Reborn Heart of Steel

I was half-lying in my chair, my fingers lightly drumming on the arm of it, and my eyes fixed on the heading across the top of the front page of the morning talkshow. There, in bold letters, the headline screamed: ” ‘The raven caged; city’s most notorious criminal mastermind finally behind bars. ‘

Next to me was Chase twitching on the chair, his feet rested on the table and he had the same grin on his face. “We did it, Brianne,” he mimed throwing back coffee in what he hoped was a victorious manner. Silent stars, as everyone calls us, we have cracked what people refer to as the case of the century.

I smiled, and then shook my head. “Oh you watch it, Chase, don’t you. We had a lot of help. ”

“Yeah, right but we were the ones who saw the links and got The notorious organisation eliminated. The Phoenix Club”

The Raven. Even to mention the name of the criminal mastermind gave me the goose bumps. He had been pulling the strings for virtually all the significant crimes in the city for years. Robberies of banks, thefts of artworks, embezzlements of firms, you could bet bottom dollar, The Raven was at the back of them all. For many years he had been quite clever in avoiding policemen’s traps; he was always one step ahead of them.

Until now.

I permitted myself half an hour of pride. For, this proved to be an arduous mission, a process of weeks, if not for quite months, of vigil, blind alleys, and narrow squeaks. But thank God we had finally done it. In a way, we had unmasked ‘The Raven’ and had brought him to justice.

“So, Brianne. “People normally ask, ‘How does it feel to be the hero of the hour?'”

Before I could come up with an answer my mobile phone rang. On the phone screen, it depicted ‘Agent Harris, FBI’. Perhaps just phoning to congratulate us, I remarked to myself as I picked the call. “Agent Harris”, I said,

It almost became a game for me but hearing the next words that just made me shake in my boots. “Brianne,” Harris’s voice was stiff, and although he was clearly biting back hysteria, I could still hear it ringing in his voice.

“The Raven has escaped. ”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

My world moved off its axis in what seemed like a fairly innocent accident. I had my hands on the edge of the desk and my knuckles were white. “What? How? When?” With this, Jack could feel something was off and he immediately set up in a more alert position, leaving happy-go-lucky Chase behind. “It happened about an hour ago,” Harris went on to say. The woman nodded. “We are still trying to unravel some of the things but, as far as we can tell, he had inside assistance. ” The policeman sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. “We are completely locked down, but the bastard is walking around free, Brianne. ” My mind was reeling. The Raven, free again. All our efforts and grueling clamors shot to the dogs in just a snap of a finger. “I need your help” I said this, begging my voice not to crack. “We are transferring to a command centre at the precinct immediately,” the officer of higher rank said and then continued, “I want you, Chase and Assandro there together with all the officers who were involved in the case. ” “Right,” I said and put down the telephone. I turned to look at Chase who was concern looking at me. “Lucy? What’s wrong?” I exhaled, preparing myself for the situation which was going to happen in the next few moments. “The Raven’s escaped. ” It is an espresso that though Chase is fully intending to move the mug away slightly, his hand shakes heavily and he drops the mug to the ground. It was preceded by silence in our office and it seems like the sound amplified in this dead-like silence. They looked at each other and Paul muttered something that the others did not quite hear him say, “That’s… that’s impossible”. That is exactly what we did to him and this is told and shown through the words; ‘We just put him away. ‘ The security-” “He had inside help,” I interrupted him; I was already on my feet and putting on my jacket. “Harris needs us at the precinct. He is establishing an operation center. ” Leaving the office we immediately started to try and find out how such a thing could have happened. The Raven was our white whale; in fact, it was the case that had taken over our lives for the past one year. And then, as the worst seemed to be over, the game had started all over again all the same. There was relative activity in the precinct when we got there. Call bells chimed, officers went to and from, and the atmosphere was filled with pent up tension. The moment we entered the building Captain Reeves recognized us and waved for us to follow him to a conference room that had been transformed into a war room. “Brianne, Chase,” he said and looked at both of us as stern as stone. “Pleased to see you. ” Someone said as Harris proceeded to brief all the members. Upon arriving to the room we realized that almost everyone we encountered during the time we worked on the task force to arrest The Raven was there. Agent Harris stood front in the room, his seemingly always clean shaven face and neat hair unkempt. “Now that we are all here,” he said, over the voices that began to rise and merge into a low hum, “I will tell you what is known. ” He pressed a button on a remote, and the video feed of the interior of the building filled the screen at the back. It brought The Raven or, specifically, the man we’d come to call The Raven, being led down a prison hallway by two guards. “This was taken about 90 minutes ago,” Harris managed to say. “Dr Finch has been transferred to another ward; this is because this is the time he goes out for activities. “