The Chaos Tree

Chapter 05

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Max walked through the long terminal of Louisville International Airport, having just flown in after finishing a hunt in Michigan. Over the last year, Caleb had him leading more complicated hunts on his own. He'd always worked with other hunters in the past. Caleb made sure he knew who was in the field along with their strengths and weaknesses. But on the more complicated hunts, they'd usually gone in as a team. Now Caleb was sending him out on his own, and that was both exciting and sorrowful. He liked going on hunts with Caleb, he relied on him. While he was looking forward to being the Knight of the Brotherhood, he didn't want Caleb to retire.

A buzzing had him pulling his cell from the inside pocket of his jacket. Smiling, he answered with, "Hey, Dad."

"You on your way yet? Nicholas is very excited to see you."

Max smiled. He'd never wanted a younger brother, but now that Nicholas was around, he was enjoying him immensely. The child didn't speak much, but he hung on Max's arm, followed him around sometimes, and loved sitting next to him at dinnertime. Max loved him already and tried to get home to see him whenever possible. "I'm heading through the terminal now. I'll pick up my car and be on the way in ten minutes."

"Excellent. I'll have lunch ready. How was the hunt?"

Max hesitated a second before saying, "Fine, good."

With the instincts of a seasoned hunter and a father, Joshua asked, "What happened?"

Max stepped out of the terminal and headed for the shuttle that would take him to the long term parking area. "It's just … something odd happened and I'm not sure what to make of it."

"Want to talk after lunch?"

"Yeah."

"See you soon."

Max pocketed his phone as he waited in line to get on the shuttle. Within fifteen minutes, he was on the road heading for home. Though he lived in New York full time, he always considered Louisville, Kentucky home. When he pulled up in the driveway, the front door opened and a very excited eight-year-old bounded out of the doorway, holding two puppies in his arms.

"Whoa," Max exclaimed, carefully pushing open the car door and turning in the front seat so his legs were outside while he remained seated.

Nicholas dumped the puppies on Max's lap while leaning in and giving the older man a huge hug.

Max laughed and hugged back as hard as he could without squishing the squirming puppies. "I missed you," he breathed into Nicholas' soft blond hair.

"Back," Nicholas murmured, snuggling in close.

"Back," Max confirmed. After a moment he leaned back and said, "Who are these two?"

Nicholas grinned and pointed to the wiggling beagle puppy. "Ted."

Max grinned. "Ted, huh? And this one?" fondling the silky ears of the Black Labrador.

"Max," Nicholas stated, giving the older man a mischievous grin.

"Ooh, you named a puppy after me, did you?" Max teased, tickling the child's tummy, causing the slender boy to giggle and squirm. "Why don't we take Max and Ted inside so we can have some lunch, okay?"

Nicholas nodded, scooping up Max and placing him in Max's arms before he caught Ted, who was trying to escape beneath the car.

Max followed the boy up the front steps to his father, who was watching from the front door. "Dad," Max said, leaning in and giving his father a one-armed hug. "I see you got Nicholas two puppies instead of one." He arched an eyebrow, knowing there was a story there.

"Never leave a man behind," Joshua stated, brushing a hand over Nicholas' head.

Max nodded and dropped the topic for now. "Mom around?"

"She went shopping with your grandmother." Joshua lead the way into the kitchen. The table was set with sandwiches, a bowl with chips, and some cut fruit arranged on a platter.

Max smiled. His father never used to eat in the kitchen when he and Josie were growing up. Meals had always been served in the dining room. But years of eating in the kitchen with Dean and his family had softened his father's sense of propriety. Often when he visited now, they would eat in the kitchen if his mother wasn't around. Seeing a small enclosed pen in the corner, Max lowered his namesake puppy inside, then turned and took Ted from Nicholas.

Nicholas watched, looking sad that he couldn't hold the puppy on his lap during lunch.

Joshua smiled. "Come on, Nicholas. You can play with them again after lunch." Looking to Max, he said, "We had quite the lunch yesterday, didn't we Nicholas? The puppies sat in chairs on their first day in the house because Nicholas didn't want them to feel afraid on their own."

Max chuckled as he pulled out a chair next to his little brother and sat down. "How'd that go?"

