Friday 3rd of August, 5:13 am
Agent Margolis is awakened by the sound of something hitting her door and the sound of a car driving away.
She sits up, looks around the room and then looks out the window. In the distance a car can be seen driving off down the road. She puts on a nightgown and is about to go outside when she notices something has been slipped under her door. It is Agent Ashford's psych profile, presumably he completed it late last night and slipped a copy under the door. Margolis opens her door, on the doorstep is a small package. She brings it inside and opens it. It contains a Newspaper article, a map of west Virginia (with the county of tucker circled in red texta), a map of tucker (with the town of St. George circled), and a yellow post-it note. The post-it note says "There are people within our government who take an unhealthy interest in such things. I suggest you avoid them."
After a brief look around outside to make sure there was no one about, Margolis heads back inside to shower, dress, and read Ashford's report. Eventually the diner opens for business and she gets breakfast and waits for the others to arrive. Ashford and Carter take there usual morning jog while Striker joins Margolis. Margolis tells Striker about her early morning discovery. Margolis shows Striker the items that came in the mail. Striker reads Ashford's report and calls the Houston police department, requesting that they email a photo of Elaine Braverman to the Phoenix Office. Striker calls Garret and gets yelled at before Garret hangs up on him. The others arrive and read the report and the anonymous mail. Striker goes to check where Macleod has gotten to. After getting no response at the door to Macleod's room he gets a key from reception and goes in. George is nowhere to be found and his car is missing, although his room still contains most of his possessions. Striker calls Hobson to report that Macleod is missing and is informed that late last night Macleod's mother was killed in an automobile accident and that George has gone home to be with his family.
They sit down and discuss their options until an FBI courier arrives. He hands Striker an envelope containing several photos of Elaine Braverman. He hands Agent Margolis an envelope marked "Private and Confidential". It contains a letter of reprimand. Agent Margolis excuses herself saying that she needs to go to her room to do some paperwork. She starts writing a letter of apology.
Striker tries to get a copy of Macleod's Cell Phone records. Agent Ashford goes to his room and sets up his laptop. Agent Carter hears a coyote howl in the car park and goes outside to investigate. Eventually, across the road, he finds some coyote tracks that cross over the tracks from a car pulling away from the side of the road. The coyote tracks cross back and forth over the tyre marks several times before heading down into the ditch at the side of the road and walking in a circle about a metre in diameter. The tracks do not leave the circle. In the center of the circle Carter finds Macleod's FBI badge. While Ashford is informing the others of what he has found Striker gets a call back from the phone company. They can't get Macleod's phone records because the phone company's computer crashed and they have lost the relevant data.
The Agents decide to go and see Sheriff Colorados, since Major Garret is unlikely to be very helpful at the moment. Agent Margolis offers to drive out to Garret's office and attempt to smooth things over. Ashford elects to remain at the motel and continue to research the newspaper article. Margolis rents a car while Striker and Carter drive down to the reservation to speak with Sheriff Colorados. They arrive and discover that Major Garret is with Sheriff Colorados. Striker calls Margolis and informs her of the change in plans that this will cause.
By the time Margolis has arrived Garret has just finished yelling at Striker for losing all the evidence and not keeping him informed of what is going on. They give Garret a copy of Ashford's profile report. He reads it and grudgingly offers some compliments regarding it. They show him the photo of Elaine Braverman and ask if he can get a search started for her. They also mention in passing that Macleod is missing and it might be worth looking for him too. This results in yet another tongue lashing from Garret, "Now you're telling me you've lost one of your own too!?!".
He is somewhat distracted by Carter telling him about the package Margolis received. Garret very carefully takes the papers offered to him by Striker and doesn't notice that Margolis is turning purple with the effort required to stop from reaching out across the table and strangling Carter. Garret asks the Agents if they've got any prints off it as he slides it back across the table with end of his pen. Whatever it was that Garret was thinking about them is confirmed as Margolis picks up the papers with an ungloved hand and says "I haven't had a chance to dust them yet".
Meanwhile Ashford has done some research into the meteor shower in Tucker. He finds many web sites that detail the event including photos and shooting star counts. One site owner claims that the meteor shower was used as cover by the UFOs that mutilated all his cows. Margolis arrives back and takes a cast of the coyote tracks and dusts the package for prints. The coyote is the same as the one at the Begay farm and the Braverman car. The papers from the package are covered in fingerprints and Margolis manages to lift 4 latents of them. Further investigation reveals these prints to be those of Agents Margolis, Striker, Ashford, and Carter. The envelope the papers came in, with the exception of Margolis' prints, is clean.
