Triple A and Marie J. -Chapter 5

Alex Andrew Adams:

“Well, I’m not sure you want to hear-”

“Zack,” I command, well, Zack, “Spill.”

“Okay, look; basically, some dudes broke into your cousin's house and left with her.”

I raise my eyebrows.

I raise MY eyebrows. Zack.

“Yes?”

“I want. Every. Detail.”

“Umm, see, I wasn’t there so the best I can do is- uh. . . Tell you what I know.”

“Starting with how you know it.”

“Right. Starting with how I was on my phone doing homework.” Homework? Ya, right.

“Then some random number calls my phone. Normally, I wouldn’t answer people I don’t know, but. . . I don’t know, it felt more compelling somehow; like if I didn’t answer something bad would happen. So I answer it and a robotic voice tells me ‘Thank you for answering R.A.N.. Agent 17 will inform you briefly.’ So I sorta just stand there for a bit, maybe thirty seconds, when Agent 17 says that some dudes broke into Marie’s house and left with her.”

“So all this happened when, exactly?”

At seven in the morning. You were up at seven in the morning?

“Maybe,” he tells me slyly.

“Okay. So how did they know your cell number, that you had a phone, and knew Marie?”

“Um, well, they didn’t exactly inform me of everything.”

“Including why they called a minor, who isn’t, I don’t know, even related?”

“That is a perfect example of what they didn’t tell me!”

“You realize it could have been a prank call, right?”

“That would be a lot of work wasted. A robotic voice, making up an acronym, finding out if I knew a ‘Marie’; Pretty real to me. Oh! The cool part was that Agent 17 had the same voice as the guy who made the video about simulating that house and racing through it!”

“He what?!”

“Dude, you have a lot of questions. I’m going downstairs to eat breakfast. You hungry? ‘Cuz you weren’t thinking about it, and unless you weren't thinking about anything, because you never-”
But whatever he said next, I'll never know, because I am already at the bottom of the stairs.