Chapter 2: Fight or Flight - Sympathetic Ear
After their lunch date, Mitch and Jamie discover there's more to the lion attacks than they initially thought.
Mitch watched her slip into the back of the classroom without missing a beat in his lecture. She waited as he finished speaking, but the moment he dismissed his students Jamie was dashing forward eagerly. He'd never tell her, but seeing her sent a thrum of energy through him. He shook it off, berating himself for acting like a school boy, and began packing his things away. Making sure none of his students were within earshot, he only gave her a cursory glance as she stopped on the other side of the table.
"You know, I still want to cut myself every time I even think about having to explain to those Animal Control officers why we called them in a panic about a bunch of empty trees." He had meant it as a teasing joke, but Jamie was obviously too keyed up with whatever she'd found to notice. He sighed internally and half-listened as she laid out her findings. Their lunch yesterday had been pleasant enough, and it had been a long time since he'd felt interested enough in anyone to actually spend time socializing with them. Despite his nerves he thought it had gone well, but it looked like her interest was purely professional. She saw him as nothing more than a source she could exploit for her story, and he cursed mentally for thinking she'd felt anything more.
She was coming to the end of her rant about some chemical and pesticides, and the sour thoughts swirling in his head leaked into his tone. "This is all very riveting." He shouldered his bag and started to walk away, but she dropped the other proverbial shoe.
"Wait, there's more!" She seemed almost excited about the information she'd gathered, and despite his own castigation he couldn't help but think she was even more attractive when she was riled up. "Last month, L.A. County started using a similar pesticide to contain a rare mosquito outbreak. Want to guess where?"
"In honor of conspiracy nuts everywhere, I'm gonna guess Brentwood."
She lit up happily. "Yes! Brentwood!"
The mystery of the missing cats in Brentwood had piqued his interest. Despite needing to prepare lesson plans and get some actual rest, he'd gone out late last night to search for wayward felines. What he'd found had been enough of an excuse to text her. Their brief but memorable excursion had ended with an awkward conversation with a very confused Animal Control officer.
Still, he couldn't deny the puzzling mystery that was beginning to unfold here. His scientific mind was already running through possible hypotheses. And even though she hadn't shown much interest in him other than a sounding board and resource, he couldn't help but relish the idea of spending more time with her.
"Fine," he acquiesced, leading her up the shallow steps that elevated each row of seats to the back of the room. "Let's just say for a second - for a second - that you're right and that this chemical is causing the aberrant behavior. We could find out for sure by taking a closer look at the lions' brains."
"Great!" she seized his offer greedily. "Let's do it. Let's nail these bastards to the wall."
It wasn't the first time he'd suspected her interest in Reiden Global was something more than the villain in her environmental story. It was, however, the first time he'd seen something akin to desperation in her eyes.
"You are thoroughly obsessed with Reiden Global, aren't you?" He noticed her shift slightly under his scrutiny. "I mean in ways that go beyond just 'I hate corporations.'"
There was that pause again. He'd noticed it yesterday when he'd asked where she was from. His question had surprised him, too. Normally he would keep his head down and interact as little as possible, but something about Jamie Campbell had begged for a deeper connection. So he'd asked a seemingly harmless question, earning him an attempted deflection and a begrudging answer.
Her eyes darted down a bit, and he realized she knew she was being a bit too overbearing. "Yeah, I am." It was a simple answer to his question, and he knew she didn't want to talk about it. But he was inquisitive by nature.
"May I ask why?"
She seemed to find a well of strength, because she answered a bit faster and more assuredly. "Because of what they did to my hometown."
It was a vague answer that failed to satisfy. "What did they do to your hometown?" He had an inkling, of course, and her next words confirmed his suspicions.
"They murdered it." The pregnant pause that followed her declaration stretched on, and he knew she was waiting for him to brush off her rather dramatic answer. No doubt others had in the past.
He blew a breath out through his nose, and took another deep one before he spoke. "That sounds like a story that needs drinks."
"Lots and lots of drinks," her lips twitched in the imitation of a smile and he counted it as a win.
