Montana Investigation

[Willie Long]

"He was a devil through and through. He brought down wind and lightning. He made the earth shake below us and he made the river rise. He burned all the buildings and turned aside our strongest men," the witness told me.

I pushed my plate away and mulled over the information. A bethrothed monster, rampaging when his bride couldn't be found? That happens in Greek Myths, not in America; not in the 21st century.

I looked around the restaurant. There was a pair of white-haired senior citizens talking loudly to each other about car repairs. A twentysomething couple fussing over their baby in his high-chair. Outside, traffic was picking up. Dozens of drivers, each in their private world. The witness was from a culture that believed in monsters, that was prepared to fight them. They died. What would that monster do to the people here?

I decided if Lazlo and I did our jobs, we wouldn't have to find out.

After securing lodging for the witness, I made sure she had some walking around money and promised to be back within the week. I called the office, got my gear from the hotel, turned in the rental car, and went to Dulles.

As I was waiting at the ticket counter, I heard The King of Wishful Thinking playing. "Where are you headed, sir?"

"I think I'll Go West. One ticket to Great Falls, Montana, please."

[Willie Long]

It's a good thing I slept on the plane. While Great Falls was the closest airport to the incident site, that's kinda like being the whitest member of N.W.A. In other words, it took me several hours to reach ... a particular small town in northern Montana.

So small, I wasn't sure they'd have a hotel. Luckily, I found a room at the town motel. (Unlike the one in Saginaw, it was vampire-free.) My office had said there were a few local agents heading my way, but that they wouldn't arrive until Wednesday.

So I started without them. I made the standard opening move -- checking old newspapers and local books -- and came up with nothing. There was no mention of explosions, fires, or an earthquake. No mysterious smoke or lights, no unexplained deaths. Evidently, the incident never reached the town, not even as rumor.

According to the witness, the weather devil went to the compound looking for his human fiancee. They told it she wasn't there and it flipped out. Why didn't it come here to look for her, too? It's the only town nearby, and the logical place to continue searching.

Frustrated, I went back to my motel room. I couldn't get answers in town, but I'd get them at the compound.

[Grace]

You know, it really sounds as though Pan is pissed.

[Willie Long]

That grungy pedophile satyr piece of...? Probably. Near as we could tell, though, the compound attack was the work of his dad.

*****
The rest of the I-team arrived on schedule in a beat-up pickup that ran as if it was angry at being removed from the scrapyard. The agents were E, a tiny little guy with long flowing brown hair and brown fedora; and T, his redhaired wife. "Sorry we couldn't make it here sooner, we had car trouble and couldn't get it fixed until our friend paid us," T explained, "E is a freelance web designer, and I make arts and crafts."

"I teach kungfu in Chicago," I said. "Why don't we take my car?" As we headed toward the compound with the witness's directions, I filled T in on what we knew. E was in the backseat, reviewing the links I'd saved.

When you get instructions that include the phrase, "turn off the paved road" you know it's going to be an unpleasant trip, and this was no exception. We wound up parking the car beside the forest and heading in on foot.

The breeze was cool, and the air clean. It was a pleasant walk in the woods, until a buncha gunmen on horseback rode up and started talkin' trash.

[Hannah]

Hi Willie

You're in Montanna? That's amazing. I wish I could show you around.

Hannah

PS: Might want to be careful who you talk to, you remember what happened when I met you.

PPS: Why the secrecy? Everyone knows you're talking about my mother and the compound.

[Willie Long]

*I was in Montana. I'm back now.

*I did remember our first meeting -- that's why I was caught off guard when your mother accepted my help without hesitation. I wasn't sure it was her at first.

*Not everyone. Deathblaster might not know. Besides, it wasn't for me to say.

[Willie Long]

Turns out we'd stumbled into private property. E somehow calmed Barakiel down, and he let us leave without a fight. T mentioned that she learned which way the weather devil had come. We tracked it back as far as we could -- not very.

The forest may have repaired itself after the rampage, or it might never have been damaged at all. There just weren't enough clues. E said he thought that the thing vanished before it could finish destroying the compound.

I wonder why.

[Clarity]

_____Me too, Mr. Willie.

[Hannah]

Hi Willie,

My mom says that he left when they convinced him I wasn't there and they didn't know where I was. Does that sound like what you found?

Hannah

PS: I was just thinking, he did this to the compound around the first day of spring. I saw him the first time on the first day of summer. The most recent time I saw him was the first day of fall. Think that has anythign to do with it?

[Willie Long]

It could be. We couldn't get close to the compound, and it didn't leave any evidence in the forest.

**
It might. We need to talk to KT and Natasha. They seem more in tune with the cycles that these things follow than anyone.