*He stared, incredulous, at his new "boss". Why the hell'd he agree to this bullshit anyways? Oh, right, cause his fucking siblings and gone and gotten themselves mated and now he needed something to do instead of lurking around the damn place. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he shook his head, taking the file before heading back outside. He'd refused a desk in the cubicle farm. Shit wasn't him and he didn't intend on playing "busy worker bee". Sitting in the truck, he flipped through the papers. Well. Wasn't this a shitfest of an assignment. He'd be going to Indonesia, Australia, Madagascar, and Colombia. Sonuvabitch. He couldn't imagine he'd fit in any better in Colombia than the rest of 'em. This damn agency was gonna get his ass skinned.*
*Detouring to the Den, he grabbed a few things, stashing cash anywhere he could think of. Kaleva had said that the agency would provide funds when necessary, but he was still a lone cat. Fuck if he wanted to be dependent on someone else to get his ass outta the fire in a hurry. Grabbing the phone charger and a few essentials, he shrugged. Good as it was gonna get. He didn't actually own much of consequence to begin with. When he'd stopped in to tell his family he'd be leaving for a bit, none asked questions. It was one of the good things about his siblings being mated to agents. They all understood the drill, there weren't awkward questions and tearful goodbyes, none of that shit.*
*Hopping a plane to Indonesia, he'd made it with only a few connecting flights, which kept him happy. Less stops, the better. Couldn't ever guess when you were stepping into a goddamned warzone and someone might be tailing your ass before you even landed. Once his feet touched the ground, he immediately got a cheap motel room. Dingy, dirty shithole, but it'd serve his purposes. Tugging the passport and ID from the packet he'd been given, he memorized the details before burning the rest in the sink. He had no idea how Thompson had managed it, or how he was gonna pull this off. Zoology expert with the US government? Jesus. He didn't even look smart. Thankfully, Mack hadn't told him he needed anything special, so he'd wing the hell outta this and see what happened. Leaving the motel, he made his way to the Biological Institute, who had first reported the disturbances.*
*An hour later, he left no more informed than when he'd gone in. For some damn reason, species long thought to be extinct had been sighted. Giant fucking cave rats in Flores. Javan Tigers in Java. And a goddamned dwarf elephant, of all fucking things. Scratching his chin, he stopped at a small cafe, grabbing a drink as he poured over topographical maps. If he'd had to guess, he would have said they'd been holed up in the Sumatran rainforest. But shit just didn't make sense. Some had been extinct since the 1500's, at least. There couldn't have been pockets of breeding populations hidden away this long. Even cryptozoology had no "I saw this, truly!" records. Worst thing was the realization that this was happening in other countries as well. He truly was chasing fucking ghosts at this point.*
*The story was the same in Madagascar. Lemurs, Malagasy lapwings, and Kidoky suddenly appearing when they'd been marked as extinct for a damn long while. In Australia, it was a coupla wallabies, a skink, few frogs, and the Tasmanian tiger. Least with the Thylacine, there had been reports over the years since 1936 in cryptozoological circles, so that one hadn't ever faded from public imagination. Once he'd flown into Colombia, he'd immediately headed to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They were his liaisons on the ground and would be getting him entrance into the areas that were dangerous for tourists to venture. The big thing here was the blue-bearded helmetcrest, some damn kinda hummingbird. The drug trade and social conflicts going on had directly impacted the ecology here, especially with illegal animal trafficking.*
*Analyzing the paperwork, he shook his head. Several species of ocelots, macaws, and monkeys had been documented as extinct. They'd hunted the animals to the literal brink, and the battles had taken care of the rest. Now suddenly, they were re-surging with a vengeance and becoming a nuisance to the human population. If you ask him, it was karma biting 'em in the ass hard enough to draw blood, but course, no one asked him. Flipping open his phone, he logged into the secured Psiforce servers, scanning through case files. What could do this? Had there been anything similar in the past? He felt like Mack was right, these were all connected. But fucking how?*
*Hopping a plane to Indonesia, he'd made it with only a few connecting flights, which kept him happy. Less stops, the better. Couldn't ever guess when you were stepping into a goddamned warzone and someone might be tailing your ass before you even landed. Once his feet touched the ground, he immediately got a cheap motel room. Dingy, dirty shithole, but it'd serve his purposes. Tugging the passport and ID from the packet he'd been given, he memorized the details before burning the rest in the sink. He had no idea how Thompson had managed it, or how he was gonna pull this off. Zoology expert with the US government? Jesus. He didn't even look smart. Thankfully, Mack hadn't told him he needed anything special, so he'd wing the hell outta this and see what happened. Leaving the motel, he made his way to the Biological Institute, who had first reported the disturbances.*
*An hour later, he left no more informed than when he'd gone in. For some damn reason, species long thought to be extinct had been sighted. Giant fucking cave rats in Flores. Javan Tigers in Java. And a goddamned dwarf elephant, of all fucking things. Scratching his chin, he stopped at a small cafe, grabbing a drink as he poured over topographical maps. If he'd had to guess, he would have said they'd been holed up in the Sumatran rainforest. But shit just didn't make sense. Some had been extinct since the 1500's, at least. There couldn't have been pockets of breeding populations hidden away this long. Even cryptozoology had no "I saw this, truly!" records. Worst thing was the realization that this was happening in other countries as well. He truly was chasing fucking ghosts at this point.*
*The story was the same in Madagascar. Lemurs, Malagasy lapwings, and Kidoky suddenly appearing when they'd been marked as extinct for a damn long while. In Australia, it was a coupla wallabies, a skink, few frogs, and the Tasmanian tiger. Least with the Thylacine, there had been reports over the years since 1936 in cryptozoological circles, so that one hadn't ever faded from public imagination. Once he'd flown into Colombia, he'd immediately headed to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They were his liaisons on the ground and would be getting him entrance into the areas that were dangerous for tourists to venture. The big thing here was the blue-bearded helmetcrest, some damn kinda hummingbird. The drug trade and social conflicts going on had directly impacted the ecology here, especially with illegal animal trafficking.*
*Analyzing the paperwork, he shook his head. Several species of ocelots, macaws, and monkeys had been documented as extinct. They'd hunted the animals to the literal brink, and the battles had taken care of the rest. Now suddenly, they were re-surging with a vengeance and becoming a nuisance to the human population. If you ask him, it was karma biting 'em in the ass hard enough to draw blood, but course, no one asked him. Flipping open his phone, he logged into the secured Psiforce servers, scanning through case files. What could do this? Had there been anything similar in the past? He felt like Mack was right, these were all connected. But fucking how?*