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Zikabar hurried down another corridor to yet another conference room, reaching it as the agent at the front began talking. Going over the now even dozen cardinal murders across eight countries. With her an overweight badger added details, his accent placed him as being from Nigeria, so he was their Interpol liaison.

The man at the table next to the one Zee sat at glanced at him, then looked at again, muzzle hanging open. Zee smiled at him. He never got tired of the reaction his bright ensembles engendered. Today he has a Maya blue shirt under a Tuscany jacket and lavender tie. Nothing too bold, this was Quantico, after all.

What he was getting tired of was all the running around he'd been doing since getting up in the morning. The last time he's did this much running outside of a case was the forensic conference he and Marcus had attended in Vegas. And he'd had Marcus to make the nights worth enduring the day. This time Marcus was still in Denver.

"So," a woman asked in the front. "Are we thinking these are the work of one person? One group? Or is this one of the most morbid cast of coincidental timing?"

"It can not be one person," the badger replied. A map appeared on the screen with twelve locations with the times of the death indicated for each. The badger highlighted two of them. "These happened too close together for any one person to be able to commit them. The most likely scenario is that we are dealing with a group, possibly fathers or siblings of victims. As you saw in the dossier, on ten of the death forensic investigations of the victims' internet lives shows links to known pedophiles sites. We also retrieved pictures and video's in hidden folders on their computer and decentralized storage accounts."

"And the similarities in the injuries speak to a ritualized killing," the FBI agent added.

Groans sounded, but her words bugged Zee and he brought up the pictures of the dead cardinals, slowly going through them as she spoke again.

"Ritualized doesn't mean we're dealing with some occult group. Just that the perpetrators created a method and each is using it. Which is why each death is so similar."

Zikabar hadn't considered ritual. No, he'd thought about it, but had dismissed it, because like with the others, it brought visions of cults and mystical junk, but because he knew magic was real, he'd found himself jumping to the conclusion it was involved almost anytime something about a case felt odd. So the instant he'd thought 'magic' he's dismissed it. Now he forced himself to consider it.

Cardinals meant the Catholic Church to everyone else, but he knew there was another possibility. Could they be members of the Gray Church? Were the deaths an attack by one of the magical factions? Retributions for how the Gray Church tried to control what they were allowed to do?

Finding out magic was real had been exciting at first. Now all it seemed to do was add a layer of cases that complicated things if he let himself consider them too much.

Still, he should at least confirm one aspect. He sent Fred a message asking if someone could magically travel five thousand miles in three hours. The lion was Denton's expert on magic and had yet to tell Zee to stop messaging him anytime the deer had a question.

"How many people do you think are involved?"

The badger and groundhog looked at one another. Whatever conclusion they'd reached, they didn't like.

"The perpetrators are careful to stick to the ritual as much as anyone can, so it makes it difficult to tell them apart at first examination. They also use the same tool. A narrow double-sided blade. We now know it has a guard, since one of the persons wasn't as careful with the killing strike and left an impression of it on the flesh. Unfortunately we haven't matched it to a specific model yet."

"As for the question of how many people are involved," the badger continued. "Minute deviations in the way the cuts were made indicates there are four killers. The first three kills, in the United States, were by the same person. The next two by one different killer, the next four by that second killer as well as a new one. The last three were by one of them each, the first killer seems to have gone inactive. He may be the mastermind behind the spree, having trained the others and now letting them continue his mission, for lack of a better word."

"What is that initial killer doing then? Resting? Enjoying the chaos this is going to cause?"

Zee went back to his notes, who had committed which kill was new information. He looked at the times of death for the initial three. Something about them nagged at him, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

"No," the groundhog said. "The best profile we have on the man behind this is that he's someone who will remain active, if not directly, then in recruiting and training more people."

"Do the profilers have anything else?"

"I'll remind you profiling isn't a science, it's not the answer to this case, just something to help us narrow the search," she said, then continued. "They believe this man is middle age, possibly as young as his mid-thirties. He was abused by someone of power within the church. That he targets cardinals indicates that person was highly placed in his local church. He's Catholic, but might not be practicing, due to what happened to him. He's charismatic, but not public. He isn't doing this for fame, or infamy. This is personal to him. He's more rational than your average serial killer, which is how he can recruit other pedophile victims, and that makes him extremely dangerous, because he won't get sloppy. We're going to have to count on one of his recruits doing that and then tracing that link back to the man behind it."

The profile they gave was an amalgam of what the half dozen top-ranking profilers had reported. The one thing they hadn't mentioned was that half of them, Marcus included, had added a note that there was a strong indication the scenes had been staged, so the validity of the resulting profile was dependent on determining which aspect was 'real' and which part was 'fabricated'.

"Do you have a species for us?"

"Profiling doesn't do that," the badger said, "You're going to want to talk to forensic science for what evidence they've found to point to species."

"Special Agent Malhotra?" the groundhog called, "I believe your office has had the most time with that aspect?"

