"Rise and shine, princess." A mocking voice was repeating itself. Each time accompanied by a light backhand to the face. I was starting to hate waking up even more than I already did.

"He's finally coming to."

"Check the bindings." A second voice, from a bit further away.

"They're solid."

Both arms were bound behind me and my legs tied together. They had me trussed up, all that was missing was the fire and roasting pole. Both eyes watered as I tried to speak. Bastards had tapped my mouth shut. There was also a blindfold across my eyes. The open air mixed with splashes of sunshine told me I was in the back of the vehicle. Our ride was noisy and bounced around from ditches in the road. Beneath me I could feel the rows of bumps that went with a truck bed.

I checked my bearings against home. We were headed south, towards my apartment and away from my target. That made the last few days of my life pointless. Hopefully my stuff was with me. The cross hung under my shirt but my duffle bag wasn't obvious. I would be pissed if a return trip to the depths of those woods was required.

A firm hand gripped under my jaw, squeezing painfully.

"How's your hearing, nod if you understand me."  A male voice said.

I nodded.

"Yeah, he's awake."

This whole mess was turning into some sort of karmic revenge. Now I was being kidnapped. Normally things didn't work that way. Struggling was useless with this setup. Maybe they would explain. Worst case they might hit me with that chittering item again. Even money said it was a taser.

I mumbled through the tape a bit. Maybe he understood 'where are we going?' in muffled tones.

"He's trying to talk, what do you think?"

"Un-tape it, not like he can yell for help out here." The man in the back of the truck chuckled, then yanked the tape off, leaving my face sore. I licked my lips slowly, hoping they hadn't cracked. Torn hairs wasn't an issue, five days of camping had resulted in zero beard growth.  Genetics were against me on that front.

"Where are we going?"

"You're being evicted for loitering."

"Maybe north instead? The elf is that way." It would be too much to hope that they would get me closer to my destination.

"Negative, orders are you exit where you came in." The other voice, from inside the truck. It sounded like he was yelling out through a tiny sliding door.

"And the blindfold?" Or duct tape, or taser. Trussing. Lack of a eviction notice. An endless list of complains passed through my head.

"For our protection. No need to let a tracker get anything on us in case they entertain thoughts of petty revenge."

At least they were taking me out the quick way. If they trussed and blindfolded me through three days of woods I might just have to shoot myself. Fucking elves. Why couldn't they hide in a run down apartment a few blocks away? Why did they always run into the deepest tree line they could find?

"At least you're civil." Was my final response.

"Sure, we're not inhuman."

I didn't need the blindfold removed to hear his mocking smile at that comment. There was another clicking noise and blackness overtook me. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that I hadn't had much to eat or drink for three days. Coming to the second time was much more pleasant.  They had propped me upright and any traces of drool I had must have been wiped clean.

Breakfast was the first thing I really noticed. The food smelled overwhelmingly sweet. Buttered up pancakes with bottled syrup slathered all over them. Next to that was a pile of eggs with melted cheese and diced onions. A fork full of food was in my mouth before the man sitting across from me even registered.

He looked familiar, at least from the neck up. The waist downward was confusing but welcome. This time the man was clothed. Graying bits of hair combined with a sun worn face had painted an identical picture to the man from the forest.  An older fellow who had held my life in his hands.

"Keep eating." He nodded at the food in front of me.

I made it a personal challenge to devour the food. Minutes later a woefully empty plate sat between us. We stared at each other for a moment before I sighed and shifted in my chair. The man was so upright in his posture it made me want either slouch as an attempt to balance, or sit up straighter.

"Eviction?" I broke the silence first.

"I had a few of my boys scout the area ahead and behind you the entire way. There was no elf." The older man was calm.

"There was one, trust me, I would never have gone into those woods otherwise." I said.

"I don't trust you Jay, never have. Never will. Boy like you works in entirely the wrong business." From my peripherals it was obvious he was staring at me.

"How do you know me?"

"Know of Jay, know of. Very few trackers in the world. Just as rare on both sides of the law." Daniel had told me before that the number of trackers in this sector fit on one hand. Out of those he only had reliable access to one.  Go me.

"Mmmhh." I said.

"The boys can't handle a man like you in our woods for so long. They get upset."

I studied the man again, crossed my arms and leaned back. There was an impression that our paths had crossed at least once. I could honestly say we had never met before a few nights ago. At least not to my memory.

"Where you going with this?" I asked.

"Keep your nose out of my trees."

"Fine." The elf was too deep for me. I would have to look again once I finished with this man. Whatever it was he was hiding, or protecting, could sit there and rot for all I cared. It wasn't worth pissing off a pack of wolves. It also wasn't worth asking about, or I might start getting nosy.

The other man stood up to leave.

"Who am I thanking for breakfast?" Now was a good time as any to fish for a name. The older figure didn't smile, didn't nod, didn't even give me half a smirk.

"Not me, your money paid for it."

A twenty laid on the table over the bill, just enough to cover the food I scarfed down, and the orange juice the other man had drank. By the time I realized what he meant there was no chance of following him. My duffle bag was sitting calmly by the table. I scanned through it briefly and found they left my things alone and in one place. Outside the restaurant was a working pay phone. I pulled out Daniel's phone number from the card he had given me. My head hung against the rain cover for a minute before dialing my friend.

"Agent Daniel Crumfield speaking." Crisp, no hint of the surfer accent.

"It's secret agent Jay Fields."

"Hey man, hold on." There it was. Professional Daniel switched to old friend Daniel in just four words.

The phone grew muffled for a moment, but I could hear a muffled set of words. It sounded like he was asking someone to stay still. Maybe, hard to hear through a hand. There was another noise in the background I could almost place. A sound that was extremely familiar to me, but was out of place when I pictured Daniel. The world's noisiest door creaked through the phone then slammed shut.

