The following morning...
Saturday, June 24th
11:00 GMT-7 (19:00 GMT June 24th)
Los Angeles
Safehouse C
Sky was getting annoyed.
"Stop fussing, Maddie!"
"You looked after me when I got shot."
"I know, but I only got slashed – you could only use one arm," Sky responded.
Maddie grimaced. She had seen the wound when Sky had been checked over by Erika. Her combat suit had prevented anything major, but there was still a gash across Sky's stomach which had bled, but not badly. Erika had applied sutures and then a medical dressing before wrapping it all in a bandage and giving Sky something to help her sleep the night before.
"It's bad enough having the scar I got in France but now I have another, bigger one!" Sky moaned. "How will I look in a bikini now?"
Maddie laughed at the absurdity of Sky's comment. But she was very aware of the physical pain Sky felt and she was also aware that Chrissy also felt the same pain in a psychological way. Maddie could never fully understand the relationship between the twin sisters, but she knew that it existed and was extremely strong. It was a bond which worked on many levels and allowed the pair to communicate and understand when the other was suffering. It was that bond which had helped the pair to survive Urban Predator and it continued to help the two girls in their new life. Despite the early beginnings, Maddie had found herself caring for the two older girls – they had helped her become who she was in a short space of time. They trusted her with their lives when they were out on the streets and she trusted them. To Maddie, the errant twins were like sisters. Indeed, her errant brother, Connor, also saw them as two more big sisters for him to annoy – a fact which was grating on Erika – but at least the boy had two male role models: James and Kieran, for when he was fed up with female company.
That was another problem unto itself: Connor. Somehow, he would need to learn why he was farmed off to stay with Mollie some evenings, or was left with somebody to babysit him while everybody else vanished for several hours. The boy was getting curious and that, Maddie knew, could only end in disaster for everyone. On top of that, Maddie was certain that Kristen suspected that something was not right and Maddie had done her utmost to avoid conversations that involved Maddie's nocturnal activities. Maddie was very proud of what she was doing, but she knew that not everyone supported vigilantism, and Kristen was one of them, along with her mother. It was going to be a challenge to maintain their cover as things began to heat up around Los Angeles. Then there was Cara who was the daughter of a woman who was arguably the number two for their number one criminal target. Rosa Müller was a conundrum with a dark past, but one which was shrouded in mystery which simply meant that they had no idea if Rosa was innocent of wrongdoing or a culpable flunky of Dieter Mannheim.
Cara was Maddie's best friend, as was Kristen, and Maddie did not want to lose either one of them should they find out who she really was and what she did.
..._...
Elsewhere in the safehouse, another girl was nursing her wounds.
Her body ached with all the bruises that it had acquired during her bounce down the staircase at the Aon Center the previous night. Thankfully, her combat suit had cushioned her fall and protected her head from anything more than a minor concussion.
"Did that fall knock some sense into you?" Nicholas asked.
"Not a big enough bang," Guinevere countered.
Juno scowled at them both as she pouted, but she did not take the ribbing to heart as she knew that they meant well and that they were worried about her. As for Logan, he was smirking at his girlfriend, but inside he had been very worried that she might have been badly hurt.
"You, young lady," Erika said as she walked in the door, "are off operations for a few days."
"I'm okay," Juno tried.
"Not happening," Guinevere pointed out.
"What she said," Logan agreed.
Juno groaned as she laid back on her pillow.
"It's only for a few days, Juno," Erika grinned. "The bruises might take a little longer to fade, though."
"Great!"
"You'll be able to sit with Maddie and help us when we're out on the streets," Nicholas reasoned.
"You'll have Sky for company as well," Erika added.
"I thought you were meant to be making me feel better."
Erika laughed.
..._...
On top of everything, Erika was facing a potential mutiny.
Carnivora was now an enemy of Fusion, by majority vote at least. The unknown creature had stepped over an invisible red line when she had slashed Bane and injured Lilim. Everyone wanted the creature's blood, but Erika knew that Carnivora was not the enemy; she was an unknown, but she was not the enemy in her mind. An ancient proverb came to mind:
The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror's territory is termed the enemy.
