Detective Contacts Reporter

It was a few days later when Angelica Gomez heard from Detective Sihn. Frankly, hearing his message on her answering machine surprised her as she thought he would've fled the country by now. The news everywhere and the local media was having a field day; Daniel Sihn, detective of the Miami Metro PD, was wanted for the **** of twelve gang members who were killed all in a well known **** house. The news said that he was armed and dangerous, so much so that the FBI was in town and had an entire task **** devoted to tracking him down.

All of this, of course, caused Angelica's in-built bullshit detector to flare up. Although he was kind of a dick, Sihn was an honest cop. Unlike his partner (or former partner) Jim Stazzo, who had a history of bending the rules, Sihn always did everything by the book. Also, Sihn struck Angela as more of the bookish, paper-pusher type. There's no way that he'd be able to single-handedly slaughter twelve armed gang members. Although she knew he was in the service before being a cop, a review of his records showed that he was a sonar tech on a submarine. So unless he had secretly been a Navy SEAL, there's no way Sihn was this one man killing machine the FBI was saying he was.

But then she remembered what the coroner who had examined Edward Jewel's body had told her. About how the homeless man's skin was all but impenetrable until he removed the rubber band wrapped around its wrist. The officers on the scene also spoke about how Jewel seemed bullet-proof, how hundreds of rounds hit him yet he still continued to kill. Angelica thought of her own new-found ability to heal herself after taking some innocuous pills she found in a dumpster.

Something weird was definitely going on.

The reporter followed Sihn's instructions on the message for the meeting. He told her to be seated at the park bench on the corner of 12th and Macbeth at noon the next day. The former detective explained that he had gotten rid of his cellphone in order to avoid being tracked, and was using payphones to keep up with his messages. He sounded harried and quite paranoid; she guessed being a wanted man would do that. Angelica made sure to get up early; she didn't want to miss him in case he flaked out.

She had been seated for about forty minutes on the park bench, waiting for the former detective to show up. He was twenty minutes late, but if she had a chance to talk to him then she would have gladly waited hours. The park was quite busy this time of day, and there were many people out enjoying the Miami sun. There were families, people with dogs, workers on their lunch breaks buying food from the various vendors dotting the park. Angelica wondered why Sihn chose such a public space to meet. He had his face posted up all over the news, after all; one would think he'd want to stay out of sight.

She eventually saw him walking towards her, still dressed in a pressed suit, with his hair slicked back and the old-man wire frames still on his face. The reporter almost shook her head, dumbfounded. "Christ, does he still think he's a cop? Still dresses like one."

"Ms. Gomez," the former detective greeted her as he sat down on the bench.

"Detective," she returned the greeting. "Thank you for meeting with me."

Sihn nodded, leaning back onto the bench. "Let's keep this short. I got things to do."

Angelica frowned. He always told her that whenever she wanted to ask him about the specifics of the case. She had figured the hostility was because of the fact that she, a few years back, broke the story on how one detective, a Charles Maddus, had planted evidence on a suspected **** dealer. The public outcry brought an Internal Affairs investigation on Maddus, who was a well respected cop with 25 years under his belt. The investigation revealed other instances where Maddus had planted evidence and purjured himself; eventually the old detective was arrested and all his cases came under review. In the end Maddus went to jail while twenty inmates, whose cases hinged on Maddus' false evidence, went free.

Yep, that story did not endear herself to the Miami police at all. The reporter decided to push past the detective's irritation and ask her questions; she'd been used to his gruff demeanor and frankly, his polite disdain was much preferred to the open hostility other cops showed her.

"Edward Jewel," she started. "According to the coroner, his instruments couldn't cut Jewel's skin, not until he removed a rubber band that was wrapped around the body's wrist. He said that he gave you the rubber band. Also, the same day, the box containing Jewel's belongings were checked out by you. That box is still missing."

The former detective directed a cold stare at the reporter. "First of all, Ms. Gomez, the coroner, Dr. Hamilton, is a good man. But he's getting on in the years, and he works heavy hours. This was right after the 22nd Street Massacre, and emotions were running quite high. Dr. Hamilton knew a lot of the cops brought in there, including my old partner Jim Stazzo. Frankly, I'm not surprised at the old man's hallucinations."

"Hallucination? Detective, please. What about Edward Jewel? You were there. All the cops I've talked to that was in that firefight say that he was pretty much invincible, that he tossed cars and exploded metal at them."

"The official documents state that Jewel was wearing body armor and tossing home made explosives," Sihn said with a bored expression.

Angelica was beginning to lose her temper. What the hell was going on?She had expected Detective Sihn, after everything he'd seen, to be up front with her. He was being thrown under the bus, after all. You'd think he'd want the truth to get out.

"What about those gangbangers in that crack house that the FBI is officially saying you killed?" Angelica shot back. "Is it true? Did you kill them?"

"Yes," Sihn stated without hesitation. "I did."

The reporter stared in shock at the man seated next to her, wondering if this was indeed the straight laced cop she had known for two years. "Bullshit."

