Sleeper cell

         
Prologue
Their arrivals are often grand disasters. Tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes. They are known for their godlike introductions to Earth which is met with awestruck adoration and astonishment from most humans the encounter. Contrarily, their human Guides are often indifferent to their arrival. The mutually beneficial relationship between Them and their Guides is simple; the godlike Adofo (Them) arrive to save mankind from itself, and the Karasis (Guides) help them look and think more human so they may better assist humans. There has been little to know change from this process.
No one expected a thunderstorm. A natural light show in the middle of the county fairgrounds transported the Adofo twins in the middle of the night. No pizazz, no fanfare, away from prying eyes. Donovan Adofo scanned the campus for onlooker while Wynne vibrated in excitement.
"Shocked that worked. Maybe we can complete this mission without causing too much of a stir." 
After a spell, Donovan turned to see his twin close to bursting at the seams.
"WE'RE ON EARTH!" Wynne's thunderous voice carried to through the fairground.
"Keep. Your. Voice. Down!" Donovan hissed. "We have to keep a low profile here. We are just here to get him and go home. We are NOT here to fraternize or interfere."
"He has the upper hand no matter what. He has been here for 50 years. He has interfered, fraternized and built trust in a way we never could. He is older, wiser, and probably has a Wise One or two in his corner. Besides, I don't want what the others seek. I want food."
As Wynne's mind starts to imagine all sorts of culinary creations, Donovan starts to plan their next move.
"Speaking of Wise Ones, we should start to look for the Karasis. There is a chance they have seen him or they can help us locate him. Even if they helped him, maybe we can convince them that turning him in is for the best."
Wynne shots her twin an inquisitive look.
" Where, dear brother, do you suggest we start? We don't have an amulet to find them or a locator spell. Oh, do you have a phone book?"
Ignoring his sister's sarcasm, Donovan points to the Karasi's Family Farm billboard across the street. They share a look, and follow the directions on the sign.









Chapter 1
It was a seasonable cold day in Gadah, Texas when GG Karasi jolted out of bed. Disoriented, she looked around her tiny childhood bedroom. It was a dream she rationalized to herself. However she could not shake the feeling of dread and desperation that seemed to come from deep within her soul. She was still trying to calm herself down when her partner waltzed into her room, plopping down are her bed.
“I don’t like being in the other room,” Tosin confessed.
“What, too drafty,” she replied, distracted. Tosin noticed her staring at her hand. He grabs hold of them, causing her to look up at him.
“It’s just a dream, babe,” Tosin tried to convince her.
“I know,” She sighed, leaning into him, “It just feels so real. Like I’m the one that’s there.”
“Wanna tell me about it?” Tosin asked.
“I was in a warehouse. I couldn’t move-” Just then there was a crash and a yelp from downstairs. They both jumped out of bed, abandoning their service weapons and running down. They reached the ground level and quickly make their way to her grandfather’s study, where the older man was staring up at two shadowy figures. Using their training, they tried to surround the assailants.
“Put whatever you have down!” Aubrey admonished the pair once he saw them. Aubrey then walked over to GG. “You’re both federal agents and this is the best you could get for a weapon?” he holds out the rolling pin he took from her hand.
“Sorry, sir,” she bowed her head.
“Sit down,” he tells the two agents, snatching the fireplace shovel from Tosin’s hand. They take a seat on one side of the desk, while the farmer’s guest sat on the other.
“GG, Tosin. The Adofos are going to be staying with us for a little while. They are looking for their brother,” he explained. “I was the last one to see him, so they came to me, hoping that I would be able to point them in the right direction.”
“When’d you last see him?” GG asked.
“Thirty years ago.” The detectives shared a glance. “They are hoping to retrace his steps. They think he might have fallen in with a bad crowd.”
“Where are you guys from? How come you guys didn’t alert the authorities there? “ Tosin asks the two.
“We are the authorities,” Wynne replied simply.
“Oh? What department-” GG held her hand out to Tosin. There was something in Wynne’s response that set off warning bell.
“Grandpa, can I talk to you outside, please?” She begins to walk out of the room. Aubrey shoots a pointed look at Tosin before exiting the room. The two Karasi face off for a few minutes.
“Well?” GG asked. “You knew their brother? Thirty years ago? How old are they, twenty years old? Twenty-five?”
“They needed my help, I offered. End of story,” Aubrey replied, “I know what it’s like to not know where your family is. Not know if they are safe or in danger-”
“I told you that I can’t just disregard my job to go looking for aunt Ellie and cousin Carrisa-”
“And I told you that I just want you to check on their case-”
“It isn’t a federal case! So the only way to check on it is to be where her case is. And I’m here now, I can probably tie this back to a bigger case-”
“Fine, but the longer we wait-”
“The greater chance they could be dead. I know the statistics. But you do realize that they could have easily have gone on another mission,” GG offered.
