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Chapter 18
Hidden World
It was a bright sunny day in Newark, Delaware. The sun was shining, birds were singing. It was a beautiful spring day. A Black Mustang GT drove down the street as it neared its destination. George drove as always; Jessica was in the back typing on her laptop, reviewing all the information she had learned and gathered over the course of the investigation. Travis was in the front seat looking out the window. He watched the many different people walking about, enjoying the warm sunny day. Travis noticed a woman and her kid walking down the street. The kid was smiling and hugging his mother. The mother was showing the same affection as the kid. Travis's mind slowly drifted back to Wendy and to May 3rd 1982. He could see her face in the reflection of the window. She was giving him the same warm smile she usually gave. Travis reached out to touch the glass when he was suddenly snapped back to reality.
"Travis!!!!" George said, shaking him awake. Travis looked at George and then back to Jessica as he realized what was going on.
"You doing ok?" George asked. Travis replied by nodding his head. "Did you see her?"
"Yeah. I did." Travis replied.
"Saw who?" Jessica replied as she leaned forward from the rear of the car.
Travis breathed heavily as George stared straight ahead, knowing that Travis didn't want to talk about it. Travis never liked to talk about it. It was something that haunted his dreams for the past two decades.
"I heard about it before I met you two. Wendy Dalesman, age…"
"Please… just drop it, ok?" Travis said. "Nothing personal, I just don't like hearing about the past."
Jessica put her hand on Travis's shoulder as she brushed a few of her black locks out of the way. She leaned back in the rear of the car and continued to type on her laptop. She felt bad for Travis. No man should ever see something like that happen. "Sorry."
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Travis said as he turned around and looked out the window. "So what's the address where looking for?"
"It's the address to a storage unit. I talked to the owner and he does remember talking to a man fitting Schaffer's description, from a while back about storing some things in a trailer. He organized it so that the owner would take out yearly plans on the container. So far though he said the bank account called him and told him the account has enough in it for one last payment. Which means that after that payment he is supposed to close the container." George said
"And what happens after the owner of the container decides to close the account?" Jessica asked.
"I think he will pawn off what he can and pitch the rest. But the weirdest thing was that the owner said that Schaffer told him that by the time the money for the rental was up, their would be some sort of government agents coming to claim what is in the container." George said.
Travis and Jessica both looked at George for a minute as they tried to comprehend what he just said. What exactly did George mean when he told them about how Schaffer told him about the feds?
"Where here." George said as the black mustang pulled up to the facility. Their where a total of 40 different containers. The sign on the front said Store N pay. The Mustang pulled into the parking lot where a old man in a very old truck stood in front, waiting for his company. The old man smoked the last puff of his cigarette and tossed it to the gravel ground and stepped on it. He wore a NASCAR hat with Tony Stewart on it, He walked over to the Black Mustang as the 3 agents stepped out.
"Welcome to the Store N Pay. You must be them federal fellers." the owner said.
George and Travis both stepped out as Jessica struggled to un buckle her seat belt.
"My name is Agent Dalesman this is Agent Knight, FBI. That is CIA analyst Jessica Hillsabeck." Travis said as Jessica finally emerged from the car.
"Boy that's a mighty fine piece of machine you have their." The Owner said as he looked at the mustang. "Names Dizzy Feldon….the first." Dizzy said as he introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you Dizzy. Would you mind answering a few questions about the man who rented this container." Travis asked.
"Oh yeah. Nice guy. Seemed…worried about something, so was his poor wife. Even though she was Prego, she seemed a little ancy. Especially when she was wearing that long baggy trench coat in the middle of the summer." Dizzy said
"She was pregnant? How did you know.?" Travis asked.
"Because she was busy chugging a bottle of water, and she took off the coat, she was showing. Nice looking girl too. don't know much about that their pink hair color she had." Dizzy said.
"Antea." Jessica murmured.
"Anyhow. Mr. Schaffer said he wanted to rent a container under the name Franz Hopper. He said that he wanted to store one box in the container. I laughed at first thinking he was joking, but then I realized he wasn't."
"Did he explain what was in the box?" Travis asked.
"Don't know don't care. I have never asked what peoples been storing in these things. One time I had a group of college kids stay in their. Then I had some military guys store their equipment for a training exercise they had. And then.." Dizzy continued.
"Ok wait, getting back to the topic at hand. What happened next?" George asked.
"He talked about he wanted to establish a long term payment plan? Why did you go through with that?" Travis asked.
"Because he said he would pay double the rate a month. And pay a year in advance. He set up for the money to be deposited into ma checking account…not sure how that all works out. But it worked just fine for me." Dizzy said as he handed the agents a bank statement.
