Seven Nation Army

Sahil and Ryoichi spent all of the following evening going to all the murder locations and investigating the crime scenes. As most of the scenes were too old, they didn't find anything of importance there. At last they reached Sendai subway station. 

23:28

Hirosedori Station, Aoba Ward, Sendai 

Sohel and Ryoichi got out of the car and went towards the subway gate on the left side of the road. As they were getting closer, Ryoichi said, "We've taken over the investigation from the police, so it was nothing suspicious."

"Yeah, figured. Tell me about the current location."

"Yes sir. The victim was 57 year old Masamune Daiki. He was working as a pharmacist in a local pharmacy. But he used to work as a junior medical assistant in his early days under Dr. Kobayashi and was part of Project Spectre."

They had reached the entrance to the subway station by then. The entrance was closed off by crime scene tape. Ryoichi said, "We've closed off this entrance and tried to preserve the scene as much as possible."

Sohel nodded and asked, "Hmm. Let's go in."

They crouched under the crime scene tape and went inside. As they got down the stairs, the horrific incident that happened here got clearer for Sohel. Sohel kept capturing everything that was there. He felt like every patch of blood was telling a story to him. 

They came down the stairs, and Sohel saw the border of the dead body marked on the ground. It looked like the body suddenly fell down while going down the stairs. The legs were on the stairs while the torso and head were on the ground. 

Sohel asked, "What were his wounds again?"

Ryoichi replied, "He was shot on his right shin from the front and in the back of his head, along with a broken radius and ulna in both hands, a dislocated mandible and a fractured frontal lobe."

Sohel asked while he turned back and started going back up, "Did you find any other crime scene close to here?"

Ryoichi replied, "Uhm… no. Why do you ask?"

"He was tortured before he was murdered. And that place is close."

Sohel got out of the station and started to look around. He said, "ARIA, scan for secluded areas."

ARIA replied, "Yes, Captain."

In a few seconds, ARIA replied again, "Captain, there's an alleyway to your right, 34.6 away. There's no security cameras in that alleyway."

Sohel went to the alley and started investigating. Ryoichi followed. Soon he found something on the ground and said, "Ryoichi, call forensic experts. Found the location."

Ryoichi came and stood beside Sohel and looked at the direction Sohel was looking in. He saw almost like a pool of clotted blood. Ryoichi said, "How did the police miss something as big as this?"

Sohel replied, "Can't blame them. It's a busy road. People's shoes can wipe something like a trace of blood in mere minutes. Anyway, now I at least know what might've happened here."

Ryoichi didn't say anything, but his facial expression was overflowing with curiosity. Sohel noticed that and started to explain, "First Shadow confronted Masamune here, in this alley. Where he interrogated and tortured him for some information. Once he got his information, he let Masamune go. A scared and gravely injured Masamune then ran to the subway station to flee. But for some reason, Shadow changed his mind and followed him to the metro station. There he shot him in the back of his head, killing him on the spot."

05th March 2032

00:51

Hirosedori Station, Aoba Ward, Sendai 

A frantic Masamune was running from someone through the alleyway when suddenly a faint sound was heard, followed by Masamune's scream as he fell down. He was grunting while holding his right shin with both of his hands. 

He looked in front as he heard footsteps, and soon he saw Naoki coming towards him. He had a silenced Glock 19 in his right hand. 

Naoki went to Masamune and punched him in the right cheek with all of his might. Masamune wanted to scream but only a faint groan came out. 

Naoki crouched in front of Masamune and said, "Look, I just need a name. You give me the name; you walk away free. Understood? Now, tell me who is trying to revive Project Spectre."

Masamune groaned and said, "I really don't know. I told you a million times already. I don't know."

Naoki scratched his forehead with the Glock silencer as he said, "Look. Masamune. You and I both know that you're supplying the necessary drugs for the project. I just want to know who and where. Just tell me and be free, or something like this will happen." Just as Naoki said that, he held up Masamune's right hand and punched on his forearm. An audible cracking sound was heard. Masamune wanted to scream out of pain, but before he could, Naoki pressed on his mouth with his hand. 

He said, "Shhhh. Don't scream; people are sleeping around here. You'll disturb them."

A while later, Naoki let go of Masamune's mouth and said, "Now, speak."

"I swear, I do." 

Before Masamune could continue, Naoki pressed on his mouth and punched his left forearm, breaking that one too. Masamune again wanted to scream but couldn't.

A while later, Naoki let go of Masamune's mouth and said, "Now, speak."

Masamune was passing out, but a slap from Naoki woke him up. He said frantically, "Shimizu Korukawa. That's who I sent the drugs to. I swear, I don't know anything else. I get orders through an encrypted message, and I deliver the order toKorukawa;, that's it."

Naoki said, "See? That's all you had to say. Now, I promised, I'll let you go free. So… Run. Run before I change my mind."

Masamune sloppily got up and started limping away out of the alleyway. 

As Naoki saw Masamune go, he took out his phone and dialled 100.

"Hello. What's your emergency?"

"Hello, can you please send a police patrol in the Hirosedori station area? There's a wanted drug seller roaming around."

"Of course, sir."

"Oh, and send an ambulance too. He looks injured."

"Thank you for your report, sir; our emergency team will act on your report ASAP."

Naoki cut the call and started walking the other way. 

Masamune kept limping down the stairs as first as he could. Just as he almost reached the end of the staircase, a small whooshing sound was heard, followed by a loud thudding noise. People were already looking at him for his injured state, so just as he fell down, a few people ran towards him to help, only to find a hole behind his forehead.