Colin MacGregor

The dog tore up the ground, covering the distance through the woods towards the source of the gunshot, all thoughts of the others banished by the instinctual need of the dog to track and pursue. Colin's control of the animal was tenuous, at best, after so long and draining a possession, but at least Mrrshan's instincts were taking the two of them where they wanted to go.

Up a hill, and into a smaller clearing lined with fallen pine needles, but here the dog stopped, frantically sniffing the air. There were multiple scents, at least two people, but their tracks were obscrued by the sharp tangy smell of gunpowder. Scanning quickly, Colin spotted a shell casing lying amongst the brush. A quick investigative sniff told him that it had been fired recently - the sulfury odor and heat still wafting off of it was enough to confirm that.

Unfortunately, the people's scents were fairly well masked by the strong smell. The puppeteer let the dog have his lead again, and Mrrshan sniffed wildly, trying to follow the scent before latching on to a stronger trace and taking off running once more. The pair quickly were able to pick up on a single set of running footsteps, and a small part of Colin's mind snarled in satisfaction. He was not about to let another mission end in abject failure, even if it meant dragging the corpse of the assassin back to the others.

The dog cornered around a tree, and saw two men running quickly, less than a hundred feet ahead of him, now. Mrrshan let out a series of sharp barks, and one of the two, a large man with a thick head of black hair glanced back over his shoulder with a smug expression.

An instant later, Colin learned why as a violet haze surrounded the two and they faded from sight with a soft pop. He quickly closed with where they had stood, but there was no use. The scent trail stopped where they disappeared, and there was no sign of any further clue or evidence to be found.

Mrrshan slowly returned to the clearing where the crucible had encountered the woman and saw that Liz and Scooter had joined Sean, CJ, and Ryan. They all stood around the lifeless body of Kelly Michaels, which lay upon the ground with a terrible, bloody wound devestating her chest.

Colin's spirit emerged from the dog, who whined and shied away from the coppery smell of blood and death. "We blew i'. And this time we go' someone killed." The ghost couldn't believe how wrong things had gone, how quickly everything changed from under control to unmitigated disaster.

Colin shrugged. "A single shell. We did nay touch i', so we can try and analyze i'."

Colin shook his head. "I only smelled the manifested one, but he blinked ou' wi' a wisp. I dinnae think there were more", Colin said dejectedly.

"Remember the camera", Ryan offered. "It wasn't physical until it touched something other than a spook. It may be the bullet was phased into the etheric until it struck."

CJ nodded. "That makes sense. And we haven't seen anyone else with the tech that Kelly seemed to imply T&S had."

"Sorry, Colin", CJ shook her head. "Before she died, Kelly managed to tell us that Mitchell Jones had hired T&S to 'deal' with us, and where we can find the bastard." The brunette's blue eyes had a hard, dangerouns edge to them and her tone was vicious. "I didn't recognize her until she said something, but she was the leader of the team that attacked us at Jones' apartment.

The ghost stared down at the woman's slack face, and though her eyes were empty of life, he did remember her now. "Bugger."

"To me", Liz said, adopting a businesslike tone, "that says that T&S used their own agents to take care of this little loose end. For now, we need to get out of here. CJ, can you call Orpheus and see if they have someone who can help make sure this isn't traced back to the company?"

"I know Kate is concerned with the media image, and OG probably has ways to let the local police know without getting us officially involved."

CJ looked like she wanted to argue, but instead looked down at the dead woman at her feet and nodded.

"Colin", Liz continued, "if you show me where the bullet was, I think our gauze should be able to carry it without tainting any possible ballistics or fingerprint evidence."

"Then we go back to someone's apartment and you two skimmers get some sleep while the rest of us go over what we've found. We will get these fuckers. That I promise you."

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DON'T LOOK BACK

Last Updated: February 2, 2004 by Blake Sorensen

Snatching Defeat

1 December, 2003