Trespasser

Governor Derrick Rothchild left his estate at a quarter past eleven o’clock, unaware that he was being watched. His Tesla roadster crept silently down the narrow driveway with its headlights off and passed through the security gate. The vehicle made little to no sound, its electric engine only a whisper in the night.

Private Investigator Odette Faye watched from her car down the street, the green light from her night-vision goggles removed all mystique from the darkness. Rothchild might as well have been on a stage.

“Game on,” she said, finishing the last splash of her coffee and turning the ignition. She placed her goggles on the passenger seat and urged the sedan into traffic. She kept her distance and drove in silence, the only thing on her mind was the job.  

Typical case, she thought to herself, husband stepping out, wife wants to know why…

She cracked her neck and popped a stale piece of gum into her mouth,

… but she already knows.

The electric car moved quickly, two cars ahead, then three, but Odette wasn’t worried. She had placed a tracking fob under the wheel well as soon as Mrs. Rothchild had hired her.

Fail to plan, plan to fail… or something like that.

The Governor weaved from lane to lane as if he owned the road and everyone else was just renting it. Their destination was most likely a scummy motel on the edge of the city… but it was not to be, they left the city on Highway 35 and headed west.

Too public in the city, Governor? Too many people to recognize you?

They drove for over an hour until finally Rothchild turned down an old dirt road. This is where the tracking fob comes in. She pulled over and turned on her handheld GPS tracker.

Beep - Beep - Beep

A little blip of light flashed on the screen, beeping as it moved in a northern direction.

Where are you going?

She shut her headlights off and pulled on her night-vision goggles, she would have to follow the blip slowly in the darkness. The green lit landscape stretched over the horizon, a vast nothingness of empty fields bordered by crooked fence posts… and the Governor was nowhere to be seen.

They had reached the middle of nowhere.

Her only guide was the blip, flashing and climbing the map until at last, it stopped about a mile down the road. She approached at a crawl, cresting a hill and seeing what looked to be an auto-salvage yard below in the distance, but there was no movement.

The salvage yard was vast and surrounded by a tall chain-link fence around the perimeter, crowned with barbed wire. The compound could have been an army base judging by the security safekeeping its row after row of old beat up vehicles. She used the goggles zoom to see if she could spot Rothchild.

Nothing.

Strange place for a rendezvous... What are you up to?

Suddenly, there was movement among the vehicles… it was Rothchild. He was walking quickly towards a trailer in the centre of the complex. The lights were on inside. He rushed into the trailer and slammed the door behind him.

Late for your mistress? … Drug deal? Time to find out.

She would have to proceed the rest of the way on foot. She reached into the backseat and grabbed her bag, taking her camera, night-vision goggles, a set of bolt-cutters, the GPS tracker, and most importantly, her taser.

She squeezed the trigger on the side of the baton and a stream of sparks flew from the end.

Old faithful.

When she reached the security fence, she pulled the bolt-cutters from her bag before noticing that, in his hurry, Rothchild had left the front gate wide open.

Tisk-tisk Governor, tisk-tisk.

The only light in the entire compound came from the tiny windows in the trailer. She would need her trusty night-vision to guide her through the darkness. She moved forward through the entryway, the place smelt of rust and rubber tires, as every car in the lot seemed to be rife with decay. The cars themselves were piled and set into rows, making up a trench-like maze around the lot.

The yard was massive and several times she got lost in the labyrinth, but she was getting closer. Finally, she grabbed the hood of a car and pulled herself up to look around.

She felt something wet.

Ugh, oil… Great.

With her goggles still on, she scanned the yard from atop the vehicle. A diesel generator grumbled to her left beside the trailer, only a few car-lengths away. Blinds were shut across the windows but she could see a figure moving inside, a broad-backed blur walking around the cabin. She quickly reached inside her bag and pulled out her camera. She would need to get a little closer if she was going to have any luck with a picture.

Just then, she heard the front gate slam closed in the distance and as it did, the entire lot was filled with blinding light. She pushed her goggles to her forehead to see that the floodlights surrounding the perimeter had been lit. It was also at that moment that she saw a flash of red on her hand. It wasn’t oil at all, it was blood. In fact, there was blood everywhere on the cars around her.

“What the—“

THWACK!

The trailer door ripped open and the huge figure she had seen through the blinds stepped out. It was Rothchild and he was now wearing full riot armour from head to toe, every inch of him was covered in Kevlar and polycarbonate. At his side he held a semi-automatic rifle. He looked straight at her and aimed his gun.

“Game on,” he said, firing a shot that grazed her shoulder.

