Prologue
On this dark night, the clock was ticking until it struck twelve. During this time, a police superintendent was investigating a group of suspicious men. He was quite wary of them, for they all were carrying an irregularly large crate – too bulky for his taste – into a van on Marine Drive, North Vancouver. It occurred to him that the men were wearing black coats as well, another notion of great distrust. He got into his Toyota Corolla, a slick black one to match the time, and tailed them across the Lions Gate Bridge.
Hmm... They came all the way from Marine Drive to downtown Vancouver. What could they be up to? The superintendent thought, just before taking a mental note of where he was going as he crossed Lions Gate Bridge, driving up into an empty, ominous Stanley Park. No sounds could be heard at the moment, only the exhaust coming from the car and his very own breath.
He accelerated as he caught sight of the vehicle he was pursuing, pulled close to the van, and listened. The superintendent raised an eyebrow, realizing one miscalculation of theirs: they left the window slightly open, enough that he could make out a few mumbled voices.
"Okay, so here's what we do," started one of the voices. "We bring Sebring Six to the boss, detonate it in two weeks' time, and then Vancouver will be reduced to a crumpled heap of ashes."
"It's only Vancouver right?" he could hear the smirk in this voice. "Huh! I thought it'd be more devastating than that! But the boss can blow it whenever he wants!"
"We'll have to be quick though," the driver whispered. "We know CSIS and the Vancouver authorities know of our activities in the city. Let alone the..."
"Oh, just bring it to Port Vancouver will you?!"
"Wait a sec... isn't that..." he trailed off as he pointed towards the open window.
They turned their faces to the superintendent, who stared right back.
"GET HIM!" yelled the driver.
Unfortunately, the superintendent didn't have a dispatcher on him.
The superintendent sped up, thinking swiftly, I have to get the VPD immediately! Or else – But it was too late. A bullet, shot from a silenced gun, went through his neck. He was dead before he crashed into a nearby tree...
Chapter one
It was early spring. The weather was clear and sunny in Burnaby. Under normal circumstances it would have been a day to go shopping in Metrotown mall, watching a movie, or simply taking a walk in the park.
But these were not normal circumstances, as 500 RCMP constables from the city of Coquitlam (not to mention 400 from Burnaby) gathered to honor one of their fallen superintendents, who was assumed to have died in a car crash. But after investigation, it was found to be assassination.
One of the Coquitlam RCMP attending the funeral was, impossible as it may seem, a Canadian 16-year-old constable with dark brown hair that had one or two spikes at the very back and blue eyes. His name was Kellyn Fiore. At present, Kellyn couldn't bring himself to think of how the superintendent had died. Kellyn highly respected the superintendent because it was him who supported Kellyn to join the RCMP. It was quite a shock to him, as he heard the breaking news during the morning.
He moved his eyes to his co-worker; a girl with lighter brown hair than Kellyn's tied back into two spiky pigtails, ultramarine blue eyes, and green earrings. It was Kate Periphery, who also happened to be 16, a Canadian, and younger than Kellyn by a month (Kate was also the girl Kellyn cherished, but he would never tell her that). Kellyn guessed she was probably thinking the same thing.
"Pre-sent ARMS!" called the Coquitlam Chief Superintendent Stevenston. All the RCMP raised their arms in salute as the superintendent's coffin, clothed in a Canadian flag, was buried. An RCMP officer holding a trumpet, and a second officer holding bagpipes, were beginning to play their grieving tunes.
Afterwards, the RCMP slowly got into their police cars and drove away to their respective detachments, but for Kellyn and Kate...
"Kellyn! Kate!" called out Stevenston as the two of them were getting into their own police car.
"Look," said Stevenston. "I know this must be a surprise to you, but-"
"It's alright chief," Kellyn grimly replied. "I hope there won't be more officers killed in the future... ugh!" He was given a nudge by Kate.
"You keep talking like that, you might end up getting killed yourself!" she said.
"You know what I mean!" Kellyn said irritably as they were getting in their car.
Stevenston gave a little smile. He evenly said "Well, if you're done arguing I have a little job for you (Kellyn and Kate listened to him intently): remember that you're scheduled to teach safety skills at Pinetree Elementary School. Go!"
Before they left Stevenston had a small chat with Kellyn. "Our superintendent may be gone, but I'm sure he'd have liked you to keep this." He held out a small metal box.
