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harlowdoylepi · 2 years

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We're back to our regularly scheduled program. Hopefully this edition is a better than the original because when I go back and read the fanfic.net version I CRINGE. So there are some elements that I think make this chapter a little better.

TA-418 Saga Part 8: Warning Signals

Blair walked into J and J antiques, carrying a small backpack.

Golden sunlight streamed through the front windows, illuminating the wood-paneled floors. It was one of the things she loved about this shop.

Richard looked up and smiled. “Good morning Ms. Duncan.”

She smiled back at him and tipped her turquoise baseball cap. “Good morning Mr. Maxwell.”

He stood up. “Anything I can help you with?”

“No, I was just stopping by to ask you what happened at Whit’s End. Was it vandalized?”

Richard nodded. “Yeah. Pretty extensively too.”

“That’s terrible! And from what I’ve heard, this isn’t the first time that that’s happened either.”

“As crazy as it sounds, yes.”

“I only heard just this morning, I was at work and was so busy I didn’t get out much.”

Richard cocked his head. “What is your work anyway?”

At that moment, his phone rang. “Oh, just a second, this is Jason.”

“You’re fine.”

Richard picked up the phone and answered the phone. “Hello, is this...destiny?” He asked in a strange voice.

Jason didn’t miss a beat. “Why yes, yes it is.”

Richard smirked. “I’ve been expecting your call.”

They both chuckled at their joke.

“But seriously, what’s going on?”

Blair grabbed her water bottle from the side pocket of her backpack and took a drink from it.

“I was just wondering if you were aware that Jellyfish is in town?”

Richard did a double-take. “Wait, Myron?”

Blair’s eyes widened and she choked on the water.

“Yeah, him. I was just wondering if you knew.”

“You ok?” Richard whispered to Blair.

Her face reddened and she coughed. “Just fine." She nodded and cleared her throat. "I- I just know a Myron, that’s all.”

“Are you still there?” Jason asked over the phone.

Richard turned back to the phone call. “Oh, yeah, sorry about that. No, I had no idea. Where is he?”

“Down near the Odyssey motel. Why would he be here, any ideas?”

“None whatsoever. Unless of course….” Richard’s voice trailed off.

“...unless of course, he’s following you from Chicago.” Jason finished the sentence for him.

“Hey, I have to go, I’ll see you later,” Blair whispered as she headed for the door.

“Okay, bye.”

She waved and walked out.

Richard came back to their conversation. “Do you think so? It’s been nearly two weeks since our incident in Chicago. If we had seen anything, wouldn’t it have been earlier?”

“Yeah, that is weird timing on his part.” Agreed Jason. “Unless he has just been really good at this stalking thing and has just now gotten sloppy. But that doesn’t make sense.”

“Myron was always the one for predictability - in a completely unpredictable kind of way.” Richard remarked.

“Well, I’m going to take a few minutes to follow him, I’ll let you know what happens when I get back.”

“Be careful,” he cautioned. “If he recognizes you…”

“I’ll make sure he never sees me.” Jason reassured him.

“Alright.”

“Right. Bye.”

“See ya.”

Jason pressed the hang-up button. “Alright….” He muttered to himself.

Jellyfish was standing outside on the side entrance of the hotel, smoking a cigarette and looking at his phone.

I wonder if he would still recognize me. They had only met a handful of times and that was several years ago. But those were some very vivid and tumultuous times, it wasn’t like they had bumped into each other on the street and exchanged pleasantries. Of course he would remember. Jason decided that wasn’t worth the risk.

For all he knew, this was just a coincidence, and Myron knew nothing about Richard’s whereabouts. But then, as his father always noted, there were no such things as coincidences.

Jason sat in his car incognito, watching Jellyfish. He took a sip of the sweet tea he had with him.

“Why is he here?” He rubbed his chin, his whiskers scratching his fingertips. He and Jellyfish had only met a handful of times and that was several years ago.

Myron took no notice of his watcher as he blew a stream of gray smoke from his mouth.

Someone walking out of the hotel caught Jason’s eye. He looked over.

“Oh hey, that's Robert Mitchell. Maybe I should go say hi.” He put his hand on the car door handle. He took one last glance at Jellyfish to make sure that he wasn’t going anywhere. His hand slowly fell away. He saw Jellyfish see Mitchell exiting the hotel, then hurriedly snub out his cigarette on the ashtray, take another glance at Mitchell, and circle back. Was Myron trying to subtly follow Mitch?

