Chapter 7

TUESDAY 1:30 P. M. CST Lakeshore Dr., Chicago, IL

As Stanley and Mitch were standing around on Lakeshore Dr. Stanley's cell phone sounded. Murmuring, "Team One." He listened for two minutes and then closed the phone. Turning to Mitch he said brightly, "Looks like we just got promoted to Mailmen, Uncle." Then whispered, "We're on standby until contact."

"Oh thank God," Mitch moaned, "let's see if we can find a place with enough hot water to put these Epsom salts to work. My dogs are barking ... loudly."

TUESDAY 1:50 P. M. CST Faery & Sprite Intel Center, Chicago, IL

Lannee had almost the entire Hard Evidence Packet on the Three Families completed. She was still waiting on three or four telephone cell call records and it would be finished. Glancing over this mountain of data, she started sorting by timestamp. About half way through the pile, she decided to update the Coordinator, 'Greetings, My Lord, the hard evidence packet you requested is almost complete. I estimate we have between one and two hours left until it can be delivered. Shall I notify you at completion?'

Mike responded with, 'Lady Lannee, yes please and my heartfelt thanks to you and your superb crew. You keep exceeding expectations by leaps and bounds continually. Please pass my personal thanks to all your folk.'

'My Lord, I will, with my own lips, ' Lannee sent, then added, 'one moment My Lord, Aldeen is reporting from the portal area.'

Two minutes later she sent, 'My Lord, I believe we may have a trace on the Japanese Flavored Agent. Aldeen reports detecting unusual sensors in and around the Elfrealm Lake's Edge portal. How would you like to proceed?'

Thinking for a moment Mike sent, 'Surveillance only for the moment and well hidden. If we should lock onto this Agent it might be better to build Intel on it than go in Guns Blazing.'

'Yes, My Lord, I shall assign Aldeen and five others to cover in a globe configuration. That should give us even coverage, with plenty of overlap.'

'Lady Lannee, make certain the team understands that it's surveillance and passive scans only. We don't want to spook this Agent and we most certainly don't want to put any of our people at risk.'

'I will pass on your instructions word for word, My Lord'

'Excellent and thank you again, ' Mike sent, cutting contact.

TUESDAY 2:30 P. M. CST A Private Landing Strip Somewhere

As Silas Theodore Lamb stood waiting for the Citation X to land, he could feel the pre-hunt anticipation building. Gripping his travel kit in hand, he made his way to the plane just as the cabin door opened and the Captain stepped down. As he passed the Captain, he said, "We need to depart immediately."

The Captain replied, "Certainly, Sir. Just as soon as I've completed my visual Pre-Flight."

"No, immediately!" Silas barked back.

With a sigh and then looking Silas straight in the eye, the Captain said, "There is an old adage among flyers, which doesn't make it any less true. There are Old Pilots and there are Bold Pilots, but there are, NO Old, Bold Pilots. We will depart as soon as my visual Pre-Flight is completed. Please, stow your carry on, take a seat and strap in. Thank you for flying with us today."

Grumbling to himself, Silas mounted the stairs and then stowed his travel kit. He did retain his laptop as he still had tons of data to cull through.

After the Captain had secured the cabin hatch and was turning for the cockpit, he paused and said, "Please, wait until we reach our cruising altitude before turning on your laptop and thank you again for flying with us."

At this Silas forced himself to calm down. He knew in his mind that it was just the combination of adrenaline rush coupled with forced physical inactivity that was causing such tension. Knowing that didn't seem to help much though and he gripped his arm rests in frustration. 'Just chill out bud, ' he thought, 'after all, your targets don't even know they are being hunted, yet. It's not like they are going to scatter to the four corners of the Earth.'

Hours later as the plane was coming to a stop at a private field, Silas noted an individual walking toward the area the plane would come to rest in. Thinking to himself, 'Must be customs, ' he deplaned and was pleased to find his observation skills were still up to speed. After going through his carry on he was asked, "Is your trip for business, or pleasure Sir?"