"What sort of unusual height are we looking at?"
"He'd be over eight foot tall, and at least half that wide."
She blinked. She'd be trying to arrest a man almost double her height. Like, that was going to happen. "What the hell were you trying to achieve with Orrin's lot? Man mountains?"
The general's almost cynical smile suggested she wasn't that far off the mark. "We have his address, if you're interested."
"Yeah, I'm interested." It was a shame she'd never be able to charge the general and his military cohorts with obstruction of justice. They'd had this information from the beginning of the murders, of that she had no doubt. Yet they'd sat on it. Had simply watched while people like Gabriel's sister had brutally died.
It was just as well that she wasn't standing face to face with the general. She'd be tempted to punch him.
"Orrin lives in the Government housing estate in Melton. Twenty-eight Erin Street, to be precise."
She frowned. From memory, Emma Pierce had lived on that same street. "Thanks for the help, general."
He nodded and disappeared. Izzy reappeared onscreen. "Need anything, sweetie?"
"Yeah, request me a gun and a car."
"Feel like shooting someone, do we?" Izzy's foot tapped several times. "Stun or dual?"
She hesitated. If this man was as big as the general had suggested, she wasn't going to get caught having only a stun gun to defend herself with. "Dual, just to be safe."
"Request being processed."
"See if you can get Gabriel Stern for me, will you?" She leaned back in her chair, watching the boa twirl.
"No answer, sweetie."
She frowned. This wasn't like Gabriel. Not when he'd said he'd leave the phone on. "Try Director Byrne, then."
Stephan's face appeared on screen. "Agent Ryan," he greeted, voice neutral yet somehow sharp. "What can I do for you?"
"I've just been in contact with General Frank Lloyd. He discovered the name of the man who hacked into their system and recovered the information on the Generation Eighteen rejects."
"Do you need assistance in picking him up?"
"If what the general said about his size is true, then yes, I will."
"I'll assign you teams seven and twelve immediately."
"Thanks." She hesitated briefly. "Sir, have you heard from A.D. Stern? I've been trying to get ahold of him for several hours now."
"No. I haven't." Stephan rubbed his chin. "He was on watch detail at Jeanette Harris' place, but he went to investigate something else and hasn't been seen since."
And Stephan was worried, though his face, like his voice, showed absolutely no emotion.
"Have you talked to the remaining teams? No idea what he might have seen?"
"Yes, I did, and no, they haven't. The two agents at the front of the building reported he climbed out of his car about five minutes after a paperboy had gone past, and that he walked up the street into a house. He was seen flying away in his hawk form."
"No location indicator after that?"
"We investigated his last known location, with no result." He hesitated, leaning back in his chair. "Don't suppose you've felt anything?"
She hesitated. How much should she tell Stephan? In many ways, she didn't really trust him, simply because her desires and needs were of no consequence to him. The only thing he cared about was the Federation, the SIU and his wife. And in that order. "Not exactly, sir."
Something in his eyes suggested he didn't believe her. "If he hasn't reported in by this evening, I'll be in contact."