"Not really," I said, trying my best to act nonchalant. "There's scarier things out there than that."

  "Really?" the local boy turned to face me as the rotors droned on from the distance. "You're not afraid?"

  "You think I'm lying?" I smiled at Aleis as I waved the yellow smoke flare on my hands. As the aircraft drew closer to us it got louder and the wind grew stronger as well. Aleis had to cover his ears with both hands.

  He smiled back, excited to hear another story. But I didn't obliged. It wasn't the right time to tell another story.

  But as kids do, he was relentless.

  "Don't tell me you've ridden one of those before!" He paused for a while unsure of the right word to say. "Have you?"

  "A couple of times already." I shouted as the droning sound got even louder and louder.

  I ruffled his unruly black hair as disbelief slowly curtained his face.

  "Now, you're just bragging!"

  I didn't answer back, more focus on giving the right signal for the pilot of the Chinook. I glanced back at Aleis fir a moment. But his attention was transfixed on the aircraft above us.

  "Really!" I said as I nudged him in the shoulder. "I've traveled around the world on fancier things than that. Now do me a favor... Go and run down the village and tell the elders."

  Aleis took a step and hesitated. "Tell them what?"

  "Tell them... that S.P.E.A.R. is here."

  Aleis nodded before bolting away, still covering his ears with both hands from the noise.

  One of the village boys about his age met him half way, excited to talk to him. I'm sure he was going to brag to the other kids how he stood next to the stranger when her friends arrived. And make up tall tales about me. They probably think I was a witch or that my hair was actually on fire.

  Some of these superstitious lot haven't even had chance to see any foreigners before, let alone a red head.

  The deafening sound of the rotor blades died down as the Chinook that eclipsed the sun grounded itself in the landing-site cleared by the villagers yesterday.

  I stood a couple of yards away from the landing zone, hair in disarray as the wind from the aircraft blew on all directions. When it finally touched down I threw the flare away on the leaning grass beside me.

  Two men came out from the transport. The first one was a bald Haitian. He was tall and broad-shouldered wearing a brown leather jacket and worn jeans.

  As he smiled, his left bone earring glinted red reflecting the aircraft's dying lights. His field name was Agent Theo St. Clair, a Dunstan class agent with a DT5 level sensory ability. According to the briefing reports he'd been to a couple of missions already but most were redacted. I guess I need a better security level to know the man.

  I swallowed a clump on my throat as I entertained the idea. Could I ask him tips about being a Dunstan class? I had formal training and made full use of the agency's facility but to actually ask an agent... Was a different thing entirely. Maybe I should... but first things first.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I smiled back at him.

  The pilot exited the aircraft with duffle bags in hand. He dropped it beside Agent St. Clair, gaunt face shining with sweat. He nodded towards me and scratched his thin stubble as they both came closer.

  The pilot smelled like gasoline and sweat. And his kevlar personal armor and khaki cargo pants were both too big for his small, thin frame.

  "Ya must be the rookie. The names Doyle, first name's Agent." He and St. Clair chuckled at the joke.

  According to the briefing report and files agent Conrad Doyle belonged to none of the agent classes. It only stated his 'excellent tracking abilities'.

  The man himself looked pretty much like a civilian. Well, except that his a S.P.E.A.R. agent.

  "My handsome friend here is Agent St. Clair." He tapped St. Clair's back. "And ya are?"

  I shook their hands. "Agent Cathrynne Carnacki, sir."

  "So, can you brief us Miss Carnacki?" St. Clair said with a heavy accent as we headed down the village.

  "Well, reports of missing villagers started a month ago, mainly farmers in and around town, blood curdling cries heard in the dead of the night. Unidentifiable tracks leading to -"

  Doyle interrupted me before I could finish. "The typical sort then, any fatalities?" He adjusted his blue cap on.

  "Well, no confirmed fatalities only nine missing reports. But one of the villagers saw a gnawed left foot. Another one said-"

  "A what? A gnawed foot?" Doyle spoke as he took a stick from a pack of cigarettes on his pocket. He was about to light it but he change his mind when he noticed that I was staring at him.

  "Yes... a gnawed foot." I turned the last page of my notes. "One gnawed left foot. Adult male. Height is estimated at-"

  Doyle raised his hand. "Slow down rookie... gnawed that's not a nice word... what do you think did it?"

  I turned back the pages of my notes. "Well, the bite marks shows that it's big. I don't want to say this but yeah... I think the man to whom the foot belonged to is dead.. The bite strength was estimated at about-"

  "Stop, how big do you think it is, Agent?" St. Clair said.

  "As big as an adult retriever," I said. Both men looked at each other.

  Doyle grabbed the notes out my hands. "How bout the tracks?"

  "You could check it tomorrow if you want to. I made casts out of the them. I also cordoned some areas."

  Doyle passed my notes to St. Clair and they argued about it until we arrived in the village proper.

  I introduced them to the villagers and their elders. Some of them were hesitant about the friends I brought with me. Even Aleis and the other kids were scared of them but a couple of chocolate bars from St. Clair changed all that.

  We stayed on one of the village elders' hut for the night. And like the other houses in the village we had to use old gas lamps. Their shaman warned us of using our own flash lights and would not allow us to use our equipment inside the village.

  Yeah, gas lamps that barely gave enough light for us to work with. It was one of the many things you have to endure in the secluded village. Potable water hasn't reach it yet, too. Aleis even joked that it'd take a full decade before the local government electrified the village. I thought he wasn't far off. The fact that the place was mainly concern in farming tomatoes made it the least of the government's concern in terms of development.

  Doyle tried to relay their arrival in the village to our HQ in Jakarta but the phone signal was unreliable at best. The surrounding mountains made sure of it. So we agreed and decided to do things the old way. Rely on ourselves and the agents beside us for the moment.

  After letting the two agents rest for a couple of hours I showed them the plaster castings I took. Both men argued if it was a biped or a quadruped. I agreed with Doyle's opinion. I thought it was a quadruped too but what kind of quadruped? That we didn't know.

  Imagine a strange quadruped roaming around the village at night. Not the nicest thing to think about. Especially if it's out there for blood.

  Over all, I felt glad that after four days of conducting my own inquiries I finally had company. I knew they'll try to have their own investigation and probably ignore my efforts but knowing there's another agent I could rely on made things easier and bearable. I already had some suspicions to what's been attacking the villagers. But I hope their conclusion doesn't confirm my own.

  We finished our dinner and decided to rest and continue the investigations the next day. But our sleep was cut short by a strange howl of some animal from the forest, east of the village.

  I quickly bolted out my room and went straight out the door. Both men were already out the door, staring in the darkness.

  "What was that?" I said, panting and soaked in sweat, more nervous than tired.

  St. Clair turned towards the source of the sound. "Dunno, what it was but I think it's close."

  The ululating shriek resounded once again.

  Doyle shouldered me as he went back to the house. A few minutes passed and he returned outside with the duffle bags in hand.

  "Suit up, we're following it," he said.