Chapter 18: Of chocolate croissants

"A lions work hours are only when he's hungry; once he's satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together." – Chuck Jones

- Wednesday, 9 am -

Just like Monday morning, Chase and Silvex carpooled to work together. They had spent the entire day before making sure that the murder of Nurse King seemed to be a cold case. The detectives didn't dig deep enough to find any leads and they managed to make all the leads that they did have seem like dead ends. They even made sure that the surveillance tapes from the hospital mysteriously disappeared, without ever breaking the chain of evidence. It was a shame that all the evidence that they gathered was circumstantial. But combined with the recorded confession, it would be a guilty sentence for sure. So they stashed the evidence in a storage locker, to which only Chase and Silvex had access.

But, seeing as their murder had just become a cold case, they were due a new assignment. Today also marked Captain Xavier's first day back after his sick leave, which meant that the two detectives needed to get their cases from him directly. They noticed the Captain was sitting in his office, with the door open. They knocked on the open door and entered after Captain Xavier asked them to.

"Ah, Silvex, Chase." Captain Xavier said. "Good to see you again. I'm glad to see that you're doing better."

"Likewise, Sir!" Chase replied. But as cheerful and kind as the shepherd's voice may have been, on the inside he was searing with anger. One glance at Silvex told him that the husky was feeling the same way, but managed to hide it just as well as him.

"Glad to have you back at the helm again, Captain." The husky said. "Do you have a case for us?"

"Actually, I might have something." Captain Xavier replied. "I heard from the Sergeant that you didn't want to work the bombing, because you weren't ready yet. Are you ready now, Detective Silvex?"

"I think so, Sir." The husky replied. "Do you have a special case for us?"

"Oh yeah, here's one." Captain Xavier replied. He then took a police file out of an open drawer from his desk, and handed it to Silvex. "An arson case, so you'll have to coordinate with the fire department. Out of all my detectives, the two of you are the only ones on speaking terms with them, ever since the incident at the fair…"

"What happened at the fair?" Chase asked curiously, but never got an answer. Both the Captain and Silvex had tears in their eyes as they tried to hold in their laughter.

"Let's just say, the fire department is still quite pissed at most of us." Captain Xavier replied, still struggling to keep his laughter at bay. He then dismissed the Detectives and wished them luck with their case.

Rocky had asked Callum to get him some coffee, just so that the mix could have the chance to talk to his other bodyguard in private. Said bodyguard, the still disguised Shadex, was now alone with Rocky in the CEO's office of their newly acquired offices.

"Alright, we don't have much time, so I'll be quick." Rocky started, surprising the husky. "I don't think we know everything about the BlueWater group yet, or about their project. I've looked through the digital files, but it seems like there's a big part of it missing."

"Shouldn't we discuss this with Callum?" Shadex asked, interrupting Rocky. "I mean, he's a really good investigator."

"Yeah, he is. But his loyalty lies with the Ace of Spades, which is why we can't involve him. Not yet." Rocky explained, still talking as fast as he could. "I think that the Ace of Spades hasn't told us everything about that project. I don't know about you, but I would really like to know what it was all about."

"…Alright, what's the plan?" Shadex replied after a brief moment of thought.

"Callum might be here to protect me, but he's also inadvertently keeping an eye on me. Meaning that I can't properly investigate this." Rocky explained. "And if there's even a drop of Silvex' blood running through your veins, then I know you can uncover the truth."

"Just keep Callum occupied." Shadex replied. "I'll handle the rest."

At that point, the Labrador returned, with fresh coffee for the three of them.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Hunter was sitting on a bench in a park close to his office. On top of the briefcase on his left, there was a chocolate croissant and a coffee just waiting for the agent to devour them. To anyone, it just looked like an FBI agent treating himself to a nice breakfast while reading the paper. But, upon closer inspection, one would notice that even though the coffee was almost empty, the croissant remained untouched. In truth, SSA Hunter Highland never intended to eat the croissant. He brought it as a sort of present for the biggest chocolate addict that he knew, Charlotte McDougal. Charlotte was a kind young woman, with reasonably long brown hair and a cute smile. Despite almost exclusively wearing black clothes, she managed to pull it off as classy, rather than gothic.

But Hunter knew Charlotte mostly under a different name, the Black Rose. She was trained by a private security company housed in Europe, where her skills and natural talent allowed her to quickly rise through the ranks. However, before she reached the top, the company declared bankruptcy. She was then recruited by Interpol as a manhunter and she eventually managed to track down the Ace of Spades. Axel managed to convince her to join up with them, albeit on a freelance like basis. When she met Hunter, it instantly clicked between them. They had been friends ever since.

"Aww, is this for me?" An all too familiar voice asked him from behind. Hunter didn't turn around to look at the source, because he knew exactly who she was.

"Hey Charlotte, how was Bolivia?" Hunter asked as he noticed the croissant being taken from his view.

