Chapter Four: Douglas

Douglas awoke from his coma.

His eyes were sore and he was in severe pain. He was sitting on a bench, and the winter wind of Rice City was cutting into his face like a knife.

It took Douglas nearly five minutes to slowly regain his composure. He found himself with his hands propped up on a briefcase with a hat pressed underneath. It was against this bag that he had fallen asleep. A deep indentation remained on his forehead.

He looked around and judging by the shadows on the ground, it was almost three in the afternoon.

He began to ask himself why he was here, and why he had fallen asleep on this bench.

He found that he couldn't think of anything else. He couldn't remember what he was up to, where he came from, or even his name. Douglas felt as if he had been hollowed out by something, with only a torso remaining in the world.

There was a sudden burning sensation on the inside of his right arm. He hurriedly pushed open his sleeve and found a small pinwheel pattern in that spot. It was a tattoo. He touched it with his left index finger and realized that the burning sensation was not an illusion. That pinwheel tattoo was really burning. He suddenly lost interest in the tattoo. Putting the sleeve down.

He opened the briefcase. Inside were three photos. Two women and one man.

The first woman wore glasses and a beautiful high ponytail. Dressed in a decent black work outfit, she is smiling faintly for the camera. The photo reads "The Boots".

The second male is slightly older, with short gray hair that does not hide the sharpness in his eyes. The photo reads "Smith".

The third female has short hair and wears a beautiful purple hair band, and appears to be the youngest of the three. The photo reads "The Necklace".

And underneath the three photos, written in bold pen were two words: kill them.

Douglas looked down and saw a forty centimeter long hunting knife with a leather sheath and some cash. And next to these things were several paper cards.

On them were written "1 Red Rock Island Lighthouse," "2 Green Garden Hotel," "3 Lexwood 30002," and "4 Smith Building. "

A combination of numbers and place names. Douglas thought the messages were asking him to "visit" these places in turn.

He couldn't tell who had written them, and he didn't recognize the people in the photos at all. But in the bottom of his heart, he had a very persistent belief that he must kill these three people.

Douglas pinned his hunting knife into his belt and stood up. His windbreaker was still covered with a few snowflakes from the snowfall earlier. He put on his hat, not bothering with the creases in it. He took slow steps, feeling his knees and ankles stiffen from the prolonged beating of the cold wind.

He walked to a newsstand and bought a map of Rice City. On it he found Red Rock Island. He looked at the sky and the shadows of the trees on the ground and estimated the time. It would take about two hours to get to the island by foot plus the ferry. He lifted his briefcase and set off.

Red Rock Island was just as its name implied, with several of the island's large rocks tinged with a deep red color due to the iron element.

Douglas broke away from the line of sightseeing tourists and walked alone straight to the lighthouse at the top of the hill. The Red Rock Island lighthouse was still working, but the tower had been eroded and stained by years of sea winds. A small flag was planted at the top of the tower, and the end of the flag was tattered from the ravages of the long gales.

He didn't find anything under the tower that he could keep an eye on. He then pushed open the door to the lighthouse and began to make his way up the spiral staircase.

The inside of the lighthouse was cold and scary. Some of the fishermen's gear hung on the walls, and the harpoons and hooks felt like they would fall on Douglas any minute and make him bleed. But Douglas didn't look at these things for more than a few moments, he just kept walking upwards, the terrible atmosphere didn't affect him at all.

He reached the top of the lighthouse and saw a sleeping "giant eye". It was still dark and the huge searchlight had not yet begun its work. Douglas walked on the wooden floor without making a sound, as if he was intentionally trying to avoid awakening the giant eye. He looked around and spotted a small iron pinwheel on a beam. The pinwheel was conventionally shaped, nothing like the tattoo on his arm. But Douglas knew it was enough that it caught his eye. He dropped his briefcase, grabbed the beam with one hand, and sent himself up with a single effort. He reached down to pick up the pinwheel and did not find anything. He then probed over and tapped his hand on the beam where the pinwheel had just been inserted, and in one spot it sounded decidedly different. Douglas took out his hunting knife, found a gap, and stuck it in. With only a slight pry, the plank popped up. It turned out that there was a secret compartment here.

Douglas took out a tarpaulin-wrapped bag from the secret compartment. Then he put both the plank and the pinwheel back in place. Jumped to the floor. The moment he landed, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, and the whole world turned upside down. He braced himself for a while, but finally he couldn't fight the terrible drowsiness. The whole man collapsed.

