Predator: SVU

Title: Predator: SVU

Author: Prairiefire

Chapter: Three: The Hairs on the Back of My Neck

Fandom: Predator AU

Rating: M/R

Warnings: Adult Situations, Controversial Subject Material, Graphic Violence/Gore, Rape, Sexual Situations

Orientation: Het

Pairings: Human Female/Male Predator, Female Predator/Male Predator

Summary: Two hunters separated by species and lightyears are about to team up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Predator, nor do I make earn any monetary compensation for the stories I write that feature such characters. However, all my original characters are just that, original. That makes them mine, and they cannot be used without my express written permission.

Feedback: Please. I will respond to all signed reviews on ffn, aff

Word Count: 3438

Metro Miami Everglades Mall

Gregory Burns watched the young girl with her mother. She was perfect. Her long black hair shone in the lights of the gaudy display. Her brown eyes were trying to look everywhere at once. Innocence radiated off her small body.

He had followed her and her mother discreetly for almost an hour. Burns mentally admonished the young mother for being so careless. Her lack of awareness in her surroundings was a very bad thing. He would be teaching her that lesson shortly. For now, however, he was content to watch his prey.

As Burns followed the pair around the mall he scouted for opportunities. He never entered the same store at the same time. That could possibly alert the mother. He didn’t want to get too close too soon. What mom lacked in environmental awareness she made up for with the iron grip on her daughter’s hand. The grasp, however, was occasionally released when the mother went to pick up an odd item here or there to examine more closely. These brief moments did not go unnoticed.

Burns watched from his inconspicuous location in a store across the promenade. He knew how to lure the girl away. All he had to do was bide his time for the right moment.

Once the mother-daughter combination entered a fairly busy book store Burns followed. The daughter was exhausted from the long day in the mall. Anyone could see that. Unfortunately her mother either didn’t notice or didn’t care that her daughter’s shorter legs didn’t have the same level of endurance. The young girl’s mother let go of her hand to open a large hardcover edition of a new best selling fiction novel. While wrapped up in the summary on the leaflet she did not notice her daughter wander away to the children’s section despite admonishments to remain close. She also missed the handsome man approach her daughter. So wrapped up in the new book she never saw them leave together either with the promise of ice cream.

Precious minutes ticked by while she read that book. Minutes that Burns used to his advantage before the mother finally noticed that her child was no longer by her side. By the time the “Code Adam” went out through the mall Burns’ black Blazer was well out of the parkade.

Pulling out of the parkade Burns thought of his newest acquisition. Sure, he had broken his own rules, especially the one about only taking in girls that would not be missed, but he wanted to toy with this female detective that had been assigned to the murders he had committed. Besides, he didn’t want to wait for his contacts in Columbia to find him a new girl.

Burns had been insulted when he had found out that a woman had been assigned to his case. A simple woman who had no chance of catching him. Then an idea formed in his mind. The police were toying with him. That was all. So his demented mind decided to toy with the police. He would show this female cop, this Detective Hadley, just exactly where she belonged, and that was not behind a badge and a gun. That’s right; he would show her a woman’s place.

With a glance into the backseat at his “beloved” cargo he sped off to his playhouse. All ready his thoughts drifted to a means of taunting the detective.

Ball Park

“Honey, that was an awesome home run,” Cass praised the beaming child.

“It wasn’t a home run Auntie Cass. It was a grand slam,” the little girl exclaimed while jumping up and shaking her fists in the air in triumph.

“Well, I stand corrected,” a very proud Cass submitted.

The game was over. Sonya’s team had won by two runs with she herself batting in the runs they needed to pull ahead and win the game. After all the players and coaches had shaken hands they dispersed. Sonya ran to find her aunt. She had promised an introduction and Sonya hoped that she was going to meet the man that her aunt had just started seeing.

“Sonny, hon. This is Scott Cach,” Cass introduced. Scott gallantly bowed to the girl.

“Hey there. I saw that last hit. You smacked that ball right outta the park,” Scott said to Sonya. At the praising comment from the new adult Sonya beamed even brighter.

