Annie made a right onto Cadbury Avenue, which was quite a contrast to Flanders Drive with lawns overrun with weeds, old and unused cars here and there and many of the houses were in the dire need of repairs. Dennis lived at the end of the avenue, his house was small and also needed painting but at least his lawn was somewhat well manicured. His excuse for not painting the house was that he did not have the time. Dennis had said that he was an architect, which kind of makes sense, an architect could be too busy building other people's homes and not his. Annie never understood why that neighbourhood though but she had only known him for seven months.

Kevin on the other hand was a member of a special unit of the CIA that dealt with drug trafficking, human trafficking and even overseas hostage situations involving American citizens. Annie had suspected that the lesser-experienced member was the one named Darrel who Kevin had often said lacked some sense but he had hired him because he was good at negotiating and he was also quite agile and had a lot of experience out in the field, apparently not enough though. He also was the kind of person who one does not want to mess with which especially helped in interrogations.

Annie pulled up in front of Dennis' and honked twice. She sighed once more. Now that she had seen the neighbourhood by day she now began to wonder about Dennis. Why did she even let it get this far? She was glad that at least they had not gone too too far. She also began to wonder if Allison was on to something. She noticed how edgy Allison was. Allison kept looking from mirror to mirror as if she was an officer on a stake out or as if she was being followed by a suspicious vehicle. At every noise she heard she jumped. Annie felt really badly for her, she wished that she did not have to bring her in this kind of neighbourhood.

Dennis came out of his house carrying three pieces of luggage, not even Annie, a fashion fanatic had packed that much. He had looked really funny trying to carry the three suitcases, especially the hot pink one and he was trying to drag all three at once to boot. Annie popped the trunk and motioned for Allison to get in the back. Allison did not care so long as Dennis stayed away from Marilyn and Shawn. Dennis shut the trunk and hopped in the front.

"Trying to show off your manliness huh?" joked Annie.

Dennis flexed his muscles and Annie and Shawn giggled. Allison did not though she was curious as to what was in those suitcases and for the first time she noticed the tattoos on his biceps. During the last few days of school at her high school she had attended seminars which dealt with gangs and violence. She had been shown some of the symbols of the more active gangs in the little town of Lynx. Allison had inherited her father's passion for crime fighting. She was sure that she had seen that symbol before but she dismissed the thought as she figured her mother was smarter than that.

Annie started the engine and drove off. A few seconds later the Optra's engine began to splutter and the car slowed and eventually came to a stop.

" Shit! Sorry kids, I just can't bloody well believe it." Annie popped open the bonnet and hopped out the car slamming the door behind her. "Sorry again, but I got this car serviced Tuesday. What day is it?"

"Thursday." replied Dennis.

"Right, that was two days ago. I don't understand it, every time I buy a car be it a Toyota, Hyundai, Suzuki even a bloody well Mercedes, some shit always happens to it.'

Dennis inspected the engine and found something…it had a spotted surface…he took it out. It was a harmless baby snake. Annie shrieked, yes she was a country girl but she had always feared snakes. Three decades back, she and her older brother were taking a walk in the woods when a poisonous snake bit him; it had slipped off into the bushes not giving them a chance to identify it. Her brother Andre was too weak to go back home as the poison had weakened him. Annie ran back to her folks as quickly as she could and as her dad was a doctor there was no need to call one. She, her father and her mother ran as quickly as they could to where Andre lay but when they had gotten there he had succumbed to the poisonous venom. From that day on Annie had this terrible fear of snakes venom or no venom.

" Happens around here all the time. It probably got in the engine while you were waiting on me." Dennis informed her.

"Oh! I thought I had seen something in the road." Marilyn said excitedly. Almost every time she had opened her mouth to speak what ever came out was said in a very excited manner. Annie remembered that Kevin was once like that.

"Start her up!" shouted Dennis " She should be working"

Annie did as he asked, she always did as she had felt obliged to him as he had helped her through a very tough time in her life. The engine started up as normal and Dennis shut the bonnet. Annie told him that he should drive, as she was still a bit shuck up by the snake. He did as she asked and they drove off.