“They didn’t say anything-” He started.
“They may have forgotten!”GG was growing exasperated. “ I am not saying that I won’t look into it, but I am saying that you are old, and raising your blood pressure in this way is ridiculous. Aunt Ellie could be fine. Cary could be fine. You need to not worry.” Aubrey nodded his head. “So, these guys. you wanna tell me who they really are?” Aubrey thought for a moment.
“No,” he replied, walking towards his study. GG followed, shaking her head. During their conversation,Tosin was interested in getting to know the newcomers.
“So,” he began, “Where are you guys from?”
“Far away,” Donovan stated simply.
“A magical place,” Wynne gushed, earning a scowl from her brother. Tosin pondered the statement and the reaction. Something about the two of them seemed off.
“Yeah my parents say that Nigeria is a pretty magical place,” Tosin prodded, “What part are you from? And when did you get in? We didn’t know we were getting more visitors. GG and i could have picked you up from the airport.” There was a silence as the pair shared a confused look while Tosin clarified.
“It’s just that taxis don’t come all the way out here, which is why we had to rent a car. Did Mr. Karasi pick you guys up?” Another confused look. Just then, GG stopped his onslaught of questions with a hand on his shoulder.
“We have some things that we need to take care of so we will be heading out now. It was nice meeting you two,” she gave a nod in their general direction. Once the two were out of the study, Aubrey focused on the Adofos.
Tosin and GG walked up the stairs in silence and GG lead Tosin into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
“What did you get from them?”
“Honestly? Nothing,” Tosin answered. “I know that they are extremely awkward, a lot more military minded than we are, but I have no idea where they are from or anything.” GG thought about this for a moment.
“Do you think that Diana and these guys are related?” she asked.
“I think it’s time to talk to the lawyer,” Tosin offered.
“Do you think grandpa knows anything,” GG pushed.
“I think it’s time to talk to the lawyer,” Tosin repeated.
“Do you think this dress will make me look fat,” she joked, pulling a t-shirt out of her suitcase. Tosin mulled over his answer for a moment.
“I am going to need to talk to my lawyer,” he offered, earning the garment being thrown in his face. After a brief chuckle, the two fall into an uncomfortable silence.
“Are you going to be okay?” Tosin asked.
“When am I not?” GG countered. Tosin put up his hands in surrender. “I’m not snapping at you, I just want to know when I haven’t been able to get my head in the game.”
“It isn’t that,” Tosin insisted, “It’s just that it seems like this may be different. The case, your family, these dreams. I’m just worried this could all be very overwhelming. I just want you to take it one step at a time.” GG sighed.
“It’s life. I can handle it.” Tosin shrugged, and headed towards his room.
“We should be heading out. We got a lot to do,” he called out. To himself, he murmured, “Some vacation.”
The two get on the road to see the person who knows the most about the case they are investigating. Once they arrived, they were ushered to a small waiting area with one person, their desk, and the clicking of their keyboard. They were about to ask how much longer they had to wait when the only office door in sight burst open and out waddled a visibly pregnant. Her protruding belly seemed out of place against her elongate, toned limbs. She looked runway ready in a two piece pencil skirt suit and the highest of heels. Her dark eyes scanned the waiting area and when she spotted GG and Tosin, the squeal she let out could have shattered glass. The two of them winced as they stood up, walking towards the woman who waddled in their direction. She enveloped them into an awkward hug, where they tried to avoid pushing on the baby. She let go of them, pushing them away from her a bit, trying to get a better look at them, then grabbed their hands and dragged them towards the door she appeared from.
“Hold my calls!” she told the woman planted in front of her office. “Have a seat, have a seat!” she sang to the two agents. They obliged, sliding carefully into the seats. The pair remained tight-lipped as the woman walked around her desk. Noticing the stiffness of her two guest she let out a big sigh.
“What!” she snapped, which caused a chuckle to escape Tosin. A slightly more composed GG offered up a reply.
“You look like a beached whale, Ally.”
“Shut up,” Ally threw back. Tosin had lost the fight to his laughter and was now doubled over in fits.
“You are lucky Emily had y’alls first kid,” GG continued. “Because if she had seen this, she would have never done it.”
“You. Suck.”
“Does it feel weird walking around with the literal world in front of you?” GG asked. “How do you sleep? How does Emily sleep-” GG ducked out of the way of a paper airplane.
“I regret not killing you when we were younger,” Ally growled. Tosin had melted onto the floor and was now crying with laughter. Just then the door opened and Ally’s wife took in the scene before her.
