"Wait... you’re telling me Michael Myers is my biological brother, he murdered our older sister when he was a child, and now he’s escaped again?" Laurie Strode stared at Axel Vance and Clarice Starling as if they had just told her the world was ending. "And you think he might come after me?"
The story sounded so absurd that Laurie would have assumed they were scammers if Axel had not been standing in front of her wearing a Miami Police uniform with a real badge. She had apparently never been told the full truth about her biological family, or at least had never been given enough information to understand Michael’s connection to her. Learning everything at once left her completely stunned.
Axel and Clarice exchanged helpless looks. Perhaps keeping Laurie away from the truth had allowed her to live without carrying the burden of what Michael had done. Axel had not come here expecting her to provide some miraculous clue anyway.
His main objective had been much simpler. He wanted to determine whether Michael Myers had already located Laurie and begun stalking her. Since Laurie was still alive and Michael had not appeared anywhere near the school or her home, the immediate situation was not as bad as Axel had feared.
"Laurie, whether you believe everything yet or not, there’s still a real possibility that Michael escaped during the prison collapse." Axel kept his voice serious without deliberately frightening her. "Until we find him, I want you somewhere protected. Staying near the police department for a few days would be safer."
Laurie immediately frowned. "Officer Vance, this still sounds insane. You want me to stop going to school and live inside a police station because some escaped murderer I don’t even remember might be looking for me?" She started to continue, but her adoptive father had already heard enough.
"Laurie, that’s enough." Her father grabbed her arm, his forehead covered in nervous sweat. "I didn’t raise you all these years just so you could prove how fearless you are when the police tell you there may be a killer looking for you. You’re going with Officer Vance, and I’m going with you."
The genuine anxiety in his expression immediately softened Laurie’s resistance. Whatever questions she had about Michael or her biological family, she could see that her father was terrified for her safety. After a moment of hesitation, she finally nodded and went inside to pack a few things.
A short time later, Laurie and her father climbed into the back of the police car while Axel took the passenger seat beside Clarice. Once they were several blocks away, Clarice lowered her voice so the Strodes could not easily hear them. "What do you think now? Laurie was our strongest lead, and Michael never showed up."
Axel shook his head. "Not finding him here doesn’t mean he grew wings and disappeared. A man Michael’s size wandering around Miami should eventually attract attention, especially if he starts behaving the way we expect." He glanced briefly through the side window before adding, "And Laurie could still be connected to whatever happened beneath the prison without consciously knowing anything about it."
Clarice kept her attention on the road. Axel lowered his voice further and said, "The easiest strategy would actually be to let Laurie continue her normal routine while we watch her from a distance. If Michael comes after her, we catch him when he makes his move."
Clarice glanced toward him with mild surprise. Using a protected person as controlled bait was the kind of tactic law-enforcement investigators might at least discuss when dealing with a predictable offender. Before she could respond, however, Axel shook his head.
"But I don’t like it," he said. "We’d be deliberately gambling with an innocent person’s life because it makes our job easier. If there’s another way to find him, I’d rather do the work ourselves."
Clarice studied him for a moment before looking back toward the road. "You know, you might actually do well with the Bureau." A faint smile appeared on her face. "You’re wasting some decent investigative instincts as a local patrol officer."
Axel immediately deepened his voice and imitated Chief Woody’s permanently irritated tone. "Didn’t you hear my chief? Federal agents are terrorists. I’ll take my chances with local police."
Clarice laughed despite herself.
The joke reduced some of the tension inside the car, and even Laurie’s father seemed slightly less nervous afterward. By the time they reached the Miami Police Department, Axel had already decided their first priority was finding somewhere secure for the Strodes to stay. He approached one of the officers on duty and asked whether a holding cell could temporarily be kept empty for them.
The officer gave him an uncomfortable look. "Technically, we have room. But you probably don’t want to put those two back there."
Axel raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Come look."
The officer led him toward the temporary holding area and opened the security door. The moment Axel stepped inside, several familiar faces appeared behind the bars. A second later, the entire section erupted.
"Well, look who it is! Officer Vance!"
"Axel! Remember your old prison buddies?"
"Come on, Officer Vance. For old times’ sake, bring us some decent food!"
Axel stared at the inmates in disbelief.
After Holden’s prison collapsed, most surviving prisoners had been transferred to other correctional facilities around Florida. A small group whose sentences were nearly finished, however, had temporarily remained in local custody while officials sorted out transfer and release paperwork. Several of those men had once lived in the same prison block as Axel.
The officer beside him shrugged. "Most of these guys have less than a month left. Nobody wanted to transfer them across the state just to process another release a couple weeks later."
Axel scratched his head.
Putting Laurie, a teenage girl, and her father in the same holding area as his former prison acquaintances was obviously not going to work. He returned to the front desk and asked the officer whether there was another secure option.
The man thought for a moment. "There’s a hotel around the corner we use sometimes for informants and witnesses who don’t need formal protective custody. The owner knows us, and patrol cars pass that block constantly."
"How close?"
"A few minutes from here."
Axel considered it. The hotel was not as secure as the police station, but it was considerably better than putting Laurie behind bars with several convicted criminals. It also kept her close enough that officers could respond almost immediately if something happened.
