Devil Hunters

by R. Gualtieri

  There was at least one upside, however. It would mean she’d have to watch her tongue a lot less around him. He seemed like a nice guy, and giving him bullshit story after bullshit story didn’t feel right.

  Arthur, for his part, looked utterly confused. “What’s this about? Am I in trouble for something?”

  “Not at all,” Mitchell said. “If anything, this just means you can help out more.”

  Derek reached into his back pocket. His eyes met Danni’s again, and she could see the twinkle in them. He always liked this part. Claimed it made him feel like a little kid playing cops and robbers, except his badge was real.

  He handed it over to Arthur who took a quick look.

  “U.S. Forest Service, Department of Cryptid Containment? You’re kidding, right?”

  “There’s a joke here, all right, and it’s...”

  Derek cut the security director off with a glare. “Feel free to call and verify my badge number or any of my team’s. You’ll find we’re quite legit.”

  Arthur turned toward Danni. She nodded back at him.

  To her surprise, he actually smiled in return, albeit there was still a confused aspect to it. “And that paperwork?”

  “Affidavits ensuring your cooperation and confidentiality. Don’t worry, nothing onerous so long as you realize that anything discussed with us from here on in should be considered classified.”

  “Classified,” he repeated. “As in legal penalties?”

  “Precisely,” Derek replied, clapping Arthur on the shoulder. “Welcome to the conspiracy, kid.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The next few hours were busy ones. Mitchell brought Arthur up to speed on what they were really testing and where the lab’s systems were actually VPN’d to. The boy was skeptical at first – not surprisingly – but Mitchell had a way of taking the fantastical and making it sound plausible. However, Derek suspected the presence of government personnel, people not known for being great practical jokers, helped impart their seriousness to the boy.

  While this was going on, the rest of the team busied themselves with discussing strategy and next steps. Following a brief, but heated, call with Governor Yarlberg, Derek agreed to cooperate with Eric and his men on the condition that the governor’s people observe but not interfere.

  As it turned out, another police report had been filed, a few days prior to their arrival, by the parents of some teenagers who’d gone missing. According to the teens’ friends, the couple had been planning an illicit rendezvous out on Swamp Forge Road, a claustrophobic stretch of asphalt not far from the route Derek and Francis had taken earlier in the day.

  The missing count now up to seven, the added pressure on the governor had put him in a mood far more suited to negotiating – especially after Derek pointed out that his team was almost guaranteed to work faster if they were allowed to actually do their jobs.

  After coordinating with Donald Krychech’s office, it was decided that Shilough made sense as the expedition’s kickoff point. From there, they would head into the forest, using their ATVs to connect with the same trail the AEP’s doomed expedition had used to get deep into the woods. The plan was to pick a spot close to where John Guiterrez’s truck had been found and establish a base camp. Rather than a multi-day hunt, though, the plan was to pack light.

  Assuming their first night was unremarkable, as Derek fully expected it to be, they’d take a detour to Leeds Point the next day. He didn’t expect that to pan out, but Yarlberg’s press conference had made it a necessary evil. It would give them a confirmed public sighting for any fans in the area in a safe place, far from the scene of the actual disappearances.

  Derek wasn’t happy that they’d already been tailed once by that reporter. He didn’t want it happening again and risk someone getting shot by accident.

  Their plan set, they were finally able to turn to other topics.

  “Any luck with that snot?” Derek asked.

  Mitchell shook his head. “Still waiting on it. Probably going to be several more hours at the least.”

  “Any initial theories?”

  “It definitely came from something living, which I suppose is better than them handing me a canister of industrial waste. I don’t think you’re too far off, though. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s mucus, maybe pus. From what? No clue on that one.”

  “Pus, eh?” Francis commented. “Just so long as you don’t share the wealth with the rest of us.”

  “Oh please. I’ve seen some of the shit you eat.”

  Derek tried to steer them back on track. “So how do you want to play this one, Mitch? I think we can handle it out in the field if you want to...”

  “No chance,” the medic replied. “I didn’t like leaving you to your own devices up in Alaska, but those people needed help. There’s no reason to sit here and babysit a monitor.”

  “What about Arthur?” Danni asked, pointing his way. He was almost finished signing the small mountain of paperwork that had been thrown into his lap. “He can keep an eye on things.”

  Mitchell shrugged. “That’ll work. If anything of note pops up, he can phone it in.”

  “All right,” Francis said, clapping his hands. “Let’s gear up and get back to the vacation paradise that is Shilough.”

  “Oh?” Mitchell asked. “That bad?”

  “I think Derek’s afraid his new girlfriend will still be there waiting for us.”

  Derek chuckled. “I was more thinking that guy at the museum.”

  “Exactly. Who did you think I was talking about?”

  That elicited a few laughs at the table until Mitchell asked, “So, what about the museum guy?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Derek replied. “I just got a weird vibe off of him.”

  Francis leaned back and put his feet up on the table. “That’s selling it short. Guy was a certified creep.”

