Getting Dan on Board

Derailment spot, 12:55 PM

Leon James Barracuda, a 36-year-old man with deep black hair and dark blue eyes, was driving toward the scene. Leon's face had very few wrinkles and age lines, and he had a black beard and Mustache combo. His beard stretched down and covered his Adam's apple and it extended 1.5cm beyond that.

'But why was the guy described above even driving toward the derailment spot to begin with?' I hear you ask. Leon was an NTSB investigator. He owned a house along Denny Avenue in Mokena, so he was relatively close to the place the train came off the tracks when it did.

Since the NTSB keeps the place of their workers residence on file, and since they knew that Leon lived close by, he was one of the first to know about the incident and told to wait for a team.

But Leon wasn't a conformist, no, he was an action taker. So, he got dressed and headed off.

Leon saw firefighters and paramedics gathering the injured from the passenger cars and also the ones that ended up outside.

"Sam!" Leon proclaimed in his deep voice toward a brunette paramedic with short spikey hair, light green eyes, a baby-sized moustache and a muscled build.

"Oh, it's the Rhombodian. We Americans can handle this." Sam stated back in his medium voice with a tone of disdain

"Hey, our leader tries to make people happy, so why do you hate us?" Leon inquired and he stood back as he wasn't expecting such a response.

"Because I'm one of those 'do it yourself and don't let people hold your hand' kind of guys." Sam replied.

"Well, Adam accepts your type too and won't help you unless you directly ask."

"Yeah," Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm aware of that."

"Fine, if you don't want to speak, then I'll talk to Helen, Helen!" He shouted over to a woman with ruby hair tied up in a ponytail with a sapphire blue scrunchie. Her eyes were silver, and her skin was tanned with a few freckles on her nose, she too was a paramedic. She turned toward Leon.

"Ah, Mr Barracuda. You must think it amusing, usually things like this don't happen around here." She giggled in her dark voice.

"Yes, it kind of is. But enough about amusement, would you mind telling me the casualties?" Leon asked back.

"Shouldn't you wait for the other people with the NTSB? I mean, don't you usually work in a team?" Helen asked.

Leon laughed. "Did you know that I could have become the police commissioner of the whole Cascoss region back on my home planet? But my rival won against me, so I chose to be a part of the NTSB."

"I have heard stories that said something like that." Helen stated with an eyeroll.

"So, take it from me when I can say I can do this solo."

"You know, maybe Adam decided to boot you off the planet due to your narcissism, and that's the reason you're here. Have you ever thought of it that way?"

"Me? A narcissist? You got to be joking." Leon chuckled as Helen looked away. "But that list?"

Helen looked back and just rolled her eyes again. "If it gets you off my back." She stated as she got out her clipboard and looked through the list. "We have many minor injuries, some broken bones, one man even got a punctured lung and is now in the ICU, and only one person was found dead upon our arrival."

"Only one?" Leon announced in shock. "That's pretty low for an overturned train."

"I was amazed by those numbers too." Helen noted.

"Show me the body."

"I mean, if it helps your investigation." She said and led Leon over the tracks and all the way to the lead car where the body was still waiting. "There he is, Adrian Deux, the poor soul who was driving the train and the sole fatality on this train."

Leon glanced over the body. "Has anybody touched the body?" He asked in a very serious tone.

"No, not that I know of, why?" Helen inquired in shock; she had no idea why Leon was using the tone he was, but it made her feel like she had just made an egregious error.

"Call the FBI and the police and have this place secured, this was no accident." Leon announced.

"How can you be certain?" Helen asked in shock, and almost stumbling her words.

"You see that dirt on his face?"

"Yes."

"Do you see that imprint in the dirt."

"Yes."

"Do you see that big metal thing sticking out his chest?"

"That's a piece of the train from the lead cars frame I believe, but yes."

"What can you conclude from those three things?"

Helen shrugged. "How am I supposed to answer that? I'm a paramedic, not a crime solver. I haven't even watched shows like Matlock or NCIS, although I have heard of them."

