The sounds of gunfire subsided. There was silence for a while. Cathartes waited.

“Son of a bitch. You guys are not bad at all,” a voice could be heard saying between gasps. “God damn it.” It was Matthew Taylor. Haliaeetus and Cathartes saw him retreat down the stairwell.

“Ah, policeman still alive? Really?” The vulture cupped his hands in a meditative position. “But how? After all that?”

“Hahahaha. You sneaky little bastard.” It was Richard Tate’s voice. He was following the policeman down the stairwell.

“Sniper still alive too!” Cathartes rubbed his hands. Both men could now be seen from the audio-visual bug.

“It’s about time I re-established my connection,” a voice boomed, which seemed to be broadcast from the broken insignia. It was The Hangman who had returned. “Both sides have been wasted. Wasted incredibly. And I still have not gotten an explanation for what this is about.”

“You tell me!” Matthew Taylor yelled. “You guys were planning to launch a hit right at the goddamn police station! Your man Tate and some of the other guys were prepared to kill us. Don’t tell me you’re unaware.”

“The Hawk? And who told you that?”

“Charles Vance. He sent us an email. He told us all of it.”

“Ah, Vance. That explains everything. You see, Vance had earlier approached us with an offer to assassinate you.”

“What?!”

Cathartes swivelled a full circle on his chair. “Ah, I sense that something bad is about to happen…”

“How did he remember that? When you visited them as Vance?” Haliaeetus asked exasperatedly. “All their memories should be blocked!”

“The Hangman wasn’t there on the scene, remember? He must have been viewing everything remotely. And the Lyre of Lethe didn’t reach him.”

“Oh, shit…”

The Hangman continued, “The Hawk rightfully refused.”

“Wait—” Richard Tate interjected.

“But Vance must have had other ideas,” The Hangman continued. “He was the man behind this. He could not get us to attack you. So he simply got you to attack us. He sought other means to provoke the police and us to engage in a shootout.”

“Why would he want that?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps he has new sources of reliable help and needs to eliminate us as witnesses to his shady business. He did say he wanted to eliminate you because you had evidence against him. Although he advertised it as something good for us. Typical of politicians.”

“So what now?”

“I will be gracious and allow you to leave. And whoever is still alive. It’s not like we can shoot at you anyway. Walk downstairs and tell your police friends outside to leave. This has been a very…mortal misunderstanding. Ahahaha.” After a pause, he shouted, “Get out!” 

Matthew Taylor could be observed walking from the stairwell towards the door to exit the base. He came into the view of the visual-recording bug stuck in the baseboard of the room. He walked past the 1564 insignia. 

“I must say it is not very bright of the police to launch a large-scale strike on the basis of an email.” The Hangman laughed. “I mean, seriously, do you not have better standards of operation?”

Then Taylor stopped in his tracks. “Wait a second. No. That’s not all. There’s more. Your men were on the roof of the office building next to the police station. You were there. After we got the email! At midnight!”

“Ah shit, here we go,” Cathartes commented. 

“What’s going on? Is it working according to plan?” Brett Lawyer interjected.

“All this was done on the assumption that our people of interest would all die in the shootout. However, if there are survivors, things get complicated.” Cathartes sighed.

“Are you sure those were not paranoid delusions? After getting that email? My men have not moved from this base,” The Hangman said firmly.

“You were there!” Taylor pointed at Tate.

“No! I was here the whole time!”

“Don’t be stupid,” The Hangman said. “Move along. Besides, Vance might have the capacity to hire others to do that to stir up your fears. Are you sure it wasn’t someone else? Someone else with spiky blue hair and a balaclava? You’d be a fool to let him get to you.”

“Wait. That’s not all. CCTV footage from Vance’s home captured him conversing with Charles Vance. From what little audio was picked up, it was about the same plan to attack us.” He took out his phone and swiped at it.

“Bring it close to the insignia and show me through the eyes of the symbol.”

Cathartes leapt up from his seat. “Sagittarius!”

She poked her head out from the side room. “Is it done?”

“No. I need you to block Taylor’s access to the CCTV footage at Vance’s house.”

“Isn’t it better to let them have irrefutable evidence that the gang was involved?” Haliaeetus asked. “That way the conflict will continue.”

“No, no. The police already have that footage. The police have the evidence that the gang was involved, that’s why they had sufficient justification to launch this attack. Taylor has it, he has seen it, all is fine. Now, the gang does not need evidence that the gang was involved. Obviously they knew they weren’t, which could only point to someone else orchestrating it. They will be on high alert! Sagittarius, do it, now!”

She tapped a few keys on her keyboard. With a buzz, it was blocked. Taylor could be seen on their laptop appearing confused and frustrated, tugging at his hair. “Tate visited him to tell him about your plans. We have undeniable evidence of that. I swear.”

The Hangman responded. “Why exactly would he tell Vance about our plans if such plans existed? Now, it is about time you left. You’ve made a mess in my house. Goodbye.”

Soon, the lights of the police vehicles that spilled into the base subsided. They drove into the distance and did not return. Several injured members of the gang were seen getting up. Richard Tate walked among them, without any serious visible injuries. After a short silence, the glitched voice of The Hangman spoke again.

“Hawk. This is not over.” He paused. “Vance is the man behind this chaos tonight. He has turned on us. He has lost our trust. And we will pay him a visit. One final visit. 2385 Vine Street. He will be there. You will go, and you will shoot him dead.” Tate nodded and ran into the garage. He got onto a motorcycle.

“Wait, wait, no, you can’t let that happen!” Brett Lawyer exclaimed hysterically. “I need him taken alive!”

“Yes, yes,” Cathartes assured her. “We will make sure everything goes well.” He ended the call. 

“Ah, shit. Haliaeetus, we need to go now.” Cathartes grabbed her shoulder with uncharacteristic agitation.

“Right. Let’s go get the car.”

“I think we need the SUV too.”

“Fine but I’ll take it for Vance.”

“Why specifically him?”

“It’s closer to a van. I want to recreate the experience for him.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“No it’s not. And do you have the Cards on you?”

“Yes. The Towers. But not for Vance, right?”

“No, for the other one. But only just in case. Definitely not for Vance yet. He can’t be dying now. That’s the point. He must die properly, as per the client’s request. Sagittarius, be ready.”

They left the inner office. Sagittarius nodded and retracted into the side room without a word.

As the doors closed behind them, Cathartes received a message to the Black Balsam group. “Huh, it’s from the dear client. An additional request.”

“What is it?”

“She wants to exact her revenge on Tate and Taylor personally as well.”

“Now she says this?”

“Considering the sniper’s role in killing Walter, and the policeman’s role in allowing the murder to proceed, she thinks they deserve more than she had decided on before. Not just a random scuffle. Something much at much closer range than that.”

“And we’re going to accede? At this point in time?”

“It’s not against our policy, is it?”

“No, but it is quite late. And very difficult.”

“It’s early enough, as long as they’re both still alive.”

“The things you say, Cathartes… I take that we accept her modification of the terms?”

“Heh. So we shall, Haliaeetus. So we shall.”