Dib stared at the lit building from across the road for a long time. Thinking. He finally took a deep breath and crossed the street, lifting his hands and placing them atop his head as he approached. It took only a moment for a security guard to catch sight of him and radio others. Dib stopped beside the fountain in the courtyard and got down on his knees, keeping his hands in place as security officers rushed out to apprehend him.
"Membrane," Agent Kens stepped into the room and sat across the small table from him. Dib looked up at him. He'd been sitting in this room for hours, hands cuffed and folded on the table in front of him. They'd searched him and taken his weapon, of course, as well as everything else he'd had on him.
"What brings you back? I'm told you turned yourself in."
"I'm here for my job."
Kens tilted his head as he crossed his arms and sat back, regarding him.
"Oh? And what makes you think-"
"There are two aliens."
Kens sat forward slowly, placing his hands on the table.
"Two. How do you know this?"
"I saw. A female. I think she's come after the male."
"To rescue?"
"To eliminate."
Kens stood and paced over the the one-way window, looking at his reflecting and rubbing his chin.
"What do you propose?"
"Promote me. Field." Dib lifted his chin, eyes hard. "I'll track them."
"You're confident in this?"
"The male will come with me. Easily."
Agent Kens turned to him and smiled.
His apartment was in shambles, broken into and searched by the agency. Dib sighed as he stepped over books and CDs, picking up a few things halfheartedly and placing them on his coffee table. He would need a new lock on the door. It's a wonder he hadn't been robbed, though he wouldn't really know with all the mess.
Dib took a warm shower and changed into some old clothes. He lifted the shirt Gaz had bought him to his nose and pretended he could smell her on it before folding it neatly and storing it on a closet shelf. It would stay there the rest of his life.
His laptop and phone had be seized by the agency but they'd been returned upon his release and he sat down at his kitchen table, opening the laptop while coffee brewed.
It didn't take him long to search the address. The agency had granted him access to the files on the alien, the address and details about the house among them. They hadn't found the labs beneath the house.
Dib rose as Google Earth brought up images and info about the home. He poured his coffee black and sat down again, inhaling the warmth before taking a sip. The last updated photo of the house was from two years prior. It had undergone some changes since then, as had the neighborhood. Dib sent the information to his phone and then sat back, looking out the open window at the silent snow outside. Dawn was still two hours off. Plenty of time.