[Chapter 413: The Savior's Startup Project]
In the video popup window, a young girl appeared. She wore a pink lace dress. Although her eyes were covered with a black cloth, her fair skin and slender figure still showcased her striking appearance.
Hawke felt the girl resembled Elle Fanning when she had just co of age.
"Seems like surveillance footage," Erica said easily, "A cri video?"
Before she finished speaking, suddenly a figure entered the fra.
The person wore a black cloak, always turning his back to the cara, and one hand reached out from under the cloak holding a shiny hook.
Then the cloak fell to the ground, and the hand holding the hook waved swiftly. White lace flew everywhere, falling to the floor.
Bloody wounds appeared on the girl's fair skin.
Although the surveillance video had no sound, from the girl's frantic body movents and tightly closed lips, it was easy to tell she was in great pain, letting out horrific screams.
The cloaked figure's violence was as intense as the brutal scenes Hawke had seen in videos involving the Ackerman family.
Erica, having seen countless horrific cri footage, was already numb to such scenes.
Hawke felt much the sa.
The video ended with the cloaked man putting his cloak back on and leaving the fra.
The fair-skinned girl had turned into a bloodied figure, her life fading as blood dripped away.
Though the video didn't explicitly show her death, Hawke could easily infer she had died.
...
After the video ended and the window went black, Erica said, "It's a torture murder video mailed intentionally to ? The proper way is to send it to the NYPD or the FBI. I'm just a LAPD Special Operations officer; I don't have the authority to investigate cases arbitrarily, nor is it my duty."
Hawke took the mouse and saved a backup of the video on the computer, then told Erica, "They mailed this directly to you for so purpose. Let's not get tangled in their agenda. We'll let this return to the proper legal channels."
Erica, not one of those heroes who tried to fix everything single-handedly and not driven purely by a sense of justice, agreed, "I'll hand it over to my superiors tomorrow and let the higher-ups handle it."
She speculated, "Could this be related to those two cases I encountered back at the detective bureau?"
Los Angeles saw nurous cases daily, and Hawke was unclear which two she ant, so he asked, "What were they about?"
Erica briefly explained, "Two young won were murdered, and each had an inverted pentagram symbol carved on their bodies. I found a few clues but hadn't investigated further before being transferred to Special Operations."
Hawke recalled that one -- the last case his girlfriend had worked on before her promotion: "Young won, right?"
He moved the mouse to replay the video.
Erica asked, "Anything stand out?"
Hawke dragged the progress bar to where the man took off the cloak, paused, and zood in on the corner of the video fra.
Pointing, he said, "Take a look at this."
Erica examined and despite so blur, it clearly resembled an inverted pentagram.
"I've already gotten out of this, but they still want to drag back down?" she frowned, "This was clearly sent to deliberately."
Hawke reminded her, "We've used similar tactics before."
Erica recalled, "The Ackerman family club; from production to sales."
Hawke took out a disc and packed it away. "Is the mailing address still on it?"
Erica pulled out black packaging stamped with a New York postmark, "Here it is."
Hawke looked it over, "I'll have soone from Butterfly Consulting send a person there to see if we can find any leads, though chances aren't high."
Erica nodded gently, "Tomorrow I'll submit it to the bureau."
At that mont, the butler ca to announce dinner was ready.
They set the matter aside temporarily and headed to the dining room to eat.
...
After dinner, Hawke accompanied Erica for a walk in the garden.
Erica rubbed her flat belly and said, "The chef you found cooks so well. At this rate, if I get any older, I'm definitely going to gain weight."
Hawke chuckled, "We could do more exercise."
Erica agreed, "There's a room on the second basent floor you haven't seen yet. Want to have an intense Tomb Raider-style workout?"
Hawke glanced over, "I'll be the undead king, you be Lara Croft?"
He asured the room multiple tis, "It's no smaller than Lara's."
"Not that excessive," Erica pulled him back indoors. "Like Angelina Jolie in the movies, heavy gear seriously affects your movent and shooting stance."
Hawke knew a bit, "Jolie didn't have that big a chest; they added padding for the film."
