Chapter 84

  Multiple Part Investigation

  (Fifteen Minutes Ago)

  (Elijah Traver)

  Officer Elijah, not Eli, Traver sat in his cruiser, preparing mentally for the questions he would need to ask.

  He was Elijah because Eli, the traitor, was an Ole Miss Rebel, not like his more prestigious brother, who was a True Volunteer. For that reason alone he was always called Elijah and never went by the shortened version of his name.

  Which proved handy, as it often helped him determine if people had ever met him before, as those that didn’t know him, might be tempted to shorten the name to the first few syllables.

  That wasn’t his problem.

  Right now, his problem was that he had been called out to a hospital on the University of Tennessee campus to inspect a potential first witness for the possible missing person cases that were springing up all over campus.

  So far, there were just a few reports of missing students.

  This happened from time to time.

  Kids going to college, getting swept up in everything. Finding out that they are no longer the center of the universe, and some go off the deep end.

  The fact that there were now so many missing students was the only real concern.

  Again, according to the data analytics people the number of missing students was slightly higher, but within a statistical average that was acceptable. Nothing to get too alarmed about.

  Those same data analytics guys were also the ones who were baffled not being able to see any signs of these missing students’ online profiles.

  Most who went dark, still had some connection to their media platforms, at least checking in, or otherwise seeing what people were saying about them. Even if they chose not to respond.

  This particular case however was different, in that they actually had a victim.

  An alleged victim.

  So far there was no way to note if there was even a crime that had been committed. Well, a physical crime, for all there was supposedly a distress text burst sent to everyone who supposedly had contact with the nearest cell towers. Yes, not one, but multiple towers that even covered the dead zone.

  Apparently, despite there not being enough connectivity for a full-blown call with streaming, there was enough bandwidth for the victim, to have sent out a massive broadcast alert.

  How such a thing was possible, Elijah didn’t know. Heck, Elijah still felt excited when he managed to type in the family group text and switch out before he could send any compromising pictures of himself.

  That happened once, he forgot to switch out tabs. Had it not been for seeing his Aunt Betty’s post about the 4th of July he would have made a fool of himself in front of his entire family. After switching, he just made a fool out of himself to his girlfriend instead, a far better person to be considered a fool by.

  Though that picture had paid off, as he was now married to that woman. But he still hated sending out massive text threads.

  Chirp.

  The radio comms from dispatch came to life, signifying that work was still calling and that Elijah still had more to do.

  “Traver, you there?”

  Not proper radio comms, but this was a close knit community of people that knew each other like a co-ed brotherhood.

  “Yes, Traver here,” Elijah responded.

  “Traver, just so you know, you might have company,” dispatcher Jones responded.

  “Company?” Elijah asked.

  “Yeah, turns out a spook might be joining you,” the dispatcher responded.

  “CIA?”

  “Nah, FBI, apparently some people got their knickers in a squeeze over the way the alleged victim managed to send out a distress message to everyone within a ten-mile radius.” The dispatcher responded.

  “Ten miles?”

  “Yeah, it might have gone farther, but that is what we are tracking at the moment,” dispatcher Jones answered.

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  “So they aren’t here for the missing persons?” Elijah found himself asking. It was never good to have the FBI enter your crime scene. Often it meant all your files and information would be passed over as part of information “sharing” then you would be politely asked to leave the case. All the while your leadership would press for updates from you, acting like you should still know what was happening.

  It was a mess, and a potential headache that Elijah didn’t need. Though actually, if the FBI came in for this case, it might make his life a bit easier.

  “Not at the moment, their angle seems to be more anger at the misuse of commercial communications channels. Sounded like they were confused how such a technology even existed, and why a student chose to use it,” Jones replied.

  Hearing that, Elijah could only nod to himself as he understood the implications.

  This was a revolutionary procedure. Had it not been a medical emergency, then this would likely be a felony of some kind. Maybe a misuse of public communications platforms, or something to that effect.

  Again, the whole idea of being able to mass text everyone within a what, ten mile radius seemed like it would be able to be abused easily.

  Thinking about it, he wondered if Subway had one, as he almost always got ads related to Subway seemingly whenever he drove past their shop.

  “Am I good to go and talk to the victim?” Traver asked to confirm. It was always good to get confirmation one way or another on these calls.

  “Yeah, you are clear. Just know the spooks will likely want to talk to her as well about her communications hijacking.”

  “Roger, in that case I am going in now,” Elijah responded.

  “Noted, over.”

  With that, Elijah just stared at the communications piece for a moment. Then taking a breath he got up and forced his way into the hospital.

  He always hated the smell of hospitals, they always smelled clean. Well not clean, but empty.

  The entire thing felt unnatural.

  Giant building filled with hundreds of people each day, that all smelled like bleach and cleaner.

  Then again, Traver always had a superior sense of smell, and could pick up on things from the smells around him.

  Going in, he found the receptionist, even behind her glass casing, the scent of overapplied perfume could be smelt coming off of her.

  “Hello officer,” she responded.

  “I’m here to talk to one Misha Tulley,” Traver began, while flashing his badge, and credentials.

  There was a momentary pause as the receptionist began typing for a few minutes.

  “I’m sorry, she is here, but she is still receiving treatment,” the receptionist began.

  “Is there any family I can speak to?” Elijah began, flashing his bright smile.

  This was shameless and close to flirting, but it was something he had learned early on. A smile and a cordial attitude went a long way.

  “Not that I am aware of, but you can see her friends right there,” the receptionist replied, and pointed to two girls in the back.

  Turning, Elijah saw two women. One a petite female that was barely over a hundred pounds and looked to be at or just below the national average for height, though it was hard to tell with her sitting. The other woman was large and imposing.

