Ch.216Work Record #031 – Duty Record #003, Staying One Step Ahead (5)

Harry would see me with Celine and come in to shoot her? No, he wouldn’t. He’d be pained by his trusted junior’s betrayal, modify his plan, and try again.

Of course, by then he would naturally include me as a target too. But not now. Harry approached slowly, trying to muffle his footsteps, but to my Type 4 enhanced hearing, it was hardly different from walking normally.

“Celine, put aside that cipher for now and go to the bathroom. A car just stopped outside and someone got out. They seem to be approaching us—might be someone sent by the Old Road.”

In this urgent situation, she wouldn’t question how I knew all this. After confirming that Celine had taken her gun and entered the bathroom, I hid behind the door.

Actually, in a place like this, clinging to the ceiling would be more effective… but I couldn’t do that in front of Celine. A Skinwalker can’t shed its skin yet. Not yet.

I waited for Harry to approach while hiding where the opening door would naturally conceal me. Harry leaned in to peek into the room, confirming the scattered cipher papers.

Now it was time for him to enter. His figure disappeared from the window, and with practiced skill, he kicked in the motel’s plastic door. He precisely kicked out the doorknob and entered with his gun raised.

Harry approached the bathroom door with his gun aimed at it. He whistled once, then muttered in a low voice as if taunting Celine inside. The voice wasn’t Harry’s. He must have disguised it.

“Ah, Celine. Celine. Our Celine. At least you’re luckier than Fabian. Fabian’s death was covered up, but yours will be revealed. If I say there was another Wasteland Gang member hiding…”

I emerged from behind the door and aimed my gun at Harry’s head. Gripping the almost weightlessly light gun firmly with both hands, I pulled the trigger three times in succession.

Three gunshots rang out, and three bullets struck—two in the head, one in the neck. Harry died without even leaving last words. My stomach churned slightly.

I could say it was unavoidable, but I pulled the trigger by my own choice. Did I have personal feelings about it? If Harry had been a mercenary from Los Angeles, we might have become friends.

I didn’t feel guilty. Harry was someone better not existing than existing. No one made him that way. He chose it himself. I knew this after eavesdropping on everything.

Still… killing someone who had shown me one-sided goodwill wasn’t particularly pleasant. Harry died not knowing I was the one who shot him. That was fortunate for him.

The gunshots drew a murmuring crowd, but I naturally pulled out a badge from my waist and showed it. I dispersed the small crowd, which included a few Old Road engineers staying at the motel.

“Deputy Matthew Collins from the Madeline’s Lot Sheriff’s Department! I just eliminated a Wasteland Gang member who broke into the motel. Please stand back from the scene for now!”

I took out my phone and called Sheriff Ned Pershing’s emergency number. The call connected after just two rings. He answered as if he never slept.

“What is it, rookie?”

“It seems there was one more Wasteland Gang member who infiltrated the town. I saw an armed, masked intruder breaking into Liberty Field Motel and eliminated him. Preserving the scene now!”

Sheriff Ned Pershing questioned as if something seemed off. We had thoroughly searched Madeline’s Lot, and the gang member Harry interrogated had said there were sixteen members total.

This was only natural. After all, the person who died here was Harry Piper. But it didn’t matter. Testimonies could be manipulated, and I was the only witness.

“I’ll be right there. But a Wasteland Gang member? We definitely searched the town properly. How could there be more left?”

“I don’t know. But I clearly heard him say, ‘What sloppy work, leaving one alive.’ Could he have been hiding somewhere?”

“No, no. That’s unlikely. I’m on my way—maintain the scene until then.”

I gathered the cipher papers from the motel bed and handed them to Celine in the bathroom. Shortly after, the sheriff arrived. After checking the scene, he asked me:

“What happened here?”

“Well… this is the motel where Celine Diaz is staying. The sister of Fabian Diaz, who went missing after being caught breaking into the Old Road. I brought her here because she was meeting with truck drivers.”

