The Blood Eagle in the Big Easy by K. A. Lange Page B

special about that in the least. I think you might be losing your touch...” She rolled her eyes and cut me off before I had a chance to finish a zinger I had been waiting to use for weeks.
    She pointed at her tablet. “If you were reading the file that I sent to you a couple of minutes ago you would have already found the coup de gras!” But since you are waiting for me to spoon feed you I guess I should continue.” I bowed at her magnanimous gesture and waved for her to continue. “You should note I never said he always practiced here in the city. In the early 80’s he had a satellite office in Maine which didn’t close down until 1993.”
    That caught my attention, hitting me like a ton of bricks. This man was possibly one of the five cult members that got away. The scumbag always had ties to the very city I lived in and I never caught wind of it. Maybe I was the one losing my touch.  “Kira can you pull all the records for both the city in Maine and New Orleans to see if we have any other people in common? You may have found the common thread that has always eluded us till now.”
    Kira beamed at my praise. “It is already underway. It will take a bit longer than normal since the records in Maine may be hard to acquire. It would seem that someone burned most of the city to the ground. For the life of me I don’t have a clue who that could have been. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, do you?”
    I squirmed uncomfortably as I thought about the possibility of losing our best lead due to something I did twenty years ago. “Those were trying times. I admit that I might have gotten a little carried away in my haste to eliminate the enemy.”
    She was clearly enjoying my discomfort as she chuckled at how I was trying to downplay my zealous pursuit of the enemy. “ You think?” She held her side as she laughed. “You? You would never get carried away in your haste to it eliminate the enemy.”
    As much as I hated to admit it she had a point. “What are you trying to say?”
    “I dunno?” She giggled. “You’re trigger happy? Perhaps even a bit of a firebug at times.” She was nearly in tears at this point. “You make the term shoot first and ask questions later feel inadequate on a good day.”
    I waved her off. “Like you have any room to talk.”
    She smirked. “Where do you think I learned it?” As she pointed at me.
    “Fine I surrender.” Throwing my hands up I conceded her point. “Just find something we can use and all kidding aside thanks, you did a great job.”
    Something in my voice must have alerted Kira as she looked at me for a moment, her expression turning somber. “Are you feeling alright?”
    I shrugged. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping. The dream is back but this time there are more details in it.”
    Kira leaned forward in her seat, as her full of pain and worry. “Like what?”
    “There’s fire and smoke and I swear I think I hear someone calling to me.” The words left me as a mere whisper and I wasn’t about to tell her what I heard.
    Her forehead furrowed slightly as she spoke softly. “You don’t think it’s the “other thing” do you?”
    Leaning against my forearms I drew strength from feeling something solid underneath me. “Nah that hasn’t changed. That’s just an open frequency with a repeating signal of some sort every two weeks.”
    “At least it’s consistent I suppose. You will let me know if anything changes right?” Kira inquired.
    Holding up three fingers on my right hand like one of those scouts I gave her my most serious look. “I promise.”
    Let me explain. About a year ago I started hearing something strange that no one else could hear. I couldn't figure out what it was on my own so I had my firm's staff doctor run an MRI. I am not exactly partial to lending my body to the local medical facilities for several reasons, privacy being among them. Since the staff doctor is also my assistant Kira, I was fairly secure in the fact that