Enemy Among Us

Chapter 9

Laney

I had packed up all the evidence and DNA samples, loaded them into the investigation van and walked over to Eli who was crouched down by the small area of roses and tulips we had helped Anaiya plant after her husband's death. He was holding a pair of her glasses that were basically destroyed. I can tell he had been crying, Eli wore his emotions like makeup. To think the same thing that happened three years ago would happen again. I placed my hand on his shoulder, he looked up at me with a pained expression. I patted his shoulder and sat beside him. “It’ll be okay, we’ll find her.” I smiled softly and he smiled back but it was just as painful to see that as it is to see him crying. It was a forced smile. I knew this was taking a toll on everyone, especially since we had just lost one of our best friends not that long ago. Why would anyone want to do this? To her most of all. She had suffered enough and now we might just lose her too. It was so much harder trying to keep together than I thought it would be.

Johnny, Andy, and the princesses walked over and sat beside us. “What’s going to happen now?” I didn’t know but I know the boss was going to have them stay at the station till this is figured out. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and realized I was getting a call so I answered. My eyes widened and I replied with a quick yes and hung up. I jumped up. “They found Cameron!” Eli bolted up and we were both inside my car within moments, the rest of the group piled into the back. I started the engine and sped all the way to the location where the agents who found him were at, the woods. The same place where we buried Agent Holman, Anaiya's memorial stand for her husband. I parked in the parking lot for the woods as we practically raced to the site. A cop walked up to me with the most serious expression I've ever seen, at least not since the death of our fellow agent. We weren’t even close enough to the site yet when he approached us.

“Is he alright?” I smiled hopefully. The officer looked down and sighed. “It's no coincidence that whoever is doing this is targeting agents. It wasn't that long ago, the body is still warm.” Eli and I tensed up as both of our smiles dropped, we made a dash through the police tape while the officer waite with the others. As soon as we reached the site, we looked down at the mutilated corpse of what used to be our friend. I turned away at what was once my partner and threw up before I looked up at Eli, the tears that shown on his face earlier erupted. We were both escorted from the scene by our boss, who had just arrived, told us to take leave for the next three weeks. I knew she cared about our mental health but our friend is missing and another is dead. There was no time for resting, we needed to find her before she ended up like… I couldn’t even finish the thought. It was the same way we found her husband. It was as if something erupted inside them.