“EM!” GG exclaimed, running towards her sister in law. “You look well rested. Are you lifting weights? You look good, Em. You look good.” Emily looked past her to see her wife fuming.
“What did you do this time?” Emily gave her sister in law the stink eye. “Why is it everytime she talks to you, she looks like she is ready to snap someone in half-”
“I simply said-” GG started
“I looked like a beached whale,” Ally finished her statement. “Amongst other things.” Emily held her sister in law at arms’ length. GG looked unashamed of her comments.
“I would say you have lost your mind,” Emily started, “But for as long as I have known you, you’ve been this way. Tosin, get off the floor!” Tosin gathered himself together the best he could, and righted himself in his seat. Emily took a place on the couch facing the Tosin, Ally, and GG.
“So why are you here, exactly?” Emily asked.
“We were hoping you could tell us a bit about Diana Faraji case.” Tosin responded. He still had tears in his eyes but was well enough to get back to business.
“I don’t know how much we can help,” Ally replied back. “We didn’t know her for long. By the time we got her actual case file she died.”
“Wait, what?” GG was now confused.
“Yeah, it was all over the news,” Emily offered. “She was a former Sheriff’s deputy. She went crazy, or something. She attack Brix and Macolbi, so they took her in. Before anyone could offer her council, she slit her wrists.”
“Dude, it was national news. There weren’t any protests, but it was a big deal,” Ally added. “What kind of federal agent are you?”
“Dead.” Tosin could believe what he was hearing. GG’s head was spinning.
“That can’t be right.”
“Her mom confirmed it. she was a donor, so she didn’t get to bury her. Aunt Ellie was the one who did the examination,” Ally confirmed. “Are you two okay? You look ill.”
The two agents came to the conclusion that their original investigation had taken an unexpected turn. They found their suspect, but not on the condition they had expected.
“Then who the hell is walking around with her face!” Tosin exclaimed.
“Don’t forget her DNA and fingerprints,” GG offered, distractedly.
“Come again?” It was now the time for the married couple to share a look.
“The reason we got this case was because we have someone who has been raising hell that we thought was Diana Faraji. But now to find out that she died...how did we not know that? wouldn’t that information be in our database?” GG turned to Tosin.
“Would we have checked if we had definitive evidence that she was the perpetrator?” Tosin was just as confused.
“It would have come up at some point,” GG insisted. “It should have. What a minute. You said aunt Ellie did the autopsy?”
“Uh, yeah,” Emily was now sitting up, completely engrossed in the information she received. “Her and Cary had just come back from their last deployment. Cary was a friend of hers and insisted on being a part of finding out what happened and how it could be prevented.”
“How long after that did they go missing?” GG asked.
“They...didn’t?” Ally’s confusion grew. “I mean, not that I know of.”
“Have you talked to grandpa?”
“No,” the couple responded.
“And obviously he didn’t call you,” GG murmured to herself. “He hasn’t heard from aunt Ellie and Carissa in weeks and he thinks something happened to them.”
“Has he filed a missing person report?” Emily asked. “You know, so local police can help find them?” GG shrugged. “Well, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m going to check on it anyway. It would appear that I have a few questions about Diana that can only be answered by our local PD.” GG stood up, and Tosin followed suit. They all shook hands and walked out of the office.
“Tell my nephew I said hello,” GG called out when they reached the elevator. Once the door closed, GG and Tosin began to unpack the information they received.
“How do we explain this? ‘So we followed the lead we had on the impenetrable cop killer, and it turns out, she’s dead!” Tosin still couldn’t digest what they had discovered.
“I wonder what aunt Ellie and Carissa found out,” GG was trying to piece it together. “I mean, they perform this autopsy and not too long later they go missing? That’s a little suspect.”
“Maybe they went into hiding?” Tosin offered.
“Yeah, but why would they have to?” GG asked. “And not tell grandpa? Aunt Ellie tells him everything. If she was threatened, he would know.”
“Would explain why he’s so worried about her.”
“But why not just tell us that?” GG was growing agitated. “It’s almost like he doesn’t want us to have all the answers right away.”
“We should just check on your aunt and cousin’s case, just to make sure we are not getting the run around.”
The outside of Gadah City Hall looked like an abandon banquet hall. The letters on the front of the building had chunks missing, the paint was either flaking away or was missing altogether. The stucco color building has completely lost the vibrant blue and yellow colors it once held.
“Oh, government buildings,” Tosin joked, earning him a jab in the side from GG. The patrons exiting the building spared the couple lingering glances. They seemed to be appraising the care they arrived in as well as their attire. GG wore an olive green t-shirt dress, black converse and a grey utility vest. Tosin was sporting dark was jeans and a white t-shirt. This was not their standard investigation outfit. They were dressed for vacation.
