CHAPTER TWO: THE PHONE CONVERSATION

Shady, dressed in prison uniform, sat on an old, beat-up bench, glaring at Frank, who sat directly opposite. He sat with his arms cuffed, watching as Frank scatter several registers on the desk which separated them; he was searching for a particular file. They have been this way for the past ten minutes since he was pulled out of his prison cell.

Shady groaned with impatience. “How much longer do I have to wait?” he said impatiently, keeping the heat in his voice at a low simmer. “It’s been like forever.”

Frank ignored him, then singled out a card stock sheet from the bunch and glanced through it, nodding in satisfaction when he confirmed it is the file he had been searching for. Then he read the name on the file aloud, “Mr Shade Casper…”

“Shady,” the thug corrected him.

Frank read again, glancing at him momentarily, “Mr Shady…”

He stifled a groan. “Just Shady is fine.”

Frank—pissed, took off his glasses. “Mr Shade, or whatever you call yourself, do I look like I give a hoot about how your name is pronounced?” he snarled at him.

“Oh, you should.” Shady opened his eyes wide at him, craning forward. “Cus I don’t want my name spelt wrongly in the papers when I finally get out of this hellhole and burn this whole place to the ground,” he muttered.

Frank had to choke back his own rage and snorted at Shady’s comment, leaning back in his chair. “That’s the best joke I’ve heard in a while, you know that?”

“That’s funny. I could have sworn your whole life is a joke,” Shady jested.

Frank went poker-faced. “Now you think you are funny, humour me.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “You want to hear something?”

He raised his brows in anticipation of what he was about to say.

“You’re never getting out of here, Mr Shade.”

He slammed the table in annoyance. “For Pete’s sake, it’s Shady,” he said with barely restrained rage and frustration. “It’s either you’re retarded or you’re just trying to get me annoyed!”

The guards that stood at the side were already sauntering towards them, but Frank passed a signal with his hands and they returned to their original position. Then he turned to Shady, lips peeled back in a half, patient smile. “Do you even know why you were arrested?”

His rage subsided. “I have done a lot of pretty bad things throughout my life,” he chuckled. “I could be paying for any of those crimes.”

“You raped a lady some nights back, and her father…”

 “I’ve raped a lot of ladies this week,” he jested. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

Frank shot a venomous glance at him, suddenly realizing his trip down here had been a bust. “Your sentence has already been passed, and in less than twenty-four hours, thirty-two thousand joules of electricity would pass through your body. You will be paying for all those crimes. You have only but a few hours left to live—a day at most, I guarantee. So now you see that you’re never getting out of this place alive.”

His voice lowered. “But I can help you—if you want to see the next day and the day after, that is. Whether I render any assistance to you will depend entirely on the answers you provide me at this very minute. So if I were you, I wouldn’t waste this opportunity.”

“So thoughtful of you to give a damn about me,” Shady whined, mocking him in a feminine voice.

He writhed in discomfort—this meeting wasn’t going as he’d expected. “Let’s start all over again, if you don’t mind. My name is Dr Frank, and…”

“I don’t give a damn about your name.” Shady cut him off discourteously.

Frank steamrolled right along, ignoring his persistent interruptions. “And I am a lab specialist for a special taskforce here in the city. We are currently working on something that could change the future of Burnout policing. Come with me, and I will give you a new purpose in life; a chance to become someone better; a chance to join the taskforce and fight alongside with us.”

Shady laughed hysterically. “What a load of crap. You don’t want to help me. You just want to use me as one of your lab rats.” He stopped laughing, then his expression became overly serious. “That ain’t going to happen. I’d rather accept my sentence with honour.”

“There’s no honour in being electrocuted to death as punishment for a crime that you committed. I am simply offering you a second chance—a chance to change this inevitable fate,” he said calmly, face neutral and devoid of any emotion. “Would you rather die a petty criminal, or as a hero the city would be proud of?”

“I lost my second chance a long time ago.” Shady leaned towards him and spoke to his face. “Go to hell with your second chance. I like the one I’ve got right here.”

What’s with criminals and being dumb? Frank moved his hands from the table, utterly disappointed. “Honestly, Mr Shade,” he said to him. “That’s a very poor choice you’ve made.”

Shady looked at him with scorn. “The name’s Shady, not Mr Shade,” he muttered in annoyance, feeling disgusted by his actual name. “I ain’t gonna warn you no more.”

Frank searched through the files and took out a picture, then dropped it on the table in front of Shady. “Look at this.” He passed it across so that he could see it. “These are the remains of your gang. They were found early this morning, lying dead in Pittsburgh street. It is all over the news. Although an official statement on the incident hasn’t been made yet, we suspect that they were murdered by something we, at TCU, like to call shifter.”

Shady glanced at the photograph, eyes bulging and hands visibly shaking. “No! This ain’t true. This ain’t true!” he bellowed.

