pull me back | a drag me down spin off

【seven】

The Masked Phantoms Return to Los Angeles After 23 Years Away From the Spotlight
By: Witney Zaccheo
April 16th, 2014

History might just be repeating itself. The notorious LA-based bank robbers, known to the people as The Masked Phantoms, just made their grand entrance after 23 years out of the spotlight. Yesterday evening at around 5 pm, Los Angeles National Bank was robbed by three men wearing ski masks. Only one held a gun. They are going as the same name as the men from the 90s and have the same quick tactics. The masked phantoms had reportedly robbed their last bank in August of 1991 before vanishing into thin air. At the time, many news outlets reported that the three men involved in the gang had left the country and never returned back to California. However, every news report regarding the gang has been wiped from databases and websites. Nobody knows exactly why information about them has mysteriously disappeared, especially since our new generation can't get records regarding them. Police are still unclear of who the suspects are. Until another robbery hits, they are left in the dark about the gang.

Left the country? No records at all? Ironically enough, this article is right. When I type in the three chilling words 'the masked phantoms' into a search engine, the only articles that pop up are from this week. All previous reports are not found online, as far as I know of. This is the first interesting piece of evidence I find as I click off of the article and continue to scroll down.

I have only been in the library for about thirty minutes, because I thought my eyes were deceiving me. How can there only be recent articles when this has been going on for decades?

I type in the sentence 'bank robberies in LA during the 90s' and see if that gets me better luck. A few articles appear on my screen, only about nine of them. I click on the first one that seems interesting.

Roosevelt Bank Robbed Early This Morning
By: Matthew Scott
July 12th, 1991

The Roosevelt Bank just north of Hollywood Boulevard was robbed around 11:30 am this morning. This is the second time this month that the bank has been robbed by men dressed in all black. Security footage was released of the robbers grabbing money out of the cash draws and rushing into their getaway car. Police are still investigating the scene.

This article catches my attention. The words in front of me don't directly mention the masked phantoms, but there's no way it isn't them. Men dressed in all black? It's their signature. I'm still coming up short on what any of this information has to do with my mother or uncle Duke. Nothing makes sense to me.

I angrily groan and run a hand through my brown hair, tugging on it with force. I bury my face down on the desk and shut my eyes. I have a massive headache.

"Somebody's in a mood." A deep voice says from beside me.

I slightly jump up, seeing Riker sitting down on the computer chair next to mine. He turns the device on, but his eyes stay on me. A low smile curves onto his lips once he sees my flustered reaction.

"Don't do that." I laugh, shaking my head.

"Do what?" He smirks, leaning closer into my body.

"Sneak up on me." I gulp and look into his eyes.

"What if I want to?" His smirk deepens as a blush forms on my face.

"I see you found me again." I raise my eyebrows up.

"It wasn't really that hard. You're the only pretty girl in the room."

"Is this your new hangout spot? The library?" I laugh, glancing around the quiet area.