The Untold Story

Bonus Chapter: A New Dawn

Song: Ngize - Mpumi ft Professor

(Thought I'd use a song from home. Well technically this is from South African artists, but they're our neighbors so...The gist of the song is "Until I find the one/mine." I liked the tone of the song for this chapter).

"I don't know how you think you'll manage an undercover mission for weeks, Henderson. You can barely last half an hour without texting or calling your girl," said Amelia Bennet, Nathan's new partner in the SCU.

After working with him in Pinehive, she'd been happy to partner with him when he finally joined the SCU, and had been responsible for his training for the past six months.

"I don't text her every half hour," he protested, to which she raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at the phone in his hand. "She has a big interview today, I'm just wishing her good luck," he added defensively as he shoved the phone back in his pocket and picked up his binoculars again.

He peered through the window of the house from which they were watching the street in front of them, but there was no action yet.

"Drop the reigns or she'll run for the hills and never come back," she warned him.

He ignored her and checked the watch on his wrist before looking back out at the street. "It's almost 5 p.m. First truck is due in three minutes. Are Clark and the team in position?"

"They're on standby, pending further," Amelia confirmed. This was the first big case Nathan was taking lead on since he joined the SCU, a test of sorts, so every call to action rested on his shoulders.

She joined him over by the tinted window, camera in hand, and they waited. Sure enough, three minutes later, a white garbage truck approached, stopping occasionally to collect trash bags left on the pavement outside almost every house.

The house they were watching had no trash bag outside it so the truck passed and before long, disappeared down the street and round a corner. Hardly a second later; a short, fair skinned woman dressed in a long, plain grey maid's uniform stepped out of the house they were watching, wheeling a trash bin with the lid slightly propped open. She left the bin outside the gate and went back inside.

"Tell Clark and the others to get ready to move," Nathan said. Amelia radioed his orders as they left the house and went to their car.

The low rumble of an engine caught their attention and a second garbage truck came down the street. Unlike the first, this one drove right by the other houses and only stopped at the one they were staking out.

They watched as a man, dressed in overalls and a cap pulled low over his eyes, dropped down from the back and opened the bin. He reached in and brought out a bulky looking trash bag, carefully encircling his arms around it like he was afraid whatever was in it would fall out. Nathan's instincts immediately kicked into high alert. There was no way that bag had ordinary household trash.

"What's your order, Agent?"

Nathan thought it through and made a decision as the man threw the bag into the truck and climbed on. He took the radio and gave his order. "Stand down, Clark."

"Are you sure?" Clark asked on the other end, sounding doubtful.

"Yeah. When he comes your way, let him through. Amelia and I will follow him. Wait for further instructions." He drove off right after, following the truck from as far a distance as he could without losing sight of it.

"I'm curious," Amelia began. "Why'd you tell Clark to stand down?"

Nathan kept his focus on the truck as he answered her. "The last task force that worked on the case of the Trash Snatchers jumped the gun and only managed to catch one member of the operation who proved to be useless, while the rest moved and it took us three months to find them again. We have to let the truck lead us to the others, so letting them think they got away with this first phase is our only chance at finally ending this."