Saturday, May 18, 2013

Breakdown - Author Bell - Part 3

    Breakdown - Bell

Official Journal - File #---20. Part 3

    Kathrine and Scout had shock and worry expressed on their faces. I was in disbelief about Anders' history and our interactions with her. I started speaking, "So, I say we need to get to that warehouse. You never know, maybe Anders knows about Igor."

    "But Shade sounds like he's going to be a problem, don'tcha think?" Kathrine mentioned. I nodded my head.

    "Yes, but its a risk we're going to have to take. I don't know who this guy is, but I now I"m ready for him." I instinctively patted my left side to check for my revolver. Scout and Kathrine traded concerned glances, unsure of my confidence. Harrow burst into the room with more concern on her face.

    "Another body."
    "Damnit! Where?"

    "Some rookies stumbled on him at the park. Almost the same location as Mrs. Stanton."  While terrible news with Anders being held hostage, the new body actually seemed to revive a spark of passion within me.

    "Really? If that's true, then there must be something close to there that must trigger some sort of reaction within the body..."

    "So we need to examine the area for paranormal activity?" Harrow asked.

    "Precisely. Sionne, Scout, I need you two to get out there and find any information. If anything feels out of place, find out what it is. We need in depth information. Kathrine and I need to head to a warehouse across town.We've got business with Stanton's girlfriend, or Mrs. Anders." Harrow started to sputter, trying to ask how Maria and Stephanie were possibly connected, but Scout shushed her and rushed her out the door. "Kathrine, do you have your rifle in your car?"

    "You betcha!" She eagerly grinned. For a stern judge, she seemed to get excited about shooting at people.

    "Turn left here, and go to the end of the road here." Kathrine and I had almost almost arrived the warehouse. The day was dragging into mid-afternoon, and the rain kept pouring. Besides the weather, the warehouse was located in a part of town that used to be a major steel mill park. Now houses, factories, and warehouses sit empty, waiting for men like Shade to take them over. Overall, this case had just gone downhill fast, but lives were at stake, and the only two chances for vital evidence were slipping away.

    "So, do you think Shade has anything to do with all of this?" Kathrine asked me.

    "Honestly, I don't know. A right here, please."

    "I mean, why would a powerful man even want to kill people? Does he have a mission, a message? He could be crazy."

    "Again, I have no clue, but I have a slight inclination that its not him... yet, he might be trouble if he sticks around. We'll have to find out more about him from Steph, or Maria, or whoever."

    "What IS she doing anyway?"

    I didn't know the answer to this either, so I just shrugged. It seemed like there were more people interested in us than we anticipated, however. If Ander's words were true, we owed her our lives for covering our backs. Finding and rescuing her from Shade's men was top priority. "There it is, pull to a stop up there." When the car stopped outside of the rustic fence of the warehouse, Kathrine turned off the car and popped the trunk. She stepped out and I called for Harrow and Scout on the radio. "Hey, we're here. We'll let you know if we need help, okay?" After the slight static clicked off, no reply was heard. "Harrow, this is Bell. Do you copy?" After a moment, Scout replied. "Roger that, we're investigating our area right now."

    I turned the radio off and pulled out my revolver. Six .45 rounds fitted their chambers as I closed the magazine and sheathed the revolver in my coat. When I stepped into the rain and slammed the car door, Kathrine slammed the trunk and gave me a UMP-45 with an attached tactical light. "Just in case." she said to me, loading and cocking her own SCAR-H. The woman's arsenal impressed me, but I wasn't looking foreword to using it against whoever was inside.

    A large lot stretched from the gate to the warehouse. After breaking the lock on the chained gate, Kathrine and I raised our weapons and quickly moved to the warehouse. After moving across an open parking lot, we slid in a side door of the warehouse. Entering the building, the room was dark, and the switch inside only turned on a dim yellow light in the crowded hallway. Kathrine turned on her flashlight and checked both sides of the hall; no one was standing around. We started making our way towards one end of the hall, but I could not shake the smell of old concrete, wood, and acidic rain. I tried to shake the smell, but I had to keep focussed too. The conditions were dark, tight, and dirty, and running into Shade or a minion meant a tough close quarters fight. As the patter of rain gained ambient pattering that echoed inside the dark warehouse, our breathing slowed to calm us. We approached a door leading to the main warehouse floor, and Kathrine listened for life on the other side. After a minute, she slowly creaked the door open and pointed the gun into the room. When I patted her shoulder, she entered with me following right behind her. The room was very dark, but had some illumination from the glass ceiling. Kathrine carefully detached the flashlight on her gun and used it to look around.

