EPISODE 7: “Smoke Trail”
A Coolvalstories Action Thriller – Season Finale
7:12 AM – Detroit PD Headquarters
The station was unusually quiet.
Detective Morgan Chase walked in carrying a box of files marked “Broker Inquiry – Unclassified.” He barely dropped the files on his desk before an officer rushed in.
“Sir. Holding Cell 2. It’s Reggie Dawson.”
Chase froze.
“What about him?”
The officer hesitated. “…He’s dead.”
7:15 AM – Holding Cell 2
Paramedics had already zipped up the body.
Reggie lay still, his skin pale, his lips slightly blue.
The scene was eerily clean. No bruises. No blood. Just a single cloth cord — from a blanket — used to hang himself from the vent.
Except…
The blanket was still neatly folded on the bench.
Chase scanned the cell.
No chair used for leverage. No scuff marks. No evidence of struggle.
Nothing added up.
“Where’s the surveillance feed?” Chase barked.
The officer looked down.
“Blacked out. Between 3:02 AM and 4:11 AM.”
“Who had access?”
“No one. System says it rebooted.”
That was a lie.
8:33 AM – Interpol Call, Private Room
Chase paced a secure room with Jenna as an encrypted line rang.
The screen blinked. Then a woman in an Interpol badge appeared. Her name: Agent Valérie Dupont.
“I read your report,” she said. “I believe what happened in Detroit was not just a diversion… it was a proof of concept.”
“A test run?” Chase asked.
“Exactly. The Broker orchestrates chaos to erase his real operations. He recruits expendables to trigger local disasters — robberies, shootings, bomb threats. All while his real assets pull off ghost-level jobs.”
Chase sighed. “We were all chasing shadows.”
Valérie continued. “We’ve linked six jobs globally. All with common markers:
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Sudden system outages
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Misplaced security alerts
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And one name passed between mercenaries: The Broker.”
10:18 AM – Trey’s Cell
Chase stared at Trey Mensah, now visibly shaken after hearing about Reggie’s death.
“That wasn’t a suicide,” Trey muttered.
“I know,” Chase said. “He was silenced.”
Trey hesitated, then added, “We were never told who was behind the job. Just a voice. Text-to-speech. We called him ‘Zero’. Reggie got orders. Carlos brought the guns. I handled the tech. None of us ever met the person paying us.”
“What was the last thing Reggie said before the job?”
Trey closed his eyes.
“If it goes bad… we don’t talk. That was the rule.”
1:26 PM – Reggie’s Note Recovered
Chase returned to the evidence room.
They had recovered Skylar’s crayon drawing — now bloodstained.
Hidden in the back flap, tucked between layers of paper, was a handwritten message.
“To whoever finds this…
If silence was the price, I’ve paid it.
Chase folded the paper, jaw tight.
He’d lost suspects before.
But never like this.
4:44 PM – Warehouse Outside Windsor Border
Meanwhile, across the Canadian border, a deal was taking place.
The diamonds — now cut into new shapes — were being loaded into diplomatic cases bound for Cape Town.
A woman in a tan coat handed over the manifest and a flash drive.
“The Broker sends his regards,” she said.
“No signatures?” the buyer asked.
She smiled. “You know the rules.”
6:00 PM – Internal Review Begins
Chase was summoned by the Chief.
“We’re closing the Lincoln case,” the Chief said, bluntly.
“What?”
“You have three suspects. One is dead. The other two confessed to the robbery and hostage situation. There’s no legal basis to pursue anything beyond that.”
Chase’s nostrils flared.
“The diamonds—”
“There’s no physical evidence. No surveillance. No forensic tie to Reggie or his crew.”
“You’re making them scapegoats.”
“We’re making the city feel safe.”
Chase stood there, disgusted.
And understood something he hadn’t wanted to believe:
Someone above him was pulling strings.
7:15 PM – Final Hours
That evening, Chase sat alone in his office. The whiteboard cleared.
Only one name remained, scrawled in red ink:
THE BROKER
He pulled a small recorder from his drawer and pressed record.
“This is Detective Morgan Chase. Final note on case #672-Delta.
I believe this operation was part of an international network — a series of orchestrated distractions, engineered to look local. Reggie, Carlos, and Trey were pawns.
The man behind it is real. His name — or alias — is The Broker.
Reggie died for staying silent. I won’t.
Whoever finds this… follow the smoke.”
He hit stop. Then locked the recorder inside an envelope labeled:
“Skylar Dawson – For When She’s Older.”
8:02 PM – Final Scene
Somewhere across the Atlantic, a candlelit room glowed.
The Broker stepped into view — face hidden.
He watched a screen as security footage from the Detroit PD was remotely wiped.
No evidence. No trace.
He picked up a fresh passport. Slipped it into a pocket.
On the table: a list of targets.
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Lagos, Nigeria
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Istanbul, Turkey
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Seoul, South Korea
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Cape Town, South Africa
He crossed off Detroit.
Then whispered to himself:
“Noise. Silence. Profit.”
And vanished into the dark.
THE END.
Season One Complete
Chaos was just the distraction. The Broker was the real story.
But the smoke never truly clears — it just shifts.*
