The long days at the station made Edward weary. Every day reporters would harass him, begging to know more about the Tri-Surgeon case and its progress. Edward refused to face them, sending Trisslin in his stead each time to either give them an evasive answer or simply shoo them away. The paranoia that plagued him recently didn’t help either. Insomniac nights became a routine, as he developed a habit of looking over his shoulder to spot any soldiers of Code Sanguinary, as well as losing sleep over thinking about it.
Ever since he met the Justicar known as Forseti, he's been wondering if he had made the right decision. Above all right now, I want to catch the Tri-Surgeon and amend my tarnished reputation, but… is it worth cooperating with Justicars? They're my enemy. They're killers and criminals disguised as vigilantes. Besides, if word about this gets out to Dillard, he'll put the bullet in me himself. He hates the Justicars more than anything, everybody knows that. He believes their façade and portrayal make them appear as a better solution to Alataria's crime situation then APD. Goddammit, I must be out of my mind.
Forseti called Edward two days earlier, asking Edward to him all the files APD had on the killer's victims. Beyond that, Edward and Forseti hadn’t had any other interaction so far. Obviously reluctant at first, Edward tried talking Forseti into forsaking his request, but the sarcastic Justicar insisted that it was necessary if they were to find the link that binds the victims. Given an encrypted website on the Nucleus to upload the files to, Edward did what he perceived as unthinkable and sent the victims' record files to Forseti via the website. This is for the case, he said to himself as he did it, trying to justify it against his own gut feelings. This will help us capture the Tri-Surgeon.
Sitting at his desk, Edward's black SmartWrist's display lit up and rang. The number that was calling him was blocked. He snapped the SmartWrist straight and picked up the call, already knowing who it was. "How's my favorite police officer?" Edward could recognize Forseti's voice. He carefully looked around him before speaking back to make sure no one was watching or listening to him.
"Well, if someone could just shoot all those journalists and reporters who keep showing up at my office door, I would have been a lot better," Edward said with a sigh.
"Last time I checked, you had a gun yourself. I'm sure you'll be much happier doing it yourself." As much as Edward found Forseti amusing, he couldn’t afford to waste time on jokes.
"Did you make any progress with the files I sent you?" he asked.
"I did," Forseti replied. "I want to show you what we've found. Can you come over at around 6 PM? The address is 2nd Goodman Street."
"Here? In Morth City?"
"Yeah."
"Sure, I'll come."
"Good. When you get there, go up to the second floor. Apartment 3."
"Alright, I'll be there." He hung up the call, wrapping his SmartWrist back around his wrist.
Later that day, as he made his way out of the station, he started hearing a loud commotion taking place outside once he neared the exit doors. A few officers stood in the station's entrance hall, staring out through the glass doors at the large crowd outside. Edward recognized Trisslin among the staring officers.
Looking outside the glass door as well, he saw a mass of journalists, holding microphones and recorders at hand, all pointed at the man who's been stealing the spotlight everywhere on the media recently, Archell Sherwood. The Vice Chief of Police looked elegantly calm and confident against the waves the urging questions and unending inquiry that the sea of reporters flung at him.
"What's going on?" Edward asked Trisslin as he inched closer to her. "Did he call for another press conference?"
The dark-headed officer responded with a hinted laugh. "Yeah. It's basically the same as every other interview and conference he attended before. Making vague promises and updating the media on the progress of certain cases." Sherwood had made so many appearances on the media lately. Another press conference like this one seems so needless and pointless. Could it be that he's doing it on purpose? But why? Sherwood is still Dillard's subordinate. He wouldn’t do this without his permission. At that moment, a terrifying thought came to Edward, like an arrow shot in his chest. What if Dillard is making him do this? What if Dillard is grooming him to be his successor and he's already making sure everyone in Alataria knows who he is, especially ringleaders? Back at Derlick's funeral, he said that he was 'old and weary' and he mentioned that he had spent 40 years on the force. Could he be retiring? And if he does, is it a good thing or a bad thing? Sure, Dillard is a prick that APD would be better off without, but Sherwood isn’t exactly a role model as well. There are plenty of rumors of his conniving nature and corrupt tendencies as it is. As far as I know, he's just another Dillard in a different name.
"What do you make of him?" he asked her.
"Sherwood? I don’t see too many good qualities in him if I have to be honest. He's too cocky and confident in front of the media. He makes it look like everything's perfect in this country, even though we all know it's not. At least when Dillard used to appear in the media, he kept his cool and didn’t sprinkle words of reassurance."
