After spending the quiet night, of few hours,with Veydrick, Aren returns to his apartment late.
The next day, morning light filtered through the tall windows of the police station.
Aren arrives a little late than his usual timing, a folder tucked under his arm. The map of the dockside district was already spread across his desk when Mirelle walked in a few minutes later.
"You're early today."
Aren didn't look up immediately.
"I kept thinking about those delivery logs till late night." pointing to the map.
"Three trucks. Same corridor. Same missing minutes." Mirelle leaned beside the desk.
"And you think they're stopping somewhere."
Aren tapped the final point on the map.
"Yep..near your warehouse."Mirelle studies the circle."That's… interesting."
She pulled out her phone and showed him a photo she had taken earlier that morning. Large tire tracks near the loading dock.
Aren examined the pattern carefully.
"Helios trucks," he said quietly.
Mirelle, raising an eyebrow."So our investigations are connected." Aren folded the map. "Looks like it."
Before leaving the station, Aren knocked on Captain Rethan's office door."Come in."
Rethan looked up from a stack of reports.
"You found something?"
"Possibly," Aren said, placing the map on the desk.
He explained the route pattern quickly.
Rethan studied the map silently."To the warehouse?", Captain claimed. "Mirelle's checking it too." Rethan nodded slowly.
"..Okay...But be careful."
Aren frowned slightly, "With what?"
Rethan leaned back in his chair. "People who hide operations inside normal systems usually plan very carefully."
After thinking for a moment, Aren understood the warning."Understood."
Returning to the Warehouse, an hour later, Aren and Mirelle stood outside the warehouse again.The building looked quiet.Too quiet.
Mirelle walked toward the loading dock while Aren examined the road. Fresh tire marks crossed the pavement."They've been here again," Mirelle said.
Aren crouched to study the tracks. Same tread pattern. Helios trucks. He stood and looked toward the street. "If the trucks stop here," he said, "then whatever they're doing happens quickly."
"Transfer point," Mirelle said. "Or a checkpoint." Mirelle tested the warehouse door. "The door is locked now." But as she walked along the wall, something caught her eye near the ground.
A small shipping tag. She picked it up. Aren glanced at it. The tag showed a simple serial code. But no company name.
"Strange," Mirelle said. Aren slipped the tag into his notebook. When suddenly a engine sound echoed down the street. Both of them turned immediately. A cargo truck was approaching. The Helios logo was visible on the side.
Aren quickly stepped behind a nearby storage container, pulling Mirelle with him.
They watched quietly. The truck stopped directly in front of the warehouse.
The driver stepped out and checked the cargo door. But instead of unloading anything, he simply waited.
"Why stop if they're not unloading?" Mirelle whispered. Aren didn't answer. Because another vehicle was approaching. A black car. It rolled slowly into the district and stopped beside the truck. The driver opened the back door.
A man stepped out, and the duo was astonished, the man did not seem just somebody or a driver"
He moved calmly, adjusting the sleeve of his coat as he walked toward the truck. Even from a distance, his presence felt controlled and Measured. The truck driver straightened immediately. Seeing the truck driver's reaction, Aren remembered how he straightened his posture whenever Veydrick entered the room.
They spoke for only a moment.Then the man glanced around the street. His gaze passed slowly across the buildings. For a brief second it paused in the direction where Aren and Mirelle stood hidden. Aren immediately hold his breath, Mirelle put her hand on her mouth.
But the man simply looked away. He gave the driver a short nod. The truck engine started again. Within seconds both vehicles drove away. The street fell silent once more.
"Well," she said quietly. "That was...too much for us?...and it was suspicious." Aren walked to the center of the street, watching the road where the vehicles had disappeared. "They didn't unload anything." "No."
"Which means the warehouse is part of the route… not the destination." Mirelle crossed her arms."And that man.." Aren thought for a moment, and said: "He's important." "How do you know?" Mirelle asked.
"The driver waited for him, so he should be someone important." Mirelle nodded. "That's true." Aren opened the notebook, he had brought with himself.
"I got the truck number."
"Good." [Mirelle]
Mirelle looked back at the warehouse: "I think we just found the reason for the missing minutes, The Mastermind?"
Later that afternoon, Mirelle visited Veydrick again. She placed the new photos and the shipping tag on his desk.
"We saw one of the trucks today," she said.
Veydrick studied the tag carefully.
"No company name."
"Exactly."
He turned the tag over. "Just a coded shipment number." Mirelle sat down. "And there was someone else there."
Veydrick looked up. "Let me guess, someone important.."
"Looks like it.."
Mirelle described the man briefly: "Tall, sharp jaw faced...he looked pretty composed, and measured" Veydrick remained silent for a moment.
Then he opened the property records again.
"A hidden logistics route," he said slowly.
"A quiet warehouse."
"And a supervisor checking the transfer point personally."
Mirelle leaned forward.
"You think he's running it?"
Veydrick nodded slightly. "Very likely."
Across the city, inside a quiet office overlooking the harbor, the same man removed his gloves calmly. The room was neat and organized.
A map of the dock district hung on the wall.
Several locations were marked with small pins.
An assistant knocked at the door and came in. "The shipment passed through the corridor successfully."
The man nodded.
"And the warehouse?"
"No problems."
He walked toward the window. Below him, the city lights stretched across the harbor.
"Good," he said calmly.
"Keep the routes unchanged."
The assistant hesitated.
"There may have been observers in the district." The man's expression didn't change.
"Police?"
"Possibly."
He considered this for a moment.
Then he gave a small, thoughtful smile.
"Let them observe."
His gaze moved toward the distant dock district. "Sometimes the best way to hide something… is to make it look ordinary."