I pointed to my car, deliberately parked to be less visible in the motel parking lot. The sheriff nodded briefly. The ease with which the Old Road’s security system had been breached must have been shocking.

“While I was telling her not to wander around stirring up the town, which is already unsettled by the Wasteland Gang incident, she excused herself to use the bathroom. During that moment, this masked man…”

I looked down at Harry lying on the floor. I didn’t know this corpse’s identity. I should be shocked when I find out. After firmly reminding myself of what needed to be done, I continued.

“He approached the door, and hearing footsteps, I was about to check outside when he actually kicked in the door and entered with his gun drawn. Thinking he was a Wasteland Gang member, I eliminated him.”

I had merely happened to be behind the door after trying to check outside through the small lens on the door. That wasn’t true. No, from now on, it was true. What else could be true?

The Nationalist territory, though behind in some ways, was still racing admirably through this high-speed era. An era where reality could be censored and truth could be manufactured.

Did the sheriff know this man was Harry Piper? He mulled over my words while carefully examining the broken doorknob. He deduced skillfully.

“For a Wasteland Gang member… he’s too skilled. He broke the doorknob with one kick to open the door immediately. Not just some random thug from the Wasteland Gang. Did he say anything else?”

“No, he didn’t. I eliminated him immediately, fearing he might shoot at the bathroom door. Is there some… problem?”

I deliberately spoke with slight uncertainty. The sheriff of Madeline’s Lot wouldn’t say protecting citizens was wrong, and his answer came promptly.

“No, not at all. Even if she’s a nuisance to Madeline’s Lot, she’s still a citizen we must protect. You simply eliminated a criminal who threatened a citizen’s life. Well done, rookie.”

Soon, vehicles from the Old Road arrived at the motel to assess the situation and began moving urgently. Before long, I heard reporting voices through the listening devices I had planted.

“Chairman, Deputy Harry Piper has…”

“What, did he fail to kill that one woman?”

“No, well, he did fail… but it seems that new deputy was there. Appears he was killed at the scene. We need to confirm more, but…”

I was curious how Marcus Cavendish would react to this. Would he be in pain as if his arm had been cut off, or would he immediately start cursing Harry as useless?

If it were Mr. Günter… no. There was no point in hypothesizing about Mr. Günter. He wouldn’t have wasted personnel on such a foolish place. How inefficient.

“I clearly told him to disguise it as a robbery. Clearly, I mean, damn it! How could this be so difficult… Is there a possibility that rookie deputy killed him deliberately? Harry is my…”

“I doubt it. I had an employee check the scene, and he was explaining with a bewildered expression. It seems he was coincidentally there and genuinely mistook him for a robber.”

Due to the mask and gunshot wounds, it would be difficult to immediately remove the mask. Harry’s body was transported to the sheriff’s department. I couldn’t imagine how shocked the medical examiner would be.

I drove Celine to the sheriff’s department while listening to Marcus rage and grieve through the listening device. She seemed to have hidden the cipher and followed me, though she appeared somewhat shocked.

She couldn’t have heard much from the bathroom, and I did most of the talking. No one seriously suspected the rookie deputy, and the investigation wasn’t particularly harsh.

Of course, the sheriff received an urgent call from the medical examiner midway through and went to the morgue… but he said nothing to me. He already knew who had sent Harry.

After a simple investigation, as we were about to leave the sheriff’s department around eleven o’clock… the sheriff called me aside. Behind the department, he sighed and said:

“Rookie, about that Wasteland Gang member you killed… it was Harry Piper. Yes, Deputy Harry Piper, your supervisor.”

I didn’t answer immediately, rolling my eyes as if digesting what this simple statement meant. I bit my lip briefly, then tried to dismiss it with a laugh.

“What? No, this isn’t the time for jokes. Why would Harry be there wearing a mask and carrying a gun? There must be some mistake…”

“No, there wasn’t. None at all. It was Deputy Harry Piper. I’m certain. As for why he was there… let’s just say it’s related to the Old Road. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand, but… this isn’t something I can just say ‘Yes, sir’ and move on from. What kind of company would do such a thing… No, Deputy Harry Piper wouldn’t act without your orders…”

I deliberately threw out an option that didn’t even consider suspicion. Ned sighed deeply as if a headache was coming on.