"I see. Do you think he's worse than Dillard?"
"I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Dillard, but some rumors are going around about Sherwood. Some say he's a Vex addict in secret, which is very worrying, but the one rumor that frightens people in APD more is the one that says he's against Dillard's tendencies of taking bribes from powerful men and ringleaders. Apparently, Sherwood is almost obsessed with leaving his mark on this country, and he thinks that bringing down the criminal organizations is the way to do it. If Sherwood ever rises to take Dillard's seat, there's a chance he'll declare war on all the mob gangs."
"And why is that a bad thing?"
Trisslin looked at Edward and giggled. "Your constant seek for peace and justice… don’t you ever get tired of it?" she turned her gaze back outside. "Don’t you see how many cops will lose their lives in such a war? Alataria will turn into a battlefield. Every district will be engulfed in bullets and bodies."
"They're already like that."
"No, they're not. Trust me. I'm talking about the way it was eleven years ago, in 2034.
"You mean during Operation Cleanser?"
"That’s right. Operation Cleanser was a bloodbath and you know it. Bodies were piling up on the streets back then, and there was no positive outcome whatsoever in the end."
Edward wasn’t a cop eleven years ago, but he knew very well all about Operation Cleanser and the bloody gang war that preluded it.
In 2034, a large feud between the Ferals and several other gangs, Men of Midas and Code Sanguinary among them, escalated into war. They called in the Clash of Rampage, and it was considered to be one of the bloodiest gang wars Alataria had ever known. Shortly after the Clash of Rampage ended, APD tried launching a nation-wide operation to arrest or kill all members of the Ferals. It was retaliation for the gang war that left so much wreckage in the districts it took place in. Since the gangs on the other side of that war were all bribing APD's highest ranking officials, and the public demanded retribution for the mayhem and chaos the Clash of Rampage caused, APD was left with only the Ferals as a target. I remember that time. I was much younger, but I still remember the gunfights and chaos that ensued in almost every district in Alataria back then. Operation Cleanser was eventually considered a failure. Many lives were lost, and the Ferals miraculously survived through it. "The Ferals' ringleader, Jegaar Hill the Wendigo, must still be boasting about how they survived it that to this day," Trisslin said, her lips twitching in anger. "That's why Sherwood rising to leadership might not be the best thing. We could be facing another Operation Cleanser."
Another Operation Cleanser… I can't think of anything worse than another stain on APD's reputation alongside dozens of lost lives. But… then again… "isn’t that what we need?" he finished his thought out loud. "I mean, going all out against the mob gangs—"
"Let me stop you right there," Trisslin interrupted him. "I get where you're going with this, but you need to wake up from that stupid dream of yours, where Alataria could be a peace-ruling country, with no crime and violence. That will never happen, and if you naïve enough to think that it can, then I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise." By now, Edward had grown sick of Trisslin's attitude and ideals. The more he had to spend time with his partner, the more he found his ideals clashing with hers.
"People like you are the very reason why we need another Operation Cleanser in the first place," he sneered at her. Trisslin didn’t respond, most likely knowing that there was no point in escalating the conversation further. Neither of them was going to understand the other.
On that note, Edward bid Trisslin goodbye and left the station, with the tumultuous noise of the press accompanying him all the way to his car. He drove all the way to the address Forseti gave him. The address led him to an old apartment building, decorated with dirty white tiles and rust-shaded windows. He entered a barely-lit stairwell and climbed to the second floor. He knocked on the door to apartment 3. Several seconds later, a white-masked figure opened the door. "Welcome to my humble establishment," Forseti's voice came through the mask.
"You mean, this is where you live?" Edward asked as he stepped inside.
"No," Forseti admitted. "But this is a place of operations for us, among other things." Edward noticed two other people in the apartment's living room, both also wearing white masks. Edward could distinguish that one of them was a male and the other a female. All of a sudden, Edward noticed how uncomfortable he felt being alone in a room with three Justicars. If their desire were to take him out, they would be able to do so without even making too much of an effort.
"So… I guess this is your investigation team?" Edward said in an awkward voice.
"You can call them that, though this isn’t the entire team," Forseti said. "Oh, where are my manners? Edward, these are… well, let's call them Mars and Themis." he pointed at the male and female Justicars, respectively. Mars was a hefty, muscular man while Themis had a slender body figure and an average height.
