Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hacker Zi ❯ Part Eight ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

DISCLAIMER: While Hacker Zi and its characters were created by me, some of the screen names were taken from actual people. Please DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. The story is purely fictional

“I can't believe I almost forgot the cigarettes.”
“I can't believe you tried to get me to buy them.”
“Hey, you're getting a Code Red out of this.”
“True.”
Nick removed the cell phone from her side pocket and dialed her brothers number. It rang twice before he picked up. She could hear a familiar song in the background as he answered.
“Nick? Something wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to see if it were alright if I went to a friends tonight....where are you?”
“Getting ice. I was attacked by a dog today.”
“.....were you bit on the arm?”
“Yeah....how'd you know?”
“Look up front.”
Marc glanced over towards the register and saw his sister waving at him. After grabbing the bag of ice he and his new partner joined her at the front. The guy beside her seemed somewhat startled to see the two detectives.
“....Ryan, right?”
“Yeah. You're Marc, but where's your partner?”
“You guys know each other?”
“Rob and I investigated a robbery at a store owned by the guy you work for.”
“....where is Rob?”
“Oh, sorry, this is Michael, he's my new partner. Rob went to the hospital today, he'll be away for a few months. Michael, this is my sister Nick and her friend Ryan.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.”
“But what where you saying about going to a friends house?”
“Oh. Zeke invited me over to play Halo after work.”
“Its fine with me, as long as you're back sometime tonight. Wait, are you two working now?”
“Its a slow day. Brandon sent us to pick up a few things for him. We're on our way back to the store now.”
“Well, drive safely.”
“Hope your arm heals quickly.”
“Bye Marc, nice meeting you Michael.”
The two detectives waved as Nick and Ryan left the gas station. After paying for the ice, Marc headed towards the precinct. For the most part it was a silent ride. Marc started filling his new partner in about his current cases. Michael scanned a file in a manila folder while speaking to Marc.
“This suicide case, you're still investigating it?”
“You mean the Bell case? Rob and I were trying to determine whether or not it was a suicide.”
“You think it was homicide?”
“Or a set up.”
“A set up, what like the kid wanted to get away from something so he faked his own death?”
“Something like that. Sounds really far fetched I know, Rob questioned me all the time about it.”
“Why do you think it was a set up?”
“Well given the kids background, its not entirely implausible. My sister's the one who really made me stop and think about it.”
Through the corner of his eye, Marc saw the blank look on his partners face. He decided it was best to go into further detail.
“She was one of his best friends. Nick didn't openly say he was still alive, but it seemed like she was giving me subtle hints. Then when Rob and I searched his place, we found a box to an ipod. But the ipod was no where to be found. We still haven't located it.”
“So the case has been left open because of an unaccounted mp3 player!?! The chiefs allowing this?”
“Beats me. He hasn't closed it yet, so that means we're still free to investigate.”
The remainder of the drive was silent. Marc tried to block out the pain he felt in his arm by concentrating on the road. When they arrived at the precinct a few patrol cars were driving by. Before Michael got out of the car he exchanged cards with Marc. Since they would be working together it'd be best if they had each others cell numbers in case of an emergency. As Marc drove away, Michael dialed a number on his cell.
“Its me. We have a slight problem.”

