"How'd you like being sent to the jungle on the first day on the job?" Kurt asked, with a smirk to the Dan. Dan struggled to catch up. "It's fine. I like the silence." "Yeah, well… don't get used to it. Search and rescue missions are the exception," Jack added. "Being a cop in our town usually means driving around to trailer parks and breaking up couple fights." "I wonder what happened to these guys… for them to run off into the woods like this." From the front of the group, Kurt shook his head. "These Silicon Valley ne rds are all crazy…" he opened his flask (which Dan knew had vodka and Coke, not water) and took a sip. "Who cares, anyway? All I want is to find them and get home before dinner." Dan agreed in silence. They were in five. They had been recruited that very morning, and no one had said anything other than 'some Google employees ran off into the woods and we need you to find them.' Captain Kurt had personally asked for him to be present, stating that 'it will be fun to have the newbie tag along'. Dan wasn't complaining, though. As far as he was concerned, a day out hiking through the woods of Bear Mountain was a better first day than risking a shot in the face invading a meth lab, or something similar. "Did anyone hear that noise?" Sam asked. The group stopped. Dan turned around, looking. He had heard it too. It wasn't the rattling of leaves or the cracking of twigs under their feet, and it wasn't animal-sounding, either. The noise had sounded like laughter. Human laughter.

Director Huttner grabbed the phone like it was Hitler's balls. He pressed it against his ear and barked: "Yes!?" "Director?" came the voice on the other end of the line. "I told you to transfer my calls, I'm busy," Huttner grunted. "What could –" "We got someone to see you here. In person." Huttner frowned. "Who?" Silence on the other end. Then: "It's, uh… one of the Google employees. The ones that disappeared." Huttner frowned. "Send him in," he said. He hung up the phone and lit a cigarette.

"All right, let's keep going," Kurt said, after a while. "But keep your eyes open. We don't know how crazy these dudes are, so they might be dangerous." They kept walking. After hearing the laughter, Dan had found himself looking around and over his shoulder here and there. He noticed the other guys were more quiet, too. Suddenly, Jack stopped in front of them. "What is it?" Kurt asked. Instinctively, Dan brought his hand to his holster. He wrapped his fingers around the gun. "I think I see something." Jack slow stepped his way towards a bush. Dan ran his eyes through the other guy's waists: they all had their hands on their guns too. "Who's there?" Jack asked, raising his pistol. Dan squinted, but he couldn't see anything behind the bush. Was Jack imagining things? And then the man emerged from the bush. Tall, skinny. Wearing glasses too big for his face. "Sir, are you all right?" Jack asked, lowering his pistol and stepping closer. The man didn't answer. He was standing still. Too still. Then a smile crept into his face and he pulled something from his pocket. "Drop to the ground!" Jack cried, raising the pistol before Dan could realize what was going on.

Huttner said "Come on in," and immediately had to hold back a gasp. And Huttner wasn't a man of gasps. The man that walked into his office was sweaty from feet to hair. His skin was red and bruised and his shirt and jeans were ripped like he had just come from shooting a Michael Bay action sequence. What made Huttner gasp, though, was not the sweat or the shirt or the jeans. It was the man's head. His right temple looked like it had been carved with a knife – a deep cut drew itself from behind the ear all the way near the eyebrow. Despite the incredibly gruesome looking injury, the man displayed no signs of being in pain. He took a seat in front of Huttner and eyed the director blankly. "Do you need medical assistance, sir?" Huttner asked, careful. The man didn't answer. He kept staring at Huttner, without blinking. "Sir?" Very slowly, he leaned forward. Eyes locked on Huttner, he spoke in a broken voice: "Did you send men after the Google group?" Huttner frowned. "Yes. A search and rescue operation is being conducted now, sir. Perhaps you can help." The man shook his head and pressed his lips like he was in unbearable pain. "Sir, it's ok. I have my best man looking into this. They're out in the jungle right now." Again, the man shook his head. When he looked up, his eyes were bloodshot and teary. "No, they aren't," he said. "They're already dead…"