"No, I did kill them. They were scum, and they deserved it." The former detective leaned back onto the bench, giving her an amused smile. "You know what your problem is, Angelica? You see conspiracies where there are none. I mean, seriously? Invincible bank robbers? Government cover-ups? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes cops die when they're caught unprepared by an extremely prepared psychopath. Sometimes evidence just goes missing through clerical mistakes. Sometimes a cop, even an honest one, just looses his head. There is no shadow game at play here. You're just grasping at straws."

"Is that right, detective? Then explain this." Angelica pulled a pen knife from her pocket. Sihn raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was up to, when she slid the sharp blade across the skin of her palm. Before their very eyes, the wound healed up, leaving not even a scar on the smooth skin.

"You have one," Sihn stated, his face growing dark as he turned an intense gaze upon the reporter. Angelica flinched, as she saw a disturbing look flash in the former detective's brown eyes.

She saw hunger.

In the back a nearby unmarked van, Agent Knight sat along with Agent Castle and a DoD tech. The inside of the van was filled with state of the art surveillance equipment, most of which were currently set to observing and recording the two seated upon the park bench. Detective Sihn was of course correct; they had indeed been listening in on his phone conversations. Not only that, but they had access to his voice mail and personal email now as well.

Sarah sat dead silent, listening in on the conversation between the reporter and the detective. It was strange how Sihn had been all but corroborating the bullshit cover story that the department had come up with; if she had been in the man's position she'd have done anything to clear her name. But then again he'd gone through great lenghts to acquire the Imprints for himself. She suspected that he had no desire for the true story to get out any more than the government did; after all, if the story broke out that there were various ordinary seeming items out there that granted superpowers, then it'd make his job of collecting the artifacts that much more difficult.

The agent sighed. So that was his whole story then? He was just another power mad lunatic who wanted to collect the Imprints for personal gain. How disappointing.

"Holy shit," Castle muttered as he watched the reporter cut her arm then heal it. "We've got an Imprint!"

"Jesus, how the hell did this idiot get it?" Agent Knight muttered.She thought her investigation and tracking of the artifacts was thorough; as far as she knew Angelica Gomez hadn't even come near the pawn shop. So how...?

"We're moving in," Agent Castle stated. "All units, converge!"

Sarah cursed, drawing her weapon and popping open the door to the van. They had only been after Sihn and would have made a move to apprehend him after his meeting with the reporter. They could have set up a trap in an isolated location, away from the public. But Gomez shot that plan to shit. If Sihn got hold of her imprint, one that was remarkably similar to her own, then he'd be all but unstoppable.

Back on the bench, Angelica almost flinched away as the detective drew closer to her. "You have one," he said again. He eyed her like a lion eyeing a gazelle; it was quite disturbing. "An Imprint. Give it to me."

"What?" Angelica gasped, moving slightly back from the man's intense gaze. "What the hell are you talking about? What's an Imprint?"

"The item!" Sihn all but shouted at her. "The thing that's allowing you to heal!"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," she told him. "All I did was take a few pills I found in a dumpster. The next thing I know, I start healing every time I get hurt. Detective, what the hell is going on? You know, don't you? Tell me, please. I need to know!"

Sihn's hungry glare softened a bit. He opened his mouth to say something when all of the sudden there was a large BANG and everything went white. Angelica screamed, her vision and hearing blurred, when she suddenly felt hands pulling her to the ground and yanking her arms back.

"Federal agents! Don't move!" Agent Knight shouted as she, Agent Castle and several agents in full tactical gear advanced upon the two on the bench. The flash bang had gone off right in front of them, but for some reason only the woman seemed affected. Castle rushed up to him, not bothering with his gun as he knew it was ineffective, then dove towards the former detective intent on tackling him to the ground. To Knight's shock, the male agent just sailed through the seated form of Sihn, stumbling against the bench and tumbling onto the grass.

Sihn, for his part merely smirked as he saw Sarah and the other armed agents approach. "Agent Knight. Good to see you again."

Sarah ignored his smug look and stepped forwards, her hand reaching out and attempting to touch his face. A chill went through her when her hand went through his face.

"Sorry you went through all the trouble of finding me, Agent Knight," Sihn told her. "But I'm afraid I'm not even here." With that, he suddenly vanished,disappearing into thin air.

"Shit!" Sarah cursed, frustration and rage boiling inside her. "Shit!"

Across the street, ignored by all, sat an old asian woman upon a bench. She watched the ruckus caused by the armed government agents, watched the frightened crowds rushing away or watching out of curiosity, watched as they cuffed poor Angelica and lead her away, watched as Agent Knight sat down on the bench with a frustrated look on her face. The woman then stood up and began shuffling away, no one noticing her pulling the ear piece out and stuffing it into the pocket of her flowery dress. She also stuffed a small black flashlight into the same pocket. She was in her seventies and looked completely unassuming, and that was what she was counting on as she slowly moved away from the chaotic scene at the park, being ignored by everyone including the police who had rushed to the scene as well.

They would have probably paid more attention to her if they knew that the old woman was named Qui Sihn. And that she had been dead for ten years.

As Daniel, dressed in his grandmother's body, walked off, he frowned and contemplated his next move. At least now he knew that the feds were definitely listening in on his phone calls. Email was also probably out. He'd have to be more careful in the future.