CHAPTER 22

Special Agent in Charge Mike Stefon stepped into his office and shut the door, locking it behind him. Moving to sit at his desk, he laid upon it a collection of file folders related to the previous night's events and flipped open the top folder. Scanning over the material, he reviewed the names and records of some of the men who had been arrested and their histories. Many had been in the military with experience in the Special Forces with commendations and medals from various deployments. Parsing through the various folders, he read the statements some of them had made, citing being darted and knocked out, or experiencing strange occurrences. One report was very troubling, for the statement suggested a monster attack.

However, what Stefon focused on was the connections some of the men had, and how they could be linked to the entity known as Bible. He scanned over those details with keen interest, noting which men were most likely to be interviewed in greater detail. As he read, the phone on his desk rang and he reached over, somewhat absentmindedly, and picked up the receiver, "Stefon, here."

"Stefon," The familiar voice of Ethan Wilks, Assistant Director of the FBI in Washington D.C., piped through, and Stefon became focused, "Glad I caught you, directly."

"Sir," Stefon answered, suddenly tense.

"I heard about the events of last night. Good job. When will you have the reports sent over to my office?"

"I am reviewing them now, Sir. They should be in your hands by mid-afternoon."

"Very good." Ethan paused a moment, "I understand you had to suspend one of your field agents?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She went against my orders and brought in an outsider. I think you know Mr. Collins, the bounty hunter who's been doing his own thing over the last few years?"

"Yes, I'm quite familiar with him. I also heard he was quite helpful in the events of last night, perhaps being the catalyst for the rescue of the girls?" Ethan questioned.

"Despite that, he was not authorized and could have caused more damage than good. I have an APB out for him to be brought it."

"I want you to cancel that APB, Stefon."

"But, Sir!" Stefon bristled.

"Look. I have every intention of having him brought to D.C. for a debriefing and discussion, but last night was just the tip of an iceberg we need to be focused on. So far, Mr. Collins has not been more than an irritation for procedure but his work has saved lives. Lay off of him until we have that talk in D.C., understood?"

"Yes, Sir." Stefon's face was red, and for more reasons than Ethan knew, "Anything else, SIR?"

"Just get those files to me as soon as possible. We've had very few leads on this Bible person, and I want to see what your agents gathered. I also want all the interrogation notes from those you rounded up."

"Yes, Sir." Stefon twisted the cord of the landline in his hand, seething.

"Good. I will be looking forward to reading them. Have a good day, Agent Stefon."

The dial tone replaced Wilk's voice and Stefon slammed the receiver back on the machine and swore under his breath. Standing, he walked to one of the file cabinets and opened the middle drawer. Reaching into the back, he fished out a secret key and went back to his desk. Sitting down, he opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a small lockbox. With the key he opened it, took out a small burner cell phone, and powered it up. Once it booted up, he dialed the only number that was saved. He waited as it rang almost a full seven times before a connection was made.

"Stefon." Bible's voice flowed through the earpiece, "What is it?"

Special Agent Stefon swallowed once, "Sir. We have a problem. I just got a call from Director Wilks, ordering me to kill the APB on Mr. Collins, and he wants the full file report on his desk by mid-afternoon."

A short silence made Stefon's nerves fray. Finally, Bible spoke, "I have other means to dispose of Angel in the works as we speak, Stefon, so to keep your cover, do as he ordered. I expect you will clean up the files before you send them, as usual?"

"Of course. But, I usually get more time to make sure everything looks official and clean. His demands could create a problem."

"There is no problem. You will not fail me."

"Sir." Stefon's voice was small, "With Agent Sims going against my orders and bringing Mr. Collins in, and the bust of last night, suspicions are high and I can't do too much or I'll be discovered."

"This Sims? She knows Angel?"

"Very well. They dated before he joined the service."

"Interesting." Bible mused, "Do your job, Stefon, and make sure any detail that can be linked back to me is destroyed."

"I will try, Sir, but after this, I can't do anything else or I could be discovered."

"You will do what I tell you to do, Stefon. Period."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but they're already suspicious around here and in D.C. If I'm discovered, they'll link me to you, and I know you don't want that."

"No. I do not." Bible decided, "Redact the files you have. I will be in contact, soon."

Another dial tone greeted Stefon and he fell back in his chair, mentally exhausted and frightened. Licking his lips, he quickly started sorting through the files on his desk, selecting those that could be problematic and pulled them aside. Once he had them out of the files, he'd call up the digitals and delete those pages and shred the physical evidence, just as his boss, Bible, demanded.

Bible picked up the cigar sitting in the ashtray next to him and took a long puff, chewing on the end of it, while his fingers caressed each other as he glowered about Stefon's attitude. He was right, though, If he was discovered, he knew enough about Bible's operations to be a problem. It would be a loss to eliminate Special Agent Stefon to find and acquire another with such a high position in the FBI. It would put his operations on hold in the States but the alternative was worse. Reaching for the phone, Bible decided to make the call and have Samedi give his pet demon a couple more targets to eliminate.