Chapter 35-Chong’s
Ryan led Sherry and his men through the empty streets until they arrived at the garage. As they entered, Sherry could barely see anything in the dark and desolate space.
As she approached the garage, she felt an eerie sense of dread creep over her. The door creaked open with a rusty groan, revealing a dimly lit interior. The walls were lined with peeling paint, and the concrete floor was stained with oil and grime. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline and musty, damp earth.
In the shadows, she could make out the silhouette of a car, its headlights casting a sickly yellow glow that flickered ominously. The walls were cluttered with tools and spare parts, their outlines indistinct in the low light. The ceiling was draped with cobwebs, and the corners were shrouded in darkness.
As she stepped closer, her eyes began to adjust to the dim light, revealing the scattered debris and forgotten relics of a bygone era. A rusted gas canister rested in the corner, its label long since worn away. A row of antique oil cans were stacked haphazardly on a shelf, their faded labels evoking memories of a time when cars were more than just machines.
The silence was broken only by the distant hum of traffic outside, and the occasional drip of water from a leaky faucet. The darkness seemed to press in around her, suffocating and oppressive. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was not alone in that place, and that something was watching her from the shadows.
Sherry suddenly turned to leave but Ryan held her wrist firmly in his hand.
The door slammed shut behind her with a sudden, violent force. The sound echoed through the garage, bouncing off the walls and amplifying the sense of danger and foreboding. Sherry tried twitching her wrist to escape but the darkness and the mysteries of the garage cloaked her.
“Chong, we need to talk,” Ryan called out.
Suddenly a spotlight fell on a man sitting in that darkness, bent over something.
He seemed busy at work. That was apparently Chong.
Chong, who was busy working on a car, turned around and squinted in their direction. “What do you want?” he asked, with a tone that Sherry did not understand.
Ryan stepped forward, his hands in his pockets. “We need your help. There’s been a problem at my own place.”
Chong narrowed his eyes, clearly not convinced. “Problem at your place? That doesn’t seem convincing my dear Ryan. Why should I believe you? ”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
Ryan leaned in closer. “Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure the police find out about your little side business.”
There was a moment of awkward silence that followed as Sherry watched from one man to the other.
She felt like they were about to rip each other’s throat off.
But the two of them broke into a monstrous laughter and hugged each other like old friends.
Patting each other on the back and asking how each other were doing at the moment.
” You should come over to visit Ryan more often, otherwise I might miss you so much that I might think about severing our bond. In That case I wouldn’t want to help you now and then , whenever you fancy. ”
Chong looked a little offended.
Ryan shrugged. “I would if I had to. But I don’t want it to come to that. We can help each other out here.”
Chong thought for a moment before nodding his head. “Fine. What do you need today?”
Ryan explained the situation and Chong agreed to help them. As they waited for Chong to finish his work, Sherry wandered around the garage, examining the tools and cars.
Ryan’s gaze looked around her like a mother looking over a child who was exploring around a playground.
Suddenly, she heard a strange noise coming from one of the cars.
“Hey, Ryan,” she called out. “I think there’s something in this car.”
Ryan walked over to where she was standing and looked inside. “That’s strange,” he said, as he noticed a small device attached to the engine.
Chong looked over their shoulders. “What is it?” he asked.
Ryan sighed. “It’s a tracking device. Someone’s been keeping tabs on you.”
Sherry’s eyes widened in shock. “Who would do something like that to a mere garage mechanic?”
Ryan looked at Chong. “Do you have any enemies?”
Chong shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, someone’s been keeping an eye on you. We need to find out who.”
Ryan confirmed looking at Josh.
As they continued to investigate.
As Sherry tried pulling the device off Ryan held her hand with force.
” You don’t want to do that. These devices send signals that they have been removed. This will only alarm the one who planned this in the first place. We need to figure a way out to take this out without the one who planted it knowing about it.
Is that doable? ”
Ryan asked Chong, turning around.
” Certainly, but I will need some help and time to achieve that.
Please sit around and make yourselves comfortable. I will not be long. ”
With that he darted out of that dim space as the daylight flooded in when he opened the door on his way out.
Ryan cued his men as they went out and stood guard all around the place, Josh too accompanied them outside.
It was only Ryan and Sherry left behind, sitting in the darkness, awkwardly staring at each other’s face.
Sherry never understood why that harmless place looked so eerie in the first place and why it looked so familiar after that.
She looked around as she felt Ryan’s eyes following her.
It brought back a strange kind of deja vu.
She touched those walls as the paint came off on her fingers.
She brought it near her nose to sniff when Ryan lunged at her once more and grabbed her hand.