Edited by: Waning_Crescents

“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 could still start their own research by digging up the old case and revising 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.” Vince 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?”