CHAPTER 48
"Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys!" Miguel exclaimed as him and Amanda ran into the living room. "We found him!"
The whole group turned to them, confused.
"Huh? You two found Kreese?" Daniel asked, surprised. After a week of no luck, they had all but given up on finding Kreese, but of course it was Miguel who managed to find Kreese and breathe new life into the group.
"Well, he found Kreese. I was just there." Amanda stated.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Sam laughed. "Miguel, what did he find?"
"Well, I used his marriage certificate with Betsy to find the location of the first house the two of them lived in together. He bought the property and he never sold it after she died. It's not inhabited right now so there's a good chance he's staying there. Kreese knows we're after him, so he's choosing to hide in plain sight. And it correlates perfectly with what my dad said. My dad said to search for Kreese's emotional connections. This house is one of the only places in the world that he has a genuine emotional connection to, just like Betsy is the only person he ever truly loved. He's there. I can feel it."
The group slowly nodded, standing up in anticipation. This was it. Nearly a month of searching they had finally found Kreese. They were sure of it. He HAD to be there. If he wasn't then they would probably just have to give up and be looking over their shoulder in fear for the rest of their lives.
"Okay! For about the thousandth time, amazing work, Miguel." Johnny said. Miguel clicked his heels together and saluted playfully. "Now, it's time to get that son of a bitch once and for all."
"Do we call the cops?" Daniel asked. Johnny shook his head.
"That's not a good idea. All we have right now is a tiny hunch that Kreese is there. We'd be risking a 10 thousand dollar ban if he isn't. We can bring him down ourselves." Johnny stated. Daniel looked at him, nervously.
"Are you sure about that?" Daniel asked. "We're NOT going to get the kids involved, and I'm not sure I want to risk a 2 on 1 against that man."
Johnny smirked and shrugged.
"Who said it's just the two of us…"
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An hour later, Jimmy, Bobby and Julie had all pulled up to Daniel's house, and they all prepared to set out and catch Kreese once and for all. Because this was real life, not a tournament, and they were going up against a VERY dangerous man, they couldn't just go into the fight unprotected and empty-handed. They all wore bullet-proof vests that Daniel had bought on Amazon when they first started hunting Kreese in case they had to have this confrontation; and they all carried stun guns too.
Right before they left the house, the 5 adults turned to Robby, Miguel, Sam and Tory.
"Okay, you guys stay here. We'll be back soon." Johnny said.
"Like hell. We're coming." Tory snapped.
"No, you're not." Daniel stated. "What we're about to do is really dangerous."
"Which is exactly why you're gonna need all the help you can get." Robby stated. Daniel shook his head.
"Nope. We can't risk losing you guys. You're staying here and that's final." Daniel stated. "Sam, give me your car keys."
Sam reluctantly tossed her dad her keys. She was the only one with a car in the driveway (Miguel had ridden in Johnny's car) so when she gave her dad the keys, the adults knew there was no way the teenagers could follow them.
The adults left the house moments later, speeding towards Kreese's old house, where they hoped the man would be hiding…
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15 minutes later...
"Hey guys." Miguel said, looking up from his phone momentarily to face the group. They were all sitting impotently in the Larusso living room. It had been 15 minutes since the adults had left for San Bernardino and given that it was a 45 minute drive to get there, the adults probably hadn't even made it yet. That didn't take away the fact that the seconds dragged by insanely slowly. For all they knew, any of the adults, or Kreese, could be captured or killed by now.
"What?" Robby asked.
"I got a joke." Miguel stated. "What did the shark say after eating the clownfish?"
"I don't know. What did the shark say?" Sam sighed, humoring Miguel.
"He said it tasted a little 'funny'." Miguel finished, drily. Sam put her head in her hands, trying not to laugh - not because the joke was funny - but because of how monotonous Miguel said it.
"This is bullshit!" Tory exclaimed.
"What? You didn't like my joke?" Miguel asked, bored.
"Miguel, shut up. We can't just sit around here like little bitches and wait for the adults to do all of our dirty work for us!" Tory exclaimed.
"What do you want, Tory? What do you want us to do?" Sam growled.
"Tory's right. We need to go do something! We need to go help them!" Miguel said.
"That's great. I agree with you, but it's not like we can." Sam replied. "My dad took my car keys."
"I might have an idea." Robby said, suddenly standing up and walking outside. The group followed him outside and watched as Robby circled Sam's car like a Hawk. Moments later, the engine of Sam's car revved up as it started, with Robby in the driver's seat. The group all watched him, their mouths gaping and their eyes wide. They slowly walked towards him.
"Wow, Robby. Didn't realise you know how to steal cars." Miguel remarked. Robby shrugged.
