“Holy shit!” a man shouted as he crushed an empty beercan with his hand and threw it at a 90’s looking CRT television sitting on a table across from his desk. “For crying out loud! I got money riding on this. Can you assholes at least score one touch down?” he cried out with a huff as he repositioned himself in his desk chair. While he continued to shout at the television, he began throwing random items sitting on his desk at it.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQ6yvva1aF
A woman wearing a light blue track jacket and pants, who was sitting at a desk across the room with a long tightly braided dark blue pigtail resting over one of her shoulders said, “I don’t think throwing things at the TV is going to make them perform any better Ethan.”
Ethan turned and shouted, “Quite you! They won’t be able to perform while you keep flapping your mouth.” He threw an empty bag of potato chips in her direction, but it only went a few feet in front of him and then gently fell to the floor.
The woman frowned and said sternly, “If you don’t start addressing me by my name, I’m going to put my two weeks in. I’m not, hey you, you there, or woman. I’ve worked here for almost six months, and you have yet to even learn my name.”
Ethan looked back at the TV and said, “Clara stop it. I know your name.”
The woman said, “It’s not Clara…”
Ethan replied, “It’s okay, Elaine, I was just messing with you.”
The woman said angrily, “It’s not Elaine either! It’s Piper!”
Ethan replied, “Of course Phifer, how could I forget?”
Piper threw her mug of hot coffee that had been sitting on her desk at Ethan and shouted, “Not Phifer you asshole! Jeeze, you can be so annoying. Why aren’t you out in the field Helping Cy today? You don’t do anything but sit around and bet all our money away and reject almost every job that comes through our office.”
Ethan responded pompously, “I read an article the other day online where this rich guy said the difference between failures and people who are successful is that successful people say no to most things proposed to them so I’m trying it out.”
Piper sighed and said, “That’s probably the dumbest heap of shit I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. Seriously, why am I still working here? I should have taken the security job and saved myself from all this.”
Ethan smirked and exclaimed, “You won’t leave because you just love it here so much! Nexus is your family now!” Ethan started climbing over his own desk toward her with a beer in his hand as he said, “Little Piperoni, you wouldn’t leave me, would you? I would be so lonely if you left. I pay you more than Cy and he’s been here for years!” As Ethan crawled across his desk, he ran out of space and fell off it face first into the floor.
Piper laughed as she said, “Nexus doesn’t even mean anything. You just picked a random ass word to call you Private Eye office. Before I was hired you said it was Rhombus”
Ethan rolled over off his face with a smile and said, “Well, once you were part of the team it became Nexus! The name changes as this place evolves!”
Piper’s cell phone suddenly started ringing and she sighed, “Shut up for a minute, Cy is calling.”
She answered the phone and asked, “What now?”
Cy, who was on the other end of the phone said angrily, “Now Ms. Cooper is wanting me to walk her dogs! I already took her to the store, picked out her groceries, drove her home, put her groceries away, watered her lawn, cleaned her gutters—”
Piper interrupted him and shouted, “I don’t give a damn what she asks you to do you idiot! Ms. Cooper is one of our only regulars and you do whatever she says! If she needs you to wipe her ass you do it and if you call me one more time bitching, I’m going to come shove my foot up your ass.” She angrily hung up her phone and continued to shout, “Jeeze if it’s not one idiot it’s two idiots trying to crawl up my ass.” She slammed her head down on her desk and asked Ethan, “When are we going to have a real job again? Like something other than babysitting old people and doing chores for people? We haven’t had an actual case or protection detail in so long. Maybe I should have just signed on to the marines longer or married some rich prick.”
Ethan replied sadly, “Piper, you won’t have as much freedom anywhere else if you leave here. It might be shit right now, but people are going to wake up from their winter depressions and start their spring shenanigans. You’ll see.”
Piper popped her head up and demanded, “give me one of those beers old man.”
Ethan jumped off the floor with a quickness and shouted, “I’m not an old man! Thirty-four isn’t old. Just because you’re a twenty something year old brat doesn’t give you the right to label me old yet. Wait till I’m like forty or something to say stuff like that.”
