Friday, September 24th, 1965
Darry watched as the clock by the bed turned into five am. His eyes were heavy but couldn't seem to close completely. Soda had finally fallen asleep after hours of just lying in bed looking around the room or out the window. Darry turned to look up at the ceiling before rubbing the corners of his eyes next to his nose. Then as slowly as he could, Darry inched his way out of the bed trying to avoid making any noise or shaking the bed that would wake up Soda. After re-tucking the covers over his brother, the eldest Curtis brother left the room and headed for the kitchen. Darry didn't even bother turning on the kitchen light but just leaned against the edge of the counter rubbing his hand all across his face and hair. Then he turned around resting his red fists on the counter trying to hide his whimpers and sighs. After quickly rubbing his face again, Darry went and turned the lights on, and to the cabinets and pulled out a mug and large pan. He put the pan on the stove and turned the heat on before making himself a pot of coffee.
Meanwhile, Soda walked into the kitchen with his eyes barely staying open as he hobbled towards the table.
"What are you doing up?" Darry asked.
"Could ask you the same thing Darry," Soda said and Darry just gave him a look. "Couldn't go back to sleep," he admitted rubbing his eyes.
"Why don't you go try again? You look like you're gonna fall off the chair," Darry said.
"No point. Plus I really don't wanna see….never mind," Soda said turning away, but Darry just continued to look at him. Soda looked back at him and rolled his eyes when Darry still gave him 'the look.' "Relax, I'm fine."
"Sure you are little buddy," Darry said and started pulling out some eggs and bacon from the fridge.
"You'll let me know if you'll find anything today right?" Soda asked. Darry's eyebrows rose before turning back to Soda.
"Hold up, you're not working today are you?" Darry asked and Soda nodded. "Your boss is seriously making go in today?!"
"Well…not exactly, but I'm going in anyway," Soda admitted.
"You're kidding me, right? How can you be expected to do your job with everything that's going on? It's too soon for you," Darry said.
"Yeah, well guess what? I'm doing perfectly fine, so how about you quit worrying about me so much and focus on finding Pony and Johnny," Soda snapped.
"You better watch it, kid," Darry warned.
"Or what? You gonna hit me too?!" Soda said and Darry slammed the spatula on the table and spun around. There he saw Soda standing up with his face pale and huge eyes. "Darry I….I'm sorry. That's not what I-"
"Relax its fine. But you need to calm down," Darry said. Soda nodded and closed his eyes taking in a few deep breaths. He took in one last one before opening his eyes again. He looked back up at Darry full of guilt.
"I'm sorry Darry."
"I told you, it's fine," Darry said and turned back around to continue cooking breakfast. Soda meanwhile sat back down and held his head up using both his hands. The rest of the time was spent in silence save for the sound of grease sizzling on the bacon and eggs cooking. Darry occasionally looked back at Soda still sitting at the table.
When the food was almost done, Soda looked outside the back door to see the world starting to get brighter. Quickly, he got out of the chair and walked through the living room and out the front door taking note not to slam the door. The sky was mostly clear; save for a few big, puffy, colorful clouds scattered around. The shinnying stars in the sky started to go dim along with the bright half-moon. The birds annoyingly chirped at each other and the crickets continued to play their tune greeting the new day. Then he saw it, the faintest tint of yellow peeked up out of the hills behind some houses. Soda sat on the steps and leaned his head against one of the railing boards for the steps. He watched for what seemed like only a minute as the faded tint of yellow grew brighter and brighter until the light started to pierce his eyes. Soda just kept blinking his eyes ignoring his automatic reaction to put his hand on top of his forehead to shield the light. He just stood there not moving and soaking in the new day; another day without his brother.
"Sodapop! Get in here before the rest of your food gets cold!" he heard Darry shout from inside.
"Huh? Oh, coming!" Soda said shaking his head bringing him back to reality. He got up and gave the sky one last glance before going back in. After grabbing a plate and piling it with food, Soda sat back down.
"He was right. Sunrises are prettier. I should have watched them with him more," Soda mumbled.