“Well that’s weird,” Jason whispered. “What’s the deal with this, I wonder?” He saw Jellyfish get into a car and pull out of the parking lot going in the same direction as Mitch’s car, not too far ahead. Jason shifted the car into drive and started following him as well, but making sure to maintain a safe distance.

They drove over to Finnemans’ Market, where Mitch walked in. Jellyfish’s car pulled into a space where he could watch but not be seen. Jason pulled into a parking lot in the store next to Finnemans’ at a place where he could watch Jellyfish. He had a good sight of both entrances, however, he couldn’t get a good visual of Mitch’s car.

Time passed slowly.

Jellyfish never got out of his car.

Fifteen minutes ticked away.

Mitchell walked out of the store carrying three or four bags of groceries.

Jason could see Jellyfish come to attention as he watched through the windshield. When he saw him start his car and drive out of the parking lot.

Jason took that as his cue to leave too. He followed the cars as they drove back to the Odyssey Hotel.

Jason shook his head. “Okay, it’s obvious that this guy is stalking Mitch, not Richard. But that doesn’t make sense. Richard is the one this guy wants revenge on, what’s his deal with Mitch? Then again, I don’t know what his cases have been looking like, or who he’s been dealing with….” He picked up his phone and dialed a number, hoping he remembered this number correctly.

“I wonder if Agent Bourland knows about this….”

That evening, Jay walked down from the old building. He was still wearing his deerstalker cap, but this time, he completed his look by wearing a trench coat. He pulled up the collar of his coat to obscure his face. It was 7:00 in the evening and the sun was going down toward the horizon.

Sherlock had been looking at the old building but hadn’t found any new clues as to what was happening. Nothing. He had wanted to look inside but decided the risk of getting caught was too great.

He exited through the woods and tramped as quietly as he could through the brush. He was approaching the building when something caught his eye. He heard some rather loud and raucous voices come louder.

Oh no.

He darted down behind a tree and got down on his stomach. The land sloped down slightly and relative to where these people were standing, they never would have seen him.

He could hear the voices come closer and looked up through the leaves. It was Vance and his gang.

He quickly slunk down farther so they couldn’t see him. If they caught him there was no telling what they would do to him.

“Okay guys, this meeting shouldn’t take too long.”

Jay recognized the voice as Vance’s. Wait, meeting? I’m going to need to get some incriminating evidence against these guys.

Jay pulled out his phone and pulled up the recording app. He pressed the record button.

“I don’t know why we’re doin’ this though.” Grumbled a voice that Jay could only vaguely remember.

“He wants a report.”

“I didn’t hear anything about this. I thought we were just supposed to mess up Whit’s End. They promised us some money and that was it.”

Jay knew he would also need more evidence than just a recording. He quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures as best he could. It was from a weird angle, but you could still tell who was who. The phone continued recording this whole time.

“That’s what they told you.” Vance pointed out. “And that’s what you get for thinking. Now come on, we're going to be late.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The other grunted.

There were mixed heavy footsteps that faded out as the gang walked away.

Jay put his hand over his heart and breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and got the pencil from behind his ear. He quickly scribbled down some notes. Vance and gang = involved

“Yeah, he was on my list of prime suspects anyway.” Jay mumbled to himself.

He crawled out from his spot where he was hiding and started walking out toward the dead-end street.

He could see someone in the distance getting closer. If there was a meeting at the building this was probably someone else coming as well.

He sidled into a bush as quietly as he could. The person seemed to take no notice.

Jay could tell now that it was a woman who was trekking closer. Several seconds passed and she walked by. Pulling out his phone and opening the camera app, he was at an angle where he could get a good picture of her face. If only she’d turn around!

Her face was obscured by her baseball cap so Jay couldn’t tell who she was. The mysterious woman quickly ducked down by a tree and peeked out towards the building. After looking around nervously for a few seconds, she turned around, revealing her face more clearly to Jay.

Jay's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He quickly snapped several photos.

He had seen her before.

What is she doing here?! Come to think of it, I don't remember her name.

The woman turned around, grabbed the backpack that was by her, and started in the direction of the building.

He pulled out his notebook once more and wrote: The girl who knew what the retina was = also involved.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Jay jumped out of the bush and raced off in the opposite direction. He knew who he needed to go to to get the answer. He brushed the twigs and leaves off of his trench coat and straightened his deerstalker cap. He couldn’t remember what her name was, but he did know somebody who’d know.

"Quite right." He muttered under his breath, "To Triple J's first thing after school."

The next afternoon, after school, Jay, donning his detective ensemble once again, sauntered up to the storefront of J and J antiques. He glanced through the window to make sure he was there. He saw Richard Maxwell behind the front counter.

