Chapter 10 Chapter 8 The Avenger Doakes

After turning onto Highway 836 from Highway 395 on Miami Beach Boulevard, traffic was blocked for half a mile.We moved forward bit by bit before the next exit, and finally arrived at the area where the accident happened.A truck full of watermelons rolled over on the highway, turning the road into a 6-foot-deep red and green river, and the surrounding vehicles turned into flower melons to varying degrees.An ambulance drove over the shoulder, followed by a fleet of vehicles whose owners were too important to sit around and wait for the road to be cleared.The cars queuing up blared their horns loudly, people shouted and shook their fists, and there seemed to be a gunshot from ahead.It's nice to be back to normal life.

We struggled out of the turmoil of traffic and onto the street, which took an extra fifteen minutes.After another fifteen minutes, I finally arrived at the office.Vince and I took the elevator up to the second floor, neither of us saying a word.When the door opened and we stepped out of the elevator, Vince blocked me. "You did the right thing," he said. "Well, yes," I said, "Deborah's going to kill me if I don't get over it right away." He grabs my arm. "I'm talking about Manny," he said. "You'll love his craft. Really, what he brings out is absolutely extraordinary."

I already knew it would make a huge difference in my bank account, but other than that I still couldn't figure out what it all meant.Surely people would prefer those quirky and inconsequential things over homemade cold dishes?I still have a lot of things I don't understand about human beings, and this has to be number one. But one thing I'm sure of is that Deborah has a very strong sense of time, inherited from our father, and being late is considered rude and has no excuses.So I break Vince's fingers from my arm and shake his hand: "I'm sure we'll all be very happy with the food."

He held my hand tightly. "Not only that," he said. "Vince—" "That's when you swear on the rest of your life," he said, "a great oath, your life and Rita's will be linked..." "My life is in danger if I don't go right away, Vince," I said. "I'm really happy," he said.It was scary watching him show apparently genuine affection, and I almost fled from him to the conference room at the end of the hallway. The meeting room was full of people.The case became a major one after a series of sensational reports on the evening news about the charred bodies and missing heads of the two young girls.I slipped into the conference room and stood by the door, and I saw Deborah staring at me, and I gave her what I thought was an innocent smile.She interrupted the speaker, who was the first patrol officer to arrive on the scene.

"Okay," she said, "we know we won't find the head at the scene." I thought my lateness and Deborah's vicious stare would win the most dramatic entrance award, but I was wrong.Deborah pushed the meeting down the road, and I was like a feeble candle next to a Molotov cocktail, completely unnoticed. "Come on guys," said my police officer girl, "use your brains." "We should search the lake," said Camila Figo.She is about 35 years old and works as a technician for the Ministry of Justice. She is usually so quiet that she can hardly be heard.Apparently some people would have preferred her to be quiet, as a skinny and somewhat nervous cop named Kerrigan immediately took the stab.

"Bullshit," Kerrigan said, "the head has drifted away." "Heads don't float away, they're dead bones," Camilla insisted. "Some heads are like that," Kerrigan said, drawing some expected laughs. Deborah frowned, and was about to criticize in a leadership tone, when a voice came from the corridor. thump. Not very loud, but enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room. thump. Closer and louder, the scene looks like something out of a low-budget horror movie. thump. Involuntarily, everyone in the conference room held their breath and slowly turned their heads towards the door of the conference room.I turned my head to look down the hallway myself, but a tiny twitch in the back of my mind stopped me, so I closed my eyes and listened.Hello, I asked silently, and after a pause, a very faint and hesitant voice sounded, which sounded like a clearing of the throat, and then——

Someone in the room murmured, "My God." The voice was full of the kind of fear that always gets me excited.The little voice in my heart whimpered and then disappeared.I open my eyes. Suffice it to say, feeling the presence of the Nightcrawler in the darkened backseat made me happy, and for a split second I didn't care what was going on around me.This kind of distraction is often dangerous, especially for a dummy like me, and the result is that when I open my eyes, I am surprised by what I see. It turned out to be really like the scene in the cheap horror movie "Night of the Living Dead", except that instead of being on the screen, it happened in front of your eyes.Standing by the door, just to my right, staring straight at me, was a man who should have been dead.

