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.
Heading back from a family breakfast, all hell breaks loose when someone lays a trap that catches everyone unawares! 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!
What
the hell’s going on?
Our car came to a halt. Not surprising, since I had
a feeling we just blew out four tires, as did the rest. Everything had happened
too quickly to alert the cars behind us, so add two more vehicles to the list
of disabled cars by the side of the road. I was grateful that the slow speed at
which we’d been traveling had prevented anything worse from happening, as did
the presence of the grassy field in which we’d all rolled.
But the question remained—who had done this and why?
Ethan turned toward his uncle in the back seat. “You
okay, Benny?”
“Fine,” Benny assured him. “Go check on the others.”
Ethan was already halfway out the door before Benny
had finished speaking, and I was close behind. “Go check on Troy’s car,” he
directed me even as he headed toward his parents.
Troy and Brendan were already assisting Sarah and
little Alex out of the car. Far from upset, the toddler seemed to have enjoyed
the unexpected detour and was clamoring for more. No one was hurt here either.
I glanced toward the leader car, driving by the minister, and relieved to see
they too were exiting the vehicle. Behind us, the two cars containing the
agents—two in each vehicle—had emptied as well, and they seemed as baffled as
we were. Guns drawn, they seemed ready for anything.
But what? Hard to tell since we had no idea what had
happened.
I recognized one of the men. He had become an agent
at the same time as Ethan and I had. We’d exchanged pleasantries a few times
over the years, although our paths didn’t converge very often. At least not
until today. Spotting me, he waved his partner to follow and approached our
group.
“Hey Carlos,” I said. “You guys okay?”
‘Yeah, we’re fine,” he said. “You?”
“So far so good,” I responded. Hard to say any more
than that, but at least for now, no one had been injured. Although we were
looking at five cars that were out of commission, at least temporarily. One
flat tired could have been an easy fix. Four each? A nightmare.
Sarah, clutching her son, hastened in the direction
of her parents. Joe Junior followed in their wake, eyes wide. For once, he had
nothing to say. I glanced toward Troy and Brendan. They seemed fine, but Troy’s
expression seemed troubled. I quickly excused myself to Carlos and hurried
toward my friends.
“Everything okay?” I queried once I was within
earshot. Brendan seemed upset as well. A feeling of unease began to grow in the
pit of my stomach. Somehow I knew what had just happened was just the tip of
the proverbial iceberg…and more was to follow.
“I…I don’t know.” Troy drew an agitated hand through
his blond hair. “This may be nothing, or it may be something. I just don’t
know.”
That feeling inside of me was growing stronger.
Brendan took Troy’s hand in his own, as if to anchor
him. “I’m afraid it might be bad,” he said.
This absolutely did not portend anything good. I
caught Ethan’s eye and signaled to him to join us, which he did.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, glancing between us.
I waited for Troy to respond, as clearly he had
knowledge which we didn’t possess.
“I just got a call from Carrington.”
I searched my brain for some clue as to why that
sounded familiar. Oh yeah, the rehab center where spoiled rich people went to
avoid serving actual time for their crimes. Well, at least one of them, anyway.
“Apparently, Carrie’s not there. Probably hasn’t
been for a little while.”
Holy shit. How could that even happen?
“They didn’t notice she was gone?” That was from
Ethan. He wore an incredulous expression, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Her stunt double,” Troy said, his voice dropping.
“At some point, she switched places with her, and Carrie got out. That
particular double’s name is Marlene. And she’s good. Very good. They used to
switch places before, play practical jokes on people by confusing them as to
who was who. I never thought….” His voice trailed off in distress.
Brendan immediately drew Troy to him, and hugged him
close. “It’s not your fault, please don’t think that. None of this is your
fault.”
“Of course it’s not,” I quickly interjected, and
Ethan chimed in as well.
But what did one have to do with the other? And why
did I have the feeling that whatever was going on was tied to that horrible
horrible human being, whose name I still refused to allow to pass my lip?.
to be continued
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