Chapter 109: The Operation Begins

Early the next morning, the old mansion was shaken awake by a series of urgent knocks. Axel Vance, already sitting in the living room with a book, set it aside and opened the front door to find Clarice Starling standing there in a crisp FBI outfit with a thick manila envelope clutched in one hand. The exhaustion she had carried the previous day was gone, replaced by barely restrained excitement.

“They did it,” Clarice said before Axel could speak, raising the envelope. “Everything you asked for is in here.” She pushed it into his hands, walked straight into the living room as though she already belonged there, and poured herself a glass of water.

Axel closed the door and opened the envelope. Inside were more than twenty printed dossiers containing names, ages, known addresses, criminal histories, family connections, associates, and enough personal background to make each target’s life look almost completely exposed. The sheer level of detail was far beyond what Axel had expected from an underground organization working outside normal channels.

His expression darkened slightly.

When Axel gave John Kramer the challenge, he had partly intended to test the limits of Jigsaw’s intelligence network. Identifying more than twenty low-level criminals overnight without relying on ordinary police procedure should have been extremely difficult, yet the work had been completed with unsettling speed and precision. That suggested Jigsaw’s organization had access somewhere inside systems it should not have been able to reach.

Clarice noticed his expression and asked, “What’s wrong?” Axel simply shook his head and replied, “Nothing. I just didn’t expect them to be this efficient.” He kept his suspicion to himself and spread the files across the table.

A pattern appeared almost immediately.

Every man from the cannery belonged to the same criminal group.

The Sunset Gang.

It was a third-rate Miami street gang known mostly for drug dealing, violent collections, and petty organized crime. Clarice frowned when she saw the name and said, “They’ve been unusually quiet lately. I assumed they were falling apart.”

Axel tapped one of the reports. “Maybe they didn’t fall apart. Maybe someone recruited them.” The timing fit too neatly with everything else they had uncovered.

The gang’s leader, a man called “Butcher” Barlow, had vanished roughly a month earlier. No body had been found, no confirmed sighting had surfaced, and yet the Sunset Gang had not fractured the way most small criminal organizations would after losing its boss. Instead, its members had begun appearing at places linked to the cult.

Axel turned to the final page.

A map had been attached.

One location in the port district was circled in red.

Below it was a short operation notice identifying the building as a Sunset Gang stronghold and setting the action for 9:00 PM that night.

Clarice’s expression changed immediately. “They’re going in themselves?” She leaned over the map and added, “They don’t even know what’s waiting in there.”

Axel remained calm.

He understood what John was doing.

This was Jigsaw demonstrating the arrangement they had discussed.

His people would find the target, gather the information, and move first. Axel would only need to step in if the operation uncovered something ordinary vigilantes were not equipped to handle.

And John clearly expected him to come.

Butcher Barlow’s disappearance was too suspicious to ignore.

If the gang leader had been taken, transformed, recruited, or replaced by something connected to the cult, this building might hold the first real thread leading deeper into the organization.

Axel gathered the documents and handed them back to Clarice. “They’re ordinary people, but revenge can make ordinary people walk into places most trained officers would avoid.”

Clarice looked at him. “You’re going, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

Axel walked toward the wall and picked up the newly modified Chainsaw Sword.

The weapon felt far more balanced than the old chainsaw had, and the long supernatural cutting edge rested comfortably in his hands. “They’ve already found the target. I’m not going to ignore it.”

Clarice exhaled, knowing there was no point trying to stop him.

Axel looked back at her. “Stay here and coordinate with Doug.”

She immediately understood.

“Use the dogs to watch the surrounding area,” Axel continued. “I want to know if anyone else starts moving toward that building once the operation begins.”

Clarice nodded seriously.

The dog network would provide something neither Jigsaw’s people nor the cult could easily detect.

A warning system spread through the streets.

By nightfall, the port district had become nearly deserted.

Most workers had already gone home, leaving behind warehouses, narrow streets, storage yards, and the distant sound of water against concrete.

Axel left the truck away from the immediate target area and approached the marked building alone.

Before he reached it, a long-haired black dog stepped quietly out from between two parked vehicles.

The animal walked directly to Axel, nudged his pant leg with its nose, and looked toward the Sunset Gang stronghold.

Axel crouched and rubbed its head.

The dog’s eyes narrowed contentedly for a moment before it turned and slipped back into the darkness.

Axel scanned the surrounding streets.

He spotted more pairs of eyes in the distance.

One dog rested near a warehouse entrance.

Another watched from beside an abandoned vehicle.

Doug’s family was already in position.

An invisible net had settled over the district.

Several worn vans arrived a short time later and stopped near the target building. Their doors opened, and the masked men and women Axel had seen at Jigsaw’s headquarters began stepping out.

Wolves.

Rabbits.

Crows.

Foxes.

The same people who had looked nervous inside the warehouse now carried themselves very differently.

They had come prepared to fight.

Their equipment was an uneven mixture of firearms and crude hand weapons, making it obvious that this was not a professional tactical unit. Some were better equipped than others, but none moved like soldiers or experienced gang enforcers.

They were angry civilians.

People held together by loss, resentment, and the belief that someone had escaped punishment.

Axel watched from the darkness as the group gathered behind a man wearing a wolf mask.

A few quick gestures passed between them, and the vigilantes began spreading toward the building.

Their movements were controlled enough to show preparation, but not polished enough to resemble professionals.

Axel did not join them.

Not yet.

If he appeared too early, he might change the way the operation unfolded.

More importantly, he wanted to see what was actually hiding inside the Sunset Gang stronghold.

Ordinary criminals were one thing.

Cult-linked monsters were another.

The masked group began its move.

Axel shifted deeper into the darkness on the opposite side of the street and disappeared from view.

For now, he would watch.

And wait to see what crawled out.