Title: Preying Mantis – Chapter 4

Author's Note: See previous chapter for disclaimers and stuff. I have no idea how the FBI works. I just hope my thinking, here, makes decent fiction.

Thursday, 8:30 AM; Quantico, Virginia

Chloe DeCaen was finishing her Café au Lait before starting work. A message flashed on her computer screen, 'DNA match to Mantis profile'. She quickly opened the software and typed in commands. She smiled as she picked up the phone to call her partner, Rob Barton.

"We got an alert. Some yahoo in Vegas matched Mantis DNA in CODIS."

"Hot-A-Mighty!" He exclaimed. "I'll be right there!"

He rushed to her cubicle and stared at the data. "We should call and offer our assistance."

"What if they don't want it?" She asked. "Right now, they've got jurisdiction and no idea what we know. Sometimes, it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. I'm thinking we should just show up. Catch'em off guard; they'll be cooperating before they have time to think about it."

"I see your point. I'll check flights and book us on the first one possible." He responded, remembering the mess in Los Angeles.

"Sounds like a plan." She agreed. "Find out what you can about the Vegas FBI field office. I'll get Martinez to handle our current cases, until we get back." A couple of times a year, she and Rob dropped everything to rush to an already useless crime scene. This was fresh and the most promising, in years.

After briefing Martinez, she composed a brief e-mail to her boss and glanced at her watch. "Good, I've a little time." First, she studied the alert. Sanders had submitted the search; Lead listed on the case was Grissom. "Damn." She thought, that name was familiar. She was aware that Las Vegas Crime Lab was good; second, only to Quantico which had the might and funding of the federal government behind it. She quickly printed out the facts and figures of the lab before keying on Grissom and his staff of graveyard CSIs. She printed dossiers on all of them. She and Rob could study the information on the plane.

She checked her laptop, insuring that all of the Mantis information was up-to-date. She spooled four copies of the Mantis case summary to the color copier, then gathered up the files she thought pertinent. She stuffed all the paperwork in her burgeoning soft-sided leather briefcase and packed her laptop.

"We're booked on a 12:40 flight out of Dulles. I reserved a couple of rooms for a week and a full-sized sedan from AVIS. I left a message with the answering service for the Vegas field office. I'll pick you up at your place in an hour." Rob said from her doorway.

"All right." She answered, handing him her laptop and briefcase to put in his car. They made their flight with five minutes to spare. Once they were comfortably in flight, she dug in her briefcase. She handed Rob the lab printout then began to study the dossier of Gil Grissom.

"Looks like a good lab." Rob commented after a time. She handed him Grissom's dossier.

"What's an entomologist?" He asked after a couple of minutes.

"Studies bugs."

"You can get a PhD in bugs?"

"Rob, think about how many bugs there are." She answered as she rolled her eyes.

"Um, I see your point. Lotsa bugs around, lotsa bugs get on corpses that are left out too long." He replied, remembering one too many encounters with flies and maggots at decomposing bodies. "They disgust me. I bet this guy is five-two, weighs in at ninety pounds, soaking wet; has buckteeth and glasses with coke bottle bottoms for lenses. He probably looks like a chipmunk." After a pause, he asked. "Was that Alvin?"

"No, Simon had the glasses and high IQ. Actually, if I have the right guy in mind, Karen said he was kinda good looking." She responded, bringing up her best friend, who happened to be his latest infatuation.

"Really?" She had his complete attention now. "Where'd she meet him?"

"I don't think she actually met him. She attended a lecture he gave at that conference we went to in Atlanta last fall."

"How come you didn't go?"

"Bugs aren't my thing, either."

"What'd she like about him, exactly?" He inquired when she offered nothing further.

"His ass." She gave him a sidelong glance to see how he digested that information.

"Hmm." He mused. She handed him the dossiers of Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle.

TBC