Episode 4: The First Attack
684 Words
Episode 4: The First Attack
Detective Emma Carter barely sleeps that night. The black sedan parked outside her apartment lingers for hours before finally driving away. By then, the damage is done. She knows she’s being watched.
Morning comes too soon, and Emma, running on caffeine and instinct, heads to the precinct. She’s met with wary glances from colleagues, as if word has spread that she’s stepping on the wrong toes. She pushes past the unease and checks her email.
A new message. No sender. No subject. Just coordinates.
Her pulse quickens. Could this be a trap? Most likely. But it could also be her first real lead.
She grabs her coat and heads out, ignoring the anxious voice in her head telling her to turn back.
---
The coordinates lead her to an abandoned parking garage on the outskirts of the city. The structure is crumbling, covered in graffiti, the kind of place where things happen in silence.
Emma steps out of her car, scanning the area. Empty. Silent.
Then, movement. A shadow flickers near one of the concrete pillars.
She reaches for her g*n but hesitates as a man steps into the dim light. Mid-40s, gaunt, paranoid eyes.
“You’re Carter?” he asks, voice trembling.
Emma studies him. “That depends. Who are you?”
The man glances around as if expecting someone to lunge from the darkness. “I was Rachel’s source. She—she found something. Something big. And now she’s gone.”
Emma tenses. “Gone where?”
Before he can answer, a gunshot shatters the silence.
The man stiffens, a red blossom spreading across his chest. He collapses to the ground.
Emma barely has time to react before a second shot rings out—aimed at her.
She dives behind a concrete barrier as the bullet ricochets. Someone is trying to silence them both.
Heart pounding, she peeks out, spotting a dark figure near the entrance, g*n raised. She fires back, forcing the shooter to retreat. Tires screech as a black car speeds away.
Silence returns, leaving only the dying man gasping for breath.
Emma rushes to his side. His lips move, barely a whisper.
“They… erase… everything.”
And then, he’s gone.
---
Back at the precinct, Emma slams her report onto her desk, frustration boiling over.
A witness murdered. A near-fatal ambush. And yet, no evidence. No cameras. No license plate. No way to trace the shooter. It’s like the whole attack never happened.
Captain Reynolds calls her into his office. He looks exhausted. “Carter, I just got off the phone with Internal Affairs. You were involved in a shooting—on a missing person’s case that’s already attracting attention.”
Emma glares at him. “Someone tried to kill me, Captain. And they succeeded in killing my only lead.”
Reynolds exhales, rubbing his temples. “Look, Emma. I get it. You want answers. But whoever’s behind this? They have power. Influence. If you keep digging, you might not like what you find.”
Emma leans forward, voice firm. “Rachel Dawson didn’t just disappear. She was taken. And I’m going to find out why.”
Reynolds studies her, then sighs. “Then be careful. Because if they tried to kill you once, they’ll try again.”
---
That night, Emma returns home, g*n close, every muscle tense. She locks the door, double-checking the windows.
She’s halfway through reviewing her notes when a chill runs down her spine.
Something is off.
She stands, scanning the room. Nothing looks out of place, but the air feels… wrong.
Then she sees it.
On the coffee table, her case files are gone.
In their place sits a single slip of paper.
Four words, scrawled in red ink:
“Stop now, or you’re next.”
Emma grips the note, jaw tightening.
Someone had been inside her home. Watching. Waiting.
They want her to stop.
But all they’ve done is confirm what she already knew.
Rachel Dawson didn’t vanish. She was erased.
And Emma is getting closer to the truth.
Closer than they want her to be.
- Writer