"Meh, kind of boring, to be honest." She replied as she swung herself over the bench, landing right next to Hunter. Hunter responded by folding his newspaper, leaving the front page as the only readable one. The front page was entirely occupied with an article about a quadruple homicide in a casino lounge, in which four mob bosses were found dead. It also said that the local police had no leads whatsoever. Charlotte tapped at the article. "Your handiwork?"

"Perhaps." Hunter replied with a slight smile on his face. "Don't worry, you'll get plenty of action before this is over."

"Yeah, about that…" Charlotte said whilst eating the croissant. "How exactly will we be taking on the Blackstreet mafia?"

"We'll be infiltrating their ranks." Hunter stated, before explaining the plan. "Ever since the takedown of the fake Marcus Black, they've been losing power and influence. Add to that the loss of their new drug pipeline…" Hunter tapped on the newspaper's front page. "And the result is a severely weakened organization. They are in desperate need of new soldiers, including mercenaries."

"So that's our way in, huh?" Charlotte concluded. "I'll just go as myself, the Black Rose. Who'll you be going as? Hunter Sparrow, by any chance?"

"Yes, you'll just be going as the Black Rose." Hunter said. "But unfortunately, Sparrow got burned in Russia two months ago. Besides, some of the leadership may recognize me as an FBI Agent, so I will just have to go as SSA Hunter Highland."

"Are you sure?" Charlotte asked, with genuine concern. "Things always get messy when a mission gets personal."

"Well, that's the thing." Hunter replied, before getting up. "Highland isn't my real name, so it isn't personal. Not really."

Chase and Silvex had started their investigation like they usually did, by heading to the scene of the crime. In this case, the crime scene was the victim's backyard. When they arrived, the scene was still guarded by police officers, but most of the SCU had already left. The only one left was none other than Rachel, whom Chase saw in person for the first time.

"Hey, Silvex!" She yelled at them as she approached. Rachel was a young golden retriever that was very easy on the eyes. After she had reached them, she turned to Chase. "So you must be Chase, Silvex' partner. Pleasure to formally meet you."

"Likewise." Chase replied. "So, what do we have?"

"A human male, 34 years old, Caucasian." Rachel replied. "He was burned to a crisp with a highly flammable substance, I personally suspect gasoline. The body's out back."

Rachel turned around and led them to the back of the driveway, where there was an entrance to the back. The second they turned around the corner of the house, Chase was hit by the extreme smell of burned, rotting flesh. It hit him right in the face, stopping him dead in his tracks. Silvex and Rachel, on the other hand, seemed to not even notice it. They just cheerfully walked side by side towards the body, where Rachel continued her explanation as soon as Chase re-joined them.

"From the burn pattern on the ground, or lack thereof, I'd say he was set on fire right where he died." Rachel said. "That said, seeing as there are burn patterns all over the garden, I'm not sure how he was set on fire."

Rachel was right, there were large lines burned all across the garden. There was also still the strong scent of gasoline, even though it should've all burned away buy now. Chase really didn't know what to make of it.

"Did the victim live alone?" Silvex asked Rachel, who shook her head and pointed at the house.

"That's Regina Foley, his girlfriend." Rachel replied. "The poor thing was the one who found him." Inside, Silvex could see a crying woman sitting at the dinner table while an officer tried to comfort her. Silvex gestured Chase to follow him and headed into the house. Rachel came too, albeit just out of curiosity.

"Hello, ma'am." Silvex addressed the crying woman. "I'm detective Silvex Knyght, this is detective Chase Trigger. Can we ask you some questions?"

"O-Of course." The woman replied as she wiped away her tears. "Anything to find my boyfriend's killer."

"Alright, then." Silvex said as he opened his notebook. "Did you live here together?" She shook her head. "Do you know if he had any enemies?"

"No, everyone liked him." She replied. "Especially me."

"At what time did you find his body?" Silvex asked

"At around 7 am this morning. I was coming over to see him before he left for work, but then I found him like that." Regina replied. Chase and Rachel were both feeling really sorry for her, but Silvex wasn't. He made that very clear with his next words.

"Well then." He said. "Regina Foley, you are under arrest for murder."

"What?!" Chase, Rachel and Regina proclaimed, before Chase asked what was on everyone's mind: "What the hell, Silvex?"

"The neighbours heard screaming at around 6:45 am, meaning that was the probable time of death." Silvex started explaining. "The body was supposedly found at 7 am, which could be true. However, you're lying about coming over this morning. On our way to the backyard, we passed by two cars, one of them matches the car key you have on your keychain. As we walked passed them, I noticed the ground underneath both was dry, despite the fact that it rained about two hours ago. That means that you were here all night and didn't just arrive this morning as you claimed. The next thing I noticed was a strong gasoline smell, despite the fact that all the gasoline should have already burned away. I tracked the scent to its source, which turned out to be the sprinklers scattered across the garden. They would also account for the burned stripes around the garden because they were spewing gasoline instead of water. The source of the sprinkler system is that shed in the backyard, in which I'm sure no gasoline will be found because you have already switched it back to its original source. But you didn't clean the sprinklers themselves, did you?"

