Chapter 14: Explosive privacy

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist" – Verbal Kint

Once again, Silvex and Chase's actions had caused quite the uproar. But this time, everyone was singing their praises. They had made the entire country safer, by taking down one of the most prolific killers that Coastal City had ever seen. Not only that, they also saved the life of CCPD Captain Andreas Xavier, crime's number one enemy. The Captain in question had been moved to the hospital, with Chase and Silvex escorting the ambulance on the way over there.

Captain Xavier's condition was stable and he was expected to make a full recovery. He was still knocked out cold, but there were no complications. Chase and Silvex hadn't left their Captain's side, but they both had their minds somewhere else. Silvex' was occupied with his newfound, long-lost brother, while Chase's was filled with doubts and questions. The conversation that the shepherd had with Cali before she died kept haunting him. Cali had mentioned a man, one that she called evil. Chase thought it wasn't much of a stretch to assume that this man had something to do with Ryder's death. But still, even if some guy murdered Ryder, Chase still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something much bigger going on.

"Beep-beep-beep." Silvex' phone rang, snapping both canines out of their thoughts.

"This is Silvex." Silvex said as he answered the phone and put it on speaker. "You're on with me and Chase."

"Hi, Chase!" Rachel the lab tech's ever-optimistic voice sounded. "We should really meet sometime!"

"I take it you didn't call just to ask him out?" Silvex said calmly, though Chase could see a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"Hey, I'm not asking him out! Though, if he would be interested…" Rachel said, before changing tone. "Never mind that, the reason I called is because of that sample you had me run."

"What sample?" Chase couldn't help but ask.

"The DNA sample of the man that tried to kill Rocky in the hospital." Silvex explained. He hesitated slightly before saying the mix' name, but after a quick glance at the bed, he concluded that Captain Xavier was still asleep.

"Right, that sample." Rachel said. "Not that I knew any of the background info. Anyways, the DNA you sent me matched with three open cases, I've sent you the details."

"Alright, thanks!" Silvex said. "And the other thing I asked you to look into?"

"About that, I was able to track the subject to a failed bank heist." Rachel replied. "From the footage that I managed to recover, I could see that he was beaten up badly by an accomplice. That accomplice then killed off their entire team. As for the subject, he dragged himself out of sight through the air vents, I have no idea where to."

"Wait, there was a bank heist that failed because one of the robbers beat up or killed the rest of his team?" Chase remarked. "How the hell didn't we hear about any of that?"

"Well, we were tracking a serial killer…" Silvex replied with a smirk, before adding: "Not to mention the plane crash, the attempted assassinations, the guard duty at the hospital…"

"Right, it's been a busy couple days." Chase sighed, as if the exhaustion finally hit him. "Unbelievable that this is only my first week as a Detective."

"Seriously guys, when you're done with whatever you're working on, you really need to tell me all about this stuff." Rachel said over the phone. "I mean, serial killer, assassinations, plane crash? It sounds like an amazing story!"

"Yeah, it isn't half bad." Silvex replied. "Anyway, thanks for the help, Rachel. I really appreciate it."

"No problem!" She replied as she ended the phone call.

"So tell me, what was all that about?" Chase asked the husky, now that they could speak privately again.

"I asked Rachel to look into someone for me, that German shepherd that Zuma identified as Xeno Jones." Silvex explained. "I wanted to know why he would try to kill Rocky, and what he was planning to do with the contents of Rocky's briefcase."

"So, he tried and failed to kill Rocky in that plane crash. Then, he tries and fails to rob a bank. Why?" Chase asked curiously, before answering it himself. "Because he's a mercenary. He must work for someone."

"Exactly." Silvex replied, commending Chase's train of thought. "That someone is Bloodrazor, which probably means that the would-be assassin was also working for him."

Silvex then glanced back at Captain Xavier to check if the man was still asleep, which he seemed to be. Silvex then closed the door to the room, thereby giving them complete privacy.

"Bloodrazor tried to have Rubble kill us, but we got lucky. He tried to have Rocky murdered, but we got lucky. He even tried to have my brother murdered right here in this hospital. But again, we got lucky. I suspect he was even behind the bank heist, the second attempt at Rocky's life and I even think that he was involved with the Marcus Black takedown. We survived solely by being lucky every time, but that luck won't last." Silvex said. "Bloodrazor won't stop until he has the city on its knees, begging for mercy. If we want to protect this city, if we want to survive, we need to take him down. So tell me, are you with me?"

Chase took a while before he answered, but when he did, Silvex could see a fire burning in his eyes. "Bloodrazor used a former comrade to try and kill me. He tried to kill another friend of mine twice. He made it personal." Chase said. "And he will live to regret that. So yes, I will help you. I will take Bloodrazor down."