    "What is this?" I said, letting the door automatically close behind me. Its gentle thud echoed through the tall room. Mobile computer labs, some stray paper, and a coffee machine were disorderly arranged within the room. I noticed stairs going down across the room, so I moved towards them. I flipped on the green tactical light attached to the UMP, then I slowly entered the stairway with my gun raised. Kathrine covered my rear, and we ventured down. The stairs led to cold, pipe-filled tunnels that dodged in every direction. I checked my phone for the coordinates of where Anders was when she sent her message. Looking around and guiding myself through the dark hallways, we approached her cell using the coordinates. After walking, I noticed the phone wanted me to turn into a room with a giant safe door. Pulling on the door, it opened and revealed four rooms within. Guns raised, we turned on our tactical lights and swiftly entered the room. "Clear! Clear!" Our voices called. But after looking around, no one was inhabiting the individual cell rooms. Checking my phone, I noted our co-ordinants. We had arrived, and the package was nowhere to be found. "Where is she?" I asked, frantically. "Where is she?!"

    "They must have taken her someplace else. Let's go, there's nothing for us here" Kathrine managed to squeeze out with nervous anxiety.


    "You better run then." A dark voice echoed around us. Kathrine jumped and turned around, pointing her tactical light at the door. The door jolted open, and it terrified us; the presence of nothing. No one was at the door, and Kathrine, who had never actually been with us on a case before, seemed pretty frightened. "Its a Wisp!" I said to her, calmly.

    "A w-what?"

    "A Wisp. Foolish little spirits that run around messing with people. Most of the time, they're just annoying. Come on, we're leaving before it starts messing with us." She did not seem thrilled with my answer, but we still raised our weapons and moved. Making our way through the halls Kathrine kept looking down corridors to check for anything living. She found nothing. "Stop looking, you must go."

    "Jonathan, get your ass in gear and lets go! I'm getting fr-" The Wisp interrupted her.

    "Ah, Jonathan, eh? Oh, you do look familiar! I've heard quite a bit about you..."

    I stopped cold in my tracks. It knows me? The thought scared me more deeply than it should have. "Alright, keep going Kathrine." She nodded her head, and we both backed out of the dark hallways and into the warehouse main floor. As we instinctively hurried the nearest door, I radioed Scout and Harrow. "Hello, Scout? Come in Scout? What's going on over there? Have we found anything? Because we found a Wisp, code 2 for recognizing conscious beings, over." Static. Yet a few more seconds and Scout may reply.  After a minute, I tried again. "Scout, please copy." Static. "Scout! Answer the radio! Harrow? Anyone? " Once more, static.

    "Jon, I've got a bad feeling about this. Something serious is going down, and this wisp is freakin' me out." Kathrine voice stuttered strong vowels from nerves..

    "I agree. We need to go back before anyone winds up dead."

    "It's okay. You don't have to go. I'm right here for you." A hand gently patted my shoulder.

    "GAH!" I turned quickly and sprayed fire behind me blindly. Kathrine threw open the door, allowing more light into the room. She grabbed my hand, my gun, and practically threw me outside. She jumped out, slammed the door, and shot through the door a couple of times. She then ripped me off the pavement, forcing me to run for the car. "Jon, did it attack you? What happened?"

    "Get... to... Scout..." I still had the wind knocked out of me from being thrown outside.

    "I know, but did it attack you?!"

    "No... wisps touch to... augh... give vision..."

    "What did it show you? Are you okay?" She asked this just as we reached the car. She opened the passenger door and sat me inside. Kathrine packed our guns in the back, and she began searching for her keys.

    "Just get driving. You don't want to know... yet." I took a moment to intake another large breath. "Screw wisps, I hate those jokers."


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