The smoke billowed out of the third floor windows. The muggles called it a gas leak. Twelve dead, four injured. What they did not know was who the twelve dead were. Unknowns, forever the John and Jane Does in the morgue.

The fire was only a cover up. But the evidence was obvious to those who could sense the energies around the building. High level magic users were involved. Only two were innocence. The four injured were now being interrogated by the Aurors. There were rumors of Unspeakables involved, but no one was talking. Not everything was as it seemed.

--

Water pooled around a pair of black leather boots. The rain fell fast stinging against his face. He forced his breathing to remain slow and even as he trudged along the ever rising water. The streets were empty, the windows boarded up. The trees bowed to the mighty wind. It was one of the worst storms Alec McFarlin had ever been through. Even in his training, he had experiences all sorts of weather, from blizzards to searing heat waves. However, nothing was quite as bad as the hurricane. He had a job to do and he was going to get it done, bad weather or not. Alec fruitlessly wiped the water from his eyes, brushing his rain soaked hair from his eyes.

It was mid-day yet it was dark as the night sky. The lights were out in the city leaving Alec cloaked in the darkness. The high winds made it more difficult to move from building to building. Each crossing was its own personal wind gust trap of hell. Fuck.

His gloved hands grasped the streetlamp pole, swearing out loud as the storm attempted to carry him away. He struggled to return his feet back to solid ground. Without warning, the wind, the rain, it all just stopped. Alec hit the cement with a grunt. He looked up at the light blue sky. He jumped to his feet, dashing across the streets as fast has his water heavy boots would take him. Skidding to a halt, Alec grabbed his wand, pointing it to a locked door. A burst of energy erupted from the tip of the wand, causing the door to fly open.

Alec slammed the door behind him, feeling he had only made it just in time as the rain hit with twice the intensity as before. A small light brightened the dark room and a sharp blade traced his chin.

"Is this how you greet your fearless leader?" Alec spoke casually through his thick accent.

"You're late." A young feminine voice drifted through the room.

"I'll file a complaint with the category five outside." The Scotsman replied drolly. "What's the report?"

He immediately went back into soldier mode, brushing past the woman with the knife. Alec was now facing a wall covered in maps and newspaper clippings. His finger moved swiftly over the moving names on the map, looking for one in particular.

"There's still no sign of him, sir. The others are still out on patrols. Team three should be returning once the storm has passed. Did you find out anything?"

"Some of the ministry officials are keeping quiet. I don' think they got him, though." Alec turned his back to the map, facing the dark haired woman again. "Keep watch, I'm going to change clothes."

"I can't come?" she asked with a playful smile.

Alec quirked an eyebrow at her question. "Don' make such a tempting offer, Jade." Alec moved close to the woman, brushing his wet glove against her face.

Before she could respond, Alec had turned and headed up the stairs.

--

Jade sat on the edge of the desk, shuffling through the parchment papers, each had a name and picture of every Auror that belonged to the British and American Ministries under suspicion. She looked through each of the faces, but stopped on one. Her breath caught in her throat. She only started breathing again when the sounds of footsteps on the wooden stairs caught her attention.

Alec came into view as he came down from the second floor, still adjusting his dry shirt over his pants.

"Why is your cousin's file here?" She asked, holding out the file. "He's only a kid, how could he possibly be involved?"

"Everyone that was involved with the incident in London is under suspicion, Jade… even Adam." Alec ignored the file and walked back over to the wall. "I want to know exactly what happened and why… I'm not leaving any stones unturned."

"Is Iric and James under suspicion too?" Jade threw the papers on the desk.

"Yes."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

His face was cold, staring deep into her eyes. She was hurt, but she understood. Alec could not trust anyone at this point. There was too much at stake to not look at everyone. The fact half his crew was out of contact for nearly a week after the London incident made things so much harder on Alec. It was then she knew his fears. Someone has decided to go against the whole.

--

What did she expect? The one person he had trusted… everyone had trusted had betrayed him. Everything had changed. Not even his own little cousin could be excluded in this. Young, Adam may be, but he was still involved. A young recruit, caught up in a battle he was not trained for. That's how his team saw Adam. Young, naïve, someone who was an innocent in this, but Alec could not stop and leave it at that, he needed hard proof Adam wasn't directly involved. Adam was still being questioned by the Ministry. On top of this, Alec could not help but think one of his own team members could be working against them. Jade, she was so strong, and passionate. She was loyal to Alec; she stayed by his side through the hardest months of his life. However, this did not give her immunity. Iric and James were nowhere to be found for weeks. All it took was one word from the ministry if they ever found out about them and Tartarus Sect would be hunted down.

At this time he had his group split up in to groups. Iric was with Masques and Philds. James was with Krys and Felix. Alec was sure the others were not involved; he had alibis for each of them.

It was a big risk letting Jade know who was under suspicion; however it may work to his advantage. Alec appraised her carefully, watching her movements. She played cards well, but Alec knew her tell. He was unable to find any lies beneath her eyes. He dropped his gaze and went over to his desk and began rummaging through his reports. Jade went back to hers and sat down with out another word.

"Do you have the dossier on Wilkins?" Alec broke the silence without looking up.

"Yes." Jade replied shortly pushing the file to the edge of her desk.

Alec did not get up to retrieve it.