The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).
or, as it is more simply known:
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Erika had no desire to fight a battle on two fronts, so antagonising Carnivora did not help anything, but allowing the creature to wantonly kill whomever it wanted was not going to fly.
That night...
20:18 GMT-7 (04:18 GMT June 25th)
Mulholland Drive
When in Los Angeles, Dieter Mannheim lived in a multi-million-dollar pad on Mulholland Drive – not all that far from where Team San Diego lived in Safehouse G, to be honest.
The property had a stunning view to the north over Van Nuys from the gated compound which consisted of three properties of which Dieter's was the one at the western end. Whilst the property was not huge, it was innocuous and very secure. Dieter felt that he had no need to show off with a flash over-the-top property, especially when he hosted those who preferred to remain out of the limelight – such as those present at his home that night. His guests were Anton Renke and Gunther Schmidt, his Chief Operations Officer and Head of Security, respectively. Rosa had not been invited as the content of the meeting was above her paygrade by quite some margin, but she knew what it was all about, all the same. Rosa was not offended, and to be honest, any excuse to avoid spending time with Renke and Schmidt in the same room was always to be welcomed.
Dieter waved his subordinates into the spacious, double-height living room, where he handed each a generous amount of expensive bourbon poured into a crystal glass loaded with cubed ice. The three powerful men were not alone. Arrayed around the property, inside and out, forty-four mercenaries of the Panther Brigade were on patrol to protect those three men. The attack on the Aon Center was very fresh in their minds and would be a topic of discussion amongst others that night.
"Who the hell would dare attack us?" Schmidt asked.
"It was reported as a creature wearing body armour and highly skilled in close quarters battle," Renke advised. "It has to be that Carnivora – the same creature who screwed up our operation in San Diego, earlier this year."
"Have we found out much about this Carnivora?" Dieter asked.
"Not a great deal – Rosa has dug deep but there is not much on this creature who only appears to have come into existence in the past few years," Renke confirmed.
"Any relation to Fusion?" Schmidt asked.
"Definitely not – Fusion appeared, last night, and fought the creature, forcing it to retire," Renke sneered at his colleague. "We lost a lot of very good people and it is not going to be easy explaining this all away for the LAPD, I can tell you."
"They are getting too close," Schmidt said. "Our men in the Mediterranean have not been heard from and then there's the reports of Russian aircraft fighting with the British near to the facility. Things are beginning to come apart."
"Have your men recovered that bitch's data device yet?" Dieter growled.
"That did not go well. We recovered part of the data, but it turned out to be a plant, and..."
"And...?" Dieter prompted his subordinate.
"The device launched a virus which has caused havoc in our European datacentre..."
"WHAT!"
"We were able to block the virus before it crossed the Atlantic," Schmidt offered swiftly.
"The girl?"
"Gone."
Dieter swore foully.
Not all that far away...
The creature moved with purpose, keeping to the shadows.
The dark green, mottled effect combat suit meant that when in the shadows, the creature was all but invisible. It helped that it was not the creature's first visit to the home of Dieter Mannheim, so every shadow, every overhang which might conceal her movements from the large security contingent onsite, was critical to success and sought after. With three extremely powerful men present at the property, the security force was equally large with thirty-two men and women present on the grounds and a dozen more close by. Some might have been scared off by such an army – which was the idea – but not Carnivora. As the assassin moved in from the east end of the gated compound, she ignored the gates as she took advantage of the house at the eastern end of the compound which had a lower level of security than Dieter's own property at the western end. Carnivora easily compromised the woeful security protecting the rear wall and she gently slid to the ground and drew her crossbow, ensuring that a bolt was in place and another was ready to be loaded. She pulled back and locked the mechanism ready to fire as she crept along the rear of the property, ignoring the activity beyond the brightly lit windows as she inhabited the shadows. She swiftly negotiated the swimming pool and then the wall which divided that property's boundary.
Then came the real security as she crouched down behind a Tesla sedan, her crossbow raised in the darkness. She observed the closest signs of movement and she recognised two Panthers on patrol and without conscious thought, she took the umpteenth life of a twenty-year career. The eight-inch bolt embedded itself firmly into the brain of the closest mercenary. The second bolt ensured that the second mercenary joined the first, both falling into shadow beside the main driveway into the gated compound and most importantly inside the main gate. Just a single gate and forty-two mercenaries stood between her and her targets.