“Good good.” Jay sniffed.

He strolled in through the door and the small bell, not unlike the one at Whit's End, jingled, alerting any who were in the store of his presence.

He came to the front counter, where Richard was working on the computer.

He looked up. "Can I help you with something?" He asked.

"Yes, my good sir.” Jay put his phone down on the counter and slid it across to Richard’s view. “I need you to identify the dame in this picture.”

Maxwell studied it for a moment. “Is that Blair?”

Jay slammed his hand down on the table and jabbed a finger at him. “Ah-ha! So you admit you know the woman in the picture!”

“Why would I deny it?” He looked at him.

“You may want to deny it when I tell you the results from my investigation.” Jay smoothly slid the phone away as he tucked it back into his pocket.

“I think it’s called stalking when you take pictures of someone without their knowing.”

“Wrong! It’s not stalking. Just - extensive research.”

“Right.”

“Semantics aside; you’ll be interested to know that she is number one on my list of suspects.”

Maxwell folded his arms and leaned against the counter. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes. I suppose you have heard a word about the town that there are strange happenings around the old abandoned building near to this fine establishment?”

“I’ve heard some weird things about it around town, yeah. Something about a possible gang spot or something? I haven’t done any looking into it, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I know for a fact that Vance and his gang are involved. I have pictures to prove that too. I have reason to believe that your girlfriend may be involved.”

“Well, first of all, she’s not my girlfriend. And secondly, just because you took a picture of her in the woods doesn’t mean she had anything to do with what’s going on there.��

“I took it in the woods last night. Near the old building. When the members of Vance’s gang were meeting. At the same time she was there.” Jay paused and grinned smugly. “And that I saw her walk off in the direction of the building as well, shortly after they did.” He pulled out his phone and swiped left on his screen, showing pictures of some of Vance’s gang partly obscured by some underbrush. The pictures had the same date and were taken within a few minutes of each other.

Richard took a deep breath and nodded uncertainly. “Okay… that’s kind of suspicious.”

“Indeed it is, gov’ner. Indeed it is.” Jay snapped his fingers twice. “I must be on my way.” He said, strolling out the door. The bell jingled once more as he walked out of the shop.

The place was quiet, outside of the radio playing quietly, and the grandfather clock ticking.

Richard turned back to his work but couldn’t get his racing mind to focus. Richard laced his fingers and closed his eyes, trying to figure out what his panicking mind was fighting. Was Blair involved? That couldn’t be right, could it? It would certainly explain why Blair didn’t come last night due to her important meeting, and why she has never fully specified what her job was. Would that explain her reaction yesterday, when she knew who Myron was? Could Myron be involved in the suspicious activity at the old building? Some of these things had to be connected. Odyssey was too small of a town for it to be otherwise. The thought continually nagged in his mind as it became more and more imprinted in his mind. Blair was involved.

Richard gripped the armrest of his chair, as he brought himself back to reality.

“I’ll talk to her later.” He muttered to himself. “I hope she has an explanation.”

He tried to turn back to his work, but he couldn’t regain his focus. His mind was racing and he couldn’t get it to stop. All his thoughts were blurring together. This whole thing was bringing back old memories and he hated it. The old feelings of betrayal. The hurt. Even the grief.

Richard sighed, bit his lip, and forced himself to concentrate on his work.

Jay strutted up the sidewalk of the Norman household. He rapped smartly three times on the door.

Buddy Norman opened the door. “Hey Jay.” he scanned Jay’s ensemble. “Nice get up.”

Jay held up his hands defensively. “Hey, hey, this isn’t a ‘get up’. This is my high-quality trench coat and deerstalker cap, thank you very much!”

Buddy nodded and grinned. “Ohhh, I get it.” He stepped out on the front porch. “But you didn’t come here to talk about your outfit, right?”

“You catch on quick, my good sir. That's why I’d like to have a little talk with you about the Watson initiative.”

Buddy cocked his head to one side. “The what?”

“I need you to be my sidekick for a little camping trip.”

“A camping trip huh? That sounds fun. And we’ll know what to do since we took Trail Life together!”

Jay nodded and layered on the extra enthusiasm. “Yeah, exactly!” I didn’t think he’d get on board so quickly.

“Where would we do it?”

Jay propped himself against the red brick wall of the house carelessly. “Oh, just in the woods on the edge of town, near Triple J antiques, you know the place, right?”

“Oh yeah, I think I know the place. That should be fun, but I’ll have to ask my parents first. When would we go?”

