CHAPTER 23: TYRONE'S FOLLY
In the middle of what looked like a seemingly average marketplace in a small French town,Tyrone appeared to be walking around and talking to people in the hopes of finding out the directions to where the escaped inmates could have gone to,for the car saleswoman at the airport in Paris told him the most likely location where the escaped inmates may have headed off to,but unfortunately aside from reaching the French countryside,he didn't seem to be having too much luck finding the actual place the saleswoman told him about,and him talking to various people about it didn't make things any easier for him.
After yet another person couldn't seem to tell him the proper directions to the inmates' possible location,Tyrone hung his head and bitterly muttered to himself with gritted teeth "Damn it,I'm having no luck out here,maybe I should have asked that lady back there for some proper directions other than just going to the countryside. I could use a drink." before he tried to make his way toward the nearest bar for a drink only for a boy's voice to suddenly halt him "Excuse me sir,are you looking for something?" to which the man stopped in his tracks and turned around to see a boy with short auburn hair and a basket full of farm supplies and food in his hands,or better yet known to certain people as Pierre.
Tyrone wasn't too keen on talking to a kid out here or god forbid even asking for directions,but since he hadn't been having any kind of luck when it came to asking any adults for help,he felt that he didn't have anything left to lose as he reluctantly answered while he looked down at the boy "Well I definitely am looking for something,but it definitely ain't here at a marketplace,it's a place I need to be at." to which Pierre raised an eyebrow and politely offered in response "If you are having trouble with directions sir,I could maybe give you some,I do tend to know my way around the countryside." which resulted in Tyrone raising an eyebrow himself as he retorted "First I'd like to know this,what's a kid like you doing in a place like this without any parents by the looks of it?"
"I'm just picking up some stuff for my home and farm,it's only a little bit of a walk from here. Now what are YOU doing out here sir?" Pierre nonchalantly explained his reasoning for being out in the marketplace by himself along with a question of his own before Tyrone rolled his eyes and reluctantly obliged to answer "Well I guess I walked into that one,the name's Tyrone,I'm a private detective from the United States on a special assignment here. Apparently twenty one inmates have escaped from a federal prison in Minnesota and have likely come out here to hide,and I think I may know where they have exactly gone but I'm not having any luck with directions." to which Pierre nervously gulped and meekly replied "I suppose if you tell me where that place is,maybe I would know where to go from here."
Afterwards Tyrone could only keep himself silent for a few long moments before he looked up at the sky and nonchalantly stated "The Chateau Of Harmony." to which Pierre immediately felt his body tense up and his blood run cold after hearing that as he dropped his basket on the ground,and Tyrone was very quick to notice this in his peripheral vision as he looked down at the kid and questioned with concern "Hey kid,you feeling alright there?" which prompted the boy to frantically wonder "The Chateau Of Harmony sir? Is that what you said?"
"Yeah,what about it? Do you know the directions?" Tyrone nodded his head and calmly asked in response before Pierre quickly explained himself in a panic while he took out a map from his basket and began editing it with a spare pen he brought "Oh yes sir I do know,but some friends of mine have gone out to the chateau themselves earlier this morning,and if you're saying that these inmates are there,they could be in grave danger!" to which Tyrone gritted his teeth get again and quietly lamented to himself "Shit,this thing just got a lot more dangerous." before he calmly continued at a much audible volume "What are the names of your friends kid? If I can get to the chateau quick enough,I'll probably be able to save them."
"Charlie Brown, Freida, Linus, Eudora, Peppermint Patty, Franco, Marcie, Franklin, Claudia, Skylar, Lucy, Rebecca, Ed and Sally,as well as their dogs Snoopy, Andy, Olaf, Roger and Gracie." Pierre frantically told Tyrone the names of all his friends that were heading to the chateau as he finished editing his map and handed it over to the man before he continued "They told me before they left that they were gonna be staying at a hotel in a village past the forest where the chateau is,if they're somehow not at the chateau,then that's where they are." to which Tyrone sighed and calmly stated while he looked over the map "Then I guess I better hurry then,this is at least a three hour drive."
"Please help my friends if they're in any danger sir." Pierre fearfully pleaded on the verge of tears as Tyrone began to walk away to which the man gave a thumbs up and confidently reassured the boy "Don't worry kid,they'll be perfectly safe and sound before they even know it." before he was completely out of Pierre's sight and had left the boy in the marketplace by himself once again while the detective made his way through the crowd with the intent to head back to his car in the parking lot,unaware that a shadowy figure was now following him.
Once Tyrone had made it back to his car and placed his hand on the door handle,he would be suddenly cut off when he felt the cold front end of a revolver touch his back followed by what sounded like another man's very brash and beaten up voice quietly threaten "Just where do you think you're going Mr Detective? If you think you're gonna find my boss's hideout and drag her back to her cell,you got another thing coming." only for Tyrone to quickly lift him off his feet with a sweep kick before he hit the ground with a loud thud and lost grip of his revolver.
The thug wasn't even able to catch his breath for a single second before Tyrone lept on top of him and calmly threatened back while he pointed the thug's own revolver at his head "Don't monologue so much,it'll bite you in the ass if you ain't careful enough,so I'm gonna be a nice man and ask that you tell me your boss's plans along with where the other inmates are,or I'll make sure this whole parking lot looks like a suicide scene." before he maliciously clicked the gun and counted down "1. 2-" only for the thug to fearfully cower out and tell him the truth "Ok,ok,you got me,it's that kid Ed that boy told you about. My boss has been learning French from some of us ever since she got into prison,and had even managed to develop an artificial accent overtime. She's been keeping tabs on the boy the whole time she was locked up,and waited for just the right time for her along with twenty more of us to bust out with a prison riot. We took a lot of weapons from under their noses,stowawayed on a cruise ship and decided to hide out here,and she decided to lure him out to the chateau with a letter and a set of plane tickets so she can kill him there,and when she's done,she'll go after all those other friends of his too."
"Good,now answer this,why go through all this trouble to escape and do all this to a bunch of kids?" Tyrone gave off a devilish smirk and asked with a light chuckle to which the thug promptly answered due to the impending threat of him getting a bullet in his head "Revenge,revenge for what I don't know. She only told us that we could escape and be free if we followed her and didn't ask any questions,I'm just following orders here,but I guess I will say now that I've been caught,she plans to flee the country at an abandoned trainyard when it's all over,and all that I can ask now that I've been caught,is for you to take that bitch out. I never liked her that much anyway and just came along for the privilege to escape." all before Tyrone nonchalantly reassured the thug that he would "Don't worry,I will." which was followed up by him knocking the thug out with a smack of his gun.
After Tyrone had taken care of the thug and was now free to think the whole situation over,he put the revolver in his pocket and quietly lamented to himself "Oh boy,I now have the lives of even more kids on my hands,but this time I will keep them safe and not let any of them die. I can't just call the entire police force and have them storm the chateau,that'd be a dead giveaway to what we're doing,and I can't just barge into the chateau myself either,so I guess all that I can do now is go to that hotel." before he put the knocked out inmate in the backseat of his car and proceeded to get into the driver's seat himself,for his next destination was the kids' hotel.
NEXT CHAPTER: THE CHATEAU OF HARMONY
Author's Note
Have you correctly guessed who broke out yet? Like I said before anyone who can correctly figure it out will get a shoutout in the chapter they're revealed in.