Erica smiled, "You know a lot."
They went downstairs to the second basent level where a room was decorated in ancient Greek tomb style.
...
Adventurous Lara accidentally awakened the undead king, leading to an epic and chaotic battle.
In the end, Lara was badly defeated by the undead king's attack.
They only fought once.
Lara trained during the dayti.
Hawke had urgent business the next day.
---
The Tiger Woods scandal had progressed to a certain stage. For Twitter and Butterfly Consulting Security, the matter was more or less settled.
The news remained hot, with Woods and his wife Elin accusing each other, keeping them at the center of public scrutiny.
However, Hawke no longer needed to intervene; it would unfold naturally.
Hawke planned to push forward campaigns for LGBTQ rights and won's empowernt.
---
The next morning, Erica ca to Special Operations and imdiately submitted the disc to her superior.
They didn't handle specific cases there; the disc was quickly forwarded to the detective bureau.
Two of Erica's forr subordinates ca to Special Operations to check the situation.
No one, including Erica, knew the disc's origin.
Erica warned the bureau team about the inverted pentagram in the video.
The two girl murder cases with the inverted pentagram had gone cold after being shelved.
In recent years, LAPD's case-solving rate dropped annually; homicide detective rates had fallen below 50%.
Considering Erica's dedication, one could imagine the overall situation.
LAPD was, in many ways, the largest gang in Los Angeles.
---
Hawke, after handling urgent company matters, went to Butterfly Consulting Security with Edward.
"They've already left," Campos said in the conference room.
"To avoid being tracked, all of them travel by sea," he added after explaining operational security.
Hawke pulled out his phone, sending last night's videos and the package info to Campos, "Send soone to New York to see who sent it. Just find clues, no extra action."
Campos looked at the video, "I'll have soone familiar with New York make a run."
Hawke took a newspaper to read.
Campos said, "The Woods-Elin divorce case is nearing settlent."
Hawke, who hadn't followed the news much, asked, "They reached an agreent?"
"We tracked the lawyers," Campos explained. "They t privately three tis, likely to settle. I've heard Woods may pay over $100 million in settlent."
Edward was shocked, "Tiger Woods is that generous?"
Campos added, "Too many won have co forward -- 43 reported as of last night. Several companies are considering suspending endorsents. If he doesn't calm things soon, the losses will be much bigger."
Edward said, "Money really does calm things quickly."
...
Later, Rosa, Solana, and Fiona arrived by boat.
This was forrly part of the Ackerman family's private marina in Venice. Though extensively remodeled, the dock still accommodated boats large and small.
Disguised, the three quietly entered the conference room and greeted Hawke, "Boss."
Hawke nodded slightly, "Have a seat."
Fiona sat opposite Campos; Rosa and Solana sat closely together.
Hawke praised them, "You've all done exceptional work these past six months, exceeding expectations and earning important deputy roles in your groups."
Rosa added candidly, "None of this would be possible without the boss's funding. Without financial backing, we wouldn't have beco deputy chairwon."
Fiona reported, "Elin's lawyer and Woods' side basically settled. She'll get $115 million settlent. After the baby is born and confird as Woods' through paternity, she'll receive 20% of Woods' inco as child support."
Solana marveled, "A female centi-millionaire is born. Much easier than starting a company."
The truth was blunt, leaving everyone speechless.
Edward suddenly had a startup idea.
Hawke looked at him, "You want to start a business?"
"We have to partner with Frank," Edward said bluntly. "That bastard knows a lot. We start a training center, recruit young, attractive won with targeted training, then have them marry sports and entertainnt stars like Woods and Jamie Foxx. After a couple of years, divorce and split the assets."
Campos reminded, "Don't forget prenuptial agreents."
Fiona explained, "The longer the marriage, the bigger the share of the husband's post-marriage inco. If the wife earns less, the husband must pay child support, usually based on average inco over the past 12 months."
Edward was inspired, "Marry a Hollywood star at their peak pay year, then divorce?"
He flashed a wide grin, "This could save many suffering won."
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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