“Thanks,” came the modest reply. The trio walked toward the entrance of the park. Sonya and Scott were chatting it up, completely leaving Cass out of the conversation. Scott learned that Sony loved baseball and soccer. Her favorite color was pink and she hated brussel sprouts. Her favorite movie was “Beauty and the Beast” but she thought that the beast looked “handsomer” before he turned back into a human. He was cute when he was fuzzy.

Sonya learned that Scott liked kids but didn’t have any. His favorite pizza toppings were black olives and pepperoni. Most importantly he was a police man just like her Auntie Cass. Aside from the black olives on pizza, Sonya thought that Scott sounded like a nice guy. He even gave her a high-five for her first ever grand slam and promised to take her and her aunt out for ice cream one day.

Once the trio had reached Scott’s car Cass and Sonya declined a ride home. They opted to walk the two blocks home and discuss what Sonya thought of Scott. Drawing close to home their conversation shifted to what their plans for the rest of the day were. Sonya had a summer arts class that Joan would take her to. Cass needed to get at least a couple hours of sleep before she went to back to work. She hadn’t slept since before her call in the night before and she was bone tired. Feeling like someone was watching her every move wasn’t helping any, either. Maybe the sleep would clear her mind a little.

Tracking Cass and Sonya

The children’s game was entertaining to watch until the strange male showed up. After that Vek’rin’ka could not concentrate on anything but trying to figure out this male. The ooman leaders had been attempting to acquire his race’s technology for a couple years, since they first became aware of the hunting expeditions. The tactics being used now, however, did not fit with the previous attempts. Previously, large numbers of armed oomans were sent to capture the warrior. Now there was only one ooman trying to track him and he was hardly armed at all.

Vek’rin’ka decided that after he had finished dealing with Al’brk’vix he would have a little fun with this ooman. Maybe he would return home with a new trophy after all.

Vek’rin’ka was pulled out of his thoughts when his observation subject became extremely animated by something she saw. Turning to the field he caught a glimpse of the small ooman running around the field as the sphere they had been playing with flew over the rear barrier. He had lost track of which team was ahead previously, but watching the small one’s team greet her at the end of her run the outcome was unmistakable. After honoring the defeated team the little one ran to her mother. She was greeted by her mother and they slapped hands in the air. It was an unusual ritual, but it apparently meant success.

The next couple moments were confusing to Vek’rin’ka. It looked as if the child was just being introduced to the male that he had assumed was her father. He wished he could get closer to hear the conversation. His broader than normal understanding of the ooman language would have helped, lamentably the noise of the other children and their parents prevented him from eavesdropping on the trio. This was a new development though. Previous surveys of the planet’s population showed that the males and females raised their young together, different from his own culture where the males rarely kept in contact with their offspring unless the parents were bonded as life mates. Maybe this was not the child’s father after all; it could be a new potential mate that was courting the female. Perhaps he could find a way to acquire a sample of DNA from the male and the child for a paternity test, just to satisfy his curiosity.

Watching the little female chattering with the new male Vek’rin’ka had to admire her fearless spirit. She seemed to be a happy child, always animated and friendly with everyone he had seen her interact with. Vek’rin’ka did enjoy watching children. The bravado that came with age often extinguished the innocence that is often missing in the universe these days. His status as an Arbitrator provided him many opportunities to witness that lack of innocence. He would have enjoyed watching his own children grow, but they were all raised by their mothers and he had very little contact with them. Most communiqués were just notices of braiding ceremonies or whether his offspring had passed their Kainde Amedha Chiva or not. However, he was too young to settle down with only one or two females. He still enjoyed the breeding season too much for that.

Seeing the three oomans leave the field he followed. At the entrance the trio split up with the male making his way towards an enclosed vehicle. Before leaving the two females his hand lingered on the arm of the mother. If the male was not the father of the child, the potential mate theory was the most probable explanation.

Vek’rin’ka followed the two females back to their home. Seeing the adult settle down to rest and the child’s care taken over by the aseigan he left the dwelling vowing to return. For right now, though, he had a bad blood to take care of.

Later that evening…

Captain Adams met Cass at the entrance to the squad’s office. The concern was evident in his body language and on his face as he sternly addressed his subordinate.

“Cass, my office, now,” the frustrated captain said.

