Sergeant Barreto sat at a table in their room at a small motel trying to write up the report for the day.
"Lynch, how the hell do I tell the Colonel that she magically made some deadbeat dad excrete all of the alcohol out of his system in seconds instead of hours?" Sergeant Barreto asked plaintively. "I'm going to sound like a raving lunatic."
"I'm pretty sure he's expecting crazy shit like this," Sergeant Lynch told her with a shrug. "He did say the truth was far far stranger than anything the media had reported on."
"Do you think I should mention that she seems to know we're following her?" Sergeant Barreto asked doubtfully. "That really makes us sound incompetent."
"You might as well," Sergeant Lynch laughed humorlessly. "He did say he wanted us to report everything. I get the feeling that he won't hold this against us though. I mean, you saw some of the weird shit she did today. It's not like there is a precedent for this kind of thing. We're trailblazing here."
"I still can't believe how weird this whole thing is," Sergeant Barreto muttered with a shake of her head. "I wonder what's really going on here. Do you think she's, like, part of some alien exchange program?"
"Interesting idea, but doubtful," Sergeant Lynch replied with a shake of her head. "They wouldn't be worried about abduction attempts if this was some kind of interstellar exchange program."
"True, I suppose that…" Sergeant Barreto broke off as their emergency pager began beeping.
"Shit!" Sergeant Lynch jumped up and looped her earpiece in as they both ran to the car in the parking lot.
"Talk to me, Stakes," Sergeant Barreto demanded as they jumped into the car and sped out of the parking lot.
"I've got a possible abduction attempt in process," Sergeant Stakes reported tersely. "Spook bird following for the last few minutes."
"Where are you?" Colonel Rockwell's voice barked into the earpiece.
"A few clicks north of the Rockwell residence," Sergeant Stakes replied quickly. "A second bird is approaching."
"Lieutenant Davis," Colonel Rockwell called out loudly. "Page air control and warn those jackasses that they are in military airspace. They have two minutes to leave before they are shot down. Get some escorts up there."
"They're decreasing altitude," Sergeant Stakes reported quickly. "Orders?"
"Backup is on the way," the Colonel reported curtly. "Get over there and shoot anyone that comes out of that bird with a weapon."
There was a sudden boom, then another. A few seconds later, a fireball rose into the air several blocks away, follow by a second moments later.
"Sir, both birds just dropped out the sky," Sergeant Stakes reported, sounding shaken. "It looked like engine failure."
"Damage assessment?" The Colonel asked, sounding relieved.
"They didn't fall straight down," Sergeant Stakes replied, sounding slightly bewildered. "They veered through the air and landed in an open field. Both birds exploded on impact."
Sergeant Baretto stared at the wreckage as they finally came around a corner and met up with Sergeant Stakes and Jones. Both birds were in flames right next to each other, their rotors still spinning slowly.
"Where's the Primary?" Sergeant Baretto asked Sergeant Stakes quickly.
"They just went around the corner," Sergeant Stakes replied, already running back to her car. "You got this?"
"We got this," Sergeant Baretto nodded, walking over to the burning birds with Lynch close behind.
A quick survey of the wreckage revealed half a dozen corpses on each bird. Some of the local residents were tentatively walking into the field to get a closer look.
"Let's get out of here," Sergeant Baretto muttered to Lynch.
Sergeant Lynch nodded and the two of them quickly left just as several police cars arrived.
"Definitely not a babysitting job," Sergeant Lynch noted wryly.
"I'm feeling just a little unnecessary," Sergeant Baretto admitted. "I'm not sure what good any of us are going to be to someone who can bring down aircraft with their mind."
"She has to sleep sometime, right?" Sergeant Lynch pointed out. "We're there to watch her back."
Sergeant Baretto nodded slowly. "Yeah. Good point."