The Dark Streets

by Matthew Smith

  “Hello again my dear friend Jack.” I focused on Stake,

  “Hello Stake, so what is this about your brother?” Stake walked up to me and put his arms around me,

  “I’ve missed you old friend, I’m glad to be back, but yes about my brother, my brother Drogoth was the reason for my weakness and leaving, my brother became infected with a virus created by the Zions, a race that my people in the Ether Dimension the Dimension that created yours and two other Dimensions with Principle and Nepharia Energy which are the Energies that create life, Principle Energy creates the physical aspect of life and Nepharia creates the Soul in life. The Morphers have been at war with for years, and the virus is called the Darkness, they unleashed it against us but it started corrupting all of their people and ours until it was contained until my brother unleashed it again but fused it with his Principle and Nepharia Energies and is now sucking your Dimensions Principle and Nepharia Energies to create his One Dimension Universe and I also wanted to say congratulations on becoming a detective on your father's case.”

  “Was Drogoth behind the case ten years ago with The Blue Knights?” Stake nodded,

  “Yes Jack that was his last big attempt to take over your DImension.” I nodded,

  “I see and do you want me to help again?” Stake nodded,

  “Yes I can’t take him on by myself, I need you Jack, you're my only hope of taking my brother down for good and maybe the Darkness as well, how does that sound, you could travel to the other Dimensions with me?” I nodded,

  “Yes I will help you Stake, only because he may have something to do with my father being dead.” He smiled,

  “Okay good, thanks Jack, but I must go now talk to you soon, my dear old friend Jack.”

  Chapter Three

  Me and Jonathan were in front of Laura's desk,

  “Hello detectives, what can I do for you?”

  “We need to know if anyone from me and Rick's first case broke out of jail.” Laura nodded,

  “Certainly, I'll check it out and give you a call Detective Prail.” He smiled,

  “Thanks sweetheart.” She smiled, we turned around and walked out of the station,

  “What was that about John?” Jonathan chuckled,

  “We've always been like that, she's my sister in-law, I married her sister nine years ago... I had to arrest their brother because he was a part of the cult, me and your father took down.” We reached Jonathan's car, a Crown Vic and we got in, we buckled in and he started the car,

  “That must've been hard for you and your wife to go through.” Jonathan nodded, and turned the car on and started driving,

  "Yeah, I’ll admit it was hard and I thought about leaving and no doubt so did she, but we got through it and got married a year later and now look at me happy and pretty much ready for retirement just gotta pass my knowledge on to you.” I looked out the window and saw people living their lives like nothing dark was lurking in their city. “So Jack what made you want to be a cop?”

  “Well growing up with a father that was a cop was a big factor but I was going to university for chemistry because I wanted to be a biochemist, but seeing the work my father was doing and seeing him help people in a bad time and seeing him take down an entire cult the way he did, it inspired me to change courses to study criminology and psychology and become a cop like my father and after university I went to the police academy.”

  “Well that’s good Jack, I can’t imagine you being a biochemist, that’s just a strange reality to think of.” I smiled and nodded,

  “Yeah true.” We arrived to the location of Donald Jefferies, our alleged witness,

  “Well here we are and try to be nice Jack, he’s a witness not a suspect.” I looked over at Jonathan,

  “That’s the one trait I don’t possess that my father did, patience, he had the patience to deal with junkies and I don’t.” He looked at me,

  “You will learn it with time, trust me Jack.” Jonathan turned the engine off and got out of the car, I unbuckled and got out of the car as well,

  “Whatever you say old man.” Jonathan chuckled,

  “Old man!? You better watch your mouth rookie, I’ll have you on desk duty for the rest of your career if you keep it up!” I shook my head,

  “Not if I tell Marcus about your special ‘intuition’ flask in your jacket pocket.”