"You should have brought more men, Dieter," Carnivora growled to herself with a sardonic laugh as she advanced on the next pair of walking corpses and she stowed her crossbow.
With a burst of speed, the creature ran towards the seven foot tall steel gates which guarded Dieter Mannheim's property. The two Panther's noticed the object running at them out of the darkness but not before it was too late. The closest, a woman, thought she saw the claws which killed her but the next, a man, did not. However, as the two bodies fell, Carnivora used them as springboards to leap over the gates and into Dieter's Los Angeles home. The creature landed softly, rolled back to her feet, and then ran towards the closest shadows.
"Did you see something?" a voice called out softly.
"I thought I did," a different voice responded.
"Something came over the gates," a third voice threw in.
"I did see..."
The discussion was never completed as first one and then another body dropped to the ground. The third man found himself facing a hideous creature, the right arm of whom was raised, bloody claws hovering for the killing slash.
The man tried to yell out, but fear gripped him as he realised that he would be long dead before a sound was ever emitted.
..._...
The man was a veteran of two conflicts as a member of his country's armed forces and he had seen death on many an occasion, only what he was witnessing approaching him was not of his earth.
The claws dripped blood across the marble floor and the mercenary had this image of a six foot tall re-imagined dinosaur from Jurassic Park come forth into his mind but he struggled to remember the name for a moment – then he had it; velociraptor. The man had never really felt fear, but as the creature moved inexorably towards him, he began to shake as he unknowingly backed himself into a corner beside a high-backed chair. He could not know that the creature actually smiled beneath its mask as it raised a clawed hand and brought it down across his neck, ripping out his carotid artery and spilling a large amount of red blood across the delicate upholstery of the chair. Access via the main door at the front of the property had been easy, once the external security forces had been neutralised. The man on post just inside the front door was dead in his corner, and that allowed Carnivora to move ever closer to her ultimate quarry.
The interior of the property was brightly lit which was not what the creature wanted, so her first visit was to the electrical switchboard located in the basement. A small time-delayed charge was perfect and she set the timer for forty seconds which would allow her ample time to regain the first floor and then continue her killing spree. Therefore, she took great joy in seeking out the next person to die. In fact, she discovered three Panthers – two men and a woman – with seconds to go and they all cringed at the sight before them, not least the deadly claws . . . just as the lights went out and to a man and woman, fear rose out of the darkness and it touched everyone present.
Then the claws touched everyone present.
That same time,
A short distance away...
Paradox peered into the black SUV and the youth grimaced as he took in the horror.
"Four dead – their throats slashed and very little evidence of fighting back."
"Our clawed friend?" Mist asked.
"Oh, yes," Paradox confirmed.
"What is she up to?" Mist continued. "We're just a stone's throw from Dieter's house and she's taking out his protective detail."
"She's going after the top man," Paradox responded. "First the hired help, last night, and now the management."
"Do we let her take out Dieter?"
"No, we can't – taking him out now could cause unknown repercussions," Paradox ventured.
"Very good . . . for a boy!" Mist chuckled.
"Thank you!"
"Let's go find out what's going on, shall we?"
Together the two vigilantes moved off towards where they knew Dieter's Los Angeles home to be.
20:42 GMT-7 (04:42 GMT June 25th)
Mulholland Drive
The lights going out had indicated to Mannheim, Renke, and Schmidt that something was wrong.
Each produced a weapon – pistols – as Schmidt moved to cover his boss, Dieter, who scanned the room, and the doorways into the room, searching for the danger. Then came the sounds of people dying from beyond the room. A pistol shot rang out, then came a yell of pain. The shouting in the darkness was disjointed, panicked; it did not sound like the situation, whatever the situation might be, was under any form of control to Dieter's mind. As he moved towards the archway which led towards the front of the house, a man suddenly appeared out of the darkness, a hand to his throat.
"She's here...!" the man blurted out before his hand dropped and a pint of blood exploded down his front from the gaping wound in his throat.