"Has any other person asked about the container?" George asked.
"Naw man. Not a soul. Come to think of it, I never saw those poor folks again…dam shame." Dizzy said, "Are they ok?"
"Well were looking for them is why. Did Schaffer say anything else?" Travis asked.
"Well yeah. I thought it was poppy caulk. But he said that by the time the last years rent money is deposited into my account. Some fed fellers would stop by and ask about the container. He said I should let them have what's inside the container. I thought it was crazy to until you called me a week ago." Dizzy said as he popped another cigarette into his mouth."
"Ok well why don't you go ahead and lead us to the container." Travis said.
"Well time like this I do need a warrant but since the client said differently, il let you in" Dizzy said as he walked towards the third row container set. The 3 agents followed behind as Dizzy counted off the container numbers
"304, 305, 306, 307. Right her it is. Luck number 308. Only take a second pardoners." Dizzy said as he pulled out a large set of keys and began to flip through them. He pulled out one key and fitted it into the pad lock. He turned the key as the tumblers inside the lock flipped and the lock itself opened. Dizzy then opened the container. George pulled out his flashlight and flipped it on. He then pointed it inside the container, the light peered through the darkness as it flashed its light upon…nothing. Their was nothing in the container.
"Is this some kind of joke Mr. Feldon?" George asked. Dizzy didn't answer. He merely walked inside the container and walked to the very back. Dizzy picked up a envelope and walked back to the agents, he handed it to Travis.
"This is it." Dizzy said.
"This? This is what they wanted to store?" Jessica asked as she pointed at it.
"Funny thing aren't it. Guy must have been totally off his rocker to only store a envelope. But it doesn't matter to me. With that money I gots me some NASCAR tickets." Dizzy said.
Travis opened the envelope and looked at it, On it was a address. Travis looked at the address for a few seconds. He then realized their was another number on it.
"113 east main. Section 20. What the hell is that?" Travis murmured to Jessica. Jessica walked back to her car and pulled out her notebook, she typed in the address to Google maps and came up with a answer.
"it's the local Library, the next little hint must be their." Jessica said as she closed the notebook. Travis walked back and pulled George aside and told him what they found.
"Well thank you for you time Mr. Feldon. We appreciate your cooperation." George said.
"Well could you at least let me know what happens to that poor couple? They where nice folks. Hate to seen them in some sort of trouble." Dizzy asked.
The 3 agents got into the car and pulled away as Dizzy looked the door to container.
"Now if this isn't a crook. This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen, even weirder then when I saw Elvis at the gas station."
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The Library sat in the middle of town. It was a large tan colored building, with the classic library feel to it. It had a set of large stone columns in the front. There was also a pair of lion statues in the front of the building. There were a set of maple trees in the front as well. The Black Mustang drove up to the parking lot. The three agents stepped out of the car as George looked at the doors with the alarm. Jessica carried her laptop inside the library as Travis and George followed her in. The Library had three floors. The main floor consisted of several large tables and the help desk in the corner.
"Ok so what are we looking for? All that tape said was the address, that's it." George said.
"Well actually, there was another clue on it. It said Section 20. Which might mean a shelf or section, so what we should do is spilt up and search the entire area from top to bottom." Jessica said "I'm goanna stay here and review the CDs. Let me know if you find anything."
"Well do we even know what we are looking for?" George asked. "The tape never showed anything other than the address and the section it's in."
"Look for anything like Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel." Jessica said as she opened the laptop. "Go ahead; I'll call you if I notice something.
"Wait a minute! Why are you barking orders? We're in charge!" Travis asked.
"Because without me, you two would run around like a pair of chickens with your heads cut off anyways."
Travis shook his head as he and George walked off in separate directions. George went to the 3rd floor, which was mostly history and biographies. Travis's section was mostly fiction. There were a few people on the top floor. They were reading or working on some research papers for school. Travis counted down the section numbers and rows and came to row 20. He walked down the isle and began looking around for anything that looked suspicious. He noticed an old book he had when he was a kid. He pulled it out and looked at the title. Peter Pan.
It slowly started to bring back a flood of memories. He remembered moving into their new house with her. Lying in bed next to her, watching her sleep. He remembered the day she broke the news to him, and the noise he heard following the hospital visit.
Travis was startled by the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up to see he received a text message from Jessica, asking if he had found anything. He typed in no. After a few seconds he got a reply asking him to meet her and George at the main hall.
Travis walked down towards Jessica's table; she had her headphones on. Travis saw George come into view out of the corner of his eye and slam his hand on the table next to Jessica. Jessica shrieked in fear as the whole library got quiet and stared at them.
