Agent Reptilian: Exploiting Gold|editing

Chapter one: "My precious, my gold...my reptilian"

Yellow, a color generally affiliated with bright and happy things like sunshine and sunflowers.

Unfortunately, the yellow I was staring at was a long piece of tape with thick black letters that read, "Police line do not cross." I lifted the tape over my head and entered the crime scene.

"I think my eyebrows are getting goosebumps." My effervescent best friend Phoenix, named for her beautiful, copper hair whispered into my ear as we took in the unsettling sight in front of us. A lick of chill ran down my spine.

We stood inside of an aircraft, an A319 to be exact. Everything appeared normal as we ventured inside the compact space but just as we passed the business class seats, Nix and I were met with a brutal sight. It was hard to tell but with the spotlights brightly lit up, the pool of blood on the ground was evident.

So was the body.

I felt my heartbeat thudding in my ears and realized that I should've stayed at home.

A few of the plane windows nearby were shattered, letting the voices of curious bystanders from outside slip in. Glass crunched under our boots as we scanned the place, trying to piece the scene together.

The entire plane was marked off as a 'warm zone', including the outside area since evidence could be lying beyond where the body was discovered. Our team from Secretum Academy along with a few other top New York City detectives and investigators were working together on this case from the little information I had been given.

The 'hot zone' perimeter, was where the body of the unidentified victim laid and where most of the evidences were concentrated. News channel crews and journalists swarmed around like a hive of bees, attempting to get a shot of the scene. Security guards were lined up, stopping anyone from entering the crime. scene. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why even are there so many people here? And news channel crews? What exactly happened?" I probed. Nix looked at me incredulously. I scratched my head. Had I missed something from earlier?

I recalled Adams, Head Agent of Secretum Academy, mentioning that our career rotations would take place outside of the academy today, which wasn't all too rare. For the rotations, we were paired with secret agents or careers in other forensic fields within Secretum Academy to assist them and learn about their jobs. It helped us figure out what we wanted to do once we graduated high school. Although, I didn't remember him saying this crime scene was going to be as crowded as a Hollywood movie premiere.

"Multiple scientists were found dead along with NYPD's chief of police." My eyebrows raised to the ceiling and I felt a sudden wave of nausea overcome me. I peeked behind and looked at the body again, analyzing its clothes. Dark blue uniform, badges on the shoulder and the front left corner of the chest, a belt with a gun and taser clipped on. My eyes moved a little further and I saw his hat laying in the corner, what was once navy blue like his uniform, now drenched in deep, liquid red. The silver badge in the front had a smudge of red on it. I turned back to Nix.

"What? How-who-why would anyone do that?" I had never heard of anything like this before. "I can see the chief of police being dead, it's a risky job, gang members or someone could've been after him but... scientists?" My eyebrows squeezed together. "Why would anyone go after scientists?" I glanced around me as if the answers would appear on the walls of the aircraft.

My best friend scanned her surroundings. "Not sure. My dad said that all of the scientists were travelling to an exhibition-at least that's what the contents inside of their personal effects indicated. But I don't see why anyone would want to kill them for that?" I took in the information she said. "We'll find out more once the autopsies are run. There's no sign of any external injuries from what I've heard.