It isn't too much longer before Agent Michaels comes in, holding tightly to the arm of Stuart Johnson. The once proud officer now walks through the station with his head hung low and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. When the agent escorting him stops to speak to another agent, Stuart looks up and looks directly into the eyes of Mitch. Stuart acts like he is going to say something to Mitch but is having a tough time finding the right words. The two men stare at each other without saying a word, both knowing that things are going to get very complicated, very quickly.
Lucille shows Agent Michaels the way to the holding cells as Mitch follows them with his eyes. Shortly after, a large swarm of agents enter through the back door. Agent Walker can be seen pushing Steven Graham in the middle of the group as they disappear to the holding area. Mitch is quick to follow the group of men, wanting to be a part of whatever is happening in his police station.
No sooner had Mitch made it to where the cells are that the group has turned around and is heading back down the same corridor. He holds the door and the five men shuffle through, with Walker leading the way. Mitch follows behind, like a third wheel on a dinner date, and tries to listen closely to everything that comes out of Walker's mouth. The agent in charge speaks in a definitive tone that lets the others know that he has things under control. Men are frantically moving around the main room, setting up monitors and plugging in laptops. There has never been so much activity in this small office and Mitch is already dreading the coming days.
While he is sitting down at his desk, slowly writing down the events of the night on a notepad, he is interrupted by the smell of warm food. He looks up to find Fred standing in front of his desk with two large bags from the diner down the road. It has been a long night and an even longer morning. This is the first time he has even thought about food since he started his shift yesterday.
"Sit down Fred, we can eat together. I was working on writing down my story before I forget anything, and trying to stay out of the way." He clears a few files from his desk so there is room for both men to eat comfortably. "Everything has happened so quickly that I haven't even thought about food."
Fred rolls the office chair from his desk over and sits on the opposite side. "I guess I should write down my side of the story too, but it's going to take a really long time before I forget anything about last night."
"Yeah, you got that right. I still can't believe Stuart would let the man out. He must not have known the park was rigged with explosives." He takes a long look inside the foam container. He had expected to see breakfast food but when he checks the clock and realizes it's a little past noon, the hamburger makes more sense.
"I hope the hamburger is alright, I didn't really know what to get you." Fred has already begun to cover his french fries using the little packets of ketchup that restaurants hand out.
"It's perfect, thanks. Hey, now that we're alone, I want to ask you what happened to you when you made it out of the fire? I know Stuart saw you on the camera a few times, but I have no idea what kind of experiences you had. Did you run into the sheriff at all before he was killed?" He shoves a few french fries into his mouth and looks across at what is now the only other member of the small-town police force.
"I didn't see much, I tried to stay hidden as best that I could. I've been meaning to ask you something. Are you upset with me? The last time we talked we were having the disagreement in the shack before it went up in flames. Is that why you left me in there and took off with Stuart?"
Mitch pauses with his mouth on the hamburger. He had not even thought to be resentful toward Fred. "I am not upset with you at all. I left you there so that I could get Stuart out of the building before it all came down on top of us. I assumed you were going to be right behind us but then I never saw you again. There are several things I regret from last night, mainly not being able to save my father, but leaving you behind is not one of them. I knew you would do what you had to in order to survive. I am just thankful that you were able to escape the blaze and survive without too much trouble."
"If you say so. I just don't want there to be any tension between us moving forward. It looks like we are about all that is left of the cops in this town." Fred doesn't notice the spot of mustard that remains on his lip as he talks but he manages to clean it off with a firm swipe of a napkin.
"And since you're the senior member, I guess that makes you the acting sheriff." It hadn't occurred to Mitch that this fact would not have registered right away with Fred. The look of surprise in his eyes makes Mitch think that he is already getting nervous about having to fill the shoes of the senior Thompson.
"Oh shit! I didn't even think about it. I have to deal with all of this now. These agents are going to be all over the place for a while, I'm not sure I can handle it." He drops his food in disgust, obviously not happy after learning of his new title. He pushes the container away and folds his arms, his face twisted into a pout.
"They will be here for a while, that's for sure. All you can do is answer their questions honestly, give them all the help they need and hopefully they will be out of our hair soon enough. It won't be long until things are back to normal around here." Mitch throws the last bite of his hamburger into his mouth, takes a long drink of the soda that came with the food. It was probably because he hadn't eaten in so long, but he thinks that may have been the best meal he has eaten in several years.
"That's easy for you to say. You're not the man that has to fill the shoes of the biggest legend in town. It would be far easier for you to take over as sheriff because you're his son. The people here already consider me a joke of an officer." Fred closes the container and tosses it into the nearby garbage can.
"You'll do fine. People in this town are going to be grateful that we did our job to the best of our ability. They aren't going to ask you to be like him." Before Mitch can finish talking and fully convince Fred that everything is going to be alright, they are summoned to the conference room. Apparently, they have the video feed from the park and Walker wants them both there to add their insight.