A few minutes after his two employees left, four figures entered the store. Three of them, all male, wore solid black, one of them, also wore a baseball cap on top of their blond hair, which concealed their eyes. The other, a girl, wore a red hoody and a black miniskirt with red and black stockings. One of the men, a man with raven black hair who appeared to be the leader, stood at the register while his three companions looked around the store. The man with the baseball cap was standing close by. Brandon exited the breakroom and stopped as his eyes met with the mans at the counter.
“You have a lot of balls coming here after the fucking stunt you pulled.”
“Still sore about the computers? I'll give you the money for them right now if you want it.”
“You son of a bitch. Do you have any fucking idea what you could have done? That old man could have had a heart attack!”
“Or he could have had a bullet in the back of his skull. At least he's still living.”
“Bastard.”
“What a mouth you have. Bravo on getting the stooges to leave, by the way whose the new one?”
“Why don't you ask your fuckbuddy. I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you.”
That last statement hit a nerve inside of the man at the counter. Without warning he jumped across the counter and aimed a punch at Brandon. He was hit with full force in the nose, and fell to the ground with the man on top of him. Ignoring the pain and blood, he retaliated with a knee to the groin and a kick to the stomach which sent his assailant flying back. Brandon then regained his feet and aimed his own punch at the man, but stopped when he felt the cold barrel of a pistol pressing against his temple. Through the corner of his eye he saw a teenager with a goatee and neck-length blond hair beneath a baseball cap. His cold grey eyes made shivers run down Brandon's spin.
“.....I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this. Do you have the balls to pull the trigger?”
“Even I know that would be a stupid decision.”
Brandon looked back over at the man he had been fighting. He had almost recovered from the blows, but still clutched his stomach. A cell phone rang, causing both Brandon and the two men to jump. The three of them looked over at the culprit, the other man who had entered the store. The girl next to him gave out a small giggle as he fumbled with his phone.
“....He...hello? Condor?”
There was a small pause.
“What kind of - ......alright. I'll let him know.”
After hanging up the phone and placing it back in his pocket, the man looked over at the three who were at the counter.
“Condor says there's a problem.”
“....well what the fuck was it?”
“He didn't say. He wants us to get back as soon as possible.”
“Dammit.”
The man who had pointed the gun at Brandon tucked it in the back of his pants, then pulled his shirt over it to conceal the weapon. Then the leader moved away from the counter and headed for the door. The other two followed. The one who had the gun hesitated, remaining at Brandon's side. He whispered a few words to the store owner, then joined the others as the leader called for him.
“Forgive me Virg. Tell her I'm sorry.”
“Lets go, David.”

When Nick and Ryan returned to the store, the lights were off and the door was locked. A note on the door left them instructions.

Hey guys,
Sorry to leave so suddenly, I had to take my grandfather to the hospital. Please put the groceries in the breakroom. I won't return until later so you have the rest of the day off. Again, I'm sorry to leave like this, I'll make it up to you guys (and no Ryan, not with more work).