Douglas felt a flash of light. He sat up with a jerk and tried to open his eyes, but immediately covered them with his hands. He crawled to one side and took a long time to get his glasses to adjust to his surroundings.

It was already getting dark, and the lighthouse's searchlight had been turned on automatically. He had almost looked directly into that light just now. If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have lost his eyes. Douglas picked up the tarpaulin bag he had found earlier and pulled a pistol, a silencer, and two boxes of bullets from it.

His emotions didn't fluctuate at the sight of this murderous tool. He just felt that with these he would be able to take care of the people in the picture more efficiently.

At night Red Rock was closed to ferry service. Douglas found a small wooden boat used for shore cleaning work, then picked up a long plank removed from a fence lining the shore and used it as an oar. Rowing the boat, he drifted toward the beach at Rice City.

By the time he reached the shore, it was dark. He looked at the moon and the stars and realized that it was about 8:00 pm.

He was slightly disappointed in himself. That bout of unconsciousness had delayed him too much. He needed to get to the location written on the second card in time: the Green Garden Hotel now. Douglas pulled out the map again, which showed that the hotel was not far from this beach.

Suddenly, Douglas raised his head and looked to the roof of a building not far away.

But there was nothing there. He had just had a violent and uneasy feeling as if someone was watching him. He didn't think it was an illusion, and then he reached down and turned on the safety of the pistol hanging on the inside of his windbreaker. A machine for silent killing kicked in at that moment. Despite the loss of memory, Douglas understood that the three men in this photo were to be left to die in the dark. He would have to dispose of the bodies if necessary. If he spooked the police and attracted their attention, he could be arrested before he could complete all the assassinations.

A few minutes later, Douglas had reached a café across the street from the Green Garden Hotel. Using the brim of his hat and the high collar of his trench coat as concealment, he scanned the front door of the hotel. All people coming and going from the hotel had to use this gate. Customers who drove cars also needed to wait here for the doorman to bring their cars through.

After a few minutes, a woman in a leather jacket immediately caught Douglas' attention. He recognized her instantly, despite the distance, as the woman with the note "The Boots". The woman seemed to be standing in the doorway talking on the phone. Knowing that this was an opportunity, Douglas immediately got up and walked out of the café. But when he got to the door of the café, opened it and looked again, "The Boots" was no longer there. Douglas' pinwheel tattoo was glowing, and not wanting to lose sight of his target, he immediately walked up and tried to find her.

"The Boot" just disappeared as if she had suddenly become invisible. Walking up to the hotel entrance Douglas still lost his target. But he suddenly realized that there was a light green sticky note taped to the hotel's revolving glass door. He walked up and took down the piece of paper. Seeing it read, "Dear Douglas, Smith will be waiting for you tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in the basement of the Smith building."

He felt a pang of frustration. Not only had he been spotted by The Boot, but he even knew that Smith was among his targets. He didn't care if the Douglas on the sticky note was his name or not. All he could think about was completing the mission. He was convinced deep in his mind that these three people had to die or there would be great calamity. He didn't know if this kind of thinking was given to him by the man he was before his amnesia. But now he was alive for the purpose of accomplishing these three kills.

However, it was also clear to him that "The Boots" might be moved down the list for the time being. He had been exposed and his target was on alert. It would be very difficult to find her now. He now had to move on to a third location, Lexwood.

Douglas was driving a cab on his way to Lexwood. He had just stolen the car from an unlucky driver who had gotten out of his car to go shopping and left the keys in. He had removed the car radio and license plate to prevent it from being tracked. There was little traffic on the streets at night, and in less than thirty minutes Douglas had arrived .

Lexwood was an area located in the southern part of Rice City. This place belonged to the old city of Rice City. The houses all around looked quite old. He found a small neighborhood by following the zip code address 30002. He immediately noticed a house. That house looked more dilapidated than the others. The weeds in the front lawn weren't too high, but you could tell it hadn't been tended to in a while.

Douglas's pinwheel tattoo was starting to heat up vaguely again. He grabbed one of the wrenches from the toolbox in his car and pried the door right open.