Schmidt took three steps over to a picture on the wall and he took a few seconds to fumble for the catch fitted to one side, then he opened the hinged picture to reveal a two-foot-tall by one-foot-wide safe set into the wall. The man swiftly punched in a code then swung open the steel door to reveal a gun safe. He swapped his pistol for an MP7A1 PDW and he was about to pass another to Renke when he felt a chill run down his back and he turned his head to the right and found himself staring into...
"She's here!" Renke shouted as he fired his pistol in 'her' direction.
By the time Schmidt had brought up his PDW, the eyes were gone and he turned to sweep the room, searching for the creature.
..._...
Dieter had dived behind a couch at Renke's shout and he was just coming up, his pistol pointed into the darkness when he sensed something in that darkness and then he felt fire in his back as something cut into his skin from the top left shoulder blade down to his right lower back.
The man bellowed out in pain as the right side of his face also lit up in agony as something sharp crossed his face. He snapped off several rounds from his pistol, mostly blind firing into the darkness. Then Dieter saw a shape and he heard a gasp of pain as Schmidt dived at the creature, shoving it to the floor, allowing Dieter to run for safety. Schmidt screamed out as he felt claws sink into his abdomen and he clubbed the creature with the butt of the MP7A1 PDW before he was released and the claws removed. Schmidt dropped the PDW as he hugged his midriff in agony.
Renke thought he saw a shape and he yelled out a warning to two Panthers who had appeared from another part of the house. The muzzle flashes of pistols firing blinded Renke momentarily but he was still able to glimpse a shadow staggering as it was struck at least once by the .45-calibre bullets. There was pandemonium as Renke was bundled out of the room by the Panthers who guided him to where a dozen men were protecting Dieter.
"Where's the creature?" Renke demanded.
"We have teams out searching but it looks like it's bolted," a man responded.
"Get us the hell out of here!" Renke ordered.
There was no argument as vehicles appeared in the drive, into which Renke and Dieter were thrust.
That same time,
a shorter distance away...
It was Mist who caught sight of her.
The creature was injured, or appeared so as it limped with a hand to its side. It was making an obvious beeline for safety and had ducked into the shadows as a pair of large black SUVs roared up the street and then turned into the gated compound and thence into Dieter's drive. Things were moving fast and it seemed that there were a lot of dead from what Paradox had reported as he had closed to a point from where he had been able to reconnoitre the property. Mist moved to intercept the creature, not knowing if she had been spotted or not while Paradox watched her back. Mist kept her distance at first as she closed, keeping the creature in sight at all times but then she saw her moment when the creature moved towards a wall for cover. Mist approached from the right quarter and she blindsided the creature, taking Carnivora down with a flying kick. Carnivora fell to the ground with a groan of pain but the creature swiftly came back up to its feet and deployed its claws. Mist stepped back, away from the dangerously slashing claws as she deftly kicked both away before she kicked the creature in the left side and there was a howl of pain. Mist did not lay off as she struck again and again to put the creature down, and she would have done had she not come under attack from three Panther Brigade mercenaries who were checking the perimeter.
The first man dropped to an arrow through the chest while the second and third flung themselves to the ground the moment their colleague had been struck, though the second man was pierced through his right shoulder by another arrow. Paradox cursed as he realised that the second man was still alive. Even as he ran towards Mist, bullets were fired in his direction and he rolled to provide a difficult moving target before he came up and finished off his previously wounded target. Mist rolled to avoid inbound bullets coming in her direction and she fired off three bullets of her own which dropped a third man who crashed to the ground. Unfortunately, by the time Mist turned back for the creature, Carnivora had vanished.
"Where did it go?" Mist demanded of Paradox.
"I never saw it, sorry."
Mist was very angry as she and Paradox ran for their vehicle.
About that same time...
20:58 GMT-7 (04:58 GMT June 25th)
D-JAK:LA
The twelve-year-old girl (she would become a teenager in a little over two weeks) had never been happier.
Cara Müller was also tired, having endured an evening at the hands of one Christina Abbott who appeared to have been somewhat unhappy about something throughout the evening.