In that room, that day, the true partnership between two detectives was shaped. From that moment on, they shared a bond of trust and friendship. A bond that would be able to stand up to crime anytime, anywhere. But, as inspired as their words were, their secret investigation into the evil Bloodrazor had lost its secrecy from the very first moment. For they weren't the only ones awake in that room, Captain Xavier was too. Or should I say, Bloodrazor was. And he had heard every word they said.

Several hours later, Xavier finally 'woke up'. The doctors were happy with his recovery and he would be free to leave later that day. But before he could leave, Captain Xavier wanted to speak with Chase and Silvex. So he had one of his uniformed officers summon the detectives.

"You asked for us, sir?" Chase said as they entered Captain Xavier's hospital room.

"Yes, I did." Captain Xavier said as he put down his crossword puzzle and invited both canines to sit. After they did, the Captain sat upright. "I want to thank you for not only saving my life, but for also making this city a safer place. The two of you managed to take down a serial killer, one that has managed to escape justice for a very long time. You should be proud of this achievement, and I have nominated you both for the medal of valour. Silvex, I hope you'll accept it this time."

"Maybe I should." Silvex shrugged, leaving Chase to wonder how many times Silvex has turned it down before.

"There's also something else." Captain Xavier said, on a heavier note this time. "During the manhunt on the PtP-killer, I was forced to reassign the Griffin murder. Jessie Griffin has been found alive, but her kidnapper and the murderer of her brother turned out to be one of our own. Officer Stillburg. In her attempt to escape, Jessie Griffin was forced to kill him, in what has been deemed a good shooting. I thought you'd want to know."

"Thank you for telling us, Captain." Chase said. "Though I do find it disappointing that I couldn't see my first case through to the end."

"Oh please, you just earned yourself a medal of valour." Silvex joked. "Pretty sure that you made the right call."

After talking about the nomination for a bit, both Chase and Silvex were dismissed. But as they left the room, Silvex couldn't shake this nagging suspicion about the Griffin murder.

So Mr Griffin got murdered, his sister kidnapped and through the investigation, Chase and I had been manipulated into taking down Marcus Black and almost getting killed ourselves. Am I seriously supposed to believe that Stillburg was the one behind it?

Captain Xavier had just received the all-clear from his Doctor, and a uniformed officer had already brought him a change of clothes. Looking in the mirror, he could clearly see the claw mark on his forehead, before he placed a bandage back over it. He would need to have something done about it later, for now, he had work to do. Earlier that day, he had overheard Silvex and Chase talking about a failed bank heist, one in which Xeno Jones was involved. Seeing as that had taken place at about the same time as Captain Xavier's kidnapping, the crime boss was already way out of reach by the time that the plan went sideways.

"Beep-beep-beep." Xavier phone rang. He went to answer it, but he quickly realized that it wasn't his police phone. It was Bloodrazor's. After taking a moment to assume Bloodrazor's dark voice, he answered it. "Hello?"

"Heya, Bloody Razor, remember me?" a thick, Australian accented voice spoke from the other end, a voice that was undoubtedly Xeno's.

"You've got some explaining to do, Xeno!" Bloodrazor replied angrily. "What the hell happened during that heist?!"

"What happened?" Xeno asked, he too was angry. "Yar 'asset', that Marcus fella, went psycho! He whacked yar entire team!"

"Razor squad is down?" Bloodrazor replied. At this point, his anger had taken a backseat to the fear that he had lost his elite strike team. It would take years to rebuild it.

"Oh yeah, they won't be reporting in." Xeno said. "But I don't give a rat's ass about any of that. What I do care about, is that ya saddled me up with a bloody time bomb. So I want repayment."

"What? Are you insane?!" Bloodrazor replied. His anger had gotten the upper hand again. "What would I pay you for if you failed in your mission?"

"Yar man Marcus was the reason we failed." Xeno replied, stone cold. "And if ya don't pay me a mil, I'll leak the news about who ya really are. I'm sure a detective or two would love to know that. Get the money ready, I'll be in touch."

At that point, before Bloodrazor could react, Xeno hung up. He had left Bloodrazor with a tough choice to make, to which there was really only one option. Regardless of whether Bloodrazor agreed with Xeno's point of view, paying off the mercenary was the only way to keep his identity silent. If Xeno would keep his word, that is.

