It was two weeks into the case and Detective Bolsinger had nearly exhausted the list of missing persons, he was getting nowhere and people were still going missing. Therefore the detective was thinking out of the box, for the last two days he had been working in plain clothes as a factory worker, he was utterly alone with no troopers for backup or his personal Rhino for transport. Detective Bolsinger had moved into one of the missing men's domicile in a hab block near to the Rostovik Lasgun factory and for two days he had been working twelve hour shifts on the assembly line stamping out rifle stocks using a machine press.

Besides it being back breaking work from standing in one place, he had been accepted as a new colleague and invited to The Ox and Grox for drinks, which he accepted as no one in the tavern saw his face. Aside from being good drinking buddies his colleagues could offer no more information than the barkeep of the tavern as they too spoke about the shadows in the mist, in the last two days another colleague had gone missing, the workforce were so spooked that they were travelling everywhere in pairs or in groups.

There were paranoid whispers of a deranged serial killer or mutants on the loose in the underhive, then there was an even darker theory whispered amongst the drunk workers in The Ox and Grox of a possible Chaos Cult being formed in the very underbelly of Algol Prime. Whilst Detective Bolsinger couldn't dismiss any of these theories due to lack of evidence but none of these theories held much water due to the same lack of evidence. If there was a serial killer there would be bodies found and the same would go if there was a mutant, as Detective Bolsinger had investigated mutant and serial killers before and the evidence was gruesome and everywhere.

Detective Bolsinger could not thus far rule out the formation of a Chaos Cult and he had not investigated one before, but from what he knew there seemed to be no calling cards, such as sacrificial offerings or chaotic sigils daubed in blood to instil fear. Detective Bolsinger could not discount the taint of chaos, as on some planets the taint of chaos could creep in from the shadows and grow behind the front of some official organisation such as a trade union or other such organisation –but these would normally not grow from the gutter of the underhive. Therefore Detective Bolsinger would live the life of a factory worker until evidence presented itself or he was taken off the case.

Detective Bolsinger silently rejoiced when he heard the sweet sound of the horn announcing that it was quitting time, so he could retire to his dingy hab block domicile for another night. Detective Bolsinger turned off the machine press and began making his way towards the factory buildings exit.

'Hey Horace!' yelled one of the workers named Bill, from behind Detective Bolsinger. He hadn't adopted a professional pseudonym for ease. 'Are you going to the Grox?'

Detective Bolsinger shook his head. 'Not tonight, Bill.'

For the last two nights the detective had gone to the tavern to talk to the workers but aside from a hangover the next day he had little else to show for his trouble.

'Who you walking home with then?' asked Bill.

'On my own.' Replied Detective Bolsinger

'On your own?' asked Bill, incredulously. 'Well it's your funeral.' Bill then wandered off in search of a new drinking buddy.

It was not lost on Detective Bolsinger hat there was a risk walking home by himself in the fog but that was the point in the endeavour, the detective exited the factory and into the perpetual night he was putting himself at risk to see if there was any truth in the in the drunken rumours of the shadows in the mist.

As Detective Bolsinger walked through machine press, he had not figured into the picture about human trafficking, throne knew that it was rife in Algol Prime not to mention the entire Imperium of man, these men could be abducted as a source of cheap labour. The detective made a mental note to check with Foreman Milvain when he went back to work the next day, it might be a long shot but at the moment he was clutching at straws.

Detective Bolsinger was now out of the factory complex and making his way through the fog towards the beginning of the hab blocks when he could have sworn he felt eyes upon him, that unmistakeable feeling that someone was watching him. The detective walked on seemingly unaware, inside he fought the feeling to turn around, it may well be another factory worker, but if it wasn't then he didn't want to spook his assailant.

The detective walked for another two hundred metres he then decided to look behind him, as he did so his pulse quickened as he saw a shadow fifteen feet behind him shrouded in the fog, it could be a colleague going home so Detective Bolsinger carried on as normal. The detective reached the first hab block, he looked behind him and the shadow was still there at the same distance. Therefore Detective Bolsinger took a left turn around a corner into the hab block into the hab block residential complex to see if the shadow followed, sure enough it followed him around the corner, while quickening his pace the detective made three more left turns bringing him full circle and the shadow followed him.

At first Detective Bolsinger silently rejoiced having evidently baited his quarry after two weeks of fruitless police work, but then he realised too late that he may have baited his quarry but he was the bait. The detective may be an Adeptus Arbite but here he was in plain clothes walking in circles around hab blocks in thick fog, he had no shotgun or Rhino transport with troopers for backup, he didn't even have his power maul. True enough the detective was trained in hand to hand combat but this person or thing, whatever it was had abducted dozens of burly factory workers without anyone seeing anything. Detective Bolsinger's pulse quickened when he turned around to see that the shadow.

Detective Bolsinger knew he needed a plan quickly for the shadow was making its move, as it must know that he was onto it as it had just followed him in a complete circle around the hab block. The way the detective saw it he had two choices he could confront the shadow now and force a confrontation but he risked scaring it off, or getting himself killed. Detective Bolsinger came up with a second option, one that he would take, he would set a trap for his quarry, he picked up the pace to sell the idea that he was spooked. The detective closed with one of the hab blocks then when he was ten metres from the entrance foyer he darted for the double doors, through the dead of night he heard footsteps behind him even over the sound of his own beating heart.

Detective Bolsinger didn't enter the foyer instead he abruptly changed direction turning right his aim was to run around the side of the hab block, which he did with the shadow still on his heels. Detective Bolsinger made it around the corner and there he waited in a crouched fighting stance with fists balled ready to pounce. Over the sound of his quick pulse and beating heart he heard the shadow close in on his position. Then at the last second before the shadow rounded the corner Detective Bolsinger pounced and sent a thundering right cross at the shadow, which caught the factory worker Bill in his nose breaking it with a welter of blood.

Bill sprawled to the ground clutching the ruination of his nose with his hands covered in blood.

'Bill I am so sorry.' Said Detective Bolsinger, while going to his knees to assist Bill. 'I thought it was the shadow coming for me.'

'I wish it bloody well was now.' Countered Bill, after spitting up blood from his mouth onto the ground. 'I was sure I saw the shadow follow you when you left the factory so I decided to give chase.

'I thought I was on top of it when you entered the hab block complex but I must have scared it off, I thought I found it again running for the foyer but it turned out to be you.'

'Did you get a good look at it?' asked Detective Bolsinger. 'It's important that you tell me, I am not a new colleague I am an Adeptus Arbite, I am undercover trying to get to the bottom of these disappearances.'

'An undercover Arbite in the factory.' Muttered Bill, forgetting his bleeding nose for the moment. 'The higher ups are taking the missing men seriously then.'

'Yes they are.' Pressed Detective Bolsinger. 'The Lord Marshall himself has been informed about your plight, so I say again did you get a good look at the shadow in the mist?'

Bill shook his head. 'All I saw was a shadow.'

'Did you get an impression of its size, Bill.' Asked Detective Bolsinger.

'I can't say for sure, as I didn't get up close with it.'

'You're not under any kind of oath.' Pressed Detective Bolsinger. 'I just need to know if you got an impression of how big it was, was it the size of me or the size of an Ork?'

'I ain't never seen no greenskin before.' Mused Bill, his brow furrowed in thought. 'If I was pressed I would have to say it was the size of you but that's only guessing mind you.'

'That will do for now.' Detective Bolsinger looked around the immediate area there wasn't a sign of the shadow, he then offered Bill his hand. 'Now how about that drink.'