The next morning, Roy hopped in his Chevrolet Camaro to go see Saltana.
Saltana got her job back way faster than Roy expected. He figured it would take a few more days, but only two or three days after the succubus incident, the big sister was back in business.
And get this, she even got transferred to the Los Angeles branch of the California FEA, becoming an agent under Gerald.
Gerald must have really been short on people. I mean, the succubus Adela invaded the FEA's underground base and controlled almost half the agents.
After Roy "offed" the succubus Adela, these agents were freed from her control, but who knows if they had any lingering issues.
Being cautious, Gerald had to quarantine these agents for observation for a while, which led to a serious shortage of staff at the FEA's Los Angeles branch.
Gerald used to just like being on the front lines, but now he had no choice but to be there, and he still couldn't keep up with all the work.
So, Saltana quickly went through the reinstatement process, got back to her post, and was put in charge of the Midnight Cannibal Train incident.
"Have you been waiting long?"
Roy waited for just a few minutes downstairs at the hotel where Saltana was staying temporarily before she came down to find him.
Back on the job, the big sister had changed back into her business suit, looking sharp and capable again – a real eye-catcher.
Seriously, Saltana in her agent getup is the prettiest. I just wonder when I'll get to see her wear that outfit...
"Roy, what's wrong? You're not saying anything."
Saltana waved her hand in front of Roy's face, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking. Hey, Saltana, have you had breakfast yet?"
"Yep, let's head out!"
Saltana was friends with Keller, so she naturally knew where she lived. Following her directions, Roy drove to an apartment building in the city center.
Molly answered the doorbell.
"Roy! What are you doing here?"
Molly looked genuinely surprised and happy to see Roy.
"Molly, who is it? Is it Saltana?"
Looks like Saltana had given Keller a heads-up, but she probably didn't mention Roy would be coming along, which explains Molly's surprise.
"It's me, Keller! And I brought another friend!"
Keller came out of the room and was just as surprised to see Roy.
"Roy! Oh my gosh, you're in LA and you didn't tell me you were coming!"
"Isn't it more fun this way? A surprise and all?"
Roy noticed Keller's arms were hanging down, and her shoulders were wrapped in thick bandages. Looks like her shoulder injury was still bothering her.
She'd been caught by the dark web folks while trying to infiltrate them, and they'd pierced her shoulder with an iron hook.
That kind of injury is a real pain to heal, so she'd been wearing bandages for two months now.
"It totally is a surprise! Come on in, I've got some tea and cake ready for you guys!"
Keller happily led Saltana and Roy into the apartment.
The apartment was pretty spacious, and while the decorations weren't over-the-top fancy, they weren't cheap either.
Roy couldn't help but ask, "Nice place! Keller, is this a rental?"
"No, I bought this apartment! Roy, why the sudden interest?"
If she was just a freelance reporter, she shouldn't be making this kind of money.
Being a reporter is a classic example of a job with high social status but low pay.
That's why reporters in any country are easily swayed by PR – it's the fastest way for them to make money.
But knowing Keller like Roy did, she wasn't the type to earn money that way. It was more likely that she came from a wealthy family.
So, Roy's initial hunch about the female reporter was right. This woman definitely had some family background.
No wonder Keller was able to bounce back and start writing articles again just two months after the dark web incident.
"Oh, it's nothing. I might be going to UCLA in the second half of the year, so I wanted to get a feel for the rental market in LA."
As soon as he said that, all three women's eyes lit up.
"Roy, is that true? Does that mean I'd be your fellow alum?"
Keller's question surprised Roy. What a coincidence!
"You graduated from UCLA?"
"Yep! I got my Master's in Communications from UCLA back in '92. I know a lot of professors who are still teaching there. If you have any questions, you can totally come to me!"
That's fantastic!
American universities really value those kinds of connections. If your parents went to a certain school, it's usually much easier for their kids to get in.
Philip and Sarah had suggested Roy go to the University of Houston because they both graduated from there, but Roy had turned them down.
"That's awesome, Senior Keller! Once I get into UCLA, I'll definitely drop your name!"
