Disclaimer: Don't own the Outsiders or the FBI in case you didn't know.
Darry and Agent Carlos drove to the new crime scene where reporters were everywhere.
"Don't say a thing to these people. I'll handle that. Just walk to the trailer," Carlos said. He put his keys in his pocket and opened his door. Darry got out as well, and the reporters instantly came running.
"Detectives! Susan Hinton of 'The Times'. Can you give us an update on this new murder?"
"All questions will be answered at a press conference later this evening. We're not commenting at this time," Carlos answered.
"Is this another murder of Lynch's? Does this confirm the deaths of the other two teens Lynch currently has in his possession?" another reporter asked.
"Should the people of Tulsa fear for their lives?"
"Is it safe to travel without the fear of being murdered?"
"Should middle and high schools continue tomorrow as planned?"
At last, they made it to the safety of the yellow police tape with a few officers and agents standing guard. Agent Carlos and Darry walked into the trailer and saw Agent Helms inside reviewing some evidence with other fellow agents.
"Well well; Agent Curtis. I trust Agent Carlos went over our little dilemma with you?" Helms asked.
"Oh yeah. Thanks for keepin' me in the loop that I was supposed to be more involved in the investigation," Darry said, taking off the glasses.
"Look, we're both after the same goal; finding your brother and Jonathan alive as soon as possible. Lets just let bygones be bygones for now, and focus on the game? Deal?" Helms asked, holding out his hand.
"Deal. But no more of being left out of the loop. Also, Soda doesn't hear a peep about this," Darry warned, shaking the hand.
"Agreed," Helms said and invited Darry to sit at the table. "So here's how this is going to work. I'm going to have to take charge of this new murder and other things that come up. I'm still a key player like you are, but Agent Carlos is going to be in charge of this case while I'm away. He's been doing this almost since the beginning and knows almost as much as I do about Lynch's tendencies. Did you have any luck with Jonathan's parents?"
"Johnny's parents don't give two craps about what goes on with him or where he goes," Darry explained.
"That's a problem," Helms said, thinking aloud.
"But what if I write a letter to the paper and have them publish it as Lynch does? He's got to know that my family and our gang are the ones who care about Johnny. I've known him since he was a kid and can easily stand in as his family." Darry said.
"It's worth a shot if the Cades' won't work with us. You can work on that while Carlos can phone the newspaper to explain the situation."
"Alright. Since I'm a player now, can you tell me more about Lynch? No secrets," Darry said.
"Very well. The problem is that we don't know too much about his life before he started committing murders. The murders started in a small town in Kansas where he was originally from. He didn't interact with many people there, and they didn't with him. His high school teachers told us that he was awfully quiet and kept to himself. He never talked about his past," Helms explained.
"He still doesn't like to talk about his past with us. He's a perfectionist when it comes to his games, and any kind of tweak angers him. I'm almost certain that when he grows tired of his victims or we don't find them in time, he gets mad and…well I think you know what happens then," Helms said.
"Yeah I do," Darry said, looking at the ground. "Do we have a time limit?"
"It's hard to say. It all depends on when he gets tired with them, but he tries to get into your head with his letters and gifts making it even harder to decipher. All we can do is go off of the clues he leaves for us," Helms continued. "Well, I better get back to investigating the new scene. Start working on that letter Curtis, and Agent Carlos can inform the newspaper. If you need anything else, let Carlos know. I'll check back in later."
"Yes sir," Carlos said. Darry didn't say anything, and Helms just walked out of the trailer afterward. Meanwhile, Carlos got a piece of paper and a pencil for Darry.
"I'll help you in a minute after I've phoned them," he said.
"I think I can manage," Darry said.
"Alright. Start with 'Dear Editor.' That's how Lynch always starts his letters, and we also don't want to disturb the public. Just be careful with the wording because the press will become even more vicious when they figure out it was you who sent it in," Carlos warned.
"Yeah," Darry said. Carlos went over to the other side of the trailer where the phone was and called the newspaper company. Darry picked up the pencil and placed it on the paper, but he couldn't find the right words to say.
'This is for Pony and Johnny. Don't hold back,' Darry thought, and then started to write.
Dear Editor,
I have been keeping a close eye on you just as you have been with my family. I am writing to ask for your permission. I have reviewed the rules and have accepted them, but I also know that some key players are unable to play. I ask you to excuse their absence and let me be the key player in your game. I swear to you that I will follow the rules and do anything that is required of me. All I ask is for the game to still be played fairly, and any player not required, be completely excluded from entering or joining the game after we have started. I won't quit until I win my prize.