It was also a first to see Chrissy on her own and not with her twin sister nearby, Cara considered. But the evening had been amazing, despite being hard work, and Cara had been able to spend time with her best friends. That night, she had learnt how to disarm a fictional assailant who had tried to mug her in a darkened alleyway. Actually, the 'fictional assailant' was a visiting instructor called Guinevere and the 'darkened alleyway' was the training mat. The knife had been a plastic training prop which could not have hurt a soggy paper bag. It had been a fun evening with plenty of laughter, especially as Chrissy had, during the disarming, thrown down Guinevere who had not been all that amused! Needless to say, Guinevere had then demonstrated how to put down someone taller and bigger than yourself which had raised a cheer as Chrissy had hit the mat.
Maddie had not been there that night – she often missed Saturday nights – which had meant that Maddie had been able to spend more time with Kristen which had resulted in a lot of giggling which tended to annoy Chrissy no end.
..._...
Dead on nine o'clock, Cara slipped into the backseat of the luxury Mercedes S-Class sedan.
"Had a good evening?" 'Evans'/Leo asked his teenaged protectee.
"It was awesome!" Cara exploded as she clipped her seatbelt into place without being prompted. "I learnt how to disarm somebody attacking me with a knife!"
"Good – a useful skill to have."
"Can you disarm somebody with a knife?"
"Yes, Cara, I can."
"Cool!"
Leo chuckled as Cara continued to jabber on about her evening. The young girl had changed over the past month. She was no longer the snobby, stuck up bitch who thought that she was so much better than everyone else. The girl had mellowed and she was a much nicer person to be around – even her own mother had confided that fact to him one afternoon. His infiltration of the Tomahawk Group had been exceptional to that point, and his position as the driver/security officer for Rosa Müller had made him untouchable – actually, nobody paid him any attention, except for a few disgruntled looks and comments from the men he had put down during his 'interview'. His 'all-access-pass' had allowed him access to just about everywhere across the twenty-eighth floor of the Aon Center – even into the den of the beast: Dieter Mannheim's office. Leo had even met the man himself – briefly; Dieter had barely looked at the young man as he had muttered a brief welcome.
Then had come the events of the previous evening – it was far too soon for things to come apart. Leo knew that something major was in the works and that it was close to kicking off – only, he needed more time. Thankfully, Fusion had been able to prevent the total destruction of Dieter's private army, and as far as he could tell, there had not been any change to his hidden schedule. However, just minutes earlier, he had received an alert about Dieter's home being attacked by the very same creature. Leo had tried to call his boss – Rosa – but he had received no response, so he had continued with that evening's task and he had collected Cara from her bi-weekly martial arts training and returned her home.
"Night, Evans!" Cara called out happily as she left the Mercedes and headed into the house.
'Evans'/Leo chuckled as he pulled away.
21:55 GMT-7 (05:55 GMT June 25th)
Bella Oceana
Cara was worried.
Her mother was usually home before she returned from DJAK, but Cara had given it another twenty minutes without her mother putting in an appearance before she opted to give her mother a call on her cell phone. So she went to pick up the phone in the living room only to find the light blinking to indicate a voicemail had been left. Cara stabbed the button to playback the recorded message.
"Message received at twenty-one thirty-seven on Saturday June twenty-fourth," the computerised message began. "Hello, Cara," an alien-sounding voice said. "No time to explain but I need your help. You cannot tell anybody about this message – your life and my life depend on it. Listen carefully, Cara. You need to solve three clues and follow their instructions to find me. The first clue: Where you froze. Please hurry, Cara."
"Huh?!" Cara said out loud as she tried to figure out the message.
Three times she played the message back. Was it a trick? It had to be. Then she picked up the phone and she dialled her mother's cell phone. It rang. It continued to ring. Then came the automated voicemail message directing Cara to 'leave a message after the beep'. Cara hung up and she redialled with the same result. Where was her mom? Had something happened to her? Cara began to feel very worried as she thought about the message and then about the many reasons why her mother would be missing. None of those reasons were good and several scared Cara.
Cara had never been alone in her life and she did not know what to do – actually, she did, but her mind was telling her something completely different.
22:15 GMT-7 (06:15 GMT June 25th)
Oak Pass Road
It had been a somewhat eventful evening and Maddie Tyler was very tired having spent most of the evening assisting Mist and Paradox with their operation to hunt down Carnivora.