"I know a great bar that's not very crowded on a Thursday night if you've got time." He angled his body back toward the door, realizing that at some point he'd turned to face her at the top of the stairs. She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, and suddenly all of those voices that told him she wasn't interested in him fell silent.
"Why not? I've got nowhere to be right now." She shrugged one shoulder and stepped past him toward the door.
Relief flooded him and he fought the nerves off with a joke. "Just the thing a guy likes to hear after he asks a girl out."
Just like she had at the zoo, Jamie huffed slightly at his not-so-subtle comment and fired back. "Technically, you didn't ask me anything." She pushed through the door with a triumphant smile and Mitch felt his estimation of her rise ever so slightly. Jamie Campbell was proving to be a rather intriguing companion, and as he followed her to the parking garage he found himself looking forward to learning more about her. It was the first time he'd felt this way since -
Don't go there, Mitchell.
He shook those thoughts from his head quickly. Going down that road only led to disaster. Besides, he reminded himself, tonight was going to be spent listening to Jamie's story and seeing what he could do about seeing that smile again.
"Where are you parked?" he asked, glancing around at the smattering of vehicles in the guest parking lot.
"Uh," she shook her head, "I don't have a car."
Drinks and a ride home, he thought as he directed her toward his vehicle. This was shaping up to be a good night. "I'm over here."
They pulled up outside Tom Bergin's thirty minutes later. During the day it was a great lunch spot, but at night they reopened as an Irish pub. The wood bar sat in the center of the area, paneled in wood and warmed by the light of hanging sconces. True to his word, the place was nearly empty when they walked in and the bartender lifted an arm in greeting as they slid into a booth along the sidewall. An attractive college girl hurried over with a smile and two napkins.
"Hi! My name's Mandy. What can I get you?"
"Guinness," Mitch ordered right away, changing from his usual whiskey double. Jamie ordered a lager and a water, and Mandy dashed away to the bar with barely a nod. Mitch settled back and watched Jamie take in the scene. This was one of his favorite places, though no one here would know his name. He was always sure to come on random days and sit as far out of the way as he could manage. He recognized the bartender, but not the waitresses. That wasn't surprising though; he imagined the turnover in a city like L.A. was pretty high.
"You come here often?" Jamie interrupted his thoughts, and he realized she was staring at him.
"Often enough," he nodded.
"This on your way home?" He recognized an attempt to deflect the conversation away from herself - it was a technique he'd mastered years ago. She didn't want to talk about her hometown, or what had happened there. He was happy to go along with her until she felt more comfortable.
"No," he chuckled, "opposite direction, actually. I live in Venice. You?"
"Westlake," she told him, leaning back when Mandy deposited their drinks on the table.
"Can I get you anything else?" she asked brightly.
Mitch raised his brow at Jamie in question. "You hungry?"
"No," Jamie shook her head quickly, which he interpreted as 'I don't want to inconvenience you.'
"Fried pickles," he looked up at Mandy with the most polite smile he could muster. Mandy winked at him and turned on her heel, leaving Mitch shaking his head at her eagerness. "Must be slow tonight." He waited a few beats, but when she didn't say anything he decided to push forward. "So," he took a sip from his bottle, encouraged when she did the same. "Reiden Global killed your hometown?"
"Yeah," she looked down at the table. She didn't give him anything else, and he wondered how many people had heard her story and dismissed it out of hand. She confirmed it with her next words. "I don't really like to talk about it with everyone."
"Hey," he leaned forward, "if you can't tell a practical stranger whom you just met yesterday, who can you tell?"
Her breath of amusement eased the tension from her shoulders, and she relaxed. "You ever heard of Folsom, Louisiana?" He shook his head, and her next huff of laughter was tinged dark with cynicism. "Not many people have. The last Census put the population around 700. About eighteen years ago, Reiden Global opened a factory on the outskirts, developing the chemicals that go into just about everything they make. It was good for the town, brought jobs and economy to a small agricultural town that was slowly dying in a technologically advancing world. Two years later, there was a huge spill. It ruined the soil, but the EPA didn't find any wrong-doing so they were issued a slap on the wrist and that was it." She took a long swig of her drink, draining about half of it in one go. When she set it back on the table, Mitch jumped with the force of it. "Then people started getting sick. My mom was one of the first ones. She was gone within a year, along with twenty-six others."