You have my word.
Sincerely,
Key Player # 3
A few minutes later, Carlos came back to the table. He read the letter and nodded his head. "Short, but he'll understand, and the public won't immediately understand what's going on either. The media might ask you some questions to try and get you to spill what you know, but say either 'no comment' or ignore them. Try not to say 'no comment,' too often, because they are known for turning that into a guilty conscious sort of thing, or you trying to hide something," he said.
"Alright," Darry said.
"Now, since we don't have any leads at the moment, I think I'm going to quickly give you a mini crash-course on handling evidence in a crime scene. I'm going to be doing a majority of the investigating work, but it's just so Lynch knows that you're involved now. Words don't mean much to him unless they are proven with action."
"Oh, that's good to know," Darry said, looking at the letter.
"Here's another thing Curtis that Special Agent Helms didn't mention. There's going to be more people dying, I can almost promise you. Be prepared," Carlos said.
"More people? I thought after he kills, he just moves on to the next person?" Darry said.
"Not necessarily. Remember, he's a thrill killer. Most of his kills are for his own pleasure. That doesn't mean your brother and friend are dead but just be warned. The worst has yet to come."
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Meanwhile
Dally stormed towards down the Southside of Tulsa with his pockets filled with a few folded-up maps he just stole after he left Tim's. His breathing was heavier than normal and had the look of murder in his eyes once again.
"Ain't you a little far from your home terf Winston?" a voice asked. Dally turned around with a big smile on his face as he saw a group of four Socs surrounding him.
"Perfect, just the group I was lookin' for," Dally said.
"Heard you beat up a pal of mine the other night," one said with jet black hair.
"Maybe. I've beaten up tons of Socs this week," Dally said.
"Before or after you went to jail again for attacking an officer?" another Soc asked.
"Both, but my favorite one this week was on some blondie named Quake. Screamed like a girl when I held up his blade to his throat. Unfortunately, my arm slipped a little, and he started bleeding pretty bad." Dally chuckled as the black-haired teen's eyes narrowed at the statement.
"You're gonna pay for that," he said and lunged at Dally. Dally dodged at the last minute, making the Soc run into the brick building.
"Anyone else? Or are you Socs too chicken?" Dally asked. That's when the rest of the group charged at Dally. He lifted one in the air before slamming him down to the concrete and then sucker-punched the other one down. The jet-black haired Soc suddenly ran towards Dally and kicked him in the gut. It knocked the wind out of Dally for a moment before he was up again, and kicking him back.
"Come on guys! All at once!" jet-black hair told his guys. The other two got back up and surrounded Dally throwing punches and kicks. Dally got beat up but managed to use his adrenalin and emotional state to slam guys from left to right and kick them away. Suddenly, the faint sound of police sirens was heard. As soon as the Socs heard this, they all started running.
"Thanks for the help, Mark! I feel much better now," Dally shouted, and then ran away as well, making sure to avoid the cops.
Dally ran back into town back towards Buck's place. He opened the unlocked door and went to the kitchen, sitting down at the table. Buck was currently at some rodeo in Texas and wouldn't be back for several days, but he told Dally he was always welcome to stay. Dally then pulled out the maps he had stolen and opened them up. The first was a map of Oklahoma, and another was a local map of Tulsa with a few landmarks and nearby rivers.
'Okay okay. You wouldn't be downtown or in any of the local neighborhoods. So I need the areas not as populated,' Dally mumbled, crossing out local areas with a black sharpie. 'Two-bit's going southwest towards the city, so I guess we can start up north for right now. Bastard has a Soc car but that don't mean nothin'. That could just be his getaway ride. That's what I'd do anyway.' Dally circled Oklahoma City on the map, and wrote T.B on top of it.
"Alright, let's do it," he said to himself, placing the maps inside of his pocket. Then, he ran upstairs and loaded the gun he kept hidden under the floorboard. The gun was placed in the pocket of his jean jacket, and Dally left the empty house with a colder stare than normal.
"I'm comin' Johnny."