Martha King was a middle-aged woman that worked as a nurse at the hospital in Coastal City and had been for about 15 years. She was a dedicated nurse and doctor's assistant, who was currently studying at a night class to gain more responsibilities. She usually worked at the first aid department, but tonight she had taken an extra shift on the ICU. And that's where she met CCPD Captain Andreas Xavier. Truth be told, she never really liked him. He always seemed so pretentious on the news, but in person, she found him to be rather nice. It was why she went to check on him one last time before he was signed out. But when she approached his room, she heard a voice that didn't sound like Captain Xavier's, it seemed to be much darker than the nice Police Captain's. So she snuck a little closer until she saw that it was Xavier that was talking on the phone. But what he was talking about didn't seem like the things that a Police Captain should be saying, or at least, not a clean one.

When Xavier turned around, nurse King gasped and walked off, hoping that he hadn't seen her. She didn't dare look back at the Police Captain or his room, instead, she walked over the nurse's office. She quickly signed out her name and made her way over to the parking garage, without speaking a word to anyone. She knew that Captain Xavier was a powerful man within the CCPD, a man that you can't easily bring charges against. Martha had watched a lot of cop shows with her daughter, who was also in the medical field and so she knew that she would have to go to the FBI, instead of the local police. But as she entered the dark parking garage, she suddenly felt an arm wrap around her neck from behind. As she struggled, she could softly hear a voice speaking directly into her ear.

"Sorry that you had to hear that, but now I can't let you go." Bloodrazor said. Before Martha could respond, she felt a sudden pain in her back as a knife made its way through her chest, piercing her heart. Bloodrazor's grip around her neck loosened, and Martha dropped to the floor. "Such a shame." Bloodrazor said, before walking off. Martha King was still alive when he left, but she was gone before anyone else could find her.

After handling the nurse, Captain Xavier returned to his home, where he awaited Xeno's phone call. Xeno had given him time to assemble the 1 million dollars that he asked for, but little did he know that Xavier kept a stash of 5 million hidden in his apartment for just such occasions. Xavier waited for what seemed like hours until his phone finally rang. But as he answered it, he realized that it wasn't Xeno, for it was his Captain's phone.

"Yes?" he answered in his Captain's voice.

"Hello, Captain. How are you feeling?" Sergeant Brooks asked on the other line. Although the Sergeant's concern seemed genuine, the last thing Xavier wanted right now was police involvement. That said, if he acted too dismissive towards the Sergeant, he might sense that something was up.

"The hospital cleared me, I'm doing much better." Xavier replied politely, careful not to give away the tension in his voice. "But I think I'll be taking a personal day or two, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, sir." Sergeant Brooks replied. "In fact, it has been quite a useful experience to fill in for you. It will look extremely good on my application for Captain."

"Glad to hear it, and keep doing a good job." Captain Xavier replied. Despite the darkness that was the Bloodrazor part of him, the Captain part of him was proud of his Sergeant. "But I should really get some sleep now, goodnight." Xavier then hung up. Before he had the chance to do anything else, his other phone rang.

"Hello?" Bloodrazor answered, his voice as dark as possible.

"Do ya have the cash?" Xeno asked, cutting straight to business.

"Yes, where do we meet?" Bloodrazor replied.

"Let's meet at the place where you had me plant Stillburg's body." Xeno said, before ending the phone call. Bloodrazor pictured the location that Xeno meant. It was a stroke of beach with little lighting, no cover whatsoever and no one around at this time in the evening. It was the perfect place for a meeting such as this. Bloodrazor quickly removed two planks of his floor, underneath which a briefcase was hidden. He picked it up and put back the floor, making it seem like nothing had changed. He then exited his apartment and walked towards the beach.

It had gotten quite late in the evening when Bloodrazor finally made it to the beach. Once he arrived, he could see Xeno already waiting for him. For about a minute, both criminals stood there in a silent staring contest. But this time, rather than Xeno caving, it was Bloodrazor who made the first move. He put down the briefcase and stepped away from it. Xeno quietly approached it and opened it. In the darkness, Bloodrazor couldn't know for sure, but he'd swear that when Xeno laid eyes on the money, the mercenary's eyes sparkled. Xeno then closed the briefcase again and looked at Bloodrazor.

"How do I know that ya won't come after me?" Xeno voiced his concerns, while his paw had the briefcase clutched in an iron fist.

"You still know my true identity, don't you?" Bloodrazor replied honestly. "We both know how devastating it would be for me if you leaked that."

"True. But, as long as I know your secret, ya will see me as a threat, wouldn't ya?" Xeno countered, reversing Bloodrazor's logic. "So, I'd think ya will want me taken out."

"Maybe you have a point." Xavier admitted, before adding. "I mean, I did just kill a nurse for overhearing our phone call."

"Well, I guess that makes this very easy then." Xeno said as he pulled out a gun and aimed it at Bloodrazor. "I'll just have to kill you, right here."

