The back and chest of Jacen's orange t-shirt were damp from sweat as he jogged down the street on the way back to his house. His black jogging pants swished with every step as his black sneakers connected with the pavement. The ear-buds in his ears connected to a tiny MP3 played on his left bicep. The beat of the music, currently "Welcome To The World" gave him the perfect tempo to keep his energy up as he finished his run. Kicking up the pace just a notch, Jacen pushed himself into a full out sprint up to his building. Slowing down into a jog and then a walk, Jacen made his way around the outside of the building three times before he finally felt that he'd allowed his body to recover enough. A minutes later after jogging up the stairs, Jacen was back in his apartment.

Pulling the buds out of his ear, Jacen left the music playing as he walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of water. He was currently alone in the apartment since Kealey was off working at the library. They had fallen into a nice rhythm with their work schedules and then time together in the evening. As easily as things were going you almost would have though they had been room mates for years instead of just the couple of weeks that it really was.

As Jacen turned to make his way back toward the bedroom and a hot shower, there was a loud knock at the door. Unable to think of anyone that would stop by he walked over to the door and opened it to reveal a delivery man holding a parcel.
"Jacen King?"

"Yes." He responded cautiously.

"Delivery. Sign here please."

A few moments later Jacen was once again alone in his apartment though now he was holding the mysterious package in his hands. Walking over to the couch he took a seat on the edge of the cushion so he wouldn't push his sweaty clothes up against the back and then ripped open the seal. The first thing that tumbled out was a digital voice recorder followed by several copies of what were obviously police reports. "What the hell?" He murmured softly as he pulled out a small square piece of paper with a handwritten message saying, "There's no such thing as normal. L."

***

An hour later Jacen was now fully sitting on the couch, still in his jogging clothes. The music from his MP3 player continued to pulse through the ear buds but he ignored it as he focused on the information that had been sent to him. Report after report of deaths in Florida that matched his parents death exactly. Written across each page were the words "Victim of Pulse". The digital recorder was the recording of Lori talking to this 'Pulse' and getting him to confess by acting drunk and innocent.

"What is she saying? My parents didn't die naturally?" Jacen murmured to himself, his mind whirling at he tried to understand the information he'd been given. He had expected that he might have to deal with Lori stopping by once or twice but he never would have predicted anything like this. The information on the package showed that it had been shipped from Jacen's home town of Tallahassee, Florida. "What's going on?"

***

For the next few hours Jacen took his time to fully read and re-read every page of the reports and information that Lori had sent him. The reports, note, digital recorder, and photo of a man labeled "Pulse" were the easiest to understand. The part that continued to confused and frustrated Jacen was the baggy of shredded papers. Though some of them had been reconstructed with names highlighted and color coded to match the papers that detailed the deaths of parents of the offspring, he couldn't figure out why anyone would have information like this. What could it all mean?

As he continued reading the phone next to his couch began to ring and without even thinking about it Jacen reached over and picked it up, answering it as he pushed it up against his ear. "Hello?" He said rather distractedly as he continued to look at the papers in front of him.

"No, I'm not interested in a subscription to sport illustrated." Jacen said in an annoyed voice before suddenly yelling at the phone, "Not playboy either!" Slamming the phone back down he turned his attention back to the package he had received. How could Lori have gotten this sort of information? What sort of game was she trying to play?

Suddenly standing up to his feet, Jacen grabbed his keys and then headed out the door. There was no need or reason to change out of his sweaty joggy clothes since he wasn't trying to impress the blond in any way. He just wanted to know what the hell she was doing. After tossing the information on the passenger seat of his truck, Jacen drove away from his apartment and down the all to familiar road that led to Lori's trailer. In all to short of a time he was parked in front of the wreck that had previously belonged to the wild woman's father. Slamming the door behind him Jacen stalked up the dirt path to the two metal steps that led up to the front door.

"LORI!" Jacen yelled, firmly pounding his fist against the door, "Get out here! I want some answer and I want them now!"

