Chapter 131: Search

Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Search

However, Vivian Dunn quickly composed herself before Felix Tate could look over.

’But for Gavin Owens to be this nervous, whatever’s in there must be important.’

"Huh? I thought Anne said she was going to have dinner with us?" Zoe Sawyer kept up her act, her expression a mask of confusion.

Felix Tate waved a dismissive hand. "Something came up at the last minute, so it can’t be helped," he said, his tone casual. "You two head on back. We’ll do it another time."

’So something more important has come up.’

Zoe Sawyer thought of the message she’d helped pass along. Glancing toward Gavin Owens, she saw him give an almost imperceptible nod and knew exactly what this was about.

They walked to the door. Under Gavin Owens’s tense gaze, the guard frisking them found nothing suspicious on Zoe Sawyer or Vivian Dunn.

The guard was a little surprised to see the door embroidered on Zoe Sawyer’s pocket but simply chalked it up to a personal hobby.

After all, a single glance was enough to tell nothing could be hidden in it, so it wasn’t worth a thorough search.

Anne Dawson glanced at the coat in the guard’s hand, then looked away.

’There’s nothing hidden in it, so there’s nothing to see.’

’My time is precious right now. If I don’t hear from the delivery crews soon, I’ll not only have to get ready to run, but I’ll also have to figure out how to take everything with me!’

’We just got here, and now we’re already being targeted again!’

Anne Dawson’s expression was grim.

After a routine check, the guard at the door let Zoe and her companion leave.

Sitting in the back, Zoe Sawyer gazed at the two stamp albums resting on her lap, a flash of anxiety running through her.

’This has to be what I think it is!’

’But how could a cult be involved in something like this?’

As she thought this, Zoe Sawyer reached into her coat, pushed open the embroidered door, and stuck a finger through to signal that it was open.

The officers on the other side barely had time to react before they heard Zoe Sawyer’s voice come through: "So, what kind of stamps does Anne like? An older relative of mine used to collect them. I’ll check when I get home and see if I have any suitable ones to bring her as a gift."

Heath Hale frowned, signaling everyone in the office to stop what they were doing and make no noise.

He simultaneously slowed his pace and walked closer, ready to listen to what came next.

Soon, an unfamiliar male voice came from the other side of the door: "Anne actually doesn’t like the rare ones. She thinks they’re too valuable and need to be carefully preserved, which is too restrictive.

She wants her stamps to serve a greater purpose."

As Felix Tate spoke, he watched Zoe Sawyer’s expression in the rearview mirror, trying to see if she would grasp the hidden meaning.

But Zoe Sawyer, mindful of her cover, put on a look of pleasant surprise as she stroked the albums.

She felt his eyes on her from the front but kept her expression calm, revealing nothing. Then, as if she’d just thought of something, she looked up and asked, "Oh, I see. I’ll be sure to treasure them.

Oh, by the way, would you mind dropping us off at the shopping mall near my apartment? I’m out of toiletries and need to restock."

"Of course," Felix Tate agreed. Seeing nothing amiss in Zoe Sawyer’s expression, he looked away and focused on driving.

He mentally labeled Zoe Sawyer an idiot, a flicker of contempt rising in his heart.

Zoe Sawyer seized the opportunity to wave to Heath Hale and his team, then closed the door.

"Stamps..."

Heath Hale stroked his chin. He thought about the call he’d just received from Evan Keller, who reported that the intercepted vans contained nothing but stacks of videotapes.

As for why they needed to avoid light and drive so fast?

The client had specified that the tapes needed to be protected from light and delivered as quickly as possible.

They were just employees; defying the company would only get them fired.

The entire explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

Evan Keller and his team knew this group was dirty, but they couldn’t immediately find anything concrete.

They could only detain the men for now and begin searching the impounded vans. But the workload was immense, and a quick search had turned up nothing.

"Officer Lee, contact the head of the K-9 unit. Get them over to Evan Keller’s location to help with the search," Heath Hale ordered, his expression tense.

Once Evan Keller’s team was in motion, the chief had authorized Heath Hale to act on his own discretion.

If the situation was urgent, he could make the necessary arrangements first and file a unified report after the operation concluded.

Officer Lee nodded. He didn’t have to be told—he could already guess what they were looking for.

LSD tabs. A new type of drug that had appeared in recent years.

A tiny tab of acid could be hidden in countless places inside a van.

Without professional help, finding them would take an enormous amount of effort.

After making that call, Heath Hale quickly phoned Barry Quinn and Monkey, ordering them to tail the vehicle carrying Zoe Sawyer.

He did a quick headcount, and after confirming he had enough officers, he dispatched half of his remaining team to the area around Zoe Sawyer’s apartment.

Initially, they thought The All-Supreme Sect was just a simple cult. They never expected it to be tied to drug trafficking.

Heath Hale’s priority now was to get rid of the strange man, have Zoe Sawyer return home, and get those two stamp albums to the station.

They needed to confirm if their suspicions were true.

If the albums truly contained LSD tabs, their approach to this organization would have to change drastically.

Meanwhile, the K-9 handler finally arrived with the drug-sniffing dogs at Evan Keller’s location.

The professionals made all the difference. In contrast to the obvious places Evan Keller and his team had searched, the handler, with the help of the dogs, found dozens of tabs in no fewer than twenty ingenious and concealed spots throughout the van.

They were wrapped in plastic film, taped to the inside of the vehicle’s frame, and then covered up.

Evan Keller and his team would have found them eventually, but it would have taken far longer. They couldn’t have done it this quickly.

Meanwhile, Sean Hughes and the Third Squad’s captain also found several dozen tabs in their search.

This large-scale drug trafficking operation immediately escalated the severity of the entire case to its peak.

When the van’s driver and his subordinates saw that their stash had been found, the color drained from their faces, and they stopped struggling.

’It’s over. Everything is over.’

Meanwhile, as Felix Tate drove toward Zoe Sawyer’s residential complex, he spotted police officers conducting random checks at an upcoming intersection.

"Do the police run checkpoints around here often?" Felix Tate asked, his probing gaze fixed on Zoe Sawyer and Vivian Dunn.

’That can’t be right. I had people staking this place out and gathering intel before, and they never saw anything like this.’

Zoe Sawyer and Vivian Dunn were equally baffled. ’What’s going on? Who set this up?’

’Heath Hale?’

Seeing the equally confused looks on the two women in the back seat, Felix Tate relaxed his guard.

’That’s right,’ he thought. ’They haven’t had any opportunity to contact the police.’

’Still, I can’t go any further.’

"Get out."