"Cancer clusters," Mitch said quietly, cursing his inability to offer any sort of comfort. He never was very good with people. Normally it didn't bother him, but seeing Jamie on the other side of the table obviously fighting tears made him itch to do something.
She didn't seem to notice his discomfort and nodded at his words. "We tried to make a case, but by then Reiden was this huge, monolithic super-corporation and we were just a bunch of sick farmers in a tidewater town."
"I'm sorry," he offered lamely. Mandy chose that moment to come back with his fried pickles, and Jamie turned away from her to discreetly wipe her eyes as Mitch thanked the young girl. He pushed the dish aside for the moment and concentrated on Jamie, who was beginning to gather herself again. "Listen, I'll do whatever I can to help. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the lion's brains. If they show signs of that chemical, we can start building a case."
The transformation was immediate. Her eyes shimmered again, but this time he read relief in her eyes. He wondered if he was the first person to ever actually believe her, to offer to help. She'd been carrying this burden for fifteen years, and for just a moment that burden was a little lighter. She smiled at him gratefully and reached across the table to grip his hand.
"Thank you." He held her hand greedily, soaking in the foreign touch. It had been so long since anyone had touched him intentionally that he'd forgotten the feeling. He liked it.
She pulled away after a few seconds, embarrassment written on her features. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and finished her drink. "Do you have any family? I never did ask."
He winced and drained his own beer. "Yeah, we're not close." He caught Mandy's eye and lifted two fingers to indicate another round. She nodded and busied herself as he turned back to Jamie. "As you can imagine, I'm an acquired taste."
"In the beginning," she agreed lightly. "In the end, though, you come through." Mandy dropped two full beers on their table and collected the empties. Mitch lifted his in salute, and Jamie tapped hers against it. They finished their second round and Jamie helped him with the fried pickles as they planned the next day.
"What time do you get off?" he asked her. "Or do you reporters keep odd hours?"
"Uh…" she swallowed thickly and glanced away from him. "Okay, confession time." She took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his eyes. "I was fired yesterday morning. Before I came to see you."
His initial reaction was surprise and anger, but it faded quickly. He'd already heard her reasons for wanting Reiden Global hung out to dry. It wasn't a stretch to imagine her conveniently forgetting to mention that detail in an effort to find out more about the lion attacks and the possible connection to the company that had killed her mother. If her suspicions turned out to be correct, he couldn't blame her.
"So...the chances of me getting reimbursed by the paper for a working dinner are not good." His words had the desired effect.
She slumped in relief. "You're not mad at me?"
"Nah," he waved dismissively with his free hand. "Honestly, I'd probably do the same thing in your place. I can be...stubborn. At least that's what people tell me."
"We must talk to the same people," she said. "Listen, for what it's worth...I'm sorry."
"Tell you what," he finished his second beer and stood up. "You bring lunch tomorrow, we'll call it even."
Lunch turned out to be takeout from a Chinese place a few miles from the zoo. He met her outside the staff gate and let her in, walking the short distance to the hospital. His office was little more than a square closet tucked at the end of a long hallway. Most of the space was reserved for exam rooms designed to fit large animals, so office space was limited. A thin corner desk and two chairs were the only pieces of furniture in the room, and Mitch had to clear a pile of scrubs from one of the chairs to make room for her.
"Cozy," she glanced around curiously. It wasn't the tidiest of offices, but Mitch knew there were others on staff who were worse. His fastidious nature tended to keep his space more organized, but there was chaos among the order. A pair of dark blue rain boots were tossed in the corner in case he needed to trudge through particularly muddy habitats. A black jacket with the zoo's logo emblazoned on the front was hung from one shoulder on the back of the door. The files on his desk were neat, but there were more than a few half-empty water bottles and empty chip bags littering the space than he'd like. He cleared them embarrassingly as Jamie sat in the newly vacated chair.
