“What was this ptform used for?” After bypassing the enclosure of the tapes set up by the local unity watd patrol team, Captain Ko asked Tyler Khan: “It’s made of crete and brick right? Then it must have been built with a permit. And acc to Detective Cai they have some kind of room down there, so it’s safe to say it’s not a very simple stru.”

  “It’s a local unity project to build a mert space with some room for temporary ste.” Tyler Khan answered: “From what I know, it was used as a pce for food stands, deli carts and flea markets. We’re still looking into those who filed the permit. But given how old this ptform is, it could be very hard to track down.”

  “Who owns it now?” Captain Ko asked with a heavy frown.

  “It doesn’t have a definite owner, it’s a managed property from the local division of the unity collective. We’ll be auditing the records.” Tyler Khan sighed: “I’m sorry Captain, but right now even we have to dig deep into some of the old records. Before today, this has been a busy spot for many locals and thus not many thh iions have been done.”

  “Iions - ” Marcus and Kevin spoke at the same time: “Find the ior!”

  “Yes, we’ll be onto that.” Tyler Khan nodded as he quickly typed up a message on his phone: “I’ll set it up, we should be able to find him in no time.”

  Kevin shivered as he got close to the edge of the nd, then he looked back at Marcus and asked: “Hey Marcus, do you feel cold?”

  “It’s a little chilly, yes.” Marodded: “Are you okay Kevin?”

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s just…” Kevin slowly k down on the ground and reached forward a little just to take a peek at the water and what was underh the now tranquil surface.

  Marcus felt something tingling his senses, and he saw a stream of mist, cold and gray slowly arose from the water and flowed towards Kevin like shadows of snakes. He immediately stepped frabbed Kevin’s back colr and pulled him back. Tyler Khan also moved forward with his hand reag forward, but was just a bit slower than Marcus.

  “What happened?” Kevin’s face was covered i, and his shivering had gotten more severe, so Marcus immediately asked, while discreetly pushing a small amount of his Qi into his body in an attempt to warm him up.

  “I - I feel the water calling to me and pulling me in.” Kevin immediately stepped away from the edge while wiping his forehead: “Yeah, I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right about the water here. My - my bad, I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

  “Just be careful, okay?” Marcus patted Kevin on the back: “You should get bad rest. Maybe get a hot drink. You look tired.” The close and whispered: “Maybe use one of those talismans, better be safe, okay?”

  “I agree. You look like you’ve caught a cold.” Tyler Khan nodded: “Do you want something warm to drink? There’s a watch station nearby, we go there a you some giea.”

  “Nonono, it’s fine. I stay for a bit.” Kevin shook his head, reached into his jacket to pull out a small packet of chocote: “I’m fine. Let’s tinue.”

  “Okay, if you insist.” Captain Ko hen turo Marcus: “You mentiohese men came in cars, where are the cars now?”

  “I - I think they might have sunk into the water along with the ptform.” Marcus thought for a moment, trying to remember where the three bck SUVs were parked. But it just did not e to him: “My apologies captain, I don’t remember their exact positions.”

  “That’s … that’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Captain Ko waved his right hand while blowing out a puff of smoke: “Let’s go check wit the kids. Where are they now, Mr. Khan?”

  “They’re at the watch station.” Tyler Khan seemed to have let out a quick exhale of relief: “We go and che them. I asked my team to ask the parents to stay for a bit longer, but I am not sure how long we keep them.”

  The local watch station was just a three-storey brick building. And they already heard people arguing by the time they got out of the car.

  “... what do you mean I ’t ght now?! No! We’re taking our son bae!” A man’s voice resounded in the quiet night and crowded hall: “I know you’re the collective, but I don’t care! Our son was just abducted! He almost died! I don’t care what your iigators need! We’re taking him away!”

  “Order!” Aern man’s voice exploded: “Where do you think you are?! This is a unity watch ter! If it weren’t for the people w here, much worse could have happened! Is it too much to ask for you to stay here a little bit longer so that we find the one who did this?”

  “Le! It’s okay, I’m back.” Tyler Khan headed first into the watch station and announced his presence: “And please, people, folks, it will be just a minute. I implore you, we o ask your children some questions, so that we find out who did this.”

  “I don’t care!” The loud man and his wife held a g boy in their arms as they slowly backed away from everyone and to the door: “Our son is hurt, and he o get home to calm down. Do you even care about him!? He’s not like you, he ot face this kind of thing and still get asked a millioions! He needs a quiet and dim pce to rest!”

  “No! No one should get special treatment like this!” A man with an e armband rushed from ihe watch station and said: “It’s a part of the iigation! Please! Stay! Just for a brief moment! You’ve gotta uand…”

  Just this moment, the boy in his parents’ arms muttered something, while reag his hand out and pointing at Marcus. His parents did not quite catch the words at first, yet when they leaned over a little more, they finally heard it clearly. Afterwards both the parents walked over to Marcus. And before anyone could say or do anything, they bowed towards Marcus at the same time.

  “Thank you! Thank you so much for saving our son!” The parents said with sniffling voices, and eve down on the ground: “Thank you! I don’t know what to say besides… Thank you…”

  “It’s okay. It’s okay.” Marcus immediately walked over aly pulled them up: “I’m just doing my job.”

  “No! No!” The father looked Marcus straight in the eyes, tears running down his face: “You’re our hero! Our savior! I - we couldn’t even thank you enough…”

  “It’s okay, it’s okay, you don’t have to…” Marcus was just about to put this family at ease, but he immediately saw the facial expression of Tyler Khan and the other members of the unity collective: “Well, how about this? we sit down and have a quick chat? I just have a few questions for you. Not many, how about this? Of course, that is if you’re up for it - ”

  The parents hesitated, then they looked at their son. The son sniffled and looked at his parents, then turo Marcus and his made many members of the local unity watch give out sighs of relief.

  “Okay, first a quick question, do you remember anything they said? Or anything about the men that took you?” Sitting in a dim room with only a gentle light above them, Marcus asked the young boy, with Tyler Khan, Kevin and Captain Ko sitting behind him. There were other members of the local unity watd patrol team listening through a speaker in another room as well.

  The boy shook his head: “I don’t remember what they said - they just yelled. But they - they smelled.”

  “Smelled?” Marcus frowned: “What kind of smell?”

  “It’s like an oily smell, like some kind of dles.” The boy hesitated for a short moment, then gave an answer: “All of them smelled like this. It’s - it’s a kind of big temple smell.”