Author's Note: Hi. It's been a while. I sincerely apologize for how long it took to get this chapter out, as a bunch of IRL stuff came in unexpectedly. Nevertheless, I hope you're enjoying the story, and with that said, enjoy!
Chapter 31: Mastermind
Meanwhile, at Cassie's personal residence, everyone was absent with the exception of her. With a lack of things to do, she spent her time watching sci-fi movies, while having a curiosity regarding something on the desk of her father. Something Cassie always took notice of, but never discussed with her father, was a document that he'd always type information in.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Cassie decided to pause the movie for the current moment, and go to her father's personal laptop. The laptop opened to reveal that she needed to enter a password, as her father had logged out of said laptop earlier. Luckily for Cassie, her father had always informed her that the password was the birth month, year and name of her mother, respectively.
Bypassing the password requirement, Cassie now had access to everything on the laptop. However, the main concern of hers was what that document contained. She scans through each tab on the window to find it, but she finds nothing. Trying to figure out where it could be, Cassie accidentally minimized the window; but to her surprise, she finds the entire document.
Cassie then began reading the contents of the document to herself.
"Week 3, Day 3.
I honestly hope that Blair never finds out what we are actually doing here in Peach Creek."
Cassie immediately raised an eyebrow at that sentence, before she then continued reading.
"Jane, if we ever meet, I will make sure you feel all the worst pain imaginable. So you can live with the knowledge that you caused the most complicated circumstances for my daughter.
Today, I plan to find some extra hands to assist us in our plans, as while I trust my daughter, Nolan and Ezekiel, I am concerned that we will not have enough power to deal with these nuisances that Cassie has mentioned. I believe there's someone that I can hire from the group I used to be in back then. Namely, Taven, an expert with weaponry that should logically render them incapacitated, at least until the remainder of our plans proceed. He appears to be willing, as long as I do my part in assisting with him necessities he may require. I already plan for him to have his own spot in the bottom floor, just need to organize the space, and he should be good to go."
"Yet another person in coming in here?! Father has lost his mind completely, that's the last thing we need!" said Cassie out loud, before she continued reading.
"Nolan and Ezekiel will come with me today to go have a conversation with him regarding his involvement with usand the entire operation. Should everything proceeded as planned, Nolan's creation of weaponry we can use shall accelerate by a considerable amount. Certainly hope he takes full advantage of this..."
At the bottom of the entry, Cassie found what appeared to be an extra afterthought idea written down by her father.
"Once we've hired Taven, we shall make our way to acquire extra supplies, and later on, we shall meet someone named Akira, talented armor and weapon smith. He shall create the perfect trifecta to our weapons makers, but I get the feeling he'll require some convincing. Not to worry, I shall give him a reason to come join us."
"Oh I don't like this..." said Cassie.
Unfortunately, that's the end of all the details that her father had wrote down for today. The only other thing Cassie found was information regarding Akira's address. Figuring that the two people that her father had predominantly mentioned throughout the entry are important, Cassie makes that her next update for the group. Cassie immediately went to get her phone, and texted the group regarding the new information. The text read as follows:
"Okay, heads up. Father is recruiting two new people to this entire group. According to notes he wrote down, one of them is an expert with weaponry that incapacitates, and another who appears to be a transitional smith with weapons and armor. There's even an address that might be worth investigating. I don't know when they'll arrive to Akira's address, but maybe you guys could find something there? It's not too far..."
Cassie sent the text, and took note of the clock reading 10 AM, and patiently waited for someone from the crew the respond to the new information. Unfortunately, the fact that everyone had gathered around for the same purpose at the Kanker's trailer had made a response appear unlikely for a while; as did the fact that Hilde was occupied aswell. However, to Cassie's surprise, after a minute or so, she noticed that Kenji was calling her.
Cassie quickly answered the call, with a very tiny hint of a beaming feeling running through her mind.
"Hey Kenji, good morning to you." said Cassie, waking around the room.
"Greetings Cassie, good morning to you aswell. Are you doing well?" responded Kenji.
"Yeah, everything's okay here. My father departed with everyone else around half an ago to do the things I just sent over." stated Cassie.
"I just read it. Unfortunately, I don't believe right now is the best of moments to further discuss this, as currently I am at the Kanker's residence, due to an invitation for a family gathering. I had to ask for a quick moment outside to answer your call." said Kenji.
"Whoa, really? What's the reasoning behind the gathering?" asked Cassie, curious.
"To keep it straightforward, the Kanker family had reunited in the recent days, which marked a turning point for them." explained Kenji briefly.
Cassie's eyes widened at that statement.
"Wow, that's good to hear. It's too bad that it had be now of all times, damn." said Cassie.
"Indeed, but now is more advantageous than it being belated. Nevertheless, while we can't examine in immense detail the situation regarding this individual who specializes in craftsmanship, what do you think should be our course of action?" asked Kenji.
"Well, here's the thing, I noticed that my father thinks that the guy they're hiring will be somewhat reluctant to join, so he's gonna resort to some method he has in mind to convince him." stated Cassie. "Therefore, I think we should make an attempt to head on over to him, and ensure he will not aid my father."
Kenji wondered for a moment how practical this idea would be. He then came to his decision.
"A reasonable plan on paper, but the main concern I'd like to bring up would be where this individual resides." said Kenji.
"Not to worry Kenji, father was very helpful to us in that regard, as he wrote down the guy's address, which is around 5 minutes or so from here, should you take a car ride." stated Cassie, as she pulled up Kenji's contact info to send him the address.
Kenji received the notification, and was impressed by Cassie's attention to any and all clues.
"Thank you very much. But I can't promise I'll be able to depart in time to convince him otherwise." said Kenji.