"Mitch, this is going to be weird, watching everything that happened last night on a television screen like it was a movie," Fred says as the two men walk down the hallway to the conference room.
"It's going to very different, but I need to know what happened. If Stuart really set that man free and allowed him to fire off the explosives, then I need to see it with my own eyes." They match each other with their steps, walking toward the conference room.
They take the next few steps in silence and just as the reach the door, Fred speaks up. "It's not reliving the events from last night that worries me. It's actually finding out the truth about Stuart that I'm afraid of."
Chapter 33
There is a large gathering of suits all piled into the small conference room. Some of the men Mitch can recognize from the parking lot of Graham Park, while others just seem to have magically appeared. Agent Walker is at the front of the room with his back to everyone else. He is staring at the large flat screen television that has somehow been mounted on the wall. The frame on the screen has been paused but you can see the Ferris Wheel is dark and the sun is beginning to set.
Agent Walker speaks to the only guy in the room who is not in uniform or wearing a suit coat. This man is seated at a desk in the corner of the room with several computers in front of him. He frantically taps away at the keyboard, and pauses briefly to answer the agent in charge before tapping away again. Mitch and Fred find seats in the back corner and try to remain invisible to the feds.
"Now that we are all here, let's get started." Agent Walker stands in front of the room and addresses his colleagues. He makes certain to give Mitch and Fred the eye contact to acknowledge they are present. "We have been able to piece together as much footage from last night as we could, gathering feeds from several different sites that were streaming the event. From these feeds we can almost figure out everything that happened, but there are still a few things that we don’t kno
w and will require a little more time to process. We are going to fast forward through much of the night at this point, only really paying attention to the details needed to piece together a timeline. The only real mystery is how the suspect escaped and was able to set off the explosives."
"Are we firm in the belief that the local officer assisted him?" Mitch snaps his head to his right to see the voice come from an overweight agent who he had not yet seen. "Seems to me that there is really no other explanation."
"I want us to look at the whole evening with an open mind. I'm going to show all of the video feed we have from the time it started, and the wagering began, until the time the explosions happened." Walker whispers something to the agent with the computers before turning back to the group. "We weren't there so none of us know what really happened, with the exception of the two officers seated in the back of the room." Agent Walker pauses long enough for the whole room to turn and look at the men in question before speaking again. "I've only seen bits and pieces of the footage, so I am going to be forming my opinions and theories along with the rest of you."
Mitch and Fred give each other a look that let each other know that they are not looking forward to what is about to be played on the screen. An agent heads for the door and turns off the overhead lights and Agent Walker takes his seat as the video starts to play.
The image of the Ferris Wheel that has been paused on the large screen begins to darken and a large graphic pops in front of it. In bold red letters, like the title screen of a movie, 'Death Game XII' appears. The title screen fades away and is soon replaced with the words 'The Crew' at the top. Under these words are six pictures, all matching the faces that were on the pieces of paper that were found in the park and are now logged as evidence. Under each picture is the opening odds for all of the participants, with the patriotic American being the hands down favorite to win.
The last of the crew members faces leaves the screen just as the bright lights of the Ferris Wheel come to life. The large metal ride begins to rotate around the center point. The whole production of the video is very high quality, resembling any number of reality shows that are put on television each year. Mitch flashes back to rolling into the parking lot and seeing this exact image. He remembers the comedy his fellow officers found when he first told them what he saw and how he doubts either of them find it funny now.
The serenity of watching the wheel move around and around is quickly replaced by the loud clattering of the Wood Splitter racing down one of its steep hills. The footage doesn't show how the man came to be trapped inside the passenger car, but it does catch the moment that Roger Sheffield lost his head. The video is grainy and hard to decipher who accomplished the beheading, but it must have been the Russian, Vladimir Strotsky, since he was killed with the head in his bag. At the exact moment of the killing, the dollar figure under his picture on the screen increased. The gruesome sight of the man swinging the machete at the helpless victim made some of the agents in the room turn their heads, especially during the scene when the killer holds the head high in the air and smiles like he was an important trophy.
Fred shifts in his seat unknowingly, making it hard for Mitch to pay attention and try to figure out anything about the night that he didn't already know. The video shifts to the carousel and Stuart is seen on-screen for the first time. The room breaks into laughter at the sight of the officer stumbling over the metal barricades before making his way to the ride. Just as he described, Stuart gets startled by something and practically dives into the small room behind one of the mirrors. Moments later the ride lights up and begins to spin around. The animals begin to dance along to the calypso music, which can also be heard on the video.