  “Touche Jack, touche.” He took out his flask, opened it and took a swig and screwed the lid back on and put it back in his pocket and we walked up to the apartment. We reached the front door and Jonathan opened the door and we walked in and started going up the stairs towards our witness. We reached his floor and turned into a hallway and we reached his apartment, Jonathan knocked on the door,

  “Who is it?”

  “Chicago PD.” We heard noise coming from inside of the apartment and the door unlocked and opened,

  “Come on in.” We walked inside his apartment and it was cluttered, the living room couch was littered with dirty clothes and garbage and the table had empty beer cans and used needles and there were more on the ground, he sat down at the kitchen table, we sat down on chairs at the table as well, Jonathan took out his notepad and pen from his inside jacket pocket,

  “So I think you know why we are here, just start from the beginning.” Donald looked at me,

  “I knew your father from the recovery support program he was a part of, he actually helped me get clean but as you can tell I relapsed and I was supposed to see him today but he kinda well you know, now I fucking have no clue what to do but that’s not why you’re here, I’m sorry, I’ll get to the point.”

  “That’d be nice sir.” Jonathan coughed and I looked at him and he raised his eyebrows at me, he looked at Donald,

  “What my partner met to say was, go on sir.” Donald looked at Jonathan and then back at me,

  “Okay anyways, last night I saw a guy, your father, walking down the street and there was a guy following him, holding an... axe and your father walked into an alleyway and turned around they seemed to be talking and then the man with the axe attacked your father and killed him in the alleyway.” Jonathan looked at me wrote in his notepad and looked back at Donald,

  “Did you get a good look at the man with the axe?” Donald shook his head,

  “No but, after he killed your father a vehicle came and picked him up.” Jonathan wrote this down in his notepad and put his pen and notepad back into his inside jacket pocket,

  “Okay, well if you remember anything else you give me a call.” He handed him a card and we got up and walked out his apartment and he closed his door,

  “Well that went better than I thought.” Jonathan hit me on the back of the head,

  “Yeah especially after that comment you made, I’ll be shocked if we don’t get a complaint.”

  “What do you mean? We got the information.”

  “Yeah after you made him feel bad taking his time getting there, you are a good cop Jack but you need to get better at dealing with people, that’s your only flaw, work on that and you’ll go far.” I nodded,

  “Thanks for the advice Jonathan, I wonder who would have picked our suspect?” We reached Jonathan's car and we got in, and we buckled our seatbelts, and he turned the car on and started to drive,

  “Yeah true and I wonder the same thing, I honestly would not know who it could’ve been but, it means that more than one person was involved with his death, and wanted your father dead, so either one of our theories are still in play but we still have the information we got Laura to check for us, so let’s get going back and see if she has anything for us.” I nodded,

  “Good idea, I was thinking the same thing, partner.” Just then everything went dark again and Stake was there again, “good timing Stake, I have some useful information.”

  “Good, good Jack, please tell me.”

  “Well I was speaking with a witness to my father’s murder and he saw the man with the axe get into a vehicle and drive away, me and Jonathan think it could be one of
the people that him and my father arrested ten years ago or one of the junkies from his drug recovery program, what do you think Stake?” He rubbed his chin,

  "Maybe you and partner are right on this one Jack, with the info provided, it’s safe to say, it was one of the cult members that was arrested working with my brother and if that's the case we will have to hurry and stop them before anything seriously bad happens, but I think first things first, follow that lead of yours with Laura and follow the tracks of the Axe Man as well.” I nodded,

  “Okay I will, Stake and I will update you with any new information or is it like last time and you see and hear everything I do?” He nodded,

  “Just like last time my dear old friend, I’ll contact you, like always.” Jonathan's phone started ringing,

  “Hello? Hey Laura, what have you found out... Oh really? Okay sounds good Laura, we'll be right there.” Johnathan put his phone back into his jacket pocket and looked at me,

  “That was Laura, she's got some good information for us.” I nodded,

  “Great! Let’s get going!” Jonathan started driving towards the police station. We reached the station, we got out of the car and walked to the front door of the police station and we walked up to Laura's desk, “so Laura what have you found for us?” She looked up from what she was doing,

  “Well I found out that two of the people that were arrested ten years got bailed out, two years ago.” Jonathan's eyes grew wide,

  “Who were they!?”