Piper slammed her head back down on her desk and whined, “This is so god damn boring!”
Ethan turned back to his television and cried out in horror as his team lost the game. He stood there in defeat as he reached for the minifridge and grabbed a beer after opening it. “Here, catch!” Ethan tossed the beer over to Piper with her head still face down on her desk. Without looking, she reached up and caught it in one hand before raising her head off the desk.
Piper asked, “So how much did you lose this time?”
Ethan looked up at her with a smile and said, “Nothing! I made a bet with my bartender friend for one thousand dollars but made another bet with an old partner from when I was a cop for the opposite team for the same amount. So technically, I’ll just give the money from one guy to the other.” Ethan scratched the back of his head while he smiled like an idiot.
“Wow,” Piper said sarcastically. “Do you have a brain at all inside that skull of yours or is it just mush. There was no upside for you at all playing the middleman.”
Ethan continued to scratch his head while he said, “Yeah when you put it like that maybe that was stupid, but it was sure as hell fun!”
Piper said under her breath, “You’re so goddamn hopeless, Ethan.”
-
Light from the sun was slowly fading away behind the city buildings as dusk began to swallow the city. A couple blocks over from Ethan’s office two girls were exiting a martial arts dojo and heading in the direction of their home. One of the girls was taller than the other one and had shoulder length brown hair. The smaller girl had short brown hair with a tiny blue bow sticking out of it. They were both still wearing their white taekwondo robes while they slowly walked down the sidewalk, talking, and laughing with each other.
One of the girls said, “He kept trying to kick me in my face, so I kicked him in his balls. Sensei said it was a good strategy but wasn’t a real professional thing to do!”
The other girl replied, “Well, Zoe, if someone’s forcing themselves on you or trying to hurt you feel free to kick that person’s balls to the moon. But in a fight for points demonstrating your fighting capability maybe a nut shot isn’t the right move.”
Zoe looked up at the sky, laughed, and said, “He was being a jerk, so he deserved it.”
The two girls continued to walk down the sidewalk and turned down an alley way while still talking. Zoe started to walk slowly and said, “Eve, this is your last year at school. What happens when you graduate? Are you going to leave? Are you going to move out with a boy and leave me behind or something? It’s going to be sad not seeing you at school anymore.”
The taller girl named Eve stopped and turned around and said to Zoe, “Sis, you worry too much. I could still flunk you know and have to repeat senior year. Also, there’s no boys in my life so nothing to worry about there. And even if I won’t be at school anymore, I won’t leave you behind. We’re still going to live together. You’re too young to live by yourself and without mom and dad, someone’s gotta watch over you and make sure your taken care of.” Eve spun back around and continued to walk down the alley way while Zoe continued to follow her.
Zoe said, “Why are you acting like mom suddenly? I’m the one who does the dishes, cleans the house, cooks the meals, goes to the store. All you do is mope around and watch anime all day. So, if anything I’m the one looking after you, big sis.”
Eve replied with a smile, “Well if you’re the one taking care of me, why are you so worried about me leaving?”
Zoe said, “Because everybody leaves us.” She continued to speak while she fought back tears, “Mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa, they all left us. And if you left me, … I don’t know if I could go on.”
Eve replied back, “I’m not going anywhere Zoe. It’s not like everyone left by choice. People die and that’s just how it is. It’s up to us to stay strong and carry on. Mom and dad wouldn’t want us to give up just because their gone.”
Zoe’s stomach growled loudly, and she asked Eve, “Can we stop and get food before we get home? I’m too hungry to cook anything.”
Eve replied back, “I was thinking the same thing. I’ll even pay. We can go to that new ramen shop that opened down the street from the library.”
As the two girls continued to walk down the alley ways and streets that led toward their home, they noticed at the end of the walkway, shadows from around the corner were being casted up onto the alleyway walls. They could see that there were three men kneeling with their hands on their heads. They could hear a female voice chiming in and out on a radio somewhere while three other men’s shadows could be seen holding what looked like guns pointed at the kneeling men.