For a few minutes everything was silent and then Jacen heard a slight scuffling from inside. Suddenly the front door flew open, slamming in him and sending him flying backward to land heavily and ungracefully on his back. "Lori, you b..." He growled as he scrambled back to his feat with his voice suddenly trailing off as he stared at three men in front of him. Each of them were clad in suits with obvious bulges under their jackets. They didn't look like professional assassins or anything, instead having the look of decent quality hired muscle.

"Ah hell," Jacen muttered as he dropped back a couple of steps and went into a defensive stance, "What did you get yourself into this time?"

"Gotta be the boyfriend. Grab him!" One of the men ordered the other two. It made sense that he was the boss since he did appear slightly more intelligent. Maybe not a lot, but slightly. Without a seconds though the two rushed Jacen. Obviously they were used to being able to overpower their foes with almost no struggle which could only mean they'd never faced ex-military before. Even as serious as the situation was, Jacen couldn't help but smile just a little.

Side stepping the first attacked, Jacen slammed his fist into the back of the man's nest before turning and swinging his leg up and around in a powerful roundhouse kick. The slight shock from the top of his shoe laces coming in contact with the other man's face was nothing compared to the pain he was dealing with. As the groaning mass collapsed to the ground Jacen turned back around to face his final victim. Instead of the fear he had expected the man's lips were curled up into a sneer. "Impressive... but is the girl really worth this sort of pain and effort?"

"Last time I checked, I was pain free." Jacen retorted before his mind registered the sound of movement behind him. Beofre he could even begin to turn, a powerful blow slammed into his kidneys followed by an even strong contact right between his shoulder blades. Apparently Jacen's first victim had a much harder head than he realized because the man had picked himself up and attacked from the rear without his realizing it.

"Heroes... when will people learn that all they get is pain?" The leader mused as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the still conscious muscle lift up Jacen and hold him upright with both of his arms locked behind his back. "So tell me little man... when's your girlfriend getting back?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Jacen gritted through his teeth as he tried to come up with some sort of convincting lie, "We broke up weeks ago... I just came over to pick up the last of my stuff and return some of the crap she left at my house."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

Breathing was hard but it was slowly getting easier as Jacen just stared at the man. There was really no reason to try and convince the man like some frightened school boy but maybe his silence would speak louder than words. "If you find her... tell her Jacen said to leave me out of her business! I'm getting tired of being pulled into her issues. What are you, bookies? Does she owe you all money like she does everyone else in the world?" Well, silence might be over rated too. Sometimes rambling was a good way to distract people from what was going on.

The step forward and the punch came out of nowhere and Jacen could actually feel the inside of his cheek tear from his teeth scraping against it. Lifting his head back up, Jacen spit blood out on the ground as he looked at the leader that had just belted him. "I ask the question. When did you last see her?"

"A couple of weeks ago." Jacen muttered, his mind racing as he tried to think of some way out of this situation. These three guys weren't the best in the world but they were adequate for the job. He just needed some time and an opportunity to work with. "I caught her kissing someone... a stinking mutant. Big and red. Told her it was over and walked out."

"Makes sense boss. They said she might have mutie friends." The man behind him spoke up before suddenly moving his hands to adjust his grip. It was the opportunity Jacen had been waiting for and with a powerful tug he wrenched one of his arms free. Spinning quickly Jacen gave the man a powerful right cross in the jaw and then took off for his truck at a sprint. Jumping in he slammed the door shut and hit the locks just as the sound of a gun firing followed by the sound of something hitting the side of his truck could be heard.

"NOT AGAIN!" Jacen yelled in frustration as he threw the vehicle in drive and roared out of the trailer park, "I just got this thing out of the shop!"

Jacen didn't know how things had worked out this way but apparently Lori had gone searching for information about his past and had gotten in trouble. Now, she was once again dragging him into her world. "What the hell am I doing?" Jacen muttered as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number he never thought he'd be calling in this sort of situation. "Hey, Tarin? Yeah, it's Jacen. Listen... I need a favor. How would you and Lee like to take a trip to Florida?"