The three of them had only just arrived back after their eventful evening. Erika had said goodnight to Maddie after having checked in on the twins and the three boys, before she had then climbed into bed, pleased to be able to rest and she was soon fast asleep. The twins were both asleep as well, leaving just Maddie who was finishing off an update on the night's activities on the Fusion mainframe. As for the three boys, Kieran was busy watching You Tube videos in bed while James was running his mind through the evening's activities and Connor was fast asleep.
James was enjoying being Paradox and the trust that Erika gave the youth made him feel complete and certain that he had made the right choice in moving to Los Angeles – not least for his girlfriend. Maddie was not exactly behaving like a nun, but they managed to enjoy some 'alone time' usually once per week, despite Erika trying to keep the two of them busy most evenings.
As he climbed into bed, the youth smiled to himself at the thought of how great his life was at that moment.
..._...
Maddie had just shut down her laptop when her cell began to shrill.
The girl, eager for bed, groaned as she reached for the device.
"Maddie?"
"Cara?"
"I need your help – I don't know who else to turn to."
Maddie instantly went on alert as she sat down, cross legged, on her bed. "What's wrong?"
"I got home after D-JAK, but Mom's not come home. I tried her cell, but there's no answer – she always answers when I call."
"Maybe she got stuck in traffic – it is L.A., right?"
"No – she would have called me, or answered her cell. I received a weird message on the main line, telling me to go after three clues to help somebody with a weird-sounding voice . . . I'm scared, Maddie."
"Okay, let me think for a moment."
Maddie considered what Cara had said – it sounded really weird, but something at the back of her mind said that it could be important. Was it important enough to wake Erika? No, it wasn't, Maddie decided as she started to pull off her pyjamas and pull on jeans and a top.
"I'm on my way – I'll be with you in about fifty minutes, okay?"
"Okay – thanks, Maddie."
Maddie did not take too long thinking about the potential consequences of her actions – in hindsight, maybe she should have. She finished dressing and then she snuck out of her bedroom and she disarmed the alarm for the garage. There, she pulled on her crash helmet and she pushed her Aprilia SR Motard 50 scooter out of the garage and she rolled the machine down the drive and out the gates which slowly closed behind her, before she started the 49-cc air-cooled engine and she headed off into the night.
With a top speed of just 40MPH, the ride would not be a short one.
23:18 GMT-7 (07:18 GMT June 25th)
Bella Oceana
As Maddie pulled up outside the house, Cara came running out.
"Cool!" Cara said as she examined Maddie's scooter.
"It gets me from A to B," Maddie conceded. "Slowly. So, where's this weird message?"
Cara pulled Maddie inside and then she replayed the voicemail.
"Message received at twenty-one thirty-seven on Saturday June twenty-fourth," the computerised message began. "Hello, Cara," an alien-sounding voice said. "I need your help. You cannot tell anybody about this message – your life and my life depends on it. Listen carefully, Cara. You need to solve three clues and follow their instructions to find me. The first clue: Where you froze. Please hurry, Cara."
Maddie recorded the message on her cell as it played so she had her own copy of the decidedly strange recording. Her mind was racing as it tried to comprehend what the message meant and how it applied to her friend. Knowing who Cara's mother worked for, Maddie's first thoughts were that it was a trap, instigated by Dieter Mannheim – but why would Dieter set a trap for his personal assistant and her daughter? Nothing made sense which annoyed her; she much preferred things that made some form of sense.
"Okay, what does that clue mean?"
"I dunno."
"Think, Cara!"
"I've lived in L.A. all my life; you can't freeze in L.A., period!"
"Point taken," Maddie conceded. "But, somebody who knows you very well has set these clues, by the looks of things. How about your Uncle Dieter?"
"Uncle Dieter? He knows me very well, but he has no sense of humour."
"Okay. It's somebody else who knows you very well. Think about when you were younger – sometime you felt really cold."
Cara frowned as she thought really, really hard . . . then she had it . . . a vision of one summer – actually, the previous summer – she had been on the beach with her mom and it had been really hot, so they had gone for some frozen yoghurt. Cara found herself grinning as she remembered wolfing the frozen yoghurt down too fast and how she had given herself a chronic case of brain freeze.