“Well, since the school weekend starts two days early due to teacher meetings, I’d say tomorrow afternoon, after school?”

Buddy looked surprised. “Oh, that’s kind of sudden, but I’ll ask!”

“Thanks.” Jay pointed finger guns at him. “Let me know ASAP.” He started walking toward the sidewalk.

“Alright. I’ll let you know.” Buddy waved and walked back into the house.

Jay walked away, feeling pretty good about this. All the pieces for his stakeout were falling into place.

He wouldn’t admit it, but Buddy was okay, and he kind of enjoyed hanging out with him. Buddy was a little oblivious when it came to social interactions, but he was smart. Not necessarily school smart either, though he could do alright with subjects if he put his mind to it. No, it was a different smart. It was like he could just see things that others couldn’t.

Jay figured that would be helpful with this case. He also knew that he would have to explain everything to Buddy when they were doing it. But not now, later.

When Derek Norman came home, Buddy ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

“Hey, Dad!”

He beamed affectionately and laughed. “Hey, Bud.”

“How was work?”

He hung up his coat in the closet by the entryway. “Oh, it was alright. How was school?”

“It was pretty good actually. Dion and I got put together as science partners.”

“That’s great!” He put his briefcase down by the door.

“Oh! By the way, Jay came over earlier today and asked me if I wanted to go camping after school tomorrow and we’d stay for a couple days.”

Dad nodded thoughtfully. “Jay never struck me as a kid who would want to just go camping for the fun of it.” He shrugged, “But then, I don’t know him as well as you do.”

“I thought that it would be fun. We’d only be in the woods not too far from here, it would be easy to come here if anything went wrong.”

“Hmm, perhaps.” He paused, “I think it might be alright, but I’ll check with your mom to see if she thinks it’s a good idea.”

“Okay!” Buddy smiled happily.

The sun was going down as the evening started setting in. Richard was walking through McAllister park, on his way back to Mr. Whitaker’s house. He cut through the park and passed by the old war memorial, when he saw Blair walking nearby.

Now seems like as good a time as any. Richard took a deep breath and tried to casually approach Her.

Blair flashed a sunny smile. “Hey Richard.”

Richard tried to smile back. “Uh, hey.” He paused. “Look, can we talk for a second?” He gently touched the old burn scar on his right arm, something he frequently did when he was nervous.

“Sure, about what?”

“This is probably going to sound really weird, but I’ve been trying to figure it out all day, and I can’t.”

“Can’t figure out what?”

Richard took a deep breath before going further. “What you were doing at the old office building yesterday.”

Blair paused and her brow darkened. “Uh, the old building?”

“Yeah, you know, the old building complex down about a mile from here?”

“Oh yeah, um, that one.” She blinked several times. “How did you know I was there?”

“I have my sources. Was that your meeting you told me you had to go to last night?”

Her eyes darted downward. She opened her mouth then shut it again. “I - It’s hard to explain. Seriously, who told you?”

“I’ll explain after you explain.” Richard crossed his arms.

Blair shook her head, keeping her eyes glued to the ground. “I’d prefer not to.”

“Why can’t you tell me?” He pressed. He was growing alarmed at her cageyness. This was only confirming what he had suspected all along, that she was involved in this whole scheme.

“It’s complicated, okay? There are a lot of moving pieces, and I’m not at liberty to discuss them.”

“I don’t like this, Blair.”

“Believe me, I don’t like it anymore than you do, but it’s what I need to do. In the end, it will be worth it.”

“I know that’s a lot of great rhetoric, but - what does this mean? I’m confused, and I don’t know if I should be concerned, or if you need help, or-”

“I know how you feel- and it’s not you, okay? This is something that is much bigger than ourselves. It will all make sense later...” her voice trailed off as she tried to find the adequate words to express what she was saying.

Richard looked saddened by this. “It’s frustrating being in the dark, you know.” His voice inflection teased that he was trying to make it sound like light-hearted jesting, but it didn’t come across that way.

“I wish I could tell, but-” Her head lifted and she looked him in the eyes. “Maybe I will someday, but for now I - I can’t. All I can say is that you have to trust me.”

I wish I could. That phrase pierced right to his heart. Then he stopped to think about it. It was likely she was using that as a manipulation tactic. He had been on the giving and receiving end of this, and he had swore to himself never to put himself in that kind of situation again. Richard paused. “I - I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I should.”

Blair’s eyes dimmed and she looked downward for a moment. Then she snapped back up and straightened, and with a look of resolve she locked eyes with him once more. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” She answered. She turned around and walked away without another word.