Striker and Ashford travel out to the Gas'n'go and search the surrounding area for anything that might be buried nearby, their walk in expanding circles takes them some time.
Margolis gets out her laptop and assists Ashford in his Internet related inquiries. They discover that during the same 2 week period that the cattle mutilations occurred in 9 people went missing from Tucker County. Only 1 body was found, hanging from a tree, drained of blood and wrapped in plastic bags. The prime suspect, Mark Tooley, shot himself in the head with a .44 pistol when the police went to arrest him. Human tissue was found in his digestive tract. Police assumed he was working alone. Margolis decides to contact the medical examiner, one Dr Brenton Clark, in the hopes that he will be able to provide her some useful information. Upon following him up it is revealed that he quit his job and moved to Nashville a week after examining the bodies. He was found disembowelled in Nashville shortly afterwards.
Striker and Carter decide that there is nothing to be found outside the service station and proceed to the scene where one of the rental cars was found. They repeat their search.
After some research that doesn't lead anywhere, Margolis changes direction and discovers that 21 homeless people disappeared over a 3 week period in Nashville, shortly after Dr Clark arrived there. The suspect, Father Franklin, who ran a homeless shelter was found by police having committed suicide by disembowelling himself. He had human remains in his stomach. After much flowchart drawing they decide there is about a month's worth of time missing in between Tucker-Nashville and Houston-San Carlos. After a search for missing persons cases within that time frame and within a reasonably defined geographical region they discover that several people went missing from the French quarter of New Orleans about the right time. eventually a man called David Charles killed a tramp trying to break into his house. The tramp was found to have traces of blood and human tissue in his intestine. His last no place of residence was the homeless shelter run by Father Franklin in Nashville. David Charles was found approximately a week later in a hotel in Houston. He had been disembowelled. Houston police believe that a prostitute was likely to be the last person to have seen David Charles alive.
Ashford calls Striker and informs him of what they have discovered. After meeting up they discuss what to do next. Eventually it is decided that they will take their theories to Colorados since it is highly unlikely that Garret will believe them, and taking it to Hobson may well attract the unwanted attention of the NSA.
They drive down to the Reservation and inform Colorados of what they have discovered. They ask him about Indian spiritual beliefs with special emphasis on Coyote. The Sheriff tells them what he knows about Coyote, that it is a trickster spirit, somewhat akin to Loki, and can be malicious at times. He informs them that there are several Shamans in the area that they could talk to, but they are out on a spiritual retreat at the moment. Agent Carter insists that it might be important and Colorados says that he will get the Shaman's apprentice to go out and ask them if they will meet with the Agents. The apprentice will not return until morning and it is already getting dark, so the Agents retire for the night.
The next day...
The Agents spend the morning re-examining the other crime scenes and Ashford calls for divers to examine the reservoir. They eventually head out to the Reservation to meet with Colorados and discover that the apprentice isn't back yet. Colorados expresses concern and it is decided that they will go look for him. They take the tracker and Colorados' deputy and drive out into the wilderness in 2 four wheel drives.
They arrive at the Sacred Cave where the Shamans are supposed to be and pull up, one car slightly behind the other. The tracker, the deputy and Striker start heading up the rocky slope towards the cave. A shot rings out and the deputies head disappears in a fountain of gore. Striker dives for cover behind some rocks as another shot rings out and strikes the tracker in the chest. The others dive for cover behind one the four wheel drives.
Bullets start to punch into the bonnet of the car they're behind as Margolis attempts to open the door and get at the radio. The radio is quickly shot to pieces. Bullets start to thud into the other car and then stop. Margolis makes a mad dash between the two cars and is shot in the leg for he trouble. She sprawls in a heap behind the second car. Ashford pops up to get the rifle that is mounted on the rack of the first car and is shot in the ribs. Carter comes up with the clever idea of taking off the hand brake and pushing the two cars together. Margolis tends to Ashford's injury. Striker looks up to see what has happened to the Deputy and the tracker and gets shot in the head.
After much debate Carter provides covering fire with his pistol on full auto as Ashford and Colorados run out and drag Striker back to the safety of the cars. No one is able to successfully stabilize Striker as he lies bleeding from the hole in his skull...
