Mir was lying on the living room couch, going through Murray's data terminal searching for some theoretical research about consolidation and saturated cells when the doorbell rang. 19:00 was an unusual time for anyone to visit, not to mention that the weather forecast had just warned of a fog descent. The visitor on the other side of the door, however, turned out to be Captain Galloway from the Enforcer Station nearby.
"Officer! I was just wondering if I should pay the station a visit!"
Right as Mir was about to unlatch the door enthusiastically, Galloway coughed. "Don't bother. I'm not coming in. Just wanted to give you a warning."
Confused, Mir paused in his movements, the door left locked.
"The... cultist we captured from here... He has escaped custody."
"What?! How?!" Mir flung the door open and got up right to Galloway's face. Galloway looked haggard, eyes dim and shoulders sagging.
"He was being shifted to another location for interrogation. We weren't in charge of the transportation. Haven't received an explanation how he managed to get away, actually. But it's in the protocol to warn recent victims."
"Officer, our family has been living in fear for well over a week now," the voice of Mir's father drifted out of the living room as he made his way to the front door. There was no anger in his tone, unlike Mir, but Galloway uncomfortably looked away as the two men stood face to face.
"I haven't let my kids leave home unsupervised since that incident. I was hopeful that since the main miscreant had been arrested, things would eventually calm down and our safety wouldn't be compromised. We understand that you're not going to be able to provide us with full-time protection. The least you could have done was to deal with the arrested criminal."
Galloway had nothing substantial to say to the flood of complaint except an evasive reply. "Mistakes are bound to happen, Mr. Malan. I apologize on behalf of the agency. There was nothing we could do. If you want me to suggest something, I'd say that the Church artifact that attracted those guys' attention should be given back for safekeeping. Even if they corner any of your family members in future, you could deflect their focus to the Church."
"For someone who has worked as long as you have in the enforcement profession, that's a terribly optimistic mindset, Officer Galloway," Malan said quietly. "What are the chances that they wouldn't harm whoever they can catch? Spite, anger, and vengeance... These are common to even rational men. Cultists, on the other hand, are far from rationality, no?"
Galloway remained silent this time. Mir's father went back inside without another word, disappointment written all across his face. Mir's mother, who had been standing behind the door, followed him silently, not even greeting Galloway. Mir was about to step back and shut the door, but Galloway gestured at him to wait.
"I called in some favors and filed an application to the agency to get your family some compensation. I have been... instructed to request you to not spread the details of this incident."
The grimace on Galloway's face made it apparent that it pained him to speak those words. Mir understood the implicit meaning there. This was a cover-up operation. The enforcement agency didn't want the news of its failure being publicized.
For a moment, Mir was tempted to snub Galloway saying that he could've conveniently ignored the escape of the criminal since it wasn't technically his fault. Mir and his family's tribulations meant nothing to Galloway except another case file. But considering the situation from Galloway's shoes, Mir felt that there wasn't much he could have done. The man was simply following orders. Snubbing him would be unreasonable.
"What compensation are we getting?" Mir asked after releasing a long breath.
"Not sure, but I guarantee it's gonna be useful. Just try to stay safe until it gets approved."
With that said, Galloway left in a hurry. Mir pushed all three latches in after locking the door and then placed a wide wooden plank in a slanted angle across the doorsill, just to be extra cautious.
His parents had retreated into their bedroom for a discussion, it seemed. Mir went up to Murray's room and woke him up. Murray was not pleased to have his sleep interrupted, and he was fuming by the time Mir explained what was going on.
"We can't rely on the enforcers. So is the Church going to provide us with protection forever?" Mir said doubtfully. Murray shook his head. "The Shadowheart faction might be desperate for recruits, but it doesn't mean they're going to go so far for a trainee Deacon like me. Priest Vincent would be more dedicated to the job, but he has tons of duties already. So the Church won't protect our home forever, not to mention, we can't hide in the house for the rest of our lives. Murin and you have classes to attend, Dad and Mum have to run the shop to provide for us. Getting protection there is not possible."
"Then we can only follow one route," Mir said thoughtfully, recalling Galloway's suggestion.
"Create a few decoys of the diary and hand one to Murin, place one in our shop, one in the house, and keep the real one with us all the time. Your Spatial Pocket ability can always hide it, and since you're the most likely to be attacked anyway, I'll carry a decoy too. And if it's possible, convince father Vincent into collaborating with us for a trap."
"What trap?" Murray was intrigued.
"Give him a decoy too, and have some proofs of it in our data terminal. It could be a set of text messages, it could be a photo. It could even be an order document from the Church asking you to return the diary to its treasury. So if you get caught again, and they figure out that the diary you surrendered to them is fake, you can pretend that the real one is in Father Vincent's hand, and the decoy you're carrying with you is a bait set by the Church to track those cultists down."
"....That's- that's a good plan, actually," Murray muttered. "I can borrow some tracker materials to hide in the decoys too, just to make the act more convincing."
"This is just the defensive phase of what we have to do. There's still another option." Mir said, a hint of gloominess slipping into his tone.
"That is to beat the living daylights out of them if they do dare to attack us again. For that, we have to pool everything we have into a speedy progression path. You already have a mutant ability. That's not your limit. And I have yet to start my journey. We can't afford to be picky at the moment."
"You sound like you have a specific plan for tomorrow," Murray said, eyes glinting in interest.
"Yeah, I do. Tomorrow we're going to visit a Green-grade Sacred Ground," Mir replied, showing Murray a message on his data terminal.