"Well, my conclusion is that he fell out of the train and landed face first, creating that imprint, which explains the mud. Now either he got up of his own accord or someone flipped him over, because that metal piece of wreckage is now lodged through his chest, and he's beside the roof of the lead car, that's about a yard or two away from the imprint. So, in conclusion, someone wanted him dead, but didn't want anyone to think it was foul play, so they orchestrated this derailment and killed Adrian to make it look like the cause of death was the derailment"

Helen's mouth came agape. "Wow, no wonder you were considered for the title of 'police commissioner of the Cascoss region.' That was awesome."

"Well?"

"Oh right, the police and FBI. I'll get on it, and I'll make sure that nobody goes anywhere near the body."

Leon nodded. "Good girl. Also, gather all the patients in the same hospital, I don't care if they say they don't have room, get them to make room, I have friends in Washington with some pull who could help. This is going to be a big one."

Helen was flabbergasted. "You're going to hold all these injured people as hostages? Doesn't that go against the rules of your planet?"

"Well, we can't have them leaving town when one or two of them could have valuable information, now can we? I know its unethical and unconventional, but wouldn't it be just as wrong to let them go around willy-nilly and potentially letting a criminal get away unpunished?"

Helen sighed. "Well, since you put it that way." Helen then walked off and called Sam over. Sam and Leon watched the body as they waited for the proper authorities to arrive. Even though the two of them didn't see eye to eye, they had to grin and bear it.

Everstone Manor, Everleason, Cascoss, Ascossian, Rhombodian, November 12th, 7:30 PM. (1:30 PM in Illinois)

Daniel was just served his plate at his end of the massive mahogany table. Tonight's dinner? It was a delicious roast. It smelled as excellent as you'd expect it to.

Dan was just about to dig in when his watch began to buzz.

Elizabeth smiled, but still looked perturbed. "Who'd be calling you during dinner?"

Daniel looked at what was on the screen. "It's David Lancer." Daniel said.

Elizabeth sighed. "Well, he's your friend, so if you want to answer it, that's your prerogative."

Daniel nodded. He answered the call.

"Hey Dan, I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time." David stated through the watch's loudspeaker function. His voice was clear and crisp. The audio quality was outstanding.

"Well, to be honest, I was just about to eat dinner." Daniel relayed.

"Oh, my apologies. Do you have time to speak?"

"I do but make it quick so that my food doesn't cool down."

"I just wanted to tell you that I was asked to go down to the US to solve a mystery surrounding a derailed locomotive."

Daniel nodded. "I see, and why would you want to contact me about it?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come too? I might need that amazing brain of yours."

"I understand, may I have some time to think about it?"

"Well, I'll wait at the Mokena police department for 1 hour, and if you still haven't shown up, I'll just join Leon Barracuda by myself."

"Wait... Leon Barracuda? As in the Leon James Barracuda?!"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"May I come after I finish my dinner?" Daniel asked.

"Like I said, I'm giving you an hour. Will I see you within that timeframe?"

"Yes. Of course. I have always wanted to meet the man who could have become the commissioner of Cascoss."

"See you soon."

So Daniel feasted as fast as he was willing to so that he could meet up with David ASAP.

After Daniel finished his meal, his wife prepared him some Eurithral tea. It tasted heavenly and Daniel felt as awake as he would when the clock reads 7:30 AM.

It was now 8:15 PM.

Dan went to his study and collected a teleportation crystal. He then searched for an image of the interior of Mokena police department and visualized it so the crystal could lock onto the appropriate coordinates.

After the crystal showed an etched version of the image Dan found, he tossed it at the closed door. The door transformed into a portal with the interior of the Mokena police department visible inside its blue frame.

Daniel stepped through the portal. He had to wonder why Leon would want detectives to assist in the investigation of a derailed locomotive in America when it would be under the jurisdiction of the NTSB. What was going on?