"Are you out of your frikin mind!?!?!? I almost had a heart attack." Jessica barked as the librarian shushed them.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it." George said with a sarcastic look on his face, "Well I found out were that text message came from." George said.
"Where is that?" Travis asked.
" Amiens France . The tech boys were able to triangulate the signal back to that area, and towards a local boarding school in that area." George said as he put a piece of gum in his mouth.
" FRANCE !!!" Travis said firmly, only to receive another shush from the librarian.
"So do we want to investigate the phone call?" Jessica said.
"Let's see what this turns up, what have you found?" Travis asked.
Jessica slowly turned her head to face Travis. Her eyes were attempting to hide her worry that Travis would be upset with her findings. "Nothing."
Travis stared at Jessica for a minute. "What do you mean nothing?"
"I looked through most of the videos. And there was no sign of any possible hint for this area. Almost none at all." Jessica said as Travis stared at a picture of the library layout. It was laid out much like a regular library. But soon he noticed something. And he thought about what it might be he was looking at.
"Well there was nothing on my side of the library. What about your end Travis?" George said as he turned and looked at Travis. Travis didn't answer at all. He kept looking at the library layout picture. "Travis? What's wrong?"
"It's not inside the library." Travis said as he turned to face Jessica and George. "It's outside of the library."
Jessica slowly stood up as George stared at Travis. "What do you mean? It's outside?" Jessica asked "You mean it's not at the library?"
Travis stared at the picture as he walked over to it. He looked at the librarian as he waved his teammates over to him. "Look. Section 20. It's not a shelf. Or a section. It's a panel outside, a brick. The next clue is hidden inside a brick outside." Travis said.
"You mean it's inside a brick? Or behind the brick?" George replied in disbelief.
"I don't know. All we have to do is go outside and check every brick for something that looks different. Maybe a different color or one that has some kinda crack." Travis said as he pointed to the areas of the library.
"Well is it on the right? Or the left of the library wall?" Jessica asked as she also pointed at the different sections of the wall. "Maybe we should split up and check each section of the library."
"Agreed, but what if its up on the top floor or something?" George asked.
"We'll deal with it then, right now let's get looking for that brick." Jessica suggested as the three spilt up. Travis walked outside and walked left, while George stepped outside and walked to his right. Jessica walked back to the table and shut the laptop and walked out to join George.
The outside of the library was surrounded by bushes and flowers. Whoever their gardener was, they had it amazingly well kept. The person deserved a raise. There were rose bushes and other varieties of flowers. Travis stepped behind a bush, making sure not to ruin his suit. He got down on his hands and feet when he heard a little girl speak out loud.
"Mommy. That man is hiding." The little girl said.
"Now Rebecca. It's not polite to point at weirdoes" The mother said as they walked off. Travis slowly stood up in embarrassment. He decided to just eyeball the wall. He looked up to see other people pointing and laughing at him. Travis's face turned a little red as he cleared his throat and went back to searching the wall.
George was feeling along the wall as he counted to 20. He suddenly felt a small lip hanging from one of the bricks. He looked at it and saw that the concrete holding the brick in place had recently been chiseled away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He called Travis and Jessica to meet him on the far left side of the building. Travis turned the corner while Jessica walked up to George.
"Take a look at this." George said as he pointed at the brick. George used his finger to wiggle it. Travis and Jessica both came to the same realization. They needed something big to help knock it out of the way. Travis went back to the car and popped the trunk. He removed the pry bar from the trunk and closed the lid. He walked back while trying to hide the pry bar under his suit jacket. He got back to Jessica and George, who were keeping an eye out for anything that might give them away. Travis pulled out the bar and started trying to chisel away at the brick. Jessica and George tried their best to cover up what they were doing. Travis finally managed to get the large brick to the point where he could remove it. George gave him a hand as they both slowly pulled the large slab from its place. As they held it, Jessica bent down and gazed inside. She saw a black metal suitcase inside. She reached in and pulled it out as George and Travis put the block back in place.
"Looks like we hit the jackpot this time, guys. This feels heavy." Jessica said as she placed the briefcase on the ground and slid the sliders open. She lifted the lid as Travis and George finally heaved the brick back in place. Inside was a series of CDs. They each had the initials W.S. and the New Dawn symbol on it as well. On top of the CDs was an envelope. George picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a small necklace with a locket on the end. The locket was silver with gold stars. George tried to open it, but couldn't get it to budge. Travis looked at the CDs. All the dates matched up to the date when Schaffer went into hiding.
