Ionshaker (Part I), Felix Timothy [fox in socks read aloud TXT] 📗

card.
“Take care okay?”
Audrey nodded and the two agents left.
“…we were running…” Audrey had said twice. It was a weighty statement. Running away from whom? Running to where? Was Trey right after all that someone wanted to kill Robin?
“You know the junkyard the nurse was talkin’ about?” she asked Charles as they got back in the car.
“Yeah?”
“Maybe there will be some clues on the vehicle. Take me to the junkyard.”


6


At the entrance of the quiet, fully stacked motor vehicle junkyard, was an erected metallic structure serving both as an office and a watchtower. Leaning on the railing was a skinny, tiny-headed, creepy looking man in his late twenties. He seemed high.
“Hello!” Nicole hollered at the skinny caretaker. He looked down on the two agents below.
“Hi to you,” he answered with little interest.
“FBI. We’re interested in a silver Ford sedan that was towed in yesterday.”
The caretaker gestured carelessly in the direction of the wreck. The two agents spotted the car and headed towards it.

The car had been severely bashed on its left side, from the front bumper, the fender, all the way up to the driver’s door. The interior of the wreckage said it all with deflated and blood spattered air bags.

Nicole tried pulling the driver’s door, but it wouldn’t budge. So, she leaned through the broken window to peer inside. Charles was getting dirty scrutinizing the underbelly of the once serviceable Ford Focus.

The front wheel assembly on the left side seemed older and rustier than the other three.
Just from its appearance, it looked odd. He wiggled to take a closer look. Then, he made a startling observation. The whole thing was a replacement. Even the bolts appeared older.
“Nicole?”
Charles called out.
“Yeah?”
“I think I found something.”
“What is it?” She asked quickly getting on her knees.
“I think one of the wheel assemblies was switched with an old one.”
“Show me,” she said eagerly, wriggling under the wreck as Charles pointed to the older bolts and the rusty parts. It was pretty evident that the wheel assembly had been replaced.
“What about the brakes?” Nicole asked after confirming that there was something fishy with the wheel assembly.
“Haven’t checked yet.”
“Check them out too. Good detective work,” Nicole said, writhing from under the wreck. Then a phrase from her conversation with Audrey flashed into her mind: “…it got stuck.”
She had to try out the driver’s safety belt.
Once she got on her feet, she leaned through the window, pulled the belt and tried to clip it and - bingo! The clip had been unscrewed.
Underneath the wreck, Charles noticed that the brake lines had been tampered with as well. She had driven with very weak brakes.
“Charles?” Nicole called out.
“Yes?”
“Come see this.”
“See what?” Charles asked getting out from under the wreck.
“Look!” She exclaimed pointing to the unscrewed belt clip.
“I don’t believe this!” Charles was taken aback before going on to ask,” The clip was compromised? There’s no way a driver in such a hurry would have stopped to fix it.”
“Do you remember what Audrey said about the belt?”
“Yeah, but she said it got stuck, not that the clip didn’t clip.”
“But she also said she’d been fighting with her mother, and so she wasn’t paying close attention to her mother’s driving. It doesn’t matter if the belt got stuck or if it failed to clip. What she remembers is, her mother didn’t buckle up.”
“The brakes have been messed up too.”
“I think all of this was done during the time Robin and her daughter were inside the house parking,” Nicole said running her fingers through her hair.
“So, the front left wheel assembly had been replaced with an old rusty one, the safety belt had been compromised and she drove with weakened brakes?”
“You’re thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”
“Yeah, someone wanted her dead.”
“The question is: who and why?”


