An Unfinished Case

The afternoon was settling over the sky, although the city was remodeled, there were still several old and uncrowded places in Luesia. Just past a river, there was a bridge that connected the place. There was no one there, moreover there were no buildings, everything was surrounded by vegetation. However, the bridge seemed to be in optimal conditions for vehicles to pass without any problem.

Although it seemed that the place was desolate, the sound of sudden crashes made it clear that there were people present. Several footsteps could be heard on that bridge and, after that, a shout from a man who seemed to be lashing out at something or someone.

- So... You're the one who caused us so much trouble, huh? - was heard the voice of a man who had a long black coat.

- You... you are one of them, aren't you? - replied with some weariness a gray-haired young man who was holding a kind of ancient spear made of metal.

The wind was blowing on the bridge and the gray-haired young man seemed to be wounded.

- How could you find me? - he asked puzzled.

The man with the coat and black hair took out his phone showing a kind of map.

- Calle Las Cordiales, was it? - he answered.

The young man with the spear was stunned when he said that location.

- How did you know that?

- It wasn't difficult at all; if you were a little more cautious, you would have noticed the tracker that was placed on you some time ago. - replied the young man in black with a somewhat haughty and confident tone.

As he observed the condition of the young man with the spear, he noticed that he was wounded and exhausted. In addition, he also noticed that he was carrying a small suitcase on his back that seemed to be dripping from the inside.

- When ... ? - asked the young man with some perturbation.

- Let me enlighten you. It was at the time when you were attacked by one of us.

The gray-haired young man remembered the time when that man in Japanese clothing had thrown the Pbook as a feint for him to get careless; however, he understood that there was a moment when being hit by the back of that bodyguard gave him the opportunity to place the tracking device.

- I see... but don't you think you had to keep that a secret? - the young man asked with a provocative smile.

The young man in the black coat sighed.

- No, not at all. After all ... today you will die.

The young man with the spear didn't see it coming, but that enemy disappeared from his sight, appearing behind him. As he could see it, he turned quickly to dodge any attack.

The bare hand of the young man in black grabbed the spear boy's head to knock him to the ground; however, he could notice how the sharp spear was heading towards him with great speed.

Unfortunately for him he had to let go to back away, but that was not the only thing he had to worry about.

"What is that!"

As he stepped back about half a meter, he could see that young man with gray hair and dark circles under his eyes threw something he had inside his backpack.

The young man in black thought it was some sort of bomb or something; however, it was something worse when that landed on the ground.

"That's... a head?"

Yes, the severed head of a man who appeared to have moderately long hair was what rolled across the floor.

- You shouldn't take your eyes off your enemy. - Was what the male in black heard behind him.

- Damn it!

Drops of blood fell to the floor after that brief exchange of blows. The left arm of the long-sacked man had a cut of almost twenty centimeters.

It was almost obvious to recognize that the guy with the spear was someone experienced in combat, but some who were hidden watching the battle were perplexed by the speed and attacks of that pair.

- So... Will you stop getting in my way? - asked the gray-haired young man confidently.

- What are you talking about? ... this is just getting started. - replied the man in black with a superior gesture.

Behind him, there was one more young man who was silently watching the fight unfold on that bridge.

"Wow ... yes ... I think they'll do." thought the young man with semi-wavy hair wearing a white jacket.

- So be it then!

The two young men again positioned themselves to fight; however, they were stopped.

- Well, that's enough. - Was what both males heard from one end of the bridge.

A group of men dressed in black suits with dark glasses appeared and, in the middle of them, a young man over 23 years old who maintained a friendly smile.

- Lorenz ... What are you doing here? - asked the young man in the black coat, somewhat dismayed.

- Hello Eric... I'm glad to see you have company.

The boy, whose face had some scars from wounds on his cheek, was surprised to see the man who had just arrived.

"This is not good! I must leave right now!"

However, the wounds and the increasing fatigue took their toll.

The gray-haired young man began to faint and fell unconscious within seconds.

It was a sufficiently large and furnished room where Mayor Victoria was gathered with her assistant Lorenz and a couple of others.

- Well, while we wait for him to wake up, let's move on with the matter. - commented Victoria.

Picking up a tablet placed on the living room table, the mayor of Luesia began to give a sort of report.

- As you may know, in these days there have been no recorded events of kidnappings or murders ... with the disappearance of Vicent and the arrest of this guy, referring to the young man with gray hair, maybe soon everything will return to calm ... on the other hand, we have not been able to find the true identities of the two bodies of the women found dead, there are no records about them in the past either ... it is as if they had never been in this city.

- And that's what they need him for, right? - commented Eric somewhat annoyed.

- Exactly.

- I understand that, but why am I here?

- Eric, you know well, that you are the only executive of the Valdelomar group in town ... Apparently your boss had to leave immediately for 'urgent' matters, didn't she? - commented Lorenz.

The looks on the faces of these two young men were defiant.

- Yes, it is as you say.

- You understand that the mayor's office and the Valdelomar group had an agreement, but as their representative has withdrawn for the time being, only you remain responsible. - Victoria added.

Eric sighed.

- Continuing then ... we must confirm all our suspicions and clues, especially about the contents of the Pbook, for that we will ask this boy to tell us everything he knows 'nicely'; for that, I will need your services if our 'guest' gets a bit stubborn. - Victoria indicated.

- After all, you have the ability to do that, don't you, Eric? - said Lorenz.

- Didn't you see the fight? You could say we're evenly matched in strength.

- Stop joking, Eric ... I know you were playing with him from the beginning. - said Lorenz.

Eric smiled slightly.

