Chapter Four: Undercover
"This is where your nightmares are happening." Mac pointed to the file.
"Yes, Mac!" Danny flicked the folder. "This is it. I can see it perfectly! Is this where you found them?"
Mac nodded. "Kayla Vance and now Gennifer Holland. Both in this alley, both dead from exsanguination." He stood up. "Danny, is there anything else in your dreams? Can you see the person doing this?"
Danny thought about it, then shook his head. "Y'know, Mac, it's funny, but I never pegged you the type to believe in stuff like this Psychic Friends stuff."
"After the Lohman case," Mac started, "I'm starting to believe anything's possible. There's documented evidence of psychics helping solve cases all across the country."
"Yeah, well, do me a favor," Danny pleaded with him. "Don't tell anybody about my newfound, uh, gift. 'Cause I don't want to be the main attraction at the staff Halloween party. Or end up on Dr. Phil."
"Does Lindsay know?"
"Lindsay knows," Danny replied. He lost eye contact with Mac, prompting Mac to ask him the one question Danny was hoping he wouldn't.
"Danny, have any of these nightmares involved her?"
No… "Yeah. The past three nights. All the same, all about her." Danny collapsed into a chair. "Why me, Mac? I don't believe in this psychic junk. I don't even like The X-Files! I just want to have a good job, take my girlfriend to a Mets game and go home on the weekends to see my Dad. I don't need this!" He slumped in the chair and raised his eyes to the ceiling in frustration.
Mac came over and sat on the front of his desk. "Danny. Obviously you've been given this gift for a reason. Saving lives. Look at the Lohman case. Flack and Lindsay are both lucky to be alive because of you." He looked Danny directly in the eye. "You can hate circumstance all you want, but don't for a second think that these nightmares of yours are a curse. You're getting them for a reason."
Danny only nodded. He wasn't quite ready to agree with Mac just yet. This whole thing still wasn't sitting right with him, and he wasn't sure if it ever would. Rather than dwell on his...uh, abilities, he focused on the case. "So where do we go from here? What do we know about each case? Connections?"
Mac nodded. "Yes." He held up the autopsy photos of Gennifer and Kayla. "Both girls were stamped with a glow in the dark stamp."
Danny took a good look at what the UV light had revealed. "Darkness Falls," he read. "Isn't that the new club that opened up on 107?"
"It's also two blocks from our murder scene," Mac informed him.
Danny shook his head. "I've always wanted to check out that place, just because I've heard it is crazy in there."
"You'll get your chance," Mac said. "I'm sending you, Lindsay and Sheldon in there to ask around."
"Mac, cops'll stick out in there like a sore thumb."
Mac smiled. "Who said you were going in as cops?"
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On the outside, Darkness Falls looked like any other storefront in New York City. The logo was above the door in dark red neon. Blood red, Danny noted with a grimace. It was a plain circle, with a red river running through the middle of it, and then appearing to flow right off the sign. Darkness Falls was written around the center of the circle. The only window into the place had been spray painted to black it out. He could hear a very heavy bass beat. Most of the clientele waiting to go inside were dressed in blacks and reds.
Danny hadn't ever really gone clubbing before. He wore a pair of jeans and his black boots with a red button-down shirt he left untucked. He looked at Lindsay. Lindsay looked like she'd done this before. She wore black pants with a metal loop belt and a pair of sandals. Her top was a blue tanktop that glittered when light caught it just right. She'd put her hair up and placed silver hoop earrings in her ears. She looked WAY younger than her 29 years. And Sheldon Hawkes wore a black silk shirt, button left open at the top, with a pair of black pants. Danny felt very out of place, and older than his thirty-two years.
"You ready for this?" Danny asked Lindsay and Hawkes. Getting an affirmative nod from them both,he had no choice but to swallow his nervousness, and he slung his arm around Lindsay and sauntered up to the door. He flashed his ID at the burly bouncer, who gave it a once-over and then stamped Danny and Lindsay's hands with the glow in the dark ink. Danny took a deep breath and opened the door to the club.