Eve froze in front of Zoe making sure to keep her behind her as she said, “We shouldn’t be here. Let’s go back the way we came. We shouldn’t get involved with any police stuff.”
As they turned around, they could see coming down the alley way in the distance was another man holding an assault rifle and talking on a phone. Without hesitation, Eve grabbed Zoe’s hand and they both dove into a nearby dumpster before the man noticed they were there.
Zoe was starting to shake as she whispered, “Sis, they have guns. No matter how strong we are, there’s no way we can compete with that.”
Eve replied quietly, “Why are you thinking about that right now? Were just going to wait here and soon they will arrest those guys and leave.”
Zoe said a bit frightened, “Sis, that guy had an AA-12. That’s no ordinary gun the police would just be casually walking around with.”
Eve said, “I don’t know what that is. It just looked like a machine gun to me.”
Zoe explained, “It’s not a regular machine gun. It’s a fully automatic 12 gauge shot gun.”
Eve asked, “How do you even know that?”
Zoe replied with the same scared tone in her voice, “Because I saw it on the military channel before when I’d watch TV with dad.” Both girls heard what sounded like a man being beaten with something and they poked their heads slightly up raising the lid of the dumpster so they could see what was happening. They could see the shadows of one of the men on his knees being assaulted repeatedly by a man with a gun while everyone laughed. They couldn’t hear what they were saying to well, but they knew something bad was happening. The man that had been walking down the alley was in their view standing at the corner watching and laughing with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. They watched in horror while one of the shadows pulled out a knife and stuck it into one of the kneeling man’s neck. The shadows of his blood squirting out of his body after the other man pulled the knife out were dancing up on the walls of the alley way.
Eve and Zoe fell backwards in the dumpster holding their hands over their mouths trying not to let out a scream. Zoe was shaking so hard Eve could hear the dumpster starting to vibrate against the alleyway wall. Eve said to herself out loud, “They stabbed him. The police stabbed that man. Police don’t stab people.”
As Eve repeated the same phrase to herself continuously Zoe tried to speak, “Sis, I, don’t think I can. I think I-.” In that moment, mesmerized by fear, Zoe could no longer control her bladder and began to wet herself. Tears started viciously rolling out of her eyes as she asked Eve, “Are we going to get stabbed too? Are we going to die? I’m so scared Eve.” Zoe continued to shake while two gunshots rang down the alleyway. Both girls jerked backwards at the sudden sounds and the dumpster slammed against the alley way wall. The man down the alley way turned toward the dumpster and began to walk toward it.
Eve and Zoe looked at each other with tears in their eyes knowing that the man was probably coming over to check out the noise.
As they could hear footsteps approaching them, Eve said quietly, “This isn’t where we die Zoe. I don’t know what’s going on, but we have no part in it and we’re going to get the hell out of here. Just follow my lead.”
Zoe could see her sister was still shaking even after what she said and replied, “Okay, sis.”
The footsteps stopped right outside the dumpster. The man used the barrel of his gun to slowly lift the lid to the dumpster as Eve shot straight up and grabbed the barrel of his gun and pointed it straight up into the sky while Zoe jumped out of the dumpster and kicked the man straight in his testicles as hard as she could. The man cried out in pain and let go of his gun as he fell to his knees. Eve took the gun and bashed it over the man’s head. While still holding the gun Zoe and Eve dashed down the alley way toward the way they came.
Men ran from around the corner in the opposite direction and Eve heard a man shout, “Don’t let them escape! Kill them if you have too!” Gunfire erupted from down the alleyway as Eve and Zoe ducked behind a different dumpster. Eve was clutching the gun against her chest as she panicked in fear. With no hesitation Zoe took the gun from Eve and held it around of the dumpster without looking and squeezed the trigger. The gun blasted four rounds down the alleyway as they heard men screaming and jumping out of the way. As Zoe fired a few rounds, the gun went flying out of her hands and landed about six feet behind them toward the alleyways entrance. Zoe grabbed Eve by the arm, and they began to run. Zoe scooped up the gun as they turned the corner and continued to run as fast as they could down the street.