“Maybe we should tell them that we are police,” Tosin whispered.
“Good luck getting them to believe that,” GG whispered back. Straightening themselves out, they walked into the building. Inside, the peeling walls matched the defeated atmosphere in the lobby. There were prisoners being ushered into a gated section to their left while a long line of frustrated individuals stood to their right. Each person they passed by gave them the same looks they received outside; one that told them they did not belong.
“You grew up in this town?” Tosin dodged a couple who would have run into him otherwise.
“Yep,” GG drawled, expertly dodging a teenager and their mother. They finally made it to the section they were looking for. The Missing Person unit was completely empty except for a clerk behind the counter. GG notice that she could not have been more than twenty years old.
“Hey, I wanted to check on a missing person report, is this where I do that?” GG did not get a response to the teeneager, whose head was bent. She lowered her head to the clerk’s eye level, smiling when she got her attention. The clerk, whose name was Amelia, sighed big, removing her earbuds and rolling her eyes in the process.
“Can I help you?” Amelia’s monotone voice only served to irritate GG. She took a deep breath and counted to three before she responded.
“Hi, Amelia, I was wondering if I could check on a missing person report,” she even smiled for good measure. The teenager cut her eyes to her computer screen.
“Name.”
“Um, I’m looking for-”
“Your name,” the clerk admonished.
“Why do you need my name?” GG didn’t bother with yoga breaths. Tosin could see a showdown brewing. He stepped closer to the counter, prepared to stop GG from doing anything brash. Amelia shoots GG an exasperated look.
“ To make sure you don’t have a restraining order.” GG had to hold her composure as Amelia rolled her eyes.
“Gail Gurit Karasi,” each name was measured through clenched teeth. Amelia the clerk took her time typing in the name, each click grating at GG’s nerves. She stopped typing and read something on the screen. Suddenly she stood up and walked toward the back of the room.
“What the-” Amelia held up her hand to silence GG. Tosin reacted quickly by grabbing GG off the counter.
“You need to-”
“I. Am. Calm,” GG ground her, “ But that little girl wants to catch these-”
“You are going to beat up a teenage girl because she’s annoying?” When GG didn’t answer, Tosin continued. “You are technically on the clock. So get down because you can’t kill her like you want to.” With Tosin’s help, GG climbed off the counter, straightening out her dress. A few moments later, Amelia the clerk poked her head out of the back room, motioning for the pair to follow behind her. GG ground her teeth as she walked to the back room where a man sat behind a small desk, an ancient computer on top of it. Amelia the clerk leaned against the back wall facing the agents, playing on her phone. Tosin tucked the seething GG to his side, holding her in place in case the teenager snarled off again.
“Can one of you-” GG was cut off yet again by Amelia the clerk holding her finger in their direction. Tosin held onto GG tighter. The man at the computer finally looked at them and stood up.
“Hello,” he extended his hand. “My name is Bart Marner, I am the head of the Missing Person Division. How can I help?” Before either of them could shake the director’s hand or get a word out, Amelia the clerk speaks.
“Their FBI. Wanted to look up some missing person report. Figured you wanted to help them.” Director Marner shot an irritated look in Amelia’s direction, causing Amelia shrugged off the wall and leave the room. Marner turned back to his guest, a smile plastered on his face.
“I am so sorry about her,” he pleads, “We are running a new rehabilitation program for troubled teens.” The two of them nodded, taking the seats they were offered. “She is our most trying candidate.” GG huffed. “So, what can I do for you?”
“ I am looking for my aunt and cousin. they went missing a couple of months ago and I just want to know how long ago the report was filed.”
“There was no report,” Bart assured her, smile firmly in place.
“Can you just check and make sure? We would really like to make sure before anymore steps are taken,” Tosin took over the conversation, silently coaxing GG to calm down.
“Aubrey Karasi is a prominent member of society. I think I would remember him coming in,” Bart addressed GG. GG stood up and offered her hand. Bart took her hand and shook it.
“Thank you so much for all your help,” GG put on her sweetest voice. She turned and walked out of the room. Tosin followed closely, not saying a word until they got in the car.
“So, who do you think is lying?” He asked once he started the car. GG was silent for a while.
“Alena and Emily didn’t know about it. They didn’t know about it and they didn’t think much of it, “ GG pointed out. “The last time that they were seen they were working with the police. So I don’t doubt that he went asking them what happened.” GG looked at her partner, hoping she could discover something she was not seeing herself. “I don’t know what to think, T. But I don’t have all the answers, and I still don’t know anything about Diana Faraji.”
“Maybe we started in the wrong place,” Tosin rationalized, earning him the side-eye. “Diana was a deputy here, right? Then maybe we ask the Sheriff.”