Code Of Conduct

Chapter 28

FINAL HOUR: PART 2.

SEO-JUN.

C H E C K M A T E.

I finally had all the letters to the missing puzzle and everything together spelled "CHECKMATE." Standing here and realizing that I had just been played again by the Chessman I can't help but laugh at my own gullibility, at my need to always see things through to the end because I think I'm smarter than everyone else.

Again, Chess had played an interesting game with me, one I'm not sure whether I'm the loser or winner since we'll both be getting something out of it but I still can't help but feel a little chaffed at how easily he was able to manipulate me. Now that I was at the end everything finally made sense; the hostage situation, Kelly's words at Redemption, and Chessman's game of cat and mouse that had me running all over the city like a dog with a bone to hunt.

I finally had it here in my hand, the big picture.

Chuckling at the kid's brilliant mind I'm not even sure how to be mad right now, I've been left completely speechless.

"Alec." I call out at my partner who's been silently watching me with a worried look on his face, I probably look like a mad person right now and I don't blame him. "Get his arrest warrant ready and get some officers on standby to carry out the arrest." I order as I pick up my phone and jacket.

"Where are you going?" Alec asks as I head out the door.

"To meet the mastermind behind this game." I throw back over my shoulder and leave the house. The drive back is relatively short and when I return to the temporary stakeout location everything is a complete mess and Sienna looks about ready to tear someone in half.

"What's going on?" I ask as I make my way into the tent and walk toward her. She looks frustrated and angered her hands going through her hair impulsively as she paces.

"Tobias Salazar, he's gone." Sienna says slowly and as I register the words a smile grows on my face. This just keeps getting better and better.

"Are you smiling right now, do you think this entire situation is funny?" Sienna asks disbelief lining her face and words as she stares at me.

"No Sienna I don't think it's funny, on the contrary, I find this whole thing interesting." I tell her and she looks at me confused. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe they really wanted Tobias and weren't in there to rob the bank."

"Are you still hanging on to that theory? Seo-Jun it seems you don't understand what's going on here so let me explain it to you." Sienna says and then draws closer. "We just lost one of the top ten most wanted men in the world, not only that we also just lost the only bargaining chip we had in this hostage situation. If we've lost the bargaining chip, what do you think is going to happen now?" She asks.

Her words rang true and echoed loudly in my head, we'd lost the most important bargaining chip.

"If you've lost the bargaining chip then that means you have nothing to hold over their heads and since they've gotten what they wanted they have no reason to be here anymore." I say the words slowly as I speak to myself but Sienna is listening intently and then it clicks. "Sienna, they have no reason to be here anymore." I repeat the words, it takes her a moment, but she finally understands, and her eyes widened at the thought.

Sienna turns to move, I'm not sure what she planned to do next but the echoing sound of a bomb going off has us all momentarily frazzled as we stop and instinctively take cover from the oncoming danger. When the aftermath of the explosion finally settles everyone runs outside to see what had happened and we realize the explosion had come from inside the bank.