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Chapter 1 - CORNERED

CHAPTER 1

It was early in the morning, the sun only just beginning to rise.

A voice crackled over the radio: "Attention all units! Masked suspect wounded. I repeat: masked suspect wounded."

"Listen up, this may be our last chance to catch this outlaw, so everyone stay sharp. Do not engage if you arrive first even hurt, he can overpower you. Wait for backup."

"This is 12‑21. I've cornered him at the corner of Harbendar Street. I need backup."

"Copy. 12‑21, I'm redirecting all units there."

"Now, you hands up and get on your knees; this is your last stop," Eva says.

The masked man smiles at her and replies, "You never change, do you? You'll always try to catch me. Tell me when I kill the killers, the criminals, the rapists, the pedophiles, the drug cartel members when I do what your justice system can't do does that make me wrong? I'm protecting innocent people, I'm cleaning the streets of filth, and maybe I'm stopping crimes before they happen. Have you seen how people started walking the streets comfortably again? How children play outside without fear? How people can walk alone without trembling? Yes after I arrived, because I kill the criminals. I do what you don't have the guts to do."

"We don't do that. We catch criminals and put them through the justice system. We don't kill them," Eva says.

"Everyone's always saying, 'We don't kill, who are we?' Ha. I do what you're too cowardly to do. Those criminals living what use is that? Don't you get it? When they get out, what will they do? What did they do before? Don't they always, always take innocent lives? Don't they ruin people's lives, leave irreparable trauma? Enough. Remember what I'm saying and play this to all your units, to all your superiors play the footage from the camera in my car. You'll never catch me alive." With that he hurls a smoke ball to the ground and vanishes. Eva fires after him, but he's already far away he's climbed to a rooftop.

James runs on, but his wound is crippling him. With every step he bleeds more. "Damn it, I should've made the suit tougher," he thinks. He pulls the cloth from his belt pocket, quickly cleans the wound, wraps it with a dressing, and for now slows the bleeding.

A motorcycle is parked on the street below the roof ahead. He dives down and throws himself on the bike, then heads off. He stops in front of a dilapidated building, presses a button on his bike and hears a heavy door creak open. He rides inside, dismounts quickly and moves into a broken room; he slides a cupboard aside, presses his hand to the wall's fingerprint scanner and the door opens. He jumps back on his bike and passes through the opening, pushes the cupboard back into place, and as he rides in the door closes behind him he's in his hideout. The hideout isn't fancy; it looks more like something he built himself with whatever he had.

James quickly opens the drawer with the first‑aid supplies, takes out what he needs and puts them on the nearby table. He disinfects a pair of scissors, then inserts them into the wound to search for the bullet. He finds and removes the slug, pours alcohol into the wound and cleans it thoroughly, sutures the wound with a needle, then wraps it with bandages. Just as he finishes the last strip, his eyes flutter and he collapses, hitting his head on the table as he falls.

When he wakes, the first thing he thinks about is the blood samples the police might have taken. He scrambles up, slips into the uniform in the closet and rides out on the motorcycle he uses in his everyday life. While on the road he calls Eva. "Hey Eva, I heard on the radio you cornered the masked man last night but he ran off. I was about to leave the hospital when her condition got worse. Are you okay?

"I'm fine, James, but I lost him. We've got his blood samples here if there's a match in the database we'll know who he is and can raid him. I missed him yesterday, but this time we'll catch him; I believe that. By the way, Chief Inspector Alan wants everyone. I told him you couldn't come, but" James cuts in: "I'm on my way."

He walks in acting casual and goes over to Eva. After they greet, Eva says, "Listen, we're still keeping the samples here. No one but the Chief Inspector can access them. We need to transport them with as much protection as possible so the suspect can't steal the sample out from under us. This might be our best chance to catch him, you get me? So we'll transport it with a larger but discreet team than normal. One of those people will be you and me, so be ready. The Chief Inspector will order us to move shortly; we'll take it to the lab." At that moment the Chief Inspector arrives with two other officers.

"Yes four of you are the ones I trust most and the most capable, so I'm giving you this assignment. I was supposed to come, but I got a tip about an inspection today, so I can't. It has to be transported today. I'm counting on you. This time we'll catch him," the Chief says. And all the preparations for the transport begin.

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