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Detective Max Williams sat in his office, staring at the pile of case files on his desk. He had been working for the NYPD for over 10 years now and he thought he had seen it all. But this latest string of murders had him stumped. Five bodies found in five different locations, each with a cryptic message carved into their skin. The media was calling the killer “The Engraver” and it seemed like everyone was talking about it except for Max. He flipped through the files again, hoping to find some sort of connection between the victims or any clue that could lead him to the killer. As he was about to give up and call it a night, there was a knock on his door. “Come in,” Max called out tiredly. In walked Detective Sarah Johnson, one of his colleagues and also someone who he considered a close friend. She handed him a cup of coffee before sitting down across from him. “I heard you’ve hit another dead end with ‘The Engraver’ case,” she said sympathetically. Max nodded wearily as he took a sip of coffee. “Yeah, I just can’t seem to figure out what connects these victims.” “Well, maybe I can help,” Sarah offered. “I have an informant who might have some information on this guy.” Max perked up at her words. “Who is your informant Do they know anything” Sarah hesitated before answering, “It’s someone I met during my undercover operation last year.” Max raised an eyebrow in surprise but decided not to press further since Sarah didn’t like talking about her past operations much. Instead, he asked eagerly, “When can we meet them” Sarah looked around cautiously before whispering, “Tomorrow night at midnight near Nathan’s Pier.” As soon as she left his office with strict instructions not to mention this meeting to anyone else at work including their boss Captain Miller Max felt a surge of excitement and anticipation. Finally, he might have a lead on the killer. The next night, Max met Sarah at Nathan’s Pier as planned. They waited in her car for the informant to show up. After what seemed like hours, a tall figure wearing a hoodie approached their car cautiously. Sarah rolled down the window and spoke softly, “Are you our informant” The figure nodded before getting into the backseat of their car. As they drove around aimlessly for about an hour, the informant finally opened up. “I know who ‘The Engraver’ is,” he said in a hushed voice. Max gripped the steering wheel tightly as Sarah asked eagerly, “Who Tell us.” But before he could answer them, there was sound of gunshots outside followed by someone yelling at them to stop their car immediately. Max slammed on his brakes just in time to prevent hitting another vehicle that had suddenly appeared in front of theirs. He quickly got out of his car with his gun drawn but was soon surrounded by armed men who identified themselves as FBI agents led by Special Agent Mark Smithson. “We’ve been following your investigation on ‘The Engraver’ case and we believe your informant here has information that can help us catch him,” Agent Smithson explained calmly while gesturing towards Sarah’s informant who had gotten out of their car too with his hands raised above his head. Max couldn’t believe it they were working with FBI now And why hadn’t Captain Miller informed him about this Before any more questions could be answered or exchanged between them, there was another gunshot from behind one of the buildings nearby causing everyone including Max to duck for cover instinctively. As he peered over from where he crouched behind another agent’s SUV Max saw two figures running away from them towards one end of the pier. One man dressed all in black carrying something long and metallic while the other was wearing a hoodie that he recognized from earlier, it was their informant. “Stop them” Agent Smithson yelled as they all got up and started chasing after them on foot. Max felt his heart racing with adrenaline as he ran after them. He had to catch ‘The Engraver’ no matter what. To be continued…