Duskwood After Story

Turning The Wheel, Part 1

Alan drove to 4 Wells Street after signing out for the day. He purposely excused himself from patrol duties and left it to the new hires. He had been way too involved in menial tasks for a police chief anyway.

He recognized this address. How could he not? This was Michael's old house and also where the man without a face was reportedly seen the first time after Hannah Donfort went missing. It was strange how that place kept drawing Alan towards it. As if he had gotten himself involved in a thread of fate that would not stop spinning him in until the last knot was tied.

His thoughts strayed to the other three people on this fateful thread: Michael Hanson, Bailey Everhart, and the mysterious hacker. One was his old friend, the other was his friend's long lost daughter and the last was her faceless boyfriend. It sounded ridiculous in his head to even think about the connections that these people had and how he got roped into it; but it was reality. And he was on the way to meet them, and finally saw for himself the man at the heart of it all.

In October, the days in Duskwood were a lot shorter. By the time Alan got off work, the sun had already begun setting. The sky became an orangey crimson as the sun slowly sank into the clouds. The roads ahead, which wound through the forest, were becoming more obscured by the surrounding trees. Alan told himself to be cautious as he sat up a little straighter and turned his headlights on.

Finally, he arrived at the destination. Everything was eerily quiet. He got out and shut the car door behind him. He took out his phone and texted Bailey.

"I've arrived."

"Good. We're waiting for you in the study, top floor, all the way at the end of the corridor."

He slid the phone back into his pocket and started making his way inside. Alan still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had towards this mysterious hacker, even though Bailey would be there too and he knew he could trust her. He looked in his belt pouch twice to be sure his weapon and stun gun were still there.

***

Jake and I had arrived at the house early to wait for Alan. We were both nervous. After all, we were asking a law enforcement officer to join us in something exceedingly risky and illegal. It made me feel bad that we used my father's sickness to push Alan to help us. Yet, I saw no other option. Jake was thinking the same.

Finally, we heard someone approaching the door. Both of us stood up in anticipation.

"Good evening. Nice to finally meet you." - Alan opened the door and walked in, extending a hand out to Jake.

"Good evening, likewise, Alan." - Jake shook his hand.

"And you too, Bailey" - Alan had now turned to me.

"Thank you, Alan. Nice to finally meet you in person." - We shook hands.

Then all three of us sat down around the desk at the center of the study. There were some moments of silence at first when Alan observed Jake with great curiosity and inquiring eyes.

"You look different from what I imagined." - Alan said, pressing his index finger on his bottom lip. His gaze was directed at Jake.

"What do you mean?" - Jake asked.

"Pardon me, I don't mean your physical appearance. I mean, I thought you would try to cover your face more."

I looked at Jake, waiting to see how he would respond. Jake wasn't wearing his mask like usual. I had meant to ask him why during our drive here but chose not to.

"I must admit, I did think about it." - Jake replied - "But I decided against it in the end. This way, you can see that I am ready to trust you and I hope you will do the same."

"Hmm. I see. And also, sorry I didn't catch your name."

"My name is Jake. Jake Nystrom."

It was the first time Jake had revealed his full name to anybody other than me. Nystrom was his mother's last name.

"I appreciate the honesty, Mr. Nystrom. I will try my best to keep an open mind but I have to warn you, it takes me time to build trust with a complete stranger, not to mention if that stranger is a wanted hacker."

"Do not worry about it. I appreciate your effort. As long as you are willing to keep an open mind, that is enough for us."

I couldn't help but smile at the amiability they had built around each other. Everything was off to a great start.

"So, tell me now. How can I help you two?"

We filled him in on our plan to stage an explosion in the mine and pretend Jake had been killed in the fire as a result. We left out details about our friends' involvement so as to not put them in danger should things go south. Immediately, Alan was opposed to the idea.

"No, I will not allow that! That is too dangerous. An explosion might hurt innocent people."

"I understand your apprehension, Alan. But I have done a lot of research about the mine." - Jake answered - "The Ironsplinter Mine is a massive cave system that stretches for almost 60 miles. Its main entrance is in Terrendale which has been turned into a museum. The majority of the cave is inaccessible to visitors. In addition, nobody voluntarily visits the mine any more following the 1899 explosion and what happened with Richy."

"Furthermore, the blast's impact will be limited to a radius of no more than five miles. It will happen around 200 feet underground. As a result, the aboveground structure will be unaffected." - I continued.

"Hmm... How about you guys? Won't you be caught in the explosion?" - Alan asked again.

"No, we will give ourselves enough time to get out of the mine before the explosion happens." - Jake responded.

"Alan, don't worry about us. We'll take care of that part." - I added.

"Bailey, I just hope you know that if anything happens to you, your father will kill me first and foremost." - Alan grunted.

"Haha, then I'll make sure I won't even get a scratch."

"I will protect her at all costs." - Jake intervened with a determined voice. I looked at him with affection in my eyes.

"Fine. I'll leave that as is for now. I recalled you also wanted me to give you access to the forensics database?" - Alan continued.

"Yes, that would help us a lot." - Jake replied.

"And why do you need that for?"

"In order to successfully fake my death, I'm sure you'll agree that there has to be some kind of official record. Though my pursuers had erased all of my data on the public domains, they still retain a copy of that information in their database, and consequently, the national forensics database. If I can match the identity of the body found in the explosion with my own, my pursuers will be more likely to believe that I have died."

"Argh!" - Alan scratched his head - "I can't believe I got myself into this mess..."

"You just have to give us access. Everything after that, we'll take care of it." - Jake pleaded.

Alan folded his arms in front of his chest, one of his legs crossed over the other as he sat back in his chair.

"Fine, fine. I'll give you access to our forensics database." - He sighed deeply -"But I want you to promise me that you will not do anything else other than faking the forensics result for your own death."

Alan's words were directed at Jake but he held his gaze at me.

We both nodded in confirmation and promised Alan we would never do anything to harm anyone.

We informed Alan that we would also require him to coordinate with us on the day of the event. As the day neared, the entire information would be revealed gradually. We didn't want to put too much pressure on Alan, who was struggling as it was to compromise his sense of justice in order to help us.