10-26-2014, 09:19 PM
Jacinda shut the engine off and got out of her truck. The Tacoma's front gave off a lot of heat. Course she had just driven it across the Chihuahuan Desert. Not straight though. She had been trailing a pack of rougs since she'd picked up the trail Las Cruces, NM. The bodies left little doubt about the type of prey she'd been hunting. She'd done her little FBI impression- agent Emily Prentiss- and had gotten a good look at the pics, since the bodies had already been buried. The ME was there though and confirmed what she thought she saw. There were at least three sets of teeth marks. So three rougs had been there a week ago.
She'd asked the local PD about any other bodies turning up like these three and he'd said no. Course there were a lot of homeless people and run-aways. And being this close to the border meant there were a lot of illegals. If one or even many of them went missing it probably wouldn't have been reported. She decided to try that avenue after she left the sheriff's station. After cleaning out the pamphlet stand at the station, she hit up a couple of the trailer parks and presented herself as a worker from the battered women's shelter. It was the middle of the day but at least one or two women would be at home. She kept her visits- all in fluent Spanish- innocent of anything more than a simple attempt to hand out information for them. One or two of them tried to tell her more and she listened, pretended to put their information in her wallet, and then continued on her way. A few of the men who were around tried to give her a hard time but after she broke the first guy's nose they left her alone.
She did get some good intel though. A couple of guys- two brothers- had gone missing two days ago. Their wives had been frantically worried. Jacinda found out where they had been working and the route they usually took to get home. They were working for a rancher and took care of his fences. Jacinda drove the dirt and paved roads looking for their vehicle. Finally, in a slight valley far to the west along the fence she saw it. She got out and reconned the site before walking closer to the car- didn't want tire tracks to mar the scene. She saw blood but nothing else. The tires had been flat. There were cuts in the electrically monitored fence though it seemed to have been repaired. She stayed there for a while, surveying the site, and gradually a picture had formed. The rougs had lured whoever was maintaining the fence to this area. The place wasn't travelled that often- the car hadn't been found- so they probably were familiar with it. They were from around here. But they had taken the bodies. Which meant they wanted to keep them for food.
Three rougs. Five victims. That was a lot of meat. Rougs didn't like their food to go bad. So the men were probably alive. But why so much? She continued to circle the site in larger and larger rings, getting a sense for how the rougs might have seen things. She couldn't explain it, really, but after an hour or two, she could see the place as the rougs did. And from there, it was easy to figure out a what direction they had come from. Sure enough, down in hollow by a stream she saw foot prints and more blood. And tire tracks. So these were functional rougs. She trailed the tracks to an old shack, now abandoned. But the rougs had lived here. She found scraps of "food", though nothing fresh. She followed the tracks to the highway. Down the way was a gas station where she stopped. She was pretty persuasive to the attendent and was soon looking at the footage from the cameras that watched the pump. She didn't know what she was looking for but she looked anyway. Not like the rougs would be in a truck with the words "Rougarou" along the side. Still, it was her only lead. She saw vehicle after vehicle go by and nothing really stood out. But she knew she was missing something. She watched it again and again, letting her mind go into that place like when she was hunting. Gradually the chaos and randomness of the traffic made its own pattern in her mind, the steady flow of cars in both directions, the stops in for a fill up or whatever. It all gelled in her mind and was "normal" the backdrop. Once she had that, she could see it. One truck moving more a bit more slowly than normal. It was careful. Even as it pulled in, it didn't do so with the casualness or frustration of the other drivers. She saw one guy get out. The footage could be zoomed in of course- this was a gas station video system where license plate numbers needed to be visible. She zoomed in the occupants of the truck one at a time. While they might look human, rougs had a way of moving, of walking, that Jacinda knew from decades of experience. These were hers. Very likely the brothers were tied up in the back of the cab. They did like to snack on living meat, she knew. They filled up- it was a big tank from the length of time it took- and then got back into the vehicle and took off south.
She went to her vehicle and started on in that direction. This went on for days as she trailed them to Jaurez, then across the border and through the desert. At one point she saw some birds and stopped to look. It was one of the brothers. All the easy meat had been cut off him and the carrion birds were finishing him off.
She continued on her way and followed every little clue she could find until she found herself in Mexico City. It had been maybe 10 years since she'd been there last. She'd worked with El Chacon, as he called himself. Hunted down some chupes in the area. He'd been alright too, as far as it went. A little full of himself but that was expected. Being a hunter didn't exactly breed humility. She knew she wasn't after all. Pissed her off, though, that he'd not wanted to screw around when they were done with the hunt. Here she was all hot and bothered after a fight such as that and he just didn't like women. She'd found a replacement at the bar but it wasn't the same. She loved the immediateness of rutting like animals right after a kill, right there at the place of battle. It was like declaring that she had won again, that in the war of life, Jacinda Cross had once again proved superior.
She knew of a safehouse here that she could use. It wasn't new but she hadn't been here last time. She hoped whoever it was that ran it was a hunter, not just a clerical sort, keeping house or whatever. She could take out three rougs no problem. But they came here for a reason. There might be more than three.