"Whoa whoa there champ!" said Cassie, alarmed at Kenji's statement. "First of all, do not go alone, bring at least one other person with you, as if you encounter the group of four there, it's unlikely you'll make it. Second of all, relax. My dad is occupied with employing someone else right now, but he plans on heading on over to that location later. I'd suggest arriving there at around 1 PM."
Kenji thought to himself how exactly he'd manage to pull this off wouldn't resorting to deceptive practices; as explaining this to his friends was going to be anything but an easy task. But at the same time, he doesn't want to lie; honesty being of utmost importance to him.
"Seems as though you've planned it out throughly." said Kenji, taking a deep breath. "I shall depart at around 12:15 PM from this gathering with someone who'd be willing to ameliorate the situation. Once we've established what this individual's answer is, I'll contact you."
"Thank you. Also, the individual's name is Akira, just to save confusion!" said Cassie.
"Roger that. I should get back to my friends, as they will most likely question what I've been preoccupied with." stated Kenji.
"It's okay, save this for when it's time. I'd like to join you guys, but I don't have a way to know when my father will be returning, and if he were to find out I was missing..." said Cassie, before being interrupted by Kenji.
"Pardon my interruption, but not to worry, I understand completely your circumstances." responded Kenji.
"Thanks Kenji. But the person I'm worried most about is mom, this situation is going to cause such a bad rift within the family, because no matter how it ends, she'll refuse to believe it." said Cassie.
Kenji, letting his curiosity get the best of him, decided to ask why.
"Why is this the case? Is it due to her unwilling to give credence to the authenticity of your statements?" asked Kenji.
"No, it's not that she'll not believe it." stated Cassie, chuckling a bit. "It's that she'll find it hard to believe that her husband went on an adventure to retrieve a daughter that was had before her, and what he did to get her back. Like I said, regardless of how this ends, I dread for her reaction."
"Cassie, I shall apprise you that no matter what we must do, we intend to do whatever is necessary to protect both you, and the missing daughter. That being said, while acknowledging the plausible environment in our hands, we shall acclimate ourselves to any and all possibilities." stated Kenji.
Cassie initially stood slightly confused at Kenji's statement, but realized that he simply meant he'll do what it takes.
"Thank you Kenji, I appreciate it deeply." said Cassie.
"For the current moment, please keep yourself safe, that's the top priority right now. We shall converse later, alright?" explained Kenji to Cassie.
"Okay, see you later, and remember! Convince Akira to not take part, and you'll be good!" responded Cassie, before the call hangs up.
From Cassie's perspective, she silently prayed that Kenji was serious about recruiting someone else to help him; as an encounter with her father is something she wants him to be prepared for. However, as she sat back on the chair, she cursed herself for not considering the unpredictability of when her father would actually arrive to the residence of Akira. In the end, it's all going to be reliant on luck.
The idea of craftsmanship give Cassie a thought in her mind, which made her wonder where her father would store the supplies to everything. This reminds Cassie of the hidden floor beneath the entrance that her father had always told her about, in the event of an emergency. However, she has never physically been there, something that is about to change.
Cassie put on her shoes, and began making her way downstairs. The entrance to the secret bottom floor was a trapdoor that was near the chimney. However if someone were to spot it from a distance, they'd have to pay close attention to the details. Since Cassie was directly on top of it, that wasn't necessary for her. She lifts up the handle to open it, and it had a 3 feet ladder directly planted to the wall, which led to a staircase. Naturally, Cassie climbed down the ladder, and went downstairs, to find a sight that made her get a electric feeling in her spine.
The secret room was surprisingly chilling in regards to its general temperature, but Cassie wondered how this was the case. Nevertheless, what surprised her most was how large the room was; able to contain seven large, square-shaped boxes in the middle area. Cassie turned on the light switch to her left, in order to better illuminate the area.
Once she got more clarity for the room, she went on over to the boxes, and found various different supplies; batteries, wires of various sizes, wire extensions, several varieties of metal scraps, working tools, and so on. Clearly, it was a larger scale operation than Cassie realized.
Another thing that catches Cassie's eye is a wooden trapdoor located near a wall, marked with an exclamation mark on top. Cassie presumed this is the secret exit for the residence, but ultimately decided to keep her attention focused on other things. Mainly, what on earth could her father and his friends be planning with all these scarp parts inside the boxes?
In order to save time, she brought out her phone, and took a handful of photos of everything the boxes had contained. Once done, she ran up the stairs and ladder as fast she could, and shut the trapdoor that led inside the room. Luckily for Cassie, she had merely only glanced at everything that was inside, which rendered the odds of her father finding any evidence of her presence inside nonexistent.
Cassie ran inside her room, slightly panting a bit from her quick sprint; but nevertheless, she acknowledged that her curiously paid off. She'd plan to send out the photos later, as she needed to ensure that her partners weren't in a situation where it was very unfitting.
To keep herself occupied, Cassie decided to write down in her notebook some of her thoughts.
"Awesome, father has a bunch of crap in a secret hidden floor within the building. What has my life come down to... investigations with people I'm practically forced to rely on... actually wait. I wouldn't say forced. They all seems like reliable people, but it's just utter insanity to believe that I'm trusting them more than my own father now." wrote Cassie, groaning in annoyance at the last sentence she had writtendown.
"How can this even be happening? How can compete strangers be more trustworthy than HIM?! This shouldn't be possible at all. But... he's done nothing now to earn any of my trust, his whole quest for revenge is going to lead us down a path of utter chaos, I just know it." wrote Cassie.
"Speaking of chaos, whatever Kenji and his friends decide to do, I hope they do NOT encounter my father. If they're caught, I can't even begin to imagine what he'll do to them. The fact that father shall have extra hands along with him will only make matter worse. Seriously hope he'll be okay." wrote Cassie, before looking up and silently praying.