The apartment was void of life. Bags had been packed, things had been put away, and a note had been left for one special woman. Jacen had tried to call Kealey at the library but the person he had actually talked to on the phone had been quite rude. She had told him in on short order that Kealey was busy helping patrons of their library and that he would have to call back on her lunch break. With the upcoming flight that wasn't going to happen so Jacen had been forced to simply leave a note.

~~Kealey,
Something important has come up back in Florida involving my parent's deaths. I had to take the first flight to Tallahassee but I'll call you just as soon as I can. I'm gonna miss you more than you could ever know and I'll definitely be thinking about you.

Jacen~~

***

Some how, some way, Jacen had been fortunate enough to get a window seat but the beauty of the outside world was lost on him. This had been the only seat still available on the plane and thus he had been forced to book Lee and Tarin's tickets for the following morning. He would have almost eight hours of time to explore the city he had grown up in but he knew just where most of his time would be spent.

"It's been a long time... to long."

***

A small bouquet of wild flowers was placed carefully in the build in vase that stood on the grave marker, right between the two names.

Levi King & Roberta King
Beloved Father & Mother

"I know it's been a while since I stopped by to see you." Jacen said quietly as he crouched in front of the grave site, "I'm in New York City now. Everything was going smoothly until I found out I'm different. I really wish you two were here right now. I could use your advice."

Lifting his gaze, Jacen scanned the cemetery, making sure he was completely alone as he continued to talk. "I can disable mutants. I don't know how or why I got this power but I have it. Then I fell in love with this wild girl that decided it was more fun to play the game than settle down. Honestly, my life's kind of messed up right now. I don't know what to do next. Once the other officers find out about my ability they'll brand me a freak and toss me out on the curb. Even with blood tests to back me up they won't believe I'm not a mutant."

Looking back down, Jacen reached out and gently brushed some stray grass and dirt off of the bronze marker. "And there's something strange about what happened to you two. I only found out about it now but I'm back here to find out what really happened. You two take care of each other. I love you."

Standing back up, Jacen turned and strode back across the grave yard. With every step his expression became firmer as he focused on leaving his emotions back at the grave site. Even though this might not be from the government, he was going out on an assignment... a mission, and there was no place for emotion. This was business that needed to be completed as quickly and quietly as possible.

***

Jacen stood outside the airport, leaned up against the car he had rented for his stay in Florida. The trunk was relatively empty except for the suitcase containing the weapons he had thought he might need. Along with the Glock that he had holstered on his back there was a beautiful UMP .45 with several extra clips of ammunition as well as a hunting knife. It had been the work of just a few minutes to stop by the NYPD fire arms supplier and pick up a personal item. Plenty of cops purchases their own personal weapons since the budget didn't allow them all to be armed the way they might be but this time the weapon was not going to be used for official business. This was personal whether Jacen wanted to admit it or not.

"Tarin! Lee!" Jacen yelled when he saw the couple walk out of the terminal with bags in hand, "Over here!"

Florida, again. Tarin couldn’t help but wonder as he white-knuckled the arms of his seat and the plane landed if every time they visited this state it was going to be on the heels of what could be mortal peril. Jacen was good guy, though, and it had sounded like he really needed help. Why their help? Tarin still wasn’t sure, but he was flattered that the S.W.A.T. officer had thought they could help.

Looking over at Lee, Tarin smiled slightly. Their lives had gotten significantly more interesting in recent history. The Kabal seemed to have a lot to do with it…but it was actually turning out to be a good thing. The more he used his powers for something other than work, the more Tarin seemed to be able to get a handle on them the rest of the time. The spirits were listening better and better and the headaches that had plagued him for most of his life were virtually nonexistent.

