Chapter 3

I'm there, at Beach Circle. I see that lady, like I saw before. She looks at me, and produces an evil laugh. I turn to look at Conner and Diana, but, they just dissolve into the background. I run, fast, faster than ever before, to the rent-a-bike. I see her, I see Sarah. She's fighting with the owner about something. It seems to be about the cycle she's holding. It's a good one, a mountain bike. It's a beautiful teal color, with white polka dots all over it. On the handle, there's a big, wooden, basket. It has a red ribbon tied along the top in a bow knot. It's beautiful, like her. My eyes dart to something unusual behind the seat, a black box of sorts. It has a timer on the outside, I touch it to see what it is. I'm unsuccessful. I open the box and see TNT inside. I'm shocked. I look around and see similar black boxes behind every bicycle in the store. These people are not managing a 'rent-a-bike', they're planning a massacre. Sarah sees someone waving to the owner, throws the owner a mischievous smile, and waves to the person sending the signal.

She says something to the owner like, "You're not getting that signal, not until you tell me what TNT is doing at the back of every cycle here." The owner just glares back at her. I take this chance to study him. I look at his name tag, marked 'Checkmate', a code name, of course, but, there's something chilly going down the spine by reading this. He's muscular, tall and tanned. His teal eyes are empty, full of nothing but darkness and hatred. His dark hair are oiled in place. There's something about him, as though I've seen him before, like déjà vu. But there's no time to look into the past right now, Checkmate is taking out a rag from his pocket and takes out a brown bottle from one of the drawers in a counter near by. He infuses the rag with the liquid inside the bottle and looks around. When he sees that no one is around, he approaches Sarah from behind, grabs her in a headlock and presses the rag against her nose and mouth. She struggles to let loose at first but Checkmate tightens his hold around her. She's looking at me with pleading eyes, suddenly, her eyes close and her hands fall down. He's sedated her.

I run out of this store, searching from help, when Checkmate comes behind me and I see him stuffing Sarah into a sack. He takes her to an alley and drives away (like I had seen before) but, he sees me through the rear view mirror. He starts to drive the car in reverse, trying to smash me. But me, being me, stands there, frozen with shock. Just as the car is about to hit me, dad is calling my name. I turn to him, and everything becomes real. My vision becomes foggy and I wake up, covered in sweat to see dad's kind eyes looking at me.

"What happened?" I ask, feeling drowsy.

"Well, baby, you were moaning in your sleep. You're burning up." the sweet voice of my mom answers. I rarely see her, since her job requires her to return till after I'm asleep and she leaves before I wake up. I wake up with a jerk, my eyes wander around to find her. She's standing right beside dad. I look up to her bright blue eyes and see myself in them. She's toying with her long, black, curly hair. She's wearing a pin striped suit. (She must've been getting ready to leave for work)

"Yeah, you were thrashing around. We were getting worried so, we woke you up." Dad says, in his dark voice. I look up to him, carefully studying him, his teal-blue eyes, his perfectly chiseled face and his reddish-brown hair. He's in his pajamas, yawning. Mom must've woken him up after seeing me in bed.

"You did the correct thing. I was having a, sorry, I was reliving something I really don't want to see again." I say.

"That explains the moaning and the thrashing." says mom.

"Yes. Get up, get out of bed. Let's have an early breakfast."

I throw my comforter across the room and jump out of bed, thinking of the nightmare. I remember how I got all this information. The talking and cycle is a hunch, but yesterday, as we began chasing that man, I had seen this cycle in the store, leaning against the counter. I had seen the man and caught sight of his name tag. Rest of the dream is based on a hunch. Like the sedating part, the rag was hanging from his pocket when he came out and the bottle was on the counter. But I am sure that Sarah was investigating. She's the best detective I know, she must have been investigating. I go to the washroom and get ready and dressed up as I take out an "Originals" Zach Slim jean and a baby blue polo shirt.

I go downstairs and see mom preparing chocolate waffles for all of us. Something's up, she only makes waffles when she and dad want to drop some life-changing news on me. Last time, they made it when they told me that my older brother had gone missing and that the chances of his return were slim. I prepare myself for anything they might say.

I sit on the dining table and take out a plate. Mom dances in and slips a waffle into my plate. I pour as much chocolate as I can. Then mom and dad pull a chair and sit down as I eat. They look at me with frowns on their face. I finish my food and put my plate in the sink. I go to my parents, seeing them in the exact same position as before. I sit down and say "What's going on? Spill it. You never make my favorite waffles unless there's something important you wanna tell."

"Fine. Your mom will walk you through this." Dad says.

