Chapter 10

Blame it on Leo

Agent Shafter basicly dragged Jackson and I from the hotel room, but I can't help but think about where Jamie could be. As the three of us leave Agent Shafter's phone goes off.

"Well, looks like they found Leo Butler's address, so that's where we are going. Can either of you drive a boat?"

Jackson looks at him a little confused.

"Yeah, we both can, but I don't see why you need to know that."

"You'll see."

Shafter smirks and walks toward a car, motioning for Jackson and I to follow him. We drive for about fifteen to twenty minutes in awkward silence before getting to a marina. Where Shafter managers to get a small motor boat and we head out onto the water. Jackson is steering and I am close to the back with him, while Shafter is at the front.

"Hey, you know you can't just arrest him before we've had a chance to talk to him."

Shafter scoffs.

"Of course I can. In fact, I have to. Once i called the Bureau to pinpoint Leo's location from the list of PO boxes, it became an official FBI investigation. Even has a case number."

I shake my head.

"You have to give us 15 minutes with him first. You already forced us to come with you on this little boat ride."

"Now you're giving me orders?"

"15 minutes. That's all we are asking. It's no longer then that horrible car ride."

"Look Ms?, is it Mrs. Oz, whatever, you just told me that Leo Butler's blackmailing a multinational corporation. It's a federal offense."

"Out of everything we told you, that's your takeaway?"

"Federal crime, federal bureau of investigation. You see the linkage?"

Jackson scoffs.

"How about the fact that when this guy was working for reiden, somehow Leo Butler created a bacteria that caused those wolves to attack a prison?"

"Let's see. Leo Butler, a blackmailing embezzler, invents a bacteria that accidentally creates prisoner eating wolves. That's what you want me to tell my bosses at the Bureau? That's a better takeaway?"

I look over at Jackson who is looking at me like 'is this guy fucking serious?' before we continue on in silence for a little while. Shafter breaks the silence.

"So you never did answer my question."

I look over to him.

"What question?"

"Is Oz?"

I scoff and shake my head.

"Oh sore subject?"

"No, i just don't see the need to share personal details with someone who forced us to come along with him and then won't let us question the one man who may know what's happening to the animals."

Shafter shrugs and nods.

Thankfully before too long we arrive at what should be Leo's home. Walk a couple hundred yards from the bank before we get to the house. Once we arrive, we notice the door is open and Jackson walks in, as Shafter protests.

"Hey wait, we can't go in there. We don't have a warrant."

Jackson looks over to me then back to Shafter before entering the house.

"Good thing I'm not a cop."

Jackson and I enter the house, while Shafter stays outside. I scoff softly as we walk in the main room. Which has a large cage in the middle of it.

"What's the cage for?"

I ask as Jackson and I walk around the cage.

"Damned if I know."

Just as we are glancing around we hear footsteps and see someone run past the doorway. Hearing Shafter shout as we head outside.

"Whoa! Federal agent!"

I call out to the man, sweetly.

"Wait! We don't want to hurt you."

The man in front of us is in a graphic tee, a flannel jacket, with fiery red hair, I'm guessing this is Leo Butler. After I call out to Butler, he turns toward Jackson and I. Stopping for a moment before running past me. Once he is behind me , I hear the sound of Jackson punching him, and when I turn around Butler is on the ground, with blood coming out of his mouth. Shafter runs up to me and sighs.

"Or maybe we do just wanna hurt you."

The man is clearly in pain, but Shafter wastes no time getting Butler back inside and into the odd cage in the main room and throwing him in it. Of course once he is able to realize what happened he is anxious, I would be if someone punched me and throw me in a cage. Jackson stands close to the cage door and beings asking Butler questions.

"Look, just tell us what you know, about Evan Lee Hartley."

Butler shakes his head.

"I don't know who that is."

Jackson takes a deep breath.

"Your name is written on almost every other page of his Bible."

"Well, that's suitably eerie."

"What about Robert Oz? Robert Oz, does that ring any bells?"

"Oz. No. Should it? Are you going to hit me again?"

Jackson shakes his head, clearly very frustrated. When he turns his head away from the cage I step forward, taking his place by the cage door, as he turns away.

"Jackson. Please."

I turn back to the man, speaking to him sweetly.

"Look, we need your help. Please, can you just talk to us?"

"So if she's the good cop and he's the bad cop, what does that make you?"

Butler turns toward Shafter, who has his foot up on a stool nearby.

"Oh actually, I'm the only cop."

I shake my head and get Butler's attention again.

"We need to talk to you about Reiden Global."

"No. No. No way."

Butler becomes very frightened at the mention of Reiden.

"Leo, please."

"No Way! I'm not getting involved in this. They've got people everywhere. You could be involved with them for all I know."

"Leo, one of my friends is from Folsom, Louisiana. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Of course."

"There's a brand new library there 'cause of you."

"I heard it came out beautiful."

"What can you tell us about the Alcanivorax bacteria?"

Butler begins to explain the bacteria and eventually comes out of the cage, sitting on the stool Shafter had been posing on, while Jackson and I sit across from him on a bench, and Shafter leans against the table in the room. We go on to explain Mitch's experiment with the coffee pot, which Butler finds amazing.

"So you mimicked the wolf's brain in side a coffee pot? That's actually. That's quite brilliant."