"Hold on a second! You better not be dropping my name to pick up girls everywhere! I know you'd totally do that!"
The atmosphere in the room instantly lightened up. Anyone who knew Roy knew his weaknesses.
After drinking tea, eating cake, and catching up, it was time to get down to business. Keller asked about the reason for their visit.
"Saltana, about that subway disappearance case you mentioned, I've been following it closely! Molly, could you grab the information I've been collecting?"
While Keller's hands weren't up to full strength, Molly was her right-hand woman, helping out with a lot of the work.
Molly quickly brought the organized files to Saltana and Roy.
"The Los Angeles subway only started running in 1990, and subway disappearances have been happening ever since the day it opened!"
Wow, that early?
Because Los Angeles is situated at the boundary of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, it's a city that gets its fair share of earthquakes.
That's why, even though it's the second-largest city in America, there aren't many skyscrapers in the downtown area.
And it's also why Los Angeles didn't open its subway lines until 1990, and even then, there were only six lines to begin with.
But now, in the year 2000, the LA subway system has expanded quite a bit.
What surprised Roy was that these subway disappearances had been going on for a decade already.
So, the question is, did they dig up those monsters while building the subway, or did they discover those monsters and then use the subway construction as a cover-up?
"That probably wasn't the earliest time the disappearances happened, was it?"
Keller nodded.
"Roy, you're right on the money! I looked into all the subway disappearances over the past ten years, and I found that these lines had the highest number of missing people!"
Keller勉强 raised her hand and used a red marker to mark the subway map.
"Then I kept digging through old newspapers and found that even before the subway was running, disappearances had already started happening frequently in this area. The probability of disappearances in these zones is ten times higher than in other parts of Los Angeles!"
Roy and Saltana exchanged a look. This situation was more unexpected than they thought.
In other words, the subway driver and the organization behind Mahogany might have been around much longer than Roy and his team had imagined.
Saltana quickly continued to question Keller.
"Keller, what's the earliest disappearance case in that area that you could find?"
"Around a hundred years ago, the first disappearance happened at this place called Joseph's Slaughterhouse. That slaughterhouse is still around today, but it's grown from a small operation into a large meat processing company."
A hundred years?
If this organization really started a century ago, then it's hard to imagine how massive it must be.
It must have already infiltrated every aspect of Los Angeles. No wonder subway disappearances are so frequent, yet there's hardly any public outcry.
"Looks like this case is a real can of worms!"
Saltana's face was serious.
"Saltana, if you're going to investigate this case, you absolutely have to be careful of the Los Angeles police in that area! Those guys threatened me before. They definitely know about the subway disappearances, but they've been covering up the truth!"
Keller gave Saltana a warning.
"I will! This case is clearly not just a simple supernatural incident. Maybe I should look into getting the FBI involved for a joint investigation!"
"Well, the local FBI might not be safe either. The federal police haven't found anything after all these years, so there's definitely something fishy going on!"
The higher-ups in the Los Angeles FBI must have been compromised too. In this situation, the best thing would be to bring in FBI agents from other states to investigate.
Roy and Saltana both thought of the same person at the same time.
"Iliana!"
The thick-lipped beauty who was bored and sipping coffee in her office suddenly sneezed.
"Huh? Is Roy thinking about me? Ugh, I'm so bored! Should I head over to Waterfall Town to chill out?"
But Saltana snapped back to reality and still felt a bit of a headache.
"Getting Iliana over here to help with the case will involve a ton of red tape. We can't just sit around and wait in the meantime!"
After all, they were suspecting an entire county's FBI of being compromised. The report alone would be a mountain of paperwork, and they'd have to report it to both FEA and FBI headquarters. By the time all the procedures were done, it could easily be a month later.
Keller offered a suggestion.
"I think we can start our investigation at this meatpacking plant!"
Pulling out a financial report about the meatpacking plant, Keller began to explain her theory.
