And as promised, here's the first chapter of Sweet Dreams. Now, for each chapter, there'll be a quote.
"Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree. Traveled the world and the seven seas. Everybody's looking for something. Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you. Some of them want be abused." -Eurythmics, Song: Sweet Dreams.
"Poor girl can't be more than 16." A blonde haired woman said, kneeling next to the body of a young girl, "And just like the others, her heart's been ripped out."
"I hate to state the obvious, but we could be dealing with an amatuer Jack the Ripper." A redhead said, standing above the blonde.
"And as much as I hate to say it, you could be right. Or at least someone who looks up to that legend."
"Legend? There were several murders and letters. Not mention, the canonical five!" The redhead exclaimed.
"Her name's Janie. According to her driver's license, she's only fifteen." The blonde sighed and stood, "Bao, how many murders does that make?"
"He's probably already on the hunt for his seventeenth victim." Bao said, grimly. He looked at the blonde, "Christina, don't worry. We'll catch this guy." The redhead pulled his cell phone out and turned away, dialing a number and putting the phone to his ear. It rang several times, before someone answered.
"What's the scoop Bao?" A female voice asked.
"Yeah, Kuro? It's him."
The line was silent for a moment, before Kuro said, "Guess I'll be making those calls then. You and Christina get back to the office."
"Okay then. See you in a few."
Gingka barely looked up from the file in his hands when he heard the sound of his team flocking into the conference room.
"Don't bother sitting down." Gingka said, "We're heading to Los Vegas, Kuro's called us in."
"Sixteen murders in as many weeks; About time Kuro called us." Chris said, dryly.
"I agree. Grab your things, we're meeting Nefertiti and Mikaela at the airport." Gingka saw both Ryuga and Chris open their mouths, "One, Kuro asked for them to come. She also gave me the reasons- Nefertiti's the best M.E., and she wouldn't want to trust the bodies with any one else, and Mikaela's probably one of only people minus us that can get into this creep's head the fastest." Gingka grabbed up the files in front of him and his jacket, "Wheels up in thirty."
The phone rang, jerking a man from his sleep. Groaning, he cracked his neck, answering as clearly as he could, "Special Victims."
"Yo, Luke, you sound like you could use a good night's sleep." A familiar voice chuckled over the line.
Lucas McKandless shot straight up in his chair, ignoring his aching back, "Kuro! It's been forever!"
"Eight years, actually, but yeah."
"So what'd you call for? Not just to talk, I'm sure." Lucas asked.
"You know about the murders in Los Vegas?"
"The sixteen in the last sixteen weeks? Whole country does." Lucas paused, "Why?"
"I need you and your top detectives here to help."
"Uh, I'll need a bit more of an explaination, so I have a legitamite excuse to tell the board."
"For the last decade, your department has been ranked the best, and I only want the best on this case."
"I... 'll figure out a way to get that passed as a reason." Lucas sighed, "Maybe a few days before we can get there. Paperwork and all."
"That's alright. Just get out here as soon as you can. I don't want this guy having all of Los Vegas staying inside their houses."
"Why, out of the entire team, did she choose us to pick the FBI up?" Kyoya grumbled under his breath as he leaned against the black SUV at his back.
Ryuto raised an eyebrow, "What, you don't want to see your brother again?"
"Yes, but if you'd be so kind to remember, I'm the weapons specialist! I need to be back at the office trying to figure out what the hell the killer's using as his murder weapon!"
"You haven't considered it would be more than one weapon?"
"I have, but I can't figure out which ones!"
Ryuto slowly raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know what you two are complaining about." Nile deadpanned, from where he sat in the driver's seat of Ryuto's SUV. He had his arms crossed over the side of the door, chin resting on his arms, "Try figuring out a connection of some sort between the victims and hitting a dead end on everything."
Ryuto and Kyoya shared a look.
"How is he your best friend again?"
"I met him in the academy. Stuck together. Became friends. End of story."
"You make it sound like a bad thing!" Nile frowned.
"It's not, necessarily, but-" Ryuto cut off at a shout.
"Ryuto!" The snowy haired man turned, eyes lighting up when he saw his brother and Mikaela.
"Ryuga!" He called, waving at the duo. A few minutes later, the rest of the FBI team came into view, soon enough all standing in front of all the CIA agents.
"Been a while, hasn't it guys?" Gingka asked.
"About five years ago, yeah." Kyoya nodded, "Everybody here?"
Gingka nodded, "We are."
"In that case, throw your things in the back, and load up." Kyoya said, turning and sliding into the driver's seat of his vehichle.
"Real bedside manner your brother's got." Yuu told Kakeru, who only shrugged.
"Nice to you guys again." Kuro smiled, meeting the group outside of the building, "You especially Kayla."
Mikaela smiled, and hugged the other woman, "You too, Kuro. How's everybody?"
"You'll see for yourself. Currently, stressed out."
As the group all entered the building, Chris whistled, "You guys do some remodeling?"
"Had no choice." Kuro chuckled, "Water pipes broke and flooded the building from top to bottom."
"Yeah, we had to go back to the stone age, because all the computers shorted out." Kyoya grumbled.
"You think you had it bad?" Nile asked, "I'm one of the many that had to reboot the entire system! From Interpol files, to Homeland Security files!"
"Great, you got him started." Ryuto rolled his eyes, "Way to go, Kyoya."
Kyoya growled, "Shut up."
"Anyways," Kuro said as they entered the large elevator, "I'm glad you could come so soon. I really need a hand on this case."
"What we're here for. All you had to do was call." Gingka said.
"I also called Luke. He and his team will be here in a few days."
"Lucas? He's coming?" Mikaela raised an eyebrow, "Wow. I didn't know it was that serious."
"You'll see why." Kuro said, as the elevator doors dinged open, and the group all started down a hallway, "I only sent Gingka a partial copy."
"Why'd you do that?" Gingka frowned.
"Because for each victim, there's actually a total of three files- witnesses, list of evidence, you get my point."
"So?" Ryuga frowned.
Kuro had stopped outside a conference room, and she turned to look at the FBI agents staring at her curiously. She sighed, "Sixteen, probably about to be a seventeenth, victims. Each one with three files on them, give or take. Hundreds of witnesses, but no one's seen this guy. He's a ghost. Add in the piles of evidence, and you get this." Kuro turned and opened the door.
"Oh, dear God." Chris groaned.
Stacked from floor to ceiling, from tabletop to ceiling, from chair bottom to halfway up to the ceiling, were dozens of evidence and file boxes.
"Well," Gingka said after a few moments, shock in his tone, "We may as well get started."
Kuro chuckled, dryly.
"I'll put on the coffee."
So what'd you guys think? Review please!