Tisane: The King Of Mutants And The God Of Monsters

CHAPTER 4 - The Aftermath

"Hey Bob!"

Bob was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Michael's voice.

"You okay man?" Michael stared at a dazed Bob. "I have been calling you for the past 30 seconds"

"Uh....sorry, I was just reflecting" Bob replied with an awkward smile.

"Well, you better reflect us outta here, cos you're driving"

"What's our next delivery location?"

"You remember Mcnelly pizza? Well he has a stock supply of 100 cartons of extra-large pizzas and he has 50 cartons booked for delivery"

"Old Mcnelly makes mean pizza" Bob replied getting on the driver's seat.

"Yeah got that right"

**Ring------ring**

Bob checked the screen of his phone, before he picked the call. "Hey Preskey, nice of you to call, how you doing man?"

**Hey Bob! Hello, you hearing me man?!**

"Hello, I can hear you, what's up?"

**Your house man! There's been a break-in, gun shots were heard, the cops-----**

"Hold up!" Bob straightened stiffly "What the heck are you talking about?! Who broke into my house?!" his breathing became heavy.

**A couple of guys man! Report says they're gangstars, they fired a couple of shots and now the cops are everywhere!**

Bob's heart skipped a beat, while he blanked out. The only thoughts on his mind were that of his wife Margaret and his little Tina.

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"Bob, slow down, we need to get there in one piece!" Michael's anxious voice rang out, as Bob drove the minivan to its speed limit. For someone who always adhere to the state laws and regulations, driving beyond 60 kmph was a nightmare for Michael. He stared at Bob whom seemed to have gone crazy.

After receiving the call from Preskey, Bob felt his heart breaking, 'how could this happen? To maggie....and Tina'. At this moment, Bob feared the worst and couldn't calm his wildly beating heart.

Driving through the open road and cutting off into various bypass, they did their best to avoid high traffic and patrol officers until they got to the Pennsylvania district. Driving through the main street, they arrived at a neighbourhood which will seem sparsely populated on normal days, but on this very day was occupied with police officers and a few curious neighbours.

Before they drove further, two police officers hailed them to a halt.

"You have to turn back sir, a robbery just occurred here, no drive through allowed until we are through with our investigation" a short light-skinned police officer addressed Bob and Michael as they alighted from the minivan.

"Please, I need to get to my family", Bob pleaded, about to push past the policemen.

"Hold on sir, what family? Do you live here?" the second police officer inquired stretching forth his arm to stop Bob's hasty movement.

"Officer please we just got a call that his wife and daughter were involved in an armed robbery, we just wanna make sure they're safe" Michael intervened, trying to avoid a misunderstanding.

Seeming to understand something, the light-skinned police officer stared at Bob and asked "Are you the husband to a certain Mrs Maggie Anderson?"

"Yes I am" Bob answered almost immediately "am Bob Anderson"

The two officers simultaneously raised their eyebrows before the light-skinned officer gestured with his fingers, "Just a minute sir" he said as he grabbed his walkie talkie.

**Pshhh....come in over** came the voice over the walkie talkie.

"Sir, we have here a man who claims to be the husband of Mrs Maggie Anderson, over"

**Pshhh...her husband you say?" there was a short pause **you mean Bob Anderson?**

"Yes sir"

**Then bring him over....pshhh**

"Yes sir" strapping back the walkie talkie to his belt, the light-skinned officer stared back at an anxious Bob and Michael "You would have to leave your van behind and come with us"

"Okay" Bob and Michael nodded simultaneously.

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"Mrs Anderson, we have checked your vitals and your blood work. We also did an X-ray and apart from a slight concussion, you have a clean bill of health" The medical nurse stood in front of Maggie with her stethoscope handing across her neck and her hospital report pad in her hands.

"Oh...uh, thank you" Maggie said warmly as she shifted her gaze to a sleeping Tina whom was wrapped in a blanket.

"By the way, you have a brave and lovely daughter" the nurse moved forward to adjust the blanket covering little Tina.

