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Atlas Missing - Part 4

When I got home I pulled up yesterday's newspaper's headlines. I scrolled through and stopped when I saw one particular article. A young man had been found in a shallow grave. They didn't say how he died but I knew who was responsible. LaShonda Marcus was #anathema to me.

***

I'd been reading about an increase in serial murders all over the country and I was pretty sure that the majority of them were being committed by the former cult members of Pandora's Children. It was becoming a #pandemic the likes of which law enforcement had never seen.

***

At least I knew where I was going to be sent. Thinking about that made me think about leaving the Fort Worth Police Department. I hadn't been smart about it and kind of forced them to #ostracize me. I'd been mad at the time, but life was too short, and I'd made amends.

***

I'd apologized to the captain and the rest of the detectives on the team because I have #empathy and I could tell I'd wronged them.

I went to sleep knowing that tomorrow would be the start of a long ordeal trying to catch a serial killer we'd let slip through our grasp.

***

I had a crazy dream (I blame it on pepperoni) in which I caused a #schism within the FBI because of the way I caught killers and started my own law enforcement agency, the Thibodeaux Department of Law Enforcement, but that's way too narcissistic, and I'm not like that.

***

I woke up and saw that my girlfriend had left me an affirmation #poem on the bathroom mirror. It was short and sweet.

You're always my superhero
The baddies will always be zero
You will catch them no matter what
Whether outside it is cold or hot

I smiled as I got ready.

***

"Morning, Annie," Jaci said as we met at the front entrance. "You ready?"

"Morning, Jax. I'm as ready as I can be."

"Good. Don't worry about the section chief. He's a bit of a #dinosaur when it comes to female agents but he means well."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

***

"It means that he thinks we should still be in the kitchen with babies on the hips."

I shuddered. "He's not in the same #galaxy, let alone on the same planet, as the rest of us. How does anyone put up with him?"

"They don't have much interaction with him day-to-day."

***

"Thank goodness for that," I said. "I wouldn't put up with it."

She chuckled. "Come on, let me get you a cup of coffee before you meet with the section chief."

"Is it good coffee?"

"#Nectar of the Gods," she answered. "They have some very fine coffee available here."

***

The coffee was exactly as described. The caffeine boost felt like an #exorcism of lethargy and it helped me get ready for the day ahead. It only took a few minutes to go through the final steps of employment, get my credentials, and then head upstairs for my briefing.

***

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