  “It wasn’t just that. Well, okay, it was mostly that, but some of the stuff he told us. I don’t know, but it’s been gnawing at me for some reason.”

  “Like what?” Danni asked.

  “Hard to say. Something about that family photo Lesterfield showed us. I don’t know. Maybe the guy just rubbed me the wrong way.

  Danni leaned forward. “Lesterfield? Isn’t that...?”

  “That guy you looked up? Yeah. Turns out they’re related. Great-grandson or something like that. I just wish he’d have let us film in there. Then maybe I could point my finger to it.”

  Francis stood up. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

  “What?”

  “Let me go get my camera.”

  “I thought he made you turn it off.”

  “No,” Francis replied with a grin. “He made me pretend to turn it off. I kept it recording at my side the entire time. Figured maybe we could use some of it for the show. Amazing how useful a piece of electrical tape over the recording light can be.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Derek could have kissed his cameraman, but instead settled for the big man fetching his gear. They commandeered a meeting room with a TV and played it back. Most of it wasn’t watchable, being shot from the hip and all, but the audio was good and Francis had positioned the lens to get decent shots of some of the more prominent displays.

  “The Leeds legend, the Kallikak family, the Philadelphia hoax,” Ezekiel Lesterfield said on the screen.

  “Stop it there,” Derek said. “Something about that is ringing a bell.”

  “The Philadelphia one?” Francis asked.

  “No. That was garbage. Pretty much a PT Barnum type scam. The Kallikak family. I think I’ve heard of them, but where?”

  “Oh, that one is easy,” Mitchell said. “Another urban legend or scam, depending on how you look at it.”

  “What does it have to do with the Jersey Devil?” Danni asked.

  “Nothing. It was a famous case from around the turn of the century. That’s probably why it sounds familiar. The Kallikaks we
re supposedly this inbred family who lived deep in the Pine Barrens. There were whole books written about their mental and physical deformities from years of inbreeding.”

  “So what came of it?” Derek asked.

  “Nothing. Turned out to be a hoax. All the reports were falsified – photos retouched, et cetera. It was all bullshit. But things like that die hard. Ever since then, Pineys, as they’re called, have had a reputation for being sister-marrying hillbillies.”

  “Because that’s what the world needs,” Danni replied with a sigh. “More stereotypes.”

  “Hold on,” Francis said. “It might not be too far off the mark. I mean, hell, you saw that family photo, Derek. You can’t tell me that Lesterfield doesn’t have some kissing cousins in his family tree.”

  “That’s not nice, Frank.”

  “Screw nice,” the big man said. “See for yourself.” He touched the controls on the camera and the image fast-forwarded to Lesterfield telling them about his ancestor’s exorcism. “Come on, I know I got it.” The camera swayed back and forth trying to center on a picture hanging on the wall. It was hard to see much, but then it came into focus and, for a brief moment, the image was clearly captured on the screen. “There!” He backed up a second or two and hit pause. “I present to you the Lesterfields, a family for whom high definition is not particularly kind.”

  Before Derek could say anything, Danni leaned forward. “Whoa. And I thought Jedediah was kind of ugly.”

  “Apparently his kids took after his side of the family.”

  “I’m not sure that’s the case.” Danni pointed out the woman standing next to the reverend. “Those two could be fraternal twins.”

  “That’s Sarah,” Francis said.

  “Doing your homework, Frank?” Mitchell replied with a grin. “And here I thought you were allergic to research.”

  The cameraman flipped him off. “Easy to remember, trust me on this.”

  Derek turned to the others and nodded. “Yeah. They definitely seem to have a thing for that name.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Despite Francis’s foresight, there were no immediate answers to whatever had been nagging Derek.

  Sadly, they didn’t have a great deal of time to mull it over. Mitchell requested a printout of the screen capture so they could look it over again when they had a few moments to spare. However, daylight was burning and they needed to get out into the woods.

  It was agreed that Eric and two of his men would come along. So as to avoid any further issues, Derek agreed to let them ride in the team’s SUVs. However, once in Shilough, the security director and his people would remain with the vehicles while Derek’s team rode into the woods and set up their base camp, keeping in touch via long range walkie-talkies.

  The drive to Shilough was slow going at first, but once they got off Route 206, traffic lightened considerably. Though they hadn’t seen too many people during their first visit to the small town, that didn’t mean they hadn’t been noticed. As a result, just to be on the safe side, Derek ordered their vehicles stopped and the ATVs unloaded before they reached the town proper. There was no point in attracting more attention than their two hulking black SUVs already would. He just had to hope that Eric would behave himself and not do anything that would cause a scene.

  There wasn’t much he could do about that once they were off on the hunt, though, assuming it even was a hunt. Derek still wasn’t convinced they would find anything more interesting than mud and trees by the end of the night.

  Mitchell gave a quick call back to the lab, confirmed with Arthur that the results from their samples were still pending, then they loaded up and headed out.