Joshua smiled as he watched Nicholas bite into a turkey sandwich quarter. "As you'd expect."

Laughing out loud, Max tickled Nicholas side as he reached for the plate of sandwiches and enjoyed the answering giggle.

Nicholas looked up and said, "Maisie."

"Are Maisie and Lucas coming over today?" Max asked, adding a handful of chips to his plate.

Nicholas nodded.

"They're coming over to meet Ted and Max," Joshua said.

"We're going to have to think of a way to distinguish me and the puppy," Max stated.

"How about little Max?" Joshua asked, looking to Nicholas. He pointed to Max and said, "Max." Then he pointed to the dark labrador puppy and said, "Little Max."

Nicholas turned and eyed the puppy, then nodded. "Baby Max."

"That will do," Joshua said before Max could object to the baby part of the name.

Max rolled his eyes. "How about Maxie," he proposed.

Joshua grinned over at Nicholas, who nodded.

Gratified at the narrow escape from having a puppy named Baby Max, Max proceeded to eat his lunch. Small talk and hearing about Nicholas' days made up the lunch time conversation and far too soon, in Max's estimate, the front doorbell sounded. Nicholas was out of his chair like a shot. Smiling, Max said, "He's excited."

"They didn't come over this morning for school because Lucas had an appointment with Ben in Nashville yesterday. They got back late last night, and Adam let the kids sleep in this morning. I gave our tutor the day off, so I'll be conducting afternoon classes with Adam's help. Then we're taking the children to the park."

Pounding feet returned to the kitchen and Nicholas ran to the pen, grinning. Maisie leaned over and squealed in delight while Lucas cried, "Puppies!"

Adam came through the door last and smiled. "Hello Max." Sitting down at the table, he helped himself to a sandwich and said to Joshua, "We're on for history and social studies this afternoon?"

Joshua nodded. "Then we'll cover the spelling list before we introduce the puppies to the park."

Adam glanced over at the children, who were playing with the yapping balls of fluff. "Is there a reason you got two?"

Joshua grimaced slightly and shook his head. Quietly he explained what happened. "I didn't think," he finished.

"You couldn't have known," Max commented softly. "We're going to encounter situations like this, where something reminds them all where they were. We deal and move on." He looked over at his little brother. "He's fine."

"Yes, he is." Joshua got to his feet and started putting up the lunch things. Looking to Max, he asked, "Are you staying?"

Max nodded. "Thought I'd spend the night before heading back to New York."

"Then we'll talk at the park." Joshua went over and helped Nicholas put the puppies back in the pen. "Time for school.

Sam sat in his office at the University, frowning at his computer screen. Classes were long out, and he should have headed home a couple hours ago. But he was caught up in the research about the random violence. He was pushing through mainly because he needed it done, but the toll on his emotions was enormous. Mankind was violent, he knew that. There had been wars and battles throughout history. But he hadn't realized the massive scope of humankind's violence until he'd started this intensive search. It was depressing, and he found his faith in humanity taking a hit. But when his heart wavered, he would take a second to look over at the pictures of him, Dean and Caleb, the other photos of Joshua, Mary, Josie and his nephews, and the knowledge that they were among the many out there fighting for good gave him the strength to continue.

Sighing, he looked back to his computer. Finding random violence had been impossible. Truthfully, there were almost always inciting factors to most of the clashes he'd reseached: empire conquering, land grabs, leadership struggles, nation against nation, religious fervor. But aside from War inciting violence during the Apocalypse, he'd found only three instances of violence where a specific reason for the clash was undocumented. However, he could surmise this was because the incident was so far back in history, the record – if there was one – had been lost.

First, there was an oblique reference to a massacre of nomadic peoples in a place called Elam. It appeared to have been near Ancient Sumer and Babylon. He'd never heard of it before, but had no doubt Elijah would have. Apparently, there was an archeological dig that found bodies that had sustained injuries from wooden spears and rocks. The eighteen bodies were all buried together in a mass grave.

