Agent Alpha and the Angel maker

A nosy Fox

*Astrid*

I am standing outside the investigation room with the director and the police therapist Lydia Larsson. We are watching as Zac is kinda fuzzing over a young pregnant woman who is the only surviving witness to a bad shootout, right now he is handing her a cup of tea.

“Did I get that right … ?” The director asks. “He ran into a burning building to save her, when you guys saw her in a window ?”

“I did tell him it was dangerous, but does he ever listen ?” I say with a shrug.

Lisbeth shakes her head, looking like she is at her wits end with him. “This man is truly scary, he is dangerous to at least himself, I can’t allow him to be in the field ... Doc you gotta back me on this one, I mean psychologically speaking ... he is off hinged right ?”

“He is in a lot of pain, that is all I can say”. Lydia is shaking her head slightly. “He lost his wife and his child about two years ago”.

“Wait what ... child ?” I ask in shock.

Lydia turns to look at me. “Oh you didn’t know ... his wife died in a car crash, she was pregnant ... actually she was on the way to the hospital, in labour when it happened”.

“Oh !” I turn to look at Zac, this definitely explains some things.

Zac sits down, folding his hands on the table and looks at the woman, Natascha. “So ... what happened ?”

“I was working at a nightclub downtown. This man kept coming in there, trying to charm me and in the end I started dating him. I thought it was ... love. One day I snapped a picture of him, you know, to send to my family, but he got mad ... like real mad. He pulled out the sim-card and threw it in the microwave”. She tells him, shaking her head slightly.

“And do we have a name for this exceptional darling of a man ?” Zac asks her, keeping eye contact all the time. He is really good at making people trust him, for some reason.

She nods. “Gino Corelli, but I doubt it’s his real name”. She wrings her hands. “I was ready to break it off with him ... but ...!”

“You found out you were pregnant”. Zac says, taking her hand and squeezing it softly.

She nods again. “Yeah ... so I followed him to a motel one day, wanting to know what was going on. I peaked in through the windows and expected to ... you know see him with another woman. But instead there was cash in bags and weapons in boxes. He … he shot the three men who were there with him, then he saw me ... and cold as ice he shot at me ... I was so scared so I ran and I have been hiding ever since. Then at the party I saw one of the men from the motel, he saw me and then …”. She hides her face in her hands and starts crying.

“It’s okay”. Zac looks like he is very touched by her story. “Natascha ... I give you my word, you and your child are going to be safe”.

10 min later

“I want her moved to the best safehouse we have andunder 24/7 protection till we Got the bastard”. Zac says walking into the office area with the captain and me. “I’ll take the first shift myself”.

“I think we should let someone else do it”. Lisbeth says, making Zac snap around, looking like he is about to object. “Zac ... you are not being reprimanded here. You have done great on the case, but your day is over, go home, get some sleep”.

The director walks into her private office and Zac kinda just stands there, looking more than a bit lost.

I give him a friendly smile. “Well, I'll see you tomorrow then”.

“Sure ... yeah”. Zac slump down on his chair and slap his long legs up on the desk, looking like he considers sleeping there.

I stop and look at him. He must be hiding so much pain inside. “Hey ... some of us are going out for dinner, do you wanna join us ?”

He shakes his head. “Nah”.

“No ? Not even a ‘thanks but no thank you’ ? Just a flat out rejection ?” I look at him.

He throws out his arms. “Look Astrid, I know what you are trying to do ... I am not a charity case.. I don’t need anyone's pity”.

“Look personally I don’t particularly want to spend more time with you than necessary, but I am trying to be friendly here ... help you fit in”. I shake my head. “And by the way, this place where we are going has the best barbeque you have ever tasted ... but hey, if you prefer sitting here alone …”.

“Darling listen ... I’m from Texas, come on ... best barbeque I ever tasted, I doubt that”. He says with a lopsided grin.

I shrug. “Well now I kinda have to prove it ... so get off your ass and get a move on”.

He sighs and gets up, grabbing his jacket. “You know what Astrid, you are one stubborn gal”.

“Well I have a feeling I have to be to work with you cowboy”. I give him a look, that makes him throw his head back laughing, before following me out the building.

2 days later:

“You two get out there ... but please ... please tread carefully and keep a low profile”. The director looks pleadingly at me and Zac.

We have been working on the case with a guy from the anti weapons unit, Agent Hansen, and it turns out that it was some very rare bullets that only fit into one type of weapon, which just happened to be manufactured by a factory that is located about a forty minutes drive away.

I can’t help chuckling. “I am bringing this one to a weapons factory ... whatever could go wrong ?”

Zac makes a face at me. Then smile at the director. “We promise to be on our best behaviour, all bark and no bite”.

We don’t talk much driving there, Zac seems lost in his own thoughts and I worry about the young woman who disappeared two days ago ... Her husband had reported her missing, saying she would never just leave, but so far no trace..

