Akio raised his lap top slightly and turned slowly.  "This way," he said.  He led the team down a small alley, the usual trash and vomit was somewhat obscured by the pounding rain.  As they exited the other end of the alley, they saw Elias next to an attractive young woman who seemed to be cleaning his face.  Nearby a man held a second man in some kind of armlock. The younger, cleaner man seemed to be talking, while the other man howled and twisted, trying to escape.

Akio stopped and stared for a moment, looking at his laptop.  He muttered something in Japanese that Michiko could barely make out as, "More of them?  How can this be?"

Although it was the middle of the day, the dark clouds made it nearly as dark as night outside.  Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the sky briefly, soon followed by deep, powerful rumbles of thunder that seemed to roll across the sky.  Across the city of New York, animals paced and howled, uneasy with the change they could feel in the air.  It was the opening day of baseball, a day full of the possibilities of a new season.  Not that anyone expected more than a few innings before the storm overhead broke.