The plane had landed, and Tarin and Lee had pulled their bags out of the overhead compartments, they’d each only brought a small sports-type bag. They weren’t here to sight see after all. People took their time getting off the plane, like they always did, and Tarin found himself impatient as they waited. Lee knew his thoughts on the subject, so Tarin didn't feel the need to repeat them just to be rude to the people around. He settled for looking out at the tarmac and grumbling slightly to himself.

Needless to say, it had been a crazy month. At the rate they were going, they were going to rack up more frequent flier miles in the second half of 2009 than most of the continental US had in the last ten years. In just the month of May they'd been to Colombia, and now they were back to Florida.

Finally they were off the plane and into the fray of the airport. They were supposed to meet Jacen outside, and the fact that they didn't have to get any bags sped up that process significantly. In what seemed like no time compared to how long people with checked luggage were going to have to wait Tarin and Lee exited the terminal and started looking for Jacen. Tarin heard his name and he turned around to see the other man, “Hey.” He said, approaching and holding out a hand to shake. As usual, the man’s nullification field didn’t feel unusual to Tarin. "Where to first?"

When Lee had decided to get a hold of Jacen to try and build on the friendship that had started when they had run into each other while jogging, she hadn't expected this. Another trip to Florida, really not long after they had spent their layover there coming back from Columbia. And, though Lee didn't exactly know why they were here, she did know that Jacen had asked them to come help him with something important.

The flight down had been...well, Lee hadn't thought it was too bad, but the nerves radiating from Tarin, since for some reason he really didn't like flying despite the number of times they had flown without incident in the last six months, were starting to show on Lee by the time they landed.

But finally, they were back on the ground, though the people ahead of them on the plane were taking their sweet time disembarking, and Lee could feel Tarin's irritation beside her. "Just relax, hon," she said softly, placing her hand on Tarin's arm as they waited. It was something she had been saying quite often for the previous three hours.

Once they managed to actually get off the plane, it didn't take long at all to make it through the airport and out to the street, where long lines of cars and buses sat as others drove past.

Then she heard hers and Tarin's names being called, and turned her head in the direction the voice came from to see Jacen standing beside a car. Walking over, Lee stumbled slightly as she came closer to Jacen. It was unreal, that feeling of suddenly walking in to his aura where he cancelled out powers while she was somewhere as crowded as this airport was. Going from siphoning from possibly as many as a hundred people, to suddenly nothing, as if a switch had just been turned off, was at the very least surprising.

Tarin didn't seem to notice anything different, though, and walked up and shook Jacen's hand. "Can we talk while we drive?" Lee asked, glancing at the car. "It just feels way too strange standing here, with this many people around."

"Thanks for coming you two." Jacen said with a nod and a half smile before walking over to open the car door and climb into the driver's seat. Lee seemed to think she'd be more comfortable talking while they drove and that was just fine by him. In a few minutes they were out of the airport parking lot and heading along the route that would take them to their hotel. Jacen had picked this particular establishment because it just happened to be where the paper Lori had written her note on had come from. Thankfully hotels always put their name, address, and phone number on their paper otherwise he might not have even known where to start looking.

"A friend of mine came down to Florida and apparently decided to look into my parents deaths." Jacen explained as they drove, "My parents died of natural causes my apparently she didn't think so. She sent me this package of information."

Jacen reached between the front seats and lifted a medium sized envelope with some shredded papers, a picture, a digital voice recorder, and a note written on hotel stationary. (OOC NOTE: Please reference Like A Hurricane for exact package contents.)

"I went to her place in New York and ran into some hired muscle that apparently were searching for what she sent me without knowing who she sent it to. They roughed me up a bit and that's where I got the bruising on my face." He continued with a slight motion toward the discoloring on his left cheekbone, "The note in there had the hotel's address so it gave me someplace to start looking."

Falling silence Jacen gave the couple a few minutes to process what he'd said as well as look over the information before finally speaking up again. "Now that you know what's going on, I'll understand if you want to pack up and leave. I don't know exactly what I'm getting into but I do know that Lori must be in trouble otherwise there'd be no reason for people to be ransacking her place."

