The Road to Darkness

Case 16: Pieces in Place

In a flash the five days passed and the festival was about to begin.

"We'll head out tonight, we have to keep a sharp eye out every day to make sure he doesn't pull anything else on us" Kikaru advised.

We all agreed and began getting ready for our departure. The drive was approximately two hours but it seemed to fly by because of how preoccupied we all were. The open, wide road should have been a peaceful trip but Jimmy left an eerie feel in his wake, tainting everything with pernicious.

"Remember it's only you three and five officers, we still need some here, so make sure to plan accordingly, this is a very important case" The chief had texted.

"We can't let him down," I thought, gripping the wheel tightly.

"Relax Yato, let's hear some tunes," Kikaru said turning on some jazz music.

"Ah, my favorite" he hummed, snapping his fingers.

We reached Portland about twenty minutes ahead of time and made our way to our hotel which was across from the festival.

"If those bombs go off it's a good chance this hotel will go with it" Shina grimly stated looking out the window.

"Not like the death count isn't high enough" Kikaru addressed.

"That's why we're here, it's our job to keep the count at zero" I chimed in.

"It shouldn't be a problem, he thinks he's got us but he's already enclosed himself, now to corner him" Kikaru concluded.

Later that night Kikaru was in the hallway yelling into his phone. It continued for quite some time before I decided to see what was going on.

"Can't anyone else do it!? You think I'm doing nothing! This is such a mess!" He yelled as he saw me looking at him.

"Reconnect me to corporate first thing in the morning understand?" He sighed as the other side of the phone complied and hung up.

"It seems I can't get out of this one" He scoffed.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"A job came up back in California, I'm needed by tomorrow".

"You can't leave, you're a key player in the plan!" I yelped.

"You don't think I know that! This isn't up to me!" He barked.

"I'll see what I can do...but don't expect much," He said heading back into the room.

"Bad roommate?" Shina asked from her room.

"He's ditching us".

"We'll have to talk to the chief and get at least two more cops ASAP" I mumbled under my breath.

"Two cops won't be able to replace him, he may be a self-centered prick but he's still highly skilled" Shina admitted.

"We can't afford to put any more weight on our shoulders, get some rest, we'll deal with this in the morning".

We both returned to our rooms and tried to get as much sleep as possible. As usual, I felt uneasy but I took a sleeping pill and forced myself to get some rest, any rest.

"What can you do?" A voice echoed through an empty hallway.

"Why are you here?" Its voice was so monotoned it sounded like a voice recording.

"Go back, before death begins to lingers!" It seethed, bouncing off the walls, breaking into my room and waking me up.

By the time I woke up Kikaru had already left, leaving only a note saying "I'm not leaving you empty-handed".

"Liar" I spat as I called up the chief.

As it rang I looked at my watch and saw it was 7:00 "Only an hour till the festival begins".

"Hello? Yato?".

"It seems we've run into a snag, is there any way you can spare two more cops?" I pleaded.

"What? Isn't she enough?" He questioned.

"Who? Shina?"

"Have they not arrived?" The chief asked surprised.

"What are you saying?". Just then I heard a knock at my door "room service!".

"Is that?!" I said running to the door.

"Yato, didn't your brother tell you?" The chief asked as I opened the door.

"He called for reinforcements last night," his voice said over the phone as Cindy hugged me.

"I made it safely chief talk later" she blurted into the phone hanging up on him.

"Cindy? You're back?!" I gasped trying to get her off me.

"She flew in last night, right after y'all left" Berry explained getting her off of me.

"Berry? Why are you here?" I blurted out, surprised once more.

"I'm here to deliver the reinforcements or reinforcement in this case," he said pointing to Cindy.

"After your brother called in he asked for some cops to come help but I told the chief I would take his place" Cindy smiled.

"Naturally she didn't have a ride and that's why I'm here" Berry confessed.

"But what happened to your job?" I asked.

"Taking pictures overseas sounds like fun, all the great sites and once in a lifetime opportunities but after a few years it gets really boring, I'd much rather be here with y'all taking pictures of dead bodies" she proclaimed.

"Only Cindy" Berry chuckled.

"I got briefed on everything, it seems things haven't been easy for you" she plainly stated, getting serious.

"It's been a ride.....but this is the final stop" I firmly spoke.

"You know the plan?" I asked.

"Yes, a few tweaks have to be made now that it's me but it's nothing serious," She said as we began to talk.

"Yato, Cindy" Berry interrupting.

We both looked up to him.

"Let's all share a drink when y'all get back to Brendon okay?" He declared.

I smiled at him "you bet".

"I've been meaning to get wasted" Cindy joked.

Berry chuckled before putting on a straight face "good luck, show him what you're made of".

After a quick nob he headed off and we began talking about the tweaks made to the plan.

"So this is our replacement?" Shina asked popping in.

"Who's this Yato? Your girlfriend?" Cindy teased.

"You already know who she is, it must have been in the briefing," I said to her.

"The names Cindy" Cindy held out her hand.

"I'm Shina, pleasure to be working with you" Shina complimented Cindy, taking her handshake.

Finally, the clock struck eight and with everyone now clear on the plan we began phase one.

"We got nine days till we make our move, hopefully, we make it in time," I said as each of us got on our laptop and opened a file that continued to fill with people's info and faces.

"I'll take A-I, Shina you take J-R, And Cindy you take S-Z, We got to cover ground fast!" I ordered as we each put on a headset.

"Right!" The girls shouted as we began giving directions to the cops that were now undercover at the festival.

As the cops casually wandered around the festival a vendor snickered.

"Yes, just as anticipated. Now everything will go as planned, now that all the pieces are in place" he mused, looking on with a devilish smile.