7


First things first. Brett had to let Trey go; he had no basis for detaining him any longer.
“I’ve got good news for you,” Brett said, walking in to the room.
“Is that right?” Trey answered warily.
“You’re free to go,” Brett paused before adding, “For now.”
For now was good enough for Trey, considering the alternative. He had so much to do in very little time. All he wanted was to get out of that holding room. After taking off the handcuffs, Brett told the widower, almost as an afterthought, “Sorry for your loss.”
After a while Brett’s phone rang when he was in the hallway. He took it out and saw that it was Nicole calling and so he answered right away.
“Why have you been so quiet?” He asked dipping into his pocket.
“Just digging, you do remember you asked me to do that, right?”
“Fill me in,” Brett said gently tapping on the wall with his shoe.
“He’s not lying about Robin. She’s in ICU.”
“And so where’ve you been?”
“I went to the junkyard to check out the wreckage.”
“And?” He added quickly.
“The accident wasn’t an accident.”
“Why?” He asked with his head leaning down.
“On one of the wheels, the parts had been replaced with old ones, the brakes were kaput and here comes the killer…”
“Surprise me,” he immediately looked up.
“The safety belt clip – you know the one that locks the strap?”
“Yeah?”
“It had been removed.”
“Removed?” He stressed.
“Yes.”
“So right now we’d be looking at two interrelated homicides?”
“Aha.”
“Come back so we can figure this out,” he said starting to walk.
“Or in other words you miss me?” She joked.
“Don’t kid yourself,” he said then hung up.

* * *

After the two federal agents had left the junkyard, the caretaker picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. The phone rang twice before being picked up. He could hear raspy breathing on the other side as the man quickly asked, “What is it?”
“We have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The feds have just left.”
“How was the car?”
“Still raw.”

* * *

Brett was wracking his brain trying to put things together. Brooke’s murder hadn’t just been a murder. It was something bigger – a puzzle. And Robin’s accident hadn’t been an accident, either. In fact, the accident was a whole new ball game. But who were the players? What were the rules of the game? Who was refereeing? And most importantly – what was Brett and Nicole’s role in the game? How would the game end – in more deaths? If so, Brett hoped it wouldn’t be them.

* * *

Unlike Brett and Nicole, Trey was well aware of the meaning of what had just happened. He also knew what would happen if he didn’t act quickly. The demise of his wife on the day he’d left town was no coincidence. In fact, he’d always lived in expectation of it. “How did I not see it coming?” He berated himself. He swore it wouldn’t happen again.

But Robin didn’t have much time. In a matter of hours, they’d pay the hospital a visit to finish her off. That’s how the game was supposed to end – with Ironside dead.

All best players always have a game plan, but they can never be prepared for everything. Trey’s plan was to become the unprecedented thing that would change everything.

With his wife already sacrificed and the other woman in his life next on the line, Trey’s gloves were coming off and his A-game coming on. Things were about to get messy, and he was determined to frustrate the other players, go against the standard rules of the game and literally shake the chessboard, until he changed the end game.


8


After parking the car, Trey entered Kaiser Foundation Hospital in a frantic hurry before pausing at the reception counter, where he was directed to Robin’s room.

Glancing across as he plowed through the hallways, his eyes spotted Audrey who immediately ran to him as if he was Clark Kent arriving to protect her mother from harm.

The past hours of worry and crying made the thirteen year-old look so doleful. But everything was going to be alright. Trey leaned forward, opened his arms and waited for Audrey to sink into his arms with a hungry hug. He then held her for a while.
“Everything’s gonna be alright. I promise.”
He whispered with assurance as if he was the cure for her mother’s problems. When they were done hugging, she grabbed his hand and led him to her mother.
When they got to Robin’s bed, he just stood there motionless. It was too much to take in one day.

Barely a day had elapsed since his wife’s kicking the bucket, he’d just been bluntly briefed about her death a few hours ago and as if that wasn’t enough, he was staring at Robin, knocked out with a full-load cocktail of sedatives.

To add pepper to injury, he knew it was just a matter of time.
He couldn’t take it any longer in the room. He glanced at Audrey; she was close to tears and so he grabbed her hand and led her out.

* * *

In the meantime, Nicole was back from her goose chase. As expected, Brett was thirsting for more details.
“How is she?”
They were both standing in the hallway.
“Deep in the woods.”
“You think the two cases are related?”
“Not sure but most likely,” she answered crossing her arms across her chest.
“Photos…of the wreckage? You know we need them, right?”
“Shoot!” She said looking up to the ceiling.
“Nicole!”
“I’m sorry,” she tried to apologize.
How could you forget?” He lamented.
“I said I’m sorry.”
“If it’s a conspiracy as you claim, we have no choice but to go back for them. How many guys did you find?”
“One…guy.”
Sometimes Brett thought she did some things just to frustrate him. Disappointed, Brett started walking, heading