BXBX NOVEL Chapter 256 - 256 A Location Scavenger Hunt
“Mark Gerard is one of the best agents that the TSA has ever seen, with great intelligence and skills. He joined the agency after graduating high school, and he did not waste any time,” Mr. Drails said. “Gerard had a keen eye for recognizing faces, even the hardest disguises he could pick out, a keen detail that exposed the person fully. He would sometimes use his abilities to help him identify criminals and take them down. He also helped track them down, with the goal being to capture and convict them to the full extent of the law. Or in this case, the TSA’s law.”
“Nice one.”
“Thank you. As of now, he is retired, but that does not mean that he isn’t quite the active agent that he used to be. He still has access to the technology that the TSA owns, including many new devices that were invented. In fact, recently, he helped the TSA with tracking down a person who stole some weapons from the TSA all the way to Malaysia. I’m not sure if they caught the person, but it was thanks to him.”
“Wow, really? Well, if he’s good enough for that, I hope he can track this guy down.”
“Well, let’s just hope that our luck is on our side,” Malachi said. We watched as the footage stopped, leaving a blank screen behind it. “So, what do we do now?” September asked. “We don’t know his location by any chance.”
“But we do.”
“Huh?”
“This is a retired man. This man doesn’t care where he lives or not, so he’s most likely in Fiji, enjoying some coconut water with a straw or something along those lines. I have a feeling we’re going to find him at the beach.”
.....
“Oh, cool.”
“Yeah, hopefully. I’ll go on a quick search in my office, and see if there’s anything of his we can dig up. You guys can search if you want to, but immediately report back to this room once any of us have found the location. Alright?”
“Alright,” we all said in unison.
“All righty, then, let me know when you guys have come up with the results. I’ll need to make the arrangements as well.” We left the office as the five of us stared at each other, unsure of where to start. “So, does anyone have any ideas?” I asked. “He said to start with a beach.”
“Okay,” Malachi replied. “We could start with the beach that I go to. It’s in Cairns.”
“I don’t think that’s the one he’s at,” I said. “That’s the one I went to last year and got sand fleas. I will never forget that. The moment you step foot on that white sandy beach, with the gentle breeze, you will be eaten alive by sand fleas.”
“Well that sounds like a personal issue,” Malachi said jokingly, in which I elbowed him in the shoulder. “Anyway, maybe we should look for another beach?”
I thought to myself about that, and in no time I had it. “How about Fraser Island? I heard there are lots of beaches on that island where we could find him. That would be great, because we won’t have to deal with sand fleas if the place has none.”
“Oh, perfect! We can head over there, grab some lunch in the food stalls, go for a swim, and I bet we can find him there!” Tisiah said.
“Yeah…not really,” September said, completely destroying the spirit. “We need somewhere that is crowded, so that in the case anyone tries to search for him, they’d have a much harder time in doing so. So, how about a shopping mall? Or a hotel?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m serious. We can make a plan, go together, go into the food court, grab some breakfast, get lunch, and maybe sit next to one of the balconies overlooking the ocean. It would be amazing, and he will almost certainly be there.”
“It would be hard to search for someone in a mall,” Malachi said.
“True. But we’ve done much worse in the past. You just need to be ready to kick, as long as we stick to my plan,” September said. “The question is which shopping mall though?” It was a good question, because he could be in hundreds of malls in the US. There are fifty states, and we have to choose the right one. Same with hotels, too. We have a few hundred hotels in the United States as well, and we will not be able to take on every single one of them. “Any ideas?”
Malachi thought for a moment. “There is an island that is connected to Florida,” he said. “But it’s called Bimini, so I’m guessing that’s where he is now.”
“That’s not a hotel or a shopping mall,” I said. “He might be in the Bahamas, but that’s still far away from here.”
“Not if you travel via a portal,” Malachi countered. A smile went across all our faces, as the thought began to marinate in our heads. “He has a point,” Nikki chuckled. “Just imagine that.”
A grin went over my face when I looked at Malachi. He had just come up with the most awesome idea ever, and all of us knew it. “Let’s see what Mr. Drails finds out first. Then maybe we can make our final decision. Or, we can ask him. So, let me go check with him first.” I walked towards the office, and soon heard the sounds of the printer. “Hey, can I talk to you in there?”
“Sure, why not? Come in, please.”
“So, any luck finding the location of Mark Gerard?”
“Somewhat. I gained somewhat of a clue.”
“Oh,” I muttered, seeing him go to a scattered pile of papers. “What is it?” Mr. Drails turned his attention towards me, “Well, he goes to a beach every Wednesday, because he can, but the question is, where is it? So, I’m asking around in other countries to find the one that he’s going to visit. The problem is, he goes to all of the beaches in different countries, so it’s taking a while for me to narrow it down.”
“Wow, this man has all the free time in the world doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. I wish I was him,” Mr. Drails chuckled. “But we don’t have the same kind of money to travel as he does. And he certainly has more free time than me. But luckily for all of us, and lucky for Mr. Bane, he won’t have any free time for a long while, once he meets the end of the law.”
That was great news to hear. “Right. How about a list of all these places?”
“Right away.”
I took a piece of paper and wrote out a list with the names on them. When I finished, I handed it to him. “Thank you, that will be a big help. I should be able to pick up the locations in a couple hours.”
“Okay then. Well, I’ll check back in a couple hours to see how far you’ve gotten.”
“Alright. Thank you for the info, Mr. Drails. And thanks for having my team on this case.”
“No problem, and good luck to you. You are not alone.”
The words were comforting, yet slightly ominous. The fact that we would all be working together, but none of us really knew each other personally. I guess it’s just an encouraging word I guess. I walked out of the office, seeing the four curious faces. “He doesn’t know either, but he has a clue,” I announced. “He goes to a beach every Wednesday, meaning we’re back to the beaches. Let’s look for one.”
“Which island is it again?” Malachi asked.
“Bimini,” I answered, recalling the information from the report.
“What is Bimini?” Tisiah asked. “Never heard of it. Isn’t it in Africa or somewhere?”
“Well, yes, but it’s on the east side of Florida, which makes it—Malachi literally just mentioned it! It’s located between Miami and Cuba, by the way,” I added. “So the first place we can start looking is in Florida itself.” That made sense to everyone. “So, when do you think Mr. Drails will let us know where he is?”
“Maybe tomorrow morning,” Malachi replied. “So we’re gonna have to wait.”
But all of a sudden, Mr. Drails quickly whipped open his door and his eyes were bright with excitement, as if he just realized something. “Everyone come in, I know the perfect location of where he is.”
Shock was present on all of our faces, as we rushed inside of his office.
“Where is he?” Malachi said eagerly.
“I found it,” Mr. Drails smiled. “I thought it was all too impossible, but I did it.”