Jay grabbed Jamie’s wrist, trying to pull him along while running crouched towards the road and away from the row of townhomes. Jamie was pulled to the side and scraped his knee on the cold, wet asphalt, while trying to get up and follow the madman pulling him and let out a pained “ow.” They made it to the shallow ditch full of water separating the dark parking lot from the road in a few seconds. Jamie could feel the muddy bottom between his toes and thought he could make out the old man from before shouting into the storm. They were finishing crossing the road with Jay having slowed slightly, still crouched and tugging Jamie’s wrist, when a shot rang out through the air.

Jay crouched lower and started down the embankment on the other side of the road that led down towards the wooded edge of a park. The shot had startled Jamie, causing him to look back. Between looking back, the sharp angle down the embankment, and Jay’s constant tug, it was a lost cause. Jamie went down the slick hill in a tumble, causing Jay to let go of him. Head over heels, Jamie tumbled down, coming to a stop on his back, laying in a few inches of muddy water, staring up into the dark sky.

“Get up.” The hooded form of Jay quickly appearing over Jamie’s dazed face. “We need to find better cover.” He was crouched onto one knee, pivoting his body to glance in each direction and back up the embankment.

“What?” Jamie uttered, lifting his head slightly out of the muck he was in with a squelch, trying to blink the confusion away.

“Idiot!” Jay shouted, grabbing under Jamie’s armpit to pull him into a sitting position. “I said get up. We need to get outta here.”

Jamie started to stand, and as soon as he had his feet under him, he was again being pulled along towards the wooded park. The two were illuminated briefly as a car drove slowly on the road they had crossed. One crouched close to the ground and clad in black, the other with a muddy pair of boxers stumbling behind. Just as quickly as the light shown out from the car’s headlights above them, it was gone, throwing them into the dark again. Fortunately, it was enough time that Jamie ducked lower so he could clear the lowest branches of the trees they were about to enter. Even ducking, Jamie could feel branches slap at him as they entered the wooded area. Then pine needles swiped at his right. A branch under his foot almost put him off balance, and a rock caused him to misstep, but Jay was going slower and holding tighter. Finally, they reached some waist high bushes that signaled the end of the small, wooded area that bordered the park.

“Sit down.” Jay said, letting go and pointing at a spot between two poorly trimmed bushes.

Jamie glanced down, seeing barely enough room to walk between the bushes Jay was pointing at, let alone sit.

“Can’t I just go sit on the bench?” Jamie asked while pointing down the sidewalk.

“No. Anyone can see you if you’re sitting on a bench. And no one has a good reason to be sitting on a bench, in a park, at midnight, in a storm, covered in mud, and half naked. So no, you cannot just go sit on the bench. You can sit down between the two bushes like I said.” Jay finished exasperatedly. “I have to call back in, thanks to you.” He waved his phone.

Jamie stared at him for a moment before deciding it was probably best to just do what his angry doppelganger said at this point. He began to make his way through the thicket to where Jay had pointed and sat down in the small space available. As he lowered himself down, he could feel some twigs break and little scratches from all directions. Still better than being shot by that electric net, he thought to himself.

Jay had followed in shortly after, going down to his knee while pulling out the phone. Jamie couldn’t hear any of the conversation that still couldn’t have lasted more than a minute.

“Okay. Our ride is on the way. If you can just not screw up for the next thirty minutes we’ll be on our way to the PD.” Jay said, glancing down at the mouse in the cylinder that had somehow stayed in his hand this whole time. “Mister Squeck, I apologize about the issues while under my care. The PD will be here shortly. Once we reach their branch, I will turn you over to their custody.” While neither Jay or Jamie could make it out, the mouse crossed its arms and leaned back against the wall.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

After what felt like an hour Jay’s phone lit up with a message. Their ride was here.

“Stay here. Don’t move. Don’t talk. Don’t do anything until I signal. When I do, get up and hurry over.” Jay said to Jamie before standing up and making his way onto the sidewalk.

Wonder what the signal is, Jamie thought, watching Jay standing further down on the sidewalk. There was now a solid mud puddle under him, and a constant drip from the branches above, but fortunately he was protected from most of the rain.

Another few minutes passed by, a figure that appeared to be wearing similar attire to Jay could be seen walking along the sidewalk in their direction. Jay started slowly walking towards the figure, head now dipped down, but glancing around occasionally. They met a bit from where Jamie had stayed hidden.

“Agent Rosineau?” Jay asked.

The figure nodded. “I’m your ride agent Jay.”

With that Jay turned and waved at the bushes Jamie was sitting in.