  They backtracked about a quarter of a mile until they found the turn-off for Swamp Forge Road. They followed it for another mile before coming upon a small trail that their GPS told them matched the one that the AEP team had followed while searching for John and Sophie Guiterrez.

  The difference now, though, was that the majority of their gear was far less friendly to any rogue creatures that happened to cross their paths.

  Once the forest and surrounding bog land began to get too thick for even the ATVs, Derek ordered his team to look for a suitable clearing. Roughly an hour later, they finished setting up their gear, including trail cams and trip-wired sensors that would serve as an early warning should anything breach their perimeter.

  Camp set, guns loaded, and radios checked, the group set out into the ever-darkening woods. The hunt was on.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Anything?” Derek asked, although from his tone, it was obvious what he expected the answer to be.

  “Pretty sure it’s a bear. Small one at that,” Danni said, examining the tracks in the mud. “Half-grown cub probably.”

  “Oh no, not that,” Francis replied with mock horror.

  Mitchell let out a laugh. “Dickhead.”

  Francis turned to him and held out his arms. “Hold me.”

  “All right, calm down,” Derek said. “If there actually is anything out there, we’re going to send it running for the hills with all the noise we’re making.”

  “If,” Danni echoed.

  “We all knew what we were signing up for.”

  She nodded and continued to lead the way slowly forward.

  “Anything on the thermal, Mitch?”

  “I think I might see a few squirrels.”

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  It was nearing midnight. The group had been covering an ever-widening circle from the spot where John and Sophie Guiterrez had supposedly disappeared. Unfortunately, they’d found precious little so far that was out of the ordinary.

  There was no doubt the woods were very active. They found signs and spoor from multiple species, just no monsters. Derek tried reassuring the group that the trail was simply cold and that they needed to put in their due diligence regardless, but discipline had been waning the last hour or so. They were wet and muddy, and their mood wasn’t helped by Eric Zeist’s constant interruptions, demanding continual progress updates as if that would make their search go faster.

  Finally, Derek had initiated radio silence, telling Eric that they had maybe spotted something interesting and were going to investigate.

  It had bought them a small period of peace, but the damage was done. His team was already debating where they should grab breakfast rather than staying focused. Even he had to admit that keeping them on task was more out of habit than any sense of urgency. He felt bad for Julia, but more and more began to wonder if perhaps some other, more easily explained, accident had befallen her sister and brother-in-law. “Hey, Mitch.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What do you think about asking whether we can get a look at John Guiterrez’s remains?”

  “You thinking what I am? Maybe we can figure out what happened to him without traipsing around in these woods until the good governor decides he’s had enough of us?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “They might already have a coroner’s report that we can look at.”

  “Good idea. Assuming, that is, Yarlberg didn’t force them to list the cause of death as old age.” Mitchell chuckled softly, then Derek added, “Okay, sounds like maybe we finally have a task for our friends back in Shilough.”

  Derek slid his earpiece in and activated the radio by his side. “Eric, are you there? This is Derek, over.”

  Silence greeted him.

  “Asshole probably fell asleep,” Danni said, standing up from where she’d been checking some more tracks.

  “Eric are you there? Over,” Derek repeated, wondering whether Danni was right. If so, he wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or ticked off.

  “Bob Hernandez here,” one of Zeist’s men answered.

  “Where’s Eric?”

  “He’s taking a piss.”

  “Thanks for the info. When he finishes, please have him radio me.”

  “Will do. Out.”
<
br />   “Sounds like a plan to me,” Francis said. “Time to water the bushes.” He shouldered his rifle and stepped off into the trees.

  “Watch your footing,” Derek called after him. “I don’t want to have to pull your ass out of a bog.” He heard a chuffing sound from somewhere behind him. “Gesundheit.”

  “Huh?” Mitchell asked.

  Just then, the radio squawked to life in Derek’s ear. “Zeist here. Did you find anything?”

  Derek turned off his earpiece and lifted up the radio so Mitchell could listen in. “Not yet.”

  “Then why...?”

  “A request,” Derek interrupted. “We need access to John Guiterrez’s body, or at least the medical report.”

  “John who?” Eric asked, sounding perturbed.

  “The empathy on that one is astounding,” Mitchell whispered.

  Derek waved him silent, then explained, “He’s that AEP worker who went missing. The one that Donald Krychech’s men found.”

  “Oh, the stiff?”

  Derek and Mitchell shared a glance, and then he replied through gritted teeth, “Yes, the man who was found.”

  “I don’t think there is one.”

  “What?”

  “A report, I mean. The governor ordered his remains cremated. I can ask, but I haven’t heard of any...”

  Derek switched off the radio. “Son of a bitch!”

  “Took the words right out of my mouth,” Mitchell said. “How the fuck can he do that to this poor guy’s family?”

  Derek didn’t try to disguise the disgust in his voice. “Wasn’t there a paper published a while back that said sociopaths tended to gravitate toward positions of power, like politics?”

  “If there wasn’t, there should be.”

  Derek double-checked to make sure the radio was off, then said, “That reporter from yesterday, remember her?”