The rain hadn't stopped since dawn.
It fell in thin, cold sheets, washing the blood from the cracked pavement where Ahmed had stood only hours before.
Inspector Jamshed watched the fire crews douse the last flames of the ruined command van. The reflection of the flashing lights danced in his eyes — red, blue, white, repeat.
The city didn't pause for grief.
Neither could he.
---
After the Fire
Inside the temporary HQ, silence hung like smoke.
Farzana sat with her arms wrapped around herself.
Farooq paced restlessly.
Mehmood stared at lines of code on his laptop but wasn't really seeing them.
"Ahmed's sacrifice wasn't meaningless," Jamshed said finally, voice low but steady.
"He bought us time — and data. Before the van exploded, he uploaded a backup of his last transmission."
Professor Dawood turned from the whiteboard. "You have it?"
Mehmood nodded. "Yes. The trace originated from inside the Defense Archives Building, Zone 9. Restricted government zone."
Major Rehman exhaled. "So Zain is inside a government facility? That's not just revenge. That's infiltration."
---
The Intruder
By evening, the team was in position.
Their black SUV idled under the dripping trees outside the archives.
Thunder rolled across the harbor as Farooq finished setting up a surveillance relay.
"Security grid's old," he muttered. "But the building's network has a live uplink to Defense Command. If Zain's inside, he can see everything we do."
Jamshed adjusted his earpiece. "Then we move quietly."
They entered through a maintenance shaft.
Corridors stretched like veins — cold metal, humming with electricity.
Each room they passed was emptier than the last, as if the staff had vanished mid-shift.
Then Farzana whispered, "Abbu… there."
A door labeled Project S-13: Archive Division.
---
The Message on the Wall
They stepped inside.
Every inch of the walls was covered with photographs — newspaper clippings, surveillance stills, diagrams of the arrow symbol evolving through time.
At the center was a digital board.
A single sentence blinked in crimson letters:
> "To cleanse corruption, I must draw blood."
Rehman cursed under his breath.
Dawood's hands trembled. "He's rewriting the experiment. He's using the same pattern-recognition algorithm, but feeding it human variables — people."
Jamshed turned to him. "You mean victims."
"Yes," Dawood said. "He's predicting who'll betray justice — and killing them before they act."
---
The Trap Springs
Suddenly, alarms wailed.
Steel shutters slammed down around them.
Farooq spun to his tablet. "The system's locked us in! He's hijacked internal control!"
A distorted voice flooded the speakers:
> "You came for truth, Inspector. So here it is — one of your own family altered S-13's core code years ago. The chain of corruption began in your home."
Farzana's breath caught. "What… what is he saying?"
The lights flickered — revealing a new projection on the far wall.
An old video feed: a younger Mehmood, seated at a terminal, typing lines of code under military supervision.
Dawood froze. "That's the original lab. Mehmood was… part of the encryption team?"
Jamshed turned slowly toward his eldest son.
Mehmood's face had gone pale. "Abbu, I didn't know what it was for. I was fifteen — I just helped them encode their files."
Zain's voice cut through again:
> "Lies run in blood, Inspector. Tonight, I'll prove it."
And then, the power went out.
---
The Blood in the Rain
Outside, rain pounded the metal shutters.
Inside, the backup lights glowed faint red.
Something moved in the dark — fast, deliberate.
Rehman raised his weapon. "Motion — 20 meters north!"
A figure darted through the corridor, cloak soaked, bow drawn.
The arrow hissed through the air — striking a power conduit. Sparks exploded, blinding them.
When the smoke cleared, Zain was gone — but one of the walls now bore a single new arrow.
Etched beneath it, in black marker:
> "Next: Farooq."
---
End of Chapter 6 — "Blood in the Rain"
Ahmed's death was only the first strike.
Now the conspiracy cuts straight through Jamshed's own family — and one of his sons has become the killer's next target.