Axky put on his gloves and gum boots before putting on a mask around his mouth and nose. He handed Gavin a shovel and took a rake for himself. Pedestrians gave them sympathetic looks as they hurried away from the foul smelling garbage truck.
"We're going in." Axky said, his voice muffled by the cloth. He really wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Hopefully he wouldn't be traumatized enough to miss dinner.
Gavin Walters gagged at the horrendous smell but nodded as he followed Axky who had a loud flashlight switched on. The yellow light illuminated the back of the dingy garbage truck as they climbed in.
Slush. Slush.
Gross!
"You look by the banana peels over there and I'll check this green muck right here." said Axky leaving Gavin to wade deeper into the mesh of foul smelling waste.
Trust the attackers to throw electronic gunk into recyclable organic waste. The wetness alone would probably render the device ineffective. But Axky was optimistic he would be able to zero in on the perpetrators if he just found the---
"Yikes!" Axky yelled as a rat jumped up clearly unhappy at being displaced. What a Friday night this had turned out to be. There was no way he could complete a date night with Paula when he got home smelling like a biological apocalypse.
Fortunately the stuck up Gavin Walters was pretty subdued throughout the search. Maybe Axky had stumped him with the dirt he had on him about his previous marriage. In reality, that is all Axky knew about the marriage though. There was no information about the current address of his ex-wife, her full name, her education details, not even a birth certificate. Axky had searched, albeit halfheartedly and found that the divorce had gone smoothly. The woman had not pressed for alimony or demanded anything from Gavin. It hadn't been a messy divorce---that's why it was so hard to find any information about it. Perhaps both parties had been mature adults and parted amicably. However, it didn't sit right with Axky that Gavin's ex wife seemed to disappear off the face of the earth.
Gavin poked around the garbage with a stick, ignoring Axky. The self proclaimed hacker was nothing but trouble and Gavin had no desire to leave him alone for even a second. What if something interesting had been thrown by the attackers along with the god forsaken computer, what if some sensitive information was lying around in the disgusting truck, something that would help complete the puzzle on himself that he suspected Axky was already working on. It would be terrible if Axky got to it first, and so Gavin had to find it before him.
There it was, dull metal gleaming amidst a bunch of rotting celery. The laptop seemed to be completely destroyed, tomato juice and spoiled yoghurt liberally draping it. But Gavin didn't want to take a chance.
Making sure that Axky wasn't looking, Gavin brought down the hilt of his shovel, cracking the metal casing of the laptop.
CRACK.
Axky turned the flashlight on the source of the noise as Gavin hit it once more for good measure.
CRACK.
"You idiot! Stop that!" yelled Axky hurrying over to salvage the laptop. "You'll break it!"
"Oh I'm sorry, " said Gavin smugly. "I thought it was a rat."
Axky let his rake drop to the slush as he bent down and pulled out the broken laptop, the screen shattered and hard disk deformed beyond recognition. Why would Gavin destroy the only evidence they had?
"Leslie Palasqua." said Gavin menacingly as he stepped closer behind Axky.
How does he know my real name? What's going on?
The hair on Axky's neck stood up on end as he realized that Gavin Walters was playing a far more dangerous game than he imagined.
"You think you are so smart don't you, you son-of-a-bitch? What a shame you are just another loser." snarled Gavin raising his shovel to land a death blow on Axky.
***
"Honey," called Paula from outside Vicky's room. "Are you awake?"
Vicky swallowed the sob in her throat and wiped her tears. "Yes Mom," she said getting up to open the door. She hoped that with the dim lighting her mother wouldn't notice her puffy eyes.
"Vicky it's past one o' clock and your father isn't home yet." said Paula worrying her lower lip. "He isn't even picking up his phone. Did he send you a message?"
Vicky was surprised. Her father should have been home hours ago.
"He had a meeting with the stuck up guy from Walt Games, didn't he?" asked Vicky scanning through the chats on her phone, ashamed that she was so caught up in her teenage romance that she'd forgotten about everything else.
"Yes, I called but the secretary who picked up said Axky had left the building hours ago." said Paula anxiously. "What should we do? He's never been out so late without at least calling me once."
"Should we ask Uncle Jack if he knows something?" said Vicky hurriedly finding the phone number in her contact list.
"It's really late and tomorrow is a weekday..." reasoned Paula. "But my senses are all saying something is wrong, let's call Jack, I'll bake him an apple crumble pie to apologize."
Vicky had to smile at that. Uncle Jack always had a soft spot for deserts.
Iron Maiden's guitar solo blasted off the phone as Vicky called him. She put the phone on speaker so her mother could listen.
"Wow." laughed Paula. "Brielle will be mad."
"'ello?" came a sleepy husky male voice, followed by a feminine whine, "Change your ringtone for goodness's sake."
"Hey Uncle Jack, this is Vicky. Mom and I are wondering if you've heard from Dad?" said Vicky as Paula nervously twiddled her fingers.
"Axky?" said Jack his voice a little clearer now. "He's not at home?"
"No, he went to meet the Walt Games' owner for dinner and hasn't come home yet. His phone is switched off too."
"That's weird." said Jack thoughtfully. "Hold on a minute, I'll make some calls."
It was a good twenty minutes before Jack returned to the phone.
"Hey Vicky, Paula, it seems Gavin Walters has left the country." said Jack sounding a little confused. "He's on a plane to Spain as we speak. Dude has a bunch of companies to look after, his secretary said he barely spoke to Axky for an hour. They seemed to have left the office building together at 9:30 pm tonight."
"He's gone?" repeated Paula in disbelief. "He's gone to Spain? Without returning my husband?"
"Axky must be around somewhere, we'll find him Paula." reassured Jack. "I'll ask our friends and colleagues if they heard something. If we don't find him in another hour, we'll call the police."
"Yes Jack, that sounds fine." said Paula calmly. "We'll call you back in an hour."
As soon as Vicky disconnected the call, her mother burst into irate speech.
"Gavin is responsible for Axky's disappearance." said Paula, anger flaring in her eyes. "I just know it."
"But mom, he's not even here," said Vicky as she googled Gavin Walter's name. "He's on a plane to Spain."
"Awfully convenient if you ask me." said Paula her mouth forming a thin line. "This secretary of his, can you contact her?"
Vicky nodded as she got out her laptop. They waited with bated breath for the computer to start up.
Vicky licked her lips as the screen lit up, ready for use. The unnamed secretary would be there on the company website somewhere, Vicky could zero in on a particular name by mutually connecting recent call records, work hours and geographical location...
A few minutes passed as Vicky searched through the data.
"Ashley Bollet." she said finally. "I have details of the hotel she is staying at. Records show she has a ticket for Spain early next morning."
Paula nodded as she stood up and handed Vicky her jacket.
"Take note of her address Vicky. We are going to pay this woman a visit."
A/N: Gavin Walters is going down. I don't think I have ever hated a character I created this much.
Thanks for reading! Let me know your thoughts,
Lots of love,
Andy