"We're clear, no one in this room either." Mark grumbled into his earpiece.
"Damn, they must have known we were coming. At least we have free reign to search the place."
John and Mark turned over furniture, slashing couches and breaking open cabinets. This morning they had gotten a tip about a drug ring running out of a residential home. There weren't any grounds to this claim, but the location was interesting enough to warrant a thorough search. Tattered rainbow flags, a sprawling garden overrun with mint, and only a handful of cars for the estimated dozens of occupants.
"Still clear out here, none of the neighbors have taken notice of our presence and no one has come by the house."
Tobias lurked in the car outside, tinted windows providing some protection from the harsh daylight and unfriendly stares of an older couple walking past. Now he was wishing they had gone in undercover. Their sharp suits and black Cadillac made quite an impression, but now that his team was essentially just looting the place he felt badly overdressed.
"Anything of interest?"
"Not unless you count an entire bookshelf full of puppygirl smut. Who would have known it was such a richly produced genre?"
Tobias smirked, "Stay on task. Narcotics and manufacturing equipment only.
John continued to rummage through the house. "Found a bong and some weed, but looks like the legal stuff. Might be able to get them in on that anyway."
"Stay on task, the cops can clean up later. Any minature cleanroom equipment or solvents?"
John emptied out another spice cabinet onto the floor, shattering bottles of brown liquids. "Not unless they've started smuggling vanilla. I think this place is clean."
"John you should check this out. The yellow door in the small bedroom under the stairs. There seems to be-"
"Mark, you cut out out. Do you read me?"
Silence. After a few uneasy seconds, Tobias cut in. "What's going on in there? I don't see Mark's comms or vitals."
"Mark cut out. I'm going to check out his last location."
"Like hell you are, I'm calling for backup."
John turned his earpiece down to the lowest volume. "What's that? You're hardly coming through. I'm going to check this out."
John found the bedroom that Mark had described. Inside was only a small desk under a loft bed, and narrow yellow door tucked in the corner. Tobias’s indignant shouting continued on his earpiece. The door stuck. The door was already ajar and he slipped through into the shadows. John stooped down and was nearly crawing as he pushed through velvety mounds of clothes, and the chatter in his earpiece cut out.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Tobias stared at the vitals monitor as John disappeared completely and he was left alone.
Luke was sinking into thick, thick mud. He felt disoriented. He knew he was rummaging through a closet only seconds ago but now all he could see was vines and mud and slime. What was he doing in a closet? It doesn't make much sense now that he tried to think about it, but all he cared about right not getting the hell out of this mud.
Ribit. An enormous croaking sound roared from behind him. He spun around but nothing was there but more mud and slime. Thick bands of sunlight poured down through the canopy, giving a stinking warmth to the boggy ground.
He slogged away from the source of the sound, towards the nearest vine. His hands found purchase and he held on for dear life. He wasn't sinking anymore and let out a deep sigh.
Riiiibit. The croak sounded again. This time Luke was sure that it was some kind of toad, but he couldn't see any living thing around him. Luke started to shimmy up the vine when he spotted something moving in the mud.
"Holy jesus fuck what the hell is that?!"
The giant toad blinked open sleepy slimy eyes as it emerged from the mud. He slouched forward to fully bathe his back in the springtime sunlight, grateful for the season as the ample warmth brought him more into wakefulness.
"Oh my god shit shit shit!" Luke was crying now, quietly.
Gentle morning light filtered down through a thin fog as crickets hopped among grasses and wildflowers. John stumbled and tripped and softly fell into a patch of thick and cushiony grasses, laughing with delight. He started, and stood up suddenly. Something was wrong... He looked around, looking for... what was he looking for?
"Hello? Is someone there?" He said, answered by the stillness of the fog and a grasshopper landing on his suit pants. He remembered he had just been talking to someone moments ago, but now he was completely alone. He searched around on the ground, then watched with wonder as a spider scurried out of his sight with fiendish dexterity. He found footprints and exposed earth where he had tripped over a clod of grass, but nothing else. No indication of how he got here. Suddenly he flailed, startled, tugging at something in his ear.
"Oh, just an earbud." he said, relieved that there weren’t any malicious bugs trying to wig their way into his ear. He still couldn’t quite piece together what had happened or how he got here, but he honestly couldn’t care less. This meadow was beautiful, and he was surely here for a reason. Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe he was dead. These thoughts gave him no trouble as he admired a thistle, brushing his finger along its deep purple down with all of the tenderness and care of a new lover.
"Gone?"
"Yes! Gone. Disappeared. One ignoring orders, too, but that’s not exactly news. I need backup, I need backup immediately."
"Understood. I’m dispatching a surveillance team to your location."
"E.T.A.?"
"Twelve minutes. Now can you give more information about this disappearance?"
"What more can I tell you? I... We’ve got company. I’ve got to go."
Tobias slapped close the phone and watched as two people approached the house and one of them made a rude gesture in his direction.
"Fucking cops. I can’t believe they have someone watching us again."
"Wanna go bust out their windows?" Silas said with a mischievous grin.
"Fuck no. Someone’s in there and they would shoot us before we even got close."
Silas and Brick walked in the open door of their house, and stopped.
"No fucking way..."
"Let’s get out of here. Shit." Brick turned to make for the door, but a creepy ass man in a suit blocked his way.
"Don’t run. We’ve got this place surrounded."
"Bullshit, come back with a warrant, pig." Brick yelled as they slammed the door shut and turned the lock, hands shaking.
Silas was frozen with fear, while Brick bawled their fists and breathed heavily.
"This is the FBI. I have two men that went missing inside this house minutes ago..."
Missing? Brick’s thoughts raced with fear. Federal agents gone missing in their house. They were in deep shit.
"... and we have a team on the way to extract them. If you have any information about their disappearance, withholding it at this time will be considered a violation of