Chapter 6: Case Finally Closed...?
THREE YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS LATER! – April 25th
(The L.A. Police Department)
Detective McCormick sat at her desk sipping a cup of herbal tea, while reading over a file of another case her and her partner were working on. She was still working on the 'other' case in secret along with Costar. They could not just let it go, there was just so much evidence of fowl play in it. Not only that, but they were so determined to find the children 'alive', especially, because of the big promise McCormick made to Alvin five years six month ago.
As she flipped through some of the pages in the file, she pondered if the case she was looking at had any real serious need for her abilities. Ever since the big kidnapping case she was working on with Costar was closed, it seemed that they were being treated like 'rookies', only receiving mundane 'textbook' cases like 'armed robbery' and other minor 'homicide' cases. Even though these were typically important cases, how she and her partner longed that the kidnapping case could be re-opened, or at least something out of the ordinary would happen that would make their superiors give the case a second look.
Suddenly her fax machine started to print something out. When it had finished she went up to it, pulled up the piece of paper and began to read it. She then got very excited and turned to her partner. "Quick Costar, were going to Seattle!" The female chipmunk detective pulled her jacket from the back of her chair and added. "We've finally got our lead!"
"Wha…?" Costar said in almost shock. These were the words he wanted to hear for a very long time, to finally hear them almost froze him in his tracks. He almost spilled his coffee when McCormick ran past her chair to grab her jacket. Without hesitation he too put down his coffee and his grabbed his coat ran out the door with his partner. He just hoped it didn't lead up to another dead end like the other 'clues' they followed.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
ON A REMOTE ISLAND, SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC! – April 27th 9:02am (eastern time)
A human male looked out his window with a pair of binoculars and saw three police helicopters and several police boats headed towards the island. He had a solemn disappointed look on his face; there was a sudden knock on his door. "Come in." The man said. He doesn't bothers to turn around and face one of his partners as he walks in. The man walked up to the desk and hesitated a bit. He wore a dark suit that now had a few tares and bloodstains on his shirt.
"Mr. Grafton?" The man finally began to say.
"Dean, report!" Grafton said as he turned away from the window to face his tense friend.
Dean gave a nervous sigh then spoke, "Allow me to apologize for the recent mission involving our four best recruits. It was entirely my fault. I should have kept things under closer surveillance."
"Yes, yes! I'm tired of hearing excuses and apologies. What's done is done. It's over." Grafton gave a regretted look as he eyed the floor and pondered on the upcoming events. "What about everything now? Is it all ready?"
"Everything is set. All that's left to do is enter the self-destruction codes and everything that we have done in the past twenty years, along with any information on our other members, will cease to exist."
"And the remaining children?" Grafton asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Awaiting your final speech in the underground shelter, sir!"
"Very well then. Lets get going. There isn't a moment to lose! Those ignorant fools out there will never know anything about this place or the people on this Island. I just hope the rest of the High Command will understand."
"I'm sure as long as we make sure there are no survivors that would talk we are in the clear." The Dean said reassuringly as the two of them left the office.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
ALONG THE EAST SHORES OF THE ISLAND
The boat and helicopters land on shore and the female chipmunk detective and her partner, hop off one of the boats and instructs the police squad to search the whole Island to find the children before it would be too late. "According to the information we've received these people mean business and will destroy every bit of evidence including the children. So lets move!!!" McCormick ordered through her headphone and microphone headgear. Her and the rest of the police squad split up into four teams to cover as much of the Island as they could. Two helicopters flew over-head to aid in the search as guidance for the ground teams.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Meanwhile, in an underground shelter about 76 children sat on the floor facing small podium. All the children wore uniforms. The boys wore dark grey pants, a white long sleeve shirt, a dark tie, and a vest with matching jacket. The girls wore a dark grey skirt, a white blouse, a grey colour scarf, and a beret bow for their hair, plus a matching grey colour vest and jacket.