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"Alright, hard to hear myself think in there."

"Been there." I said.

"Anyway man, welcome back to earth, what's the word? You've been off grid for awhile." He sounded hopeful. Too bad I was about to dash that.

"Had a lead. Didn't work." Admitting to my friend exactly what happened was out. I'd ditched him to chase an elf, then failed miserably.

"Anything I can help with?"

"No. Unless you're willing to take on a pack." I answered. There was a pause of held breath.

"Maybe, man. What're we working with?" Daniel said. It was my turn to pause while I considered exactly to say. Last time we spoke I had been trying to escape from the Agent. My clever brain said sneaking away to follow an elf would be worthwhile. The whole Lord prospect had grown rather difficult to look into.

"Not sure. Probably nothing. Your elf has gone a ways north, over sixty miles or so." I said. Daniel deserved some information.

"North?" He asked.

"North. Lot of woods out that way." There was a clever comment about needles and haystacks, which wasn't that hard compared to elves in a forests.

"No shit."

My recent experiences had stirred up wariness. This entire thing was in a realm that felt dangerous. Playing on the freeway scary. Nagging in the back of my brain said it could only get worse. One hand scratched at a wrist absently.

"I'm going to catch a bus home." I said.

"I'll be done soon if you want a ride back." There was a snap of rubber in the background, like gloves coming off.

"You sure?"

"Don't worry, I can wrap up this job any time I want to man. I'm only working my resources on another case." Daniel sounded upset, or pleased. The two emotions were hard for me to tell apart.

The way he spoke stirred up strange imagery. Spying on Daniel with my abilities hadn't been a good idea for years. We had been friends long enough that he almost knew when I tried. Still, I got a flash of him standing there, a fresh hand towel in one hand, wiping blood off his fingers while sighing.

Nonsense. Daniel worked for Western Sector, but he was a desk jockey, not a field Agent. That scene was more my world then his. Sometimes people didn't pay. Sometimes a gentle reminder was needed to solve things. Julianne hadn't given me anything big since I had returned, she seemed to be testing the waters.

I gave the Agent my location. Then my bag and I went to find a bathroom and change out of some well worn clothes. An hour later Daniel rolled up and honked. His clothes were as spotless as ever, and despite my mental ramblings I couldn't help but check over for spots of blood. Nothing stood out against the black suit.

"Tell me about elves, because this makes no sense." I started.

"You know as much as anyone. We're all in the same sector, half of us are raised down the street from a clan."

"This one isn't right." I protested. Daniel paused to consider a few things.

"Well, it's not normal, no." He admitted.

"You got anything on this guy?"

"Maybe. What set you off, man? Then I'll know where to start." He said. Give a little to get a little, right? I mulled it over a little bit from the back seat, the front was perpetually crowded out by files and Daniel's computer.

"Just feels off. Any government trackers ever tried elves?" I settled on being vague.

"A few times."

"Problems?"

"A few times." Came the answer a second time.

"Maybe it's like those."

"I'll have to see if I can get a look at the files, but management may wonder why I'm looking into tracker files for this. Your call if you want me to risk it." Daniel said. I could feel his finger rubbing carefully back and forth on the steering wheel. My thoughts were mostly elsewhere.

If other Sector members thought Daniel had access to a tracker then I would be subject to much unwanted attention. That tactic was completely out. I did not want to deal with any sort of catch up paperwork or jail time. Not once they started piecing my history together.

"No thanks. I'll stay anonymous."

"Thought you might." I could see Daniel's smirk in the rear view mirror. Jerk, probably thought my aversion to being tracked by the government was funny. With my ass sitting in a government car, with a government Agent, on a government case. Maybe there was some silliness there.

The things I do for friends.

"Anyway, I'll look around, quietly, see if there's anything off about this guy. But if you don't like the results, remember,"

I joined him as he parroted his favorite saying, the one he used when things were out of his immediate control.

"Don't shoot the messenger." He smiled at the end of it, but it almost seemed forced. "Anyway man," He picked back up. "I'll look."

I nodded. "Please, nothing about this seems normal."

"Man, you said that weeks ago, but the entire case is like that. You should see some of the stuff in the file." He said.

"I thought he was just some rich kid?"

"Rich young man, but no, there's always more." Daniel pulled out a folder and shook it at me.

"Like?" I asked.  The folder in his hands meant jack to me.  Too many words.  Too much data hurt my head just to read.

"What else? His parents blamed a cult that doesn't exist." Daniel said.

"Officially or unofficially doesn't exist?"

"Well you know us government types, we like to hide the interesting things from each other. The file and databases come up dead, so I'm hoping doesn't exist period."

"A cult, seriously?"

"Probably not. Cults typically attract people with certain personalities, operate in sects, have a charismatic leader. That kind of stuff. Plus I doubt they'd let me keep this case if it was a real cult." There was some anger in his voice at that. Like Daniel resented not being good enough for the big jobs.

"Why's that?" I regretted asking right away.

"Some old geezer upstairs would be printing the case file on goose feathers for a fuck pillow, they have a real hard on for that stuff." Daniel snuck the mental image into my brain before I could escape.

"Hell. I can't believe your mind."

"What man? You think the foul minds of the world only live in the ghettos and seedy strip clubs? This is reality, there's fucked up shit on every block." He responded.

I had to give him that. Daniel smirked again and kept on driving. My mind was already elsewhere. Maybe I could try another route with my questioning. There were a few elves frequenting the bar lately. They might answer an idle question or two.  One hand absently itched at my wrist. I caught Daniel staring and just shrugged. He frowned but said nothing.