"Steve… Steve? Hey, man, you're a terrible listener."
Carl waved a hand in front of Owen's face when he noticed his friend seemed lost in thought.
"Alright, guys, after something this crazy, I need to check on my family."
"Don't worry, I stopped by your house earlier. Your mom and sister are both fine."
Owen quickened his pace toward home, while Carl and the other officers turned their attention back to McCall.
"Mr. McCall, thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything else, call this number."
"Of course."
Carl handed him a police business card before leading the team toward the next house. Regardless of whether homicide detectives took over the case, protocol required them to canvas the neighborhood.
As Owen crossed the street, he saw Amanda standing at the door, waiting for him. She had known Carl for years—he was her brother's old partner.
The officers hadn't told her much, only asked if she had seen any suspicious people or heard anything unusual. But their cautious warnings about staying safe made it obvious that something bad had happened nearby.
"Amanda, Mom—"
Owen spread his arms from a distance. Amanda beamed and ran toward him, jumping into his embrace. His mother stood by the door, smiling.
Damn, this girl has really grown up, Owen thought. She's almost too heavy to lift now.
"Steve, what happened outside? Carl and the others were here, asking a lot of questions. Something bad happened, didn't it?"
Owen set her down and greeted his mother before answering, "Let's go inside first."
Once inside, Amanda practically shoved Owen onto the couch, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Tell me! What happened?"
Seeing her excitement, Owen didn't hold back. Even if he didn't tell them, this would be all over the news tomorrow. Besides, knowing how dangerous things were wasn't a bad thing.
"Someone was murdered. Not far from here."
"A murder? That's terrible! Who was it? Did we know them?" his mother asked, concerned.
"No, it doesn't seem like they were from our neighborhood."
Owen left out the details. His only goal was to make sure they took safety seriously. But before he could say much more, there was a knock at the door.
Owen opened it to find Carlos.
"Hey, man, I just got here and heard from Carl that you were home. Thought I'd drop by."
"I just got in myself. What's up? Any leads?"
"Not yet."
As expected, Homicide had taken over the case, and Carlos was on it. The last time they had seen each other was just a few days ago—during the pursuit of Salim.
Carlos stepped inside, greeted Owen's mother and Amanda, then got straight to business.
The moment he mentioned the victim was Middle Eastern, something clicked in Owen's mind. The Red Front was mostly made up of Middle Eastern and Latin American operatives. Could this be connected to them?
He didn't hide his suspicions. After instructing his mother to keep the doors and windows locked, he left with Carlos to check out the crime scene.
The area was already crawling with familiar faces.
Owen didn't even need Carlos to lead the way—he nodded at a few officers he knew before stepping under the crime scene tape.
Forensics was already at work.
"Hey, Cindy."
"Hey, Steve."
Owen didn't interrupt their investigation. He simply observed.
Taking out his phone, he snapped a picture of the victim. He didn't recognize the man, but CTU might. He would send it over later for a background check.
The body confirmed it—the victim had indeed been killed with a credit card.
A blood-stained card had been collected as evidence, carefully bagged by forensics. If the killer had left fingerprints, they might be able to ID them soon.
Before leaving, Owen and Carlos made plans to go rock climbing in a couple of days. They both loved extreme sports and used to go together frequently.
Back home, Owen dialed Chloe.
"Hey, hero. Jack told me he gave you time off."
"Yeah, Chloe. He gave me four days."
"You lucky bastard. You'll see—Jack is stingy as hell when it comes to vacation time. So, what's the plan for your time off?"
"No idea yet. Might go climbing, maybe hit the beach. Who knows? Maybe I'll even meet a beautiful woman."
"Wow, I didn't take you for an athlete."
"Hahaha, of course! Back in the precinct, I was first in everything—from a hundred meters to ten kilometers."
After some joking around, Owen got to the point.
"Chloe, I need a favor. Can you look someone up for me?"
"Who pissed you off this time?"
"No, it's nothing like that."
Owen knew she was thinking of the last time he asked for a background check—when it involved the FBI. He quickly explained the situation.
"Just check this guy for me. I'm worried he's connected to Salim."
"Got it. Send me the photo."
Owen hung up and sent the picture, then lay back on the bed to wait.
Feeling restless, he suddenly remembered—he had a security camera installed outside his house.
Back when he was in Homicide, he had worked so many murder cases that he decided to install one. Their street had no public surveillance, so the camera allowed his mother and sister to see who was at the door before answering.
Just as he was about to go downstairs to check the footage, Chloe called back.
"Owen, I found him."
"Go ahead."
"The guy's name is Mahmoud Lamar Hai. He's not in our database of known Red Front operatives, but we found a group photo of him with some of the men you guys killed today. So, yeah—he was probably with them."
"Got it. Thanks, Chloe."
Just as Owen was about to hang up, she added, "Wait, one more thing. Jack told me to pass this message to you—this was the last one."
"The last one? What do you mean?"
"Jack said that everyone from the Red Front was under satellite surveillance on Keese Island. The only ones who left were those transporting the nuke to Cruel Angel. This guy was in that transport group.
"But when they reached Chicago, he split off. The satellite stayed focused on the nuke, so they lost track of him. Jack says this was the only loose end left."
Owen acknowledged the information and ended the call.
If this guy was with the Red Front, he must have come here to kill him.
But why was he dead?
If this was an assassination, it didn't make sense. Who the hell silences someone with a credit card?
Owen couldn't figure it out.
He needed to check that security footage.
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