A/N: Not too much will be different from the game in this chapter (You'll understand why) so I tried to make it really simple and objective because to leave it behind would make no sense at all. I still hope it feels entertaining to read it, though, and to compensate the lack of "changed elements from the game", I'll upload two chapters at once, wheee! I hope you understand =)
Thursday
11:15 AM
3.366 inches.
It was 9:17 AM when they finally left the abandoned house. Using a shortcut through a street, they managed to get to Jayden's Apartment without being noticed and, quickly picking up the remaining Origami Figures, they left to Ethan's motel room: There weren't too many people around there which was exactly what they were looking for.
As soon as they got in, a sudden feeling of softness felt over both, especially Jayden. They would be safe here, at least for now and, man, it felt good to talk. All this time these horrid memories kept tearing him apart, locked inside him and only him. But now, after facing them as they should be, he felt better than ever. Had even forgotten about Tripto for a second!
"Do you need help?" Norman asked and pointed to Ethan's cut finger.
"Oh, no, I can take care of it by my own, thanks. But feel free to, you know, eat or watch TV or anything you wanna do."
"Actually, I was going to work a little… Do you mind me using your desk?"
"Be my guest!" Ethan said and entered the bathroom, ready to clean up the mess his finger was in.
Hell yeah, working with ARI would be a lot better now that Ethan knew everything about it. Norman sat over the desk, wore his single-handed glove and ARI glasses and there he was, staring at some beautiful trees, a soft wind trying to mess up his hair. He touched the clues' holographic box and opened it up. A new data had been added to it and he quickly checked it out.
It was a video recording from near the park on the afternoon Shaun Mars disappeared. He played it and watched as ARI itself searched for something useful…
And it found it!
A Chevrolet model corresponding to the tire prints he found at the crime scene passed at 16:02 heading for the park and went in the opposite direction at 16:37 which could fit the time Shaun had disappeared. It could be the killer's car, couldn't it? A new clue – The car's image, turned in better quality by the ARI technology - popped up near the floating other ones and Jayden selected it.
"Pity we can't see the driver's face…" Norman thought, angry. That would've made everything easier, that's for sure. He analyzed it: The car had been stolen, alright… A certain Jackson Neville was suspected of stealing it but the charges were dropped. His ID popped up just like the car image did and Jackson Neville's face was seen. Born in September 21, 1982, Jackson Neville AKA Mad Jack was considered to be very dangerous and had already been involved in several cases of buying and selling stolen vehicles. He could have easily provided the killer with the car… Oh well, he would have to check that out.
Jayden took the ARI glasses off and rubbed his face, tired. He really needed to sleep but his mind and body seemed to be fighting against that somehow. His attention was caught by an innocent and silent laugh next to him.
"What is it?" Norman asked, suspicious.
"Nothing. It just…" Ethan started and laughed harder all of a sudden "It is still weird!"
"Oh… That." Norman smiled. He should ask to be recorded using the ARI, only then he would understand how weird it looked like to others… "I… I need to thank you, Ethan. For… For everything."
"You don't need to thank me for that" Ethan said "That's what friends are for! Besides, you did the same for me, it's the least I can do. You can always count on me!" He said and gave the agent a thumbs up.
"Same here!" Norman also gave him a thumbs up as an answer, both smiling real big. When all of this was over, they surely would have some good times together, just relaxing, making jokes, playing with Shaun… If only these "good times" came faster…
"So you can actually take care of yourself, uh?" Norman said, looking to Ethan's left hand: It looked pretty good now, clean and wrapped with bandages.
"Kinda" Ethan answered staring at his left hand. Yeah, It actually looked pretty nice! "But what about you? Did you find anything?"
"Yes, I did… Tell me, Ethan, do you remember the exact time when you arrived at the park with Shaun?" He asked. He hadn't been able to speak to Ethan the first time he came into the station since he had had some… Problems.
"It was about… 4:15, yeah, It told that to Blake. You weren't there, were you?"
"No and Blake surely didn't mind telling me about it… Anyway: There's this car here which headed for the park at 16:02 and then in the opposite direction at 16:37. It corresponds to some tire prints I found and there's a possibility of it being the killer's…"
"Wait, you found the killer's car?" Ethan got up, excited.