He stepped gingerly into the house and immediately smelled an odor of dust mixed with mold. It had been a long time since anyone had been here. The room was not electrified, and Douglas didn't have any light source. He could only explore the room with the little moonlight that filtered into the house from outside. But just as Douglas reached the kitchen, the familiar vertigo hit him again.

Douglas tried to hurry back outside, fearing that if he fainted here he would be discovered by any target that might appear at any moment. But he could no longer control his body. An even stronger wave of dizziness engulfed him. Both his eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground.

By the time Douglas awoke, it was dawn. He glanced outside at the shadows of the trees; it was now about 9:00 in the morning. Douglas scrutinized the entire building again. No one should have been here since last night. His tattoo was still slightly warm, but he knew that he couldn't waste any more time in this place. None of the three lives to be solved had been killed yet.

He turned on that cab and prepared to head back into town. Perhaps he should have gone ahead and scouted out the building “The Boot” had told him about. He was worried that it was a trap, but he didn't want to miss any opportunity to kill the target on his list.

Douglas felt hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since he woke up yesterday. It was as if his amnesia had erased his hunger as well. But the truth was it hadn't, and now he was so hungry he couldn't see with both eyes.

He pulled up in front of a restaurant down the road, grabbed his briefcase, and entered the store.

He didn't wait for the waiter to say welcome to him, but immediately pointed to a sandwich on one of the store's posters and indicated that he wanted a takeaway.

The waiter took the money and then suddenly said to Douglas "It's been a long time!"

The look on the waiter's face indicated that he wasn't talking nonsense. What kind of coincidence could it be that he chose a random restaurant on the side of the road that was actually the place he used to frequent before he lost his memory. Douglas didn't want to draw too much attention to himself and immediately waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want to say much. The waiter saw that he did not want to say, also did not ask more questions.

Back in the car Douglas began to wolf down his sandwich. He was hungrier than he thought he was.

After one bite of beef that almost choked him, he decided to eat slowly anyway. He pulled out the map and started looking for the location of the Smith Building. He spent a good amount of time flipping through the directory, looking almost everywhere on the map, but couldn't find the address of the building.

His pinwheel tattoo was starting to heat up again. Douglas touched his arm impatiently and took his eyes off the map.

It was The Necklace!

Douglas couldn't believe that the woman was in a car not far from him, just about to leave the place. She had just come to this restaurant as well!

He regretted that he hadn't stayed at the restaurant to eat. But he didn't want to think about it any more, The Necklace was getting away from him. He flipped the safety on his gun and stomped after it.

"The Necklace's car was going very fast. Douglas needed his full attention on the highway to not lose her. As they neared the center of town, Douglas decided that following her like this was no longer an option. He slammed his foot on the gas and revved the cab's engine to maximum. The car shot off like an arrow and slammed right into the back of The Necklace. Douglas was blindsided by the sudden impact. When he came to his senses, he realized that the car hadn't been overturned or set on fire. Instead, it had hit a concrete pier at a strange angle. Douglas was about to get out of the car when suddenly the pinwheel tattoo on his arm became hotter.

He turns his head and sees that it's "The Boot" from last night! She's creeping up on The Necklace's car, and The Necklace is now climbing out of the car, ready to run.

Douglas weighed the odds. The Boots had spotted him last night. If he let this opportunity pass, he might never see her again. He grabbed his gun and briefcase, opened the car door and ran out. He pretends to be leaving the scene, moving to the sidewalk. He used the briefcase to conceal the pistol behind his trench coat and then pulled the trigger.

After all, the shot was fired from a concealed position and only hit the newspaper box next to "The Boots". She was immediately alerted and ducked behind a garbage truck. Douglas mentally cursed himself, then put his gun away and continued to observe the situation.

Some of the people were already calling the police. Not far away a police car that was patrolling past the area was also heading this way. Douglas felt bad, and immediately dismissed the idea of going after The Boot. He saw The Boots running down an alley and knew the assassination had failed.

Douglas quickly left the scene of the crash. He was afraid that someone would identify him as the victim of the crash, and it would be hard for him to account for the stolen car. Encountering two targets at once, he didn't even manage to take out one of them himself. What a shame.

It was around twelve noon. Douglas had learned where the original Smith Building was by asking passersby. It turned out that after that mall went out of business, its information was removed from the paper map.

