The Green Seraph

A Chapter by Tobi

Eliza stood on her side of the desk in her office while Webb sat opposite.

“You went to see Charles Gravesen?” she said. “How stupid are you?”

“I just talked about the recent murders. I knew you would react like this.”

“Because he’s a very dangerous man. How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from him?”

“He’s the most powerful crime lord in the city. How can we leave him alone?”

“Do you honestly think going to see him would do any good?”

“Some good did come from it. When I told him four men were killed, he was genuinely surprised.”

“How could you tell?”

“Because I know him Eliza.”

“So maybe he had nothing to do with it after all.”

“Oh no, he did. It just didn’t happen the way he’d hoped. I bet that was an assassination attempt on Hesitance herself, just like what happened to McGregor and Grantham, his formal rivals. And if she survived, that means only one thing…war”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know how we can catch him.”

“I don’t want to hear this nonsense. There’s plenty more fruitful work you could be doing, just focus on that.”

“Don’t make me regret telling you about this.”

“Why did you then, if you knew I wouldn’t like it?”

“Because I need a team to go down to the docks.”

“What on Earth for?”

“Hesitance has quite the well-equipped army. If I know Charles, he’ll need a new gun shipment. All we have to do is wait for the shipment to arrive and seize his illegal weapons.”

“You can’t just raid wherever you want to.”

“We don’t need to. Once they unload the goods, we can catch them on public property.”

“I refuse to authorise this.”

“How can you say that?”

“Listen Webb. I’m telling you this for your own good so just trust me. Leave Charles alone because the only thing that’ll come out of it is your corpse.”

Webb suddenly stood up and just before leaving, muttered back to her, “I didn’t realise you were such a coward.”

***

A cheap window latch was forced open, causing Geoghan to fall through into the City Docks Shipping Office.

Webb soon followed after him, landing perfectly in the blackness, before helping his partner up.

“Good work Geoghan,” he told him.

“This is illegal,” Geoghan said. “What are we even doing here?”

Webb approached one of the quiet computers and turned it on. “Even if Charles owns a private pier, passage has to be logged so they know what ships will be travelling at what time.”

“How will that be helpful?” Geoghan said as Webb began searching the computer.

“Got the schedule. Just as I thought. The Green Seraph left yesterday and is coming back in 11 days.”

“What’s the Green Seraph?”

“Charles’ ship.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve been watching him for years just waiting for him to slip up. And here it is. I’ll bet anything that ship will be carrying his new guns for the upcoming war with Hesitance.”

“How can you be sure there’ll be a war?”

“It’s inevitable. Charles has been systematically taking out his rivals and Hesitance is the only one who remains. There’s no way he’ll want to come this far and fall at the last hurdle. He’ll take no risks…he’ll bring in a fresh batch of weapons.”

***

Several guards stood outside a busy restaurant and were soon joined by another from inside who proceeded to light up a cigarette.

A car screeched round the corner and headed towards them. As it passed, the passengers within fired at the group. The guards attempted to shoot back but were all dead within seconds.

***

When the day of the shipment came, all was still in Webb’s parked car at the docks. Geoghan and Webb waited patiently for what they wanted, even though they had already been there for hours.

“How can you be so sure that they’ll be shipping guns tonight?” Geoghan asked him.

“I can’t. It’s just a hunch based on the last time I met with him.”

“You really met with Charles Gravesen, huh? Weren’t you scared? What was he like?”

“We meet semi-regularly actually. He picks some strange places though so it can be creepy, suits his nature I suppose. It’s the locations rather than the man that unsettles me. As evil and ruthless as he is, one thing that is true about Charles Gravesen is that he always keeps his word. Every time you meet with him, he will always be alone and not carrying a gun.”

“He sounds over-confident.”

“I know. He never carries a gun.”

“Why?”

“Because he doesn’t need to. No one would dare try to kill King Charles…they’re too afraid of what’ll happen if they fail. He gained notoriety while eliminating some his opponents. He used…unpleasant methods of execution and even went so far as to torture those until they agreed to serve him. In certain situations, a strong reputation can be more powerful than an army.”

“Are you sure we really should be here?”

“The schedule said Charles’ ship would be arriving today. We can’t afford to lose this opportunity.”

“But a bunch of guys were murdered. Shouldn’t we look into that?”

“Already have. The victims were Charles’ men, probably a retaliation for trying to kill Hesitance. The war’s beginning.”

Outside the car, a large green ship with the words, ‘GREEN SERAPH’, printed across its hull in large white capitals, sailed into view and began to dock.

“There you are,” Webb said.

“Huh, it really is green. I didn’t expect that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s just an uncommon colour. Green ships are supposed to be unlucky.”

“Really? I would’ve thought blue ships to be a lot unluckier. Another ship wouldn’t be able to see it and could cause a collision.”

“Erm…I’m pretty sure green ships are unlucky but blue ships are just completely stupid. I don’t think anyone’s ever made a blue ship so no one could say they weren’t lucky.”

“Hmm…I suppose so.”

When Webb spotted a large group of men starting to unload large crates off the ship, he said, “There they are, let’s go.”

The pair got out and ran at the large group of men while holding up their badges.

“Police!” Webb called. “Stop right there!”

“What’s going on?” a sailor asked.

“Open the crates!” Webb demanded. “Now!”

They went about opening one and Webb peered inside to see a large demonic statue created by some ancient culture.

“What the…?” Webb said. “What the hell is this?”

“Ancient art Mr. Gravesen bought in a foreign auction,” the sailor said. And as Webb began to rout around for hidden weapons, he said, “Hey! Be careful, these things are fragile.”

Once all crates had been thoroughly inspected to Webb’s satisfaction, he glumly said, “Sorry…carry on, I guess.”

After returning to their car, the pair continued watching the ship.

“Well that was embarrassing,” Geoghan commented.

“Yes, yes it was. They just must be unloading the guns later.”

“You could’ve just made a mistake. There was no guarantee there would be any guns.”

“Yeah, it was just a hunch after all.”

“Looks like they’ve finished unloading,” Geoghan noticed.

“I don’t believe it,” Webb said, before starting up the car and driving on. “Something’s not right. We’re not done here.”

***

Back at the Dock’s Office, they inspected the window they had used last time.

“Looks locked now,” Geoghan said. “What are we gonna do?”

“I’ve got an idea.”

About 7 seconds after Webb spoke those words, the door to the office was kicked open.

“Sir?” Geoghan said, following him inside. “You can’t do that.”

“I’m not in the mood,” Webb said, before approaching a computer and turning it on. “Let’s see…here we are. Look at this.”

“What? What is it?”

“It now says that the Green Seraph came back four days ago and left again.”

“So?”

“It’s been changed since last time. It came back in earlier and left on another errand. He must’ve brought in his guns fours days ago. We’re too late. How the hell did he know I was gonna be here?”

***

Zedd was sitting in the backroom of Gehenna, quietly watching everyone around him when Charles came out of his office and said, “Zedd, get in here.”

Zedd did as he was told and entered his Boss’ office. Charles sat down behind his wide desk while Zedd chose to remain standing.

“He’s getting too close,” Charles said. “How could he know I was shipping in guns? Do you have any idea how hard it was to change that shipment at the last minute? I can’t have him ruining everything when I’m this close. I just need a bit more time to complete my work and he’s becoming too much of a pain. DCI Joseph Webb…make him dead.”