A second instance was in Nataruk, west of Kenya's Lake Turkana. The bodies discovered there served as sobering evidence that brutal behavior had been around as long as humankind. Dating of the bones indicated the skeletons were around ten thousand years old. Skulls had been smashed by blunt force trauma, bodies pin-cushioned by projectile points, and even pregnant women abused with their hands secured behind their backs before receiving fatal blows.

As humanity began to settle into larger groups and the nomadic way of life diminished, most violence was between individuals, between rival townships or kingdoms, or through conquering. But the only other instance of violence to which he couldn't assign an inciting factor happened in Anglia in 1089 BC. A small reference was made to a Night of Terror. Townspeople seemed to go berserk and start killing one another. When light dawned, more than twenty-five people were dead.

Finding an instance of violence that was random in a lengthy history of human violence was an impossible task. Sighing, Sam picked up his phone and called Elijah. "How successful have you been?" he asked when the Ancient Studies Professor answered.

"Zilch," Elijah said tiredly. "I mean, there are records of short instances of violence without a documented cause, but…"

"That was likely because of incomplete records, documentation wasn't made, or it was too long ago," Sam finished.

Elijah gave a weary chuckle. "Exactly. Needles in a field of hay are easier to find."

Sam huffed out a laugh. "Hang on, I'm going to loop in Alison." A moment later Alison had joined their conference call.

"No," Alison stated, answering Sam's query on her success. "I found a small reference to a dig in Cambodia, where ancient skeletons were recovered in a mass grave, typical of a wholesale slaughter, but no documentation from that period."

"That's been our findings as well," Elijah stated.

Sam sighed. "Then I'm going to call it, and say that if something is happening now, there's no historical documentation that it happened before; or evidence that we can find, anyway."

"Agreed," Alison said.

"Yes, I concur," added Elijah.

"Are we sure these outbreaks are supernatural?" Alison asked.

"Ethan is sure," Elijah stated. "The way those rioters just stopped, mid-swing. He's never seen anything like it."

"And Diana Ballard from Baltimore is sure," Sam corroborated. "The instincts of three seasoned cops including Donna Hanscum are questioning the outbreaks. I'd say that's more than enough to justify our looking into this. So here's how we go forward. Alison, I'm sure Caleb has already sent out an email notification for hunters to let him know about anything unusual happening in the field. Have them loop you in as well."

"All right."

"Jody Mills and Mark Wright are on the ground in Stillwater, looking into the violence there. Eli, can you see if Ethan can get us any official police footage from Houston PD?"

"He's already on it," Elijah interjected.

"Good. Diana Ballard can get us police info from Baltimore."

"You think she can reach out to law enforcement in Kennebunkport as well?" Elijah asked. "Maine's in her neck of the woods."

"I'll ask," Sam said, "but I don't think she'd have a problem with that."

Alison spoke up. "Sheriff Macready from Hope Springs, Idaho retired fifteen years ago…" Sam and Elijah could hear her typing. "He still lives in Hope Springs. He should be able to reach out to law enforcement in Rockland.

"And Jody, Mark and Donna can take care of Stillwater," Sam continued. "We'll get in touch with Sheriff Barrett Bishop in Wisconsin; I don't think he's retired just yet. Maybe he can get in touch with someone in Ashland."

"That leaves Anaheim," Elijah said. "Do we know anyone there?"

There was a minute of silence before Sam said, "I'll ask Dean. He's got contacts we don't know about. He may know someone." Taking a breath, he continued, "So we've got law enforcements records covered, let's focus on social media."

"I've already been looking through social media videos and photos from Houston," Elijah admitted. "I took a break from the historical search to see if I could find anything repeated in photos."

"Have you found anything yet?" Sam asked.

"A few cars, a couple of people, but that's it so far," Elijah said. "There's so much material, it's going to take a lot of time."

"Then I'll het started on Anaheim, which means I'll be checking Santa Ana as well, since its only seven miles away. Any violence could have spilled."

"Since you both have the largest metropolitan areas, I'll check the rest of the cities," Alison said. "Sam, if you concur, I'll bring some of the others here in on this search," Alison said. "We can cover more ground."

"Yes, let's treat this like a hunt and get out in front of whatever is going on," Sam stated.

"Will do," Alison stated. "You'll receive a report as soon as it starts taking shape." With that, she hung up.