As the ride begins to speed up, much faster than it would normally rotate, a dark figure can be seen leaving the ride and disappearing in the bushes. Mitch guesses this is the person responsible for writing the message on the mirror that Stuart found when the ride stopped moving. Once again, the video becomes very dark and three fresh faces are posted on the side, along with the other members of 'The Crew'. Now the three deputies of the Twisted Timber Police Department are listed alongside the South American mercenary and the American sniper.
Fred is now sweating through his shirt, moving in his chair like a school kid who is in dire need of a trip to the restroom. "Are you alright? I've never seen you act like this," Mitch whispers to him.
"I'm fine. It's just hard to watch everything again. I was there and lived it firsthand." The nervous man is now rubbing his palms along his thighs, trying to dry the moisture that has formed.
"We were both there, but this is the best way to figure out what really happened. This is the best way to clear our friend's name." His attention is drawn back to the television as the shot rang out and he watches his friend hit the concrete ground below. His sees himself on the screen, as he rushes out to pick up Stuart and disappear inside the ice cream shack.
Once all three men are inside of the building another shadowy figure appears. It could be the same person but the quality of the video and the lack of lighting in the area makes it hard to determine. The person is seen covering the building in a liquid and lighting it on fire. Soon the screen is bright as the flames engulf the structure and the two men come out, racing for the security of the woods.
Mitch continues to stare at the screen intently, waiting to see how Fred was able to make it out. He looks at the man sitting next to him, who now has his face in his hands, refusing to watch the events unfold. A single person runs back into the building and comes out carrying someone, most certainly Fred.
"Pause it right there and see if we can enhance the image. There should be enough light from the fire, so we can make out who is carrying the body from the fire." Agent Walker's voice breaks through the silence of the room as he points to the computer expert.
"We should be able to, but it would mean I have to stop playing the video for about an hour until we figure it out. I'll make a note of the frame you want enhanced and as soon as we've ran the feed in its entirety, I'll go back and enhance this image." The computer guy makes a few strokes on the keyboard and the video begins to play once again.
"Who was that? Who carried you out of there?" Mitch is once again talking to Fred in a quiet tone so that his words cannot be heard from the dozen federal agents in the room.
"I don't know. Let's just watch this thing so we can get out of here." He is apparently agitated with the whole situation, much like Mitch is. It has been a long night for everyone involved and the lack of sleep is starting to play on their nerves.
"Just sit there patiently, I'm not sure I want to be here and watch my father being killed any more than you do. It's just something we have to deal with." The two men nod at each other and return their sights back to the video on the screen.
The room sits silently as they watch Stuart kill the Colombian in the woods and watch as the large Kenyan gets the upper hand on the American and ties him to the back side of the Ferris Wheel. Much of it is hard to make out, due to the lack of lighting, but the computer guy assures Agent Walker that he will be able to clean it all up if he is given a few hours.
Suddenly the screen is bright and the suspect, Mr. Graham, is seated near a row of computer screens. The entire room leans in to get a closer look, knowing that what they are seeing is the beginning of the explanation to how the suspect escaped. Sheriff Thompson barges into the room from behind the suspect and lets him have it with a few quick jabs that stun the man. He throws him out of his seat and up against the wall where he pats the man down before tossing him back into his chair. The size difference between Steven Graham and the sheriff is noticeable as he treats the suspect like he is a little kid. The sheriff disappears from frame for a few seconds before returning to the room with rope and duct tape.
Once the man has been secured, the sheriff has a look around the room and pushes the man, chair and all down the hallway to the room next door. The agents all sigh as soon as they realize that the sm
oking gun they were hoping to find, hasn't been found just yet. The video continues to play and show the rest of the events of the night. The fight to free the soldier from the Ferris Wheel, Sheriff Thompson leaving in a mad dash for the water park once he hears that there is a body down there and the fight between Fred and the Japanese karate expert.
The screen now splits into two separate images, one follows Mitch as he makes his way back to the office building, after he found his father dead on the pathway. The second feed shows what is going on inside the rooms of the office building. The agents scurrying through the place like little mice hunting for the last morsel of cheese. Most eyes in the conference room are focused on the right side of the screen, looking for any scrap of evidence that they could have missed.
Once all parties are inside the same building, the feed returns to just one image. Most of the federal agents are huddled inside the room with all of the computer equipment with Stuart still sitting in the chair in front of the monitors. Mitch is standing in front of Mr. Graham, obviously asking him questions about what has happened. The screen shows Agent Walker enter the room and speak directly to Mitch, and if he remembers correctly, this is when the agent told him to go home and get some sleep.
Not long after Mitch leaves the building and makes his way to his truck, Fred is seen entering the room where the suspect has been tied up. The conference room remains quiet and waits to see how the man frees himself from the ropes. Mitch is watching the screen like everyone else, but he is also going back through his mind to remember the events exactly as they happened. He remembers seeing Fred in the parking lot shortly after he left the park. He even vaguely remembers him saying something about getting food, but he can’t remember if that took place before or after the blasts.
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