"About ten years ago, that small-time slaughterhouse suddenly received a massive investment. Even though they had the chance to expand, this slaughterhouse didn't look for better land in the suburbs. Instead, they stayed put and spent a fortune buying up the surrounding land. They even shut down operations for several months to rebuild the slaughterhouse into a meatpacking plant. And the day the meatpacking plant's reconstruction was finished was the exact same day the Los Angeles subway started running!"
Coincidences can happen once or twice, but when you have a whole bunch of them stacked together, it's definitely not a coincidence.
The location of the slaughterhouse a hundred years ago would have been in the suburbs, but with a century of urban sprawl, it's now right in the middle of the city.
It's really strange that a slaughterhouse got a huge investment and didn't move out to the suburbs, stubbornly continuing to operate in the city center for so many years, and the government didn't bat an eye.
"That's definitely suspicious! Alright, let's start our investigation at this meatpacking plant then!"
With a direction for their investigation, Saltana, who was always quick to act, immediately prepared to say goodbye to Keller.
"You're leaving already? Won't you stay for lunch? If you want to sneak into Joseph's Meatpacking Plant, nighttime would probably be the best time, right?"
Saltana shook her head.
"No time. Roy has a match to play tonight, so we need to try and dig up some information during the day."
"Okay, well, you guys be as careful as possible. The police patrol around that meatpacking plant really frequently!"
That just further proves that there's something wrong with Joseph's Meatpacking Plant!
Roy and Saltana left Keller's place, got back into the Chevrolet Camaro, and headed towards Joseph's Meatpacking Plant.
Half an hour later, Roy parked the car about two hundred meters away from Joseph's Meatpacking Plant.
They couldn't get any closer. Just like Keller said, the police patrolled the area way too often. Almost every five minutes, a police car would drive by outside the meatpacking plant.
Roy was worried that getting any closer would tip them off.
"Damn it! Why are there so many cops?"
With this many police patrolling, plus all the workers inside the meatpacking plant, it's going to be really tough to sneak in.
Keller was right – trying to get into the meatpacking plant during the day was going to be a challenge.
"Roy, take it easy, be patient! Maybe we'll get an opportunity if we wait a bit longer!"
The two waited in the car for another half an hour. Suddenly, a bell rang from the direction of Joseph's Meatpacking Plant.
Looking at the time, they saw it was already 11 o'clock. That should be lunchtime.
Both the workers and the patrolling police should be heading off for lunch.
Perfect timing!
Roy and Saltana immediately got out of the car and headed towards the meatpacking plant, carefully avoiding the security cameras as they entered the premises.
Since they didn't know the layout inside Joseph's Meatpacking Plant, the two had to try their luck and explore.
But Saltana's luck was on point today. She quickly found the locker room and spotted some work uniforms.
After putting on the full work outfits, their faces were almost completely covered. This way, even under the surveillance cameras, Roy and Saltana wouldn't be recognized.
Once they were geared up, the two officially entered the processing workshop. It was incredibly gruesome in there, with animal carcasses cut open everywhere and blood and guts all over the floor.
Slaughterhouses are pretty polluting, especially when it comes to water. And California is already a pretty dry state, plus most of the water is used to grow water-intensive fruits, so much so that there wasn't even water in the fire hydrants when they needed to put out fires.
After observing for a while, the two headed to the next workshop. This one seemed to be for air-drying meat, with tons of pale animal carcasses hanging there, waiting for the next stage of processing.
In this workshop, Roy suddenly noticed a downward passage. The passage had an iron gate with chains and an old, heavy padlock on it.
Roy tapped Saltana on the shoulder, signaling that he'd found something.
"A passage going down? That's not right! Looks like we need to find a key!"
Factories like this usually don't build basements, and it's even more suspicious for a meatpacking plant.
"Sister Saltana, I can pick locks. You just need to keep an eye out for me!"
Saltana didn't know Roy could pick locks and looked a little skeptical.
Actually, for this kind of simple mechanical lock, Roy could open it with a piece of instant noodle – it was that easy.
But just as Roy entered the passage and took out his lock picks, Saltana immediately gave a warning.
"Roy, someone's coming!"
Keller Evans (Naomi Watts)
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