Richard stood there in shock. It wasn’t the way he wanted that conversation to go at all. “Great going Richard.”He whispered under his breath.

“Hey Dad?” Jason opened the door to Whit’s home office.

Whit was sitting in his recliner by the bookshelf reading The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton. He looked up from his reading and smiled. “Yes son?”

Jason padded in quietly. “I just needed to talk to you about something, and I couldn’t find a good time until now.”

“Well, why don’t you have a seat and we’ll talk.” Whit motioned to the swivel chair by the desk. Jason sat down. Whit put a bookmark to remember where he was, put it on the night stand beside his chair. He folded his hands together. It was what he often did all those years ago, when Jason wanted to talk with him when he was a child and even into his teenage years. “Now, what seems to be the problem?”

“Well a few days ago I received a package….”

Several minutes later, Jason finished relaying the story to Whit.

He nodded slightly. “She was the one who sent you the package because she was being followed?”

“Yes.”

Whit frowned. “Did she ever specify what was on that flash drive?”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Well it might be good to have a look at it soon. The Whit’s End isn’t opening back up for another day, so we can look at it together. Do you know if Tasha will come back?”

“She never said when she was, but she hinted that she was sticking around. I have a hunch she’ll make herself known when she’s ready.”

“Well, if she meets with you before we have a look at that flash drive, ask her what’s on it. It’ll give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with, and if we should alert the authorities.”

“Okay.” Jason said as he stood up.

Whit stood up as well and they embraced.

“Thanks Dad.” Jason whispered.

Whit smiled gently. “You’re welcome, son. I love you.”

“Love you too.” Jason walked out and left the door slightly opened, leaving just enough light to dimly illuminate the hall.

Whit sat back down in his recliner, thinking for several minutes. He knew he would simply have to wait and see what happened next. The clock on the wall struck eleven.

He had a feeling that the time for action would be approaching quickly, maybe more quickly than even he realized.

Robert Mitchell cautiously pulled back the curtain of his hotel room, trying to keep his head out of the line of sight, while simultaneously getting a good view out the window of the second floor. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the nagging dread that he was in danger. That man who he had seen before had conveniently shown up at different places he had been, even in Connellsville. Then when he “bumped into him” at city hall in Odenton, he knew something was up. A few minutes ago, Mitch had looked in the back pocket of his jeans and found just what he had suspected. A tracking bug. He could only guess that the man had slipped the bug in his back pocket when he bumped into him. He was so smooth, Mitch might not have caught on, had he not seen him in the rear view mirror just a few streets away from the hotel. Then he discreetly “disappeared” once he actually got there. He scanned the parking lot, and in the corner of his periphery, could see the same car he saw two nights ago.

“Oh great.” Mitch sighed. “I should probably call Bourland.” He quickly reached for his phone, then refrained. Peter was busy. He would just have to handle this himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he had dealt with stalkers. Walking across the room, he pulled his Glock .22 out of the special compartment inside his suitcase. Taking out the magazine, and making sure all the rounds were secured inside, placed it on the nightstand by the bed; double checking the safety switch.

He just wondered what this guy wanted him for. A person who worked for whoever Meido was working for? Potentially.

“Pull yourself together, Mitch.” He said to himself. Speculations wouldn’t help at this point. He just had to make sure he could defend himself until he could get to a more secure location.

Blair’s phone started ringing. The contact name read Richard Maxwell. Frowning, Blair quickly pressed the reject button. She paused. Something hurt when she had rejected his call. Blair scowled, scolding herself and turning back to her writing.

Today, I suddenly realized that I must act quickly. People are starting to suspect me and I’m wondering if someone here is slowly blowing my cover without my knowing it. I can’t trust anyone. I wanted to tell Richard, but I stopped myself for fear he would turn me in. If he did, I’d have more trouble than I’d know what to do with. I had to push him away, and I wasn’t aware how much it would hurt to do that. Did I accidentally - get attached to him? I didn’t mean to.

I’m going to have to get what I need soon. The clock is ticking, but I never understood how quickly. Until today. Sometimes I want to back out, but then I remember Brad, and I know I can’t. I’m in too deep. It’ll be a full year as of next month. I’ll be making my move in the next couple of days. I just hope nothing goes wrong. I don’t want anybody to get hurt.

I have to go now.

Blair.

#the TA-418 Saga #richard maxwell #Blair Duncan #aio ocs blair duncan #adventures in odyssey #adventures in odyssey fanfiction #my ocs stuff

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