Jackson shakes his head.

"Our brilliance really isn't the message here."

"And then the-the coffee pot exploded?"

I nod.

"Literally."

"Oh, galloping crud."

Shafter sighs and looks at his watch.

"Okay, kiddos. You've had your coffee klatch, time for Loppy Leo to go to jail."

I look up at Shafter and protest.

"No no, ten minutes."

"I'll give you four."

Butler looks between the three of us.

"Jail? Who said anything about jail?"

"Leo, could the bacteria you created have caused the wolves behavior?"

"No, Not the bacteria."

Butler begins to trail off.

"Leo, please. If there's something that you know, just tell us. Look a lot of guys would not have given that money to charity. I know you are one of the good ones."

"Ever wonder why Reiden is so much more successful than all of their competitors? It's because they have a vector that's better than all the others."

"Really?"

Shafter raises his hand.

"Okay, I'll be man enough to admit it. I wouldn't know what a vector is even if the Wifi in this creepy shack was working."

Butler starts to explain.

"A vector is a DNA molecule used to manipulate cellular material on a genetic level."

"Still haven't gotten any smarter in the last five seconds."

"It means they have a molecule that allows them to be faster, better, and cheaper."

"Okay, then why doesn't everybody else just get their own?"

"Because they can't. Among other things, the vector is extremely rare. Outside of Reiden, you are the only other people who know it exists. Only a select few inside Reiden even know where it comes from. They call it the Mother cell"

"That doesn't sound ominous at all."

"They discovered it about a dozen years ago. Preliminary testing proved how powerful it was. By the time they realized the potential side effects, it was too late. They'd already invested too much money to back out."

I lean forward, my elbows on my knees.

"What side effects?"

"I don't sleep anymore, because I lay awake at night counting all the different ways they could kill me… I arrived at 16. 16 different ways."

Jackson shouts

"Leo! Side effects."

I shake my head, and place a hand on his arm.

"It's doing something to the animals, isn't it?"

"Do you know where it is used by Reiden?"

Butler looks between the two of us.

"Maybe you don't understand. The Mother Cell is in every single product that Reiden makes. It's everywhere. It's all over the world, and it can't be stopped."

"No one's gonna hurt you. Just get us the Mother Cell, and all this will be over. We can protect you. Right, Agent Shafter?"

"Absolutely."

"I keep it hidden, not far from here"

Jackson nods.

"Fine, we're going with you."

"No, absolutely not."

"Look, you don't have a say in the matter pal."

"I certainly do. I just won't retrieve it for you."

Shafter crosses his arms

"Well, then you can just go to jail."

"That still doesn't get you the Mother Cell."

"Wait, what if I went with you? Just me."

Jackson protests, of course.

"Katherine, no way."

"One of you guys punched him in the face, and the other one's a cop. I would understand if…"

"That would be entirely acceptable."

Butler interrupts me.

"It would?"

"Entirely. We'll take my boat."

I nod and turn back to Jackson who looks a little annoyed. He clearly hates the idea, but he doesn't protest anymore. Before Butler and I head out on Butler's boat, I give Jackson a soft kiss and whisper softly.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

He nods, holding me by the back of the neck for a moment, before letting me go.

We ride across down the river for about 10 minutes before docking and getting into a car. I can't help but think about how crazy this is. We drive for about 20 minutes before Butler pulls over to the side of the road and gets out of the car.

"Say there."

"Where are you going?"

"To get it. The mother cell."

Before he leaves Butler leans into the car and takes the keys.

"Almost forgot."

Almost forgot what? Does he think I'm going to leave him here? I being to look around and have an off feelings, so I make sure all the doors in the car are locked, but it doesn't help. After about 5 minutes I hear someone hit the side of the car. I jump and turn to see Butler, so I unlock the door.

"Volia."

He hands me a burlap sack and I open in. Pull out a rather large, scientific looking container with a yellow rock. It almost looks like Amber.

"Wow."

"I know right? I got to admit, I'm kind of glad to be shed of it. Soon as i pack my stuff, i disappear for good."

Butler takes a deep breath and starts the car and the two of us start heading back, as he continues.

"Now it's your problem."

I look over at him a little concerned. As we drive down the road, Butler takes his phone out.

"Here, look."

I take his phone and look at the picture of a beautiful sailboat.

"That's the one I'm gonna buy and I'm gonna name her Ventus. Which is latin for Wind."

"Wow, it's beautiful. You'll have to take me for a sail sometime."

"You don't have to work the charm thing anymore. You got what you came for."

"Leo, I am forever grateful for what you did and I 100% want to go for a sail with you when this is all over."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do."

I hand him back his phone and Butler looks down at it confused.

"What the hell?"

"What is it?"

"My GPS is on."

"Okay?"

"I don't use my GPS. You… you tricked me."

"What? No, no"

"your friends…. Are tracking me."

"Leo. no no no no no"

"I told you. I told you this would happen. I knew it."

"No no, leo, Listen to me. Nobody is tricking you."

Butler looks over at me betrayed, disappeared, and hurt. In that second I see headlights coming toward the car and before I know it they are coming through the car. Sending the car flying and rolling it onto its roof. I feel myself losing consciousness, as I look at Butler but I can't tell what's gone on. In the few moment before I pass out I hear a strange but familiar voice.

"Where is it?"