Zoe cried out, “I guess cutting through the industrial park wasn’t a good idea!” Men came from around the corner behind them and continued to open fire at them. The girls turned down another alleyway and continued to run for their lives. As they ran Zoe smiled as she said, “That was the first time I ever fired a gun before! It actually felt pretty amazing, even though it flew out of my hands.”
Eve was still in shock as she screamed out, “This isn’t the time to get hard over a gun Zoe.”
-
Ethan was standing and staring out a window in his office and asked piper, “Did you just hear that?”
Piper looked over at Ethan and could barely keep her head straight. One beer is all it took to get her completely hammered. “I didn’t hear a damn thing!”
Ethan’s attitude seemed to be growing more serious as he looked out the window. “It sounded like a bunch of gunfire coming from the industrial park.” A smile suddenly crossed his face as he said, “Little Piperoni this might be your time to shine! This could be the case you’ve been waiting for.”
Piper laughed drunkenly and shouted, “I’m off the clock you big loser and I’m drunk so you go investigate the gunfire. You’re probably hearing things anyways.” Piper rolled over on the leather couch in Ethan’s office and curled into a ball. “I think it’s time for bed!” She said as she snuggled into the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch.
Ethan kept starring out the window and said, “Yep. Probably all just in my mind.” He turned around and walked back to his desk and took a seat while turning the television off. He turned to Piper and said, “You can sleep in one of the rooms upstairs you know. You don’t have to sleep on the couch.”
Piper didn’t move but said out loud, “Carry me then.”
Ethan frowned and said, “I’m not carrying you up the stairs. You’re a big girl you can walk yourself up the—” While Ethan was talking the front door to his office swung open and Eve and Zoe came stumbling in still wearing their white martial arts uniforms. They were both out of breath and Zoe was still holding the AA-12. The two girls stood there in their panic and were talking at the same time while Ethan looked at them in a drunken stupor.
“Is this some kind of robbery?” Ethan asked. “Where did you get a gun like that little girl?”
Zoe shouted out, “They’re trying to kill us! Please help us mister! I took this gun from a bad guy and think I might have shot some of them. I wasn’t looking but I didn’t know what else to do.” Zoe started bawling at the thought that she might have killed someone and continued to cry out loud. Eve stood in the middle of Ethan’s office with a static look of terror on her face.
“The police stabbed him. Right in the neck. And then we heard them shoot them,” Eve barely could even speak but kept repeating the same string of sentences repeatedly. Ethan thought to himself that he swore he locked the front door when the game ended but couldn’t think straight in his drunken stupor.
Ethan stood up and declared, “Girls! Slow down! I don’t know what you’re doing out so late and carrying a weapon like that, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you put the weapon down or at least hand it over.”
While Zoe cried, she was hugging her weapon and rocking back in forth with her finger tight on the trigger. Ethan cautiously walked over and snatched the gun out of Zoe’s hands and set it on his desk. Ethan cleared his throat and said, “Okay, both of you take a seat, catch your breath and figure out which one of you is going to tell me what’s going on.” Both girls sat in the seats sitting in front of Ethan’s desk, as they tried to collect themselves.
Ethan noticed that one of the girls smelled like urine and he jumped up and shouted, “Hold on! Stand up for a second! Those chairs are almost three hundred dollars each and it smells like someone pissed themselves!”
Zoe jumped out of her seat and cried, “I’m sorry mister! I was so scared when they started killing people, I thought they were going to kill me.” Ethan frowned and got a towel out of his desk and set it on her seat. Zoe quietly continued crying and sat back down.
Ethan said, “I’m sorry. I’m having a hard time following this, but I didn’t mean to be like insensitive or whatever.” He set a beer down in front of Zoe and said, “Here, I don’t have any candy or anything else so drink up!”
