Fate Within Time

The crisp night air enveloped the city as its inhabitants rested, unaware of the impending chaos that would soon shatter the tranquility.

A phone call blared through police and military headquarters, piercing the silence like a siren wail.

“Code 111, heavy alert. All units informed.”

Within seconds, the once quiet command centers transformed into hives of activity.

“Attention, Private First Class Leo, fall in line with your platoon,” a voice echoed from the speaker, and Leo, who had just finished having his coffee, rushed out of the office.

"Align,” he said, holding his military telephone, and he passed the order.

In one minute, they all stood in the hall with other team members. When the lieutenant walked in, he was in his fifties and looked tense.

"Where is Sergeant Enzo?” he asked after scanning through the hall. He wanted Enzo to handle the situation because he was reliable.

Enzo’s best friend, Leo, raised a hand before saying, “Sergeant Enzo was giving the night off, sir.” He yelled at the top of his voice.

The lieutenant clenched his fist; there was no time to wait for Enzo because the biggest and most wanted criminal was on the run.

“THE SHADOW WAS SPOTTED,” he blurted out, and they all became alert; they knew that every time he showed up, someone of higher rank or position must die.

“Private Leo, lead your team to Judge Walle’s mansion now.” His voice echoed around the room. Leo nodded before glaring at his platoons.

“Ahead, ahead," he said, and they all hurried out of the building holding their weapons.

They got into the van and drove away. Leo had a nervous look, as this kind of affair was always handled by Enzo.

“Sir, if we catch him, just imagine the reward we will receive,” one of the platoons said, and Leo nodded. That's right. He has always wanted a promotion like Enzo.

“So let’s all do our best,” he scolded, and they all nodded.

Leo wished to see the SHADOW face; the man always comes masked and dressed in all black. And before he goes, he leaves a note on a bunch of balloons. The note had just one sentence: “The Shadow was here.”

Finally, they arrived at Judge Walle’s mansion and drove in. They immediately went down the van and surrounded the area. Leo was nervous, but he knew his team was in charge now; he had always wanted to be in charge.

He signaled his men to block all possible exit entrances, and then they spotted the security men of the judge, who lay down covered in a pool of blood.

“Check their pulse,” he whispered to one of the platoons, who placed two fingers on their necks, then shook his head, signaling that they were dead.

“We are going in, in three, two, one." They kicked the door hard before holding their guns in and hurried inside. The huge sitting room was quiet as they found the maids on the floor, but they were not dead; they were tied.

“Where is the Judge?” Leo asked one of them after untying them, and the maid trembled before pointing upstairs.

“You both get the footage, and we will check on the judge. Get the footage before it gets deleted,” he gave an order to two of his men before slowly walking upstairs with the others.

They stood in front of Judge Walle’s bedroom for thirty seconds before kicking the door open. They all gasped in shock, seeing that he was hanging from the ceiling with a rope around his neck.

“Holy crab,” one of the men said in disbelief.

Then they saw a bunch of balloons in the bathroom; they had a note: “The shadow was here.”

Leo kicked the bed angrily. “We can’t miss him; he must be around,” he scolded, and they all hurried outside while some men brought the judge down. He was already dead, and there were bruises on his face; it showed he was beaten.

They searched the whole facility, but there was no one. Leo couldn't do anything because he was in charge of the judge’s mansion, so another team must be in charge of tracking down the shadow.

“Private Leo, the footage... You might want to see this.” One of his team members, Chris, hurried towards him.

Leo walked to the sitting room with a frustrated look as a laptop was placed in front of him.