  “The first one was a man by the name of Thomas Houston, Sandra’s brother and the other one was Mike Harris.” Jonathan punched his fist on Laura's desk,

  “Fuck! You gotta be kidding me!?” She shook her head,

  “No I’m not sorry Jon.” I looked at Jonathan and put my hand on his shoulder,

  “What is it Jon?” Jonathan turned around and looked at me,

  "Thomas Houston is my brother in-law and Mike Harris was the one who murdered the father that started the case and investigation and discovery The Blue Knights ten years ago and was the leader of the whole fucking thing, so how in the fuck did he get out?”

  “Better question is, who in the fuck bailed them out?” Jonathan nodded in agreement,

  “Yeah that’s a very good question Jack.” Jonathan looked at Laura, “Laura who paid their bail?”

  “It seems the bail for both of them seemed to come from the same anonymous source.”

  “Of course! What was their last known location?” Laura started working on her computer then after a couple of minutes, she looked up at Johnathan,

  “It looks like the last known location for Thomas Houston is currently unknown it seems he completely went off the grid right after being bailed out and Mike Harris was last seen at the Chicago docks a week ago.” Jonathan looked at me,

  “You thinking what I’m thinking partner?” I nodded,

  “Go question Mike Harris about what he’s doing out so early?” Jonathan nodded, we both walked back out the doors and back to the car and we got in, he turned the car on and started to drive towards the docks,

  “I can't believe it, who would’ve paid those monster’s bail, it makes no sense, the only way for it to make sense is that the cult is back, what do you think Jack?” I looked at him,

  “I think it’s very possible Jonathan and that was what I was starting to think as well.” He looked at me,

  “Great minds think alike partner.” I looked out my window and thought about what Stake was telling me earlier about the existence of other worlds and travelling to them, I’ve never been that far out of Chicago, I also find very hard to think that right now as I am walking there are other Dimensions with people walking around living there lives. I’ve known Stake for a while, I met him back when I was in college and my father was fighting the cult with Jon, I was at a dark time in my life, it was almost like he was sent to me from someone, but after a while of being there, he told he was getting weak and had to leave, all these years had no idea why he left but now I know why, his brother, Drogoth like ten years before is sucking what Stake calls Principle and Nepharia Energy out of my Dimension and fusing to his own and it’s all because of a virus that was created years ago by an alien race called Zions that are at war with Stake’s race, the Morphers, both races that live in a Dimension called the Ether Dimension, I almost can’t wrap my head around it, it almost feels like I’m living in sci-fi story or something,

  “Doesn’t it almost seem a little obvious for Mike to make himself known so easily? It feels like a trap.” Jonathan nodded,

  “I agree there's a lot of abandoned warehouses there... Lots of space to hide and ambush us, be prepared Jack.” I nodded, we made it to the docks. He parked the car and turned it off and we got out,

  “Mike is a dangerous character Jack, be loaded and ready.” I nodded and pulled out my gun and Jonathan did the same,

  “Okay so Laura gave us the general area he was last seen and we're in that area, thankfully there's only three warehouses in the area.” I sighed in relief,

  “Thank God.” Jonathan nodded and we approached the first warehouse,

  “We have to find the entrance.” I nodded, we walked around until we found a back door,

  “Okay here it is, on the count of three.”

  “What do you mean on the count of three?”

  “On the count of three we’ll break in.”