"Never much on good byes, huh?" Elijah chuckled.

Sam shook his head, chuckling. "Not so much." After a moment, he asked, "How's Ethan?"

"Okay, I guess. He got ten hours of sleep and is back at the precinct. I'm going by there later today; see if I can help with the official videos of the violence. I…" Elijah broke off a moment before sighing. "Ethan was hip deep in crap and I just went about my life, oblivious. I should have known something, should have seen…"

"Stop," Sam stated emphatically but not without sympathy. "We've all been running that mantra in our heads: we should have known, should have seen, should have reacted. The truth is, as hunters, we just don't see human violence in the same way we do the supernatural. But we're on this now."

"You're right," Elijah sighed again.

"I'm heading to the farm on Friday," Sam said. "If you can, why don't you and Ethan come. I understand Ethan has his hands full, but maybe you both can take some time, for Sunday at least. We can pool our information, see if there's a pattern to the mayhem."

"I'll check in with Ethan, see how he feels about leaving the city after all the trouble. I'll let you know."

"Sounds good," Sam said.

"Guess I'll head out," Elijah said, his voice tired.

"Let me know what you decide," Sam said before hanging up. Leaning back in his office chair, he rubbed at his jaw line. They were all taking this hunt too personally. They all needed to take a step back, dump their egos and figure this thing out, whether there was something to it or not. Standing, he went and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee and returned to his desk. Taking a deep breath, he tapped his computer screen and typed media-Anaheim CA.

Following a couple hours of lessons, Joshua, Adam, Max and the children had adjourned to the local park, along with the two newest additions to the Sawyer home: Maxie and Ted.

Joshua watched Nicholas and Maisie attempt to corral the two wiggling puppies while Adam pushed Lucas on the swing. "What happened on your hunt?"

Max chuckled when Ted flopped over Maisie's legs, making a beeline for the tanbark'd play area. "It wasn't anything huge," he said. "Me and Jimmy were hunting a shapershifter that was taking on people's appearances to rob convenience stores near little Rock, Arkansas, and…"

"Jimmy and I," Joshua corrected.

Max rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Dad?"

"There's never a time when good grammar isn't relevant," Joshua stated, hiding his smirk.

"Anyway," Max stated loudly, "Jimmy and I," he emphasized, "were hunting this shifter. We had it cornered, and he just stares at us and says, fine, do it. So I step forward and lop off his head."

Joshua frowned. He'd never known of a supernatural creature to just allow himself to be killed.

"I know he'd killed several people after taking over their personas, but it was unsettling to have him just stand there to be killed." Max shook his head. "Jimmy didn't even do anything, he was so shocked. I think it really shook him up."

"You going to get Dean to talk to him?"

Max shook his head. "No, I hope he'll give JT a call. If he hasn't when I get home, I'll call JT myself."

Joshua nodded his approval. "Big brothers are a good resource. JT still in Arizona?"

Max nodded. "I think he's got another couple of days before he finishes the photo shoot."

Joshua watched Nicholas scamper after Maxie as the black Lab puppy took off in pursuit of a wind-blown leaf. "What about you?"

"I'm … not sure. I'm used to the bad guys fighting back, so the kill feels won, you know? This…" Max shook his head. "This felt like murder."

Joshua looked over. "Because he looked human."

"Yeah. I know he was getting ready to take on another body. He'd killed the person whose image he was wearing, and Jimmy and I had found the girl he was going to take-on in the tunnel beneath the 7-Eleven. But his just standing there, resigned. It…" Max broke off as Maxie came running in his direction closely followed by Nicholas. Laughing, Max leaned over and captured the escapee, handing the puppy back to his brother.

Nicholas grinned and dropped down by Max. "Fun," he murmured, a wide smile on his face.

"Having puppies is fun, isn't it?" Max said with a grin.

Nicholas nodded, holding his chin high in the air as the puppy tried to give him a tongue bath.

Joshua reached around and pulled a water bowl from his pack and handed it to Nicholas. "Why don't you get Maxie a drink? You can get some water from the fountain near Adam," he pointed.

Nicholas placed the puppy in Max's lap, took the bowl and ran off.