"It's Malhotra Bodenman," Zee corrected as he stood. He pulled up the file on his phone. "We have. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, the person behind these crimes is methodical. He, or she, hasn't--"

"Statistically, serial killers are male," the badger cut him off.

"Statistically, serial killers work alone." Zee glared at the man. "I am not saying you are wrong, but I think that until we have concrete evidence to who the killers are, assuming gender on any of them will hinder us. And we have no evidence as to the species, let alone the gender. In fact, as far as evidence is concerned, the killer wasn't there. We have the result of his act, but no trace of him, or her. Based on the time frame given by the cleaning staff who found that first body, there's only a one hour window during which the man was killed, this speaks to having a team working with him to clean any traces he was there." He kept himself from added, 'and staging the scene'. "My forensic team will be part of the teleconference in two hours, they'll be in a better position to answer specific questions."

"Will one of them explain how you get away with dressing like that?"

A male voice asked.

"Yes, they will," Zee answered as he sat, grinning.

His phone buzzed before he put it away and he glanced at it, expecting Fred's answer. Instead the message was from Marcus. 'Edward has been kidnapped by the twins.'

Zee was out of the room, phone to his head. "Marcus, tell me that was the worst joke you could come up with."

"I'm afraid not."

"Dear God, how is Denton handling it?"

"I don't know, he's blocking all incoming messages, which isn't a good sign."

"I'm heading back now. If the twins are involved, nothing good will come of it. Is there anyone you can tell the basement team without giving away too much? They should probably go over the scene."

"The police are still crawling over it, with Detective Cooper leading the charge. She isn't going to let us barge in."

"Kidnappings are our purview."

"If they cross state lines. As of now, we don't know they have."

"I'll be there in a few hours, I will take sense into that woman."

"Zee, the conference--"

"Can go fuck itself. This is Denton's son. What do you think Denton would do if it was our child that was missing?"

"He'd turned the city upside down, but--"

"There you go. I will do no less for him."

"But he isn't the Special Agent in Charge for the FBI's Denver office. You are. Your responsibilities go beyond one man."

"Marcus, this is Denton!"

"I know. And I know how you-- You know how much I care for him. But I am putting that aside and looking at the larger picture. You are part of a task force looking to apprehend a group of world-spanning serial killers."

"Who are going after pedophiles," Zee spat.

"Zikabar!" Marcus admonished him. "We do not judge, we protect."

Zee sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm in such a state, it's--"

"I know."

"Ah fuck," Zee whispered on seeing the beagle in the charcoal suit exit a room and set his sight on him.

"What's wrong?"

"Director Patterson just saw me and his heading in my direction. I need to let you go."

"Zee, please watch your tongue when you speak with him. I would hate for you to end up running the basement team from the basement."

Zee bit his lower lip. "I will do my best. I love you."

"And I love you too."

"Director," Zee greeted the other man as he put his phone away.

"Zikabar, I'm glad I caught you. I need you to--"

"I need to leave."

"Excuse me?"

"My best friend's son has been kidnapped. I have to go and assist in his rescue."

"Is no one handling that already?"

"The police are, but they--"

"Yes?" the beagle asked, his tone telling him to be careful.

Zee realized what he was about to say. "He's my best friend, sir. I can't let him go through this with me there to comfort him."

"Are you the only friend he has?"

"Of course not, Denton is one of the most loved man I know, next only to my husband."

"Then he has people already looking after him."

"Yes, but--"

"Agent Malhotra Bodenman, we are currently hunting down a group of men who seem determined to kill as many high ranking cardinals as they can."

"You mean a bishop, sir." Zee cursed himself for the correction. He needed to convince the director to let him leave, not banter about word definition.

"Excuse me?"

"A high ranking cardinal is a bishop, but as of yet, not one of them has been a victim."

"I see." The beagle placed a hand on Zee's shoulder. "Zikabar, this is why I need you here, leading the charge. You have an eye for detail, like the fact there are even bishops in the cardinals."

"But Denton needs me."

"Do you trust your people? Your husband?"

"Of course I do," Zee answered, indignant, "what sort of question is that?"

"Then them, trust him, to help your friend, while you help those cardinals who are at risk of becoming victims of these killers."

Zee tried to find a valid protest, but finally closed his muzzle. "Very well, I will stay for the rest of the conference, but, sir, I will not be taking the lead."

"Zikabar, think about what this will do to your career."

Zee tilted an ear. "With all due respect, sir, I did not become an FBI agent to climb the echelons of power. I did do to help people. If this decision means I will never be more than the Special Agent in Charge of the Denver Office, I am quite comfortable with that."

The beagle searched the deer's eyes. "Alright, I can respect that, and we can talk about the role you'll play in the task force as the conference progresses. Does that sound fair to you?"

It sounds like a promise to browbeat me into agreeing, Zee thought. "It does, sir." Just be ready to learn that what Zikabar wants, Zikabar gets, sir.