"Maybe… The fact is: The car was stolen by some guy called "Mad Jack". I'll have to ask him some questions; he might have provided the killer with the car or something…"
"I see…" Ethan sat down once again "It couldn't be that hard, could it? I mean, you're just gonna talk, right?"
"Of course. Just a little talk, nothing special" Jayden said, hoping it would be like that. Something, however, told him it wouldn't be that easy… "Anyway, I think we better open up the next Origami Figure, Ethan. We can't afford to lose more time."
"I was about to say that" Ethan agreed and approached Norman as the man picked up a Shark figure out of his pocket. They stared at each other, suddenly trembling, afraid of what they would have to face next. Norman slowly opened it up and read it loud, gasping while doing so.
Are you prepared to kill someone and save your son? Brad Silver. Kill him. Send a picture. Get your reward.
Ethan froze in fear. To kill a man in order to save Shaun? That… That just wasn't right! He couldn't kill an innocent person in cold blood like that, even If it was to save his own son… Could he?
"That's… That's ridiculous!" Ethan screamed, scared, walking around the room, sweating "I can't do that, I just won't make it! He… He also has a life, he may even have a family… How can I simply go in there and shot him?"
Of course, shot him: The gun inside the box, that's what it was meant for. Norman didn't move, lost in thoughts; damnit, they were looking for justice here but what kind of justice would this be? It went against all of his principles – Kill or be killed surely didn't fit in this case – but Shaun needed them, he needed his father more than anything in the world… He closed his eyes, worried as Ethan started to mumble hysterically to himself.
"I'd do anything to save him, I'd even give my own life to save my son, but this… This is just so wrong, but if I go against it S-Shaun is gonna…" He stopped all of a sudden and, as if he had just recovered his senses, looked at Jayden and spoke, serious "Norman, look… I… I'm really grateful for your help, more than you can possibly imagine but… I think I should do this on my own."
Norman turned around to face him, just listening, respectful.
"This has nothing to do with you, it never did. Besides…" He took a deep breath "Having you around will only make harder for me to make a final decision."
The well known deep silence fell over them once again. Ethan felt a terrible will to hide, to run away, to simply vanish for a few seconds… But then the FBI profiler got up and, placing his hands over the man's shoulders, faced him and said, honestly:
"Ethan, listen" He started patiently, trying to calm the man "When it comes to such a situation there isn't right or wrong. We're talking about your son's life! You've got to do what your heart tells you to. I just want you to know that, no matter what you choose, I'll still stand by your side. Okay?"
Ethan smiled, ashamed yet glad. It was up to him to make the final decision, of course, but to have Jayden's trust in a time where he had no one else would make things easier! Ethan took another deep breath and Jayden continued:
"I'll be going after Jackson Neville… What do you think about we switch our cars? I use yours, you use mine. That way we'll have a chance to confuse whoever comer after us."
"Wait, but they're after both of us… Aren't they?"
"Maybe not… We don't know if they saw my face in the car when we fled; even with my car plate, they can't prove it was me at least for a while."
"But they will if they see you using the car of a suspect…"
"I'll take the risk!" Norman said and smiled. A few minutes later, they went in separate ways with switched cars, hoping luck would cooperate and stay by their side.
By the time Norman Jayden arrived at the junkyard, Ethan Mars had already parked near Brad Silver's apartment. He didn't, however, go in. He was too scared to do so… His hands wouldn't stop shaking, he couldn't think straight and even Shaun felt like a blur to him now. He knew he had to do it; he just had to do it! But… He never felt as anxious as he was feeling right now.
It took him a few minutes to get ready for it. It was 11:15 AM.
He recovered conscience with a crashing sound, breathing frantically as he realized his hands were cuffed to the steering wheel and he was being dragged towards the crusher in a crane, Mad Jack laughing maniacally wishing for him to have a slow and painful death. He tugged the cuffs violently, trying to free himself, trying to survive…
He knocked the door, feeling hard to breathe as fear took over the last bit of control he had! It couldn't be that hard to use a gun, could it? He had never used one before… Just… Don't look him in the eye, just… Just shoot!
