Chapter 5
Elaine stopped trying to convince him and packed up her gear, following closely behind.
The two of them moved along the wall, the entire factory eerily silent except for the wind howling through the corridors.
The office building's door was rusted shut, so Travis tried the window next to it and managed to push it open.
He hoisted himself up and climbed through.
Elaine followed right after.
She turned on a small flashlight, the beam revealing a mess of footprints on the floor.
Some of the prints were fresh, with wet mud trailing up to the second floor.
Elaine whispered, "Someone's been here recently."
Travis nodded, signaling for Elaine to follow, and they moved with utmost caution.
At the end of the second-floor hallway, an office door was slightly ajar, with a faint light seeping through.
Travis pressed against the wall and slowly pushed the door open.
The room was empty.
On the desk was just an emergency lamp and a map.
Several locations were circled in red on the map, including Jay and Tony's addresses.
Suddenly, a loud thud echoed from outside, like something heavy had fallen.
They both spun around and rushed to the window.
Down below, a shadowy figure was stumbling across the wasteland, sprinting towards the gate.
"Tony!" Travis recognized the figure instantly and leaped from the second floor.
Elaine gasped in shock.
She watched as Travis rolled to break his fall and immediately took off in pursuit.
Gritting her teeth, she turned and ran for the stairs.
By the time she reached the back door, panting, Travis had already pinned Tony to the ground.
"Why are you running?" Travis's voice was as sharp as a knife.
Tony struggled, lifting his head to reveal a terrified face in the moonlight.
"Help... help me..." he croaked, his eyes unfocused. "They're... they're going to kill me!"
Travis frowned, about to ask more.
But Tony's eyes suddenly widened, staring intently at something behind Travis.
"Watch out..."
Elaine's shout and the gunshot rang out almost simultaneously.
Travis instinctively twisted to the side, a bullet grazing his shoulder and embedding in the ground.
He whipped around to see a shadowy figure on the factory roof, a gun still smoking.
"Sniper!"
Travis growled, dragging Tony to cover.
Elaine pulled out her handgun, firing two shots towards the roof before quickly moving to join Travis.
"Let's get out of here!"
Using the cover of darkness, the three of them dashed towards the factory's crumbling wall.
Bullets shattered the concrete, sending shards flying.
Once over the wall, Travis grabbed Tony by the collar, slamming him against it.
"Who wants you dead?"
Tony was trembling, his lips quivering. "I-I don't know... They found me, said Jay discovered something he shouldn't have."
"What did he find?" Elaine pressed.
Tony swallowed hard, his voice shaking. "I don't know, Jay gave me a file before he died, told me to give it to someone I could trust if anything happened to him."
"Where's the file?"
"I-I hid it."
"Where?"
"At..."
Before Tony could finish, a muffled gunshot rang out.
Warm blood splattered onto Travis.
He looked up sharply, catching a glint from a sniper scope in the distance.
"Get down!"
He shoved Elaine aside, but the second bullet grazed his arm, instantly soaking his sleeve with blood.
Meanwhile, Tony had already collapsed in a pool of blood.
"Shit!" Travis shook Tony's body in frustration.
The hidden sniper, seeing Tony was dead, vanished into the darkness.
At dawn, sirens blared through the Strollway District.
Forensics and investigators cordoned off the abandoned factory, and Tony's body was taken away.
Travis stood nearby, his arm hastily bandaged, but his expression was far more severe than his wound.
Elaine approached with a cup of hot coffee.
"The shooter was a pro, left no traces, not even shell casings."
Travis took the coffee but didn't drink, staring at the rising steam.
Elaine paused, shaking her head. "Jay must have found something big."
Travis's eyes darkened.
"We're being watched."
Elaine looked towards the brightening horizon, her voice resolute. "Then let's see who finds the truth first."
By noon, the preliminary forensic report arrived at Travis's office.
"Bullet went through the back of the head, instant kill," Kelvin reported, his voice tight. "Ballistics show it was a 7.62mm sniper rifle, professional-grade silencer."
Travis examined the autopsy photos, Tony's eyes still wide with fear.
He opened the evidence bag, which contained items from Tony's pockets: a crumpled half-pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and a blood-soaked receipt.
"What's this?" Travis used tweezers to pick up the receipt, the writing blurred but the date clear: three days ago.
"MegaMart!" Elaine exclaimed. "That's near Tony's hideout."
Travis immediately called. "Get the surveillance footage from that store for three days ago, focus on Tony."
In the supermarket's surveillance room.
The footage froze on Tony's back as he stood by a locker.
"Number 17," Elaine pointed. "Watch his movements."
On screen, Tony glanced around before quickly stashing a brown paper bag in the locker, then used his body to shield the keypad as he entered the code.
Travis turned to the store manager. "Has anyone accessed that locker since?"
The manager shook his head. "Our lockers auto-clear every 48 hours. It was emptied yesterday."
Elaine and Travis exchanged a look and rushed to the locker area.
Locker 17 was empty.
"Too late, it's gone," Travis punched the metal door, the sound echoing.
Elaine crouched, picking up a small piece of burnt paper from the locker's bottom seam.
"Someone tried to destroy it," she held the fragment to the light. "But the burn marks show it was done hastily, not completely burned."
Travis's phone rang, the tech team had new findings. "Captain Smith, we found red soil on Tony's shoes. It's not from the factory."
"Where's it from?"
"Ocean International Golf Club."
"That place? Membership costs a fortune."
Kian couldn't help but whistle.
"Stop gawking and get a search warrant," Travis snapped.
Back at the station, Carter paused when he saw the request for a golf course search warrant.
"Isn't this about Jay's case? How'd it lead to a golf course?"
"Tony was killed, and we found a lead to the golf course on his body."
Carter signed the warrant. "Yesterday's shooting caused quite a stir online. Wrap this up quickly."
"Yes, sir!"