Edited by: Waning_Crescents

“Who are you?” Sigal asked while his expression darkened.

The voice on the other end sounded distorted as if using a voice changer, thus, the investigator couldn’t detect any familiarity.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you? Oh, no, no, you would never forget that time three years ago, would you?”

Sigal froze. What did he say? He propped one hand on the nearby wall, while his heart rate increased. No…this can’t be...

“Mr. Crawford?” the stranger chuckled. “Did that shock you already into silence?”

“Sigal?” Asher called out over the transmitter. “I don’t know what’s going on but stay calm!”

The investigator’s eyes shot wide open as if being brought back to reality; he closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep inaudible breath. He is right, this proves nothing yet…I can’t let him fool me.

Then he steadied himself and said, “That’s impossible, who are you really?”

Right after, Sigal took his cellphone out of his pocket and messaged Asher. [Someone must be outside! Turn every corner upside down, they must be nearby!]

“Is it impossible though?” the person on the phone asked. “Or did you miss an important piece last time?”

The investigator knitted his brows. What does he mean? What important piece? Is he mocking me?

“It was really tragic, wasn’t it?” a distorted chuckle resounded over the phone. “Say, Mr. Crawford, are you still grieving? Are you still in pain? I will never forget your eyes back then…so satisfying.”

“Shut up!” Sigal raised his voice, while he also clenched his cellphone tighter in his grip. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to say ‘hi’ and warn you. If you interfere again, I personally will make sure that you won’t be able to get back on your feet.” Even though the stranger talked through a voice changer, the shift into a serious tone clearly resounded. “I highly recommend you choose your steps carefully this time, Mr. Crawford. I am sure you wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistakes, right?”

Before Sigal could even reply, the stranger hung up.

Sigal’s head spun and his heart beat so fast as if it would leap out at any second. He trembled, while the surrounding noises drifted farther and farther away until he found himself engulfed in darkness. No…there is no way…how?

He panted uncontrollably. He clutched his chest while fragments of memories rushed through his head. Everything…everything…

At this moment, the hope he held on to shattered into pieces and all the pain resurfaced at once. His worst nightmare became reality.

“Hey! Young man!” the shouts of a strange voice in the distance penetrated Sigal’s ears until they drew closer by the second. “Hey! Are you alright?”

The Investigator lifted his head to face the bartender that stood in front of him. He already tried for a while to get Sigal’s attention, but to no avail and grew worried. “Did you drink too much? Do you need me to call an ambulance?”

Sigal shook his head and shoved the phone into the bartender’s hands before he staggered outside.

“Hey! Why didn’t you answer me?” Asher rushed towards him, but as he caught a glimpse of the other’s irritated expression, he furrowed his brow. “What happened?”

As the shock lifted, the rage took over and Sigal gnashed his teeth. “Don’t tell me you came back empty-handed!”

“What do you mean empty-handed? There was no one around, I looked everywhere. I couldn’t see anyone outside the bar.”

Sigal’s eyes flared up in anger, and he grabbed Asher by the collar. “Impossible! They must have been here; how else would they know that we were here at this time?”

Asher narrowed his eyes and grabbed the wrist of the hand that fixed him in place. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Sigal glared at his colleague for a moment and tightened his grip. “It’s them! They must have tracked us somehow and you tell me you found nothing here? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know, but I couldn’t see anyone stalking the place.” Asher’s expression darkened. “You either calm down now or I make you!”

Sigal bared his teeth and pushed his colleague away by letting go of him. “Then you weren’t throughout! You must have missed something!”

Asher stumbled back but steadied himself in the next second. “I haven’t…there really was no one in a close radius or I would have noticed!”

Irritated about the situation, the investigator didn’t know how to contain his anger, so he let loose and smashed his fist sideways into the wall of the bar. “Dammit!!”

“Getting worked up won’t change the situation.” Asher flung his arms up as if trying to tame a wild animal. “All we can do for now is report back and plan our next steps carefully.”

He wanted to say more, but at this moment it didn’t seem to be the best time to say anything that could fuel the other’s rage. Asher understood that the situation called for immediate action; they had to discuss how to proceed from this point onward.

“Come on, let’s go back,” Asher suggested.

Sigal still held his clenched fist against the wall, while he glanced over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance where only a few streetlamps illuminated the area. I will find and end you!

***

“I see…” Vince knitted his brows. Everything his subordinates reported alerted him and that for more than one reason.

“First of all, how you handled that operation was not approved by me,” Vince said in a deep voice, clearly upset about how his subordinates took matters into their own hands.

“I know, but—” Sigal tried to explain, but got cut off by Vince the next second.

“No ‘but’! My orders were clear. Keep a low profile and observe from a distance. If I had ordered to go undercover, I would have sent backup along your way. This case needed us to be careful from the start and you just carelessly do as you please.”

Asher opened his mouth, but Vince shut him down immediately. “You don’t even need to tell me whose idea that was. I am aware. But you didn’t stop it and participated, so you share the blame!”

