The city of Clairemont, known for it's nightlife and it's minor league baseball team (The Clairemont Panthers) is in the midst of a summer no 'up and coming' city wants to experience. In the past ten days, human hands wrapped in newspaper have been discovered within close proximity of city hall. This, of course, has not only the police worried but city officials have started to ask for police escort and permits to carry weapons. The citizens of Clairemont have rarely seen violence of this nature, especially when the worst thing that happens there is the occasional bar fight or grand theft (aka kids joy riding.) This city was not prepared to deal with true evil like this and it was clear in their news broadcasts instructing people to go straight home, after work, and lock the doors. Some had taken to buy the good, old fashioned home protection by buying weapons, namely guns. The frenzy really broke loose the night a teenager was shot breaking into someone's garage. After an investigation, it turned out the teen, 19 years old, was trying to steal beer.
48 hours had passed since the last set of hands were found. Still tense as if it was still happening, the city went on about it's business. One of the cities leading criminal defense lawyers, Albert Grey a graduate of Clairemont college, was in his office when the phone rang. It was the Sgt. Williams. "Mr. Grey. We need you to come downtown, immediately" said Williams in a cold, stern voice that was familiar to Grey. "What's going on Sergeant Williams?" Albert asked with a hint of concern. There was a pause and heavy sigh before the sergeant replied "It would be a good idea if you got down here as quickly as you can, Grey. This is serious!" Without even thinking, he took off like a shot out of his office, ran past his secretary, and out to his car that was parked next to the building he worked in. There in no time flat, Albert bursted into the sergeant's office. "Alright, Sergeant Williams. I would like to know why you called me down here" said Grey as he sat down. The office was filled with other officers from different departments from across the city. "Son, your aunt, our city treasurer, has disappeared. No one has heard from her in two days. You are her only family in the city so we needed to speak with you, in person. Excuse me but given what has happened, we don't have a lot of time." Albert immediately started sobbing. His aunt, Polly Grey, raised him after his parents were shot and killed in a robbery while on vacation in New York. Polly was all he had left in this part of the country. After a few moments, Albert gathered himself. "Alright, gentlemen. My aunt Polly is a creature of habit. She wakes up at the same time, goes to breakfast at the same time, goes to work at the same time, taking the same route. She leaves work at the same time and stops by the same lounge for a scotch and soda with lime, gets home at the same time, and goes to bed at the same time. All we need to do is figure out what the last thing she did was and go from there. Of course, you can count on me to respect your authority but understand that this is my only family here and I would expect you would do the same as I will" said Albert. There was a quick round of applause before the commissioner and mayor walked in. Everyone stood at attention. "Albert, we just want you to know that we are all behind you and want to make sure we find your aunt." There was some discussion before it was decided that crime scene technicians and several officers take Albert to his aunt's place but something didn't sit right with Albert. "Guys, rather than send the whole army in there, why not send me and two other people whom I can make up to look like my cousins and go in there. I mean, what if they are watching the place or something like that?" The sergeant and commissioner agreed that would be the best course of action. Grey and two crime scene techs left for his aunt's house.
After a 15 minute ride across town, Grey arrived with the two crime scene technicians dressed as his cousins. Plain clothes officers canvased the area. Albert went up to the 15th floor with the techs and went into his aunt's apartment. Immediately, it was clear that there was a struggle: things strewn about, knocked over end tables and a lap. The fridge was still open and milk was all over the floor. After looking everything on the counter, Albert came to the conclusion that Polly was in the midst of baking a cake for Albert's 34th birthday coming up. While the technicians searched the kitchen for foreign finger prints, Albert went upstairs to his aunt's office. The filing cabinets had been thrown to the floor with their contents all over the place. After looking through the papers on the floor, Albert came to the conclusion that whom ever did this was looking for something very specific but had no luck finding. This also suggested, to Albert, that the guilty party or parties hadn't really accounted for his aunt having a safe at home. Albert was sifting through papers on the desk when the phone rang. It was 3am, this was not a random call. Albert picked up and said hello. The phone was silent before a deep smoker's voice came crackling over the line. "Grey. You know what this is and what we want. I'll make this very simple: come to pier 13 at midnight, tomorrow night, with what we want or your aunt will end up an after thought in the obituaries." The line went dead. Albert confused and uninterested in having the police fumble this one up, he quietly went into Polly's bedroom and got the document containing vital financial information about the city out of the safe, using a key that his aunt always kept hidden behind the portrait of J.P. Morgan behind her desk. After slipping away from the technicians, Albert went back to his place and prepared to head to the docks by grabbing his .45 and loading it. Albert is no tough guy but no stranger to violence, given his history in dealing with angry mobsters when their bosses get sent to jail. Grey decided he wanted to park away from pier 13 and walk up so he pulled up at pier 24 and walked down, just to check out the area a little bit. It was dead. The only sound in the area was the sound of small waves smacking the anchor posts that hold the dock up. It was cold but not chilly that night, thus explaining Albert's breathing pattern: he wasn't breathing weird cause he was cold. He's scared. Upon approaching pier 31, Albert only saw one boat at the very end of the pier, some seventy feet away from the dock. Albert crept down the wooden pier and up to the boat. He knocked on the door and the voice from the phone said "We've been expecting you, Grey. The door is unlocked." Grey open the door and walked in. The main room of this boat was occupied with four men in black masks and black robes. One stepped forward and said, in a famous that sound familiar from the telephone call, "Mr. Grey. Welcome. We are the Dark Circle. I believe you have something for us". Albert, nervous but angry, replied "Hang on. Before I hand anything over. I want answers and I want them now. First, I need to know my aunt is alive and safe. Second, what the hell is 'The Dark Circle' and what does it have to do with the city's money?" The menacing figure who spoke first motioned to the adjacent pier. Albert looked out the window to see his aunt, upside down and tied up under the pier. The tide would be coming in before long. She was writhing with pain from the rope she was tied up in but she was alive. "Alright, you have yet to answer my other question. Once you do that, we have a deal. Ok?" said Albert as he stepped away from the window. The dark figures huddled for a minute before the first one that spoke said "We serve all that is and will be darkness. Our dark lord, Satan, is our saviour and we do what he asks of us. Your city's money is dirty with our finger prints for reasons that they are and we want what is owed." Confused, Albert reached in his pocket and pulled out the document in question. As he started to hand over the document, a wave came through that shook up the boat a little bit. As Grey stumbled, he reached out and pulled the mask off the figure that spoke. It was the mayor of Clairemont. Enraged, the mayor and the hooded figures lunged after Albert who jumped through a window on the boat and swam over to the pier where is aunt was hanging. He could hear the men running down the pier as he cut the ropes to free her hands and legs then cut her down. They dove into the water and swam all the way down. After waiting for about two minutes they went back up slowly to find the men and the boat had gone. Albert and Polly climbed up the pier and sat on the edge to catch their breath. Polly asked Albert what had happened after she was kidnapped because the mayor and his evil henchmen had drugged her, heavily, for two days. She said, at some point, "they made me take acid and watch them mutilate a body in a ceremony." As they stood up and started to walk down the pier, Albert noticed a piece of paper with what looked like blood on it. He opened it. "Grey, this isn't over.". That's all it said and it was enough for Polly and Albert to running down the main pier, back to Albert's car.
Since that night, the mayor was found in what appears to be a gruesome suicide where he removed his own intestine. They found a lot of acid and cocaine in his system at the time of death. There was a note in his pocket. It was addressed to Grey. It said "Think of this as not the end but merely the beginning. We'll see you in hell, Albert."
