Free Hybrid by Greg Ballan Page B

proud of himself to be able to hold his own with men of such high caliber.
    “Of course, we're going to have to conduct a complete search of the parklands, possibly the entire forest,” one of the investigators commented as he studied the map of Hopedale Park and the town forest that Erik had provided.
    “That's a lot of ground to cover, dozens and dozens of square miles, and a good deal of it has no trails or markers. You're talking about thousands of acres of virgin woodlands. It would be very easy to get lost in there,” Steve commented. “You city slickers don't seem the type best suited to a rustic environment. You may wrinkle those expensive clothes,” he added, returning the slight that he took earlier.
    “We'll do just fine, officer. Just go back to your doughnuts, coffee, and traffic tickets, and leave the real work to the professionals,” the youngest of the investigators countered.
    Steve was about to retaliate, but Erik cut him off. “Gentlemen, let's leave our personal prejudices about our trades aside. We all serve justice, only in a different way. Steve is a uniformed professional. You three are expert corporate investigators; as for me.... “He paused and laughed. “I'm just trying to pay the rent.” All four men laughed at his self-depreciating remark and the tension seemed to evaporate slightly.
    “Mr. Knight makes a valid point; however, I think he underplays his own capabilities,” one of the investigators commented. “I suggest we use Mr. Knight as our mediator between authorities. Mr. Knight, I want you on our payroll for this—working for us, of course. Do you have knowledge of the area in question?”
    “Yes,” Erik replied, struggling to keep down the excitement in his voice. “I know the area very well.”
    “That's an understatement,” Steve replied. “Nobody around here knows those woods, or more about the woods, than Mr. Knight.”
    “Excellent, we'll let you scout the deeper, unmarked woodlands. We'll start off where you found the buttons and cloth and stick to the trails and water area here.” He pointed to a particular section of land on the map. “Your friend is right about one thing. We're not familiar with deep wooded environments, but you are. We'll let you handle the rougher terrain. We'll start bright and early, say 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. That gives us time to appropriate the proper woodland attire and set up our mobile units. We'll meet at the point where the evidence was found and proceed to explore each path in sequence. We can't cover all this terrain in one day, but we'll do as much as we can. The longer we wait, the less likely it is we'll find anything, and the trail is far from being hot. We can only hope that one of us gets lucky.” The detective stared at the Hopedale cop. “Can we get any additional support from your people?”
    “I'll see what I can do,” Steve answered coolly.
    “Fair enough,” the detective replied. “Let's get things moving then.”
    The other two investigators nodded, and then stood, signaling the conclusion of the meeting. Two of the investigators led the Reynolds out to their car, while the third, which had done the majority of the speaking, stayed behind.
    “Mr. Knight,” he began.
    “Mr. Nelson,” Erik answered.
    “I have an envelope for you from the Reynolds covering your services rendered up to this point in time. I'm sure the thousand dollars in here should more-than-cover your time spent. Your rate of compensation working for our organization will be three hundred dollars per day, as long as we require you,” Nelson stated bluntly.
    “Fair enough,” Erik answered.
    Nelson extended his hand with the envelope, and Erik took it. Without saying another word, Nelson headed for the doorway. As he approached the narrow hallway, he suddenly turned. “Oh, Mr. Knight, welcome aboard,” he remarked then quickly vanished down the hall.
    Erik stared at the envelope in his hand, still trying to recover from the sudden twist