Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Things are getting even stranger for Vinnie and Ethan. They return from a short trip to the store to find a strange car in the driveway, but it turns out to be Troy and Brendan and Benny! What the heck is going on here? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
Ethan pulled over and parked the car as I continued
to goggle at the sight before me. I swear, this assignment was growing stranger
and stranger. Before I could even sputter out a single one of my many questions,
though, I heard Anderson’s ring tone on Ethan’s phone. What incredibly eerie
timing. Or a helluva coincidence. How did he know they were here? Unless, of
course, he sent them. But I could think of no earthly reason why he would do
that.
Ethan answered even as I opened the door and exited the
vehicle. I could hear Ethan following suit.
“No, no trouble,” he was saying to our boss. “No
need to worry, it’s just Troy and Brendan.”
A momentary pause and then, “I don’t know. I’ll get
back with you.” He slid his phone into his pocket and joined me as I hurried up
the drive toward the new arrivals.
Troy and Brendan looked every bit as confused as we
were, looking back and forth from them to us. But Benny wasn’t. He leapt from
Brendan’s arms and barreled straight for us with much joyful yipping. I knelt
down and scooped him up and became the recipient of multiple wet kisses for my
efforts.
“Are you guys all right? I mean, you look fine,
but…” Troy’s words trailed off.
“We’re fine,”
Ethan responded. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Troy ran a hand through his hair, although nothing
looked out of place. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him when he wasn’t looking
his best. Maybe it was a nervous gesture.
“Because we got a message telling us you were in
trouble, and that we needed to come to this address if we ever wanted to see you
alive again.”
Didn’t that sound like a line from some cheesy movie
or something?
Wait a minute. This address? Who would even have
this address? And who even knew we were here? And why? Nothing was making any
sense at the moment.
“Where are we?” Brendan asked, glancing up toward
the house behind us. “Are you here for work or something? I have no idea what’s
going on.”
I think that made four of us.
“That’s my parents’ house,” Ethan said. “We were on
a job… Actually, we still are. Long story, but we ended up here, along with my
sister and my uncle Benny. Anderson has people watching the house. That’s why
he called. Because they reported seeing a strange car.”
Troy and Brendan glanced from Benny in my arms back
to Ethan.
“Yes, he was named after my uncle,” Ethan said
before the question was even asked.
I looked at our friends with growing amazement as I
realized something. “You mean you came down here from Roanoke because you
thought we were in trouble?”
“Absolutely.” Troy nodded. “It sounded serious, so
we were worried, weren’t we, Bren?”
Brendan affirmed his statement with a nod. “Troy got
us and Benny on the next flight out of Roanoke, and we rented a car in Atlanta,
and here we are.”
Here they were indeed.
“Guess we should have called first.” Troy sounded a
little sheepish. “Instead of just assuming the caller knew what they were
talking about. Didn’t mean to bust in y’all like this.”
Ethan didn’t seem as relieved as I thought he would,
his handsome features puckered into a frown. “But why would someone go to so
much trouble to get you here? This makes no sense.”
Suddenly I felt exposed, despite the existence of
the agents around us. I wasn’t sure how many there were or where they were. And
I didn’t like not knowing what was going on.
Ethan obviously felt the same way. “Let’s go
inside,” he said, gesturing toward the house. “We’ll figure everything out
there.”
I couldn’t help but think that we were about to make
Sarah’s night when we walked in with Troy McGarrett.
to be continued
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