Chapter No.78. Disruption.

Robert and James were relaxing near the pool while the women were enjoying the pool.

Just then, Robert sensed that the land line phone was ringing. "I'll be right back," he said before he teleported to the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Yes?"

"We have a very disturbing case that we can't seem to solve," Mark said. "I don't know if you can solve it or not."

"We'll just have to see. I'll be their shortly."

He hung up the phone and changed into casual clothes before he teleported to Mark and Joe's office in the FBI building downtown.

"So, what's the problem?"

"There have been numerous reports of people purchasing and consuming human flesh," Mark said. "A recent raid on a meat market in Marker's Point revealed a hundred pounds of various cuts of human meat. The owner was arrested but claims he has no idea where it came from."

Robert rubbed his jaw. "Hmm, that's interesting. Cannibalism is an ancient practice. I'm not sure why it would be flourishing in modern times."

"We think it's coming from the south, most probably from Florida, but so far we are unable to determine the source."

"You guys certainly come up with some real head bangers. However, if we look at this with an analytical eye, it would be reasonable to assume that there could be a connection between disappearances and this illicit meat operation."

Mark and Joe exchanged glances before Joe sat down and began a search through unsolved disappearances. After some time, he had a report. "There has been an unusual number of disappearances along Florida beaches. Some of them were attributed to shark attacks. Others, to just drownings, but no remains were found."

"Ah ha!" Robert said. "Maybe that's a key to what's happening."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked.

"Let's assume that these disappearances are related to the human meat trafficking. That could mean that a crime cartel is involved."

"That's going to be a difficult situation for us. We don't have the ability to investigate those sorts of disappearances. That's usually a local police problem."

"But, not for us," Robert said. "I'll get back to you."

He vanished.

"All I can say is that we're fortunate to have them at our service," Joe said.

"I agree. They seem so eager to help us."

"I think they're helping us because we helped them with their legal problem."

Joe smiled. "Yep."

Robert appeared at the pool where he found James watching a video on his phone. He looked up at his father. "What's happening?"

"The FBI has an unusual case for us to solve. It involves cannibalism."

James frowned. "Really?"

"Yes, and we're the only ones who could solve it."

The women walked over to them. "What's this about cannibalism?" Janet asked.

"The FBI arrested a proprietor of a meat market because he was selling human meat."

"Yuck!" Sylvia reacted.

"It appears that a human meat operation is connected to people disappearing on Florida beaches."

"That doesn't make sense," Janet said. "How could people be kidnapped from a beach without anyone realizing it?"

"That's a good question that only we could answer. Let's get in our gear and go to Florida."

They immediately were attired in their superhero suits and teleported to the skies above the south of Florida. Baby Jack and Sparky joined them.

"Okay, let's look for a submarine," Robert said. "I have this hunch about how people could be captured while in the water."

"If that's the case, this would definitely be a unique crime," James said.

"If someone sees us, they'll think we're a circus act," Amy said.

"That's okay," Janet said. "Let them think what they want."

Sparky started barking.

"Hey!" James said. "I think Sparky found a sub."

"Yes," Robert said. "Let's see where it's going."

James pointed to a small island off the South Florida coast. "I think it's headed to that island over there."

"I believe you're right. Let's go there and wait to see what it does."

They flew to the island and settled on a hill twelve hundred feet up from the island's surface, which was covered with thick vegetation.

"The sub's going into a tunnel under the island," James said. "There's an underground chamber in there."

"Let's wait until they've entered the chamber and then we'll go in and check it out," Robert said.

They waited for twenty minutes before teleporting to the chamber while invisible. What they saw was unbelievable. Two men pulled bodies out of the sub and stacked them on several other corpses, both male and female.

The superheroes became visible, which startled the two men.

"Well, gentlemen," Robert said. "It appears that you're violating several laws."

One of the men pulled out an automatic and fired several shots at Robert with no effect. Robert made it fly into his hand and then he crushed it and threw it to the floor.

