Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
The following morning, Ted woke up to an aroma of French toast frying and sausages. He cleaned up and walked downstairs to see the dining table set up for breakfast. Erin was taking off her apron “Morning.” She greeted with a smile.
He tilted his head strangely “And what did I do to deserve this special treatment?” he took a hold of her waist and pulled her closer.
“It’s been a while since I made breakfast. I’m actually just using you for a guinea pig.” Erin said convincingly. She pushed him gently to the table “Come on, we have to get moving. The meeting will start in half an hour.”
“Okay.” He groaned and took a seat “It looks perfect!” digging in, he savored each bite with a moaning sound.
Erin winced painfully “Sweetie, can you not do that?”
“Do what?” he asked innocently.
“You know what.” She eyed him carefully.
He laughed while taking another bite of the freshly made French toast “What’s the headlines this morning?” a habit he had that Erin had long ago gotten use to.
She dropped her fork and nodded “I’ll get it.” She had picked up the newspaper early that morning for him “Here you go.”
"Thanks" Ted drank his coffee and flipped the pages as he read the interesting articles. Suddenly, he frowned and his brows knitted together. He had stopped eating and was entwined with the newspaper. Erin noticed after a few minutes that he had not taken another bite “Erin.” He turned to her with a pale face “You have to read this.”
“What is it?” she asked as he handed the newspaper to her. She skimmed through the words “Oh my God…”
The meeting was bustling with the agents describing their rendezvous the night before to the new agents. Becca was exaggerating that there were twenty guys and they beat them all up without using their guns. Mia couldn’t help but laugh out loud “You are so full of it!”
“Come on, they’re not going to believe me if you laugh!” Becca scolded.
“Becca, I don’t think they’ll believe you even if Mia wasn’t laughing. How is it possible that we can beat up twenty armed men without using our guns?” Doug asked sarcastically.
She seemed to think about it while Jenna and Leah exchanged knowing grins “It can happen.” Was her final words.
Matt entered the room with the group laughing “Well I’m glad you guys are finding some things amusing.” There was tenseness to his voice.
“What’s up your butt?” Mia asked.
“Apparently, you guys don’t read the morning newspapers.” He threw a copy on the table “Darren, read it out loud.”
Ted and Erin turned to each other with a grim expression while Darren read the headlines and bits of the article “'Fireman died in the reign of fire' Twenty eight year old fireman of Sa Tin, Eric Leung died from a fire which has been determined this morning of an arson. The man was arrested and charged with arson, his sentence will be announced next Friday. Eric Leung managed to save five elders from a retirement home and a child who was supposedly locked on the third floor. Fellow firemen said they were not informed of a child but for some reason Erin Leung claimed there was a child locked in a room. No one has found out where he got the news. He was killed instantly when the forty two year old building collapsed. No other deaths were reported.”
“Crap…” Mia whispered as she covered her mouth “How could this have happened?”
“Arson.” Becca nodded with wide eyes “That’s what the article said.”
Ted shook his head “No, there’s more than that. Who gave him the clue that there was a child stuck on the third floor? How come his teammates did not get that news?”
“Also, why would an arson start in a retirement home with elders that probably have no enemies?” Erin added.
“This is creepy.” Leah shivered after listening to the article.
Darren placed the article down “You think this has to do with the team?” he asked Matt.
The young lieutenant nodded “We got an anonymous letter this morning. No return address, no stamp and it was typed out, not hand written. Clearly a sign that the sender doesn’t want us to find him.”
“Sneaky bastard…” Becca muttered “Or bitch.” She added.
“What does it say, Gor?” Ryan asked curiously.
He lowered his eyes “It’s a little disturbing, be prepared for everything.” Taking out the envelope, he handed it to Ryan who in turned opened it. His eyes skimmed the list and it widened with each name. He turned to Matt with teary eyes “It’s not actually a letter, it’s a list of names.” Matt nodded to his brother to read it.
“Number one Shelly Kam.” Ryan read out loud “Two, Eric Leung. Three, Mayor Chan. Reina Ng. Michael Wu and Julie Wu. Ah Bat. Ethan Chan. Evelyn Fong. Luke Yam. Last but not least, the cast and crew of the P.R.A.”