  “Don’t we need warrants?” Jonathan chuckled,

  “If me and your father worried about warrants, do you think we’d solved that case?” I nodded,

  “Touche Jon, touche.” Jonathan walked to the right side and I walked to the left side of the door, “one... two... three!” Jonathan kicked the door open and rushed in and I went in behind him, “freeze!” We looked around and it seemed like it was empty and no one was around,

  “Looks empty, let's get going.” We walked out of the warehouse and walked towards the next warehouse, “I was really hoping that was the warehouse so we can get Mike and go home.” Jonathan started chuckling,

  “It feels like I'm working with your father all over again.” I looked over at Jonathan,

  “How do you figure?”

  “Well your father was always wondering when we could go home, it's like his motivation was to just catch the bad guys and go home, you're more like him then you let yourself know.” I shrugged,

  “Yeah, I don’t know, it never felt like he was proud of me, I mean he was there but... because of what he did for a living, he was never there, you know.” Johnathan put his hand on my shoulder,

  “I know Jack and he never did that intentionally he just really enjoyed his job but like any job there’s stress and well you saw the life of a homicide detective but one thing I know for certain is Jack, is that he loved you... and he told me he was proud of you Jack, and that was when you were still in college to be a biochemist.” My eyes began to well up with tears,

  “Really? He told you that?” Jonathan nodded,

  “Yes, cross my heart and hope to die.” I hugged Jonathan,

  “Thanks Jon.” He hugged me back,

  “No problem Jack, that’s what family is for.” We reached the next warehouse, I looked at Jonathan,

  “So the same plan as before?”

  Chapter Four

  Jonathan nodded, we walked around until we found the door to the warehouse,

  “One...two...three!” Jonathan kicked down the door and he rushed and I rushed in after him. When we rushed in, we saw people producing meth,

  “Freeze!” All the people stopped what they were doing and put their hands up and then the door leading upstairs opened and a tall guy with a desert eagle in his left hand aimed it at us, “put the gun down or I will shoot you!” The man started shooting at Jonathan,

  “I guess I’m going to shoot you, you little fuck!” Right then Jonathan ducked and the man stopped shooting to reload his gun and he aimed his gun at the man's head and pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the man in the head,

&nb
sp; “Nice shot Jon!” Jonathan got up and looked at me,

  “Thanks Jack, be on the alert, they definitely know we're here.”

  “No shit Sherlock.” I took my gun out and we went upstairs and through the door the man came out of. We heard muffled voices and then walking around,

  “They fucking killed George man! It’s the fucking cops I thought you said they’d have no clue we were her…” Before the man could finish the sentence we heard a gunshot then a couple of seconds after we heard the body hit the floor,

  “Anyone else have any other smart ass comments to make?...No? Good let's kill these fucking pigs.” Just then we saw a door open and two guys came out and immediately started shooting at us, we started shooting back at them. I managed to shoot one of them in the head, his friend shot at me and the bullet grazed my shoulder and I shot him in his right eye and fell on the ground,

  “Fuck, he got me!”

  “You okay Jack?” Jonathan walked over to me and I nodded,

  “Yeah it just stings, let's kill the rest of these fuckers and get to Mike and take the fucker down.” Jonathan nodded,

  “Agreed.” We walked towards the door they came out of, we went into the room and saw two more men in there and they started shooting at us and we went behind the wall beside the door, me on the left side and Jonathan on the right side. Jonathan popped out when they stopped shooting and started shooting at them and hit one in his arm and he dropped his gun and I popped out and started shooting at him and hit him in the stomach and he dropped down to the floor, we walked in and Johnathan picked the guy up and sat him down in a chair and put his gun inside the wound in his stomach,

  “So where is Mike!?” The man started laughing,

  “What makes you think I'm gonna tell you, you fucking pig!” He spit in Jonathan's face and Jonathan put the barrel in his wound deeper, the man started yelling and screaming, “okay! okay!...he's in the room at the end of the hall!” Jonathan then removed the gun from his wound and put the gun next to his head and shot him and fell out of the chair and fell to the floor. We put our guns away and walked out the room and walked towards the room the man told us Mike was in. We reached the door and opened it and saw a man sitting behind a desk smiling,