Chapter 3
July 1st - 9:48 A.M.
Alan wiped the blood from his cheek.
"I don't really like playing games with you. What is your name?"
"Now, now Alan. You don't want me to hit you with another one of those bullets, do you?"
Alan cursed to himself. "I really wanna shoot a bullet at you right now"
"That didn't award you any points with me, pal. I could shoot you right now. The bullet would fly right through the back of your head and out your eye. Does that sound fun?"
"Well, you know what. Shoot me, damn it. I've lost my wife, I'm going to jail, and I might get the death penalty anyway. Kill me."
"That wouldn't be fun, though. I want to kill you if you fail at something."
"Well, I've failed. I'm not playing any more games"
"Fine, if you want it that way, I'll lead you towards information on who I am. I have matters to take care of anyway. Get back in your car"
"Who don't you just shoot me?"
"Get in the car"
Alan stepped in the car and slammed the door in anger.
"Now, look at the GPS System"
The GPS System on the car came to life. It showed a screen with a thick blue line leading towards some destination in the town.
"Follow the map, enter the building, and head to the seventh floor. The door directly on your left is where you wanna be. I'll leave the key to the door somewhere in that building. Find the key, enter the room, and you will find clues of your next destination. Eventually, you should find a file. This file contains my birth name, but not my real name. I changed my name years ago. Take that file and search it's name on the computer. You should find a website all about you. Yes, a website containing everything you have done for the past year. You should find my name somewhere within that website. I'll be calling you along the way. Good look, sweetie"
Alan almost felt like throwing up. Sweetie? What could that
possibly mean? Alan didn't want to think about it. He started the car and slowly drove off, following the easy map on the GPS.
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Alan arrived at a big office building about an hour later. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. There was a sign near the entrance.
Aspen Inc. Bringing you the best in Computers since 1999.Alan had never heard of Aspen Incorporated. Nothing about it on commercials, in stores, billboard signs, or anywhere for that matter. Wierd name too. A computer company named after a tree?
Alan entered the building. It wasn't very fancy inside. A low production company, it seemed. He entered the elevator. There were sixteen floors. The key could be anywhere. He took the phone out of his pocket and prayed for a call. Suddenly, it rung.
"Hello?"
"Hey Alan"
It was Jake again.
"Oh hi Jake. You seem to call at strange times"
"Why is that?"
"Never mind. So what's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you that this strange guy left a message on my machine at work. He said something strange and it didn't make much sense to me. It seemed like it was some date, but I have no idea. He also said your name at the end."
"Well, what did it say?"
"6, 21, 04. Have any idea what it could mean?"
"No clue. And he said my name?"
"Yeah. Pretty strange huh"
"Yeah, really wierd..."
"Well, that's all I wanted to tell ya. I gotta get back to work. Bye"
Jake hung up. 6, 21, 04. What could that mean? It seemed like his friend was giving Alan some kind of puzzle to solve. Then, he thought of dates. If he was telling him a date, it was Three years and eleven days ago. That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Then he looked at the elevator buttons. He had an idea. He pushed the button to floor six.
Alan waited patiently as the elevator rose up five floors. It stopped. The six button lit up, and the elevator door slid open. In the doorway, was his old friend Sarah.
"Oh, Sarah. What are you doing here?"
She looked down at her feet, and said nothing.
"Right, well I guess I'll see you later"
She walked by and bumped into Alan's shoulder as she pushed the one button in the elevator. Wierd, thought Alan.
Well, he was on the sixth floor, but there wasn't much up here. A bunch of hallways. He looked up at the tons of doors. Each door had a number on it. Directly in front of him, was room twenty-one.
Alan scratched his head. Could he have possibly found what that message meant? Alan tried the door. It opened. Alan cautiously stepped inside.
It was rather dark inside the office room. There was a desk with about six or seven file cabinets near it. An Aspen Inc. brand computer was sitting on the desk. Alan realized why nobody liked them. It was bright pink, and the mouse was shaped like a porcupine, with little edges sticking out from both sides. In front of the computer was a large, leather, comy-looking computer chair. It just beckoned to him. Alan sat down in the chair. It was marvelous. So comfortable.
He almost wanted to take a nap, but decided against it. He looked around with his eyes half open, then noticed one of the file cabinets. They were labeled from one to seven, and there was one that was labeled, "04".
Alan opened it, and sure enough, there was a bright gold key inside. That was easier than Alan had expected. He examined the room further. Not much else in the room, besides a large window. Alan approached the door and readied himself to head to the seventh floor, but to his amazement, the door wouldn't open.
"What the hell?"
He pushed and pulled on the door, but it wouldn't budge. He stood back, and charged into the door with all his might. He was a football player back in high school. Defensive linemen, and he was still in shape. The door didn't go down.
Alan searched around the room. He tried the key in the door, but it didn't work. He seemed to be stuck in the dark room. The only could see one exit, and that was the window.
Alan opened the window and looked down.
"Damn, six floors looks taller from up here than down there"
There was a flag pole in front of him. The flag hadn't been raised yet. The flag pole only went up another two feet from where he was.
"Tall flagpole..."
There was about a four foot jump to the flagpole. If he didn't make it, he was dead. Just in case, he went back and rammed into the door again. It wasn't going to budge. Alan stood at the window, leaning back and forth, then without thinking, launched himself out of the window. He was in midair for only about one second, but it felt like an eternity. He rabbed the flagpole, but it rained last night, and it was still wet.
Alan slid down a few feet, and lost his grip. He was falling from midair, terrified. He had about three floors until the ground. He quickly wrapped his legs around the flagpole, and tightly squeezed. He stopped for just a moment. A moment that gave him just enough time to pull himself up and quickly grab the flagpole with his right hand. He was left handed. If he could hold on for just a few moments, he could get his left hand on the flagpole.
His position was awkward. His legs wrapped around the pole, and his right hand twisted a bit hanging on for dear life. Alan couldn't grab the flagpole in this position with the left hand, so he dared it, and let go with his right hand.
He slid down the flagpole for about two seconds. He quickly reacted and grabbed with his left hand. he brought both hands up, and held onto the flagpole. It wasn't very slippery here, and he had a good grip. He looked to his right. There was a window to a second floor room that seemed exactly the same as the one he just camed from. He swung his foot over to the ledge near the window, and pushed himself onto the ledge, and lifted the window, and jumped inside.
He laid on the ground for about five minutes, then tried the door. This one opened. He found the elevator, and pushed floor seven.
He waited a few moments as the elevator climbed up the elevator shaft. It stopped, and the doors slid open.
"This better be worth while" he said to himself.
He found the first door on the left, and used the key to get inside. The room was empty, all but one sheet of paper laying on the ground. It was a map, probably printed off Mapquest. It led him straight from this building back to his house!
Alan kicked the wall. He really did not like this guy. At all.
To be continued