When we arrive, we are shown inside and the administrator shows up. I explain why we are there. His smile is friendly enough, but he sounds like he would love to see us gone. “I don’t get what some ... gang banger shooting has to do with this company”.

“Because we believe one of your guns was the murder weapon”. I point to a display. “The NF-9”.

“That’s impossible, that is a military grade weapon, they are not sold to civilians”. The administrator shakes his head.

Zac has been looking out the window since we arrived. And he doesn’t turn his head as he speaks. “Would it be okay if I take a look outside ... at the shooting ring ?”

“Sure”. The man makes a waving motion with his hand. “Just ... keep a distance when they are shooting, we don’t want any accidents”.

When Zac is gone I look at the administrator. “I assume that you have records of every weapon produced here ?”

“Yes, we have a very detailed manifest of every weapon we produce and sell”. He says with a court nod to the briefcase in his hand.

“So ... can I see those ?” I ask, eyeing the briefcase.

He smiles coldly. “Yeah, you can call the secretary of defence and ask for permission ... I bet he will be happy for a cop like you to look in their things”.

“Or we could freeze your operation til I get a warrant ... you know how it goes ... you could be closed for days, Maybe even weeks”. I give him a small shrug, trying to look like it doesn’t matter at all.

He looks like he is turning the options over in his head, then he opens the briefcase and pulls out a binder, handing it to me. “You have twenty minutes”.

“Don’t start counting before I start reading”. I flip open the binder.

*Zac*

I walk outside in the midday sun, seeing a large man, firing a fully automatic weapon at a target, totally demolishing it. He is the type that instantly has my wolf on high alert and I wonder if he is part troll.

I clap my hands, making a whooping sound. “Oh man ... you gotta let me try one of those”.

“Hey, you can’t be here ... it’s a closed and private area”. The man says, turning to look at me.

“Oh don't mind me, just browsing”. I grab his hand and shake it. Nah, probably human, just big and not too pretty. “Zachary Lewis is the name”.

“Jack Keller, head of weapons testing”. He is still regarding me with suspicion as he shakes my hand hard.

I can’t help noticing some well known marks on his hand. “Oh those look fresh ... let me guess, hot rash from a sniper rifle ...”. I run a hand through my hair. “Have you been out sharp shooting lately ?”

“Tried to kill a nosey fox who was trespassing”. He says, kinda glaring at me.

I c**k my head slightly, but keep eye contact. “Oh ... you get him then ?”

“Nah, sneaky bastard got away”. He looks a bit like he just smelled something unpleasant.

I notice a line of automatic weapons set aside on a table and I swiftly walk towards them. “Oh look, what have we got here ?”

“I test the weapons, if they are not up to spec I tag them to be destroyed”. Jack follows me quickly.

“How do you know if they are defective ?” I grab the nearest one at start firing it into the air.

Jack quickly steps up, grabbing the weapon from my hands, while he is focused on doing that I swipe his phone from his pocket, slipping it into my own. Then I hold up my hands. “Oh my God I am so sorry”.

“Authorised professionals only, you need to leave ... now”. He says looking at me like I am some naughty kid.

“I was not expecting that kick, definitely something defective there, I can tell you right now ... it needs to be destroyed immediately”. I pull out the phone as I walk away, my back turned to him, quickly looking it over.

Just as I come around the building, Astrid steps out the front door, a paper in her hand. “While you were out there playing with toys, look what I found … all defective weapons are turned over to the ATF for destruction and look who just signed out a whole case of those NF-9”.

I try reading the signature. “What does it say ? Joe ? Gonzo, or something ?”

“Gino Corelli, the fake name of our mystery man ... we still don’t know who he is, but this is a damn good start”. She looks pleased with herself. “See that is how Starsky rolls”.

“Or we could just call him”. I pull out the phone and fiddles with it. “As I got his number right here”.

“How did you… ?” She stares at the phone.

I give her a cheeky smile. “You can be Huggy bear, that would be great ... because see this is Starsky ... speaking of which, how is your hood slide ? Because mine is spectacular”.

*Astrid*

“If called upon I can do a great hood slide”. I must admit to feeling less confident about this than what I let on.

“Consider yourself called upon”. Zac says, winking at me.

I try desperately to find a comeback, then I give up and sigh. “Come on, just call the man”.

“A-ha”. Zac muses, before pressing a button and lifting the phone to his ear. He waits and waits. Seems like it goes on the answering machine.

He gets a panicked look in his eyes, and I know something is wrong. “What ? Zac what is it ?”

He sprints to the car, sliding perfectly over the hood to the driver's side. I have to admit it looks rather sexy when he does it. He throws open the door. “That was agent Hansen's voice on the phone ... let’s go, let’s go, let’s go”.

We speed off, s**t if agent Hansen is dirty he has access to Natascha ... we need to get to her before he does.