Piper shot up off the couch with her face glowing red and snatched the beer away from Zoe as she reached out to grab it. Piper exclaimed, “Ethan what are you doing giving a little girl alcohol are you some kind of freak?”
Ethan shrugged and said, “These girls seem to have been going through some kind of hell, so I thought she deserved one. Look at this gun she brought in here.” Ethan pointed to the AA-12 laying on his desk. Piper glanced at it and back at the girls then at Ethan.
She said, “What in the world is going on?”
Eve spoke up and said, “Me and my sister were walking home from Taekwondo practice.” She paused and sniffled a bit before continuing. “We were walking home and cut through the industrial park. We saw shadows of a bunch of men, and someone was coming down the alleyway behind us, so we hid in a dumpster. We saw them stab a man and they shot the other two. We made a noise in the dumpster and a man with that gun came over. When he opened the dumpster, I grabbed his gun while Zoe kicked him in the nuts. We ran away and got away from them. We saw a bunch of your business cards in a trash can, so we came straight here.”
Ethan stared at her, and she started to morph into two people. He slapped his face and asked, “If she’s Zoe, who are you?”
Eve said, “I’m Eve.”
Ethan replied, “Okay, Eve. So, you saw some bad guys kill some people, and they chased you all the way here? Am, I, correct?”
Eve replied, “Yes, that’s pretty much it I guess.”
Ethan smiled and said, “Okay I’ll call the cops and problem solved!”
Zoe stood up and shouted, “No! The police were the ones killing those men! If you call the police… What if they kill us for seeing what they did?”
Ethan assured her, “Little Lady, I used to be an officer myself and I happen to know many of the officers that patrol this area. If what you’re saying is true, I doubt the police you talk to will be the guys who did all that bad stuff.”
Piper stood there and listened and didn’t know what to say. Piper knew that Ethan was probably being skeptical about the girl’s situation but for some reason she believed every word of it.
Piper said, “Ethan, this AA-12 has modifications that the police wouldn’t do. Also, I doubt they would carry around a shotgun like this in public. I think somebody bad is up to no good and these girls might really be in danger.”
Ethan scratched his head and said, “I mean it’s not like I don’t want to believe them. They brought this gun in here and all. I just know the guys on the force and if this is true, they are up to some pretty bad shit.”
Zoe revealed her foul side when she shouted out, “You stupid prick! You think we’re making this up? I fucking pissed my pants, and you think this is an act?! You give more of a shit about some stupid expensive chairs? My braces costed more than three hundred dollars. No wonder your stupid business cards were in the trash!” Zoe crossed her arms and looked away angrily.
Piper’s eyes lit up as she said, “Oh, I like the fire burning inside this one. She easily saw right through your bullshit.”
Ethan rebelled and said, “Piper! Don’t talk like that about your master.”
Piper responded, “Whoa there. You might be my boss but you’re certainly not my master.”
Eve cut in and said, “I have a thousand dollars on me right now. I’ll give it to you to protect us. I have more money in the bank and will give you anything to keep us safe. I don’t want to go to the police until I know were safe incase those goons come looking for us.”
Ethan liked the money talk, but the thought of babysitting two girls sounded more like a job for Cy. “How about this,” Ethan said. “I’ll take you girls home; I’ll call one of my police friends over and we will all fill out a report together. I’ll even stay overnight to make sure your goons don’t come knocking and you can just give us like a hundred dollars.”
Zoe said, “I think you’re stupid and made a horrible first impression. Ms. Piper should be your boss and you should be her work slave.”
Ethan replied, “It’s obvious that you girls are still in shock from being traumatized and still can’t think straight.” He looked at Eve and asked, “Will you give me a number to contact your parents?”
Eve looked at him with a blank stare and said, “No. I can’t give you their number because they are both dead. I’ve been looking after Zoe for the past two years and I’m her legal guardian. So, it’s just us.”
Piper slammed her hands down on the top of Ethan’s head as he sat at his desk and she said, “Alright girls Nexus is now your protectors for now. You can worry about payment after this jackass follows through on his word and takes you home. I’ll even come along to make sure this dirt bag doesn’t bail on you! He might not believe you but I sure as hell do.”
