Although it was usual for their rides to be silent, the atmosphere in the car this time was noticeably heavy. Morgan breathes a heavy sigh, keeping his hands steady on the wheel. “Is everything alright, sir?” he asks genuinely. “Perfectly,” came Mr. Sharp’s clear-cut reply. “I’m just a little worried is all,” continues Morgan. “You could have mentioned that you had family involved in this case.” Morgan ponders on his own words. “Well, soon-to-be family, I guess,” he corrects himself.

Mr. Sharp keeps his eyes on the road, though occasionally scanning around for anything amiss, and speaks in a low tone, “Make no mistake, Crow. I am not on a personal vendetta, nor a grudge-fueled manhunt. I make sure that my feelings do not affect my work in any way.” He finally turns his face slightly towards Morgan. “It’s best you keep your private and professional lives separate as well, Crow,” he advises. Morgan takes a deep breath and lets it all out. 

“…Understood, sir.” Mr. Sharp was always one who was true to his words. People never doubted him. But that didn’t mean that no one worried about him. However, knowing Mr. Sharp, Morgan wouldn’t be able to get much out of him, if anything at all. All he could do was be there whenever he was needed, for whatever reason it may be.

The radio buzzes in just then, “All units, this is Control.” Morgan raises the volume. “Prisoner transport unit heading through Lodestone Square is currently under fire from unknown suspects. Any officers within the vicinity are requested to dispatch and assist immediately. Be advised, suspects are heavily armed.” Mr. Sharp picks up the receiver and answers, “Copy that, Control. This is coach F-three-four, en route.” Morgan switches on their police siren and speeds up.

Maglevs were built for speed and precision, perfect for law enforcement. But not knowing how to properly operate one would prove fatal. Morgan deftly navigates his way through the city streets, weaving between vehicles. A left swerve, a sharp turn at the corner, a shortcut through a narrow alleyway. He skillfully follows Mr. Sharp’s directions to a T. In the distance, Morgan can hear that they were steadily approaching a large horn, constantly blaring, telling traffic to move out of its way. The roar of its horn easily drowned out the numerous wailing sirens surrounding it.

From afar, Morgan catches wind of an all too familiar revving of a motorcycle. Reflected in his side view mirror, the magbike speedily approaches, the red hair of its rider billowing in the wind like a sun flare. She draws nearer and eventually matches Morgan’s speed. Emily smiles cheekily and gives a mini salute with two fingers as Mr. Sharp instructs her to round the target van from the other side with one hand, the other holding his rifle at the ready. Perched on the back of the motorcycle, Wü holds on for dear life, her face battered by Emily’s hair as her scarf flows seamlessly along with it, the wind ripping her eyelids open against her will.

Emily nimbly breaks through the traffic and rides into the open space around the transport they are tracking, surrounding civilian vehicles now making sure to keep their distance so as not to get involved. As Morgan breaks into the open space as well and rounds the other side of the transport, Mr. Sharp shouts, “HOLD !”, to which Morgan stops accelerating and maintains range. Mr. Sharp readies his rifle.

The two on top of the trucks notice Emily inching closer, and focus their attention on her, as she uses the other police cars for cover. Just then, one of the thugs turns around and faces away from the oncoming stream of police vehicles. He turns to his partner, who is busy firing at Emily, and shouts something to him. Mr. Sharp takes that opportunity to slip his body and rifle out of the window, quickly taking aim and firing at one of the thugs. 

BOOM!

The sound catches the thugs’ attention, but it’s too late. One of them turns to see a huge net come flying straight at him. It causes him to topple back, and the weighted anchors on the ends activate, magnetically pinning him to the roof of the truck he’s on. The other jumps across to save his accomplice, giving Emily the chance she needed to close the distance. The rest of the police cars follow suit behind her. But the thug on top has been freed, and they both make a run for it, jumping down to the front of their vehicle and disappearing from view.

At that instance, the transport vehicle and the trucks attached to it suddenly fall to the ground, and the huge construct slowly turns to its side and screeches to a halt, blocking the three-lane road. The sudden stop catches the ensuing police cars off guard, as they all scramble to avoid a collision. But a pileup is imminent, and a few of the automobiles crash into the side of what could now clearly be seen as not a truck, but a detached mini trailer.

Emily manages to just skid to a halt before hitting the trailer, softening the blow. She quickly recovers and moves out of the way of other incoming police cars swerving to avoid an impact. Once safely out of the way, she checks on Wü, who is still holding tightly onto her, a stun grenade still in her hand. Relieved, Emily speeds up and tries to go around the mishmash of vans and trailers, only to be greeted by a vast expanse of empty road, watching forlornly as the traffic ahead disappears into the distance.

