Michelle awoke with a start, her heart was beating wildly and she seemed to be short of breath. She turned to the clock on her bedside table, it read six thirty am, she still had time before she needed to get ready for work. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself trying to make sense of the disturbing nightmare she had, a nightmare that she could not seem to recollect fully, all she knew was that it deeply disturbed her. She shook off the eerie feeling and felt it was a good idea to start her day early.
By seven, she was ready for work, making her way down the stairs fully dressed in a velvet pantsuit. The smell of toast and coffee was a warm welcome. She found her grandfather was already at the table drinking his coffee as he scrolled through something on his tablet.
"Good morning grandpa."
"Morning Elle dear, you're down here earlier than usual. Did something happen?" He responded.
"I just woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep."
"Very well, have breakfast then we'll get going."
"Of course grandpa."
She joined him at the table and helping herself to a large helping of toast and a large mug of coffee, she happily munched away the warmth of the coffee filling her.
The trip to work was spent in silence, the both of them busy going through business proposals, charts and reports.
They arrived at work, made their way to the top floor and Michelle spent the rest of the day working with her grandfather- sitting in on meetings and occasionally offering her opinion, she also helped in screening possible investments. For this, she used her past memories having him only accept investment requests from businesses she knew would bring in huge incomes. She also helped Hank run simple errands.
Soon lunch came around and she joined Caleb and Meg, this time they were having lunch on the rooftop, a privilege her grandfather awarded only them.
They had just started eating their lunches when Meg spoke up first.
"I hate how we only see each other for lunch." She complained groaning, "I mean I'm happy I got promoted but I miss hanging out with you both so much. This new position has taken up so much of my time."
"I miss you both too." Michelle agreed, "But we have no other choice."
Caleb was chewing absentmindedly lost in thought. Meg threw a grape at him, that caught his attention.
"What's got you so quiet?" She asked.
"Ok, so I have two news to share."
"Good news?" Meg asked hopefully. Caleb didn't answer, his face was serious. He didn't have his usual playfulness.
"What is it Caleb?" Michelle asked concerned.
"Late last night, the police got a surprise on their doorstep. It wasn't the happy kind of surprise." He began, "Four bodies were dumped in front of their office, a man, a woman and two teenagers. It appeared as though they'd been shot. On the man's body there was a note: 'heard you've been looking for this'"
Michelle was floored, an entire family dead.
"Oh my goodness!" Meg gasped clasping her mouth as she choked back a sob.
"How are you handling things?" Michelle asked Caleb.
"Handling what?"
"Seeing four dead bodies, with two of them being children. That can't be easy for anyone." Meg chimed in taking deep breaths.
"I'm okay I guess. I didn't actually see the bodies, but the whole station was on edge and couldn't stop talking about it." He responded reassuringly.
"Alright, thank goodness for that." The two ladies sighed in relief.
"Here's the second news. I got attacked on my way back from there early this morning."
"What are you ok?" Asked Meg at the same time that Michelle asked, "You still spent the night at the station?"
"Yes. To both questions. Although I can't actually call it being attacked, the man didn't do anything. Just forcefully put something in my pocket." He explained further.
"What did he put?" Michelle asked.
"A letter and a drive."
"Have you checked either of them yet?" She asked.
"No, I haven't. I wanted us to look at it together." He said as he brought out the items from his pocket.
"So you just carried it around all day?" Michelle aske baffled.
"Not like I could leave it at my desk, my coworkers are busybodies."
"Alright, let's open it then" Michelle said.
The letter read as follows:
Hello, the three musketeers! That's what I'm calling you guys. Now I've taken a gamble that you're all reading this letter together- go team! Now here's the deal, you guys made me get rid of two people that were bringing in a lot of good money. Don't worry, I'm not upset, you win some you lose some. However, you guys plan on going after the other two and I don't like that but I love a good chase, so in that drive is two thing's one's a gift and the other is a surprise. You can decide which is which. Good luck!
The note ended.
"Three musketeers?" Caleb scoffed, "That is a terrible name."
Ignoring his statement, Michelle took the drive and connected it to the laptop Caleb brought along with him. The drive contained two things, one was a video and the other was a folder labelled 'P'.
"Which do we open first?" Meg asked. "I think it should be the folder."
"Yeah, something tells me we're not ready for whatever the video may contain." Michelle agreed then clicked on the folder.
It contained surveillance videos of Parker and Peter entering the bank where Freddy and Penn's embezzling accounts were opened. Sometimes they arrived together, others alone.
"Isn't this?" Meg asked.
"What I was looking to find in the police station?" Caleb completed, "Yes it is."
