The Plot to Destroy the RCI

By Richard Pinkerton

Rex is sent to an alternate universe where Angel is still alive and finds himself living the life of a different Rex who isn't quite as honourable as him.

In it he discovers there is a plot afoot to have the entire Rex Cassidy Investigators wiped out and it is coming from within the RCI itself.

Who are his allies and who are his enemies? Could he be stuck there forever? Will what happens here affect the other universe?

Book 21 in the RCI series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Mar 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005843625

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

The Plot to Destroy the RCI

(Book 21 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Kindle

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

Other books by Richard Pinkerton

The Rex Cassidy Investigators

The Curse of the Witchdoctor

The Secret of the Devil’s Triangle

The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

The Case of the Cattle Rustlers

The Mystery of the Moving Statue

The Secret of the Phantom Clown

The Case of the Landmark Terrorists

The Great Prison Break

Doppelganger Madness

The Angel and the Hag

Aliens in Atlantis

The Revenge of Dr Dream

The Return of Fingers McGraw

The Angel Cassidy Rescue

Silhouettes of a Moving Statue

The Second Great Prison Break

The Legacy of a Roving Buccaneer

The Return of Fingers McGraw II

The Isle of Bad Dreams

The Madness of Dr Dream

Others

Dead End High

Dead End Town

Time Warped

The Mob from TAC series

CHAPTER 1:

True to Life?

'EEEEUUUBBAAAAAA!'

The usual earthquake that accompanied Tucker Pyles as he stampeded through the RCI Estate’s communal lounge to get to the kitchen was replaced by a slow thumping sound instead.

Rex Cassidy, leader of the Rex Cassidy Investigators, paused from the viewing of his movie to see Tucker hobble through the side entrance and make his way across to the opposite exit. He didn't even glance at those sitting there watching and carried on, his sole purpose to get to the kitchen, for a snack, no doubt. Rex could only assume that the kitchen staff had just finished whipping up a fresh batch of scones, or some other baking had reached its completion.

'It seems that Tucker's injured more than just his big toe.' Pete Cook chuckled. 'Not only has he forgotten how to stampede to the kitchen, he's forgotten how to pronounce UBBA.'

Rex chuckled. 'Yeah, but Pete, let's not forget that his brain is in his big toe.'

'True, true, I'm surprised though, he hasn't broken his toe sooner, the way he charges to the kitchen.'

'How did he break his toe?' asked Blake. He had recently turned sixteen and even had a bit of stubble on his chin. His blue-eyes gleamed cheekily. ‘Was it a rush to the dinner table?’

‘Close,’ said Super Val, the RCI’s resident superhero. Or at least he claimed to be one. ‘When he wang us fwom the hospital he said it was at the park. He was competing with the ducks for pieces of bwead thwown by picnickers.'

'Figures.' Rex laughed. He turned his attention back to the movie.

'Frank, I need you, I can't live without you! If you won't tell me you love me, then there's no point in me living. I might as well end it all!'

'No, don't be stupid. You can survive without me, you just need to get over me.'

'I can't, Frank. I love for you. Without you, there's nothing! If we were together, I just know everything would be fantastic. We'd both be extremely happy. We'd be together forever, I just know it.'

Pete chuckled. ‘I’m guessing that was like Vanessa at one point.'

Rex nodded. 'Although she wasn't quite as melodramatic as that though.'

'But she did attempt suicide.'

Rex drank from his glass of beer and thought back to how his wife had attempted suicide when they were teenagers when she thought she couldn't have him. And he thought back to several years earlier, when she had thought Rex had been killed. She'd attempted suicide then and ended up in a coma for three years. Those days still haunted him and he was so glad that Vanessa was safe and happy now.

'You know, it's gweat…' SV said. '…to see a couple so deeply in love even after all this time. It's like you two are still a couple of newlyweds.'

'That's for sure,' Blake said. 'I can be sitting in the lounge back home and once he and Vanessa start getting going, you know it's not gonna stop until they've done the wild thing.' He laughed. 'I guess I'm kind of used to it, but my friends find it unbelievable, because their parents are hardly ever affectionate with one another.'

'I hope they don't do it in fwont of you!' SV said.

'No way!' Blake laughed. 'It moves to the bedroom, thank God!'

Pete spoke again. 'If it had been my parents making out in front of me, I would have thrown up.'

Blake chuckled. 'My friends think it's quite cool. They think Vanessa’s a MILF. I have to slap them on the odd occasion, especially when they ogle her or make some comment about wanting to get in her pants. I guess they think because she's my stepmother that it's okay to say stuff like that.'

‘Well, just as long as they’re not saying stuff like that about Stevie!’ Pete said.

‘I’d kill them if they did!’ Blake said. ‘She’s my girlfriend, after all.’

‘Geez, you Cassidy’s sure can pick ‘em. Rex is married to a supermodel and you end up with a TV star! And what, two years older than you?’

‘Yep.’

They turned their attention back to the movie.

'Janie, you know that it can't be. I'm involved with Carolyn and I love Carolyn very much. I can't just dump her for you and I'm not gonna do it.'

'But Frank, she doesn't love you like I do. She can never satisfy you the way I can.'

'Janie, I know we had something special once upon a time, but I'm with Carolyn now I would never do anything to hurt her.'

'Wow,' Pete said. 'This Janie is just like Vanessa.'

Rex snorted. 'As if. Vanessa was messed up for a while there, but then who can blame her, she came out of a coma and discovered I was married to Angel. But this Janie, they split at one point and now she wants him back.'

'Do you still think about Angel?' SV asked.

'Regularly.' Rex said. ‘Barely a day goes by when I don't think about her.'

'What would it be like now if she was still alive?'

'Well Oliver would still have his mother,' Blake said. 'Not that there's anything wrong with their current mother. Nothing at all. My mother’s quite cool, but nowhere near as cool as Nessa.'

You know, it's a troubling thought,' Rex said. 'It's something I've often pondered. If she was still alive and we were still married, I wonder what would have become of Vanessa. Would she have gotten over the fact she couldn't have me? And to be honest, I wonder what it would be like for me, knowing that I could never have her again. I never stopped loving and desiring Vanessa, even when Angel was alive, but Angel was the one I was married to and committed to. I could never have deliberately cheated on her.'

Some real drama came up on the screen.

'Oh my God! It can't be... you look exactly like... like Frank!'

'I am Frank! That man there is an imposter!'

'But... but...'

'He's my identical twin brother, Damien!'

'You never told me you had an identical twin!'

'No, because he brought shame to the family, didn't you, Damien? When he was thirteen he ran away from home and got himself involved in organised crime. When he was eighteen he was locked up for murder, because he killed our triplet brother, Colby. He's not me! I would never treat your Carolyn the way he's treated you.'

'Damn it, Frank! Why didn't you stay in Australia?'

'Oh, so that's it, huh? I go to Australia and you try to take my place? What would our father say? What would Colby say if he were still alive today?'

'Triplets?' Blake laughed. 'God, this movie is getting stupider and stupider all the time.'

'You're not kidding,' Pete said. 'But then again, I guess it's no crazier than Tucker having a long-lost twin brother turning up out of the blue.'

'At least his wasn’t a criminal,' SV said.

Pete chuckled. 'Yeah, but they both brought shame to their family in one way or the other.'

Blake smirked. 'Yeah, but then every Pyles brings shame to their name. What's new?'

'I just hope there are no other ones out there somewhere we know nothing about.'

'I was angry at the time, Frank! He pissed me off and I killed him. Yes, I killed our