CHAPTER 17: LOOMING DARKNESS

The kids continued to make their way throughout the French countryside just like the previous time,they're weren't any major hurdles or interruptions that had gotten in the way either,well except for their stomachs on the other hand since they hadn't eaten for hours and had to skip lunch in London due to their train leaving earlier than scheduled,and them just not being as used to some of England's food like they were with other places. It was a little bit past noon and the kids had since parked the car into the same French village they stopped at for food on their first trip,except that this time the car didn't nearly break down and the kids decided to take a look around town since they didn't have as much of a big time crunch,while the beagles, Woodstock and Herman would merely stay in the car to chat.

"Me and Ed are gonna head over to that weapon's shop over there." Rebecca happily announced as she and Ed pointed over to a medieval weapon's shop across the street before Linus promptly stated in response due to a slight sense of intrigue "I guess it wouldn't hurt if me and Eudora joined you,looking at medieval weaponry does have its visual benefits." to which Freida pointed over at a clothing store and announced "Me and Sally are going to check out that clothing store,France is somewhat well known for their fashion."

"I'll get us the bread from the bakery and wait for y'all in the car with them." Charlie Brown smiled and cheerfully stated as he pointed over to the nearby bakery to which Peppermint Patty looked around at the various buildings and enthusiastically announced "And I guess the rest of us will just look around town then,make sure you're able to have your share this time Chuck." before she, Franco, Marcie, Franklin, Claudia, Skylar and Lucy waltzed off into town,with Ed, Rebecca, Linus and Eudora going off to their destination shortly afterwards,all the while Charlie Brown blushed in embarrassment due to the sharp reminder.

"See you in a little bit sweetie. Don't ask to see what I may or may not be getting,it's gonna be a surprise." Freida sighed and happily swooned as she kissed Charlie Brown on the cheek to which the boy smiled and instantly obliged "Sure thing Freida,my lips will be sealed." to which the curly haired girl playfully winked at her boyfriend before she and Sally headed off to the clothing store followed up by the round headed boy making his way over to the bakery. Thankfully Charlie Brown was able to successfully get a large loaf of French bread from the bakery after about ten more minutes and didn't have it cause an allergic reaction or be cut in half due to the hood of the car like before.

"Ok Snoopy I got the-" Charlie Brown tried to announce as he carefully walked up to the passenger seat door with bread loaf in hand only for him to be cut off and caught off guard when the car suddenly moved up a little,which prompted the confused boy to blink a few times before he repeated himself "Snoopy I got the-" only for the same exact thing to happen again,only this time it was followed up by what sounded like giggling from the inside.

Charlie Brown at this point was starting to catch onto what was going on as he developed a look of frustration on his face and sternly announced as he tossed the loaf of bread into the open window and quickly got in "Snoopy I got the bread,and I think it's time that we go get everyone because we don't have all the time in the world to play around. Okay?" to which his dog shrugged his arms and reluctantly did so while the dogs immediately took turns taking a bite out of the loaf,making Charlie Brown roll his eyes at the sight as he meekly thought to himself "It's hard enough taking care of one dog at times,now I gotta deal with five including a wolf and a bird. Maybe I should have gotten four loafs."

Later on the kids had since gotten back on the road and were all eating some of the bread as Peppermint Patty jokingly remarked "Wow Chuck,I never thought you would have been able to keep your share this time. Remember how well it made the car run last time?" before Charlie Brown got red in the face yet again as he took off a small piece of bread and put it into the AC slot,which somehow caused some of the air flow to split off in multiple directions and apparently make everyone else cool in the process to which Lucy softly gasped and requested upon discovery "Ok please keep that thing in there because this is actually quite nice feeling."

"Well would you look at that,and I think you only meant that as a joke Patty." Franklin chuckled and happily stated in awe as he felt some of the cool air spray onto him before Ed took a deep breath and cheerfully remarked "Wow,Chuck right there is a miracle worker,imagine that of ALL things." to which everyone in the car started laughing at the display,even Charlie Brown couldn't help but find the situation a little funny in hindsight. Their trip so far was proving to be going quite smoothly so far,no hurdles,mishaps or danger to be found…...yet.