"It appears that your weapon is defective." He turned to his wife. "Bind them."

Janet used her bracelets to fire out glistening, flexible ropes that circled the men. She pulled on the ropes to tighten them, completely immobilizing the men.

"That's a neat Wonder Woman stunt, mom," James said, grinning.

His mother gave him a smirk.

"Okay people, let's see if we can resurrect any of these dead."

Janet took Amy over to a female corpse. "Okay, just put your hand on her forehead and see if you can determine why she died."

Amy was reluctant to touch a corpse, but she did what her sister ordered her to do. After a few minutes, she had an answer. "She has been poisoned." Amy turned the corpse over and found a tiny dart stuck in its neck. "This is what carried the poison." She removed it.

"Good. Now you can remove the poison from her body and make her come back to life."

Amy stared at her with a confused expression, but she returned to the task
at hand. After several minutes, the dead woman's eyes opened, and she screamed.

"Hold it down a few decibels! You're fine."

Robert, Sylvia and James resurrected several more dead, four men and two women. They dressed them in robes and sandals. They were all in a state of shock but were not in any mortal danger.

Robert turned to James. "You and Sylvia go check out the rest of this place while we make sure these people recover properly.

James nodded before he and Sylvia went off to explore the underground chamber, while Robert, Janet and Amy searched for any information that could help the FBI break the case.

Amy stood near the two guys that were still restrained by Janet's magic ropes. She turned to Robert. "Do you realize that we can read a person's mind?"

"Really?"

"I was able to read the prison goons to know that they were going to beat me."

Robert swallowed hard. "If you knew that, why didn't you yell for help?"

"It wouldn't have helped. The prison officials were not interested in protecting me. The head guard got his jollies out of watching them beat me with flexible rubber truncheons, especially when I was naked. I hated those things. They hurt like hell, but they didn't leave many marks, other than some bruises and swelling."

Robert frowned. "Didn't you tell your lawyer about it?"

"He didn't care. He was just a hack appointed by the courts."

Robert shook his head.

"The reason I'm telling you this is because I read their minds." She pointed to the two men. "
They're selling their processed meat to a guy by the name of Gor Helincy, the owner of a meat processing factory in Miami."

"Interesting," Robert replied, rubbing his jaw. "I think we've solved this crime."

Janet came over while keeping her grip on the robe restraining the two men. "I had a hunch about reading minds. I've been able to tell whether credit union clients are telling the truth."

James and Sylvia appeared. "They have what I would label a 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' workstation down there," James said. "And there's a freezer with processed meat in it."

"Okay, I think it's time to let the FBI take over. I'll go and bring Mark and Joe back here." He teleported to their office.

Both Mark and Joe were surprised to see him back so soon.

"We figured it out. It turns out that they're using a small sub to kill people swimming further out from the beaches near Miami, probably people snorkeling or riding jet skis. They shoot a poison dart at them and then pull the corpse onto their sub to haul them back to an island off the south shore of Florida. I think they call it the Ten Thousand Island region. We've restrained two men who work a butchering operation in an underground chamber on the island. We were able to extract the name of the man In Miami who distributes the meat. He's Gor Helincy."

"You did all of this," Mark said looking at his watch. "In Just a few hours?"

Robert shrugged. "Yeah, It's not that difficult." He smiled. "Let me take you there and you can decide what you want to do."

Mark nodded and they were standing inside the chamber of the Island of Lost Souls. Mark and Joe saw the two men restrained by Janet's magic ropes.

"We resurrected these people," Robert said gesturing to eight people attired in robes and slippers They don't really know what happened to them, so we'll teleport them back to the beach. You can cuff the two idiots here and we'll teleport you and them to the Miami FBI office. James will show you what he calls the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre' meat butchering room, then it'll be your case."

Mark smiled. "We are really grateful for what you've done here. This is one of the most egregious crimes we've had to deal with."

Robert smiled. "Believe me when I tell you that we are more than happy to help you in any way we can."

Both Mark and Joe were happy to hear that.