Edward looked around the apartment. It was nicely furnished and, at first sight, seemed to be in good condition, but after taking a deeper, longer look at his surroundings, he noticed several things. The apartment was littered with specks of dust, which suggested no one had cleaned it in a long time, and in the kitchen laid a bowl of fruits, all of which looked pretty old and even slightly rotten. Also, there was no indication of anyone living in the apartment anywhere around it. No pictures of anyone, no shoes or clothes laying anywhere and not even a phone to call from. All indications led Edward to believe that the apartment wasn’t occupied by anyone, and as Forseti said, it was used as a place of operations for the Justicars. If I had to guess, I'd say that trying to locate the person who owns this apartment would somehow lead me to a dead end. At best, I'd get a name that would turn out to be an alias. The Justicars really are good at being secretive, I'll give them that.
"So, let me show you what we've found," Forseti led Edward to a whiteboard that stood in the middle of the living room. The whiteboard was packed almost entirely full with photos of the victims and seemingly random scribbles near them. Edward recognized the photos from the files he sent to Forseti.
"I see my files have been of some use," Edward said.
"Are you kidding me? They're the only reason we know why these victims were chosen."
"You mean… you know what links the victims?"
"I do." Edward found it hard to believe. Vernes's entire team of investigators couldn’t figure that crucial piece of information and yet Forseti and his team did. Could it be that I've underestimated them?
The female Justicar known as Themis rose to her feet. "Thanks to the files you've sent us, we learned that the killer's crime scenes were all connected to Lady Dread," she said. "You guys cleverly figured out that all of the crime scenes were located in structures or places of business that Lady Dread helped build up using their money loaning business. Knowing that, we've started looking for ways to connect the victims themselves to Lady Dread."
"Which didn’t get us anywhere," Forseti said. "There's no record of Sunyula or any of her three lieutenants having any connection to them, except two victims, who were actually members of her gang. Basically, it got us nowhere. That’s when we decided to look at this from another angle."
"Instead of looking into who Sunyula was connected to, we started using the files you sent us to look into who the victims were connected to," Themis said. "That was when we found out that the connection the victims had to Lady Dread was most of the times vicarious."
"Starting with the two victims in Basilham," Forseti said, pointing at those victims' pictures on the whiteboard. "Two females, the wife and daughter of the Mayor of Basilham. This one was relatively easy to figure out. It's well known that Sunyula has deep ties to influential men and politicians, so it wasn’t hard to find articles and evidence that the two met several times in the past, and that there are even suspicions she helped him win the mayoral elections." He's right. I remember reading about that. At first, there were serious allegations thrown around, but quickly enough they died down.
"The next ones are the two in Canstow," Forseti continued. "The first one was a porn actress. She was a much harder link to find, but after much search, we uncovered she was a part of a scandal that came to light a few weeks ago. She was the mistress of one of President Conrad's chief advisors, who was also close to Sunyula."
"How come I've never heard of that scandal?" Edward wondered.
"Well, it was buried pretty quickly, and never got much exposure. I guess that’s what happens when you've got the President backing you. Rumors on the internet say that their affair is still ongoing, which makes sense if the killer was trying to hurt that chief advisor. Anyway, the second victim in Canstow was the brother of a major contractor. That contractor was—"
"Close to Sunyula, right, I can already guess."
"Correct," Forseti said in a cheerful manner. "Finally, we have the victim in Exumber. The son of a retired politician. That said politician also shared favors with Sunyula."
"What about the last two victims, who were members of Lady Dread?"
"Well, their connection to her is obvious, isn’t it?"
"Stop joking around," Edward seemed agitated. "Don’t they stand out among the victims?"
"They do. Their connection isn’t vicarious but direct. If I had to guess, I'd say the killer's trying to hurt Sunyula where she would most likely feel it. Everyone we've just mentioned, all of Sunyula's friends in power, are probably aware that the Tri-Surgeon is targeting Sunyula's influential friends. He's trying to end their so-called friendship that way. I'll go on a limb here and say that the two members he killed were used to draw Sunyula's attention to his killings, to make sure she saw through his actions."
"This…" Edward said. "This is extraordinary."
"You can thank Forseti in particular," Themis said. "He was the one who thought to search this angle."
"But… how does this information help us now? We know what links the victims, but how can we use that to catch the Surgeon?"
"Easily. We use bait. We know the killer targets people related to powerful men who are in bed with Sunyula, so we make him aware of someone like that and we lay a trap."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Edward snapped. "You're going to use an innocent person and risk his life?"