Meanwhile across the sea and back in the states,a 40's looking car had slowly pulled into the mostly empty parking lot of a federal prison in the state of Minnesota on a rainy,dark night,and a young,tall black man with a brown trenchcoat,round glasses and short hair came stepping out and quickly made his way into the prison. The man seemed to show no emotions or vulnerability whatsoever as he slowly walked past the numerous cells full of bloodthirsty men and women who had broken the law and ended up there as punishment. After about a few minutes of silent walking,the man seemed to have reached a black door at the end of a long hallway and opened it up to be met with the sight of an old man with short grey hair,square glasses and a black suit sitting at a desk in the middle of a dark room that was only illuminated by the yellow light of a lamp on his desk.

"Warden Freeman,I received a letter asking for my presence here. What's wrong?" The man calmly wondered as he promptly sat down in a chair before Freeman slowly pulled out a file from his desk and asked as he presented it to the man "Can you confirm that this is you sir? I just need to know for certain that you are the right person for this job." to which the man looked down at the file and politely answered "Yes. That's me."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear." The warden smiled and nonchalantly retorted is response while he lit a cigar in his mouth and continued as he took the file and began looking over it "It says here that you're name is Tyrone Watson. Ever since you were a kid you wanted to work for the law,just like your mother and father,and not too long after you joined the police force,you seemed to…...leave for personal reasons one winter night….right?" and it was then that flashbacks of a young girl and her grave began to ring in his head along with the words "MAMBA LOOK OUT!" and a gunshot before he snapped back to reality and somberly confirmed "Yes."

The warden then proceeded to blow out some smoke and continue as he put the cigar back in his mouth "But that didn't move you away from the law entirely now did it? A little while after,you became a private detective in that very same town,and you even tried to help out the people there during the fires from the…..terrorists known as The Lizard Ladies. Right?" to which Tyrone hung his head a little and meekly confirmed yet again "Yes that's me. Tyrone Watson." before the warden calmly retorted while he put away the file "Good,that's all I needed to know about you."

"If you know that much about me than you must know that I couldn't save that girl at the salvage yard,it was only AFTER the trigger was pulled that one of my squad mates could bring in the kid who killed her." Tyrone lifted his head back up and sternly asked out of guilt and confusion as the warden promptly explained himself in response "I have no one else who's willing to do this job,and it's an urgent job to boot. You're my last resort in this situation Tyrone." to which the detective sighed and reluctantly decided to take the job "Alright,I'll bite." which prompted the warden to calmly state his buisness "About a week ago at exactly 11:30 PM,there was a prison riot held in the main cell area of this prison. Many prisoners had gotten out of their cells and started a fight with many of the guards,and it got to the point where every guard in the building was called in to quell the ensuing chaos. Thankfully no one was severely injured and the prisoners were returned to their cells promptly."

"Ok so there was a riot,they happen all the time." Tyrone shrugged his arms and coldly tried to downplay the situation only for the warden to grit his teeth and continue much more firm "However it turns out that the very prisoner who started the riot may have set the whole thing up so they could escape under our noses,along with at least twenty more inmates as well. We believe that they may have taken a nearby cruise to France,since many guards reported that the main perpetrator was talking to other inmates about France before the jailbreak. We rounded them up,questioned them and told us exactly what we needed to hear." to which Tyrone sighed and lamented in response "Damn it. That's bad,and I take it you need me to go retrieve them?"

"Exactly. We are willing to offer you a reasonable payment for their retrieval. Dead or alive. This thumb drive should have all the info you need." The warden nodded his head and confidently confirmed Tyrone's suspicions while he gave him a thumb drive out of his desk to which the man merely stood up and began to make his way to the door while he calmly retorted "Give me the time I need. Twenty one inmates in France is a hefty ordeal,you know that." before he exited the office and slowly made his way back to his car.

"Margaux Holt. I may not have been able to save you from the bullet that night,but I promise that I'll do my best to do something right. Even it's not related to you in the slightest,I won't let you down." Tyrone thought to himself in determination as he started up his car and began to make his way toward the nearest airport,for France was his next destination.

NEXT CHAPTER: PIERRE THE FARM BOY

Author's Note: The first three people who can correctly guess the escaped prisoner's identity will get a shoutout in the chapter they're revealed in.