Unused to seeing her normally stoic boss so perturbed Cass followed immediately without question. It was not until she entered the office that she saw Gerold examining an evidence bag.

Recovering her wits Cass asked, “What’s going? Gerold, what’s that?”

Gerold looked at his partner, “It as note Cass. It’s from the perp. And Cass, it’s addressed directly to you.”

Cass looked from her boss to her partner she cautiously asked, “What does it say?”

“It’s a challenge Cass. He is challenging you to stop him from killing his next victim,” Adams said solemnly.

“What victim? He’s never had a new victim this quickly.”

Gerold turned to his partner and picked up another evidence bag. “This picture came with the note,” Gerold said as he passed the second evidence bag to Cass.

In the Polaroid was a young girl. Her long black hair was in tangles and her eyes were swollen and red from crying. The flash of the camera reflected off the silver duct tape wrapped around her mouth and the set of handcuffs that held her hands over her head. Cass’s heart broke when she looked at the eyes in the picture. The dark brown orbs were wide with fear and blood shot from crying.

“Let me see the note,” Cass finally said.

Reluctantly Gerold handed it to Cass. She looked down at the plain white sheet of paper. It read”

“Dear Detective Hadley,

I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but we haven’t met yet. I must say that I was a bit insulted when you were assigned to these murders. I had hoped that the police would at least provide me with a challenge. But now that my opponent is a mere woman I really do not fear being captured.

However, I am interested in seeing how badly you would have fared against a real man. So I am issuing you a challenge. Find this girl by 0700 and she will be allowed to leave untouched. If you don’t find her, I will have her to myself for the rest of her life.

I look forward to loving her.”

Cass looked up from the note. Both men in the room saw the look in her eyes. Both knew that it would be a very bad idea to get in her way right now.

“RunningWolf needs to see this,” Cass more ordered than implied as she held up the letter. “He might be able to tell us more about the perp now. This,” she continued holding the photo, “has to go to the lab now. Their A/V guy has to find something in it to tell us where it was taken.” Fury blazed in her eyes as she started to direct all her being into finding the girl.

“We at least have an ID, this time,” Adams added.

The statement caused Cass to whip around and face him again. “What?!” Cass exclaimed.

“He took her from a mall this afternoon. Her mother turned away for a couple seconds and she was gone,” Gerold offered.

“Well, what’s her name?” Cass snapped.

“Kristen Reca. She’s four years old. Her parents are down the hall with Faulkner now, giving their statements. The mother is pretty messed up,” Adams informed the two detectives.

“OK,” Cass confirmed. “Gerold, get this to RunningWolf,” she said handing off the note, “I’m taking this down to the crime lab myself. Call me if you get anything else.”

Turning on her heel she disappeared out of the office and was gone before either man was able to stop her. The single-minded determination to catch this killer carried her all the way to the basement of the prescient before she realized it. There, housed underground, was their state-of-the-art crime lab. Cass handed over the photo to the technician on duty in the Audio/Visual department.

“Anton, I need an analysis on this right now,”

Looking around from his computer screen he took the photo from Cass. One did not question her when she was like this. As her friend Anton accepted that little behavioral quirk, even if it was a little rude.

“Good evening to you too,” Anton sarcastically teased Cass as he took the photo from Cass and scanned it into his system.

Pulling the image up onto the large wall screen Anton turned back to Cass, “What do you need out of it?”

“Preferably the location it was taken at,” Cass told Anton.

Turning back to the screen Anton focused on the background. If anything linking the picture with identifiable location was going to be found then it would be in the background and not on the little girl in the foreground. Using the technology at his disposal he cleared up the area behind the little girl’s face. As the algorithm ran its course the background became clearer. Various crates and boxes could be seen.

“So it’s a warehouse, but where? There are thousands of them in the city,” Cass said to herself.

“Weren’t your other victims found in an industrial/commercial area,” Anton questioned.

“Yes,” Cass replied, “wait a minute. What’s that?” She indicated a bit of black writing on one of the shelving units. “Can you magnify that?”

“Sure thing,” Anton said. “Just five me a sec.” A few moments later the image was enlarged and clarified to reveal the identification written on the shelving support: “Burns International Shipping.”