“Do you think there’s even one deputy in this department who listens to me more than to Marcus Cavendish?”

Even one? I knew Harry was practically the Old Road’s fixer, but surely he would know that Ben disliked the Old Road. Or… was Ben fake too? It was somewhat confusing.

“I told you before. Serena Vanderbilt was someone who tried to protect Detroit by accepting inevitable changes. I’m not that flexible. Do you understand what I mean?”

I was beginning to see why Ned had been working as if the Old Road didn’t exist and handling most paperwork himself… but one of them had to be fake.

Ben had definitely shown me photos of the inside of an Old Road transport truck. It would be strange for a deputy with already white hair to infiltrate a truck and take photos.

“It may be an inevitable flow… but it sounds like you’re still resisting Marcus’s influence somehow. Is it okay for me to understand it that way?”

“I’d be grateful if you did. The Old Road will try to cover this up too. You should… take a few days off. Even though Madeline’s Lot is in the Old Road’s grip, it’s still a good place to live.”

Unlike the dull, smog-mixed air of Los Angeles, Madeline’s Lot had clean air and was quiet and peaceful. The sheriff looked around once more and asked:

“May I make a personal request?”

“It doesn’t seem that personal.”

He smiled for the first time. He raised just the corners of his mouth in a slight laugh and nodded.

“Funny thing is, I can see why Marcus Cavendish likes you. So… Celine Diaz, was it? Make sure that woman doesn’t die here too.”

“Because even one death is too many.”

“Yes. The number of dead is either none, or too many. May I ask this of you?”

Somehow, he reminded me of the Shepherd. Perhaps people who protect others end up with similar mindsets.

I nodded briefly and left without having my badge or gun confiscated. I returned to the front of the sheriff’s department where Celine was waiting. I gave her a slight smile as she looked worried.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t lose my badge or gun. In fact, he told me to take a few days off since I must be shocked… which just gives us more time to figure out how Fabian left his information.”

Everyone in Madeline’s Lot shared original sin. Living in this town meant tacitly accepting the Old Road in some way. It wasn’t a major issue. The world was the same everywhere.

The employee-citizens of Los Angeles lived above Belwether’s foam-mouthed killing of all Jaina members without alibis, and Detroit lived above a murder play.

So, that alone wasn’t a sin terrible enough to die for. People are always judged by their actions. Harry acted. So he paid the price. Marcus Cavendish would be next.

There might not be that many people in Madeline’s Lot who needed to die. Dealing with Madeline’s Lot might be simpler than expected. What comes after is the complicated part.

“Why are you helping so much? I mean, helping is one thing… but killing someone for a person you just met is strange. He looked like a robber, but still…”

“Something I learned from my parents during Detroit’s chaos: Be a good person. And be a person who acts. I didn’t want to let the Old Road kill people to hide their secrets. That’s all.”

If I was Belwether’s bioweapon, I was a well-socialized one. I was cultivated in a laboratory like a corporate stereotype, but I was cultivated as a human. That’s all.

Celine looked at me as if trying to see through me, then grumbled a bit. She seemed sorry for having harbored some suspicion.

“I didn’t know people who actually lived like that existed.”

“Everyone can decide how they want to live in this world.”

“You never give an inch… Fine. But I’m borrowing your couch again. That couch at your place is surprisingly comfortable, you know?”

Rather than wasting more sympathy on Harry, it would be better to focus on protecting someone who had nothing to do with Madeline’s Lot’s original sin.

The key now was to find the information Fabian left behind. The cipher was likely fake, but he must have hidden something somewhere. I also needed to verify whether the cipher itself was truly fake.

After examining it for hours, I could conclude it was fake, but there was no limit to how self-important humans hide information. I might have missed something trivial.