Like I hinted earlier, the previous chapter touches on a story I wrote earlier. It won't be entirely necessary to know the story to understand this one.

The bullpen was a frenzied mess of people, their faces ashen with worry.

Some of them were busy making phone calls, awaiting Telex printouts or talked to stoolies. Those who sat idle spent their time anxiously hoping for the chance to help out in the manhunt that had grown to a whole new level over the past hours.

Mike's inner office had turned into communication central for the time being, a gathering place for both the Brass and everyone directly involved in the case to discuss their findings and future strategy.

Outside of it, the world of San Francisco's Homicide Department had come to a screeching halt, all investigative work temporarily suspended until the situation would be under control once again, the enemy found and prosecuted, and all missing team members safely recovered.

"The Lab Crew is still on scene, Lieutenant.", Sekulovich reported somberly, his grim expression mirroring those of the individuals in Mike's office, "Besides the fedora, they did find several drops of blood near Keller's car. Not enough to be life threatening but it's definitely the sign of a struggle. They want to reference it against his blood type once the samples are down at the lab. Not that it would make much of a difference at this point…"

"Damnit."

Pounding his fist onto the table, Devitt pursed his lips, his steel-blue eyes meeting those of Adrian Roberts, Lieutenant of Vice who graciously volunteered to help out along with offering half his squad for any search and rescue mission, then travelling over to Lenny who couldn't hide his obvious concern about the situation, his jaws clenched, nervous hands tapping a fast rhythm against his thighs.

In the back corner, Conden had taken a temporary spot, stuck between the concerning emergency while trying to continue dealing with everyday police business.

"So, we are assuming that these people who…who are transplanting limbs somehow narrowed in on Gifford, murdered two police officers and now went after Stone and Keller?", the Chief surmised, a deep frown forming on his forehead, "Do we have anything on these guys other than the dark green LTD? Are there any witnesses? Anything? You can' tell me that there aren't any witnesses to what the hell went down at that motel. Nobody just waltzes out of their car and grabs two of my men and drives off without anybody seeing something. That's ludicrous."

"We had Keller's girlfriend sit down with a sketch artist for a drawing and have distributed it, but I won't lie, it's the most average looking guy you'll ever see. I am not sure if that will help up much. Right now, we've got seven patrol units in the vicinity of Lombard and Devisadero, as well as Broderick and Chestnut looking for witnesses and turning all the alleyways in between upside down…", Devitt explained, his voice reduced to a quiet growl, as frustration began to spread in the small office like an out of control wild fire, "Adrian has a couple detectives that can help out as well. I've got all of my team making phone calls to stoolies, anybody who might have seen something. So far we're hitting dead end roads. These guys are good. They're fast and they're smooth. The fact that so far neither cop they've encountered saw the attack coming does…well, it does worry me greatly."

"Add in the seemingly arbitrary kidnapping versus murder scheme they've got going on and we have ourselves a goddamn mess…", Conden sighed, then pointed his chin toward Bryant Street below, "The press has been informed, we're going to have Stone's and Keller's faces all over the news shortly, see if that angle helps us out somewhat. Circulate that sketch drawing around town, that might help too. In the meantime, I will contact the Feds, we're going to need their help. This case has effectively taken on a whole new life of its own. No more field work until they are here to provide with additional manpower to get teams assembled. What about Jeannie? Isn't she in town? Somebody needs to tell her what happened before she hears it on the news."

"I'll take care of it myself as soon as I get done briefing Adrian's men.", Devitt offered and turned around to glance out the back window overlooking the city for a few long moments, before facing Lenny.

"Any idea what these guys are up to? I realize we don't have a whole lot to go on but there's gotta be something you can tell us."

With a pained grimace, Lenny drew in a deep breath, well aware of the growing pressure on his person as three sets of eyes studied him intently.

"From a purely psychological perspective, I honestly believe we're missing a key part of the puzzle here, gentlemen.", he explained evenly, trying not to stir the stormy seas any further, "While I am glad of the outcome at this point; there was no logical reason for our assailant, or assailants, to leave either Stone or Keller alive. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If anything, they should have been the first ones to go. Now this…Janine…Keller's girlfriend said that the man in the apartment had warned her that there would be no witnesses left by today, and, in a matter of speaking, that came true."

"What about Seavers though? He too dug into the matter and disappeared until his leg washed ashore a few weeks ago. They also didn't kill him right away."

Devitt's voice was trembling when he said that, unwilling to put all of their worst fears out into the open.

"I thought about that too but why not kidnap the two patrol officers this morning instead of killing them? They were cops too. And why play the mind games with Keller and his girlfriend when they could have easily kidnapped them right at the apartment? I am not saying that there isn't a chance that we will find their legs washing ashore in a few weeks if we can't stop these guys; but I just want you to consider the possibility that there may be a completely different reason for what happened to Stone and Keller a few hours ago. And no matter how much I struggle with the thought myself, I keep getting the hunch that whoever is behind this syndicate may have done what they did because they actually know our two detectives."