"Do you think there was anything else to your encounter with the shapeshifter? Something I should look into?" Joshua asked.

Sighing, Max shook his head. "No, I guess not. It was just unsettling." Giving his father a smile, he continued, "I guess I just needed to get it off my chest, tell someone, you know?"

"You know I'm always here," Joshua stated.

Max smiled. "I know, and thanks."

Nicholas walked over with an overflowing, sloshing water bowl and placed it carefully near Max's legs. The puppy rushed over to investigate this new item, and almost fell in as his little tongue quickly began lapping up the cool water. Maisie hurried over with Ted so the small beagle puppy could also have a drink.

"Do you think Max could watch the puppies while I push you on the swing?" Joshua asked Nicholas.

Nicholas looked around at Lucas, who was flying high as Adam pushed. Then he turned back to the puppies. Both were having a great time with the water. Ted was now standing inside the bowl, lapping at the water while Maxie had two paws in.

"Maisie and I'll watch them very closely, won't we?" Max stated with a smile at the dark-haired little girl. Maisie giggled and nodded. Giving Nicholas a warm smile, he said, "You can trust me, little brother."

Joshua stood and held out his hand. Nicholas leaned over and gave Max a hug before scrambling to his feet and placing his small hand into Joshua's warm one, and they headed for Nicholas' favorite swing.

Smiling, Max watched as Joshua pushed Nicholas higher and higher, and he grinned when the young boy's giggles sounded across the park. Maisie looked around at the swings. Seeing the expression on her face, he said, "Go on, Maise. I'll watch the puppies." Nodding, Maisie ran over to Adam, who smiled and placed her on the swing next to Lucas, and soon all the children were laughing and grinning as they soared high into the air.

Max smiled, content. His father had taken him and Josie to the park when they were small, but being able to watch Joshua with Nicholas was a treat. One day when he had children of his own, he wanted to be just like him; wise, considerate, and loving.

4389 BC

Brilliant sunlight bathed the boy's upturned face, light so new and bright it was difficult to see in the glare. Camels pawed the ground, searching for a hint of water in the sea of never ending sand. Robes billowed around nomad legs in the arid, afternoon breeze. His family were readying themselves for the journey to Petra to trade for grains, materials, wines and fabrics for the planting season. This would be a quick trip, as it always was in early Spring. After the Fall harvest, they would make the trek and stay several days when they had plenty of grain, olives and cloth to sell. But still, he was only nine and even this short trip was a welcome diversion from the daily chores. It also afforded him the chance to meet with the sorcerers and magicians of Petra.

The child's parents didn't like that he met with those skilled in the magical arts. There was mystery, intrigue and suspicion when it came to the sorcerers of the Temple. Many, not just his parents, stayed as far away from those men as possible. But the boy knew he was gifted. His parents did as well, and they did their best to keep him too busy to explore, experiment and practice those skills. Every trip to Petra he learned more, even to besting the men of the Temple with his knowledge and aptitude. His parents had tried to keep him home for this trip, but he'd made them change their mind. They didn't know of his interference in their plans, and that suited him. He kept his parents ignorant about what he could do.

"Որդի, արի: Մենք հիմա հեռանում ենք:" (Son, come. We are leaving now.)

"Գալիս է, պապա:" (Coming, Papa.) The boy stared once more into the portal that was floating in mid air, taking one last look at the lush greenness and brilliant blue skies of a place that wasn't the one in which he lived. Then he murmured, "Փակել:" (Close) and waved his hand. The round window that had hovered above the desert sand winked shut. Crawling to his feet, he dashed around the corner of the house to the camels and wagons waiting out front.

.

With a start, the man opened his eyes. Reaching out, he let his hands run across the soft sheets and he stared around the room, orienting himself in time. Sighing, he sat up and pushed the dream away. The Inn in which he currently slept was not grand by any means, yet it was many times more luxurious than what he'd been used to in the era of his dream wanderings. Hearing his father's voice again, even in the dream, made him nostalgic for the simplicity of those times. He could almost feel the heat of the sun on his face even now, and a desire to be outside rushed through his body like a wave. Though he had only been asleep for four hours, having left the home of Merlin's Chosen as the first rays of dawn escape past the horizon, still he rose and prepared to dress.

