Chapter 3

Harvey Less was a man with many facits. A self-proclaimed explorer of the unknown, a researcher and sometime scholar, and in more recent years, someone with new and old secrets to protect that no doubt may haunt him in the future.

Yet, for now, primarily a researcher.

He sat at his desk over looking a seemingly mundane looking street, and looked down at the roofs of various-storied buildings as he listened to the chime of a message machine beginning to play back a man’s voice.

A soft knock on the door drew his attention and he pressed pause on the recording.

“Come in.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the door handle turned and one man and then a second walked inside the office.

One stood in a suit, and another in a suit with a long brown jacket.

“Ness?”

He asked, a man with dark brown hair stepping forward and dropping a manila envelope on his desk. 

The other figure behind him reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small clear plastic bag with a few pieces of paper, something unrecognizable, and a card inside.

“Did you find anything else?”

“He led us to an abandoned site. There was residual readings and residue left behind. He tried to turn Nion’s gun at him.”

The man behind Ness with black hair brustled on his feet. 

“A misfire scared him. He’s back at HQ.”

Harvey frowned.

“How did he do that exactly?”

“Uh….there was a distraction.”

Ness looked back at the man behind him, Nion.

“A young woman showed up at the site, said she was looking for abandoned places or ghosts or something.”

“Ghost hunting?” he asked curiously.

Ness extended his gloved hand, placing the plastic bag on the desk. 

“Even dropped a card if you’re wondering. Nervously said something about it. I don’t know why someone would bring cards out there. Reckless enough to find yourself out there in the dark alone that far out.”

“Curious. Did you confirm the site though?”

“Yes. Readings would indicate that was a rift site.”

Harvey reached across the desk and grabbed the bag, flipping it around and eyeing the contents with his dark brown eyes and a curious tilt of his head.

“File it as a report. The rift frequencies are getting closer together. We should be able to further hone in on where our runaway has gone off to by mapping them in more detail.”

Ness nodded his head, glancing back at the slightly taller pale man behind him.

“That’ll be all for now. Start tailing the energy reading routes. Some look like they’re converging west of here by a few hundred miles.” Harvey added, checking his wristwatch.

“On it.” Ness said, turning towards the door. Nion quietly stepped forward, reaching into his pocket and placing something looking adjacent to a pistol sideways on his desk, only the front looked different in a way with a narrow horizontal opening where one would think a round one for bullets would be.

                  He turned to exit, tailing behind Ness as the door opened and the clicked shut.

                  Harvey looked at the weapon for a moment, grabbing it and opening a drawer, placing it inside of a small box.

                  He grabbed the small plastic bag on the desk, eyeing the card inside and flipping it over.

BHA

The letters said scrawled across the card with a small blackbird and a moon beside it.

He made a soft “Hmp.”

He reclined back into the leather of his seat and flipped open the laptop atop his desk. On a whim, typing out the words on the small paper.