Sharp pain screamed through her arm as she fell backwards from atop the vehicle, her camera shattered on the ground beside her. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she quickly got back to her feet and ran towards the exit. She could feel blood dripping down her arm and the early signs of shock slowly taking over.

Another gunshot rang out behind her, glass shattered violently and metal splintered from the impact. She did not look back. The exit would be just beyond the next ridge of cars.

Then she saw something else she didn’t expect.

Standing at the gate of the complex was another figure dressed in full riot gear. She recognized her immediately, it was the Governor’s wife, Margot Rothchild. A smile painted across her face.

“Did you find the place okay?” She said, lifting her rifle and firing a shot passed her.

Odette had no time to process the situation, all she could do was run. She turned back on her heel and rushed down a different row of cars. She could see the Governor approaching from the lane she just came from, walking slowly and laughing a cold hollow laugh. He held a short cigar between his teeth.

“Light the fence, darlin’,” he said to his wife, “We got ourselves a trespasser!”

He said the last words loudly, Odette knew they were for her.

She still had the bolt-cutters in her bag, so she rushed through the maze to get to the outside. She reached the fence and before she could put the cutters to the chain, she heard a low hum emanating from the metal links. She knew immediately that the fence was electrified.

Her eyes fell from the fence and noticed the ground had been recently disturbed at her feet, a shovel stood half-buried in the earth. There were four mounds of soil side by side, each mound the length of a human body.

Sick bastards.

The crunching sound of footsteps grew closer from beyond the row of piled cars behind her. She pulled her stun stick from her bag.

Think Odette, think!

The floodlights beat down on her from above, the electric fence hummed, and she could still hear the low grumble of the generator in the distance.

The generator!

She maintained a low crouch and snuck through a lane back toward the trailer at the centre of the maze. A gun blast rang out, but not entirely in her direction. They were trying to draw her out, she had to stay calm and keep moving forward.

She was running at full speed now, the trailer was close, but as she turned the next corner she found herself confronted by the smile of Mrs. Rothchild. Her face shield was still lifted,

“Oh, honey,” she said, “You can’t make it so easy!”

She looked down at Odette’s stun stick,

“What do you have there?”

Odette quickly jabbed the taser into her face and pressed the button.

Margot’s entire body seized and she fell to the ground, her rifle falling next to her convulsing body. Odette grabbed it without hesitation and took off toward the trailer. She made it to the generator just in time to hear the Governor call out in anger upon finding his wife.

The generator sat beside the trailer and Odette didn’t think twice before pulling the trigger of her new toy. The bullet was well placed, the generator immediately sputtered and puffed. The electricity flowing from the unit ceased and the floodlights went dark around the yard.

She pulled her night-vision goggles down over her eyes. The salvage yard was then painted in a hundred shades of green, every detail illuminated.

If we’re gonna play, we’ll play by my rules.

She released the empty casing from the rifle chamber and loaded the next bullet. She went back to where she left Margot... but she was gone. Odette continued down the corridor and stopped short of an intersection in the rows and held herself against a towering pile of tires.

She heard hushed voices approaching,

“Quiet!” said Rothchild, “I said quiet!”

She peered out from behind the tower and looked down the narrow path. It was Rothchild and his wife, walking back to back towards her, taking each step carefully. Their footsteps slowed as they approached the intersection. Odette leaned back and felt the tower shift behind her.

They were close now.

She acted quickly, using all of her strength to shoulder over the tower. The tires collapsed violently and a grunt called out from under the fallen pile. Odette then heard the distinctive click of a jamming gun followed by hurried footsteps moving away from her. Margot’s voice then called out from under the tires.

“Derrick!” She cried, “Don’t leave me! Where are you going?”

Typical case. Husband stepping out, wife wants to know why…

Odette chased after him, jumping over the tires. She then felt the grip of Margot's hand on her shoe. Odette kicked the hand away and followed cautiously in the direction the Governor had fled.

"Come back here, you little bitch!" called out Margot.

She continued down the path, but there was neither sight nor sound of Rothchild. The only sound was Margot’s shrieking behind her in the maze. She turned down the next lane of ruined vehicles to the main entrance corridor.

Beep - Beep - Beep

Odette pulled the GPS tracker from her bag, the blip was on the move...

Suddenly, a pair of headlights glared out from the darkness. Rothchild’s roadster sped toward her. There was no time to think. She dove out of the way in desperation. She felt the headlight hit her ankle, spinning her body in the air as the car burst passed her. The car was out of control and rammed into a stack of cars causing an avalanche of metal and glass, crushing the car beneath it. The roadster’s horn sounded out loud and clear... the Governor was dead.

Odette sighed,

“Game over.”

THE END