The police convoy rolled slowly through the narrow street before entering the small colony, where only a handful of modest houses stood in quiet rows beneath the fading afternoon sky. Most of the vehicles stopped near the centre of the colony, but the assistant continued driving farther until the last house came into view, the rented home of the wanted doctor. The building itself appeared ordinary, with another floor rising above the ground level and its windows hidden behind drawn curtains. As the assistant parked the car, a young boy descended the staircase of a neighbouring house while calling out to his father that he could not find the newspaper and wondered whether someone had taken it. The brief exchange blended naturally into the calm surroundings, making the colony appear peaceful despite the silent operation that had just begun.
The officer stepped out first and quietly approached the doctor's house. His attention settled almost immediately upon the closed curtains beside the main entrance, as though he hoped to detect movement behind them. Meanwhile, the assistant left the vehicle and muttered that perhaps the old man had fooled them after all, but before the doubt could settle, his eyes shifted toward the entrance of the colony. The old man had returned exactly as expected, walking calmly with measured steps. A faint smile crossed the assistant's face because he no longer needed to search for him. Within moments the officer joined them, and the old man asked whether they had already found the doctor. The assistant replied that the search would begin shortly, but the old man calmly suggested that there was no need to chase him immediately. Instead, they should allow the doctor to walk willingly into their trap.
Both policemen exchanged puzzled glances before asking how such a plan could possibly work. The old man explained that the doctor was not an experienced criminal but merely a frightened man trying to stay alive, making him predictable rather than dangerous. When the assistant questioned how he could be so certain, the old man recalled the days when his daughter-in-law had spent several weeks admitted to the hospital during her pregnancy. There he had encountered the doctor repeatedly and had quietly observed his behaviour. When the officer asked how many months pregnant she had been, the old man answered without hesitation, "Six months old," before adding that she had eventually died following an emergency operation. The words caused a brief silence among the officers until another assistant remarked that most of the twelve women involved in the case had died almost immediately. The officer returned the conversation to the present and once again asked about the trap, prompting the old man to calmly explain his plan while the policemen listened without interruption.
Far away in Derata, another plan had already begun moving into place. Hakiten waited patiently near the corner of Juson's street, holding his phone until he finally dialled the familiar number. Inside the house, Herik remained on the bed, happily waving a toy wand and shield that seemed almost too large for his small body, while Juson answered the call in a quiet voice. After only a short conversation, he ended it, left the room without disturbing Herik, and walked through the corridor without entering the kitchen, where Yokina continued preparing dinner with her hair tied neatly in a bun. A few moments later the sound of the car engine echoed outside as Juson drove away toward the end of the street, where Hakiten entered the passenger seat without a word. Neither man wasted time with unnecessary conversation as the car quietly disappeared into the evening, beginning an investigation that neither Yokina nor anyone else knew had already started.