"Good morning Doctor Schneider! I'm so sorry to jump in on you like this, but we need you come see the body" doctor Sylvia said in a rush. Alex raised a questioning brow at her as he dropped his files on the desk. "Sylvia I've told you to call me Alex, more importantly, which body?"he said and took out his gloves and mask.
They walked out of his office together hurriedly towards the elevator. "A body was found last night, we know it was one of those criminals but who ever did this was brutal. We saw strange marking on the body"she said as they stepped out of the elevator and rushed into the room.
Doctors and nurses were gathered around searching the horribly scarred body.
"Doctor Schneider, you're here. We were just waiting for you to come make your analysis before disposing of the body. The police says they need a report, apparently they found this one in front of a building" the head doctor said and stepped aside for Alex to get a better look.
The victim-male, fair with eccentric black tattoo that couldn't be properly described with all the dried blood and openings on his body. Alex took a good look at him, raised the arms to see the pattern of the cuts, turned his neck...then proceeded to gently cut a bigger whole in the torn shirt of the man.
There, one the belly of the corpse was a long deep cut that had dried blood attempting to seal it close...yet, it seemed impossible for some reason.
Alex pressed the sides of the hole and noticed a glint from within. Carefully, he pushed even more and small pieces of shiny substance came in view.
Gasps were heard around the room. "Sylvia, would you mind take a few of this out carefully? I want this examined"Alex said.
"Yes, of course"she mumbled and rushed to get the necessary instruments for the extraction.
Alex carefully and slowly took his hands off the body. He checked other parts of the body and finally the feet which caused another round of gasps.
On the sole of the feet were words:
"I'M" "COMING".
"You said the body was found in front of a building sir? Did they happen to tell you which building?"Alex asked once he finished his inspection.
"Doctor Alex, these fragments are diamonds sir, real diamonds"one of the nurses said aloud.
The head doctor looked startled, "Y-yes, a Bank, but what is all this?"he asked.
"This sir, is a message"Alex said and went to wash his hands.
"But from who and to whom?"
"I don't know, but I have a feeling that the receiver got the message, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you all to it, I'm sure you've already had the autopsy taken? I'll be taking those fragments with me for further inspection"Alex said and walked over to the nurses handling them.
"Why will you need those though?"doctor Sylvia asked. "A keep sake to remind myself of how interesting things around here are about to get, plus, I'm simply curious"Alex answered.
The fragments were placed in a plastic bag and Doctor Alex Schneider strode out of the morgue with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
***"***"****
He stared out the window of his office at the clear blue sky.
"I'M" "COMING" came in to his line of sight.
He picked up the his phone and dialed a number.
Maurie: Hi Alex!!!, How's work going, I was just about to head to another shoot but I have time.
Alex: I appreciate that Maurie, I need you to inform everyone of my latest discovery
Maurie: Sure....wait... Everyone?Alex what's wrong?
Alex: We have a problem, I want everyone of you at my estate at 5pm sharp. Do you understand?
Maurie: Yes boss, I understand.
Alex: Good, now don't forget to smile for the camera darling, I have one your magazines on my desk right now...but, isn't this too much cleavage dear.
Maurie: uhmm, ahh, yes, too much, I'll adjust next time. But do you like it?
Alex: I love it. See it you at 5 dear.
****"******""*****
A knock came and an older lady with a big friendly smile came in.
"Oh doctor Schneider!, remember me? I'm Bethany's mother-"
"Mrs. Philips, haven't I told you to just call me Alex?, How are you today? I hope she's alright?"he asked with a care free smile. The older lady blushed. "Of course doctor- I mean Alex, I wanted to bring you these doughnuts, I made them myself and also to ask if you're free to come check on my baby girl again?"she pleaded with hopeful eyes. She dropped the large box of doughnuts on his table with a gentle thud.
"They look amazing Mrs. Philips, but of course, I've been wanting to check on her all day"he said and flashed the old lady a smile. A delicious shivers ran up her spine and she burst into a wide grin...from her inner eyes,she could see wedding bells and decorations everywhere.
.
.
.
.
"Mrs Philips?are you alright?, Mrs.Philips?", She blinked furiously and scowled, annoyed to be interrupted from her daydreaming. Once she noticed the worried look on Alex's face, she blushed.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Let's go meet Bethany, I'm sure she can't wait to see you"she beamed and rushed out the door before him. Alex chuckled and walked out after her.
****"****"****
Madonna's pov.
"Any guesses why he wants everyone here?"Audrey asked. We were both in Malik's car on the way to Alex's estate. "I'd think the reason is obvious little man"Malik said as he drove in through the gates.
Other cars and bikes were parked outside as well. We got out and I instinctively held Audrey's hand. He didn't say anything, so the three of us quietly walked into the mansion.
Servants came around offering us drinks and stuff, then showed us the dining room. Everyone was here. It was still 4:30pm, it's never smart to get here late when Alex decides to be specific with time.
We took our seats, Audrey took the one closest to the head chair, his appointed seat, close to Alex.
"Maurie, did he tell you what this was about?"Kim asked anxiously. Both girls were still flamboyantly dressed, my guess is they ran from from their studios. Willow was also over dressed, she was still in her pant suit from the conference she attended.
"Not a word, he did mention something like ' latest discovery' but, that was it, Willow?"Maurie said. Willow shook her head, "I wasn't told anything, but I heard a few rumors about some guy being brutally butchered. Does that help?"she asked to no one in particular.
"That, apparently just makes us feel even more anxious"Malik said and took a swig of his wine. I looked over at Audrey who seemed to be fidgeting alot.
