Title: The Eyes Have It

Rating: K+

Word Count: 3,400

Dedication: To Auntie Amy and Suisan

Special thanks to my Beta: DigeeDiva!

"Got it!" David Sinclair waved the search warrant like it was a battle flag.

"That was fast," Nikki said in admiration. In her experience, first as an LAPD officer and now as an FBI special agent, search warrants rarely appeared as fast as they did on TV shows. "Who did you bribe or blackmail?"

"Neither, oh ye of little faith," David told her as he slapped the warrant into Don's hand. "I did it the way we do everything here."

"Really?" Megan Reeves asked. "How did Charlie's math help get us a search warrant?"

"Judge Esperanza took my 'Math for Lawyers and Jurists' class," Charlie's smug voice came over their earpieces.

"Yeah," David said. "Thanks to Charlie, she understood the whole social network concept. That and the exotic bird price list that he and Larry decrypted tipped the case in our favor."

"Show off," Don said, not unkindly.

"Why, thanks, Don," Charlie responded.

"Of course it didn't hurt that Judge Esperanza is an animal lover," David added. "She knows enough about the animal smuggling industry to be appalled at how rare animals are abused and killed in the process."

"Well, good for her," Colby said. "Can we get on with this? I'm tired of beating on the door of a woman who refuses to acknowledge our existence."

"I'd think you'd be used to that by now," Nikki smirked.

Don shot them both a quelling look, to which Nikki responded with an unapologetic shrug and Colby responded with a 'why me?' look.

"Are you sure that Tammy Early is in there?" Larry's concerned voice came from the same place as Charlie's had... a conference room in the FBI offices on Center Street.

"Well," David said. "Her car is here, she hasn't been seen at work for two days, her credit cards haven't been used since she booked passage to the Bahamas online yesterday evening and we tracked her cell phone to here."

Don said. "All right, cut the chatter, people! Let's move in. Megan, take David and Nikki around back."

Megan nodded, pulled her gun and moved back, followed by Nikki, who had also pulled her piece. David's revolver remained holstered because he was lugging a battering ram.

"Colby, would you care to avenge yourself on the snub you received by taking out the door?" Don asked.

"Why, thanks, Boss, you're all heart," Colby said with a predatory grin. He took over the battering ram from one of the waiting cops and proceeded to turn the front door of the innocent looking tract home into kindling.

Don and Liz beat Colby into the house and fanned out.

They could hear the rest of their party coming through the back door, or, judging by the sound, coming through the back wall.

The smashing wood disturbed the inhabitants of the living rooms, who were in full cry as the Feds swept the place.

"FBI, we have a warrent!" Don bellowed over the birds.

"Wow, look at all these birds," Liz said. "I wonder how they kept the neighbors from hearing them."

Don and the others gazed in wonder at the plethora of feathered fauna.

"Those are beautiful," breathed Megan.

"Spectacular," Colby agreed. "I've never seen birds like this before. What are these things?"

"Birds of Paradise, I think," Don said. He looked up as David and Nikki joined them.

"Kitchen's clear," David reported. "But I would never eat any food that was prepared in there."

"Too many birds?" asked Colby after he had put the battering ram down and came inside.

"Nope. She's got fish. I swear, I've never seen so many live fishies since I went to Sea World," Nikki added.

"Now what?" Colby.

Don scanned the room. "Nikki, Megan, Colby, take the upstairs. David, Liz, you're with me."

Don and his group moved out of the living room into the hallway. There were three doorways in front of them. Two on the left and one directly in front.

Megan led the way up the stairs. They found five doors leading off of the second floor landing. The flooring was padded and they made almost no noise as they eased down the hall.

Granted, anybody who didn't know they were in the house after all the smashing and yelling had to be deaf, but the Federal Agents still did not see any need to be reckless.

Megan surveyed the doors and gestured toward the first one to Colby's left.

Colby stepped into the room. His report of "clear" was interrupted by an oath and a shriek.

The other two held position. Nikki kept her attention on the rooms in front of them as Megan took a step back to peer cautiously into the room.

"You okay, Granger?" Megan asked.

"That wasn't me screaming," Granger reported. "It was this spotted kitty cat." He looked around the room again. "One of these spotted kitties."

"Leopards?" asked Nikki. She was dying of curiosity, but she restrained herself from looking.

"Sounded more like an ocelot," Larry commented.

"I think Larry's right. They're too small to be a leopards... I think," Colby said.

"Are they loose?" Megan asked. She took a step into the room and looked for herself.

"Nah, they're in cages," Colby assured them. "They're alone in the room." The room contained nothing but the three cages in a cork lined room. Even the window was boarded over and covered with cork.

Since there wasn't even a closet to hide in, Megan silently concurred with Colby's conclusion, not that she actually ever doubted Colby's competence. They moved back into the hall to join Nikki.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Don and Liz checked the first room, which had bamboo mats lining the walls and carpeting the floor. Dozens of bamboo cages hung from stands or stood on graceful, marble topped tables. Each cage held two or three white birds, who were making a tremendous racket.

"Cockatoos," Don identified. "My mom had one like this, but I think hers was bred in California."

"I hope so," Nikki murmured.