"I'm honestly not in here a lot," he told her. "Most of my time is spent visiting barns and doing procedures in the exam room." He unpacked their lunch, humming in approval at her selection. Neither said anything as they ate, both eager to get on with their plan.
When they were finished, he walked her down the exam room they were in yesterday. He made his way to the large freezer on the far wall where they stored the animals' bodies between the necropsy and the disposal. "You're going to have to wear the -" He stopped mid-sentence and stared dumbfounded at the empty freezer. "Where are my lions?"
Now confused and a little frustrated, he grabbed the nearest phone and dialed the lion keepers. No one answered either time he tried, and he slammed the receiver down a bit harder than necessary.
"Come on." Jamie followed him out of the hospital and through a small gate that opened into the zoo proper. The hospital was located in the back of the zoo, so it didn't take too long to get to the lion exhibit and track down a keeper. Aspen Miller looked up from her observation of their remaining lions and smiled brightly.
"Mitchell, hi!"
Mitch sighed internally and steeled himself for her bubbly personality. "Aspen, this is Jamie Campbell from the Telegraph. She's doing a story on Nick and Eddie. I needed to confirm one of my tests, but they're not at the hospital."
Aspen frowned slightly and dusted off her cargo shorts before turning to walk away. Mitch fell into step beside her with Jamie just a pace behind as they passed the chimps. "I'm sorry," Aspen said finally, "but the lions aren't here. They've been destroyed."
"What, already?" Mitch knew that with the necropsies done, the zoo would likely destroy the remaining tissue to prevent contamination. He'd just thought they'd notify him first.
"Yeah, both corpses last night," Aspen kept her voice quiet to avoid startling any zoo visitors passing by.
Next to him, he felt Jamie stiffen. "On whose orders?" Mitch knew she was probably already spinning a theory in her head, but Aspen didn't seem to notice her tone.
"City Council?" the keeper answered. "Or maybe the zoo board, I'm not sure." Mitch turned to give Jamie his best not now look. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but wisely kept her thoughts to herself as Aspen continued unaware. "Are you still living in Venice, Mitchell?"
"Uh, yes," he ignored Jamie's inquiring eyes. "It's convenient to Westwood classes."
"I love it there."
"Tell me, Mitchell," Jamie interjected, "could we get the same results from a different lion that was fed here at the zoo? A live one?"
He knew where she was going, and he had promised to help her. But helping her meant asking a favor from Aspen. Jamie was going to owe him a lot more than lunch after this. "There are certain tests I could run that wouldn't be harmful," he confirmed.
"What's this about?" Aspen seemed curious now.
"To be honest, we're trying to get to the bottom of what happened with those lions the other day."
"There's a full investigation under way," Aspen nodded. "But I kind of think it's a waste of time. Every now and then lions just act...liony."
"Wow, did you two go to the same orientation seminar?" Jamie's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Thankfully, Aspen didn't seem to notice and he shot Jamie a warning glance.
"Just don't want it to happen again," he said hurriedly.
"Of course."
"Mitchell," Jamie cut in again, mimicking Aspen's use of his full name. She stopped them in the middle of the causeway, turning to face both him and Aspen as she spoke. "Do you think maybe it might be possible for Aspen to arrange for us to borrow a lion?" He'd been hoping she would ask so he wouldn't have to. He hid his grateful smile and tried to look as put out as possible.
"Sure," Aspen agreed right away. "Anything to help."
It was dark by the time Aspen dropped off one of the cubs. "The night keeper knows you have him, but he thinks you're doing his check up so you might wanna go ahead and get that done while you have him."
"Thanks," Mitch accepted the plastic carrier gently. "See you tomorrow." Aspen waved and got back into the white van, leaving Mitch holding a rather docile lion cub. "Come on, buddy."
