Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Joe was in a middle of the meeting when Erin and Chuck entered, Eve stood outside the conference room “Erin? I thought Ted said you were going home to rest.”
She nodded “I was, but I remembered Uncle Chuck and decided to check on him. We were attacked.”
“You were?” Mia asked worriedly “Are you guys okay?”
“No, we were shot and killed. You're talking to our ghosts." Chuck replied sarcastically.
“Don’t get smart with me mister!” Mia pointed.
Matt turned to them “Any idea who did it?”
“No, the guy was killed when I asked him who sent him. Sniper from a distant.” Erin explained shortly.
“Scary.” Mia muttered, “They seem to be working fast. Who’s next? Luke?” she snickered.
“Already happened.” Erin replied.
“Who’s Luke?” Darren asked.
“You know…” Mia said with rolled eyes.
Darren shook his head “For the hundredth time, Mia. I can't read your mind."
“Brad’s twin.” Doug said hastily “Don’t you pay attention?”
“Brad has a twin?!” Ryan asked in shock.
“Who’s Brad?” Leah scratched her head confusingly.
Joe cleared his throat “Ahem! Can we get back to business please?”
“Yes sir.” The group answered as they took a seat.
“Chuck, let’s keep Eve as safe as possible. Don’t leave her side for a minute and make sure she stays in headquarters, if she has to go out, be sure that you’re armed.”
“It’s like feeding candy to a kid.” Mia laughed.
Chuck narrowed his eyes dangerously at her “Metaphor.”
“Oh God, she’s delirious.” Doug whispered.
Joe smiled with a shake of the head “Let’s make sure that Michael is safe. They will try to kill him again, I guarantee it. A hospital isn’t that safe. Reina, I want you to take over for Ted this afternoon.”
“Yes, sir.” She replied, “Wait, Becca’s there.” Joe nodded “Should you send someone else? I don’t want the girl to pee in her pants or something.”
“Right, she’s afraid of Reina.” Mia explained casually.
Doug leaned in closer to Reina “Hey, how do you do it? I mean, what magic do you have? Give me a few pointers.”
“Loser.” Mia snickered.
“Whatever.” Doug rolled his eyes.
“Nice comeback.” Darren nodded unconvincingly.
“Focus people.” Joe reminded them “Stay on your toes. I want you guys to be on twenty four hours standby. Use your headsets when necessary. Matt and I will be here all night. I have a feeling that they are going to try something on Michael soon. He’s our only clue now. I think they wanted to kill him because he knows more than they want him to know.”
“How about Julie?” Reina asked.
Matt shook his head “Nothing we can do there. Just pray that she’s safe.”
“She is.” Erin reminded them “Chris has a deep obsession with her. He won’t let anything happen to her. He’d die before she does. At least we know Bonnie isn’t alone.” She smiled at Mia “I know she’s still alive.”
Darren patted his wife on the shoulder “Erin’s right.”
Chuck looked around and noticed a missing face “Where’s Jenna?” Joe turned away while Reina gave a cutting neck motion “What? What’s that suppose to mean?”
“She will be notified.” Joe replied, “When she learns how to act maturely, she will be admitted back into the team. For now, we’ll carry on without her. Now get ready and return to you daily lifestyle. In order to catch them, we have to be on our toes but don’t let them see that. Keep your pagers on, we can have an operation any time of day or night.”
“Yes sir!” the group stood up in unison.
They began marching out when Joe raised a hand at Riley “Come with me. I want to talk to you.”
He turned to Leah, who raised her brows curiously “Yes, Joe.” he followed obediently.
“You guys go ahead.” He nodded to the rest, who paused.
Mia nodded at Leah “Looks like your boyfriend is in trouble.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Leah lowered her flaming face.
“You could have fooled us.” Mia teased.
“I wonder what they’re talking about.” Mark wondered out loud.
Matt shook his head “It’s none of our business.”
“I hope its bad news.” Ryan snickered as he quickened his steps to the weapons room.
“Wow, what’s with him?” Mia asked, “Someone’s got a stick up their ass. What did you do to him?” she asked Matt.
Matt jogged to catch up to Ryan “Hey, what the hell was that all about?” he asked.
“What?” Ryan replied coolly.
“What do you have against Riley?” Matt pressed. Ryan sighed and turned to his brother with an exasperated look “Don’t give me that, I can tell when you’re bothered by someone, one of the many perks of being a big brother. Tell me.”
Ryan nodded as he began explaining. Matt listened his clues and reasons, it was good enough to approach Joe with the problem. He waited for Joe to finish with Riley and it took over an hour as the two were inside a locked office discussing something important. After Riley exited, he noticed Matt at the door. He looked shocked and a little surprise to see him “Hi…Matt. Uh…did you need to see Joe?” he pointed. Matt nodded, while observing his unsteady hands “He’s free now.”
“Thanks.” Matt nodded as he watched Riley leave. Entering the office, he closed the door behind him “Joe. I need to talk to you.”
