor said as he rested his hand on Leon's shoulder, "May I suggest you go home and sleep and perhaps talk to someone tomorrow. You're free to go." There was a book that Taylor had been reading religiously while he was on hiatus. A book written by an FBI agent about his own experiences and it was something that Taylor had drawn on in an attempt to be better at what he does. Former Special Agent Cooper spoke of a different way to treat local authorities and witnesses other than the old I'm FBI, I'm in charge and you can go and screw yourself' attitude that some agents still employed today. But there was proof that the friendlier approach got better results, "Are you going to be ok?" Taylor asked.
Leon nodded in response.
Taylor had finished jotting down the notes by the time the second witness arrived, "I'm FBI Special Agent Taylor." Taylor shook hands with this witness.
"I-I'm Nicole." Her shaky voice told Taylor that perhaps she wouldn't be such a reliable witness.
"Are you ok to talk?" Taylor asked, "It's alright if you're not."
"N-no." Nicole replied, "I'm fine. I just feel I don't know. Wh-What do you want to know?"
"This is brave of you." Taylor kept the friendliness going, "What did you see of the accident?"
"We-ell I didn't see any of it." Nicole answered, "I only looked up when I heard the car crash." She began sobbing uncontrollably, "Then he got out, but it was as if he didn't see the bus coming because he just stepped right out in front of it."
Nicole put her head in her hands, "Can we get someone over here please?" Taylor asked for a paramedic who was there to treat anyone who was in shock.
Taylor had randomly selected two others to question. That would make half the people that were witnesses. There seemed no point in questioning them all. The accounts were all the same except for the touch of human variation. Taylor donned the gloves and walked around the Chevrolet first. There were large scratches on the side of the car.
"Can I get you anything?" An officer said.
Taylor checked his watch, "Since you ask… Do you mind getting me a chicken roll or something? I haven't had dinner yet and I must eat something. Thanks." He answered.
"Sure." The officer said, well he did ask.
Taylor depressed the button on his voice activated recorder. That's something else he learnt from a while ago. One of the most important equipment parts for investigating was a voice activated recorder. These things were great. "Agent Colton was driving along… For some reason he got so distracted, the car went off the road and rubbed against a letterbox before hitting a lamp post." Taylor stepped out of the car, "It remains to be seen what caused that much of a distraction but there is a sickly smell in the vehicle. Assuming he threw up."
The officer brought him a roll and Taylor opened up his pill bottle and swallowed it without water, "Remind me never to do that again." Taylor joked and ate the sandwich.
"What are those?" The officer was curious.
"I'm sorry Officer." Taylor said, "I wish to not answer that question." He repressed the recorder button, "Now witness said that Tom… Said that Agent Colton got out of the car and was coughing and gagging. Which I think is a sign that maybe he was choking on something. That could explain the spew smell and maybe the distraction. But then he became disorientated and ended up in front of the bus. But then again, how could he have not heard or see it coming?" That was a question that'd be almost impossible to figure the answer out.
He pulled out the mobile phone and rung the people at the J Edgar Building. Before news got around and people started talking he wanted to have the body examined. Perhaps there'd be more of an explanation. Taylor pressed the button again, "You know this reminds me of a case I glanced at last week… Personal reminder, check the FBI files of car crash deaths of Agents. Thank you." It was still hard getting use to using the tape recorder this way. But there was something oddly familiar about this. As if almost echoing another death.
A/N: Don't worry the x-file lot will come into it soon… Since this is just an introduction. I decided to bring Agent Taylor back for reasons you'll find out later, hope yous don't mind. Please bear with it... I will appreciate it if you read and review. Thank you.