“Burns Shipping. Now I remember. Huge company. Old man died. Cancer I think. Son took it over when he got out of the military and it went bankrupt,” Anton provided.

“And left a huge lot of warehouses near the waterfront, all pretty much abandoned. Perfect place to hide without being noticed,” interrupted Cass. “Thanks Anton. I have to get this information back to Gerold. You may have just broken this case.” Turning on her heel Cass ran out of the lab leaving a slightly beaming A/V tech behind his computer.

Bounding up the stairs two at a time she wasted no time in finding her partner with RunningWolf. The look they gave her was dismissed in light of the time sensitive information that had to be acted on right away.

“We have a general location,” Cass huffed as she held up the photo triumphantly. “Let’s go. We have to wake up a judge and get a warrant for the Burns Shipping warehouse lot.”

Addressing the profiler, Gerold said, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Nodding to Gerold, RunningWolf turned down the hall. “Good luck,” he called out over his shoulder as he made his way to the entrance to go back to his office at FBI headquarters.

Immediately Preceding

After leaving his captain’s office Gerold thread his way to the small room that had been set up for RunningWolf. Knocking on the door as he entered Gerold found the profiler surrounded by numerous manila folders.

“Hey Joe, I have that note that came in for you to look at.”

Looking up from his pile of files RunningWolf acknowledged Gerold with a nod. “Let me see it,” RunningWolf said holding out a hand to take the letter from Gerold.

Gerold handed over the clear evidence bag. Carefully reading the contents of the note RunningWolf started shaking his head.

“This isn’t good,” RunningWolf stated. “He is escalating. His ego is beginning to lead his decisions. If we don’t find him, he will only get worse.”

“Cass is down at the lab. She and the techies are trying to figure out where the picture was taken.”

“Picture?” RunningWolf questioned. “What was it a picture off?”

“The new vic. Handcuffed, duct-tapped. Why?”

“He’s taunting her. He’s not taking girls for himself anymore. His motive has changed. Abruptly.”

“And?” Gerold prodded for more information.

“And he may just get careless enough to get caught. The whole reason we haven’t been able to catch him is because he has planned every detail of his crime before hand. Now it is almost like he is winging it. We may benefit from the lack of planning on his part.”

“Cass is working out a location now. We only have another seven hours to find the girl. If anyone has the determination to find this victim it’s her.”

“I hope so, but take this,” RunningWolf said indicating the letter, “down to the lab. Once you have a suspect you will be able to match it to any printer he owns.”

“I’ll go drop it off in a minute, but there is something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

RunningWolf looked at Gerold inquisitively.

“Cass started dating an agent.”

“And?”

“He doesn’t seem right.”

“Really,” skepticism crossed RunningWolf’s face.

“Don’t look at me like that. I know it sounds weird, but let’s just call it ‘cop’s instinct’, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up whenever I see him. He doesn’t feel right. Like he’s hiding something. Can you ask around the office? Find out what kind of guy he is.”

The paternal look in Gerold’s eyes told RunningWolf that he was just concerned about his young partner. Nodding RunningWolf assured Gerold, “Sure, I’ll ask around.”

“The guy’s name is Cach. Scott Cach.”

“I’ve never heard of him myself, but I’ll ask about him,” RunningWolf said as he ushered the detective out of his makeshift office.

The two men were just leaving as Cass rushed up to them. “We have a location,” she said.

Office of Joeseph RunningWolf, FBI Field Headquarters

RunningWolf had done as he had promised. Deserted though the field office may be at 1 am he asked everyone he saw if the knew an agent Cach. No one had heard of him. Finding that odd, that not one person had heard of this agent, he decided to head to his office to do a little more searching.

Switching on the computer RunningWolf logged on to the machine and began a search of the agency’s personnel files. Scanning the results he could not find any agent with the name of Scott Cach, or any variation of it. Changing to another database he input the name. The results disappointed the FBI agent. He had hoped that Gerold’s ‘cop instinct’ was wrong, but he should have known better than to question the instincts of a near 30-year veteran.

RunningWolf printed off all the non-confidential files and news reports and scrounged around for an empty file folder. Neatly assembling the papers, he left the folder containing the printed materials on his desk. Tomorrow Gerold and he would have to talk with Cass about her new boyfriend.