Because of how dark it was, Xeno couldn't see the expression on Bloodrazor's face. But for the record, he was smiling. That smile wasn't because of some death wish that was about to be fulfilled, but because he was completely right about how the handoff would develop. Bloodrazor's left hand very subtly slipped into his pocket, where it clutched a small remote. His fingers traced the remote's surface until they found a certain button.

"Any last words?" Xeno asked, his gun aimed at Bloodrazor.

"No, but I suppose those would be fitting to be yours." Bloodrazor replied as he pressed the button on the remote.

For a brief moment, a look of confusion spread across Xeno's face, before an electronic beep from the briefcase made him look at it. Then, the confusion made room for realization and surprise, just before something in the suitcase clicked.

On top of a building across from the beach, two figures were motionlessly sitting faced towards the ocean. One of them was a Labrador, named Callum Lynch. The other was a man, known mostly as Hunter. They were both wearing night-vision goggles, with Callum aiming a sniper rifle at two almost imperceptible figures standing on the beach. Hunter was aiming a parabolic mic at the two figures, which enabled both operatives to overhear and record their entire meeting.

"Just to be clear, we're not allowed to kill either of them, right?" Callum asked his partner.

"No, the Ace of Spades wants them to be alive. Something about not taking the law into our own hands when dealing with the police." Hunter replied. "Though, if they start trying to kill each other, we'll need to take out the canine. He's the least relevant of the two. Let's just hope they keep their cool."

"…And the canine just pulled out a gun." Callum noticed, his grip on his rifle intensifying.

"They're talking last words now, damnit." Hunter replied. "Get ready to take the canine out, but wait for my signal."

Both operatives then heard Bloodrazor's cryptic reply, right before they saw Xeno look down at the briefcase. What followed caused both operatives to shield their eyes, for the briefcase, along with Xeno, exploded in a very bright cloud of fire and smoke. It took both of them a few seconds to recover due to their night vision goggles being met with such a bright light.

"…At least we weren't the ones that did it…" Callum joked, but Hunter didn't reply. The Agent had already pulled out a phone to report it.

It had been a long few days for Chase. If this was any indication of what being a detective was all about, then he wasn't sure whether he would even survive it. Marshall and he were about to head home when the dally received a phone call. For the first time in their relationship, it was Marshall who was called away, rather than Chase. The Dally said something about a chemical fire at the beach and then took his car to the fire station. Because of that, Chase was forced to head home by himself. After parking his car on the driveway, he opened the front door and walked in. But the second that he crossed the threshold, he sensed something was wrong. More specifically, he smelled it. The shepherd immediately drew his weapon and went into the living room. He quickly turned on the light, which revealed a Labrador sitting on the couch. At first, Chase thought that it was Zuma, but the scent and the size of the Labrador stopped him from lowering his gun.

"Who are you?!" Chase yelled as he aimed his gun at the Labrador in front of him. "And why are you in my house?!

The Labrador that was sitting in front of them didn't seem fazed at all. Perhaps he was used to having guns pointed at him. Or maybe he had expected this reaction, seeing as he broke into a CCPD Detective's house.

"I have a message for you, nothing more." The Labrador said, unwavering under the sight of an angry Chase. "My boss, the Ace of Spades, has answers to the questions you've been having."

"What kind of answers?" Chase asked warily. Despite is mistrust of this stranger in his house, he couldn't deny that it was true. Ever since their takedown of Cali, the PtP-killer, Chase had nothing but questions.

"The identity of Bloodrazor, the truth behind the BlueWater group and their project Homicidam Donari, and how Ryder really died." The Labrador said, hitting each of the major questions that Chase had been asking himself. "We have the answer to all of those questions, and more. But you need to bring your entire group, they all deserve to know the truth."

"How do I know that this isn't a trap? And what group are you referring to?" Chase asked suspiciously. Whether this meeting was a trap or not, Chase got the sense that whoever he brought would be exposed to a world of significant danger, so he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be introducing someone new to this Ace of Spades.

"I reckon you don't." The Labrador replied, shrugging. "As for your group, I believe it includes your ex-PAW-Patrol buddies that are in this city, as well as your partner Silvex Knyght. And his brother, of course." The Labrador said, before adding: "But in essence, you're in the middle of this. It's your choice whether you agree to meet, but I should tell you this. If Ryder, or the fate of this city mean anything to you, you'll want to know these answers."

The Labrador then walked past Chase towards the front door, completely ignoring the gun that Chase was still aiming at him. "Talk it over with your friends, and wait for my call."

The Labrador then exited the house, and walked off as relaxed as could be, leaving a stunned Chase that was still holding his gun aimed at the couch.