Submerged

Chapter 12: A Guest

After Cole brushes her teeth, she strips off her sleepwear and puts on her white blouse, jeans, and brown sandals.

She forms her long hair into a ponytail, applies small lip gloss, and storms downstairs. But the minute Cole races into the kitchen, her mother is nowhere to be found.

"Mom?" she called. "Mom, are you there?"

Just then, Cole notices a yellow written letter on the dinner table.

Cautiously, she races into the dining room and reads it to herself.

Dear Cole,

I have just received a call from San Francisco Chronicles. While I am having a big meeting, you are in charge of the house.

Make sure you take out the trash and do your chores. I will be back as soon as you know it.

Sincerely,

Mom

This letter doesn't feel right, Cole thought. First of all, Mom writes in cursive. And second, she never says Sincerely.

Suddenly, Cole hears the sound feet scuffling. She quickly yanks a revolver from under the table and points it at the man, whose sitting on the couch.

Other than wearing a dark gray suit, he has tanned skin, brown eyes, and black hair.

He sat in the living room couch calmly, ignoring the fact that Cole pulled a gun on him.

"Who are you?" demanded Cole. "What have you done with my mother?"

"At the groceries," Clyde replied.

"How did you get inside my house-"

"You're aware of Harry's problem?" the man asked, cutting her off. 

Cole nododed, but her small revolver remained on his face.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

The man clears his throat and tries to stand up, but Cole forces him to sit back down.

She notices the outlines of a gun in his left side pocket, and tells him to remove it.

"What?" he asked.

"Drop your gun," Cole insisted. "Right now."

Slowly, the guy in the dark suit reaches into his pocket and carefully drops the gun in front of her.

"My name is Clyde Johnson," he introduced. "I work for the CIA. The police tells me that you and your friend solve many cases, especially the one in Nebraska."

Trails, Cole wanted to say, but she didn't. 

On their visit to Aunt Jessica, Cole and Ben becomes involved with a mass murder of football victims.

As they put the pieces together, they figured out that one of the victim's girlfriend, Beverly, killed them in cold murder.

But just when she was about to finish the job, Beverly was burned alive. It took them three weeks to forget about Beverly, until now.

"What do you want from us?" Cole demanded.

Clyde Johnson takes a deep breath and release it into a long sigh.

"I want to give you something that will help benefit the case."

He expects the girl to lower her gun, but she didn't; she's a lot smarter than he thought.

"What is it?" Cole ask, still unconvinced.

"It's the location to the locker Colonel Jones gave you." Clyde answered truthfully.

"In return, you two will offer your services to us."

"Why?" Cole asked. "What do you mean?"

He gives her a confused smile.

"You and Ben are the youngest detectives the world has ever encounter. From the time you two were seventeen, you have solved seven cases."

Cole puts her revolver into her jeans pocket and crossed her arms.

"What are they?" she ask suddenly. "Your services?"

Clyde thought about it for a moment.

"You both attended Quantico for about a year-"

"What are your services?" Cole repeated.

"Join the CIA," Clyde insisted. "We could use an intelligent brain like yours."

She gave him a doubtful smile. Although it's a huge offer, Cole still doesn't trust him.

"But what about Ben?" Cole ask. "He's ten times smarter than me."

Clyde snickered as if she told a joke.

"I'm not sure that a juvenile delinquent would make it to the CIA."

Cole stared at him for a minute, hoping that he is being serious.

"Sir," she began. "You need to give him a chance-"

"I have been looking through his records," Clyde continued.

"He is very...dangerous, emotional, and a disturbed boy. He has manipulated the world into thinking he is dead, he breaks laws-"

"Are you finished?" Cole spat. "I don't care what you, or anyone thinks about Ben: he is kind, smart, and he saves people's lives more than you!"

Clyde stares hard at the girl for a moment then apologizes.

"Just give me what you have, and get the hell out of my house." Cole snapped.

Clyde hands her the piece of paper, which was hidden inside his pocket, picks up his gun, and left without a word.

As soon as he left, Cole ate her small breakfast of cereal, rinses the bowl, and waits for Ben to show up.

Meanwhile, she calls Willow on her phone to see if she's alright.

"Hi Cole," Willow greeted. "How are you doing?"

Surprised, Cole asks where she is.

"I'm at the grocery store, getting the ingredients for a big Christmas dinner."

A shocked look appeared on her face, Clyde is telling the truth.

"Have you gotten my letter?" Willow inquired.

"Yeah," Cole responded. "Sorry, I just wanted to check on you."

"No problem, sweetie." her mother beamed. "You can call me whenever you feel like it."

"But didn't you say you had a big meeting?" Cole ask.

"Yes," Willow replied. "But it was over very quickly. Is there anything you want to ask me?"

"No, no thank you." Cole answered. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too." Willow responded.

After she hang up the phone, Ben appears on the front doorstep.

As usual, he wears a black t-shirt, jeans, and his shoes were dark gray. In his hands are Cole's pajamas.

Casually, Cole approached the door and unlocks it for Ben.

As soon as he came inside, Ben kisses Cole's cheek and hands her clothes.

"Thanks," she responded, taking them gratefully.

After Cole sets the clothes on the dinner table, she tells Ben what happened. When she was finished, Cole gives him the piece of paper Clyde had given her earlier.

Ben unfolds the paper and reads the tiny writing.

"The location does seem far," he said. "Get your things, we may need the key to open Jones' locker."