Lee pointed out that she’d be more comfortable if they talked while they drove and Tarin tilted his head as he looked at her. It really was strange how off balance his wife was when she was trying to deal with Jacen’s ability. They started driving and Tarin trusted that Jacen knew where they were going and what they were doing, and also trusted that they would soon know something other than, ‘It’s important’. It was strange, after all, the fact that they’d just kind of picked up and ran to Florida because Jacen had asked. It was either a testament to the type of person Jacen was, or a testament to how crazy Tarin and Lee’s lives were. Jacen was ready to explain though, and Tarin settled in and paid attention when the other man started to talk.

It had to do with his parents’ deaths. It struck a chord with Tarin, if he hadn’t known for a fact that his father had died of natural causes and someone had given him something suggesting otherwise…yeah. This was serious business…and another friend of Jacen’s had gotten in trouble getting the info. It suddenly made more sense why he wanted help. Tarin idly wondered if there were any spirits involved, as dirty as the business could be as far as emotional impact was concerned, it would be an easy way to tell exactly what had gone on.

Jacen explained more and the explanation involved hired guns and roughing up. From Tarin’s vantage point he couldn’t see the apparent bruising, but he took Jacen’s word for it. Apparently his friend had written him a note and from the note Jacen had gotten the hotel so that’s where they were starting. All in all, everything made sense. Tarin had never really thought that they were heading down there for a pleasure trip, after all…but Jacen’s nullification did present a problem as far as their usefulness was concerned. Still…

Their driver continued talking and Tarin’s eyebrow rose as he explained that he wouldn’t blame them for turning around and heading back to New York right that second. Tarin cast a look at Lee, then shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t think either of us thought this was an invite for a big fun vacation, Jacen.” The medium said, running a hand through his hair and looking out the window at the passing scenery.

Tarin was uncomfortable, and he ran his hand from his hair to the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he tried to figure out how exactly to phrase the offer he’d been considering earlier, “Uh…well, if you wanted to know for sure…when spirits are around and I link up to them…I see things. Things from the end.” He paused and took a breath, avoiding eye contact like the plague, “Granted…it only works if there’s spirits around to link up to.”

There, the awkward offer had been made, time for a subject change. “So…are we meeting this friend of yours at the hotel, then?”

((OOC: I'm assuming that Jacen actually handed over the envelope so that we could look at it while he's driving. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll change my post.))


Thankfully, neither Jacen or Tarin argued with her suggestion that they drive while they talk, and with no further waiting, they all got into the car. At least this way, it wasn't as obvious to Lee that there were so many people around that she wasn't siphoning from. That's not to say that Lee didn't like the whole not siphoning thing, it's just that, like Kealey had said, it took some getting used to, and Lee was definitely not used to Jacen's powers enough that standing in a crowded airport with him wouldn't set her off balance.

But finally, as they were driving along out of the airport, Jacen started speaking, and handed over an envelope. Tarin didn't seem to be taking it, so Lee reached out, grabbing the envelope out of Jacen's hand and looking through everything inside while she continued to listen to the two men.

Tarin was actually even offering, however awkwardly he went about doing it, using his powers to connect with any spirits that might be around in any of this. Not exactly something Lee needed to get involved with, the men could figure that out on their own, so she focused more on the envelope's contents.

Not a whole lot of it made any sense to her at first glance. The police reports and other files like that would take more than just a glance over, and the shredded papers much more than that. This was really going to take time, if Jacen didn't have much more than the idea to start with the hotel.

Then Tarin was confirming for Jacen that they weren't just going to pick up and leave based on what he'd just told them. Really, why would they? And it was that thought that made Lee pause for a moment in thought. Hired thugs had ransacked his friend's place, and beaten Jacen, and that wasn't enough for her and Tarin to at least be worried about what they were agreeing to help with, never mind outright turn tail and head back to New York.