"How did this person know this is what we were looking for?" She asked.
"This confirms it, we're being watched." Michelle replied.
"Okay, you are being way too calm for someone who just found out that they are being stalked."
"At least we know they don't want to kill us." Caleb offered, "If they did, we'd be long dead with how unaware we were about us being watched."
"So what now?"
"I think they gave us this because they want us to know what we're going to do with it. The letter said they love a good chase, this means they want us to keep digging on Parker and Peter." Michelle said.
"So?" Meg asked.
"So that's what's gonna happen." She replied, "But again if you guys want to stop, I would understand, this is your lives on the line." She said her finger hovering over the mousepad. Caleb and Meg exchanged a glance and remained with her. Michelle clicked play.
The video started out shaky but soon evened out, then the person holding the camera started to speak,
"Make sure it's tight. We can't have it slip off." The voice sounded shaky and afraid.
The camera pointed to two men in jail cells as they tied bedsheets to hooks that were in the ceiling. Tying a noose on the other end, they slipped their heads into it.
One of them cried out desperately, "Please, we weren't going to tell them anything too implicating. We just wanted to get out of here."
"See that's what the boss didn't like, that you thought you could say anything at all." The voice responded. "Now continue."
The men, whilst whimpering, kicked away the makeshift stools they made. It didn't take long and their airways were blocked. The camera was steady recording how they clawed at the noose around their throats desperate for a gulp of air even if it was the tiniest bit of it. Their faces soon turned red and after a while of pointless struggle they stopped moving, their bodies swaying slowly in the room. The video went blank signaling its end.
"Was that, Penn and Freddy?" Meg asked bewildered.
"Yes it was." Michelle responded disconnecting the drive and closing the laptop.
"So they were murdered!" Meg exclaimed.
"More like coerced suicide," Meg shot him a sharp look, "But murder works too."
"Why would anyone send us this?" Meg asked.
"They're taunting us. It was the same with the note. Whoever it is isn't taking us seriously, they think it's all a game. That can work well for us."
"Can it though?"
"From these things, they expect us to go after Peter and Parker."
"Isn't that we were going to do before?" Caleb asked confused.
"Not anymore, we won't go after them at all. Instead we put them up against each other."
"What would that achieve?" Meg asked.
"Well, if they take each other out, this mysterious person won't focus on us anymore." She responded.
"Oh!" Meg suddenly exclaimed, "I can't believe I'd forgotten."
"Forgotten what?" Caleb and Michelle asked in unison.
"I told you guys I was going to ask my contacts on the force remember? Turns out the deal Freddy and his buddy were going to make was actually a big deal on the force. It stirred up a lot of people."
"What was it?"
"Well, they were going to give up their connection to an underground group that the police had been chasing for a while now. They were going to tell them how they made contact with the group, what kind of jobs they did, who they say, where the base was. Things like that."
"Then the leader of this unknown group got rid of them." Michelle said.
"From what I was told, that is the least of what they can do. I mean they killed an entire family and dumped it on the doorstep of the police with a note. Then we get our own special note with our own special nickname and a whole video that documented the death of our former colleagues." Meg ranted, "It is obvious that these are dangerous forces we're dealing with. I agree with Michelle's plan. Having stupid and stupider take each other out will hopefully make them keep their eyes off us for a bit."
"Well, how are going to go about it then?' Caleb asked.
"Simple," Michelle said smiling, "We get in their heads, make them think one has given up the other. The best part about this plan is that they'll be keeping their distance from each other and will also be quite wary as well. We can work with that."
"Alright then. It's decided." Meg said and Caleb nodded.
They ate the rest of their lunch each occupied with their own thoughts. Michelle was trying to understand how this group never surfaced in her previous life or how if they did she never noticed them. Things were becoming different, and she strengthened her resolve even further ready to face whatever may come next.
At the Hart family home, Lionel was receiving his own letter in the mail. The house was empty save for him and the staff. The letter was on the kitchen counter with the rest of the mail. He noticed it first, because of how different it was from the other mails. The envelope was a pink envelope with red lining, sealed with gold wax the sigil was an eagle holding a rose. His curiosity was piqued and he smiled as he recognized the sigil
He read the letter in his study a pensive look on his face. With each sentence, he read his expression got darker more and more, he picked up his phone dialing the number that was on it he crumpled the letter in anger.
The phone rang for two seconds before a female voice answered.
"Hello?"
"How dare you send something like this to my home? My wife could have found it." He whispered furiously.
""Would it have been so bad? I mean it's about time your family knows about me anyways." She responded chuckling lightly.
"No Rose, I have no intention of my family ever knowing of your existence."