“What?”
“She wrote that she could walk through glass,” Felton told him.
Johnson stared at them both, with a cocked brow, and asked, “Like, through it, without breaking it?”
“Yes,” Sage reluctantly confirmed.
The chief rubbed his eyes and found a seat. He groaned and muttered, “Why on earth would you even think this is relatively plausible?”
“Chief–”
“Sage,” his eyes shot over to him, “This is insane. People do not have super powers.”
“Then explain how Red Irons was able to remain underwater for over a half an hour before Breanna French dove in to save him. Better yet, explain to me how she even knew he was down there considering she was out jogging and wasn’t anywhere near him when he tried to kill himself.”
Felton grimaced as he looked at the rest of Detective Sage’s notes. He read the entries in Caroline’s diary and admitted, “It doesn’t sound so improbable when you’ve got a fourteen year old girl writing about it in her journal.”
“That isn’t a binding fact though,” the Chief told them. “We need hard evidence, not fiction.”
“Chief,” Detective Sage looked at him, “This might be all that we’re going to get.”
Johnson closed his eyes and thought a moment. The three of them didn’t move, or speak, and hardly breathed for quite some time. One of their radios transmitted a signal about a robbery on the east side, but none of them paid any mind to it. The chief finally asked, “How are we supposed to investigate something like this? Even if there are people with super powers and none of us have known about it until now, how are we supposed to go about finding this Cladis guy who supposedly knows about these people, and stop him?”
Felton shrugged, “How we usually go about these sort of investigations, we look for other clues, interview those closest to the victims, and try our best to find any leads we can that could lead to us capturing this killer.”
Johnson rubbed his head and relented, “Fine. Just, please, don’t mention these powers or whatever they are to anyone else. The last thing we need is the press, the people, or anyone above us believing that we’ve suddenly lost our grip on reality. You two investigate this as if it truly was a lead and if anything concrete surfaces, you let me know.” He looked at his watch and swore, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go and explain everything about Caroline Reynolds’ death to Commissioner Schmitt.”
He left the detectives and they returned to the case on the desk in front of them. Detective Felton scratched his head and asked, “How are we going to go about this anyway?”
Sage told him about what he’d read in Caroline’s journal, about how her class had an intern substituting for their teacher. “I’ll have to go through the school district to get this intern’s name though, which might be a bit of a headache seeing as school’s out for the summer.”
“Are you going to ask if she’s suddenly displaying supernatural powers and abilities?” Felton asked with a smirk.
Detective Sage frowned and admitted that he might have to. “I don’t even know how to ask that without her dismissing it altogether.”
Felton shook his head and chuckled, “You’re a bright guy, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said with a smile as he handed Sage the phone. “I’ll be back, I’ve got to go and check up with Brown about a few things involving some shoplifters we caught last week.”
Sage nodded and dialed Caroline Reynolds’ school. He waited for an answer but only managed to receive a message that informed him that the secretaries and school administration were out of office until the seventeenth of August. Sage left a brief message, hung up, cursed, and returned to gathering information about the other eight victims on the list.
---*---
12:50 PM
Bothell, Washington
Drake sat at his desk with a distant gaze upon the static game of solitaire he left on screen. He shuffled through his deck twice, before he finally decided to wrap the game up and within a minute had the cards flying across his screen. Afterward, he closed the application.
His lanky coworker, Jeremy, approached his desk. He took a seat and began their conversation without hesitation, “Drake, I recently inherited an old turntable from my grandfather. Do you happen to know where I could find some old records for it?”
Drake blinked a few times before he realized he was asked a question, “Ah…you can obviously check online, but I’d imagine if you checked around you could find someone in the area that sells them. Pawn shops may have them too.”
“Great, great. Sorry about such a stupid question, but as you know, I’m new here and I’m still getting my bearings in the area.” Jeremy glanced past Drake to find Sanderson closing in on them. He adjusted his glasses and spoke, “So Drake I’ve been talking with Donna in customer service, she says that there’ve been some complaints with our server speed recently,” Sanderson stopped by them, “She asked if you or Sho could take a look to see if anything’s up.” Satisfied, Sanderson left.
“Good cover,” Drake complimented his coworker, who only smiled and set off for his desk again. Drake then muttered to himself that he didn’t work in their information technology department.
His phone rang once Jeremy had left, “Yes?”
“Drake, there’s someone here to see you. Should I send them over?”
Drake sighed, “Yeah, thanks,” he hung up and counted backwards from twelve, at which point Nick found his desk. “Hey take a seat.”
Nick did and then asked, “Is your m-manager going to d-drop by?”
“I don’t know, he might.” Drake took out a paper from his desk and handed it to him, “That’s the flyer for the party. Since Ian’s leaving on the twenty-sixth we’re throwing it on the twenty-fourth.”
“That should b-be fine.”
“I found a place for us to use, but I told them we’re going to provide our own music since it’s cheaper and all that club usually plays is electronic and trance,” Drake told him.
“And y-you want me t-t-to find the DJ?”