"Yes. Well, the thing is, it is, that, um, that, I'm quitting my job!! I'm going to be staying home now, your dad's gonna be the one at a 9 to 5 job. In that time, we're gonna have some mother-son bonding time!" Mom says. That is so much better than anything I was expecting, but, the bonding time would cut into my investigating. I need to know what had happened at the rent-a-bike yesterday. It's a Saturday, I should be able to leave the house when I want to. I look at my parents' excited faces and see the twinkle in their eyes.

"Let me think, this is a lot of information to process." I say, trying to trouble them, the way they troubled me. I look at their faces flush.

"I've thought. I love it!" I say, rushing to hug them. I can feel their warmth as I hug them. I can feel the happiness and excitement rush through them, through their nerves. I pull myself from them and ask if I could meet Conner and Diana around 10. They quite ok with it, mostly. Mom is a bit sad that I'm cutting through mother-son bonding time.

I run up to my room, looking at it, feeling angry. My parents are going to come up any second, telling me to clean it up. So, I start cleaning the corner in which I have all my clues and notes about my cases put on the wall and traced with a thread of red yarn. Over there, I've thrown all my clothes so I can't see it. I never use this wall for anything except searching for my brother. After cleaning up this area, I go over to my reading corner. Here, all my books are supposed to be lying neatly in my bookshelf, but my Keeper of the Lost Cities series is lying out of order. Same with my Harry Potter, Land of Stories and Agatha Oddly series. As I arrange the books, dad comes upstairs to say bye.

"Bye, kiddo. Don't trouble your mother too much" he says, his eyes full of love.

"You felt the need to tell me? I'm disappointed, dad." I say, playing with him.

"Yes. Now I'm getting late. Bye" he says, laughing.

"Bye. See you later." I say, getting back to arranging the books.

When I'm done arranging the books, I look down to my big armchair on which I normally sit and read. It is cluttered with my Famous Five series and some of my Agatha Christie books. As I clean this up, my thoughts stir towards my brother. He was always so good to me. I loved him more than anything in the world. I remember the way he used to smile at me, with his teal-blue eyes twinkling. His warmth and the way he always had time for me. He looked exactly like dad, with his chiseled face and teal-blue eyes. His hair were always messy, like mine. We both used to spend all our time together, till the day he went missing. I have dedicated one wall of my room to our photos together. I smile when I'm done with my room, it's 10. I run downstairs, say a rushed bye, and leave. But I'm not going to Conner and Diana, no, I'm going to the rent-a-bike store on Beach Circle.

I reach Beach Circle and realise that I've not worn any disguise. "No time for that right now. I just need to investigate." I think. I go inside the rent-a-bike store. Checkmate is there, talking to someone about the cycles. He looks at me and, there's something wrong, he's looking at me as if he's seen a ghost. He comes to me, eager to help me find the perfect cycle for myself.

"Hello. What may I help you with, Chris?" he asks.

"How do you know my name?" I ask, curious.

"We know everyone's name in our lovely Upper Church Town. We've made it a rule to know. It helps with customers." He says. I'm still not buying it. I wander to the cycle I had seen in my dream. I ask him, "Has this been rented before? It looks different from the rest here."

"Yes actually. I think by a Sarah Bailey. She wasn't too happy with it." he says. So, my hunch was right.

"hmm, what do you think made her unhappy with it?" I ask.

"To be honest, I'm not sure." he says. I study him. He's wearing a sweatshirt with the same symbol I had seen that lady wearing before. That and jeans.

"What's that?" I ask, motioning to the black box behind the seat.

"Uh, that's, um, it's a sort of counter. It counts the number of miles you've cycled." he says.

"May I?" I ask, motioning to the box.

"Yes, just don't let anyone know that I let you open it." he says. I open it, I was right! The box is full of TNT! I look at Checkmate.

"Yes, um, uh, um, my boss is planning an extermination. A bug extermination. This type of TNT is harmless to humans, it just kills bugs." he says.

"Right, bugs." I say, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Yes. Just don't tell anyone." he says.

"I won't tell, if you don't tell." I say.

"What's there to tell?" he asks.

"I'm investigating my brother, Zach Holloway's, disappearance. I need you not to tell on me." I say, lying to him. There's a certain change in his face, as if he's about to cry.

"Sooo, what do you know about Sarah Bailey?" I ask.

"Oh yes, um, she was angry regarding the bug extermination or something. Then she went missing." he says.

"hmm. That's all for now. If I need more information, I'll come again." I say, turning to leave. He's definitely done it. Her disappearance is not public right now. He can't have known that she's missing unless he played some part. But something's wrong. When Sarah inquired about the TNT, he kidnapped her. How come he didn't kidnap me? There's something fishy about him. But, I will get to the bottom of it. For Sarah's sake, I will.