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
Two-and-a-half hours later back with Darry
"…don't be afraid of it Curtis. Just be gentle," Carlos said. Darry was placing a pencil in an evidence bag, and transporting it over to a basket on the other side of the trailer. Darry held the bag in two hands and walked over and placed it in the basket. Then he went back over to the main table and wrote down '1 pencil' in the logbook. "Congratulations Curtis. You just went through an entire semester on handling evidence in two-and-a-half hours. Well done! Remember that you only do that after the crime scene has been fully investigated. Otherwise, you can leave the evidence in the bag, but don't forget to place the evidence marker and document. If there's one this you should get out of this, it's that documentation is everything during an investigation." Darry nodded his head, and Carlos looked at his watch. "It's just about quarter-after-three. What time does your brother get off work?"
"Four on Sundays, and seven on weekdays," Darry answered.
"Okay. Why don't we call it a day, and I'll call you around nine tomorrow to regroup? Oh, and I won't ask you where, but by any chance, have you used a gun before?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah. My father used to take me to the shooting range every once in a while," Darry explained.
"Okay. If we don't have any leads tomorrow, I want to see your shooting skills just in case something happens while you're with us. Don't worry if you don't have one on you. I can talk to Agent Helms about getting you one. Try to keep your head up," Helms said.
"Easier said than done," Darry said. The two got back into Agent Carlo's car and drove back to the house.
"See you tomorrow Curtis. Be ready!" Carlos said. Darry gave a weak wave and then walked back into the house to change into his jeans and black shirt. Just as he walked out of his room, Soda walked in the front door.
"Hey," Darry said. Soda looked up at him with a hurt expression.
"Hi," he mumbled. "Anything?"
"No," Darry said. "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not," Soda said, sitting on the couch. Darry went over and took a seat next to him. "A lot of people came by the station today. Most of them weren't gettin' gas or buying somethin'. They were there just to ask me what it was like to…." he said, and tears were already rolling down his face.
"I'm sorry Pepsi," Darry mumbled, putting his hand on his immediate younger brother's shoulder.
"That wasn't even the worst part," Soda sniffled. "Everyone had just bought their Sunday paper and brought it; even a few Socs stopped by and brought it. Every time, I had to fill up gas or ring something up, I saw the paper with their pictures on it with 'his' name right over the top of them. I had to deal with that all day. And then….some Socs shoved it right in my face that they're gone and I…I just lost it. I wanted to hurt them so bad for the way they were talkin' about them. Sayin' how Lynch did them a favor, and that he was a hero. If Steve hadn't been there to shoo them away….."
"It's okay little buddy," Darry said hugging him, and Soda just started sobbing.
"I hate being so weak! Every damn day I'm crying like a baby! Some greaser I am." Soda cried.
"You're not weak Soda. No one on this side of town blames you for crying. I've been crying too. Just let it out as much as you need to," Darry said, feeling his own tears start to form. The two sat there for several minutes like they had done the past few days holding each other close.
Finally, Soda took in a big sigh of relief after his body ran out of tears. "Glory, we've been doing this a lot lately," Soda said.
"And we can do it as many times as we need to 'little buddy'," Darry said, giving him a 'noogie'.
"Get off!" Soda whined, and the two broke apart. Soda's face then got serious. "Why did you hide the fact that he sends us letters from me?"
"Because you've been an emotional wreck since they were taken. You already passed out on me when Helms read the first letter, and I didn't want any more stress to be put on your shoulders," Darry said.
"Shouldn't you be the one who isn't letting too much stress on your shoulders? You're the serious one who has to worry about every little thing, from a majority of the bills to taking care of us. You can't handle it all by yourself Darry," Soda added.
"Watch me," Darry said, and got up, heading for the kitchen.
"I hate it when you get like this!" Soda snapped, rolling his eyes.
"Then make it so I don't have to worry about everything! Stay out of this mess, and don't go anywhere by yourself! You hear me?! That way I can focus on finding Pony and Johnny, instead of making sure you don't end up in a hospital too!"
"I'm not helpless Darry! I'm never gonna stop looking for them, but I won't go on my own if it'll make you feel better," Soda said calmly. Darry looked back at Soda just before he entered the kitchen.
"Thanks, Soda," he said.
"You're welcome. But you have to promise me that you won't do this by yourself. Let me in every once in a while. You don't have to be Superman around me Darry."
"I know kiddo," Darry said. Soda held out his hand, and Darry clasped it sealing their deal. "It won't be often, but I won't leave you completely in the dark."
And there we go. Not much happened, but next chapter we'll see Lynch's response to the letter and Darry's time as an Agent.
Hope you all enjoyed it.
Review
LaurenHardy13