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TUESDAY
Speaking of wounded animals... But it's not Ashlocke this time - he's been keeping a low profile since he got away from me, dived back through Diana's time portal before us and disappeared, which doesn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence for a peaceful future. He's probably building his strength for the big one – whatever that's become in his warped mind.
No, this is a different kind of animal – at least, that's what the world is calling it. We know better – well, kind of, though I don't think we're agreed on exactly what it is. Shalimar's convinced it's one of us, and a feral to boot, but only having seen the amateur video footage its last poor victims shot I'm not a hundred per cent sure I agree. She and Brennan have been up close and personal with it now, though, and he's certain it's at least part human. How a human ended up that way is anyone's guess – and finding out is Adam's latest pet project to keep us all distracted from what Ashlocke might be up to.
Shal and Brennan pulled what seemed on the face of it to be the fun assignment, getting to go out and play in the forest. It made sense for her to be there, given what they're looking for, but him? By his own admission he doesn't like the whole 'back to nature' thing, and he sure griped enough about it when Adam told him what he wanted. But he wasn't about to give up the chance to spend time out there with her - and certainly not to me. Admitting I could handle something he couldn't would be way too much for his ego to allow, though it gave us all a laugh how quick he was to deny her suggestion he might be scared by the prospect of a night in the boonies.
Whatever, Emma and I got to stay behind and handle the research detail. Again.
I know I shouldn't complain. After all, it's what I'm good at, as I proved again today, digging up those deleted files about this Nathaniel Block guy. I'd take a bet that none of the others - not even Shal - could have gotten more than the guy's name. And at least we get to go follow up on the Chelton VA hospital lead it produced ourselves.
Seems like it's not going too well out there in the woods, though. They did actually catch up with the... guy? – but he seems to be immune to both Brennan's electrical calling cards and Shal's feral tricks, managing to give them the slip and clawing her pretty good into the bargain. Typically she'd telling everyone she's OK, that she'll be healed before we know it, but I can't help worrying about her. There's something going on with her, something more than the physical injuries, some deep-rooted emotional reaction triggered by the experience that's niggling away at her. I hope Brennan's not planning on doing much sleeping tonight, because if anything happens to her on his watch he's a dead man.
I doubt I'll be resting too easy myself. We didn't get through checking out the hospital plans until late, too late really to go up there and check out the mysterious surviving victim of our 'Sasquatch', so we're going to get an early start tomorrow, hopefully get in and out before things get too busy. But I have a feeling there's a lot more to this than the few facts I managed to pull out of the trash in the police databases. Why else would someone have tried to erase Nathaniel's past so thoroughly? So I reckon if we can find him, talk to him about what happened, it'll bust this can of worms wide open – and I'm looking forward to seeing what pops out.
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TUESDAY
Speaking of wounded animals... But it's not Ashlocke this time - he's been keeping a low profile since he got away from me, dived back through Diana's time portal before us and disappeared, which doesn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence for a peaceful future. He's probably building his strength for the big one – whatever that's become in his warped mind.
No, this is a different kind of animal – at least, that's what the world is calling it. We know better – well, kind of, though I don't think we're agreed on exactly what it is. Shalimar's convinced it's one of us, and a feral to boot, but only having seen the amateur video footage its last poor victims shot I'm not a hundred per cent sure I agree. She and Brennan have been up close and personal with it now, though, and he's certain it's at least part human. How a human ended up that way is anyone's guess – and finding out is Adam's latest pet project to keep us all distracted from what Ashlocke might be up to.
Shal and Brennan pulled what seemed on the face of it to be the fun assignment, getting to go out and play in the forest. It made sense for her to be there, given what they're looking for, but him? By his own admission he doesn't like the whole 'back to nature' thing, and he sure griped enough about it when Adam told him what he wanted. But he wasn't about to give up the chance to spend time out there with her - and certainly not to me. Admitting I could handle something he couldn't would be way too much for his ego to allow, though it gave us all a laugh how quick he was to deny her suggestion he might be scared by the prospect of a night in the boonies.
Whatever, Emma and I got to stay behind and handle the research detail. Again.
I know I shouldn't complain. After all, it's what I'm good at, as I proved again today, digging up those deleted files about this Nathaniel Block guy. I'd take a bet that none of the others - not even Shal - could have gotten more than the guy's name. And at least we get to go follow up on the Chelton VA hospital lead it produced ourselves.
Seems like it's not going too well out there in the woods, though. They did actually catch up with the... guy? – but he seems to be immune to both Brennan's electrical calling cards and Shal's feral tricks, managing to give them the slip and clawing her pretty good into the bargain. Typically she'd telling everyone she's OK, that she'll be healed before we know it, but I can't help worrying about her. There's something going on with her, something more than the physical injuries, some deep-rooted emotional reaction triggered by the experience that's niggling away at her. I hope Brennan's not planning on doing much sleeping tonight, because if anything happens to her on his watch he's a dead man.
I doubt I'll be resting too easy myself. We didn't get through checking out the hospital plans until late, too late really to go up there and check out the mysterious surviving victim of our 'Sasquatch', so we're going to get an early start tomorrow, hopefully get in and out before things get too busy. But I have a feeling there's a lot more to this than the few facts I managed to pull out of the trash in the police databases. Why else would someone have tried to erase Nathaniel's past so thoroughly? So I reckon if we can find him, talk to him about what happened, it'll bust this can of worms wide open – and I'm looking forward to seeing what pops out.
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