“If it’s about Riley, I don’t want to hear it.” Joe replied without moving his eyes from the computer.
“I think we have good reasons to be suspicious.” Matt began “I don’t think you know about what Ryan and Jenna saw at the bar the other night last week—”
“I know, they saw Riley and Robert Kwok together right?” he cut in. His hands paused on the keyboard as he turned to Matt “Look, I know Ryan wants to find Shelly’s killer, but he’s going about this all wrong. He needs to look at the big picture not just what he can see.”
Matt wrinkled his brows “You mean…”
“I think you know.” Joe smiled “If he wants to pin anyone, he needs proof. Every killer will make a mistake before he is caught. Looks like you fell for the bias rule too. Just because he’s your brother doesn’t mean everything he says makes sense. Your job as a brother will automatically make sense of anything he says. Think about it Matt.”
Matt nodded slowly as he left the office. Ryan was outside waiting for him “So, how did it go? Can we take him in for questioning and blood test?”
“No, we need proof.” Matt replied shortly “Come on. We have work to do.” Ryan stared after his brother, brows wrinkled. He didn’t understand what had happened. Matt was very agreeing towards his theory but the minute he walked out of Joe’s office, he was like a different person. He knew it was not his place to argue with Joe, instead he joined the others.
**************
Erin returned home to rest when she found Luke at her doorstep “Hey.” He greeted with a wave.
“Hey.” She smiled “Are you stalking ME now?” she joked.
He laughed comfortably “No. Actually, I’m afraid of going home. After that one night, I’ve been kinda paranoid. But then, who can blame me right? Anyways, I was wonder…I know it’s too much to ask, but can I stay with you until you guys figure out who’s trying to destroy the P.R.A.?”
“I…”
“I won’t be a bother, I promise. You won’t even know that I’m there. I’ll be quiet and polite and I’ll even cook dinner for you.” He nodded like an eager puppy.
Erin smiled “Who could say no to that?” She almost felt obligated to watch after him, for Brad’s sake. He smiled happily while she continued to look at him “You’re in my way.” She pointed to the door.
“Oh, sorry. I thought you were just staring.” He laughed nervously while she unlocked the door. They entered the house with a sweet aroma of pumpkin pie.
Luke was about to walk to the kitchen when Erin stopped him with her arm “Wait. My roommate can’t cook.” She whispered.
“The killer?” he whispered fearfully while following her quietly down the hall.
She peeked through the door and found Jenna in an apron while pulling a pie out of the oven. Letting out a sigh, she showed herself “Jenna.”
The girl didn’t expect anyone to be home as she was startled and dropped the hot pie out of her hands as it splattered to the ground “My hard work…” she sobbed.
“I’m sorry.” Erin smiled “I thought you were an intruder.”
“We thought you were going to kill us with the sweet aroma of pumpkin pie.” Luke quipped when he realized the girl was not a bad person.
“He’s funny.” Jenna pointed and quickly spun her head at him again “Oh my God. He looks just like…like…”
“Brad.” He finished for her.
“He knows!” Jenna hissed at Erin.
“Nevermind that. What are you doing here? What’s wrong with your home?” Erin asked.
Jenna smiled weakly “Would you believe our oven is broken?” Erin shook her head “Well, would you believe that I cook better in a big house?” again she shook her head “Then, would you believe that…oh, who am I kidding! I got in a fight with Joe and left the house. He didn’t even run after me. I came here and Reina was kind enough to offer me a room.”
“It’s normal for a couple to argue, but you shouldn’t leave over a little fight.” Luke commented.
Jenna grimaced “You’re funny but not THAT funny.”
“Joe is her dad.” Erin explained with a sigh “I guess it’s okay that you stay here.” She looked at the dismantled pie “I’m sorry about that.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I can whip one up in no time!” She replied brightly “I’ll just clean it up.”
“Let me help.” Luke offered as he rushed to the kitchen drawers.
Jenna stepped over the pie as she nudged Erin “So, what’s your deal with him?” she pointed her thumb at Luke.
“He was attacked a few nights ago. He’s paranoid that it will happen again and wanted to stay here.” Erin explained.
“And you bought that?” Jenna pushed Erin towards the kitchen door so they were not within earshot of Luke “He obviously likes you.”
Erin rolled her eyes “You sound more like Mia everyday. He does not, he’s just trying to connect with the people that knows Brad. He’s got no family left.” Her eyes moved to Luke when she did a double take “Luke!”
Jenna turned to see him using a fork to eat the dropped pie from the ground “What? I’m scooping the parts that didn’t touch the ground. It’s clean.”
“I waxed the floor this morning, it’s clean.” Jenna nodded with a smile, glad someone was enjoying her cooking.
“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” he dropped the fork and used his hands to scoop up the pie.
Jenna began laughing while Erin winced disgustedly “I can’t watch.” She walked back to her bedroom to rest.