Drake nodded, “It shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Nick sighed, “Great, m-more work.”
“That’s all you’ve got to do. I’ve got Jordan making fliers and he’s getting Coop and Wally to help distribute them.” Drake smiled, “You should consider yourself lucky in comparison to him.”
“Okay. Any other j-jobs f-for me?”
He shook his head, “Not unless you want more.”
“N-No, that’s f-fine.” Nick gathered his things and started off.
A woman in her mid-forties walked up to Drake’s cubicle and told him someone was at the front desk waiting for him. Drake scratched at his eyebrow and asked if she knew who it was. “Jonathan Vane.”
“Right…who is he again?”
“The chief operations officer.”
“Right right…perfect, thanks.”
Drake rose from his seat and walked out to the receptionist’s desk with his hands deep within his pockets. Jonathan Vane was a few inches taller than Drake and never seemed to be caught dead without a suit and tie. He wore thinly framed glasses that complimented his slender figure and face. Jonathan Vane also always wore his salt and peppered hair slicked back with what Drake assumed was the largest amount of the most expensive hair product imaginable.
“Drake Winchester,” he said with a smile, “You seem to be taller every time I see you.”
Drake begrudgingly shook his hand and failed to give any retort. “Nice to see you too Jonathan.”
Jonathan paused, cleared his throat, and suggested they talk in private. Drake led the way to the conference room and promptly took a seat at the head of the table, which allowed Jonathan to take a seat near the door. Jonathan composed himself and began by asking Drake how closely he followed their flagship title.
“Creeping Darkness? Fairly closely, even though it isn’t really my department.”
Vane smirked, “Yes, I’d imagine it
isn’t…anyway, your father and I spoke and decided that we’d like to send you to Japan alongside some of the game’s engineers to represent our company.”
“For the Tokyo Game Show?” Drake asked as his attention and interest piqued.
“Yes.” Vane adjusted his glasses before he told Drake that this would come as a promotion. “Your father knows you must feel quite undervalued at this level and wants to broaden your horizon, in a manner of speaking. We haven’t hammered out the details, the position, or the title for that matter, but we will shortly. But in any case, we would like you to head to Japan at the start of September to represent Winchester Enterprises as the face of our company. What do you say?”
Drake let a smile form and quickly agreed.
“Good. You’ll be briefed long before you depart, but it wouldn’t hurt to brush up on the products we plan to showcase, all of which you’ll receive information on soon enough.”
“That’s fine with me. And this trip will be on the company’s dime, right?” he asked, tongue in cheek.
Jonathan rose and with a smile, told him he wouldn’t bother addressing his question with a response.
---*---
2:00 PM
Bothell, Washington
Ian stood a few feet from the bleachers at the Bothell High School football field. The new year’s team started practice early that day and despite it only being practice drew a modest crowd. He wasn’t ever an athlete and had only attended one game in his high school career, which never bothered or concerned him before, yet he found himself somewhat nostalgic and regretful at the same time while he watched the would-be students and athletes.
He looked at his old high school in the background and reflected on the teachers and classes and friends he had there. The memories were fresh in his mind two months earlier but somehow he felt that they had begun to dissolve. Things became blurry and all he could help to recall those fleeing memories were events and names; faces and places were foggy at best.
Two of his old friends approached him; one was a heavily over weight ex-jock who still wore his lettermen’s jacket with an enormous state patch across his back. His voice boomed over all of the chatter from the fans on the benches, “IAN! Ian, why are you still here? I thought you were gonna be all the way on the other side of the world by now.”
Ian grinned and waited until his two friends met him at the edge of the bleachers, “I’m not leaving until later this month. But I know that you knew that Coop, I’ve already told you about the party.”
Coop laughed much louder than he needed to and always seemed to draw unneeded attention to the trio. He grinned and nudged the skinny young man who accompanied him, “Wally, you’ve gotta remind me of this kind of stuff. You’re way smarter than me.”
Wally brushed Coop off and replied, “No, you’re just too lazy to keep track of things. If you spent less time getting plastered and read a book for once in your life maybe you wouldn’t feel so dumb.”
“I do read Wally,” Coop stopped him. “I read plenty of comic books.”
“And that’s wonderful, but try reading some American literature instead.” Wally left the matter and asked Ian, “The party’s on the twenty-fourth right? Are we going to need some special VIP passes or a code word or a hand sign to get in?”
Ian rolled his eyes and told them they would be on the guest list.
“Thanks, but seriously Ian, what are you doing here? I would have thought you’d be packing or something better than watching some high school football team practice.”
“I just felt like taking one last look around here before I left,” Ian told him.
Wally looked around and mumbled, “I’m not sure what’s so memorable about this place…Hell, I wish I was the one getting out of this town.”
“Then why don’t you?”
Wally shook his head, “I don’t know…Probably because I don’t really know where I’d want to go or what I’d want to do. The world’s a damn big place and pinpointing where you want to live isn’t a simple thing.”
Ian looked at Coop and asked, “What about you?”
