Chapter 30 - raw

Seeing the 2D high-density urethane signage: Maple Villas; Seraphina multiplied her speed, plowing to the estate entrance which alerted the whole village security team.

Although Maple Villas was a place for elite families and the imperturbable city was considered one of the safest city, it's shortcoming was their negligence in the security system. Having this knowledge, it gave Seraphina an easy entrance.

Though she was being chased by the estate patrol team, it was impossible to a normal motorbike to catch up with a sports bike such as Ducati Panigale V4. Therefore, the patrol team resorted calling for police reinforcement.

Spotting a familiar villa, Seraphina swiftly pulled the AR-15 pistol that clung hidden beneath her oversized leather black jacket and started rattling the specific residence with ammo as if she was Johnny Rambo.(1)

The patrol group did expect for the worst but were mortified at the current occurrence. Having the situation getting out of control, they raised the perpetrator danger to code red.

"Situation getting out of control, over! Asking for back up!"

"Ducati Panigale V3 is armed, over!"

"Block all possible exit around Maple Villa."

The loud noise of police mobile siren started to get louder as the authorities that were chasing her were all over the place.

"Tch. All they do is scare their citizen!" She mumbled.

Seraphina plows into the sidewalk causing people to jump in the panic-- getting out of the way. She turned to a narrow alley that only motorcycles could fit, thus, her pursuers were abruptly stopped.

The revving sound of the motorbike synchronizes with her racing heart due to the adrenaline rush. The familiar feeling of the thrill she almost forgot once again consumed her —she felt very much alive.

She was left with no choice.

Seeing the suspect grab something from his jacket and revealed a small dark green, oval-shaped with a circular pin on top before throwing it to their direction; the crowd immediately abandoned their police cars and jumped to the farthest they could.

"Grenade!"

The perpetrator raised his speed. Before the grenade could land, he already passed through their abandoned cars.

As the grenade landed, only the sound of the continues sirens was heard, the deafening sound of the explosion they expected was not heard.

Everyone was cautious as they looked at the grenade direction.

After a minute of no reaction from the supposed bomb, a courageous young cop went closer to its direction. He plucked all his courage to reach at the little green looking bomb but was left petrified —the grenade was not a true bomb after all.

They continued to pursue the suspect but the short time they paused pursuing the suspect was a great amount of time for escaped. As if she vanished from the air— she disappeared, just like that.

What left them alerted was whilst the ruckus at the city, the cold war was also taking place between the authorities intelligence team and some unknown hacker who was deleting all original files of the suspect and sending, planting different viruses to their system.

The Central City Chief police, Emanuel had a grave expression along with the City Mayor, Xhang Xioabai and some higher-up authorities.

"One person! Just one person and you let him escaped?!!" the Mayor spoke as he poured his rage towards the people inside the room.

"Sir, the perpetrator seems to be experienced and deliberately went to the most crowded places. We cannot open fire to avoid civilians getting hurt.." the chief police explained. If the mayor was agitated, what more to him? It was double the humiliation as the Police Chief of Central City.

"any casualties?" the mayor asked trying to calm himself.

"No civilians were harmed, Sir. Only a few of my team had minor injuries."

"Investigate this matter thoroughly. As for the family, Leanie, clear my schedule tomorrow I shall visit old man Yue." The mayor said his last remarks to Leanie, his secretary before dismissing everyone.

Reaching his office, the mayor deeply sighed recalling the incident. For 3 decades of being the mayor of Central City, for the love for his country, he has done everything possible for the exchange of peace and safety of the city.

Thinking of people who could have done the disturbance of the city, he felt deeply aggravated. After all,  he was not the guy he used to be. Whether it was a personal grudge to the said family or a political rival to test his authority, he could not assume but what is clear to him was there is a dangerous person lurking inside Central City.

After pondering for a while, the mayor withdrew a smartphone from his desk drawers. Staring at the black thing, hesitation was plastered all over his face as his finger tremble to turn on the phone.

"No… not yet," he mumbles, putting the mysterious phone back inside the drawer. He let out another heavy sigh.