7

Dark Horses

The map was criss-crossed with myriads of lines and decorated in strategic places with a few red pins or arrows. Dan paced back and forth with his arms folded.
"Think again guys. All of the places you encountered that odd feeling or even saw something or someone that didn't look right to you. Any place!"
"Even our own p. . places?" Stammered Mary. Dan and Jack looked at her.
"Yes, Mary," said Dan. "Especially your own place. What did you encounter there?"
"Well. . . about a year ago  I was having a lot of trouble in my life and things got so bad that I was desperate to make them better. A friend at work, or I thought she was a friend anyway, she told me about this man who fixes things. Mr. Make-Right, they call him," she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, to make a long story short, there's a box that he gives you. It's. . .well, it's red."
"Creepy," muttered Jack.
"It gets creepier. Before I took the box home - he said not to open it until you are sure you know you can handle the aftermath of whatever is fixed in your life - well, his words gave me second thoughts on the box. You know, I've had problems before that were pretty rough and I got through them without some magic box. I also got the feeling after a few days of owning the box that I was being followed and watched. Everywhere I went I got this bad feeling. I'd noticed a car following me home from work. At times it seemed black and other times, dark red. Several times I thought I caught it trailing me." Jack sat up straight and his eyes widened. Dan glanced at him but motioned for her to continue.
"And then, whenever I looked in the mirror my own image talks to me."
"What?" They both exclaimed.
"Yes! it's no lie. She has tried to convince me to open the box and use it. Threatens me. Sometimes I can't go home unless I turn the mirrors over or break them."
"I need to see this. . box." Said Dan.
"No!" Mary shook her head frantically.
"Mary, Mary. Calm down. Right now we will continue using the map to find the enemy but we need to discuss the box. You said that your image harasses you about it while at home?" He asked. Mary nodded.
"Does this happen to you when you stay somewhere else?"
"I haven't noticed it, no. Only at home."
"I've never heard of this." Said Jack.
"Me neither." Seeing Mary's distress Dan turned back to the map. "I met the group of punks on the waterfront, right here." He marked the location where he was thrown over the waterfront with a red pin. His eye twitched involuntarily to even mention it.
"Ok, so we have nine places so far throughout the city where we have encountered The Others."
"What do we do next?" Asked Jack.
"We can place listening devices around some of these places, bugs. I ordered some off an internet store in Japan. I see no reason to wait for Trillion to give us further instructions. Snooping is something we can do on our own. But, he gave me these pulses. They draw the redshifters, attract them like moths to flame. We draw them out and we shoot. we won'r be using these yet though until I hear from him."
"What about people who serve them?" Asked Mary querulously.
"We stun them with pepper spray. Unless they try to kill us and indeed some of them will. It nearly happened to me. In that case, defend yourself. Look, we're not looking for fights - yet. We're studying where they are. Where they can be found. Redshifter hotspots, if you will." Dan crossed the room, stood back and examined map. He made a sound of startled surprise.
"What? What do you see?" Asked Jack.
"It's. . it's a pattern. Or it seems like one. Look at the shape. It's like a circle with satellites all around it. Look!" The other two stood up and approached the map.
"You're right." Indeed it did seem interesting. The redshifter hotspots they had already found all circled around an old warehouse in the industrial district.
"It's not really a pattern yet, though." said Jack. "For that, we have to find more and see if the other hotspots, if there are any more, look like this."
"That's true." Dan looked at Mary.
"Mary," he said in concern. "You're apartment is one of those satellites, if indeed it is one. I find it interesting that this person confronts you only at your home. Why don't we go to your place first?" Mary blew out a nervous sigh and nodded.
"Ok. My place first."
"But what exactly are we looking for at any of these locations?" Asked Jack.
"Anything strange, weird, out of the ordinary. Anything that trips our red radars." Dan said. "Right now all I've got is maybe. Maybe the hotspot in the middle is a power source. And maybe Mary's red box is a clue as to what kind of trouble we're up against."
"Well, we've got one advantage right now," said Jack. "They have no clue who we are and what we're doing. How long that lasts is another matter."