"I think we found the mother load here guys." Travis said as he closed the lid and picked up the suitcase. Jessica and George followed him as they got into the black mustang. As the car pulled off, the agents remained unaware of a small wire-like box hiding next to the rear axel. As the car turned the corner, a Black corvette pulled out behind them as the Mustang pulled out into traffic.
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The movie theater was a little vacant. There were a few empty seats scattered about the theater as couples, families, and a few single people watched the movie. Yumi drank the last of her soda as she watched the hero of the film attempt to save the lead lady from a ghost who was about to drop her off a building. Yumi leaned her head on Ulrich's chest as she felt a little tired. She felt Ulrich's hand brush her hair. She could hear his heart beat. It was actually racing from fear, obviously from the scene that was being shown on the screen. Ever since Yumi knew him, he had always had a hard fear of heights, whenever they were on Lyoko, or whenever they were even in the gym. If it involved him scaling something that was off the ground, or taller than him, he would instantly start to sweat from it. It seemed ever since she had met Ulrich, she was learning something about him every day.
As the movie ended, several members of the audience began to get up and leave. Ulrich and Yumi waited till most of the crowd had left and gave them room to get out.
"So what did you think of the movie?" Ulrich asked as he led her out of the theater.
"It was ok. I mean, a little cheesy at times but ok. I bet you were scared when they were on the roof." Yumi asked as she threw her soda cup in the trash.
"I thought you would notice that." Ulrich said as he held the door open for his girlfriend. She returned the favor with a kiss on the cheek. The large group of moviegoers from their film filled the streets as they left for their different destinations. Yumi and Ulrich slowly walked down the sidewalk as they made their way back to Yumi's house. Yumi was checking her text messages from when they where in the movie.
"I can't believe Odd actually invited Sissi to hang out with the others while we were gone!" Ulrich nearly shouted in disbelief.
"Yeah, that's what Aelita's text message said. Fortunately they finished William's vehicle and all the equipment before she showed up. Apparently things actually went well." Yumi said as she texted her back.
"So does that mean she is in the group?" Ulrich asked as they rounded the bend near Yumi's house. The lights were on, a clear sign that Yumi's parents were home. Yumi walked up to the front door as Ulrich followed after her. Yumi invited Ulrich in for a few minutes. Ulrich agreed.
Yumi entered the doorway of her house. She announced she was home as Ulrich followed her inside.
The Ishiyama house was perhaps one of the best houses in the neighborhood. It was a luxurious two story house with a large bathroom and living room. Yumi's father, Takeo, was a business man who excelled in the Japanese market. While he was in school in Tokyo, he met his love and future wife, Akiko. After he graduated from college, they married and two years later, Akiko gave birth to Yumi, and soon after found work with a Japanese software company. He was later transferred to his company's French section, During the transition, Akiko gave birth to Hiroki. A year after he and his family arrived, he was laid off. But a week later, a French business learned of him and hired him immediately. He soon excelled in his business where he was now a member of the board.
Yumi's mother, Akiko, was usually a stay at home mother. She was a hard working woman who always put the welfare of her family before herself. She had for years been trying to work on an encyclopedia and so far had only finished about half of it. When she met Takeo, at first her parents didn't like him. But they grew to understand him and even accept him as a son in law. At times though their relationship was rocky and had a few moments where they slept in different houses. But soon after, they finally managed to settle everything and decided that they had to work out any problems they would face. Neither parent wanted to face one of their children in tears over what had happened. It had happened once to Takeo when Yumi came to him in tears. After that he had promised to never put Hiroki or Yumi in that position again.
Hiroki was Yumi's younger brother. He was just now in school. He was the usual ten year old pain to every big sister. He teased her, he pestered her, and every once in a while, he would sneak glances into her diary, which would usually end up with Yumi chasing Hiroki around the house to get it back. He did however like Ulrich. He was a cool and calm guy who gave Hiroki advice on how to approach Milly Solovieff. His best friend Johnny had a crush on Yumi originally, but finally gave up on it for someone he knew in his gym class.
Takeo, Yumi's father, was in the kitchen reading the newspaper when Ulrich and Yumi walked in. He didn't notice them till Yumi leaned over and hugged him hello. He was a tall yet chubby person with glasses.
"Hi Yumi, how was your day?" Takeo asked as Yumi opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a soda for her and Ulrich.
"It was good. But the movie we saw was kinda stupid." Yumi said as she handed Ulrich a soda. "Where's mom and Hiroki?"
"Well Hiroki is over at Johnny's. And your mother is in the shower. Are you feeling any better than yesterday?"
"Yes actually I am," Yumi said as she leaned next to Ulrich.