Coop only grinned. “Why would I want to leave? It’s so easy here.”
Wally rolled his eyes, “You’ll be in for a real shock once everyone starts moving on with their lives.”
Coop laughed, “We’ll see.”
Ian smiled and told his friends he would see them later and left for the school. He walked into the main building and half expected to see a steady flow of students bustling from class to class. It was deserted though, which gave an alien feeling to the long and hollow corridors. He walked along silently while he peered in the windows at the dark and empty rooms until he reached the classroom where he had taken his final English course.
His old teacher sat behind a desk and didn’t even notice Ian’s entrance. Victor pored over notes in a copy of Ordinary People and notes in a separate notebook. Ian finally cleared his throat to signal his presence.
Victor looked up and grinned, “I didn’t take you for the sentimental type Ian.”
“You’d be right normally, but I guess when your window of opportunity is closing you generally want one last look.” Ian glanced at the floor and then back at his old teacher. “I’m moving to London in a few weeks.”
He looked at Ian and asked what made him want to relocate.
Ian took a breath and shook his head, “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I stay here,” he told him. “I just feel like I need to get out of here and move on with my life before I’m stuck here forever.”
Victor nodded, “I know how you feel. Does the idea of remaining here indefinitely bother you?”
“Yes.” Ian scowled, “It’s not like I hate it here, I just don’t want to end up here forever. I’d rather be off in London and work at a dead end job knowing I made it somewhere beyond Bothell Washington.”
Victor chuckled and told him he felt the same way once. “That’s why I left for a year when I was younger.”
“I know, I read your book. But you never said why you came back.”
Victor set his work aside and told him that the world he longed for was exactly the same beyond Bothell. “I realized that no matter where I went, my life would ultimately be the same mundane journey, just in another land. But the one thing, the only thing that gave me reason to return was my family. Paul had lost his job and hadn’t managed to find work for a while. Nick was too young to step in and provide for the family, and I would have been ashamed to leave my mother to work a full time job when I was fully capable of working in her stead. I knew that they needed me more than the world did, so I abandoned my adventure and settled down, more or less.”
Ian frowned, “I guess I never really considered any good reasons for staying…”
Victor smiled, “Maybe you’ll find reasons to come back after you’ve left. Either way, you’re not going to be able to appreciate here until you’re elsewhere.”
Ian agreed. Victor told him he needed to leave for a meeting in Seattle and gathered his things. They walked toward the main entrance to continue their conversation, though they stopped when someone who walked through those double doors neared them. The young man wore a black tee-shirt with Led Zeppelin printed on it and a pair of blue jeans. He wore his brown hair short, had a tattoo of a snake on his right forearm, and carried a silver Colt M1911 in his hand.
They stopped. Victor frowned asked, confused, “Nick?”
Nick took aim and shot Victor twice, once through the chest and a second time through his stomach. He looked at Ian, slowly aimed the gun at him, and nearly fired off another round when an administrator heard the shots and rushed out to investigate. Nick turned his gun on the man, killed him, and by the time he turned back to attack Ian, Ian had fled.
---*---
2:35 PM
Bothell, Washington
“Jordan? It’s Rachel, just wondering where you are. I’m waiting for you at Stipek Park…you said you’d meet me here, but I don’t see you. Ca
ll me, bye.” Rachel hung up and let out a breath.
She sat in the middle of the park on a sweltering day in black jeans and a black and gray striped long sleeved shirt. Whatever possessed her to wear that sort of outfit on that type of day was beyond her, and all Rachel knew was that she desperately needed to consider the weather before she selected her outfit for the day.
The park she sat in was relatively small, though lively at the same time. On her right was a basketball court where a small pickup game was held and next to that was an area full of play equipment where children played under the supervision of their parents. To the left of her was an open field where a make-shift baseball game was going on. However, since the field was so near the road the players tried to mind the street and avoid any interaction with the passing cars. Twenty people played the game and another fifteen sat nearby and watched.
Her cell phone vibrated. She saw it was Jordan and answered, “Where are you?”
Jordan apologized and told her he was all the way out in Wenatchee. “I completely forgot about today and agreed to join some buds from school to make a run out here for some supplies.”
Rachel scowled and with a bitter sigh forgave him. “Just call me once you’re back so we can do something, alright?”
“Sure.” He hesitated a moment after realizing his error and asked whether there was anything she wanted him to get her. “They’ve got premium stuff out here you know. I can get pretty much whatever we need from this guy I know.”
She told him she would manage and left their conversation there. Rachel hung up and cursed under her breath. She stowed her phone in her pocket and sat glaring at the ground.
“Pardon me, but would you mind if I sat here with you?”
Rachel glanced up at a young man who seemed roughly her age. He smiled and wore a dark gray sweater, clean, iron pressed black slacks, and the young man had a deep olive colored pack slung over his shoulder. His hair was well kept and medium length.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you dying out here wearing all of that today? It’s nearly ninety-five degrees out.”
Regenesis (Book 1): Impact Page 6