The building wasn't too far away, and it had taken him an hour to already find it. The inside of the building was surprising to Douglas. It had indeed been completely abandoned. Evidence that homeless people had spent the night here lingered in a number of corners on the first floor. Douglas found a perfect spot in the pile of wooden crates in the basement. He then ambushed Smith and waited for him to arrive.

Douglas stared intently at the shadow cast by the window on the floor. The movement of that shadow was like an uncannily accurate clock, signaling to him the arrival of four o'clock.

It was just about three-thirty when Douglas sensed someone coming. He looked through the gap and identified the one who came as Smith.

"Ms. Sturluson?" Smith was calling out a name.

Douglas squeezed out of the gap, clutching his briefcase, and prepared to shoot while Smith's back was turned to him.

But he didn't realize that Smith had already sensed the movement behind him, and he turned and fired a shot at Douglas before Douglas could raise his gun.

Douglas did not expect such a change. The shot hit him directly in the chest. He fell backward.

"Oh, it's Mr. Baker." Smith took his gun back to the holster on his waist. Walked toward Douglas.

"Did you and Ms. Sturluson conspire in all this?" Smith had a cocky look on his face.

Smith approached Douglas and knelt down to examine his "body". When he lifted his windbreaker, he found a black briefcase on Douglas' chest. The bullet he had just fired was embedded in the briefcase.

When Smith realized what had happened, it was already too late. A hunting knife had been viciously stabbed in his chest. Douglas gasped for breath and stared at him in the face.

With an expression of disbelief, Smith slowly stepped backward.

"Mr. Baker, yes, I'm sorry..."

Smith fell backwards.

Douglas moved in with his gun raised to see the solid stab. It was impossible for Smith to open his eyes again.

As he tried to go to pull the knife out, he suddenly noticed a necklace Smith was wearing. Douglas took the necklace into his hand and suddenly felt a town of warmth. He hadn't felt such a warm temperature since he woke up on the bench.

The necklace was a small clear crystal box containing a very small wafer. The crystal box was glowing slightly at the moment. Douglas was pleasantly surprised to find that the heating felt just like his own tattoo.

But at that very moment, his head began to dizzy again. This time Douglas was prepared. He grabbed the crystal box and ran out of the basement as fast as he could. Smith's gunshot just now might have been heard, and if he fainted inside the basement, he would risk being arrested by the arriving police. The hunting knife would have to stay there. Or he could return later, and if the body was still there and no police had come, he could recover the hunting knife without delay.

The dizziness lasted a very long time this time. Douglas forced himself to push through the pain and ran wildly down the road. He stumbled for I don't know how long, and he ran into a children's entertainment setup in a neighborhood. He lay down on a slide and lost consciousness again afterward.

The heat from the crystal box and tattoo woke the unconscious Douglas. He slowly rose from the slide and looked for his target. He had come to trust the tattoo completely. It glowed whenever a target was nearby. Of course this time was no exception.

Douglas spotted "The Boot" on a road. The attack begins.

His first three shots fell short. As if she could predict his attack, the woman ran into a construction site and dodged the first wave of bullets. And she was armed, too, and nearly hit Douglas with several consecutive counter shots. That made the whole thing tricky. Douglas and the woman kept testing each other, occasionally changing cover in the construction site.

Just as Douglas was hiding by a pile of dirt and was changing the magazines on his pistol. A bell rang.

"Doug!"

"Douglas!"

" Fool!"

Countless voices began to ring inside Douglas' head. It was as if his heart began to beat for the first time. It was as if his soul had been repaired by someone. He looked in the direction of the bell, something was calling him. He picked up his briefcase and staggered back down the street.

What boots and necklaces, what Smiths, none of these mattered more than one person.

Douglas's pace grew faster and faster. He was going to meet someone, and he began to run wildly. He disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Four o'clock in the morning. Inside the Smith building, a few federal police officers were doing the last of the finishing touches. The sound of a door opening sounded behind them.

"I thought you said you were going home first. Did you forget something?" A policeman asked with his head down. But the moment he looked up, he realized that standing in front of him was a man in a windbreaker.

The man held his hands up and signaled with his eyes for the policeman to please look at the floor in the middle of the basement.

"The man lying there before, I killed him." Douglas said calmly, his tone never carried as much warmth as it did.

Choose a story you don't already know

(both stories can be read in any order)

Suspect: Miranda

Suspect: Dura

If you've read all three suspects' stories

please continue reading:

Chapter Five