  Instantly, Elijah felt his hackles rise while looking at the second girl. She was strong and looked almost like a predator who was ready to strike. Seeing her, Elijah knew that if an altercation went down, he would likely lose the fight. Worse, he knew it would get back to the precinct that he lost to a woman.

  This was why, Elijah decided to go for the complete de-escalation from the start. Besides, any crimes conducted by the suspect were not his concerns. He was here to investigate a possible attack on a female student. One that forced her to call for help.

  Anything after that would hopefully be taken care of by the spooks.

  “Hello, I am officer Traver with the Knoxville PD, I need to ask you a few questions…” Elijah began, but was cut off as a loud and audible ding could be heard.

  Hearing the sound, both girls turned their attention from officer Traver to inspect the person coming off the elevator.

  Seeing the person in question, it was clear that this was the spook. That or there was an impromptu casting for Men In Black Eight right here in the hospital lobby area.

  The man was a prototypical spook. Black trousers, shining bright glossy black loafers that have seemingly never been worn. White shirt over a scrawny frame, accentuated by a black tie and complementary black dress jacket. A matching black leather briefcase. This seemed to match his gelled back jet black hair, his completely clean-shaven baby face. Oh, and shades, can’t forget the shades being worn in doors. This guy was hitting all the stereotypes.

  Yep, never had to see a see a spook to realize that this was definitely one of them.

  Seeing the man, Elijah just felt he would wait.

  He watched as the spook made his way from the elevator to the nice receptionist, who after a few seconds just pointed to Elijah and the girls.

  The entire process seemed to take a few seconds, but was closer to a minute. Still, Elijah knew it would be rude to make these girls repeat everything twice. Also, if this was going to be taken over by the spook, he figured he would let the spook hear everything himself and write up his own report. Rather than having to write one up for him, that would then be transferred to the spook who could try to shoot holes in his memory.

  “Hello?” The spook said coming over, as he did he transferred his briefcase to his left hand, and used the right to shake Officer Traver’s hand.

  “Hello, I’m officer Traver,” Elijah responded.

  “James,” the spook replied.

  “Just James?”

  “Uh, Rick James,” he began, then seeing the look in Elijah’s eyes he shook his head, “clearly not that Rick James.”

  Seeing the look of contempt on Rick James’ face, Elijah felt like he understood. Similar to the not being Eli thing, but maybe his was worse.

  “Yeah, I take it you get that a lot?”

  “Yeah, though one of my co-workers gets it worse,” he deflected.

  “He does?”

  “Yeah, his name is Murphy,” Spook James began.

  There was a pause, as Elijah tried to make the connection, before dawning realization hit him, “Charlie?”

  “Oh, you’ve met him?” James responded with a faint smile.

  Hearing the guy speak, it took Elijah a moment to realize he was joking. A spook with a sense of humor? This seemed out of place.

  Chuckle.

  Elijah let out a nervous kind of chuckle, before realizing that there were still two girls staring at them like fishes caught out of water.

  “Well, we just started, would you like to listen in?” Elijah began.

  “Sure,” Spook James said with a open gesture to interview the two girls.

  “As noted, I am officer Traver, and this here is Mr. James, here about the communications that were sent?” Elijah raised his voice at the end, making sure this was why he was here.

  “That is correct,” James replied.

  “Okay, so are you aware of what manner of distress your friend was in and why she needed to call for help?”

  “No, I just saw her when they wheeled her in, she was bloody and covered in what appeared to be wounds,” the taller girl began.

  “And you are?”

  “Jasmine, Jasmine Sweet,” the tall girl responded.

  Hearing that, Traver nodded.

  “Is there anything you can tell me about what you saw?”

  They both shook their heads no.

  “Have you seen anything, or anyone threatening your friend?”

  Again both shook their heads no.

  Following this line of questions, he got into a stone wall. The only other important detail he got was that the other friend was named Darcy Renolds.

  At this rate, it looked like Elijah would have to wait for the victim to wake up or become available for him to get more to go on. Though it would have been nice to have something to go from. Realizing he was hitting a dead end, he decided to turn it over to Rick James.

  “That’s it for me, you have anything Mr. James?” Elijah asked, nearly breaking decorum by calling him Rick.

  “Yes, in deed I do,” Rick said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two cards that he then handed out to the two girls. Then after giving the girls a second to read his card he began.

  “I am Rick James with Aspirant Communications, and I am here to find out what exactly your friend did to send out this emergency communication,” the not-spook began.

  “Wait, you are with Aspirant?” Elijah asked, realizing that this was the phone company that he and the force just switched to this year.

  “That is correct, I am here to investigate what, and more importantly how your friend made that emergency communications burst,” Rick James, the not-spook, began.

  Hearing that, Elijah felt his head go light, as he could have sworn this guy was a spook. Though a well-dressed Aspirant worker did seem to fit.

  “Wait, then who is the spook?” Elijah asked, his mind inadvertently slipping in the word he was thinking versus the one he should have said.

  “Spook?” James asked.

  “The Federal Agent?” Elijah clarified.

  Ding.

  At that the elevator once again dinged to the floor, and once again everyone’s attention went to the now open elevator that revealed a person wearing a golf shirt, khakis with a matching belt, and sports shoes.

  The man looked like he first wanted to go over and talk to the receptionist, but instead saw the group of four people and made his way over.

  “You all working the emergency response task?” He asked as he headed over to them and held out his hand to Rick James first.

  “Special Agent Kirkland,” the man said as he held out his hand to Rick first.

  Seeing that, it was clear that Elijah was not the only one to draw the wrong conclusion. But this felt like it was something bigger.

  “Wait, why would you be here?” Elijah blurted out, his mind still running loops to keep up with what was happening around him.

  pause my release schedule until 04 March 2025.