Megan gave her a sour look and sent her into the next room. She followed, of course, to watch the newbie's back.

This room had red indoor/outdoor carpeting and the walls were covered in dark red drapes. There was only one cage in there with one occupant... a full grown white tiger.

"Yow!" Nikki said. "Tiger!"

"I wonder if they got this when Siegfried and Roy retired," murmured Megan.

Now it was Colby's turn to restrain himself from taking his attention from the unchecked rooms. "How the hell do you smuggle a full grown tiger into a suburban house?" he wondered.

"Well, according to our records, the houses on either side, and the house directly across the street are empty," Charlie said from his comfy chair in the warm FBI office, far away from loud, smelly animals. He'd run a quick check after Liz had wondered about no one hearing the birds.

"Thanks, Charlie," Don said.

"Nice kitty," Nikki said as she backed out of the room. "Hey, how come you keep getting the pretty birdies while we get the nasty cats?"

One of the ocelots squalled from the room that they had cleared, apparently in protest.

"Yeah, well, so's your momma!" Nikki snapped over her shoulder in the direction of the ocelots.

David stepped into the second room, checked it out and backed out hurriedly. "She's not in there," he reported.

"What's in there?" Liz asked, curious about David's uncharacteristic timidity.

"Snakes," David reported. "There's nothing in there but stacks of shelves with aquariums filled with snakes. The walls are lined with them, but there's nothing in the middle of the floor."

"Lovely," Don murmured. He looked in the door, but wasn't tempted to go in farther, especially when he noted that the aquarium closest to the door held a snake that was bigger around than his thigh and whose head was on a level with his own.

The boa stuck its tongue out.

Don withdrew his head.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Megan ducked into the second bedroom. "Clear... except for a really big lizard."

"Alligator?" Don asked.

"No, monitor lizard... maybe," Megan reported.

The upstairs bathroom held nothing but an old, cracked toilet and a huge stainless steel sink. The fourth bedroom held cartons of food and a waist high floor freezer that held what was obviously dinner for the big cats.

There were also several cages of rodents of various sizes.

Megan, Nikki and Colby peered into the cages at the tiny inhabitants.

"They're smuggling rats now?" Colby murmured.

"Must be for the reptiles," Nikki said.

"They have politicians here?" Colby wondered out loud.

Nikki muffled a snort.

"Keep focused, people," Don warned.

He ignored the murmurs of assent from upstairs as he and Liz moved into the last room. It was twice as big as the other rooms, probably had been two rooms at one time.

The atmosphere was that of a jungle camp. The floor was carpeted with a plush green carpet covered with throw rugs of varying shades of green and several animal skins that may well have been real.

The windows were shrouded in heavy green velvet drapes. The walls were covered with bamboo mats and carved wooden masks. The king sized bed in the middle of the room had a mosquito netting canopy. There were no animals, but there were several potted plants that Don thought were orchids scattered about.

Off to Don's right was another door, presumably to a bathroom. Don could hear splashing noises that made him wonder if there was a fountain in there.

The whole lush and luxurious atmosphere was ruined, however, by the blonde woman that was sprawled among the rugs.

"We found her," Liz reported into her wrist mike.

"Why do I have the feeling this isn't good?" Colby asked.

"It's not good for us," Don said. He circled the body warily, eyes sweeping from side to side. "Definitely not good for her."

"Well, she's down," Liz reported. She pulled her latex gloves out of her pockets and snapped them on. Then she knelt next to the body and gently felt for a pulse. "She's gone."

"Damn," Don said. He studied the room and the woman on the floor. He'd wanted to stop the woman from smuggling animals. However, he hadn't wished this on her.

David looked at the woman sadly. "Such a waste," he sighed. He looked at Don. "You think the other smugglers are behind this?"

"Maybe," Don said. "It's certainly going to make it harder to catch up to them."

"We still have our think tank to help," Nikki said.

"Thanks, Nikki," Charlie said, obviously pleased. Don smirked a little to himself, Charlie was very susceptible to flattery. He did not, however, stop looking for signs of the murderer.

"What killed her?" Megan asked.

Liz shook her head, even though she was well aware that Megan couldn't see her. "I can't tell, offhand. There's something greasy around her eyes, and several scratches. Maybe acid?"

Don had seen plenty of dead bodies, but there was something about this one that made his stomach knot up. He pulled off his goggles and forced himself to lean over to take a closer look.

"Would acid kill her?" Colby asked.

"Would acid look greasy?" Nikki wondered.

"Is the acid thrower still around?" Charlie asked.

There was a slight noise from the door to the next room. Both Don and Nikki's head snapped around as if drawn by the same puppeteer.

David stepped part way into room. "Guys, get up here," he said into his radio.

Don moved cautiously into the other room. A quick look showed nothing, so he took a few more steps inside. His shoes squelched through a large puddle on the ground. He slipped and dropped his goggles as he tried to catch his balance.

When his footing was firmer, he glanced around to find his goggles.

Liz moved up to the doorway to the bathroom, and David stayed in the doorway to the hall.

Something on the floor moved, catching Don's eye. He had a confused impression of a black, tubular object partly raised off the floor, and then the world vanished in a blaze of pain and fire.