“Miss Piper?” Zoe asked. “What’s Nexus?”
Piper responded, “Please honey, you can just call me Piper and Nexus is the overly stupid name Ethan named this place.”
“Oh,” Zoe said. “No wonder it sounds so stupid.”
Piper said back excitedly, “I know right? Can you believe before I joined, he called this place Rhombus?”
Ethan said, “Alright that’s enough. We’re all going now. I’m going to call Cy and have him drive us since he’s probably not drunk.”
A man suddenly walked in and said, “Don’t need to call me since I’m right here.” Cy stepped into the office and looked at everyone and said, “Oh shit, are we having a party or something?” Cy noticed the large assault shotgun on Ethan’s desk and asked, “Whoa, where the fuck did that come from?”
Ethan put on his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair and said, “I’ll explain what’s going on the way to these girls house. It’s long and complicated and I’m still debating whether it’s true or not.”
Cy laughed and said, “Well that’s actually the first sign that they are probably telling the truth if you’re doubting them. I’ve learned do or say the opposite of what you tell me since you’re like 99% wrong most of the time.”
Ethan frowned and said, “Damn, is it like degrade the boss day today? Even this little monster right here chewed my ass out a moment ago.” Ethan pointed at Zoe as she smiled back at him.
Piper said, “Okay let’s get this show on the road. I’m sure these girls would like to get home and shower before talking to any officers so let’s get a move on.”
Everybody stood up who was still sitting, and they all moved outside to a small parking lot. Cy led everyone to a raggedly looking red van and everyone got inside of it. Cy turned and handed a small GPS to Eve and said, “Go ahead and put your address in and we can be on our way.” Eve inputted their address and Cy maneuvered the van onto the street as they all sat quietly. Cy pulled the van in front of a large looking home that had two cars in the driveway. “Here we are ladies!” he said as he exited the van and opened the rear sliding door.
“Mister,” Zoe said. “I’ve never seen those two cars in the driveway in my life.” Eve put her arm out and blocked Zoe from exiting the van.
Eve started to say, “We literally don’t have any family so I don’t know who could be inside our house.”
Ethan smiled big and said, “Well I guess this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. The only way for me to know what’s really going on is to go in there myself and find out!” Ethan jumped out of the passenger seat into the street and pulled out a large revolver. He checked to make sure it was fully loaded and started to stroll up the driveway to the front door. Everyone quietly watched as he got closer to the front porch. He stopped about halfway there, and everyone watched in suspense as he lit up a cigarette. The front door had a small doggy door and when Ethan noticed a cat came running out from the other side of it. By coincidence, in that same moment, a huge explosion erupted from the upper floor, blowing out all the windows in the house. Part of the upper story came crashing down through the garage and a car alarm could be heard blasting from underneath the rubble.
Ethan was laying on his back staring up at the night sky as he pondered what exactly just happened. If there were criminals inside, why did they just blow themselves up like that? Zoe came flying out of the van and was running through the front yard as she screamed, “Hamilton!” She dove through the door frame of the front door that was barely hanging on by one hinge as everyone watched in silence. Piper was standing next to the van as a flashback from her marine days replayed in her head like an HD movie. She trembled as the fire engulfed the sky. Cy was in shock as he just stared at the burning house from the van’s driver seat.
Ethan stood to his feet and picked his cigarette off the ground as Zoe came rolling out from the front door with what looked like a fishbowl clutched in her arms as flames raged behind her. She ran back to the van and climbed back inside. She cried as she said, “I couldn’t let Hamilton die!” In the fishbowl was a tiny red beta fish that was swimming around ferociously. The cat that had ran out the front doggy door jumped into the van after Zoe and was sitting in Eve’s lap.
Ethan slowly walked back to the van and said to Eve and Zoe, “From this moment forward, until further notice, you are now in the care and under the protection of Nexus.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI70a6zzKCa