"Last summer, I made a fool out of myself when I got brain freeze."
"Where?" Maddie asked.
"Pacific Coast Highway . . . on the beach."
"Show me," Maddie directed as she held up her tablet, showing a map of Santa Monica.
"There," Cara said as she stabbed the screen.
"Let's roll!"
"Hold on!" Cara said as she ran off for a moment before she came back wearing a jacket and carrying a crash helmet. "I used to ride on the back of Mom's motorcycle a while back."
Minutes later, the pair were headed down Bienveneda Avenue trying to look inconspicuous, despite the late hour.
23:52 GMT-7 (07:52 GMT June 25th)
Pacific Coast Highway
& Temescal Canyon
As could be expected for almost midnight, the traffic was light and nobody paid attention to a pair of young girls on a scooter.
Maddie turned right off Pacific Coast Highway and then pulled up a few yards later just short of the sands which made up the Santa Monica beach. Cara climbed off the back of the scooter and she pushed up the front of her helmet. Maddie followed suit, looking around and seeing nothing much more than a closed Beach Side Café, a few couples walking on the dark beach, and one or two people who had had a little too much alcohol.
"So, we're here," Cara pointed out.
Maddie's keen eyes looked everywhere, taking in every object and signpost in the hope that something might jump out at her. Then she smirked as her eyes caught sight of something. Maddie turned to look at her friend.
"What?" Cara asked as Maddie just grinned at her.
Maddie sighed as she pointed up above Cara's head. Cara spun around and she looked at where her friend was pointing. Cara frowned for a moment before she turned to look at the still-grinning Maddie.
"It's an electrical box."
"Oh, for the love of...," Maddie sighed. "What are your initials?"
"C and M."
Maddie held out her hands to Cara in mock despair. Then the proverbial penny dropped with a clatter and Cara looked back up to the electrical box. Then she scowled as she recognised her own initials engraved into the box.
"That box is fake – no connecting wires," Maddie stated as she began to climb the electrical pole.
Less than a minute later, Maddie had retrieved said fake electrical box which had been attached to the pole via a magnetic plate. The electric box was about a foot in height and maybe eight inches across and six deep. The two girls sat down beside the scooter and studied the electric box which was made from vacuum-formed plastic. The front was a door which was secured with a four cylinder code lock, each wheel bore the numerals from zero to nine.
"Okay, clever clogs," Cara said. "What's the code?"
"Obviously, it's something only you would know."
"But what!?"
Maddie could tell that Cara was tired – so was she, in fact – but they had to see the problem through. Maddie began to rotate the wheels.
"What year were you born?"
"2004."
"Okay..."
Maddie began to move the wheels again and after several variations, the lock clicked open.
"Four-zero-zero-two?" Cara asked as she studied the wheels.
"Your birth year backwards . . . let's see what's inside," Maddie said as she opened the door.
"Well, that's about right," Cara groaned as she reached into the box and pulled out a small white paper envelope. "Another damn clue!"
Maddie looked over the sealed envelope – typed on the front were Cara's initials. Cara ripped open the envelope to find a small piece of plain paper with just four words typed upon it.
Where your life changed
"Where your life changed?" Cara muttered.
"Any idea what that means?"
"Oh, this one is an easy one," Cara grinned. "It's where I met my best friends and I learned to be a normal child."
"Where?"
"D-JAK!"
Maddie laughed as she stepped onto her scooter.
The next morning...
Sunday, June 25th
00:27 GMT-7 (08:27 GMT June 25th)
D-JAK:LA
Maddie pulled up behind the dojang after the brief ten minute ride up the Pacific Coast Highway and she began to look around.
"What are we looking for?" Cara asked as she climbed off the scooter and pushed up the front of her helmet.
"A clue," Maddie responded. "Maybe with your initials on like the last time."
"Oh."
Maddie and Cara began to search around the small parking lot located behind D-JAK. But neither found anything out of the ordinary, so they expanded their search to the street outside the parking lot.
"Found it!" Cara exclaimed happily as she pointed up a power pole across the street from D-JAK.
Maddie clambered up the pole to retrieve a now familiar box.