The place was called "Las Rompecabezas", Puzzles. Funny name. Was two story too. She walked in and it wasn't too crowded. Probably filled up on weekends or during a soccer match or whatever they called it here. It wasn't football, that was for damn sure. Youngish guy behind the bar noticed her and so she went and took a seat. "Shot of Jack"
she said in Spanish. She turned around and surveyed the room. She needed to find the owner and get some intel and lined up with a place to stay.
Edited by Jacinda, Nov 1 2014, 09:40 PM.
She'd asked the local PD about any other bodies turning up like these three and he'd said no. Course there were a lot of homeless people and run-aways. And being this close to the border meant there were a lot of illegals. If one or even many of them went missing it probably wouldn't have been reported. She decided to try that avenue after she left the sheriff's station. After cleaning out the pamphlet stand at the station, she hit up a couple of the trailer parks and presented herself as a worker from the battered women's shelter. It was the middle of the day but at least one or two women would be at home. She kept her visits- all in fluent Spanish- innocent of anything more than a simple attempt to hand out information for them. One or two of them tried to tell her more and she listened, pretended to put their information in her wallet, and then continued on her way. A few of the men who were around tried to give her a hard time but after she broke the first guy's nose they left her alone.
She did get some good intel though. A couple of guys- two brothers- had gone missing two days ago. Their wives had been frantically worried. Jacinda found out where they had been working and the route they usually took to get home. They were working for a rancher and took care of his fences. Jacinda drove the dirt and paved roads looking for their vehicle. Finally, in a slight valley far to the west along the fence she saw it. She got out and reconned the site before walking closer to the car- didn't want tire tracks to mar the scene. She saw blood but nothing else. The tires had been flat. There were cuts in the electrically monitored fence though it seemed to have been repaired. She stayed there for a while, surveying the site, and gradually a picture had formed. The rougs had lured whoever was maintaining the fence to this area. The place wasn't travelled that often- the car hadn't been found- so they probably were familiar with it. They were from around here. But they had taken the bodies. Which meant they wanted to keep them for food.
Three rougs. Five victims. That was a lot of meat. Rougs didn't like their food to go bad. So the men were probably alive. But why so much? She continued to circle the site in larger and larger rings, getting a sense for how the rougs might have seen things. She couldn't explain it, really, but after an hour or two, she could see the place as the rougs did. And from there, it was easy to figure out a what direction they had come from. Sure enough, down in hollow by a stream she saw foot prints and more blood. And tire tracks. So these were functional rougs. She trailed the tracks to an old shack, now abandoned. But the rougs had lived here. She found scraps of "food", though nothing fresh. She followed the tracks to the highway. Down the way was a gas station where she stopped. She was pretty persuasive to the attendent and was soon looking at the footage from the cameras that watched the pump. She didn't know what she was looking for but she looked anyway. Not like the rougs would be in a truck with the words "Rougarou" along the side. Still, it was her only lead. She saw vehicle after vehicle go by and nothing really stood out. But she knew she was missing something. She watched it again and again, letting her mind go into that place like when she was hunting. Gradually the chaos and randomness of the traffic made its own pattern in her mind, the steady flow of cars in both directions, the stops in for a fill up or whatever. It all gelled in her mind and was "normal" the backdrop. Once she had that, she could see it. One truck moving more a bit more slowly than normal. It was careful. Even as it pulled in, it didn't do so with the casualness or frustration of the other drivers. She saw one guy get out. The footage could be zoomed in of course- this was a gas station video system where license plate numbers needed to be visible. She zoomed in the occupants of the truck one at a time. While they might look human, rougs had a way of moving, of walking, that Jacinda knew from decades of experience. These were hers. Very likely the brothers were tied up in the back of the cab. They did like to snack on living meat, she knew. They filled up- it was a big tank from the length of time it took- and then got back into the vehicle and took off south.
She went to her vehicle and started on in that direction. This went on for days as she trailed them to Jaurez, then across the border and through the desert. At one point she saw some birds and stopped to look. It was one of the brothers. All the easy meat had been cut off him and the carrion birds were finishing him off.
She continued on her way and followed every little clue she could find until she found herself in Mexico City. It had been maybe 10 years since she'd been there last. She'd worked with El Chacon, as he called himself. Hunted down some chupes in the area. He'd been alright too, as far as it went. A little full of himself but that was expected. Being a hunter didn't exactly breed humility. She knew she wasn't after all. Pissed her off, though, that he'd not wanted to screw around when they were done with the hunt. Here she was all hot and bothered after a fight such as that and he just didn't like women. She'd found a replacement at the bar but it wasn't the same. She loved the immediateness of rutting like animals right after a kill, right there at the place of battle. It was like declaring that she had won again, that in the war of life, Jacinda Cross had once again proved superior.
She knew of a safehouse here that she could use. It wasn't new but she hadn't been here last time. She hoped whoever it was that ran it was a hunter, not just a clerical sort, keeping house or whatever. She could take out three rougs no problem. But they came here for a reason. There might be more than three.
The place was called "Las Rompecabezas", Puzzles. Funny name. Was two story too. She walked in and it wasn't too crowded. Probably filled up on weekends or during a soccer match or whatever they called it here. It wasn't football, that was for damn sure. Youngish guy behind the bar noticed her and so she went and took a seat. "Shot of Jack"
she said in Spanish. She turned around and surveyed the room. She needed to find the owner and get some intel and lined up with a place to stay.
Edited by Jacinda, Nov 1 2014, 09:40 PM.