Guess that’s my cue, Jamie thought while standing up as carefully as he could, his right leg having fallen asleep from sitting in an awkward position so long. Jamie hobbled out of the bushes covered in twigs, mud, pine needles, and cuts. After a few steps barefoot on the rough pebbled sidewalk he thought better of it and began to walk on the dirt next to the path. When he was five yards away the two agents turned and started walking away from him along the sidewalk in the direction that agent Rosineau had approached.

Minutes later the trio reached the parking lot, which had a single black sedan that chirped as agent Rosineau unlocked it. Agent Rosineau headed for the driver’s door while Jay pointed for Jamie to walk to the passenger side, opening the rear passenger door and turning, clearly waiting for Jamie to get in. Jamie climbed into the back seat, barely managing to get his leg in before the door slammed shut and Jay climbed into the front seat.

“I’m agent Rosineau and your ride this evening gents, but feel free to call me Aaron. Should reach main headquarters around breakfast.” The driver said as he pulled his hood down and started up the car, glancing back as Jamie was buckling himself in.

“What do you mean main, why aren’t we going to the Kansas City branch?” Jay asked as he was putting on his seatbelt.

“KC doesn’t want any part of you and sasquatch’s situation.” Aaron said while giving a thumb towards Jamie in the back. “I was on backup last night, so I get to be the one to drive you all to Denver. Think of it this way, you get to be chauffeured all the way back to your home base.” He replied as they started out of the parking lot.

Jamie looked down at himself. He was covered in grime all over, with some spots having actual mud clumps. Pine needles and leaves could be seen in different spots, along with some abrasions and shallow cuts on his exposed skin. Fair enough, he thought.

“Thanks for the ride, I’m Jamie. You mind turning the heat up a bit?”

“Sure thing sasquatch.” Rosineau said as he turned a few knobs on the dash.

Jamie stared out the window as he felt the air warming up, seeing familiar sights pass by as they reached the highway. Leaning back in the seat the chill started to leave him as the adrenaline of the night started to wear off. Twenty minutes later he had dozed off.

Jay had been silently staring ahead when he heard a squeak. Looking down he saw the mouse point to the vent. He sighed and raised the cylinder up to the vent to get more warm air. It was going to be a long ride back, and he was still formally the agent in custody of Mr. Squeck, so he couldn’t rest until they reached main headquarters. To make matters worse, he hadn’t slept much on the stakeout of the townhome or before that. The plan was to capture Mr. Squeck and do a drop off at the Kansas City branch.

Going through the events of the night mentally, Jay tried to figure out how it went south so quickly. He knew he had to apprehend Mr. Squeck, if not he would have been stuck in the SL37 line for another week. It would have given the wily mouse too much chance to escape again. Mr. Squeck already had a reputation and had made more than one branch agent look like a fool, which was why Jay had been sent out from PD’s main headquarters.

Having the mouse stop and stay in one location for more than a few hours was abnormal. Jay had been tracking him for a week and a half and almost lost the suspect more than once. The mouse seemed like it was constantly on the move and had laid more than one false trail. Even as tired as Jay had been, he had realized something fishy was going on. When the mouse seemed to be holed up in a specific outdated townhome on the outskirts of Kansas City, Jay had purposefully avoided looking at any of the occupants coming or going. Aside from pulling blueprints and using a thermal imaging camera, he didn’t investigate the place or area. He didn’t want to be prevented from capturing the tricky mouse for any reason. It had looked like the mouse and the human had each fallen asleep, not moving for hours. With his window closing, he had made his move.

Seeing his SL37 variant, he realized why Mr. Squeck hadn’t left the place. It was standard PD policy that an agent couldn’t attempt interaction with their variants. The mouse had found Jay’s variant in the SL37 line and was hiding out at the variant’s residence so he couldn’t be caught. If Jay had known Jamie was living there, he would have had to abort or call-in other agents, giving Mr. Squeck an opportunity to evade the PD again. He should have just called in another team, but then it would have made transporting Mr. Squeck back to SL36 a pain. He had been sleep deprived and anxious to make it back and had made the wrong decision.

Honestly, he couldn’t blame the Kansas City branch for transporting him to Denver instead of letting him stop in and drop off Mr. Squeck for processing. Causing an outsider to slip between lines was a major issue. Interacting with your variant was about the only thing he could think of that was worse. Well… It had been the only thing he could think of before tonight. Somehow, he had combined the two.

He glanced at the clock and sighed. It was going to be a long few hours to make it back to Denver. Then the real fun would start.

Better text Sam, Jay thought, figuring his wife would want to know he should be home later in the day.

[Hey honey, made it back but had a few hiccups, may be late today. Love you.] He sent, knowing she would see it in the morning.