Project Firestar - Nicole Y (ready player one ebook TXT) 📗

guarded and Shaun needed to get him talking. "Name's Shaun, Shaun Bryant, Travis Co homicide division "Who died?" Ben asked. "No one" Shaun turned up the intensity just a bit and finished by saying "Yet." The man smiled and said "O.K. detective I'll go along, after all you did go out of your way to buy me a drink instead of waving your badge and gun around to get what you want." "My name is Ben, and the only reason you would have come here would be because of a phone call I made, and since you didn't come blazing in an official capacity I am gonna hazard a guess and say your a personal friend of the young lady I contacted." Ben paused for a moment and squinted one eye slightly as if he were further analyzing the officers presence and continued "Actually I would say your more than just friends." Ben glanced at Shaun's left hand, "Not your wife, not yet anyway, but definitely more than just friends. Shaun was taken a little off guard by all of this. "We could use a guy like you on the force Ben." Shaun said.
Ben shook his head and replied "Id never pass the psych test." and gave Shaun a sly grin. "Your being pretty open considering I haven't even asked you any questions." Shaun said.
Time is short detective and I don't have the luxury of beating around the bush, believe it or not I have her best interests at heart just like you do. So why don't you call the gang in so I can save their lives because believe me when I say that in spite of your badge, gun and deep desire to protect her, what I have to tell her is way beyond you. And without my help you will loose her.
Shaun walked outside to get the girls. When they walked in the bar they saw Ben sitting at a table in the back corner. "Hello Ladies." Ben said. Jane and Autumn nodded "Hello to him, but Kim was still unsure about Ben and said nothing. "Don't take it personal Ben she's like that to everyone she meets for the first time." Jane said.
"Look, the simple truth is you have absolutely no reason to trust me or to believe anything I say, but considering how old this headline is." He tapped the newspaper on the table in front of him. "You are running out of time and options too fast to take the chance of ignoring me, The clock is ticking, not just for your friend, but for the four of you." He focused on Autumn and for one breathless moment she was caught in his gaze. "Follow the lead, find the proof for yourself, learn the truth of what I am saying, only then will you understand." "Maybe then you will see that I am actually your friend, just be careful because if I'm right it's not just Sarah who is in danger, all of your lives are at risk."
Autumn's defenses were dropping and against all better judgment something was telling her that the man in front of her truly wanted to nothing more than to protect her some how, to help her. "O.K." say we believe you Kim responded. Lets say we find something that leads us to our friend, what do you get out of all this?" That remains to be seen, but I'm not asking for anything." he replied. "What if we needed to contact you, what if we have more questions?" Jane asked.
"Your questions will be answered when you're ready to accept the truth, right now you're not." He said matter of factly. "And as for me." he paused, and finished his drink and as he stood up to put on his jacket he said "I'll be around. "Wait a minute we have more questions." Autumn replied. He turned and said "Then go find the answers." He held out his hand palm out and a sudden flash of light invaded their minds, when it disappeared he was gone and all four of them were standing in the parking lot near Kim's car. "What the hell just happened?" Shaun said looking around the parking lot.
As Autumn started to move toward the car she felt a pinching sensation on her leg and stopped. She reached into her pocket and grabbed what felt like a key. She never carried her keys in her pocket and was wondering when she would have put it there as she pulled it out. This isn't one of mine she thought. It was an oddly shaped double sided key and loosely attached to it, by what appeared to be a twisty tie from a loaf of bread, dangled a hard piece of clear plastic containing a plain white piece of paper. She held it up close to her face to read the faded type print. Her friends could clearly see the look of confusion on her face. "What does it say?" Jane asked. "I don't know I've never seen it before and its hard to make out." Autumn answered. Straining to see in the dim light she fished around in her purse and produced a small flash light. "1861 Dresden Ln. Underneath it says 18R, 21L, 32R, 71L, 63R, 42L." "What does that mean?" Jane asked. Shaun interrupted "It's a combination for a lock." "What lock?" Jane asked. "I guess Ben expected us to run into a couple of locks at this address." Kim concluded. Suddenly the color began to drain from Jane's face and her legs felt weak. Her ashen pallor did not go unnoticed. "Jane are you alright?" Autumn asked. "I feel dizzy and sick to my stomach." "Why don't we take you home and deal with everything in the morning when you are feeling better." Autumn suggested. Jane looked at Autumn and said, "Don't you get any ideas and go to that address without us." "Fine. I wont" Autumn reassured her in a disappointed tone that told Jane that was exactly what Autumn had been thinking. Shaun took Jane by the arm and helped her into the car. "I have to go back to work, I hate leaving you like this." he said. "It's alright, I have my girls here." Jane replied.
