Bullet Train to Murder | ONC novella ✓

19 | save the trouble

Timeline: April 2022

"Nick, there's a lot of trouble here," Dane said, his voice moving with fear.

Nick was swiftly on his toes. "What happened? Are you all okay? "What about Paige?"

His pulse hammered in his chest as he considered the numerous possibilities of what had gone wrong.

Dane spoke quickly with nervous pauses as he detailed the scenario. Nick couldn't comprehend the amount of troubles this could bring about and attempted to come up with an idea immediately.

"Shoot," Nick blurted, "This is bad. Don't worry dad, I know someone who can help."

Nick paced around his room trying to think of the possible solutions.

Paige was always smart, even in his limited interactions with him over the years, he always knew he had a great potential. Who could possibly be behind this and why are they targeting their dad?

He knew he had to do something soon. For all he knew, he could be Paige's last hope.

Nick's fingers danced frantically across the laptop's keyboard, each keystroke echoing in the quiet room like rapid-fire gunshots. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the screen for any scrap of information that could help them solve the looming problem.

The blue light from the monitor bathed his face in a ghostly pallor, accentuating the furrowed brow and clenched jaw. He tapped his feet in an erratic rhythm on the floor, humming his favorite song cold rhythm to help him soothe his nerves

A name came across his screen: Miguel Locke. Nick looked into his profile, reading the details thoroughly before finally deciding to go forth with his plan.

He scribbled some notes on his notepad and decided to make the call.

-x-x-x-

Miguel Locke was chilling on his couch while watching Cinema Paradiso when his phone buzzed loudly, echoing through his silent home.

The contact said Unknown but there was no contact IP. Intriguing.

Who could it possibly be? He thought and picked up the call.

"If it isn't the famous detective of Mainland town. Good day, detective. I hope I am not troubling you in the midst of something important."

Miguel looked at his paused movie on the laptop screen then shook his head.

"Who is this?" Miguel asked in an alert tone.

"Call me Mr. Bingo. I have a case for you, if you are down for it."

"Listen, I have a lot on my plate already. I don't want to deal with another case now."

"Ah, the troubles of being a high profile. Knew this was coming."

"I hope this isn't some kind of prank." Miguel said, his lips zipped into a thin line.

"No, its not detective. Why would I play around when I didn't have anything on my hand."

"Fair enough. What's your case?"

Mr. Bingo detailed out the disappearance, leads and suspects regarding Paige. He was hoping he'd agree. Throwing another curveball his way wasn't going to be his strategy this time. At least not without thorough details.

He enjoyed playing with the human mind but wondered if he was taking it too far at times. The greatest technique, he discovered, to get someone to perform the task he wanted was to put something personal of theirs on the line.