Sergeant Doakes. Doakes never liked me.He's probably the only person in the entire police station who doubts my true colors.I've always felt that he was able to see through my disguise because he was probably more or less the same guy as me—a cold-blooded killer.He tried and failed to prove that I had done anything sinful, and his failure made him hate me even more. The last time I saw Officer Doakes was when the paramedics were loading him into the ambulance.He was passed out from pain and shock, and a very talented amateur surgeon who came to revenge had his tongue, hands and feet amputated.I admit that I quietly guided the amateur doctor's thoughts, but I managed to convince Doakes himself to agree to the plan first, because he wanted to catch this inhuman monster.And I almost saved Doakes too, risking the loss of my own precious irreplaceable life and limb.I didn't rescue him as quickly and efficiently as he'd hoped, but I tried, and it wasn't really my fault that he died when he got out.

So I don't think a small token of approval is too much to ask for after I've risked so much for him.I don't need flowers, awards, or even a box of chocolates, but maybe he should pat me on the back and mutter "Thanks, man."Of course, he doesn't have a tongue now, so it's not so easy to speak coherently, and the slaps from his new steel prosthetic hand will probably hurt, but he has to at least show it, isn't that asking too much? Obviously yes.Doakes stared at me like he was a hungry dog ​​and I was the last steak in the world.I used to think that the toxins in his eyes when he looked at me could cause the extinction of biological species, but if I compare it with the way he looks at me at this moment, it is simply the giggling and chuckling of a yellow-mouthed child in the sun.I know what makes the Nightcrawler clear his throat—it's the same smell.I felt the wings of my heart beating slowly, slowly filled with exuberant vitality, rising up to meet Doakes' defiant eyes.The devil in his soul growled and spit at me.We stood there for a long time, staring at each other, but it was actually two predators screaming at each other.

Someone was talking, but there was only me and Doakes left in the world, with two dark shadows hiding in our hearts eager to try.Neither of us heard anything being said, just an annoying hum in the background. Deborah's voice pierced through the fog. "Officer Doakes," she said, her voice firm.Finally Doakes turned his head towards her, and the spell broke.I couldn't help being a little proud and happy, for the victory of the night walker's divine power, and I finally let Doakes turn his head first.I hid myself well again, took a small step back, and took a closer look at my once powerful avenger.

Officer Doakes holds the departmental barbell record, but he doesn't look like he's going to beat his record anytime soon.He was emaciated, almost weak except for the smoldering anger in his eyes.He stood stiffly on two artificial feet, his arms dangling at his sides, and what looked like the handle of a vice protruded from each wrist, glinting faintly in silver. I could hear nothing but the breathing of other people in the room.They just stared at what was once Doakes, and he stared at Deborah, who was licking her lips, apparently trying to find something to say, and finally said, "Please sit down, Doakes. Shall I tell you about the case?" Doakes watched her for a long time.He turned awkwardly, stared at me, and plopped out of the room, his strangely regular footsteps echoing in the hallway until they died away. Basically, the cops don't like to act like they're intimidated, so for a few seconds everyone is terrified, for fear of revealing their true feelings.In the end, it was Deborah who broke the silence. "Okay," she said, and suddenly everyone was clearing throats and moving chairs. "Okay," she said again, "so we can't find the head at the scene." "Heads don't float away," Camila Figo sneers, and we're back to the chapter before Officer Doakes abruptly interrupts us.They argued for ten minutes, endlessly arguing about who should do the paperwork, and so on.Afterwards, the door next to me was pushed open, and our meeting was abruptly interrupted again. "Sorry to bother you," Chief Matthews said, "I got... ah... good news, I think." He looked around, frowning.Even I could tell him that wasn't the right look to convey good news. "It's just... ah... this... Sergeant Doakes is back. He's... uh-you know what's going on with him, ah... this... is serious. He's only a year or two away from claiming Full pension, so lawyers, ah, we all feel that in this case, uh..." He paused, looking at the people in the room, "Did someone already tell you?" "Officer Doakes was here just now," Deborah said. "Oh," said Matthews, "ah, well—" He shrugged. "Alright. Alright, I won't disturb everyone's meeting. Anything to report?" "No substantial progress, Chief," Deborah said. "Well, I'm sure you guys will figure things out before the press conference, I mean, fast." "Yes, Chief," she replied. "Okay then," he said again.After surveying the whole room, he puffed up his chest and left the venue. "Heads don't float around." Someone said, and giggles resounded in the room. "Jesus," Deborah said, "can we just pay attention, I say? There's two dead bodies waiting." There are more to come, I think.The Night Walker trembled slightly, as if trying bravely not to slip away, but that was all, I didn't take it seriously.