“Calm yourself, Mr Shade. The taskforce I work with is currently searching for the man—or animal—that did this to them. However, we cannot do this on our own; we need your help. All we need to do is modify your senses and make you a lot faster and stronger than you are right now. I am giving you a chance to take revenge on whoever did this to your gang.”

Shady gazed at the photograph, chest heaving. Breath became noisy. “Where do I sign?” he glared at Frank.

Frank smiled and handed him a pen.

###

It was a sunny afternoon. Kevin sat in the park, waiting for someone. A gentle breeze blew in his direction, and his eyes were drawn to three blackbirds sitting on a rocky cliff. They were pecking the rock.

His face lit with recognition when he saw them. They were the same crows from his dreams. He stood and walked towards them for a closer view, but they fluttered into the sky when he got too close.

Suddenly, the wind blowing in his direction intensified. He thought he heard a voice from the tempest calling out Natasha’s name in a bone-chilling whisper. Soon after the gust vanished, he found himself standing on the foot mat of Natasha’s residential home.

He raised a hand to knock on the door but stopped when he heard loud noises inside. It sounded almost as if someone was in trouble. He quickly opened the door to see William in a gunfight with something in the dark. He could not see its face, but it appeared to have a vague human form.

 “Quick! Take cover,” William yelled at him, pushing another bullet into his revolver. He fired at the shadows, at something he couldn’t see.

Then suddenly, T-Murek jumped from the dark corner and ran across the room, charging at William. Only inches away, T-Murek tore at his arm with sharp, powerful claws.

William grunted, covering his bleeding arm with his hand. His knee dropped. Blood trickled down his arm, matting his shirt. He let out a painful scream, which woke Kevin from his nightmare.

Kevin jolted from the nightmare, chest heaving rapidly. Little drops of sweat formed on his forehead. He looked over the table at the pills Cedric had given him. He’d forgotten to take those pills before going to bed last night.

He picked up an empty glass that sat on the table and filled it up with water. Then he swallowed the pills in a gulp and set the empty glass on the table. After he’d started taking those pills, the nightmares stopped coming and he has been having much more peaceful sleep free of any nightmares—until now.

The image of T-Murek tearing off William’s arms played out in his mind again. In his dream, William had screamed exactly the same way Derik did when he tried to stop T-Murek from kidnapping Natasha three days ago. Kevin’s eyes widened when a realisation hit him.

It wasn’t just any nightmare, but another vision of a probable future.

His phone buzzed on the table, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up at the big clock that hung from the wall.

3:15 am.

Kevin was dazed, gazing at the phone as it buzzed on the table. It astounded him who could be calling at such an unholy hour of the night. The phone kept humming on the table, then stopped. A few seconds later, it started again.

Kevin picked it up to look at it. It was an unregistered number. Placing the phone gently over his ear—eyes pacing the room, he said, “Hello?” Didn’t know what to expect.

He heard a familiar voice call out his name. “Kevin?”

His brows drew together. “Leonard?” he said, uncertain. “Is that you?”

“Yes, Kevin,” Leonard answered, sounding like he was in a hurry. “I’m sorry to bother you but there is something I just found about the masked man, and I need you to pay close attention. They’ve found Murphy’s body, and he was killed by the secret organization I told you about earlier.”

“I am aware of this already,” Kevin stated, remembering his visit to that warehouse. “When I went with Alex to that warehouse which T-Murek had used to torture Loretta, that’s when we found the body.”

 “That’s not the reason I called,” Leonard cut him off. “I visited Murphy’s basement a while ago, and you wouldn’t believe what I found. I think Murphy was working on something big before they killed him. He was working on something that could expose the identity of every member in that organization, but they killed him before he could make any move with this discovery. I noticed several addresses that had been marked on the map he was working on. Whatever this is, I think it’s our clue to finding the people responsible for Murphy’s death. As we speak, I am in one of those addresses, and you wouldn’t believe what I just found.”

“What is it? Tell me!” Kevin held his phone tightly, curiosity changing his face.

“Look, Kevin,” Leonard mumbled, voice sounding almost like a whisper. “I cannot tell you anything else over the phone. They may be listening in on us as we speak. But there is still one more address Murphy marked on his map which I haven’t searched yet. 57 Old Avenue Hills.”

“57 Old Avenue Hills?”

“I suspect that’s where T-Murek keeps his hostages. I need you to check it out. But be very careful and do not involve the police; there are not many people we can trust right now. Meet me at City Park tomorrow morning. Remember that spot I left you that note?”

“You want us to meet there?”

“9 am. I will be right there waiting for you. And one more thing, shut all your doors and windows. They may be watching you as we speak.” He ended the call.

Leonard's last words haunted him.

They may be watching you as we speak.

He quickly got up from bed to shut his windows. He froze in fear when he heard the echo of a door opening in the passageway. Kevin quietly opened the door just enough to peek through. He quivered at the sight of a dark, hooded figure walking out of Cedric’s room.