It had been disappointing, not seeing Merin's Child. But they would meet, of this he was certain. Merlin had been his nemesis years before, and a worthy opponent. Then, Merlin had won and he'd been defeated. But the elder magician was long in the grave, and even his chosen knights would be unable to stop him this time. For nearly two millennia he had worked to acquire what he needed to remake the world, and Merlin's champions would not be able to stop him.

Rising, he splashed water over his body and dressed. Gathering his belongings, he opened the door and walked down the narrow hallway toward the rear of the building. It was only when he stepped outside and felt the heat of the sun on his face that he relaxed. Taking a deep breath, he walked to his vehicle, opened the lock and placed his things inside. Once he was behind the wheel, he reflected on whether the should turn around and go back to the small hamlet where Merlin's Child dwelled. It frustrated him that the chosen had not been at his dwelling. His curiosity was boundless. He'd taken some time to walk the small town where the chosen dwelled. It was very modest; just what he would expect, and he was intrigued. In time's past, Merlin's children often lived in larger dwellings, those with prestige and grandeur. This humble home spoke volumes about the man who chose it. No, he would not stay at this time. But he would be back very soon.

Ethan gave his eyes a vigorous rub before focusing once more on the computer screen. He'd gotten a good nine or ten hours sleep before heading back into the department. Checking in with the patrol units, it appeared that all was calm on the streets. The violence of the past two-plus weeks seemed to have ceased as mysteriously as it had begun, with a startled and relieved calm reigning. To Ethan, however, a sudden calm like this didn't just happen. After speaking with Caleb, he was more convinced than ever that something supernatural was going on.

Now, as he sat in his office, he was scrolling through Houston PD official video accounts of the violence and any one-on-one encounters from officers with offenders. After speaking with Elijah this afternoon, he knew his brother was focusing on social media records. Considering the number of outbreaks over the last couple weeks, neither was a small task. He'd turned over much of the incident reports and paperwork load over to his second in command, Lieutenant Grace Hoàng, and to Detective Renault to delegate out to the others. Now he could focus on his task; searching for anything unusual in the logs. There had to be a trail somewhere, and he was determined to find it.

Pulling up the record of a call from one of the downtown bars showed a police officer trying to keep three men from attacking a woman who was walking home after work. Another showcased a brawl outside a mega-mall after a store shuttered its doors because a sale had gotten out of hand. Another was a jumble of images as three officers worked to subdue several men and women fighting over a case of beer. The records went on and on, and Ethan was finding it difficult to keep his eyes off the officers and focus on the surrounding areas.

Shoving himself to his feet, Ethan paced around his small office, stretching. A knock at the door had him sighing. "Enter."

Lieutenant Grace Hoàng opened the door and stuck her head inside.

Ethan waved a weary hand in her direction, beckoning her to enter.

Grace shut the door behind her and gave her boss a close examination. "You look like crap."

Ethan huffed out a short laugh. "Thanks." He motioned to a seat as he relocated back behind his desk. "How's the paperwork coming?"

"Slowly," Grace replied, dropping into a chair and giving her face a short scrub. "There are so many incidents to cover, and with half the squad out on the streets."

Ethan felt a stab of guilt that he wasn't helping his team.

"Get off it, Captain," Grace snorted. "We can do paperwork without you. It may take awhile, but we'll get it done. I just came in to let you know we're cutting Cam Stolts loose. The woman whose house he burgled at fourteen died of a heart attack. The coroner at the time didn't believe Cam being in the home contributed, as the woman was a neighbor who knew Cam and was rather … crotchety. Not much was going to scare her, much less a rascally, dirty kid who cluttered up the block. Her words, not ours or the coroner's."

Ethan felt his shoulders relax slightly. It was good to know Cam hadn't contributed to the death of that woman. "So, he's been set free?"

"Tried to tell us that the incident never happened, and he didn't know what he'd been saying." Grace chuckled. "Considering it was all on record as well as recorded in his sealed juvey file, it was a valiant attempt at lying. But yeah, he's been sent home." Pushing herself up, she said, "I'll get back to it."

