<< In our last episode...>>
A knock at the door startled her out of her thoughts.
"Hold on. I'm coming," she called. Peering through the peephole in the door, she was surprised to see Leo. She opened the door. "Leo, you just got back from the hotel?"
"Yeah, I got some pics of our Mr. Ted and a female companion with him. Since your light was on, I figured you might be able to recognize the woman from someone at the funeral."
"Let me see." Zenya looked at the pictures and knitted her brows with a frown.
"What's wrong?"
"This female companion of our Mr. Ted is none other than Rebecca Cross, Mary Ritchie's best friend!"
Leo looked at Zenya for a long minute, letting that thought sink in. "Puts a new light on things," he said. "If he's targeted her as his next victim."
Zenya nodded. "Come in for a minute," she said, already crossing the room to get Rebecca's phone number out of her purse. She dialed the number, listened as the phone rang several times, and finally hung up. "No answer at her house. Maybe we should go over there and check it out."
*****
Rebecca's house was located in an old and rundown part of the city where no one bothered to replace the bulbs in the streetlamps. Finding the address in the dark was a challenge, but they finally accomplished it. Leo pulled the car up to the curb and they got out.
"There's a car in the driveway," he observed, nodding in the direction of a beat up Volkswagon bug.
"No lights on, though," Zenya said. They headed up the sidewalk toward the front door. The wooden stairs to the porch were brittle and sagging, the railing in no better condition, and the porch itself creaked loudly with every step. A cat leapt out from behind a potted plant, brushing past them in a blur of jet black fur. Zenya bit her lip to stifle a startled exclamation and automatically crossed herself.
Leo watched her with a slightly amused grin. "Superstitious," he asked.
"Old habits die hard. Besides, better safe than sorry."
Still grinning, Leo shook his head and turned to knock on the door.
<< And now we join our story... >>
After receiving no answer to his first round of knocks, Leo decided to try the door knob (a bad habit, he knew) by giving a twist and a slight push. The door offered no resistance as it opened into a darkened house. Wary now, Leo took out his gun and turned to Zenya, seeing as she had done the same, and entered into the house.
After making a cursory inspection of the place, and finding nothing or nobody there, Leo and Zenya decided to make a more careful inspection of the place, reholstering their sidearms as they did it.
"I'm going to check out her bedroom in the back, see if there's anything to find there." Zenya said, a little relieved that no apparent danger was evident at the moment.
"Pretty unusual to have the guest bedroom looking out over the front." Leo mused.
"Not too unusual. After all, I wouldn't want any casual passerby looking into my bedroom when I am or am not in it." Zenya said with a grin, turning to make her way to Rebecca's bedroom.
"True, true." Leo nodded as he went into the guest bedroom.
It seemed as though no one had been there for a while, a slight layer of dust covered the pillow. Glancing out the window, into the street, Leo noticed that there seemed to be another car parked some ways down the street. He tried to remember if that car was there when they got to the house. A convertable isn't something that he was likely to forget, after all. Turning back into the room, Leo searched the closet, the bureau, and everywhere else he could think of, but to no avail.
"Leo? I think I found something." Zenya's voice drifted down the hall to him.
"What's up?" Leo asked as he entered Rebecca Cross' bedroom. "Aside from the fact that a tornado seemed to have torn through here."
"You noticed that also?" Zenya quipped with a smile on her face. "Whereever she is, she packed in a hurry. I found these photos under the bed."
Zenya layed the pictures out on the bed. In some of the photos, Rebecca was alone, smiling for whoever was taking her picture. In others, it showed her with the dead woman at some nightclub, having an obviously good time. There was a couple of photos with Rebecca and the mysterious Mr. Ted, she sitting on the hood of a bright red convertable, he standing next to her. In one of the pictures, Leo could almost make out part of the license plate. Wait a minute! The convertable.....
"What's that sound?" Zenya asked, as a loud whoosh echoed throughout the empty house.
All of a sudden, orange light appeared outside the window as the fire quickly spread around the house. Leo gathered up the photos and put it in his pocket, as he and Zenya rushed towards the front door.
"Wait, Zenya! Get down behind me!" Leo shouted, his voice barely audible above the crackle of the flames.
Leo crouched beside the door handle, turning it carefully, letting the door swing slowly inward. Zenya looked at Leo with a puzzled look before hearing the blast of a double-barreled shotgun going off outside. Instinctively ducking, they saw the blast pattern on door showing how the shotgun shells would have effectively removed their midsections from the rest of their body.
"Back door!" Leo shouted. Zenya nodded and led the way, only to find out that the entire house was engulfed. There seemed to be no way out of this inferno.
The smoke and heat was stifling, making the both of them break out in coughing fits. Leo started to feel that old familiar panic gripping him. One thing he never told the bureau was his intense fear of fire. Something that stayed with him from his childhood days until now. The military knew about it, and was extremely careful not to put Leo in any situation that would get him close to any type of fiery situations. Zenya, sensing Leo's panic, suddenly took off, heading back towards the bedroom, with Leo in tow. She rummaged through the closet and tossed a heavy blanket towards Leo.
"Here, wrap yourself up in this. We're going out the window!"
Leo nodded and pointed towards the guest bedroom. Zenya nodded back and headed that way. Wrapping himself up tightly, Leo made a run for the window first, letting his bulk break through the glass and creating a clearing for Zenya to follow. With a grunt, he landed on the hard ground, grateful that he was out of that house. A few seconds later, Leo grunted again, this time from having Zenya land on him as she came out of the same window. Disentangling themselves, Zenya pulled out her cell phone and called 911. Leo, on the other hand, walked back towards the car, noticing something written on the hood of their rental. Glancing down the street, he noticed that the convertable was now gone. As Zenya joined him, they read what was written on the hood of their car together.
"WHAT IS STARTED, WILL NOT BE STOPPED! I HAVE THE KEY!"
Leo stared at the words for a while, then turned to Zenya and said, "Man. This is not going to look good on our expense report."
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NRPG : Just a little action to spice up the investigation.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Uribe
Agent Leo Jones, SA-2 : Zulu team
Agent Jeff Calderon, SA-1 : Bravo Team