Silence seemed to really be reigning in the car at that moment, until Tarin asked if they would be meeting this friend at the hotel. That was a very good question. And Lee came up with another as she pushed everything back into the envelope; she wasn't going to be making much progress sitting in a car, after all. "Have you figured anything out from the shredded paper?" Lee asked, handing the envelope over to Jacen again. "And, once we do get to the hotel, where are we starting from there?"

The two seemed to be doing their best to taken in all the information that Jacen was providing and a quick glance in the rear view mirror showed Lee pouring over the contest of the package. Tarin was more focused on Jacen but that made sense. Without even realizing it the two were showing just how much of a team they really were. Assessing and gathering information together the pair could gain a better insight than if they had just been on their own. For a brief moment it made Jacen wish that he had a partner like that but he immediately tried to clear his mind of that idea. Lori was the type that could face this sort of situation but she had no interest in showing any sort of loyalty. Kealey had the loyalty but Jacen knew he could never put her in this type of danger.

"My friend has been out of contact since I received the package. And just so the two of you know, she's the woman that first introduced me to the fact I was a mutant as well as being my now ex-girlfriend." Jacen replied, giving the added information while making it clear with his tone of voice that he had no interest in discussing that part of the situation any further. There was no reason for Lee & Tarin to know about the potential cheating, actual cheating, or nasty breakup. Sure Tarin & Lee were proving that they were good friends by coming with him to take care of this situation but that didn't mean they were bosom buddies.

"I've only looked over that one reconstructed page of the shredded stuff." Jacen responded, indicating the taped and highlighted page that had obviously been reconstructed, "The names that are highlighted all coincide with one of the death investigation reports you have there. All supposedly died of natural causes but for some reason their children were important enough to make it on that list, along with my name under the heading 'Adapteds', whatever that means."

Jacen had studied everything in that packet until he basically had the information memorized. He didn't really understand it or know what it all meant but he had gathered two very important facts.

1) Lori was in trouble and needed his help.
2) This "Pulse" was apparently responsible for his parents deaths.

"We're booked at the same hotel where the note came from. I haven't had a chance to talk to the desk clerk and I actually thought that maybe Lee could handle that." Jacen added, as he brought back up the plan he had thought through over the past several hours, "If you could go to the desk clerk and ask if a girlfriend of yours is still at the hotel then maybe we might get lucky. Lori's blond, blue eyes, maybe 5'3" or 5"4, and athletic. That enough inform for you to work your magic Lee?"

Either Jacen hadn’t been paying attention or was, at the moment, ignoring his offer to bring potential spirits into the mix. Tarin shrugged his shoulders, one less thing to deal with as far as this whole situation was concerned, at least for now. Lee was digging through the envelope and Jacen was filling them in on more particulars. Out of contact. For the most part, Tarin only seen or heard those words on TV and in movies, and they’d never boded well for the person they described.

Jacen explained more and Tarin’s brows knitted. This was personal. It was way personal. If strange circumstances surrounding the death of Jacen’s parents wasn’t enough, now there was a woman involved. A past romantic interest to boot. It was enough to warrant a hand through the hair. What next? Somewhere in the mix there had to be some absolutely insurmountable odds tossed in, or something else equally mind-numbing. Jacen changed the subject and Tarin almost breathed a sigh of relief. At least for the time being that seemed to be all the bomb shells.

The shredded paper that Lee was looking over apparently held Jacen’s name, as well as others, and coincided with death reports in the envelope. Lee was doing the looking, and Tarin let her. If there was something they both needed to see, she’d get it to him. “Well.” He said, in way of response to the information, “That sounds like slightly more than coincidence.”

A title and a list. The wheels in Tarin’s head were turning and he looked at the other man in the car for a long moment before speaking, “Do you recognize any of the other names on the list, or can you think of anything that you might have in common? School, extracurricular activities, boy scouts?”

