Edward always thought himself to be the sort of man who pursues his goals with utmost ambition and passion, yet as he scrolled through the log file which documented every entry that was made into the evidence room, he realized that fatigue and bitterness were the only kind of feelings that were driving him.
Someone walked into that evidence room and replaced the flash drive that contained the incriminating video against Blackburn with an empty one. Whoever that guy was, his name has to appear somewhere on here. The only problem is… I don’t know when the switch took place. As far as I'm aware, it could have happened a month ago, and each day holds dozens of names in its columns.
The many voices of the officers working in his department made it hard to concentrate, and the intense scent of cigarettes that shrouded every corner of the place made him sick on top of it all.
The big topic on everyone's lips was clearly the serial killer dubbed the Tri-Surgeon. From what Edward could hear all around him, a few more bodies had been found, once again with their eyes, arms and hearts cut out. The investigation on the matter was moving slowly, with no big leads or suspects thus far. Even though the case managed to intrigue Edward, being a focused man, he made all thoughts of the heinous murderer subside in favor of his current case.
Rows upon rows of names appeared in front of Edward's eyes on the computer screen. Some of them he recognized while others meant nothing to him. Deep down inside him, Edward started to wonder if he made the right decision by insistently taking Blackburn's case.
"Well, this looks… boring," Derlick came out of nowhere behind Edward.
"You have no fucking idea," said Edward in reply. "These are the log entries of everyone who has entered the evidence room lately."
"And one of them has to be the one who switched the flash drive."
"Right. Except that… I don’t know who to look for or even when to look," Edward sighed.
"Dude, this is a needle in a fucking haystack. Let it go. You'll never get anything like that."
"No. I took it upon myself to put Blackburn behind bars, and this is the only way to do it."
"Don't you have any other leads to work on?"
"Well, I thought I might pay Roycen McAllister a visit. See if he might have something that could help me."
"Wow, you're really hanging on long shots with this case."
"At least I'm doing something." Edward said in an angry tone. "If I can do something to save this trial, then I'll do it. I can't let Blackburn get away with it." Derlick ran his hand through his slicked back red hair, looking defeated.
"Alright, I'll tell you what. Go drive up to Roycen, I'll work on these log entries, see if I can find something useful."
"R-Really? Don't you have other work to do?"
"Don't worry, I'll still manage to get everything done." Edward looked at him, overwhelmed. "Go on. Before I change my mind," Derlick rushed him.
"I own you one." Edward got up from his seat, grabbed his coat and rushed to leave the station.
"Just buy me a beer," Derlick called at him from afar.
Thank god I have Derlick. Without him, I'd be truly alone in that place.
The drive to Roycen McAllister's safe house took about an hour. Being part of the witness protection program, Roycen, along with his wife and two children were moved to a small private house, just on the outskirts of Maecor, Rockbury.
Derlick is right. I'm hanging onto threads here. Roycen may have been the one who took the video of Blackburn killing that Justicar, Serik Sanders, but I don't know if he'll be able to give me anything helpful. The long drive woke all kinds of thoughts in his mind. Most of them had to do with people like Blackburn or Dillard, which he most despised, but at some point, those thoughts shifted to revolve around his father. Dad always pursued justice. He would have gone through with this case the same way. He would have tried his best, even when chances of success would look slim. He gave me his name and ideals. I can't quit now. I can't let him down.
Once he finally reached Roycen's safe house, he parked his police car in front of it and made his way to knock on the door. 36-year-old Roycen McAllister opened the door. He had short, wavy brown hair, bright green eyes, and a flat nose. His skin was slightly wrinkly and appeared a bit pale. Clearly his time as an undercover soldier of Code Sanguinary and now a man with a new identity in a whole new place hasn't been sitting well with him. The stress and anxiety were apparent on Roycen's face.
"Mr. McAllister, I'm Officer Edward Elwin, I—"
"Are you a fucking idiot? Don’t call me by that name. I have a new name," Roycen looked around in paranoia.
"R-Right, sorry. Umm… As I said, I need to talk to you about the Blackburn case."
"Show me a badge," He demanded. I've heard enough about just how dangerous and deadly Code Sanguinary can be, but I guess seeing it with your own eyes brings a whole new level of dread to it. He showed the panicked man his badge. "Get in," Roycen rushed him inside.
A blonde woman, looking to be about the same age as Roycen, appeared at the end of the corridor that stood in front of Edward as he walked into the house. "Roycen? Who's—"
"It's alright, he's a cop," He reassured her. I guess the sense of terror didn’t skip his wife.
"Oh," She calmed down. "W-Well, would you like some tea, or… something to eat?" she seemed hesitant to offer hospitality to a guest as if the matter had become foreign to her.
"No, I'm fine, thank you," said Edward.
"Let's talk in the living room." Roycen guided him to a small living room where two white couches stood next to each other, a low glass table in between them, with an unlit fireplace across from them. Roycen sat on one of the couches while Edward sat on the other.
"Roycen, are… are you alright?" Edward expressed his concern at the pale man.
"I-I'm fine," Roycen replied, looking frantic. The presence of a cop must stress him.
"How are you adjusting to the witness protection program?"
"It's… okay, I guess. I lost all my friends and… my kids are pretty confused. They're currently at their new school. They don’t know what to think, but…" he paused and looked away from Edward. "We're okay," he finished.
"Look, I get that it might be hard—"
"What do you want?" Roycen wasted no time. Edward respected that and dwelled no further on the matter.
"You probably already know what caused the postponement of Blackburn's trial," said Edward.