"Nothing will happen to the bait, we'll make sure of that." Forseti was quick to respond. "I'll never hurt an innocent person." Edward found it difficult to believe the Justicar. "Edward, unlike what you and most people think, the Justicars are nothing like other mob gangs. We aim to protect citizens, not harm them."
"With all due respect, Justicar, don’t distance yourself that much from other gangs," Edward said, contempt oozing out of his tongue. "You are not justice. You are just death masquerading as justice." Upon hearing this, Mars, the large, muscular Justicar came forth with a heavy stomp, infuriated. Forseti was quick enough to bring him to a halt with the wave of his hand.
"You can't possibly think that APD is any better to this country," Forseti said, sounding calm despite the insult. "Jonah Dillard actually encourages acts of bribery and looking the other way."
"I'm not about to defend Jonah Dillard, but—"
"Then who ARE you going to defend?" Forseti's voice rose in a second, like thunder in a heavy storm. "Because every other cop on the force has his pocket filled with dirty money, and I don’t remember the last time APD had any major arrests or trials unless you consider that shameful attempt you recently made with Sanguinary's ringleader!" Edward tried talking back, but couldn’t find the right words. Deep inside, he knew that Forseti was right, and his speechlessness was evidence of that. "Now, we don’t claim to be doing the right thing," Forseti continued. "But I WILL claim that we're doing the only thing we can. Until APD shows us that they can be trusted to deal with scums like Jegaar Hill, or Fane Hallstead, or Sunyula Trife, or Reus fucking Mallistrom, we will always be around." Edward clutched his hands. He hated being wrong, but he knew that it's been a long time since he heard such truthful words. The last time he did, they were coming from Derlick, his late friend.
"I…" Edward stammered. 'Rotten,' dad used to say. 'Rotten to the ground. Every single one of them.' Is this truly the only possible way? Is this what we've been reduced to? Somewhere in his mind, the answers to his questions already laid. Edward was just too afraid to reach out and see them for himself. Going by APD's rules was hopeless. He knew that. On every turn, someone would try to sabotage Edward's plans, the same way it happened when he was attempting to save Blackburn's case. Either it will be Dillard himself or some other cop on a payroll. Someone will always be in the way. "Forseti," he finally said, his eyes cowering away, ashamed to look at him. "You promised me that once we capture the Tri-Surgeon, you will hand him over to APD, alive."
"I did."
"Well, now I want you to make me another promise. Promise me that nothing will happen to the bait. Promise me that you will get that person out alive and well."
"I promise."
"Alright, then," Edward took a deep breath. "Who will you use as bait?"
"Actually, we're not sure. We hoped that you could be of some assistance on that matter."
It didn’t take long for Edward to think of someone. If it was an influential friend of Sunyula they were looking for, Edward just so happened to be the enemy of one. "Soleina Dillard, the wife of APD's Chief of Police, Jonah Dillard, a very powerful and wealthy man on Lady Dread's payroll," Edward said. The Justicars in the room remained silent for several seconds before any of them spoke. They exchanged glances and nodded their heads.
"I think that will be a great bait," Themis said.
"I think so too," Forseti agreed.
"Very well," Edward said. "Soleina Dillard will be appearing in a television interview on Channel 2 in two days, along with Archell Sherwood."
"The Vice Chief of Police? Fascinating." Forseti stroke his chin through the white mask. "Alright, what we'll do is this: during the next two days until the interview we'll be posting as much as we can on several websites and forums that Jonah Dillard's wife will be interviewed at Channel 2's studio. We'll make sure to post it both outside and inside the Nucleus, just in case."
"I believe that studio is in Morth City," Themis mentioned.
"Hopefully, our killer will notice this and find a way to kidnap her before or after that interview. Now, before any of that happens, we'll need you, Edward, to track down any structures where Lady Dread or her lieutenants had invested in. Our killer will take our bait there, so if and when he kidnaps Mrs. Dillard, we'll be waiting for him at each of those locations."
"Sounds like a good plan, but… what if it fails?" Edward asked.
"Then we'll find another plan." Forseti chuckled.
"Alright," Edward shrugged. "Then I guess you've got everything figured out." He turned for the door. "We'll be in touch. I'll show myself out."
"Edward, wait," Forseti stopped him as he was reaching for the door handle. "Thank you," he said, sounding sincere. "I know that doing this might be a bit out of your character, but you're doing the right thing."
"No, I'm not," Edward said as he opened the door, his voice full of anguish. "I'm doing the only thing I can." He left the apartment.
