New Gods of North America.

Chapter 444 Almshouse

Wayne and his friends arrived at the door of the orphanage at 12:40 midnight.

The reason why he took out his pocket watch to take a look was that when he got off the carriage, he noticed that fires had lit up at the same time in the distance in two different directions of the city.

One of the fires seemed quite intense, probably because it ignited a lot of grease and other combustible materials. It was probably in a warehouse or something like that.
The other one was located higher, on the top floor of a "high-rise building" in this era. The fire itself was not too big, but it was quite eye-catching at night. I don't know which rich person's property was affected.

Nowadays, most cities in America do not have a professional fire brigade. When encountering a fire, the residents basically rely on mutual assistance or let the fire fend for themselves. Neither of these two situations is very good.

Wayne sighed that the church and local civil servants would be busy tonight, and turned to look into the carriage.

He put down the extraordinary shackles he had taken from David Mills before departure, and took out the lever-type rifle, spare demon-hunting bullets, and simple high explosives from under the seat.

Since the other party arranged people to deliberately set the fire and created such a big scene, this is not the "simple escape" previously estimated. The danger rating must be adjusted up.
Firepower is something you don't need, but at critical moments, whoever doesn't have it will suffer.

The relief homes in America can be roughly divided into two categories. One is closer to the so-called "orphanage" or "nursing home", which is often located in a relatively remote area and accommodates some poor homeless people for long-term residence.

Tonight's place seems to be of a different type. It provides free food regularly or irregularly, and also arranges some publicity or general education night courses. Occasionally, it may also allow people in need to stay temporarily.

Those who are more easy to talk to will usually allow the poor people to take the prepared food home, while those who are not so easy to talk to may have to cooperate and finish the class before they can fill their stomachs here.

Since there is basically no accommodation provided, the layout inside seems to be divided into two areas: the "front desk" and the "backstage".
The former is roughly "anyone can enter" on weekdays, while the latter is relatively closed and theoretically "no entry without permission".

The entrance to the orphanage is in a small alley beside the street that looks inconspicuous but is actually quite deep. Unrelated people may pass by the alley dozens of times but will never actually walk in once.
Wayne and his team left a sign on the roadside outside the alley. If the detective agency saw it, they would know to turn in.

The road inside is not very close. After entering the alley, you have to walk a little further and turn a corner before you can see the wall of the orphanage.

I feel like this is a good location for highway robbery. The alley itself is not perpendicular to the street outside, so you can't see too far at a glance. The police patrolling the street probably won't go that deep. Even if someone shouts for help, by the time a kind passerby comes over, the person might have already done it and run away.

Although it is unlikely that rich people would appear here alone, it should not be easy for a little bully to be caught red-handed if he steals other people's food, small items, etc.

Because it was late at night, the gate of the small courtyard of the relief house, which was usually open, was now locked.
Inesa climbed over the wall and poked her head out, taking a deep breath to confirm that there was the smell of blood that she had specially prepared inside. Connor then climbed in lightly and quietly opened the small door next to the gate from the inside.

This small broken door is actually a double door, with a locked iron fence door on the outside and a wooden door on the inside to block the wind.
The wooden door can be opened by lifting the bolt, and the iron gate is probably to prevent intrusion, with the bolt installed in a position that cannot be reached from the outside.

Wayne took a quick look and thought this design was good. The detective agency could learn from it when they had the chance.

Moreover, it only protects against the outside but not the inside, which means that at least the "front desk" area of the courtyard is not a prison-like place.

In theory, there should be someone guarding an orphanage like this at night. After all, there are all kinds of people who need help, and not everyone will come during the day. However, there was no one near the gate at the moment. Wayne walked in with the lever rifle, and Inesa followed him.

The carriage prepared by the church tonight was parked in a corner of the courtyard. A small pool of blood had formed under the carriage from the bottle.
Because of the need to consider the battery life, the bottle was treated so that the blood dripping was controlled to a small drop every ten to twenty seconds.
Inesa took a quick look in the dim light and estimated the time. "It probably stopped here a few minutes ago."

There was only a pitiful night light hanging in a corner of the courtyard. There was no sign of fighting around the carriage. The church would naturally not prepare weapons for the fugitives. Theoretically, with Damon MacCready's level, he should not be easily defeated in such a short time.
Wayne guessed that Damon MacCready might have chosen to cooperate temporarily, perhaps wanting to find the other party's subsequent base or route.

But with such a huge "unicorn arm", even if he tried his best to cover it with clothes, how could he really continue to get away with it after getting off the bus?

The three of them dispersed in the courtyard and continued to look for follow-up traces. Connor quickly waved his hand from the other side.

Wayne and Inissa went over one after another, then each raised their weapons and loaded bullets.

This looks like one of the passages that goes deeper into the interior. It's not surprising to have an iron gate. Anyway, the detective agency also has a lock picking class.

The main thing was that the marks left on the ground looked a little off. The size was roughly the same as Willy's, but they were fresh drag marks, and the force was very light.

Wayne imagined it a little bit and imagined that it was probably a person with his upper body supported by someone else, and with the toes of his shoes pointing backwards, he was being dragged softly backwards.

No,

Damon MacCready, you are a former Interpol who is half an agent, and you were killed in seconds?!

This iron gate has a lock cylinder in the middle, so you need a key to enter and exit. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the times, it can protect against novices, but it can no longer protect against agents who have started to carry small tool bags with them.

It took Connor less than three minutes to complete this practical lesson. He carefully pushed the door open and walked through the small corridor, where there was another small courtyard.

The inner courtyard was only accessible by foot, and it looked darker than the outer courtyard. A section of the road was paved with rough tiles, and there was less dust, so the traces were quickly cut off.

Wayne opened his vision of simple lines but couldn't find any follow-up for a while, and the information that Inissa quietly gave him was half good and half bad.

There was no smell of blood, which meant that the two of them were not injured at least for the moment.
However, it also means that the opponent has very effective means of control. Even if Conor wants to defeat Damon McQuaid, it will not be so easy in the arena.

Fortunately, there are not many buildings inside.
Seeing that the courtyard is now as gloomy as a ghost's lair, it would not be too wrong to check out the building that is a little further away and more remote.

(End of this chapter)