They were staying in the same hotel that the last contact had come from. Tarin listened to Jacen’s plan and nodded his approval. For some strange reason, clerks were always more willing to give information about women to other women. When men came sniffing around a hotel for a woman, there was always implied suspicion. Lee would have a much easier time getting information than either of the men.

Jacen described the woman and Tarin couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, though he quickly quelled the disbelief. Many a person had learned the hard way with Lee that it was dangerous to judge a book by its cover. Just because the woman was small didn’t mean she was anything but formidable. Her name was Lori, Tarin also noted and stored for reference, as well as one last detail. Another blonde, Tarin mulled over with no slight satisfaction as he smiled at his decidedly brunette wife. At least there was something in this situation to make him feel better.

“I think that’s a good idea. I’ll try my hand around the hotel if Lee doesn’t turn up anything. If something violent happened anytime recently, I’ll know.” Tarin said, voice growing grim with the implication of his words.

As Jacen started answering Tarin's questions, Lee started paying considerably more attention to what the men were talking about. She hadn't been in contact since he'd gotten this package? He'd been roughed up when he'd gone to her place by men who were ransacking it? This was sounding worse and worse by the moment. Shouldn't she be feeling more worried about all of this than she currently was?

Jacen went on to explain that so far he'd only had the chance to really look over the one shredded sheet that had been reconstructed and highlighted, and Lee nodded her head as her eyes darted down again. If she happened to be up later that night, which honestly happened more often than not, Lee decided she'd try her hand at piecing together the various scraps of shredded paper.

Then Jacen said her name as part of his talking, and Lee perked back up once more. And Tarin agreed that it was a good idea. A small, thoughtful frown on her face, Lee nodded a couple moments later. She had managed to track Tarin down in a small town in Maine while she'd been hopped up on painkillers with a broken collar bone, after all.

"I'll make due," Lee told him. "If the guy at the desk knows anything, I'll figure it out. And I'll see what sense I can make of these shreds tonight, too. It's bound to be better than watching TV for hours on end."

(OOC: I'm sorry it's so short. Apparently my brain is fried at the moment. I promise to do better next time. :-( )

IC:
"I didn't recognize any other names on the list." Jacen said with a slight shake of his head as he finally pulled into the parking area of their hotel, "And there aren't death reports to go with every name. Maybe they're not all local. Either of you good with computers? Maybe we could find something with an internet search."

A few minutes later the three of them were out of the vehicle and heading up to the two rooms that Jacen had reserved for them. "So we have a game plan to begin with. Tarin can see if any of the spirits have information, Lee can ask the clerk about Lori, and I'll show that picture around some. Maybe someone can recognize Pulse and give me a direction to follow. Tonight, if Lee can't sleep, she can take a look at some of the other shredded documents."

It was a good plan and while on the one hand Jacen didn't want the three of them to separate he had to admit they would get a lot more done if they followed the 'divide & conquer' way of doing things.

"How about we see about asking some questions and then meet back here to have dinner and compare notes." Jacen said as he glanced at his watch to check the time, "Sound like a plan?"

Tarin nodded his head when Jacen confirmed that he hadn’t recognized any of the other names and he couldn’t find anything they had in common, at least off the top of his head. Brown eyes narrowing slightly on the page, Tarin cast another look at Jacen, except that they were all listed under the title “Adapted”.

Internet research, Tarin nodded his head. Neither he nor Lee had brought a computer with them on the trip, but there were usually business centers in hotels with computers. Tarin added it to the mental list of things to do as far as finding out where to go next. “I wouldn’t call either of us experts with a computer…but public records aren’t necessarily difficult to track down.”

They made it to the hotel Jacen ran down the plan pretty much exactly how they’d discussed on the way. Lee would go scout out the front desk, Jacen would go around with a picture of the potential bad guy, and Tarin would do the spirit thing after all. Jacen recommended splitting up for a while to check things out and Tarin nodded his head, “I think initially that’s going to be the best idea. Nobody leaves the hotel without checking in with the other two, though. If people are disappearing we need to keep tabs on each other at all times.”