A good kick on the glove compartment and he saw the other gun he kept safe – Thanks God – just waiting to be of some help. He pulled it up with his foot and grabbed it as fast as he could, the gun slipping from side to side as the crane moved the car. He adjusted it, pointed it to the cuffs and pulled the trigger and the car was thrown into the crusher…
"Yeah? What do you want?" Brad Silver said as he opened the door and faced the architect. C'mon, pick up the gun, pick up the gun… "Oh, fuck it. I've said a thousand times that I don't want any junkies at my door… If you wanna score, man, you gotta fucking call first... C'mon, beat it!"He said, closing the door!
A drug dealer… The man was a fucking drug dealer, people died because of him! He wouldn't hesitate for a second if he was the one holding the gun, would he? Ethan knocked again…
"Fuck, are you deaf or what? I said get outta here! You're gonna cause me trouble!"
He fell on his back, closing his eyes as a disturbing pain spread through his bones. The profiler got up as fast as he could and pointed the gun to the backhoe, to Mad Jack.
Only the man wasn't there.
His gun was thrown away as he was pushed to ground...
"Hey! Take it easy man!" Silver said, hands up, the gun pointed directly to his face, Ethan Mars sweating and trembling in despair "Keep cool… What do you want? Dope? Cash? Tell me what you need, I'm sure we can make a deal."
Pull it, pull the damn trigger! As much as Ethan told himself to do it, though, his body just didn't obey to his command and this one weakness was what made him get easily hit and the table was turned as Silver picked up a gun for himself…
Jayden screamed in pain as a hard kick got him in the stomach, followed by another kick in the face. He was pulled up by the neck, managing to hit Mad Jack in the head and free himself only to receive a punch in the face and fall against the ground, bleeding.
"I'll blow your brains out, you son of a bitch!" Silver said out loud as he chased Ethan through his apartment, shooting endlessly with his shotgun. Ethan jumped over the beds and dodged as best as he could, almost getting shot. The chase continued and no matter how much Ethan ran, the shark would still follow him through these dense waters, its waves making Ethan's legs tremble and sending him against a wall, to a dead end, the shark's teeth ready to rip him apart as the shotgun was pointed at him…
He tried to punch him but felt so exhausted that it was useless to try. An attack against his head and he was grabbed by the neck, being strangled, agonizing under the rain, trying with all his might to free himself from Mad Jack's tight grip. In a desperate attempt, Jayden hit the man's neck with all his will, being thrown to the ground and kicked on the chest. Before he could even move, he was grabbed and thrown against the backhoe, cursing his body for not obeying his commands, making him unable to act properly, his vision still blurry…
"Hold it man!" Brad asked, scared now that he had no more ammo and had the gun pointed to him once again "I'll give you whatever you want! Got dope… Got cash… Y-You want some dope? Please… Please don't kill me man…"
"I've got children…"
That was enough to make Ethan lose control and before he let his hand go down, he held it up with left one, looking at a picture Brad had picked up from the small sofa laying near his children drawings…
"These are my girls, see?" He said as he showed the picture to Ethan, both men nervous "This one's Sarah… And the little one… That's Cindy… Please man…"
Ethan hit the man's hand, letting the picture fall. He couldn't stare at it anymore; he couldn't do this anymore…
"I wanna see them again! P-Please… Please, d-don't shoot!" Brad Silver begged, crying, and Ethan found himself with the man's life in his hand…
He defended himself from the attacks, one by one, regaining his strength as he got up. However, it just wasn't enough...
He had no right to take the man's life, they were both fathers, for God's sake! What gave him the right to kill an innocent man to save his son?
Mad Jack tried slamming him against the backhoe. Shit, he was gonna die…
Think about Shaun; think about your son… Nothing will ever stop you from saving your son, he's the person you love the most in the world!
Norman resisted and felt his body touch the ground as Mad Jack got caught by the backhoe's treads…
"I'm a father too…" Ethan said and pulled the trigger.
Jayden got up, facing the gruesome image in front of him…
"But I have no choice."
They would never realize it but after all they had gone through in this day meant something they wished for…
Luck had, in fact, stood by their side.
Did someone find out why "The Shark" wasn't altered?