7 Obsession

Tom McGregor rolled the cigarette in his mouth around his lips and cursed under his breath. Traffic was hell in this city. Not to mention the tempers of those here are like a match balanced precariously over a can of gasoline: they could snap at any moment.

But this was Mexico City and these are passionate people. It was to be expected. But it didn't help when one was trying to get to work and didn't speak a lick of Spanish.

He suddenly felt his car lurch forward, causing his cigarette to fall from his lips into his lap. 'That's it', he thought, switching off his car's engine and getting out. It's about time he gave these indigenes a piece of his American mind.

Things didn't go how he pictured though; his fender bender buddy was a 7ft tall body builder. Even if he was in the right, his scrawny build wouldn't hold up to just the pressure emanating from the man. Cursing once again under his breath, , he got back into his car.

Lucky for him, traffic began moving again. He really hated this city. But being here was a necessity; the trail of those he dubbed "The Shadows" had led him here and he wasn't willing to let them go. He had been chasing them for over three years now.

He had no proof of their existence till a week ago which led him to take up an assignment at his office that allowed him to relocate to Mexico. His fellow coworkers at the FBI knew his reason for taking up the job but just sneered at him. Everyone in the office knew of his obsession with his imaginary friends.

He had a first inkling of their existence during a case he was working on which seemed way too familiar. It turned out to be a replica of one he had worked on four years prior. The only difference was that the murder victim had shady dealings prior to his killing.

The entire case seemed generic on the surface, but that one connection he found kept bothering; his gut kept telling him that something was up. And his gut feeling had never failed him.

He then kept tabs on all cases that came in by running them through a comparison software he bothered the tech department to give him. With it, he discovered some cases that had discrepancies; but they weren't enough. One couldn't call foul play just because the murdered went to a strip club he hadn't been to before ever before getting offed.

But he had faith that their slip up would come as long as he perservered. And his chance finally presented itself. A firefight between 'drug gangs' was witnessed by a pedestrian who took a video of it and posted it online. Closer inspection showed him special experimental weapons and skill sets impossible to be found among gang members.

A face search of those involved served to prove his point further, none of the fighters had any connection with drugs or even weapons. Some were even registered as housewives while the location of the battle was a well known coffee store in the community that had no issues with the local gangs.

Tom had felt dazed for a good while before he felt the absolute joy of finding the clues he had been chasing all these years. But he knew that revealing it wouldn't bring him any benefits; those who ran "The Shadows" would have connections in the FBI. Making him disappear or have nothing to show for his efforts was very possible for them. And he refused to share his discovery with others who'd just want to jump on his bandwagon now that it was moving.

So he took the assignment that allowed him to go to the location of the battle without much suspicion: Mexico City. But he hadn't found anything worthwhile there except some spent shells and dried blood stains. The building had been burnt to the ground and the area sloppily cleaned by the area's residents.

But that didn't stop him. He felt that if he let this lead go, he'd never get it again. So he completed the assignment he had been given and rented an apartment, continuing his investigation. Slowly warming up to those who lived around the battle site, he found out strange information.

An old vendor on the street informed him that armoured vehicles had begun going and coming from the shop all of sudden a week before the attack; it seemed that they were aware of what was coming and were moving base but got attacked before the transfer could be completed.

He felt somewhat disgruntled however; it's seemed that "The Shadows" weren't the only ones in the dark world. McGregor felt rather dumb as he had only been able to discover one of these hidden organizations. Now that there was a second one, however, he felt that his investigation's pace would increase as there seemed to be a hidden war going on.

Tom finally pulled off the highway into his street and pulled up in front of his apartment building. It was in a ghetto-ish area with gangs sitting at corners smoking and little kids running among the rubble that was called home. He walked up the flight of stairs to his room and began fishing through his pockets for his keys.

He heard the the lock on his neighbor's door begin to open and quickly adjusted his appearance and stood straighter. The door finally opened a young woman came out. She had silky black hair and a rather pretty face. She was one of the reasons he hadn't changed his apartment building to one close to investigation area.

Coughing lightly, he turned to her. "Wonderful day, isn't it?", he said, trying to strike up an argument. She smiled weakly at him and nodded. He tried again. " Didn't see you yesterday. The García kids put on a play in the lobby which was..." his voice trailed off as he saw he her left eye had a black circle around it. Anger filled him and he opened his mouth to speak.

She guessed his intentions and shook her head. Getting involved would just make her situation worse. She smiled wider and said "I really wish I was around for it. I helped little Maria sew her costume too. Maybe next time. I need to go now though. See ya". She relocked her door and left.

He stood alone in the hallway before unlocking his door and entering his apartment. Sitting in his living room, he lit a cigarette and let out a good puff of smoke before sighing in defeat.

A voice came to him from a dark corner of his room. " Welcome home Tom".

Author's Note- I dropped the 8th chapter but the servers messed up and it's fucking gone