Enigma Glitch

Chapter 25: False Hero II

A white spark popped in the center of where the young man had been, but faded to the near-black nothingness of the trash.

Victoria dialed down her thermal vision and looked into the dumpster with her revolver at the ready. The man's fall caused a slight crater in the bags, and at the bottom of that indentation was an oak seedling. She snarled and fired two rounds at the small plant.

"Suspect vanished!" Victoria gnashed her teeth and punched the dumpster.

"He vanished from my view, too," Cooper said. "You did the best anyone's been able to do up to this point. No one has gotten his performance on camera. The footage can be analyzed. And Victoria, I know I don't have to ask this, but you did get the first round into him, right?"

"I landed a hit in the neck, a copy of the Lion's playbook." Victoria collected herself and adjusted her trench coat collar. "Is there any reading on it yet?"

"Let's see," Emma said. "I'm finding two signals there in Monterey with you, so those must be Cooper's and Murphy's tracking chips. The third is registering on satellite but it's taking a while to sniff out, so it must not be nearby."

Victoria nodded to Murphy as the bald man approached.

"You shot him, we all saw it," Murphy said. He attempted a reassuring grin. "He may have slipped away, but you put a tracking chip into him. You did it!"

"I would feel better if I had gotten to put a real bullet in him." Victoria holstered her weapon. "He could not have flown away. Why is it taking so long to track him down?"

"Team, you won't believe this," Emma said. "I mean, I've re-verified and quintuple-pinged the signal. He's in Prunedale."

"He went from this dumpster." Victoria kicked the dumpster, which caused a bag to fall over the edge. "To twenty miles away. In mere seconds. How?"

"Vic, it might make you feel better to remember Murphy owes you ten bucks now," Emma said.

"We haven't proved he didn't vanish," said Murphy.

"You said it in my presence," Cooper said with the sound of metallic steps accompanying his words. "You said our suspect absolutely was capable of vanishing when you made a bet with Victoria. This isn't vanishing. Whatever it is."

"You all admit this is teleportation, at least." Murphy pulled a folded ten dollar bill from his duster pocket. "You have to admit it before I pay up."

"Your theories are bonkers, but there's a strong case this is a teleportation feat," Emma said.

"Fast travel between points isn't teleportation," Cooper said. "Pay the woman."

"Next you will say it is mermaid-alien hybrids." Victoria snatched the money from Murphy's hand. "I will only admit facts. And the facts are, this is not a disappearance."

"You know, I'd like to hear Murphy's ideas on this," Emma said.

"Do not encourage him." Victoria folded her arms and shook her head.

Murphy went to the dumpster and plucked up the oak seedling.

"The two disappearances which were investigated by police also turned up seedlings." Murphy examined the small plant.

Only two pairs of green leaves with red spots were present, with the green remnants of the originating acorn withered before a small cluster of black roots began. No soil was present.

"It's unhealthy," Emma observed.

"This isn't normal fungal rust." Murphy turned the plant over to examine the roots. "This isn't normal nutrient deficiency, either. It looks like it was poisoned. Or rather, grown in a particular chemical."

"Cosmic teleportation juice, right?" Victoria gazed up at the sky in disbelief.

"Maybe," Murphy said. "You're the one who watched him vanish in front of you. You're the one who put a tracker in him that's showing up twenty miles away. If these poisoned oaks are tied to his disappearance, then the evidence points to them being drenched with a chemical which facilitates moving from one spot to another."

"Tell us your pseudo-science." Victoria folded her arms.

"Not science." Murphy held out the small plant. "This is the work of druids!"