"You have your skills, I have mine." He replied, cryptically. Miguel chuckled.
"Fair. Now scoot over. I'm driving." Miguel stated. Robby shook his head.
"Nah, I am." Robby replied. Miguel chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"Hahaha, that's a good joke. Now seriously, move over. We need to catch up to the adults fast and no offense but I'm a way better driver." Miguel stated. Robby remembered Miguel in the go-kart arena around 6 months ago and he eventually moved into the front passenger's seat. Tory and Sam climbed into the back of the car, and Miguel climbed into the driver's seat. The teens then took off for San Bernardino…
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The adults parked a couple of meters away from Kreese's house, and they quietly turned off the car and got out. They needed to be silent so as not to spook Kreese and let him know they were coming. They all looked at each other and nodded. They had been on enemy sides for so long, but for this fight, they needed to be exactly on the same page.
"Okay, you guys ready?" Daniel asked. They all nodded.
"We're going to move in fast. Julie, you stay by the front door in case he tries to escape. We'll all search the main floor together. Jimmy, Bobby, you then take the top floor. Larusso and I will take the basement." Johnny instructed. As an ex-Air Force operative, he knew exactly how raids worked.
"Let's catch this son of a bitch." Bobby growled. Johnny smiled and nodded nervously.
"Damn right." He replied. The group reached the door and Johnny prepared to kick the door down.
"3… 2… 1…" Johnny murmured, before kicking down the door and leading the group inside…
The house was deathly silent when the group burst inside. The breaking down of the door had rang out like a gunshot, so they knew that they had alerted Kreese of their presence and didn't have much time.
Before they could split up and search their respective floors, the group immediately heard footsteps coming from the top floor. Their eyes widened. This was it! Kreese was down there! This whole war was about to be over! All of the sacrifice, all of the carnage… it was all going to soon be over!
The group all took off towards the stairs, other than Jimmy who was guarding the door, forgetting their previous instructions. They sprinted up the stairs and burst into the master bedroom. When they got there, their mouths dropped. Rather than seeing Kreese in the room like they expected, what they made their hearts stopped. In the center of the room was a pendulum, that when it hit either side of the room, gave the sound illusion that it was footsteps. Daniel and Johnny's eyes widened when they realised what was happening.
"JIMMY! KREESE IS COMING TOWARDS YOU!" Johnny shouted, but it was too late. Jimmy was tackled out of nowhere by Kreese, who thankfully didn't take the time to finish him. Instead, after he severely winded Jimmy from the tackle, he sprinted past him and out of the open door…
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"Okay. The house should be right… here." Miguel murmured, as they turned onto the street of Kreese's house. As they got closer, their eyes widened as they saw events unfolding on the front lawn. Kreese sprinted out of the house and into his car, quickly turning on the ignition and driving off before Johnny, Daniel, Bobby and Julie could even make it to the front door of the house. Kreese started driving away from the group, and everyone watched him, alarmed, including the kids in the car.
"NO! He's getting away!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel clenched his jaw.
"Not for long." He growled, before flooring the accelerator and speeding away after Kreese.
"MIGUEL, SLOW DOWN!" Tory screamed as Miguel weaved his way around the cars on the 3 lane street. One false move and Miguel would surely kill them, crashing them into another car at 120 miles an hour.
"No! He's not getting away from us this time." Miguel snapped. "Sam, call the adults…"
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"DAMN IT!" Johnny shouted, as he kicked the frame of the front door. "We had him! We were inches away! The kids did everything for us by finding him, and we fuck it all up now!"
Suddenly, Daniel's phone rang and he picked it up to see Sam's name in the Caller I.D. He answered the phone.
"Hey, Sam, now's not a good time. Kreese somehow got away from us." Daniel murmured, embarrassed.
"Yeah, we know! We're chasing him right now!" Sam shouted, not trying to be rude to her dad, but shouting was the only way to talk over the incessant honking of the horn they were getting. At least one of the civilians around them had bound to have called the cops, which was great, as the cops would arrest Kreese as well.
Daniel's jaw dropped and Johnny, having heard that, ran over.
"What?! Put Miguel on the phone." Johnny snapped.
"JOHNNY, I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW! I NEED TO CONCENTRATE!" Miguel yelled into the phone.
"Okay, look, don't risk your lives. If your driving is getting too unsafe, just stop. It's not the end of the world. We don't want you getting into a car crash." Daniel stated.
"Got it." Sam replied. "Okay, love you, dad."
"Love you too." Daniel said, before hanging up the phone. The group turned to each other, both worried and relieved at the same time.
"Guess we just have to wait and watch. We have no idea where they are." Johnny remarked. Daniel nodded and the group sat down on Kreese's front lawn, hoping and praying that their kids were all right…