Jamie was waiting in the exam room like he'd asked, but she perked up when he entered with the crate. She moved to help him but he shook his head.
"Stay back until I have him sedated. You're not covered under our insurance." She stopped but didn't retreat, clearly eager to see the young lion up close. Mitch had already prepared a syringe of the sedative, and he carefully injected the cub through the holes in the side of the carrier. He mewled once and jumped, but Mitch had already pulled the needle out.
"How long will that take to knock him out?" Jamie asked.
"Not long," he told her. He checked on the cub every few seconds as he readied the machine. It was normally used for the primates to check their brain function. This would be the first time he used it on a big cat. As he worked, he brought up something that had been on his mind since their meeting with Aspen. "Mitchell?"
Jamie's face scrunched up in confusion. "What?"
He chuckled under his breath. "Earlier, you called me Mitchell the entire time we were talking to Aspen."
"Oh," she she huffed, "I did that because of her."
"Uh huh," he was smiling now, and she scoffed.
"She's obviously into you. If I called you by a more familiar name she might have gotten defensive. In my experience, defensive people are less cooperative."
"Oh," he deflated a little as he pulled a tray of electrodes. He tried not to let her know how delighted he'd been at what he'd thought was jealousy. Her amused smile told he'd failed. "What?"
"Nothing," she shook her head. "Is he out?"
The cub was laying on his side breathing deeply. He opened the door to the carrier and tugged on the blanket beneath him. When he didn't move Mitch nodded. "Yeah." He reached in and lifted the animal from the carrier, indicating with his head for her to grab the towel. She laid it out on the table and he set the cub on it, never taking her eyes from the sleeping animal. "This your first time seeing one up close? Alive, I mean."
"Yeah," she breathed. Her hand lifted to stroke the fur almost automatically, but she halted her movement halfway and glanced at him in question.
"Go ahead," he nodded, and she pushed her fingers into the thick fur gently. He watched her for a moment and tried to remember if he'd been that fascinated the first time he'd encountered an animal other than traditional house pets. Her lips curved up slightly as she became more bold, running her finger down the cub's nose softly.
"He's amazing," she laughed. "How old is he?"
"About five months," he told her as he attached the colored electrodes to the cub's head. "It would have been better to shave him, but I didn't think to bring a razor." He grabbed the wires and handed them to her. "Alright, make yourself useful. Attach these to the electrodes. Red to red, yellow to yellow, and so on."
She took them almost hesitantly, but as he stepped back she set to her task. "Do they teach you this in vet school?"
"Nope," he checked the readings once more. "Med school."
"You went to med school, too?"
"I did," he told her. "But I gave it up when I realized that meant doing what doctors do; primarily dealing with people."
She blew out a breath through her teeth in a ghost of a laugh as she finished. The machinery emitted a sharp buzz as it began recording the readings and Jamie jumped back with a yelp.
"It works," he announced. "That was funny, by the way." She mimicked his smile with one of her own, though hers was laced with derision. He glanced down at the monitor, concern erasing whatever amusement was on his face.
"What's it saying?"
"It's uh…" he double-checked to make sure he was actually reading it correctly. "Spiking in the hyper-gamma frequencies."
"What's that mean?"
"I don't know," he stated evenly, "because lions brains don't have hyper-gamma frequencies."
It turned out not to be the craziest thing he said that night. As he flipped on his hallway light and tossed his keys into the tray on the bookshelf next to the door, he ran through the rest of the evening in his head. The moment he'd called Aspen to ask about redosing the cub he'd known something was wrong. He could hear the big cats howling on the other end of the line, and it seemed like the cub was responding to their calls. Jamie's theory that something had altered the animals' brain chemistry was looking more and more plausible.
As he readied for bed, he kept thinking about the lions and how they'd quieted immediately when they'd returned the cub to its mother. Jamie had looked at him with something akin to glee, though she'd hidden it well. He knew she was probably sitting at home right now going over everything and drawing red arrows directly back to Reiden Global. He turned out the lights, resolving to call her tomorrow and see what he could do about inserting some rational reasoning into her crusade.