In the back of the room sat five chipmunk teens, three males and two females. One of the males looked very familiar, with the same big round glasses that he always wore over his blue-grey eyes. His hair, however, had changed slightly and grown almost shoulder length. He also was wearing an earring on his left ear. Simon and his four friends look at each other with concern in their eyes. They have no idea what's going on.
Just then, Dean and Grafton walked in, along with six young adults caring trays of small glasses filled with what looked like red punch. Grafton began his speech. "Good morning my children, I do apologize for bringing you here on short notice. Each of you has shown great progress in our little school. Even our experimental students in the back of this room," he cast his glaze at his only five chipmunk 'students' and grinned, but the smile faded quickly and he bowed his head again.
When Grafton turned his head away from them, all five chipmunks glared at him. One of the boys even made like he wanted to barf by pointing a finger in his mouth and towards his throat. Out of the corner of Simon's eye, he noticed movement coming from outside of a small window. He got up quietly and carefully pulled back the tattered curtain and looked out. .
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Outside the female chipmunk detective wandered the field, desperately attempting to deduce where the children might be. She was starting to worry that she may never find them in time. At that moment, she noticed a glimmer of sunlight in the corner of her eye. To her surprise, she saw what appeared to be a small window on the bottom of a hill. The tall grass covered most of it, but there was a patch that seemed to blow in the wind. She was about to dismiss this as a hallucination, and that's when she noticed a face looking out from it! "Bingo!" She said with a slight smirk in the corner of her mouth and a gleam in her eye.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Simon was astonished at what he saw that he forgot about the speaker. Suddenly someone grabbed his arm from behind. Simon jumped to attention and turned to see one of his four friends, the oldest of the five. "Sit down, Simon before you get caught!" Said the male with the light blue eyes.
"There are people out there!" Simon said as he sat back down.
"People? What kind of people?" Asked the red headed female chipmunk.
"Shhh!" the blond female with square shaped glasses hissed.
"Oh, like you're interested in hearing what this wind-bag has to say! As if!" The other male with hazel brown eyes scoffed sarcastically to his blond friend. She just turned and gave him 'the look'.
"So…I conclude this speech with a toast!" Grafton said holding up a glass of the red liquid. Simon and his friend were the last to get their glasses, they all looked at their glasses and with one sniff they looked at each other knowing exactly what the stuff in the cups were and what they were about to do.
Grafton continued his speech. "You children know far too much for the outside world. That is why we have to shut down this project. Besides, your bodies are not able to survive without your required substance for more the a few weeks anyways, and we are the only ones who know how to make it." Grafton solemnly shook his head with regret once again. All of those years of hard work and they were all going to be erased in one afternoon. "This is for the best children. I'm sorry. Here's to the end. Good bye."
With that, he began to drink the poison along with the rest of the humans in the room. The chipmunks all looked with wide eyes at each other, then at the oldest of the five. He swallowed hard, and then looked up at his friends with a frown. He finally gave a small nod, and together they held up their glasses in the centre of their half circle. They then slowly began to pull the glasses to their mouth.
Just then, the door to the outside opened and the police squad came running in. Six of them saw the chipmunks and leaped at Simon and the others before a single drop of poison touched their lips.
At that moment, a loud explosion came from the main building on the campus.
"A bomb just went off in one buildings on the west side of the Island…we have men inside…need a med crew over here now!" A cry came out on their walkie-talkie system.
McCormick came in and immediately frowned at the scene of dead bodies of children of all ages. "We're too late!" She cried out.
"Detective!" One of the officers shouted, "We've got live ones over here!"
She quickly ran over and took a look at the five young teenage chipmunks. One of them interested her the most; she pulled out a small picture from her wallet and held it next to Simons face. Simon took a look at the picture and recognized the little boy's face.
"Simon Seville?" The detective asked in anticipation.
Simon was too stunned to say anything; he just looked at her with wide eyes. Slowly he nodded 'yes'. McCormick then looked at the other children with him and smiled.
"It's ok, children," she assured them. "You're all going home."
Simon thought that he would never hear those words. The only thing he could say was "Home?"