Kellyn stared at it. Stevenston chuckled. "Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous. This is what used to be a lighter box he used in emergencies. It's very light, but its structure is so solid that not even a drill could get through. He carried it wherever he went."
Kellyn smiled and put it into his vest pocket. "All right, I'll see what I can do with it." Then they departed.
"Come on, do we HAVE to go there?!" said Kate. "I mean, we have to teach safety skills over and over and-"
Kellyn remained silent. Sure, he saw Kate as the prettiest girl he ever knew, (not to mention that they were friends since they were five) but he never liked it when Kate became so irritated. She had been talking for ten minutes straight when they turned onto Highway 1! It wasn't until they turned onto Lougheed Highway (a road leading to Coquitlam and pronounced low-heed) that Kate finally stopped talking.
Finally, on one of the residential areas in Coquitlam, Kellyn and Kate pulled over to Pinetree Elementary School. After they entered the specific classroom, they began teaching. Though Kate was a little nervous at speaking, she had the courage to do so. She had no choice; Kellyn was drawing on the board!
Kate talked a lot about 'what-to-dos' and 'what-not-to-dos.' Kellyn frantically drew and drew to keep up with what Kate was saying. It wasn't until a little long pink-haired girl raised her hand after the lesson.
"Anything you'd like to know?" Kate asked.
"Yep! Is Kate your girlfriend Kellyn?" she asked. The entire class gave a big "Oooooh..." Kate turned around so that Kellyn couldn't see she was blushing.
"Class, I think that's a little personal..." the teacher began, but Kate raised a hand to politely silence her.
"W-well, uh, y-you see..." Kellyn's face went a little red. "Kate's my co-worker, but we are in the same grade you know." Kellyn looked at Kate "Bottom line, though, we're just friends. That's all."
"Whatever," said the pink-haired girl, "I'll still call her your girlfriend until you admit it!"
Kellyn was about to speak when Kate's cell phone rang out. It was one of the local patrol officers.
"Hello?" Kate spoke to it quietly.
"This is an RCMP patrol. The word's out that the Vancouver Police are holding a must-know briefing in an hour. All police municipalilites in the Lower Mainland are to attend, or listen to it."
"Okay, we'll be right there shortly."
Kellyn looked at Kate, confused.
"What's going on?" whispered Kellyn.
"(Sigh), the VPD's holding a briefing in downtown. The RCMP's to join." Kate muttered. "It's got to be urgent," she started to head out of the classroom.
"Okay, see ya!" Kellyn shouted to the speechless children.
Heading for downtown; the two of them drove down Highway 1, exited on First Avenue, and headed to the VPD center on Cambie Street. Where the VPD spokesperson and Stevenston shook hands and began to speak.
A press conference went on after the briefing.
"...as everyone should know, there have been series of smuggling activity in Canada lately from the criminal organization GSI," said Stevenston. "However, within the past week most of the GSI's activities have been intensely focused on Vancouver. This cannot go unnoticed. Therefore a warrant has been issued for the entire country for the GSI's arrest. The RCMP and the VPD will investigate the GSI activity in Vancouver. Roadblocks will be set on highways until their capture. They will range through the entire province including areas such as Prince George and the Lower Mainland."
"Excuse me, Mr. Stevenston. About to this morning's breaking news..."
"Ah, yes. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has reason to believe that the GSI are connected to the death of last night's shooting. Because of this, the GSI are to be considered extremely dangerous. To the public: it should be noted that they are known to wear black coats that cover them entirely..."
The briefing went on for two hours. When they had concluded, Kellyn and Kate went back to Coquitlam to a Starbucks on Lougheed Highway. Kate ordered a hot chocolate for herself and another for Kellyn. While sipping their drinks Kate asked. "Anything on the GSI?"
Kellyn put down the Province newspaper he was reading. "No, the only thing so far is the shooting of the superintendent. I'll expect more news tomorrow," he turned to the sports pages.
It seemed like a casual day, if not for the funeral they had just attended.
A minute later Kate stood up, appearing alert. "Hang on, do you hear that?"
Kellyn did hear it. It was the sound of a roaring engine, mixed with the sound of crashing, gunfire and the screaming of civilians. The only thing he could do was follow Kate outside.
Kate looked around and there it was; Lougheed Highway completely covered in damaged, broken, or destroyed cars. In the midst of it all the chaos, there was an erratically-driving SUV who didn't seem to care for the safety of the civilians.
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