"Thanks sis, I heard those rumors too, but the cops took care it... at least that's the word on the streets"Chris added.
"Well that's a bust"Kim mumbled and crossed her arms. I stared off at Audrey again, he still seemed to be fidgeting.
"Audrey...are you okay?"I asked, let my eyes roam him for any issues I hadn't noticed before.
"Uhm, yeah I'm fine..uh.. it's just... well"he answered, fumbling with his words.
Everyone seemed to catch on, "Hey, buddy, what's wrong?"Jill asked as she walked into the room. She took out some Oreo from her bag and placed it in front of him.
"I'm fine really, I just wanted you guys to finish before I ask something...but you might not know the answer so I didn't."he said, his eyes trained of the large island table.
"Well we're done sweetie, what is it?"Kim asked voicing our thoughts.
"I guess it's hard to see, but there's some shiny stuff lying flat on the table...the middle of the table... I'm curious, what is it?"he asked. We looked at each other, then at the table
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.
.
"I can't see anything"Jill said.
"Maybe it's the white table cloth, it's so bright"Kim added.
"Exactly, look at the spot that's not so bright"Audrey said still wearing that curious expression.
We did, then we noticed it.
The table was quite long so it wasn't exactly close to us.
We all got up for a closer inspection.
"Why would Alex put shards of glass on the table?"Malik asked, his voice laced with confusion.
"Those aren't glass shards guys, those are diamonds, little bits of diamonds"Kim said with wide eyes. Audrey looked up at me, then back at the diamonds.
"They got smashed right?, It doesn't look like a sensible person did this...maybe for art?"he asked us. We all laughed at the comment but nodded anyway.
"Good observation Audrey... you're getting better each time. But I'd advise non of you touch that yet...we had it removed from a dead man's stomach just this morning".
We all jumped back like it caught fire.
"And you put that on the table!!!"Willow yelled.
"Not the wisest choice I know but, I knew Audrey would be coming, I wanted to see how sharp his skills were"Alex said and took his seat. Audrey squeezed my hand a bit then ran off to meet Alex.
"How was your first day kiddo"Alex asked him, while we quietly went back to our seats.
"It was alright, the girls in my class had this bad disease of throwing roughed up letters under my desk! Can you believe that!"he exclaimed. Alex pulled Audrey's chair closer to him.
"My only worry here is what you must have done about it"Chris added. The guys snickered...then the elephant in the room made itself bigger.
"I inspected a body today, it had major cuts, he was still fully clothed in his tattered black outfit. On the sole of his feet were the words. "I'm coming" and stuffed in his belly were those fragments. The body was found in front of a Bank, can anyone deduce that for me...Jill?"Alex said and inconspicuously held my brother's hand... I noticed since I'm watching his every move.
"They know about Black Diamond, and their here for Banks?"she said not sounding quite sure of herself.
"They're going to kill us so Banks won't have anywhere to run"Maurie said quietly.
My eyes went wide.
"Please say that's not true"I said, I looked at Alex, pleading with my eyes to tell me it's not true.
"Close enough Maurie, we're all in this together, I foresaw this possiblity when we left Los Angeles, Malik cutting ties without a word to his suppliers, Maurie no longer messing with cops interface, no more dead men behind bars and of course, no bullets between the eyes. No shoot outs and heavy guarded companies intact? Our departure would be obvious. What we need to know is, who this is and how to take him or her out"Alex finished and begun a side talk with Audrey.
"Uhm, I just want to say I'm really sorry for this guys, I clearly didn't think about what I was doing"I said. I'm putting everyone's life on the line here.
"Why?" "This is what we live for dumbass"Chris said with a boyish grin. "You live to die?"I asked.
"We live for thrill, and this is just the excitement we need"Jill said cracking her knuckles.
"I might have an idea...but we still need to find out who he is first... then I'll tell you guys my brilliant plan"Kim said excitedly.
"That still leaves one gap...he sent a message, but Banks has been a no show since we got here. Aside the heist ofcourse"Jill said and stroked her chin in thought.
"We'll need to lure him out, else he'd keep dropping bodies. That is, if that's not okay. We could either ignore him till he's frustrated...we aren't exactly good guys here. Or we lure him out." Chris suggested.
"You freaks better not think of letting this slide, I want in on field duty"Malik said cooly. "Do I get a part too?"I pipe up, with a sheepish grin.
"Of course, your doing the most important part"Kim said smiling evily. A big part of me feels we have different ideas to the word important but, I'll let it slide.
"I can't believe you did that!, That was rude, very rude kiddo"
"Well nobody should say stupid stuff like that"
"And the other one?was she cute?"
"Well, I guess so, she kept turning red everytime I said her name! I think that's bad but it did make her look kinda cute, but mostly funny"
"I think she likes you"
"That thought should be banned from existence"
"Was she that bad"
"She nearly spat on my new shoes!"
"I guess your right, but she has time to change your know"
"Good luck to her...wait...tell me your aren't suggesting I change her?she has parents for that stuff"
"I think you'd do a much better job"
"Not even if you paid me for it. Absolutely not! I'm staying far away from girls till they get rid of that disease"
Laughter erupted in the room and my little brother covered his face in his palms.
Alex took a little longer to cool down then took out his card.
"If we aren't drawing attention to ourselves just yet, I suggest we acquire the necessities legally"he said smiling proudly at us.
"Ladies and gentlemen...we are going shopping!!!"Kim sung and instantly started babbling about leather and shoe sizes.
I looked over at all the members of this gang with pride and sheer excitement.
We're coming bitches.