At that point, all colour had already drained from Regina's face. "I did the world a favour!" She yelled as she slammed her fist on the table. "He had affair, after affair and thought he could make up for it by simply apologizing. He deserved to burn in hell, so I sent him there all warmed up."

Regina stood up and let the police officer put her in handcuffs. This was the same police officer that had been comforting her about a minute earlier, before Silvex came.

"That was amazing!" Rachel screamed at Silvex. She was thoroughly impressed. "Silvex, the greatest detective of the CCPD is back!"

"Impressive solve, partner." Chase remarked. Unlike Rachel, he noticed the slight blush on Silvex' face when she had complimented him, but the shepherd chose to remain silent.

As the two detectives escorted the police officer and Regina to the squad car, a red fire truck pulled up. From it emerged two men in firefighter uniforms, but with stripes on their shoulders that showed them to hold a higher rank. Silvex broke away from the others and approached the firefighters.

"Sorry, guys." The husky greeted them. "But we've already closed the case, the girlfriend did it."

"But, we were sent to lend our expertise…" the first firefighter replied.

"Coastal City's finest have already finished it here." Chase said as he approached them as well. "But if you want, we could chase some cats into trees so that you guys have something to do…"

The angry looks on the firefighter's faces told Chase that they didn't like his joke, but they did turn around and left.

- Wednesday, 6 pm -

Hunter and Charlotte had made their way over to the temporary recruitment centre of the Blackstreet mafia, where they were greeted by someone who recognized Hunter.

"Agent Hunter, is that you?" the man said angrily, before pulling Hunter into a hug. "Welcome back, I thought you were a goner. We were worried sick!"

"Yeah, sorry about that, Geno." Hunter said as he hugged the man back. "After what went down at the Royale, I had to make sure my cover wasn't blown. I couldn't risk making contact yet. But here, let me introduce you to someone." Hunter said as he broke the hug and gestured at Charlotte. "This lovely lady is none other than the Black Rose, a very skilled mercenary."

The man quickly looked Charlotte up and down, as if to size her up. He then turned to Hunter. "She looks hot, but can she fight?"

"I'm vouching for her, Geno. That should be enough." Hunter said, before turning to Charlotte with a smirk on his face. "Unless you would like to make Geno experience your skills first hand?"

Charlotte took a quick look at Geno, before charging at him. In less than a second, she had him pinned against the wall with a knife at his throat. For a tense few seconds, it seemed like Geno was about to die, until Charlotte finally released him.

"O-Okay, well then…" Geno stuttered, clearly quite shaken by her quick moves. "I'm sure we can find a use for your skills." Geno then turned to Hunter. "I think the boss man will want to see you in his office as soon as possible."

Hunter nodded and said goodbye to both of them as he made his way through the warehouse. When he reached the office on the second floor, he knocked. After an inaudible reply from inside, Hunter opened it and stepped inside.

Inside the office, there were two couches, as well as a simple desk. At the desk sat a man Hunter didn't recognize, but whom he assumed to be in charge now that Roger Black was no longer with them. When the man looked up, Hunter could tell that he didn't recognize him either, so he decided to introduce himself.

"Good evening, I'm SSA Hunter Highland." Hunter said. The man immediately pulled a gun on him, which made Hunter quickly add: "But I'm here as a friend of the family. I worked for Roger Black until his death."

The man seemed to relax a little, but he still had the gun trained on Hunter. "He told me about an FBI Agent that would be joining him in a meeting, a meeting that he never walked away from. So now you tell me, how did you walk away unscathed while my brother was murdered?"

"Honestly?" Hunter asked rhetorically. "I don't know. It's a miracle I survived and got away before the police showed up. All I remember is a flashbang landing on the poker table, which knocked me out for a while. When I woke up, everyone but the DEA agent was dead."

"Did you see where the flashbang came from?" the man asked, his gun slightly lowered.

"No, I didn't." Hunter replied. "I'm sorry. For that and for what happened to your brother."

There was a brief silence, before the man spoke again. "I believe you, sorry about how I just reacted. I'm David, by the way. David Black. The family sent me here to gets things in order again."

"Is there any way I can help with that?" Hunter asked hopefully.

"Actually, there is." David replied. "Tomorrow, my family will have a meeting to discuss the new regional head of our organization. It would look very good for me if you were to present yourself as an FBI Agent and support me."

"It would be my honour, Mr Black." Hunter replied, before adding: "You know, there is an infamous mercenary downstairs. They call her the Black Rose, which would make it rather fitting to have her serve you as your security detail."

"You know what, that sounds perfect." David said. "Oh, and please, call me David."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, David." Hunter said, testing out the other's name. Hunter then turned around and left the office. He couldn't believe his luck. In the span of one conversation, he managed to get both him and Charlotte invited to a meeting between the complete leadership of the Blackstreet mafia. Of course, it was extremely lucky that Hunter got settled with the most gullible member of the Black family. At this rate, the mission will be over long before Axel's deadline.