Special Mission

"Officer Feng, do you know why I have called you into my office so urgently?"

"No sir, please enlighten me."

"I'm sure everyone in the city has heard by now that we have a serial killer on the loose. We have had 6 deaths in 3 months, 1 in January, 2 in February, and now, 3 in March."

"3? I've only heard about 2. When did the third one occur?"

"10 minutes ago."

Halia Feng looked at her superior in shock. The first 5 victims were discovered at least 24 hours after their time of death, how did they discover this one in 10 minutes?

"It was one of our own. We sent a female detective undercover to find the killer, but he somehow found out and killed her. Just before she died, she managed to send out a signal for us to find her. But, we were 10 minutes too late. By the time our team arrived, the killer had already escaped - and our colleague was dead."

"Why are you telling me this?" Halia began to feel a little uneasy.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

"Is that you, doctor?" the police chief called out.

"Yes," a muffled voice sounded from behind the door.

"Come in."

As soon as the police chief spoke, the door creaked open and a man in a lab coat stepped in.

"This is Dr. Li," the police chief introduced.

Halia looked at the doctor. He was an old man in his fifties that looked like a mad scientist from a cult horror film. His hair was white, but he had a bald patch on his crown. Upon his nose bridge sat a pair of gold rimmed glasses and below his nose, as though he was trying to compensate for the lack of hair on his head, he had a thick white moustache.

Halia shook the old man's hand politely, but she didn't know what to do next. Was she supposed to leave the room or stay?

"Errrm, I'll leave you guys to it, I'm just going to step outside and get some work done."

"No, stay, the doctor's here to see you."

Halia looked at the two men curiously. She was just a newly transferred cadet that was currently in charge of miscellaneous jobs around the station, why did they want to see her? Did they want her to print something? Perhaps they wanted some coffee or tea?

"Miss Feng, do you remember the test you did before you were transferred here?"

"Yes, it was a memory test. How did I go?"

"You did really well! That's why I'm here to tell you that you've been selected for a special mission."

"Special mission? What special mission?"

"Please keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you is highly confidential. You must not let anyone outside of this room know of this, not even the other detectives."

Halia nodded her head, even though she had no idea what she was about to get herself into.

"I run a medical lab that's funded in secret by the government to do some 'unconventional' testing; tests that may cause an uproar if the public were to find out."

"Many of them involve the human brain. Long story short, my team has recently discovered a way to transfer memories from one person to another and we want to transfer the victim's memories to you."

"We are hoping to get some clues about the killer and stop him from hurting another person. According to the pattern of his kills, we are predicting four more victims by the end of next month. We need to stop him!"

Halia looked at the man in shock, "Can I have a few days to think about it?"

"No, your dead colleague is being transported to our lab as we speak. We only have two hours from the time of death to retrieve her memories before they disappear forever. We don't have time, you need to make a decision now. This is critical, every other victim was found at least 24 hours after their time of death, we may never get this chance again."

At that moment, the police chief pulled out a case file and threw five photos on the desk. They were all beautiful young women, ranging from 20-30 years of age.

"These women were all found half-naked with their necks slashed. The cut was precise; the killer aimed straight for the carotid artery and bled his victims to death. Whoever did this is a psycho and we need to stop him."

Halia looked at the photos of the victims and her heart ached. She was roughly the same age as these women. They were so young and still had so much ahead of them; did they have families, friends...partners? Halia took a deep breath and finally nodded her head as she came to a decision, "I'll do it."