Puzzles: The Missing Piece

Chapter 13: Oh shoot, duck!

I was woken up by the sound of a news helicopter hovering above the mansion. It was the next day. A few police officers were still in the area. Garry and I decided to doze off outside, on the lawn. After packing a few things like clothes and toothbrushes, we decided to go to a near swimming pool to take a shower in the locker room. Before we went there, Mr Caine gave us money. Then, we decided to walk there. It was only a few blocks from the house.

When we arrived, there wasn't a single person there. We were so early that we had to wait a few minutes until the swimming pool is open. When it was opened, we headed straight to the reception counter inside. We told them we wanted to use the showers. Luckily, after discussing with the manager, the let us use the showers.

While I was in the shower, my body felt warm. The hot shower relieved me from all the stress that I had. A few minutes later, I stopped showering. Then, I put on my clothes. I was wearing a signature black Smile More hoodie. Under that, I was wearing a bright red t-shirt that had The Flash's logo in the middle. I also wore a pair of grey jeans, with Nike sneakers. There was a mirror in the shower room. I looked at myself. I felt fresh. When I was packing my stuff, Garry was done. He was wearing a jacket similar to mine but with a button shirt underneath. He was wearing black jeans and a pair of Converses.

After that, we thanked the staff and went outside. We decided to eat breakfast. We found a cool coffee shop called 'Chew-mocha's Star Cafe'. When we went inside, lots of people were already there. Mostly all of them were either on their phones or on their laptop screens. Typical. We walked to the barista and ordered our drinks. I got a caramel macchiato while Gary was having an espresso. We also ordered a few bagels and muffins. Everything was peaceful. Well, kind of. I started thinking about the events that occurred the other night. I quickly took out my laptop and viewed a few images I took when we were at the crime scene.

"How did you manage to save the photos to your laptop from your DSLR camera in such short notice?" he asked me.

"SD card," I told him as I was about to sip my drink.

"Oh, yeah," he said. He ruffled his blonde hair. "Why do I ask stupid questions?" he said to himself

While Garry was busy investigating the photos I took on the crime scene, I was distracted by a girl, probably around my age, walked out of the bathroom. The reason I was staring at her was because she looked very familiar. She went and sat back at her table on the opposite side of the room.

Suddenly, two men walked into the shop, armed with firearms. The were wearing masks. We couldn't see their faces. People started to panic and scream. The first robber who walked in fired his handgun into the ceiling. The room immediately became silent.

"Now, listen!" shouted the robber. I guess he's the leader. "I want all of you to give everything that is valuable to my colleague!" he continued as he was pointing to the other robber. Everybody obeyed. Nobody dared to do anything, well, except for me and Garry. I folded my laptop and put it back in my bag. While I was doing that, Garry was calling the authorities with his phone in his pocket. Luckily, the police heard the robber saying, well, things involving crime.

A few minutes later, we heard sirens. We looked out the window. Three police cars were rushing towards the cafe. The police officers stopped. Immediately, the police had the place surrounded. They ordered the criminals to surrender. Unfortunately, they were clever. They grabbed somebody from the crowd and pointed their guns the hostage's head. The police lowered their guns.

"This life," he told the cops, as he pointed his gun to the hostage, "For me and my friend's freedom!" he shouted. The hostage, which was a middle-aged woman, was crying.

"Please let me go!" she said, tears escaping her eyes. The criminal ignored her.

"Fine!" shouted the lead cop whom I recognised was the woman who let us entered the crime scene last night, Detective Stacy. "Release her!" she commanded the criminal. He released her. The woman immediately ran to the cops. They helped her calm down. The criminal, however, pulled out his gun and shot a policeman.

"EVERYBODY DUCK!" I yelled. My throat hurt.

Seconds later, bullets were flying everywhere. Everybody was on the floor, scared, except for the police and the two criminals. Unfortunately, a girl was lying in the middle of the gunfire. Garry saw her. Without thinking, he stood up and ran to help the girl. When I saw this, I cursed under my breath.

Garry ran for his life. While the girl was trying to escape, he jumped and pushed her to the side, both of them falling to the ground. Garry was helping the girl.

He looked at her face, "Are you okay-" he stopped.

"Graxz!" she said, shocked.

"Katy!" replied Garry with a sour expression.