"Grace," Ethan said suddenly. "When was the last time you got some rest?"

"I got seven hours last night. I'm fine for awhile more."

Making a sudden decision, Ethan said, "Can you spare some time to help me on looking through the vid records? I'm looking to see if there's anyone watching, anything suspicious. Maybe someone saw someone doctoring the water … something."

"You're trying to find who started all this," Grace stated.

"If someone spiked the water or let loose a canister of gas, maybe someone caught it on vid and didn't realize it. The human eye missing things, but the camera captures everything."

Frowning, Grace sat slowly back down. "You think this was deliberate."

Ethan leaned back in his chair. "What do you think?"

Grace thought over the question carefully, before she said, "I'm not sure. The violence was erratic and extreme, and that's not the norm. But erratic violence happens when people are involved. We've seen it; someone says something snide to someone else, they respond and suddenly a fist is thrown. People are as erratic and mercurial as a Texas thunderstorm." Pausing a moment, she seemed to ponder her next words carefully. "However, in this case, the thought has crossed my mind that there might have been a toxin of some sort introduced into the arena."

Ethan nodded.

"You want help combing through the records?"

Hesitating again, Ethan couldn't help feeling some apprehension that he'd done something so reckless as to bring this up with a norm. But there were hundreds of hours of footage to look through, and he had a feeling - honed through years of fighting the supernatural - that time was of the essence. He needed to trust someone to help, someone that could access classified department records. He could have called Alison; she had some talented hackers on her team. But hackers left footprints, no matter how small, and Houston PD files were some of the best cyber-secured in the country.

Making his decision, he gave Grace his sternest look. "This must remain between you and me. Any data we collect will be classified and handed over to the FBI. We both know cops talk, and not one word of this can go beyond you and me. We can't start a city-wide or country-wide panic. Can you handle that?"

Grace's eyes had widened slightly, but she gave him a sharp nod. "If we find anything, it stays between you, me and the FBI."

Ethan nodded. "Okay, pass off what you're doing and get your computer. You can start looking through what I've already checked, and I'll go through more. You know what we're looking for. Let's get it done."

The sleek black car drove down north on Kentucky State Route 52 then merged onto US Interstate 64 into Illinois and reflected on the prior day. A massive truck screamed by and he grimaced at the deafening sound. The world was a noisy place now, almost unbearably so. There was a constant whirl of activity that frayed his nerves. Humanity lived piled atop one another in massive buildings, buildings that soared toward the heavens. Sky scrapers, they were called. They reminded him of the long-ago Tower of Babel, and the determination of mankind to reach into heaven. From what he'd seen in this era, reaching into heaven was not a desire of this generation; they wanted to conquer. It was a sentiment with which he empathized. Maybe he had more in common with this generation than he'd originally thought.

One of the things that was different about this era was the parceled off lots upon which individuals or groups of individuals had homes. He was familiar with family dwellings, but they were usually together in a city, with wide open plains and grazing lands in between. These parceled lots were crammed together in vast spaces like squares on a chess board. In some areas there were empty lands in between the cities, but there were far fewer open spaces than at any other time in history.

Heading down US Interstate 64, he turned onto State Route 49. When that road dead ended at US Route 127, the man behind the wheel followed that road until he hit Albany, Kentucky. The city was unimpressive, and he didn't understand why people would live in such an unattractive place. It was plain. Where were the parks, the promenades, markets and theaters? This place would not feed his mind or his soul. The sign coming in declared the place boasted some three thousand residents. Hardly worth the effort to colonize. Continuing down US Route 127, he finally hit a city he thought worth his effort: Mount Vernon, Illinois. A decent size at over twenty-thousand people. A smile quirked his lips; he liked how cities advertised the number of people in residence. It definitely helped his plans to know the size of the population.

Turning his lights on the moment he entered the outskirts of the city, he smiled at the activity and buzz. Yes, this would do nicely.

TBC

Author's Note - References:

Sheriff Macready from Hope Springs Idaho was introduced in SPN S11:E20

Barrett Bishop Jr., Sheriff "Barry" from Tomahawk Wisconsin was in SPN S12:E18