Asher sighed and closed his mouth, not trying to speak up again. The chief’s ability of knowing what they wanted to say before they even uttered the words always astonished the investigator.

Vince kneaded the space between his eyebrows. “I’m glad both of you are safe, but!" He put his hand back down and shot them a strict glare. “No more disobeying orders, is that clear?”

Vince rarely got mad but if he did, then no one dared to even try to talk back. Therefore, both investigators nodded in silence.

“Alright, back to the matter at hand,” Vince said, “Now that they contacted us, it seems we are in their focus for one reason or another.”

Asher nodded. “Yeah, but is it really them? Can it even be?”

“Everything points to it, but it also makes no sense.” Vince stroked his chin. “We caught them three years ago and ended their schemes. No activity since then and now they just appear out of the blue, that just doesn’t seem right.”

“Something is bothering me as well here…” Asher folded his arms in front of his chest. “Something just seems off.”

“They also mentioned that we missed something back then but…as much as I go over the events in my head, I can’t see anything we could have missed,” Sigal added irritated.

“To me it seems like they exactly knew how to trigger you Sigal, and that’s what they went for which raises even more questions.” Vince knitted his brows. “Fact is, we killed the majority of them, and the ones that got arrested by the police are still behind bars, so who contacted you?”

“The police must have questioned the ones they detained; do we have the reports?” Asher asked.

Vince nodded. “We do, but they didn’t talk, so we didn’t get any information out of them, but because we killed the person who claimed to be their leader, we closed the case.”

“What if that was a whole setup?” Asher said. “What if it wasn’t the leader we killed, but someone who just pretended to be their leader to let the real one escape?”

“Impossible! We had reliable information that this really was the head of the group!” Sigal raised his voice.

“Wait!” Vince interjected. “Asher has a point.”

“What—"

“I am not saying the information wasn’t correct, but that we got fooled from the start.” Vince cut Sigal off. “It’s a possibility, but we get ahead of ourselves here. Right now, we still do not have enough information to draw any conclusion, yet we have to keep that prospect in mind at least.”

Sigal slammed his right hand on Vince’s desk. “Everything we have done, he has done…you tell me this was all for naught? That he died for nothing?”

“No, that’s not what I am saying!” Vince replied in a serious tone. “His bravery made it possible to stop them and even if we should find out that things were different as we expected, he saved a lot of lives with his sacrifice.”

“Yet, everything starts anew.” Sigal gritted his teeth. “I won’t let them trample on what he had accomplished. Whoever dares to sully his legacy will pay.”

Vince eyed his subordinate’s pained, yet angered expression and said calmly. “Don’t let anger cloud your judgment or you play right into their hands. You must stay level-headed and focused. That’s what he would want you to do too, don’t you think?”

Sigal's eyes widened for a brief second. Vince’s words hit a soft spot and it somewhat calmed him. He let out a puff of air and retracted his hand from the table. “Yeah…I know.”

“Moreover, we can’t let them confuse or provoke us, or they will always be one step ahead,” Asher stated, “We must find out why they decided to show themselves now and what’s their agenda.”

“That’s right.” Vince agreed. “We need to find the missing piece that connects the dots. The CIB also notified me that they most likely have a new lead, but they are still investigating that matter. I will receive the report as soon as they know more.”

“A new lead?” Sigal asked, “Did they specify?”

Vince shook his head. “No, they didn’t tell me any details because they want to be certain before presenting facts.”

“I see…”

“In any case, we must approach this with caution from now on. We can’t act rashly no matter what, understood?” Vince declared.

His subordinates nodded.

“Rest up for now, there is a lot of work coming our way,” Vince said.

After his subordinates left, Vince let out an exasperated sigh. I really hoped that there was no connection between those cases. How could this even happen? What did we miss?

Even if they had to wait for further information from the CIB, they still could start their own research by digging up the old case and revise the information they gathered back then.

Therefore, the chief picked up the phone and called Section 1. “Kristian, reopen the case 242C.”

“What? Why? Does that mean?” Kristian asked in astonishment.

“Yeah, everything points to it.” Vergil replied and recounted the events that unfolded during Sigal and Asher’s investigation.

“I would have never thought that this would haunt us once more…” Kristian uttered.

“I know, no one did,” Vince replied, “The more important it is that we find out what they meant by ‘missing piece’”

“Yeah, don’t worry, we will do our utmost to find what we could have failed to notice last time.”

“Thanks,” Vince said, “Also send the documents to Cal, it is time to fill him in on the entire situation we are dealing with.”

“Of course,” Kristian responded and hung up.

***

Back in his apartment, Sigal threw himself on the couch in exhaustion while parts of what the stranger said to him echoed through his mind.

‘I highly recommend you choose your steps carefully this time, Mr. Crawford. I am sure you wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistakes, right?’

“Dammit!” Sigal cursed under his breath. He laid on the couch, wrapped his right arm around his eyes and mumbled in a brittle voice, “What shall I do, Noah?”