"I don’t, actually."
Edward seemed perplexed. I figured he would’ve asked one of the cops he knew by now. this is, after all, the case that brought him to where he is now. "Well, that video you took of Blackburn killing Serik Sanders… someone took it. The flash drive that had it is gone. I'm trying to save this case while I still have time before it resumes. I need to know if there's any way we can recover that video you took."
"T-That video was on the flash drive. The flash drive is gone. There's nothing I can help with anymore."
"Think, Roycen. Everything you've done here is going to waste."
"Look, my life isn’t going to change back to what they were anymore, so forgive me if I don’t give a shit. I don’t care about this case anymore. Truth be told, I don’t want to hear about it. I'm sorry, officer, but I can't help you." He stood up from the couch. "If this is why you came here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Edward noticed the frightened expression on his face. His hand was slightly shaking, and he was clearly in a rush to get him to leave. Something's not right. Could he be hiding something?
"Roycen… why did you go along with the undercover task?"
"W-What?"
"You heard me. Why did you agree to go undercover as a soldier for Code Sanguinary?"
"I-I wanted to."
"No, you didn’t. Look at you. You're scared to shit. You're fucking shivering."
"I'm going to ask you to leave, officer." He dropped his gaze to the floor, unable to look at Edward's face as he was politely shooing him.
"Roycen, look at me," Edward commanded, but with no success.
"Please, leave," Roycen's voice now sounded more resilient, and yet also mixed with further anxiety.
"Look at me!" Edward said out loud, this time succeeding in getting him to finally look at him. He could see it now. The fear in his eyes. The terror in his heart. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want any of this. "Who put you up to it? Who made you take that job?"
"I-I can't—" Edward shoved him back into his seat, interrupting his mumbles.
"Tell me!" he ordered. Roycen squirmed in his seat, and Edward could already read the answer in his eyes. "Was it Dillard?" he asked him. Roycen became silent, drifting his eyes away, confirming Edward's fear. Why am I not surprised? "What did he offer you? Money?"
"Y-Yeah." The words nearly choked behind Roycen's now-weak voice. "You have to understand, I had huge debts, and he offered to help me clear them."
"Goddammit…" Edward murmured to himself in frustration. "Fucking Dillard…" he kept on. Roycen looked almost traumatized, sitting on his couch, still trembling and breathing heavily. "Alright, look, I know you don’t want to live in this fear. That's why I need you to help me. If we take down Blackburn, we can take Code Sanguinary down for good, too. You won't have to—" the doorbell interrupted Edward's words.
Roycen looked frantic once more. "Are you expecting anyone?" asked Edward.
"N-No," he replied.
Roycen's wife approached the door at first, but before she reached it, Roycen stopped her and signaled her to back away. He went to the door himself, asking, "Who is it?" while peeking through the door's peephole. No answer came from behind the door. Roycen backed away, turned to Edward and nodded his head, making it clear that he wasn’t familiar with the figure at his doorstep. Edward's hand reached for his gun, yet he didn’t dare to draw it yet. Roycen's wife stood behind him, as the two made a few more steps away from the door.
Utter silence filled the house. Edward slowly started to inch towards Roycen, but no sooner than 3 seconds later, 2 gunshots pierced the door, hitting Roycen in the abdomen. His wife screamed in horror, as Edward crouched down and pulled his gun from its holster. "Get down!" he ordered her. She didn’t hear him underneath her ear-piercing screams. "Get the fuck down!" he yelled at her again, but to no avail. A few more gunshots came through the door and hit her, the same as they had her husband.
Once she fell down to the floor, shattered glass fell on Edward, as bullets turned to hit the window close to him. As much as he wanted to get up and return fire, the constant stream of fire wouldn’t let him. Bullet holes riddled the walls, as well as the furniture, including the same couch that Edward had been sitting on a moment earlier. By that point, shattered pieces of glass were scattered everywhere around the floor and the McAllisters' blood has gathered in a wide pool in front of the door. It has to be more than one shooter, he concluded. There's no way all this fire is coming from one magazine.
Eventually, a sudden silence fell on the house. Are they gone? Edward wondered. He crawled to the nearby window and peeked through, seeing the two men who were running away from the house. The green-grey camouflage-colored Elastics that they wore confirmed what Edward was already thinking. Code Sanguinary. Came here to get some payback on their snitch. Goddamn fuckers.
He aimed his gun at them. He fired off one shot but missed. The second shot also missed, yet the third one managed to take down one of the two killers. He tried to fire another round at the second soldier, but by the time he aimed his sights at him, he was already too far away.
Edward quickly rushed to Roycen's aid. The poor man lay on the floor with his belly engulfed with redness. Blood was spewing out of his mouth and covering most of his chin. He made a few grunts of pain, trying to utter final words. Edward inched closer to the dying man. "There's a copy… bedroom… first drawer… Left side…" he had to pause between every few words.
"Hang in there, I'm going to call for help," Edward tried to reassure him, yet by the time he finished that sentence, he could already see that the man in his arms now as still as a statue. He went to check on his wife, yet no life was in her either.
Edward felt helpless. He felt a tremendous sense of grief mixed with great fury. Dillard… Blackburn… Code Sanguinary… I'll take them all down myself if I have to.
Once he called for backup, he made his way upstairs, to the bedroom. Inside the drawer where Roycen had directed him, he found another flash drive. A copy of the incriminating video, just like Roycen said. I'll take them all down, he reiterated the sentence in his mind like a war song, his eyes burned with rage.
