Draco Cronnoc II

"I'll inspect Satish's house," you tell Damin. "I'm here, so I might as well give it a look."

"Good idea. He lives six houses down, to your left." Damin pauses for a moment, as if he wants to say more.

"Mr. Cronnoc, we at Esa Nor really need you to make this case a success. Hatred against Muslims hasn't been stronger since 9/11. If you can prove that it was actually a non-Muslim group that did this...it would be extremely helpful. Nab Red Exterior in the act. We're counting on you."

"I'll try my best not to let you down," you nod, tipping your hat towards Damin. You leave the building and proceed to the specified house.

You groan as you approach the sixth house. If the headquarters of Esa Nor was a dump, Satish Hamed's house is a craphole. What is his house is really just a shack; in fact the roof is missing in the back of the structure.

What filth. Clearly this poverty is what drove the man to a bleak life of violence. Maybe if society had just given him a hand none of this would have happened...

You gingerly step over what used to be a door and go inside. The one-room building is uninhabited, giving you ample time to inspect it to your satisfaction.

You push away some rusty objects and try to sift through the mass amounts of garbage and junk. After initially finding nothing you sit and think. Even though the room is tiny, it'll take a couple of hours to move all of the trash outside and find something of substance. Is it worth all that time? Every second is precious.

Yes, it is, you tell yourself. Something in this room could break the case. Most probably something relating to Red Exterior. You spend the next two hours moving things and keeping your eyes peeled for the words "Red Exterior."

Just as you prepare to tackle the final corner of the room, you hear a car pull up outside. A multitude of thoughts invade your mind.

The first is that Damin was lying about Red Exterior and it's really Esa Nor behind the attacks. This would certainly mean the end of your life if found, so you need to think quickly. Well, as you're in a house that's basically four walls nailed together...the walls should give if you run into them.

You try this, and manage to escape from the house just as you spot three men dressed in black step out of the car. You huddle close to a large oak tree and pray they don't spot you as the approach the house.

To remedy the fact there is a large hole in the wall where you ecaped you scrounge around for a board. Leaning it against the wall, you make sure to leave a space for you to watch the men.

To your surprise, the men are not Arabic, dispelling your previous notion that Damin was lying. In fact, they appear southern Asian, which would correspond to what the leader of Esa Nor said. So he wasn't lying, and these three are members of Red Exterior!

You take in a deep breath upon this realization. These men must be here either on a tip that a police officer visited the headquarters of Esa Nor to speak with Damin, or they're here to clean up Satish Hamed's home to destroy evidence.

It seems that the latter idea was the true one, as you watch the shortest man of the group light the back wall on fire. The three step out of the home and walk quickly back to the car.

You retreat closer to the tree and drop as low as possible. Thankfully, the three drive away without seeing you. You let out a sigh of relief and think.

Well, no use remaining here. The house and all documents inside are gone. And without a doubt the Red Exterior was behind the attacks. You'll track down this group and bring them to justice.

But first you need to know more about Red Exterior, and that means going to the library.

The library, you mean. The Library of Congress, home to the world record of texts, electronic documents, and photographs call the Library home, totalling over a hundred million items in all.

As it is true flying is not your preferred method of transport you drive yourself to Washington, D.C., stopping at 101 Independence Avenue.

The all-white building rises majestically in front of you, behind you lying the tallest building in Washington, the Capitol.

You have 1 choice:

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