"What was so important you forced me to take the first flight here?" A burly man in his late 40's took off his hat and hung it by the door. The sun shown bright and early the next day as the four of us waited in Chase's apartment. "Which, by the way, was an hour after midnight."
"You," he pointed at Chase. "Have some explaining to do."
His skin was the colour of chocolate, his eyes dark. He had a small white beard too.
"Chief." Daniel greeted him with a firm handshake. "Good to see you again."
"The boy who passed the EST's with flying colours." Chief Inspector Anderson smiled. Then he turned to Chase. "And the boy who copied all his answers."
Chase coughed. "I believe you haven't met Kylie and Maya yet." He introduced us.
He smiled at Maya in greeting, but when he turned to me, a flash of recognition sparked through his eyes. "You're..."
"Zachary Brien's stepdaughter." I shook his hand. "Wow, I didn't know I was that famous."
He laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, it's my job to know Zachary Brien." He said.
He sat down on the couch, and each of us took a seat. Since there wasn't enough space, Chase dragged a chair from the dining table and flipped it around, resting his chin on the back.
"Now I understand neither of you are in the best of situations." He said. From his briefcase, he pulled out a notepad. "Someone want to tell me what the hell's going on?"
When neither of us spoke, he sighed audibly. "Okay, for a minute there, let's pretend I'm your shrink, okay? Each of you tell me what's going on, through your own eyes."
He pointed at Daniel. "You go first."
Daniel gulped. "Why me?"
"Cuz it would save Chase a chance to lie. Plus I trust you."
Daniel's eyes flickered to me and Maya, then turned to Chase. A look passed between them.
"Okay." He sighed. "Since you already know our... previous affiliation to Downtown,"
"Previous?" I squeaked. "Mind elaborating?"
Daniel let out a breath.
Chief Inspector Anderson said, "These two.. got in a whole lot of trouble back in Chicago. And Chase, well, he was known for a certain reputation. UFL tried to recruite him, and so the affiliation."
"UFL?" Maya asked.
"That's the official name for downtown." Daniel explained. "United Fronts Liberation."
"Like a political party?" Maya frowned.
The chief licked his dry lips. "Exactly."
"But if they're a political party... Why haven't we ever heard of them?"
"The government makes sure they're kept well away from the media's eyes. They're not very..." He searched for the right words. "Liberal."
"How ironic." Chase pressed his lips together.
"Wait... this is crazy. You're telling me a political party is doing all this? Going around killing, and threatening to kill people?"
"The political party is just a cover up." He said. "It's run by mafia, and what we believe is to be a terrorist group--"
"So why doesn't the media portray them negatively, rather than not portray them at all?"
"All that would be doing is causing more havoc and panic." The chief replied. "Our infrastructure is already lower in the ranks, and half the states make less than 30k dollars a year. And don't even get me started about the increase in crime rate... sorry, Daniel, please continue."
YOU ARE READING
Burning Willow
Teen Fiction"You were the moon. All this time. And he was always there to make you shine." "Was he the sun?" "No, honey, he was the darkness." ××× A murder. A victim. A killer on the loose. A businessman's beautiful daughter. And a boy on the run. She w...