Laurie visibly relaxed when she heard the alternative. "A hotel sounds much better than spending the night in jail."
Axel still disliked leaving her outside direct police protection, but there were no perfect options available. After confirming the address and asking the desk officers to keep the hotel’s phone number nearby, he personally accompanied Laurie and her father there before returning to the station.
By then, evening had settled over Miami. Clarice also decided to return to her own accommodations and get some rest before continuing the investigation the next morning. Axel was preparing to leave the station himself when an unexpected visitor appeared.
"Axel, my friend!"
Warden Holden walked toward him wearing an enormous smile.
Axel immediately became suspicious.
Holden pulled an envelope from inside his jacket and handed it over. "One hundred thousand dollars, just like I promised. Cashier’s check, certified and ready to deposit."
Axel opened the envelope and stared at the amount.
$100,000.
He slowly looked up. "Didn’t I just watch you nearly cry in front of the mayor because you were supposedly broke?"
Holden waved dismissively. "That was for the politicians."
Axel stared at him.
Holden grinned. "You think I operated a prison without insurance? The facility was covered."
He leaned closer with obvious satisfaction. "Depending on how the claim works out, I might actually come out better than you think. But that has absolutely nothing to do with tomorrow, when I’ll be back at City Hall explaining how desperately I need emergency assistance."
Axel was speechless.
Holden gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder and walked away with the confident stride of a man who had somehow turned a supernatural prison disaster into another business negotiation. Watching him leave, Axel realized once again that he still understood far too little about how this version of America operated.
He looked back at the cashier’s check.
At least the money was real.
And it had arrived at exactly the right time.
Axel deposited the payment and used a small portion of it to stop at a nearby gun shop before closing. After presenting his identification and completing the required purchase paperwork, he bought a new Glock pistol along with one thousand rounds of ammunition. The owner gave him a professional discount after noticing the Miami Police credentials.
The gun shop had its own indoor range, but Axel decided against practicing there. Michael Myers was still somewhere in the city, and Axel wanted to remain close enough to the police department to hear about any new calls immediately. He packed up the ammunition and drove straight back to headquarters.
The Miami Police Department had a small underground firing range used for officer qualification and practice. Axel stepped into one of the lanes, put on hearing protection, checked his new pistol, and began firing. Every shot brought the familiar system notification.
[Police Marksmanship: EXP +1]
[Police Marksmanship: EXP +1]
[Police Marksmanship: EXP +1]
Axel settled into a steady rhythm.
Before beginning the session, Police Marksmanship Lv.1 already had 54/1000 EXP from the combat inside the collapsed prison. That meant he needed another 946 points to advance. Since ordinary range practice awarded one point per shot, the calculation was extremely simple.
Axel fired.
Reloaded.
Adjusted his stance.
Then fired again.
The noise of gunfire echoed through the underground range for a long time as ammunition disappeared box after box. Axel concentrated on maintaining a consistent grip, controlling recoil, keeping his sights aligned, and reducing the time between shots without sacrificing accuracy.
By the end of the session, his hands were sore and his shoulders ached from the repeated recoil. He loaded another magazine and continued until the last experience point finally appeared. A familiar warm sensation immediately traveled through his body.
[Police Marksmanship has reached Lv. 2.]
[Police Marksmanship Lv. 2 — 0/1000]
[Effect: Physique +0.2]
Axel lowered the Glock and stared at the updated panel with satisfaction. He had fired 946 rounds, leaving fifty-four rounds from the thousand he had purchased, but the result was more important than the ammunition. His second specialization had officially reached Level 2.
After a short rest, Axel raised the pistol again and tested the difference.
The improvement was immediate.
His grip felt more natural, recoil recovery became smoother, and the muzzle returned to the target faster after every shot. Movements that had required deliberate concentration earlier now felt increasingly instinctive.
Axel fired several controlled sequences and examined the targets. At roughly ten meters, he estimated that even while firing rapidly, he could now keep around sixty percent of his shots where he wanted them. That was nowhere near elite marksmanship, but it was a substantial improvement for someone who had barely begun seriously developing the specialization.
Satisfied, Axel unloaded the pistol and started gathering the spent brass scattered around his lane. He had barely begun cleaning when the firing-range door suddenly opened. One of the officers on duty stuck his head inside with a tense expression.
"Vance! Get upstairs!"
Axel immediately straightened. "What happened?"
"Chief Woody wants everyone in his office. Now."
Axel holstered the Glock and followed him upstairs.
Several officers had already gathered inside Chief Woody’s office by the time Axel arrived. Some looked exhausted after everything that had happened during the last few days, while others were clearly struggling to stay awake. Woody solved that problem by slamming one hand against his desk hard enough to make everyone jump.
"Wake the hell up!" he roared. "We just got a homicide call from an alley on the west side."
The room immediately became quiet.
Woody grabbed his jacket.
"Three bodies."
Axel’s expression changed.
Chief Woody pointed toward the door.
"Everybody grab your gear."
"We’re going to the scene."
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P1treon: Soulforger (20+advance Chapters)