Evan Gamble, the brother of Loran Gamble, walked into the local police station. He trudged the maze of the station to Loran’s desk. Her colleagues had already packed her desk up for Evan to pick up. He picked up the heavy box, stuffed with case work, and headed out of the station. Right as he was about to leave, Bryan, an ex coworker of Loran, stopped Evan, “Hey, Evan, right?”

Evan turned to face him, “Um yeah. Bryan, right?”

Bryan let out a soft chuckle, “Yeah. I just wanted to let you know that we are all sorry about Loran. We should have been there for her.”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. I was surprised about what was happening here.”

“Oh, yeah. We were all really surprised. Some of us are devastated.”

Evan looked at his shoes, “Yeah. Anyway I should really get going.”

“Yep, I should too. It was good seeing you.”

“Yes, same. Bye,” Evan walked out of the station and to the car.

At his house, Evan grabbed the box of Loran’s old stuff and headed inside. On the couch, waiting for him, was Loran. She attempted to grab her crutches to greet him, “No, no. You need to rest that foot of yours,” Evan nodded to Loran’s casted foot.

“Fine. Thanks for picking up my stuff for me.”

“Your welcome,” Evan set the box on the kitchen table, “By the way, Bryan said that the whole team is really sorry for not being there for you.”

Loran let out a big laugh, “They act like I’m dead. Anyway, I still can’t believe that the higher ups are reassigning new officers to the Ghost case because it was ‘too dangerous’.”

Evan stared at her in disbelief, “Well you were the victim of an attempted murder and you broke your leg.” They both looked at each other straight faced for half a second then couldn’t keep the act anymore, and they broke out laughing. After calming down Evan reminded Loran, “Hey , don’t forget we are going over to Oliver’s tonight.”

“Yeah, I know. I hope he explains himself better there.”

“He might if you ask him, but be careful he is sensitive about some stuff. It took me almost two years to get anything out of him.”

Loran smiled, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Loran looked down at her foot; it had already been two days since the building collapsed. If it wasn’t for Evan, Ghost would have killed her, but the building collapsing was necessary for Loran’s story- so were the injuries. After Loran got stuck under the falling debris Evan was in the building coming to get her. After safely getting out he told her that he had to go and that they would talk details in two days and that Oliver was the Ghost. He said that when she was questioned to tell them a story that didn’t give any information away, but was convincing, confident, straightforward and consistent. When she told him she understood he left and thirty minutes later she was questioned. She did exactly what she was told and did it well.

Now, it was two days later and she was about to get all of her questions answered. When Loran and her brother arrived at Oliver’s house she was astonished. Oliver’s house wasn’t big and the outside wasn’t much, but the inside of his house was beautiful. It had a huge kitchen, two bathrooms and two bedrooms, but that wasn’t even the best part. The house was full of secret passageways. Oliver had his own base where he kept his electric setup, made his own weapons and grew his own food. Loran and her brother met Oliver in the kitchen and sat at the island in the middle. Loran watched the boyish man help her brother get some snacks and drinks. She still could not believe that Oliver was the Ghost- it had seemed almost impossible to her. The trio was finally ready to talk, but first Loran had some questions for Oliver, “So before we get started can I ask you some questions?”

Oliver raised his head so he could see her, “Um, sure.” Oliver had a heavier accent than before. It was obvious he had been trying to suppress it previously.

“Okay. First question; you said that you fought in world war three. Did you just lie?”

Evan looked at Oliver in that pitiful way again, “I thought you were going to ask that,” Oliver steadied himself and answered, “I turned eighteen when the third world war was reaching its second year. At eighteen I did not have much going for me so I decided to volunteer. After six months in combat my squad was taken as prisoners of war by China,” Loran scooted in to listen, “Um, anyway I was held there for six years and when I came back home they had declared me dead, so I decided to change my middle name to my first name and start over.”

Loran listened in awe, “Wow. So what did your name used to be?”

Oliver stared at her, she could see him start to breathe a bit heavier. Evan noticed it too and decided to interrupt, “Maybe we should talk about that later. We should get into what we need and what the next ‘project’ is.” Oliver shook his head, smiled and agreed; Loran let it go for now.

Oliver looked at Loran and said, “So now do you understand why I did not show up on the scan?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any more relevant questions?”

Loran thought, “Actually yes. Why do you even need my brother?”

Oliver started to laugh and said, “Well technically I do not, but he helps me find out who is paying the police off without having to hack the government system,” he thought for a minute, “Your brother is convenient; I guess.”

Evan swung his head around and exclaimed, “Hey!”

“I am just joking. He is also my best friend so I let him in on my… business. Any more questions.”

Loran replied, “Nope.”

“Then are you ready to be briefed?”

Loran scanned her eyes across Evan and Oliver’s faces. She was unsure how this trio was going to end up but there was no doubt in her mind that it was going to be interesting. She answered, “Let’s do this.”

End