“What a cocky son of bitch!” Riley spat harshly.
Matt crossed his harms with a stern expression “They are obviously playing a game with us. The people named are everyone that had something to do with us personally or our cases.”
“Wait, there are two names that I don’t recognize.” Mia raised her hand “Who are Eveyln and Luke?”
“Evelyn is Chuck’s girl. Or should I say his target?” Jenna corrected herself “I don’t know who Luke is.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Matt nodded to his group “They are all involved in our lives one way or another. We have to warn these people. Two names have been crossed off, I suspect there will only be more deaths.”
“Wait a minute.” Becca stopped him “Reina. She’s in jail, how are they going to kill her in an all woman institution?”
“They’ll find a way.” Mia replied darkly “We have to get her out.” She looked at Matt intensely.
He shook his head with a sigh “Unfortunately we cannot do it with just this threat letter. We have received these before in the past.”
“But nothing so deathly true.” Ryan pointed out “Two lives. Can we afford for a third life to be taken?”
“He’s right.” Mark agreed, “I say warn the people on this list or use one of them as bait to catch the killer.”
Erin shook her head in disagreement “That’s too risky. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.” She turned to Matt questioningly “Should we discuss with Joe?”
“He is back in Beijing and won’t return until another month. He left this in my hands.” Matt replied, “My only concern is that the Mayor is third on the list.”
Mia winced “We should warn him.”
“Ted, can you take care of that?” Matt nodded to the captain.
“Yes, sir.” He agreed.
Their meeting was interrupted by one of the IT who had signed for a package. He knocked on the door and pointed to Ted. Matt nodded “Let him in.” Doug was the closest to the door as he press the control that slid the glass doors open.
“What is this?” he handed it to Ted.
“Be careful.” Erin warned.
He looked at the sender’s address “It’s the blood report from Shelly’s case.” He turned to Matt who was suddenly alert.
“What does it say?” Riley pushed.
“What’s your rush? You act like it was your wife that—” Leah earned a stab in the ribs by Jenna “Sorry, Ryan.” She muttered.
He shook his head “Its okay.” He turned to Ted patiently waiting for the results.
“Unknown.” Ted concluded after skimming through the five page report.
“How could that be?” Erin asked in shock “The killer is human…isn’t he?”
Ryan nodded “He had a tattoo.” He was positive.
Leah turned to Riley who was itching his body “What’s wrong?”
“I break into hives when I get hot.” He replied “Is the air conditioning down today?” he asked Matt who nodded.
“Take off your jean jacket then. Shoot, I’d be hot too.” Leah retorted with a laugh.
Riley nodded as he peeled off the jacket. He turned to Ted, who had everyone’s attention. But at the corner of his eyes, he could see Ryan staring at his arm intently “Something wrong?”
“Where did you get that?” he nodded to the scratches on his arm.
“This?” Riley pointed, “I’m not sure. Could be from the paintball shooting.”
Ryan nodded, his eyes moved away but his mind was spinning. They wore long sleeves, how could he have scratches? Why would he lie? Questions running through his mind while Ted continued, “The blood type is declared but from whom is undetermined. My only guess is that he is not from Hong Kong. We have everyone’s records at the police station. Unless it’s a tourist.”
“Why would a tourist just drop by and kill someone?” Mia asked, “It just doesn’t make any sense. And that list…she was first.”
Darren agreed “Mia’s right. It’s not a coincidence. Who ever the leader is, he knows what he’s doing if he’s calling foreign killers to come and attack us. We have no way of finding out who is after us.”
“A mastermind, that’s all we need.” Becca threw up her hands in defeat.
“Don’t give up without a fight.” Matt warned.
“What should we do next?” Erin asked.
He sighed “Stay on your heels and don’t let any suspicious person get away. If you feel you are being followed, try to face your stalker. Lastly, warn those around you. Erin, you need to tell Chuck about this. He is not aware.”
“I will.” She nodded confirming.