"We'll have plenty of time for that when we find him," Darry said.
"If we find him," Soda moaned.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the two froze. They exchanged glances and Darry hesitantly got up from the table to answer the door. There stood Agent Carlos in full his full FBI suit with his camera attached to a strap around his neck.
"Did you find anything?!" Darry demanded.
"Sort of, but you need to come to the police station right away. The newspaper got something this morning," Carlos whispered.
"What kind of something?" Soda asked coming into the living room with his arms crossed. Darry then stood in Soda's way trying to block out Carlos at the door.
"Soda, go back-"
"Oh don't you try and pull that bullcrap on me Darry!" the middle Curtis yelped flinching away when Darry tried to touch him. "What are you trying to hide from me?!"
"You're not getting involved in this Sodapop!" Darry growled.
"Not get involved?! My little brother's been kidnapped and you want me to sit back and not get involved?!" Soda shouted.
"He's my little brother too kid, and so are you!" Darry yelled.
"If you two are done bickering, then maybe we can get to the station sometime today. Unless you want to continue to let your brother and friend be held captive by a known killer," Carlos said. "Oh and…have either of you checked your mail recently?" Carlos asked.
"Um….why?" Soda asked taking a step to the right so he could see Carlos a little better.
"Well…" Carlos said but just looked at Darry squeezing his lips together. "Because we only have half of a clue, and we need the other half in order to solve it." Soda's eyes went wide mouth was slightly opened as he slowly looked outside to where the mailbox was.
"He sends letters?!" Soda shrieked. Then he looked at Darry who was glaring at Carlos. "Wait, you knew?!"
"Gentlemen, please! We can have this discussion later but nows not the time. I'm sorry Darrel but Lynch has a way of watching our every move. Why else do you think he's never been caught yet? He's kidnapped hundreds of teens before and…..let's just say gets very angry if we don't do what he asks; more specifically on those he has captive," Carlos explained. Soda's face relaxed as he looked back up at Darry who had since grown pale.
"Okay Pepsi," Darry muttered.
Break*Break*Break
Darry and Soda were driven up to Tulsa's police station into one of the back investigation rooms. They walked into what looked like a crime lab with a long table in the middle with various agents sitting by or talking to Agent Helms.
"Ah, there you boys are," Helms said. "You know, normally we don't like to involve the family in these kinds of investigations, but this particular bast*** gives us no choice but to do so. You already know that Lynch does what he does just for his own amusement, but what you probably didn't know is he like to turn our side into a game. You brought the letter right?"
"Have it right here sir," Carlos said holding it up.
"Good. Curtis, are you sure you want your brother in here for this?"
"To be honest, no; but I also want to find Pony and Johnny alive more than trying to keep what we find hidden," Darry said.
"I'll be fine," Soda said grabbing Darry's hand. Darry looked back at Soda and squeezed his hand. Then Darry turned back to the agents and gave Agent Helms a slight nod.
"Alright gentlemen," Helms said and all the agents. Another agent carefully set another letter down on the table like he was carrying a newborn infant. This letter, however, had already been opened by someone. Helms took the letter out of the envelope and showed the Curtis brothers what was written on the front of the folded letter.
Feeling stuck? The brothers might have better luck.
Darry and Soda looked at each other as Helms opened up the letter and placed it in the middle of the table. This letter had nothing on it except for random numbers going across the paper.
"What the hell is that?" Soda asked.
"It's called a cipher. It's a coded message that can't be cracked unless we have some sort of keyword or phrase. That's where your letter comes in," Helms said and took the letter addressed to Darry and Soda opening it with his letter opener. He took out the letter, opened it, read it silently, and placed it in the center of the table. This letter only had a single sentence written in the middle of the page.
A family of seven, down by two.
The room grew quiet as they all stared at the letter.
"Remember, he's playing a big game with you," Helms reminded when he saw terror all over Darry and Soda's face.
"S-so what's with the coded message?" Darry asked.
