Deadlock || ᴠᴍɪɴ

Chapter 6

One morning two days later, the situation took another drastic turn. After hearing shocking news from Heiden, Jimin and Rob headed as fast as they could to the FBI headquarters.

Heiden was on the phone with someone when Jimin burst into his office. He eyed Jimin looking like he was about to have an outburst, and signalled with a dark glance to restrain himself. He continued the call as he sat on the edge of his desk.

“Understood. I’ll leave immediately. Yes. I’ll get in touch again later.”

Heiden hung up the phone and gestured in annoyance at them to take a seat on the sofa. Jimin spoke up immediately.

“What’s this about, Heiden? Could you explain?”

“It’s exactly what I told you on the phone. Someone claiming to be the perpetrator of the serial bombings just turned himself in at the Chicago Field Office. An agent over there is currently investigating, but I plan to fly over there as well right away. —Here’s a photo of the guy that Chicago sent. His name is John Baker.”

Heiden placed a printed photo in front of Jimin. It was a white man in his mid-thirties, but Jimin didn’t even have to pick up the photo to know that it wasn’t Corvus. Even if he made the generous assumption that he had gotten dramatic plastic surgery, his frame was still nothing like Corvus’.

“This is definitely not Corvus.”

“I figured as much. I don’t think Baker is Corvus, either. But he’s definitely involved in the bombings. He has information that only the perpetrator would know. Even physical evidence.”

Heiden was packing his documents into a bag when a subordinate who was accompanying him to Chicago appeared. Once he was ready, Heiden slung his coat over his arm and made for the door.

“Did he say that he was Corvus’ subordinate?” Jimin asked.

“No,” said Heiden, stopping mid-step. “They’re interrogating him, but he keeps claiming that there were no accomplices. Anyway, we’re still waiting on the details. I’ll get in touch if we learn anything new.”

With that, Heiden left the room with his subordinate in tow.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rob murmured. Jimin couldn’t agree more.

Corvus had been a shadowy figure until now. However, just when he finally starting to take shape, someone had suddenly appeared who could be the central piece of the case. Not only that, he was claiming that he was a lone perpetrator. He had no idea who this man might be, but what was the reason for his timing?

The bad feeling that Jimin and Rob had turned out to be right. The FBI concluded that John Baker, the man who had turned himself in, was the perpetrator of the serial bombings. They had even decided to reorient their investigation based on the premises that Baker was a lone wolf, as they had found his statements to be credible.

Once Heiden returned to DC, Jimin argued with him vehemently. Even if Baker were the perpetrator, there was no doubt that he was backed by White Heaven and Corvus. Why were they suddenly trying to wrap up the case without trying to get to the bottom of it? Nothing about it made sense.

“Tell me why, Heiden. It doesn’t make sense that you’d take Baker’s word for it.”

Heiden only returned a cold stare at Jimin’s confrontational attitude.

“His testimony was too perfect. Of course, there are still a lot of unknowns, but there’s no mistake that he was involved in the bombings.”

“But that doesn’t make him a lone wolf. He would have been acting on Corvus’ orders.”