"Hmm..." Margaret nodded and smiled as she stared at little Tina curling up like a cat "By the way nurse, has there been any phone call from my husband?" Maggie inquired.

"No, not yet"

"Oh okay" Maggie sighed.

"Don't worry Mrs Anderson, am sure the police would have reached his cell by now" the nurse gave a warm smile as she comforted Margaret.

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"You're Bob Anderson?" a policeman with a hard look on his face sized up the approaching Bob and Michael.

"Yes I am" Bob affirmed, "where is my family?"

"At the hospital"

Bob and Michael froze with fearful looks on their faces.

Noticing their expressions, the officer felt that he had been misunderstood "No, no you misunderstand me, I meant to say that they are safe and were just taken to the hospital for checkup in case of any trauma that is all"

Though the officer's explanation seemed to relieve Bob a little, it was not enough to calm him down.

Seeing Bob's tensed state, Michael stepped forward "tell us officer, what really happened here?"

The hard-faced policeman nodded in understanding and glanced at the two officers that escorted Bob and Michael "officer smith, officer Sam, you both clean up the area and report back to station asap, got that?"

"Yes sir"

"Yes sir"

As the policemen departed to round up their investigation, "Am officer Stanley, head of the district bureau" the hard-faced officer shook hands with Bob and Michael "Come with me"

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Getting into the house, Bob and Michael had to freeze in shock when they saw the scene before them. Broken chairs scattered around the parlour, the smashed and broken television set, the cracked walls, the ceiling punctured with holes. All giving the impression of a freakish fight between a group of crazy guys.

"What the hell happened here...?" Michael's voice trailed off.

Bob couldn't utter a single word as his mouth stood agape and eyes opened as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Officer Stanley gave the two men a moment to take it all in before he chuckled. "Crazy right?" he said turning around to face Bob and Michael with his arms spread out. "My boys and I couldn't restrain our shock when we saw all this also. Makes you wonder what could be so valuable that would make them cause all this damage, or..." his eyes focused on Bob "if it was just a simple robbery in the first place"

Walking forward, he came in front of Bob and stared with a cold hard look on his face. "Mr Anderson, I need you to be completely honest with me as it will help quicken our investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice"

"O--okay" Bob was beginning to feel uncomfortable from the hard stare of officer Stanley.

"You recently bought and installed a safe in your house, am I correct?"

"Yeah" Bob nodded.

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's your reason for buying the safe?"

"Uh...the same reason everyone buys a safe I guess"

"And what reason would that be?" officer Stanley narrowed his eyes.

"Huh?" Bob was beginning to feel tensed and confused. "Why all the sudden strange questions officer Stanley?"

Michael, seeing that officer Stanley was not responding anymore but staring long and hard at his friend, couldn't help but cut in. "Officer Stanley, is there anything you're not telling us?"

*Sigh* officer Stanley finally tore his gaze away and heaved a sigh. "Come with me" he said, beckoning to Bob and Michael.

Getting to the corridor of the house, officer Stanley pointed to a half-opened medium sized safe. "Is this the safe you installed Mr Anderson?"

"Yes it is" Bob replied immediately, but then noticing the empty safe, shifted his gaze to officer Stanley "where's my stuff?"

"First of all Mr Anderson, we strongly believe that one of the reasons------no scratch that, the major reason those thugs broke into your house was for a certain content which was of recent present in this safe" officer Stanley spoke as-a-matter of fact while his arms were folded across his chest.

"You mean the thieves were after the safe?" Michael asked.

"Not the safe, but something hidden in it"

"Like what?"

"Like what?"

Bob and Michael chorused simultaneously, which caused officer Stanley to raise his eyebrows, fixing his gaze on Bob.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that? Did I say something wrong?" Bob frowned upon seeing the expression on officer Stanley's face.

"Are you saying that you don't really know the contents of your safe Mr Anderson?" officer Stanley asked while staring at Bob.

"What are you talking about? Of course I know the contents of my safe, those are my things remember? I made it a habit to save my private documents, letters, postcards and some cash which I don't think is strange because everyone does so am I right?"