"Your letter is the key phase in this instance for the cipher. But the hard part is figuring out how the keyword relates to it," Helms explained.
"Do we want to start trying out some ideas to crack it sir?" one of the agents asked.
"It's all we have to go on for right now, but just to rule out the obvious options, Montgomery and Rives, you two work on classic ABC and ZYX. The rest of us will share ideas and try out our theories. Remember, keep it in relation to the key phrase and don't leave out anything," Helms said handing the two agents a card that matched a letter to how far away it was away from zero. (A=1, B=2, etc.)
"Family of seven, down by two; what if we start the alphabet at five? Like letter E is one, F is two, G is three, and so on," another agent suggested.
"Take it!" Helms said and the agent took a piece of paper, a pencil, and a copy of the letter.
"I'll do the other side of the alphabet. No offense, but I've heard a few people say that the area where you all live isn't really that great. Like growing up on the 'wrong side of the tracks,'" another suggested.
"Good one Larkson," Carlos admitted.
"Our area is fine, but do what you have to," Darry said rolling his eyes.
"What do you think Darry?" Soda asked.
"Family of seven, down by two," Darry mumbled cupping his chin with his right hand while crossing his left arm over his body. "Wait, that would be all of us right? The whole gang I mean," Darry said.
"Yeah, and the 'down by two' part definitely represents Johnny and Pony," Soda commented.
"Classic ABC and ZYX is a no go," the Agent called Rives said.
"That's what I thought," Helms said and the agents continued to discuss and try to come up with more ideas ignoring Darry and Soda talking.
"I did a few of the 'starting at five' theory and it's not making much sense," Agent Larkson said.
"Damn! That one would have fit. Group of seven, is down by two!" Soda commented.
"Curtis, does just 'family of seven' mean anything to you? The down by two-part is obviously Ponyboy and Jonathan but what does seven mean?" Helms asked.
"The seven might represent our gang that we hang around all the time. Wait a minute, what if it's our order by age," Darry suggested.
"But Dally grew up in New York. We've known Steve and Two-bit since Kindergarten," Soda said.
"Doesn't matter. Dally still hangs out with us, and he even saved Pony and Johnny from the fire. He risked his life for them; sounds like family to me," Darry said.
"Okay," Soda said and Darry grabbed a piece of paper and pencil.
"You got something you'd like to share with us, Curtis?" Helms asked.
"Hang on a minute," Soda said and turned back to Darry who started to write the names down. "So you're the oldest, then it's Two-bit, Dally and Steve…"
"Then you, Johnny, and Pony," Darry said finishing off Soda's sentence and finished writing them down.
"Try this," Darry said to Helms handing over the piece of paper. "That's our group in order."
"But wait, if we're down by two then starting the alphabet at five should have worked," Soda commented.
"Yes, but if we're going to put this group into age, then Ponyboy and Jonathan are the sixth and seventh members of your gang," Helms said. "So the alphabet numbers should start at letters F or G. Montgomery, you try out starting at letter F."
"I'll give letter G a shot," Carlos said grabbing a piece of paper. Then after a few minutes of Carlos trying it out, and trying out new options, Carlos held up his paper. "This is it," he said and handed the letter to Helms.
"Nice job Curtis. You just saved us hours of trial and error," Helms admitted.
"What does it say?" Darry asked and Helms looked down at it while Carlos got back up to get his camera.
Dear Editor,
I apologize for ending our last game early, but I couldn't wait any longer to start a new one. Please give Agent Helms my regards as we start our game all over again. My newest victims are having a great time here, though I honestly don't know how long this game will last as Ponyboy already seems like giving up. We shall see, but I have already enjoyed both boys' company already as we started with my belt, and then had a reenactment of that faithful day down in the park. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There will be more to come and always remember that every move you do, I'll be watching.
H.L
That ending I was stuck on for days. But I'm okay with it now. Plenty more is still to come so stay tune. I also decided to leave the numbered coded message out to save me some time. If you all really want to see the numbered coded message, just let me know.
Don't forget to review
LaurenHardy13