Morgan, having maintained a safe distance away from the transport before it came to an abrupt halt, safely brings his own vehicle to a stop behind the scene of cars and trailer intertwined. He and Mr. Sharp alight their car and rush in along with other officers to help the victims. Two cars had crashed right into the trailer, with two more piled up on one side trying to avoid a full-on collision, and one more on the other.

The transport’s blaring horn finally comes to an end. Wü appears from the corner of the trailer as Mr. Sharp helps the last officer out. She quickly runs to him, despite her somewhat groggy-looking face, and reports in between gasps, “Need… medical team…stat…. One driver…survived…. But badly…injured….” Morgan rushes to help out. Meanwhile, Mr. Sharp begins ordering the remaining officers who aren’t tending to the wounded to set up a perimeter and redirect traffic. Morgan rounds the trailer and finds a crying Emily firmly holding down the bloody wound of the injured driver, cradling him in her other arm. But by the time Morgan gets to them, he realises it’s already too late. Emily wouldn’t have been mourning if they still had time. Wü comes around and consoles her from behind, “Em… let go…”, gently laying her head on her weeping partner, her arms wrapping around Emily as she slowly lays down the lifeless body.

“Thanks, deary,” she says to Wü. Turning to Morgan, she says through a runny nose, “The poor guy used up all his strength telling me what he saw.” She smears blood on her cheeks as she wipes away her tears. “If only he’d just saved his breath, we could’ve helped him.” “It’s alright, Em. He just did what he thought was right,” replies Morgan solemnly. “You can tell us what he said once you’ve calmed down,” he says, patting her shoulder. She smiles faintly, taking in deep breaths to try and stifle her sobbing, “Will do, dear.”

After sending off Wü and Emily, Morgan heads back around and climbs up to the driver seat of the transport to take a look. Propping himself up with one arm on the door, and the other on the passenger seat, he pauses momentarily upon seeing the interior; the crimson splashed window and dashboard, and the silent body of the driver sat leaning back in his seat, his face drenched in his now dried-up blood originating from the top of his head.

The wheel was soaked as well. Morgan presumed that the driver had fallen on to it when they got him, explaining the continuous blaring horn during the chase earlier. He spots a single bullet hole through the roof on the driver’s side, and a few on the cracked windshield on the passenger’s side. He sighs. Wondering if the bloodshed truly was necessary, he pulls himself in and begins to drag the driver out over the bloodstained seats.

Returning back to the main scene at the back of the mangled mess of metal and vehicle, where ambulances had arrived and paramedics were tending to the wounded and deceased, Morgan carries the body over towards them. Emily is sitting on the edge of one of the ambulances, wrapped in a blanket, with Wü leaning on her shoulder, casually sleeping as she always did. Morgan notices Mr. Sharp beside her, penning down every word that escapes Emily’s mouth with surprising speed. “Fifr’s just finished,” says Mr. Sharp upon Morgan’s arrival. Morgan takes a look at Mr. Sharp’s ever so neat notes and makes a mental summary of it all.

Two trailers beside the transport attached to automobiles. Third identical vehicle in front of the transport. Guided the transport and controlled its speed. The pincer trapped the transport in the centre. Driver’s partner heard a large clang from behind. Shot at that moment. Survived but played dead. Saw prisoners come out from the trailers and into the vans they were attached to. After the last prisoner made it out, the trailers were released.

Morgan shakes his head in dismay. How could they have known about the transport? Standard protocol requires that there be at least two other decoys when it comes to transporting high profile prisoners. Yet there hasn't been any contact nor evidence indicating that the other two transports were attacked. Coincidence?

Mr. Sharp breaks the silence, “We’d planned on letting the prisoners break out themselves, but didn’t anticipate the Mafia actually going on the offensive. It would seem we underestimated the value of those two.” Morgan began connecting the dots. He looks to the wreckage. What a day it had been. From the revelation of Mr. Sharp’s old case, to this senseless destruction. Could the Mafia be connected to the AL cases back in the Curie? Judging from today’s events, they certainly don’t hesitate to just kill off anyone, even if they didn’t pose a threat.

Morgan relieves his frustration by letting out a huge sigh. The Mafia is definitely back in business. They made that very clear with the recent string of events. As he racks his mind over the matter, he makes his way into the wreckage with Mr. Sharp to investigate further.