- We think there is a link between the two women's bodies and this guy ... they may together be the kidnappers or part of them. - Lorenz said.

- Part of them?

- Yes ... both the map they found and a text in this book refer to something called Le Front.

Eric recognized the term, because, before his group left, they had researched on the Deep Web about that name.

- We don't know if it is a clandestine group or an organized terrorist organization ... that's why we would like to ask you if you know anything about it. - asked Victoria.

Eric thought for a moment that they were referring to him until he saw a piece of furniture near him and understood who they were referring to.

- Why ... should I tell you that? - asked the somewhat convalescent young man who was lying on the piece of furniture and bandaging his wounds.

- Don't you think it's a fair payment for treating your wounds? - commented Lorenz.

- ... If you think I'm to blame, then you're wrong.

- We haven't caged you yet, so we want to see how you defend yourself. And what better way than to help us, don't you think? - Lorenz argued.

The young man slowly got up to sit on that piece of furniture without saying anything yet, then remained silent as if he was thinking about his chances.

- If I am of any help to you ... will you promise to release me free of charge?

- If you prove that you are not one of the culprits, as you said that night on the boardwalk, then we will release you without damaging your image. - declared Victoria.

- ... ... Okay. - answered the resigned young man - First of all, my name is Alexander Lein and ... I was hired by those you know as Vincent Veramente to find those who were responsible for these crimes more than eight months ago.

 It was really surprising to learn what the young man named Alexander had discovered in so few words.

- Hired? For eight months?

- Yes ... since these events did not really start in Luesia ... this is just one more point where they operate.

- They?

Certainly mystery surrounded that young man as he spoke more and more.

- Yes, what you know about Le Front is insignificant ... not that I know everything.

- So what is Le Front? - Victoria asked with intrigue.

- It's ...

Before she could answer, the sound of breaking glass rang around the room, letting in a kind of sphere with several overlapping parts.

Immediately a couple of men from the mayor's office entered to see what was going on; however, they entered too late.

That device released a gas from the openings on its surface, but the most worrying thing was that beep that sounded constantly accelerating every second.

- That's it! - Lorenz exclaimed.

From the outskirts of Victoria's own house, passersby could only observe a sudden explosion that destroyed the second floor and saw several burned objects leaving the place.

Almost two hours passed and the sound of ambulance alarms and police officers were in that destroyed house being surrounded by neighbors and everyone who was passing by.

The officers began to perform the respective analysis of the area with security equipment, as they had found a thick fog that was actually determined to be a sleeping gas.

Meanwhile a team of firefighters began to quickly remove everyone inside the house; on the other hand, one of the officers approached to give an oral report to the chief of police.

- We have found no trace of the mayor and her people ... they were not among the wounded either.

- How is that possible?! Did you search well?!

- Yes, sir ... we only saw, through the security cameras, moments before, the appearance of a child who possibly threw the bomb ... but there is no trace of the infant nor of the mayor's departure.

The area police chief seemed quite concerned and only ordered to treat the wounded while continuing to search for the mayor's whereabouts.

Away from the hustle and bustle, in a sort of resto bar with a small outdoor patio located a block and a half from the scene, was a young woman with long black hair in pigtails wearing a red coat and school-like clothing who saw the place surrounded by a crowd of people while on a phone call.

- Did he really do it?! Did I tell him I would give the signal?! - complained the woman wearing dark glasses in a low voice.

- Now the police are involved and we still don't know if the mission was accomplished.

On the other end of the call was the thick voice of a man.

- Lirio, we have sent a second group to 'clean up' the scene ... you just see if you see any traces of the target still alive.

While she was talking on the phone, a waiter brought a saucer with a drink to the table where the young woman was seated and then went to leave.

- Okay, but I won't take responsibility for what that brat did ... How could you think of bringing him in unsupervised?

- You're the one supervising. - answered the voice on the phone.

- It takes a whole team to keep an eye on him...I don't even know where he is now.

- That doesn't matter... the priority is the target... let me know if you see anything, understood?

- Yes yes...

The call ended leaving that young woman named Lirio with a great mental fatigue.

The woman began to eat while she listened to the comments of the other diners in the rest of the bar.

- Hey ... first the kidnappings and then this.

- Although there have been no more crimes for more than three weeks.

- Do you think they are another criminal group?

- I don't know... but there have been no crimes in this area... the whole place has security, doesn't it?

- To tell you the truth, there is no safe place left in this city.

The young woman smiled when she heard all this.

Again a call was received on Lirio's phone, the contact's name said 'Boss'.

- Did something happen? - the woman answered.

- We have found Mort's whereabouts; when the second team arrives, go look for him ... I will pass you the coordinates. - It was the same thick voice as before that gave the directions.

- You should put that brat on a leash ... well anyway, I'll come after dinner. - replied the woman deliberately.

- Don't delay ... ah ... one more thing ... listen well, Lirio ... in case one of the secondary targets is alive, take into consideration not to be discovered by them ... especially by that guy named Eric Masías, understood?

Before she could answer, the young woman's phone was picked up by someone behind her.

- Hey! What's wrong with you?! - exclaimed Lirio angrily as she turned around.

However, when she saw who was in front of her, she was stunned.

- Lirio? What's wrong? - said the voice on the other end of the call.

- She's busy at the moment, but you can leave your message in her voice mailbox. In a few minutes, your call will be returned ... if she's still alive.

The sound of the call ending was what could be heard, while a person in a dirty black coat put the young woman's cell phone in one of his pockets.

- D-Do you wish to ... sit with me? - offered the woman with a rather frightened tone.

- It would be my pleasure. - Eric replied defiantly.

- Please be gentle with me. - spoke Lirio fearfully.