Okay, just tell me you'll be careful if you do decide to check out the address." He looked and Kim and Autumn and said, "All of you." "We promise." the girls answered in perfect harmony.
"Let's get you in and get you something to eat." Kim said.
With a little food Jane seemed to regain some of her strength and color. As they ate Autumn told Jane and Kim that there was something she need to tell them. It was time, no it was past time. She knew she should have done this already. She turned to Jane "If your not up to talking right now Ill tell you in the morning" "No, it's Okay. I'm feeling a lot better now." Jane replied. "Go on Autumn, what is it?"
"Can you guys keep an open mind to what I am about to tell you?" Autumn asked pensively. "We'll try" Kim answered. "Do you remember that day you were both with Sarah and you guys ran out of gas, and I had to bring you some?" "Yeah" Jane replied. "It kind of freaked me out.".
"Well that wasn't the only time something like that has happened to me. In fact its happened more times than I care to admit at the moment." "So its been happening to you for a while now" Jane wanted to confirm. Autumn nodded. "Yes." She paused "Sometimes its little things like knowing five seconds ahead of time that the doorbell is going to ring. Other times it much more intense like deciding at the last moment not to pull out into an intersection and then watch as someone runs the stop sign at fifty miles per hour and slams into someone else instead of me." Jane and Kim remained silent each thinking the same thing, that they too had been experiencing strange events that they had not planned on sharing. Autumn grudgingly continued. "The last one was of Sarah being taken. If I had told someone or done something she might still be here." Autumns eyes became glassy. "I was just scared to tell anyone. I didn't want you to think that I was crazy."
Kim looked at Autumn and said "We don't think your crazy sweety." "You don't" Autumn replied looking at Kim than back at Jane. Jane shook her head and answered "No we don't, and don't even think that it's not your fault that Sarah went missing there is no way you could have stopped it." "Even if you did you might have gone missing with her." Kim said "Has anything strange happen either of you?" Autumn asked hoping she wasn't alone.
"Well, Jane paused. Then spoke up slowly, "there was this one thing that happened, I'm really not sure how, but for a minute I read Shaun's mind, I knew what he was going to say before he said anything." "What did he say?" Autumn replied. "He said I really love this girl, and I'm going to ask her to marry me this weekend." "Get out! Kim replied. "That is so cool." Autumn said. "Not really, I wanted to be surprised when he asked me Jane answered. "So did he ask you yet?" Kim asked. "Not yet, and don't worry you both will be my bridesmaids." "Hey, you stay out of my mind Jane" Kim insisted playfully.
Both Jane and Autumn turned and looked at Kim, "What?" Kim said
"Well has anything like that happen to you?" Jane asked "Yes, but I was really hoping that it was a dream, but now after hearing what you both just said I can't be in denial about it any more, It was a week ago when it happened I was in bed the rain woke me up because it was coming down really hard, it was around one in the morning and when I woke up I was floating over my bed, it scared the living hell out of me, I broke out into a cold sweet and my heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to die." "Has it happened again? the girls replied. "No, and I hope to God it doesn't." Kim said.
"Wake up Kim!" Jane insisted. "What? "What time is it? Kim asked.
"It's nine in the morning." Jane replied. "That's way to early for me." Kim said and put the covers back over her face. "It's never to early to find Sarah." Autumn snapped. "So get up or I will poor cold water over your head." "You wouldn't dare" Kim replied. " Try me" Autumn said and walked off. "Okay, Okay I'm up." Kim said.
Kim set up on the sofa and asked Jane "What's here deal?" "How should I know?" Jane replied. "She's your roommate, you know her better than anyone." Kim said. "She is my best friend and I love her like a sister "But just because we live together doesn't mean I know what's going on in her head half the time." Jane paused for a minute and said, "But I think she's having a hard time with Sarah being missing she still feels like it's her fault because she was scared to tell us about her vision, she blames herself." Jane added. "Will I kind of liked it when she was sad instead of being bitchy, That's my job" Kim smiled at Jane. Then added "She's not the only one taking this hard, Sarah is our friend too and I want to find her just as much as she does."
The girls got in the car and headed to the address Ben had given them. On the ride there Jane had