Brandon

“Is his grandfather sick?”
“Kinda. He has a weak heart. And a few days ago the store he was in charge of was robbed. Brandon was really worried about him. He's all the family Brandon has left. Well, we better get these groceries inside.”
Ryan fished around in his pocket for his keyring. After choosing the third key he unlocked the door to the store and propped it open. Then the two of them carried the bags into the breakroom. Ryan made sure the fruit and vegetables were placed in the fridge, along with anything else that may be perishable. He then left Brandon his own note. Once he was finished with that, the two grabbed their things and left the store. Ryan locked up before climbing into his car. By six o'clock the two of them were at Zeke's.
“So have you played Halo before?”
“Never, but I'm willing to give it a try. You?”
“I play every now and then, but shooters aren't my specialty.”
“Are the others any good?”
“Zeke is, I'm not sure about Zack, but Dylan and Jacob hate it. I was kinda surprised they're playing it at all....Zeke must have bribed them.”
“Zeke is Vampire, right? And Zack is Fanning121. Who are Dylan and Jacob?”
“MadPirate is Dylan, and Jacob is Zephon.”
“Ah, alright. So, which house is it?”
“That one over there.”
Nick pointed to a yellow house with an orange Celica parked in the driveway. Ryan pulled in beside it, and the two of them got out and headed to the door. They rang the doorbell once, and a few seconds later it was answered by a man in his early forties.
“Oh, hi Nikki. We weren't expecting you for a few more hours. Come on in.”
As they entered the doorway, they were greeted by Zack who was coming down the stairs. As usually, he was in his pajamas. He then went into the kitchen, only to return a few minutes later with bags of chips and cans of soda in arms. He then led Ryan up to Zeke's room, while Nick stayed behind.
“Nikki, I haven't seen you around as much as I used to. We missed your company.”
“Well I have a job now, so I probably won't have a lot of free time, but I'll come by whenever I can.”
“Alright, we'll have to watch some movies sometime. Zeke just bought me some old horror movies, they're black and white.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Well I better let you get up there, wouldn't want to keep you from your friends. By the way, was that your brother with you?”
“No, he's a friend I work with. I'll be sure to bring Marc by sometime though.”
When Nick finally made it up to Zeke's room, she found that it was a complete mess. Zack and Dylan had started a potato chip fight after a game of Halo went sour. Jacob and Zeke then began to hurl pillows at the two, while Ryan just stood back and watched, occasionally getting hit with a pillow and chips.
“.....what happened?”
“Not exactly sure....one of them wanted to play Halo again, and another wanted to put in a different game. Then they started throwing chips and pillows.”
“You have two systems and tvs, why not just put two different games on and have everyone choose the one they want to play?”
The four of them stopped and looked back at Nick. One of them gave a short reply.
“Because we're guys. And throwing stuff is more fun.”
“That is a good idea though. What do you two want to play?”
“Well, Ryan hasn't played Halo before, I'm not very good but it doesn't matter what I play.”
Zeke nodded then looked over at the other three. He knew two answers right away.
“What do you guys want to play?”
“How about Conkers Bad Fur Day?
“I'll play both.”
Everyone looked at Zack with an odd expression on their face. He gave them an innocent, but serious look in reply. So they set up the two systems and began to play. Zeke, Nick and Ryan were sitting infront of the Xbox to the left and Dylan and Jacob were in front of the one on the right. Zack was sitting in the middle, a controller in both hands.
“Are you sure you can play like that?
“Yep. I've been practicing.”
“Whatever you say.”
Zack was actually fairly good at playing one-handed. He was great at hiding from the others, so that made it easier. At one point he was caught on both games, unwilling to leave one of his characters to die, he fought desperately to fend the others off. But eventually his arms grew tired and they managed to get a few cheap shots in. For his first time playing Halo, Ryan was pretty good. It took him a few minutes to get used to the camera and buttons, but once he got past that he was taking on Zeke's character. Nick did better than usual in the game. Usually she couldn't even touch Zeke or Zack, but because of his handicap, and because Zeke was having a tough time fending off Ryan, she managed to get a few shots in.
After a few games of Halo, Nick switched over to Conkers with Dylan, Jacob and Zack. They played a few rounds of capture the flag while Zeke and Ryan were at war on Halo. By ten o'clock both Ryan and Nick were ready to call it a night. Nick showed Ryan where she lived, and after dropping her off he headed home himself. On the way he decided to try Brandon's cell.
“Hullo?”
“Hey Virg......are you sick?”
“Nu. Hod mu fekin nouse brukon.”
“When did this happen?!?”
“Lumme rumuve da guze.....Does that sound better?”
“Much. How did you break your nose.”
“Fucking Rick and his damn whore. Sorry I sent you away, I knew they were coming, and didn't want Nick there.”
“Its no problem....why did Rick break your nose?”
“Well....it was partially my fault. He asked who Nick was, and I guess I could have given a nicer reply. But I got a few hits in. Would have given him a black eye if Wolf hadn't of pulled that gun on me.”
“Shit....he pulled a gun on you? He sure has changed.”
“Its that damn Rick. Before Wolf left he asked for forgiveness....so what did you guys do afterwards?”
“Played some games. You remember Vampire, right?”
“Kinda hard to forget, but it has been a while since I've seen him. How was it?”
“Vamp and I had a war on Halo. The others started playing a different game.”
“Halo? I didn't know you played.”
“I don't.”
“Ha, ha. Well I'm gonna call it a night. My nose is killing me.”
“Alright, but what are you gonna tell Nick tomorrow, if she asks?”
“The truth. Only if she asks though. Otherwise, its locked in the closet.”
“Well, I hope your nose feels better. See ya tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”