"So how have you been Ulrich?" Yumi's father asked as he sipped from his cup.
"Oh, I've been ok. Just concentrating on school. And so far I have actually been doing well in school. Better than Odd." Ulrich said as Yumi giggled a little.
"That's good. You'll need a good education to find yourself a good job to provide for your future family. Right Yumi?" Yumi's father joked as Yumi's face turned red. Yumi's family had always liked Ulrich. He was polite and always helped out their family when he needed to.
"What about your parents? How are they?" Takeo asked. Ulrich suddenly froze as he tried to think of how to respond to it. Should he lie and say that they're doing great? Or say that he was scared that neither of them had told them a thing.
"Dad, leave Ulrich alone. He just got in here." Yumi said as she wrapped her arm around Ulrich's shoulder. "We're going upstairs to hang out for a minute."
"Okay dear. Keep your door open." Takeo said.
"Oh come on Dad, we're not like that."
Yumi and Ulrich sat on her bed as they talked. Yumi was actually lying on her side while Ulrich was leaning up against the wall.
"Ok your turn. Of all the women who have ever had a crush on you, were there ever any stalkers… beside Sissi?" Yumi asked.
Ulrich looked at her for a few seconds as he thought of his answer. "Well there was this girl named Rose Crolly back in elementary school. She always tried to bad mouth me in front of the other girls, but I do have to say that at one point, Sissi got her to stop. She was weird; she ate glue a lot too." Ulrich said as Yumi made a disgusted look.
"Ok your turn." Yumi said. Ulrich thought for a minute as he thought about the question he had for her. "I have one. But if you don't want to answer that's fine."
Yumi sat up for a minute and looked at Ulrich. "What do you mean?"
"Well ok. Remember that day in the lunch room when we were asking each other about when we wanted to ask each other out and you said you didn't want to because of a bad experience?" Ulrich asked as he tried to remind her.
"Oh." Yumi said as she turned to face the doorway.
"If you don't want to say it that's fine, I understand." Ulrich said. After a long pause that seemed to last forever, Yumi finally spoke.
"I was six. I was in school at Tokyo .It was two years before we moved and Hiroki was born. I knew this kid named Shinji Kusanagi. He was a cute kid. He had short brown hair, short sandy brown hair. We were good friends. We always hung out and played with each other. I slowly started to develop a crush on him." Yumi turned to face Ulrich who was paying attention.
"Then what happened?"
"One day I decided to ask him out. I know I was young, we where naïve but, I didn't know at the time so I asked him. I walked up with a flower and held it out to him. I even remember what I said. I said Please be my boyfriend."
Yumi turned around and closed her eyes as she remembered the events that happened.
"Then he grabbed the flower and smashed it saying he doesn't want to date a "I'd rather not date a girl who would rather spend her time sparing in karate than clearing to cook. And that He would never date anyone in a lower class of society then him". He then announced it to every one in our class and by the end of the day everyone in the school knew. While I was walking home, he and his friends cornered me and started to make fun of me. They poked me and slammed my bag on the ground and shoved me. They called me Yucky Yumi. It hurt so bad I ran home and didn't stop till I was in the apartment. I remember I almost got hit by a car on the way. My mother went to school the next day because my father was out of town on business. But I didn't go to school for three days. And when I went back, it was almost the same. I promised myself that day that I would never fall in love again. I never had any friends while in Japan. Then when we moved to France I eventually met you and the others. At first I didn't pay much attention to you. But soon I started day dreaming about you. And that's when Xana attacked. I was afraid to tell you how I felt so I distanced myself from you. But I found out that I couldn't. I loved being with you and, I wanted to tell you so bad that I couldn't. Then came the day we saw Transformers. And when you asked me to be your girlfriend. I wanted to cry I was so happy. I should have known you would be nothing like him."
Yumi felt a hand on hers as she turned around to face Ulrich. He had a look of concern for her. She turned around to face him as she sat directly across from him. Finally after what seemed like a eternity of staring at each other, Ulrich leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Yumi was surprised at first. They had always kissed on the cheek. But never the lips. This was truly her first kiss.
Yumi moaned with happiness as Ulrich pulled away finally. His face was a little red. But Yumi's was literally beat red. She was almost embarrassed by it
Yumi lay down on the bed, also trying to hide her face. Ulrich slowly lay down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her as she positioned herself to lie next to him.
As the two cuddled for a few minutes, a thought came to Ulrich. In the corner was a large stuffed purple animal. It looked like a stuffed cat. Ulrich chuckled a little which got Yumi's attention.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I just realized your stuffed cat resembles someone on Lyoko."