“Damn!” Holly said as her last clip ran out of bullets. Her blood was still pumping as she scanned the water. Nothing bobbed to the surface of the water, so there was a good chance that creature had survived. She paced the water's edge for some time before giving up pursuit and heading back to the house to meet with Higgins.

  Higgins came out of the house with Kristy in tow.

  “Did you get it?” He said.

  Kristy’s stare held such hope in her eyes. The poor thing looked shaken to the core, “Please tell me it’s dead.”

  Holly shook her head and looked down, unable to meet Kristy’s eyes, “No, I got a few good shots in, but I couldn’t say if any of them were fatal. I’m not sure what the hell that thing was, but it wouldn’t stay down.”

  Higgins nodded and looked back at Kristy before replying, “I bet it’ll bleed out soon.”

  Holly was once again at how misleadingly perceptive Higgins was.

  “Makes sense. Here,” Holly handed Kristy her card, “This is my personal number. I don’t give this out lightly. If you even so much as suspect that thing is coming back, call me immediately. My house is just down the block and I’ll be here in minutes.”

  Kristy clutched the card and visibly calmed at the words.

  “Thank you,” Kristy said, “Are you leaving already?”

  “Not just yet,” Holly shook her head, “I want to take a few blood samples from the trail it left and then ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

  Kristy nodded emphatically, “Stay as long as you like. I’ll make some tea or coffee or what do you drink?”

  “Jasmine tea sounds lovely, thank you,” Holly said before turning to the squad car, “Higgins, can you unlock it? I need my briefcase to take samples.”

  “I’ll help. How many do we need?” Higgins said, jogging ahead to the car.

  “As many as we can get. I want to know as much as I can about what that thing was and if it had anything to do with that screwed up NDA kill chip.”

  “You think they’re related somehow?”

  “I didn’t before today,” Holly said, grabbing her briefcase and digging out her sample kit. “I’d written the monster sightings off as insignificant information in the report, but we just sighted a real life monster. At this point, I’m going to consider everything to be related to the case.”

  Holly and Higgins collected samples of the blood from the water and grass. Holly found the leg that snapped off and filed that away too before they went into Kristy’s house and took her story.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Kristy didn’t have much to share about the monster, but she had suspicions that her daughter, Jenny, had been keeping it as a pet for weeks, so they decided to stick around until Jenny got back.

  Over tea, Holly was surprised to learn that Kristy’s husband, Colin, was one of the latest people to sign up for the mysterious job. He hadn’t returned in weeks and while Kristy was holding out hope, there was a glimmer of resignation in her eyes.

  That look in Kristy’s eyes set a fire in Holly’s heart. There was something sinister going on around this town and she was not going to stop until she found the evil person responsible.

  Their conversation was cut short by the doorbell ringing.

  “Oh no, I forgot!” Kristy said, rushing to answer the door.

  Moments later, Kristy led the most gorgeous man Holly had ever laid eyes on into the room.

  “Officer Higgins and Holly, this is Charles. His daughter has also gone missing like Colin and we have been meeting to swap notes and try to find them together.”

  “Please call me, Chuck,” Chuck said and extended a hand to Holly.

  Holly took his hand and her heart went out to the man as much as Kristy. She wanted to reassure him, “I’m Special Agent Holly, I’m so sorry about your daughter. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to find the responsible parties.”

  Chuck seemed stunned for a moment, but then, in a rich, deep voice replied: “You don’t know what you did for me just now. You’ve given me so much by what you said. Everything I do, I’ll think of your words from now on. Thank you.”

  Holly smiled and nodded. She could tell Chuck’s words were sincere, but her gut was telling her that something was off about him. Her gut had never led her wrong before, so she resolved to pay close attention to Chuck.

  “Is everything okay, Kristy? You seem shaken and I doubt these two lovely people are here for a simple visit.” Chuck said after he shook hands with Higgins and sat at the table with them.

  Kristy nodded, “I’m better now. You won’t believe it, but these two just saved me from a monster that had been in my daughter’s bedroom.”

  “A monster?” Chuck said with concern on his face while sipping his tea.

  “Yeah,” Higgins chimed in, “She’s not lying. I saw it with my own two eyes. Holly here chased it down, guns blazing, but it got away. Don’t you worry though. With the amount of blood that thing lost, it won’t be long for this world.”

  Kristy shook her head, “Are you sure it was blood? I’ve never seen blood colored green and silver before.”

  If Holly hadn’t been paying extra attention to Chuck, she might have missed the subtle way he stiffened at the mention of the color of the blood. She might be imagining things, but she was beginning to suspect Chuck knew more than he let on.

  “That really is unbelievable,” Chuck said, “You think it was an alien?”

  “Maybe it was,” Kristy said.

  “Either way, I’m glad you’re safe, Kristy.” Chuck said, taking a sip and then coughing on his tea. It must have gone down a wrong pipe, because he kept coughing.

  Chuck pulled out a handkerchief and Holly winced as she saw him cough blood into it.

  “Are you alright?” Holly asked in genuine concern. She started rethinking her suspicions about his behavior, wondering if it was some kind of sickness.

  Chuck waved her off, but kept coughing. He patted his pockets, but couldn’t find what he was searching for. After his coughing fit calmed down, he stood and said, “I forgot my medicine at home. I’m sorry to cut things short, but I need to go.”

  Kristy got up and walked him to the door.

  “Did he give you the creeps?” Higgins whispered to Holly.

  Holly nodded discreetly and whispered back, “We’ll talk later.”

  She wondered what it was that bothered Higgins about the man, but something told her they needed to keep their suspicions as quiet as possible for now.