That established, everyone went their separate ways. For Tarin, the job was simple, get away from Jacen and walk around. If anyone had died in the hotel who felt like they had a reason to stick around, Tarin would know it. As it turned out, it was kind of a large place…the doors opened to the outside, and there was more than one floor. Tarin sighed and picked a corner to start in.

Forty-five minutes later, Tarin was nearly out of hotel to look at and he was muttering to himself. The number of strange looks he’d gotten just for walking around was enough to make a person paranoid. It did lend credence to the idea that something strange had been going on. There were also the spirits. He’d found spirits, two of them were disgusting and all of them were completely useless as far as the task at hand was concerned. It looked like everything was going to be a wash until he approached the last corner of the building.

A low familiar rushing filled his ears as he walked and Tarin picked up his pace slightly, looking side to side as he moved. There was definitely a spirit around and he wanted to catch it before it went into a room or somewhere else he couldn’t follow. Around the corner Tarin went and nearly ran into the girl.

She was young, twenty at the most and she was crying as she sat crouched against the wall. She had the telltale luminescence most spirits shared and Tarin looked around before squatting down next to her and putting a hand on the wall near her head. He didn’t mental link with her, she was upset and sometimes the spirits didn’t react favorably.

“I’m late for work.” The girl sobbed, “But I keep getting distracted. I told them everything I knew about the blond girl…but they’ve made me late.”

Tarin’s jaw clenched, he hadn’t expected a kid, a young and pretty kid that could have been anyone’s little sister. “It’s alright. You look tired. Why don’t you tell me what happened and I’ll go talk to your boss.”

The girl looked up through tear filled eyes and nodded her head, “Th-that would be nice.” Tarin nodded and settled in to listen. He'd seen spirits like this before, poor souls who didn't even know they were dead. This was going to take some time.

As they drove along, Jacen continued to explain, and reached one point where Lee was sure she wasn't going to be much help with. Sure, she could do enough with a computer to do some emailing, get her pictures off the camera, and generally not screw the machine up, but she had a very good feeling that what Jacen was requesting was far beyond her abilities.

But, since Tarin was saying that they should be able to help with that, Lee let it go at that; fine, let Tarin try and find whatever information he could online, she decided.

Arriving at the hotel, it seemed that they had a plan of action. Not that it was overly surprising, since that's what they had been discussing on the drive over, but it was definitely good to have somewhere to start. Shoving everything back into the envelope, Lee passed it back to Jacen with a nod that she understood her task, and got out of the car.

Stepping out, Lee saw that the place was more like a motel than a hotel, reminiscent of the place Lee had finally found Tarin in in Maine. The doors to the rooms all appeared to be on the outside of the building, though it was multi-storied. Not exactly the kind of place Lee had gotten in her mind, probably because it was so different from the places she and Tarin had stayed at the last times they were in Florida, but Lee was still sure that she could do what she'd need to; people did still have to check in at the front desk at places like this.

Giving the men a quick smile over her shoulder as they all separated, Lee made her way to the small, window-lined room at the front of the hotel where the desk would be.

Stepping inside, Lee saw the man sitting behind the desk and gave him a smile as she walked up. Normally she wouldn't have gone that far, but if she was going to have a chance of getting this information, she was definitely going to have to do some sweet talking.

"Hi there," Lee said, leaning an elbow on the counter as she looked at the man. "I was wondering if you could help me. A friend of mine just broke up with her boyfriend, finally, and told me she was staying here, but didn't say what room. But I haven't been able to get a hold of her for a couple days now, and I'm starting to get worried.

"She's blond, has blue eyes, is my height, and athletic looking," Lee continued, hoping that this would work. "Well, my height when I'm not wearing my heels. We're both about 5'3". Do you know what room she's in so I can make sure she's alright?"