Too Young to Live

Part 1

I remember a time in my youth, when the world just seemed smaller; and strangers didn't come off as dangerous unstable people. I suppose now I see the world for what it really is, or maybe my mission has twisted my view of it all. Nonetheless here I am, living in a basement apartment with two of my friends who, although they are on the same path as I am, just couldn't be any more benevolent. Matt Little has been my friend since elementary school and is one of the few people I know I can truly trust, he's also got a knack for getting information through a few different channels. Elijah Conway is a friend we met more recently when we were looking for another roommate last fall. He's a computer science major who, after catching on to what Matt and I have been doing, has become our tech guy. For the last few years we've been looking into cases and situations that have mysterious circumstances; and often, no official outcome. But without any ties to government or police entities we've had to remain in secret, or risk some serious trouble.

Today I was headed to meet with someone who'd contacted me saying they had some information about a case I was working on. We were to meet at at 10:15 am, fourth floor of the Herald Hotel parking garage. I checked my watch, 10:05, I was early again. I preferred it that way so I could scope out the situation and not go in blindly. I scanned the surrounding buildings, checking for anything or anyone suspicious. Nothing, except for a single black van I spotted around the corner from the parking garage that looked a bit conspicuous. I headed up the stairs of the parking garage to the 4th floor. Not a single car. I checked my watch again. 10:11.

"Are you the man that can help me?" I heard someone say. I looked around and a man came out from behind a steel foundational beam.

"Yes, I'm Aaron Bower." I reached my hand out to shake his. He looked down at my offer and back up at me. I started to really look at his face and he looked petrified, beads of sweat were rolling down off of his forehead. "Sir are you alright?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah I just," he stopped mid sentence and looked down. "I'm just sorry" he said. Before I could react he pulled a gun from his pants and fired 3 rounds. I managed to only get hit once, in between my shoulder and chest, before hiding jumping out of the way and hiding behind the corridor of the stairs. I retrieved my own gun (what you think I'd come empty handed) and looked through the doorway. I could hear the man panting behind the beam he was originally.

"Who sent you?" I yelled at him. No response, just more heavy breathing. "Why did they send you?" I reached. The man peered around the beam and looked around.

"They sent me to kill you, but I failed." he admitted. "Now I guess I'll serve as just a warning."

"Look you don't have to be afraid, I can help you." I told him. He was muttering something I couldn't make out. Before I could say any more the man started running towards the edge of the parking garage. I chased after him, gun still drawn; but he didn't slow down. "No, wait!" I yelled. It was to no avail as the man jumped right off the edge and down into the street below. The van I'd spotted earlier drove off as passerbyers ran up to the crushed body of the man.

I gripped my chest as the pain grew when my adrenaline began to wear down. "I need to get out of here," I thought to myself. I headed in the direction of the stairs but I fell to the ground before I could even make it. I retrieved my cell phone and sent an S.O.S message out to Matt, he'd come through. I pulled myself up against the wall as my vision grew blurry. My only hope was that whoever sent that man after me didn't think to send someone up to finish the job.

____________________________________________

When I awoke I was in my bed. Things must have worked out. I tried sitting up but was hastily reminded of the pain in my chest. There were gauze wrapped around my chest and an IV in my arm. I wondered if the bullet was still in there.

"Glad to see you up and around." Matt said from the doorway to my room. I managed a half smile.

"It'll take more than that to put me down." I laughed and immediately regretted it. He came in and sat down at my desk chair.

"Yeah, how about explaining what exactly 'that' was." he said seriously. I could see by the look on his face he was worried.

"Look Matt it's nothing that serious, just a lead that turned out to be some crazy guy. Don't even be worried." I assured him. He wasn't convinced.

"Aaron," he began, "We both decided to do this for our own reasons; but you're keeping secrets from me. Not telling me what cases you've been looking into, I'm basically in the dark right now and this is OUR mission."

"I know." I said.

"Well if you know than you shouldn't have a problem explaining why I carried you out of a parking garage with blood coming out of your bullet wound." he replied sharply. Just then, Elijah was in the doorway. He was an awkward guy, I'm sure a moment like this really threw him off. Elijah was a 21 year old college student, who'd spent most of his life in front of a screen and was going to spend a good amount of the rest of it in the same spot.

"Sorry bad time." he said and glanced over at me as he was leaving, "Wait what happened to you?" Matt was still giving me the same look he was before Elijah came in.

"Alright," I said breaking the silence "Let's have a meeting in 15, I'll explain everything. Just let me get some new clothes on." Everyone agreed and they left the room. For a moment I laid still in my bed, thinking about the close call that I'd had. My mind drifted to my father, what would he say about this if he was still alive? He'd probably understand that you can't just leave stones unturned when everyone else has already walked away from the case. I stood up and felt sharp pain through my body. I slipped on some comfortable clothes and went out into the main room of our apartment. Considering our apartment was mostly this one room it was easy to consider it that. Matt and Elijah were both waiting patiently for me. I came into the room and sat down.

"4 months ago Lisa Moreno was found dead in her home. No sign of struggle, no sign of forced entry." I told them.

"Suicide." Matt retorted. I stood up and paced over to the fridge and grabbed a water.

"Seemed that way to the police as well, that's what they ruled it." I told them pausing to take a drink of the water. "However, with a little research, I found out that Lisa had two coworkers who were also found dead in their homes around the same time."

"And the police didn't pick up on that?" Elijah asked.

"Well," I began "On paper it looks as though they all work pretty regular random jobs. Lisa was a secretary, Thomas Thorpe the second victim was an accountant, and the third victim Roger Bayes was a janitor. On paper they work for non-existent shell companies but in reality they all work for the same company: Industrial Energy Solutions. The man I was meeting with today claimed that he worked there with them as well but never gave me his name, now I can see why."

Elijah jumped up from his seat and went over to his computer. He started furiously typing on his keyboard. Matt and I walked over to his station and looked at the screen. There were various boxes on the screen, most of which I'd never seen on a computer screen.

"What are you looking for?" Matt asked, probably just as confused as I was.

"It doesn't look like there is a name for who is actually running the company, it's legally owned by another shell company that only exists on paper," Elijah explained "But I did manage to get a name for the guy who Lisa was a secretary for. Mark Whitaker is his name, I even have a home address."

"Tomorrow we'll go check it out, I need to get some rest." I said yawning "Getting shot takes a lot out of you." Matt patted me on the back extra hard and went off to bed while Elijah left to go do some studying at the library. I stepped out onto the balcony for a smoke and stared out into the night. You can't see many stars in the city, just bleakness.