CROSSROADS

CHAPTER 19 - Series of Unfortunate Events

NATE

09 March, 2020

10:20 Iris' Residence

~~~~~

A lot has happened the last five days. It's like a rollercoaster of fucked up incidents that's been stirred in one huge pot. A series of unfortunate events and we aren't even prepared for it, especially me.

I woke up last Wednesday morning with nonstop knocks on my door. I have been sleeping for more than a week in my office at the dojo since my argument with Iris. I still feel hurt from what happened that's why I still can't face her.

I check Auntie daily what she's been doing but all I know is she's busy at her office and was holed up for more than a week too. I guess that's good that we are both busy so we can avoid each other for now.

"Nate are you awake? We have a problem." Oscar's voice sounds panicked.

I stood up and opened the door after stretching my arms above my head. "You're too noisy Oscar. What is it?"

"I lost Iris Nate. I checked on her last night before I went to bed around eleven last night and she was still at her office but when I woke up to check on her this morning, she's gone."

"She possibly went out to work at ModTech or something. Did you check with the guys upstairs if they saw her?"

"I did and what's crazy is no one saw her leave. I checked her bedroom and she wasn't there too. Her bike is also missing."

I went up to the shop to check the security footage last night til morning and Oscar was right. I went directly to the house and went straight to her office. The monitors are turned off but the cpu is still running. We are not allowed to touch anything inside because Iris will know if something's missing or moved. I saw the trash bin and her desk was full of empty energy drink cans. She was so busy that she didn't sleep much?

I went to her room and her stuff is a mess. It looks like she was in a hurry and just got stuff that she needs. I checked my phone if she left a message but there is none. But something in the notification caught my eye, a message from an unknown number. I opened it and it's just a series of numbers and letters with degrees. It was sent at 01:37 this morning.

"Brother! Have you seen the news?" Gavin was running towards my direction.

"What now?"

"There's a commotion at the Red Light District last night. Something about a shootout or something but it's really weird."

"How so?"

"There are a lot of witnesses where it happened but nothing suspicious is caught in cameras around that area. It's like nothing has happened."

I was looking at my phone and showed it to Gavin. "What d'you think these numbers mean Gav? It was sent to me around 1:30 this morning but I just saw this now."

Gavin got my phone and was trying to comprehend what it is. "From an unknown number hmmm. It looks like a set of coordinates to me Nate. I'm going to copy this and search Google."

His eyes went wide as he makes some series of taps on my phone.

"You found anything?"

"Nate, the coordinates is pointing at the crime scene in the Red Light District that I just told you. But why would someone send this to you?"

I quickly went to my room and changed. I have a bad feeling about this. I got my keys for my Chevy. "Let's check Gav."

We got there after twenty minutes and saw that the alleyway where the crime happened is already taped and blocked by the police. I parked at the side of the road and hurriedly get out. I was blocked by a police who is standing at the alley's entrance.