Chapter 149: A Big Gift

Chapter 149: Chapter 149: A Big Gift

Heath Hale didn’t waste time. He grabbed a piece of paper from the table and jotted down everything Zoe Sawyer had said.

The bomber’s movements were practiced and swift, a clear sign of extensive training.

His accomplices were perfectly in sync, with the strong nerves of seasoned professionals. It didn’t look like their first operation; they had likely been working together for a considerable amount of time. It was reasonable to suspect they had pulled off similar acts elsewhere.

"Beau, come over here. I need your help," Zoe Sawyer said, beckoning to Beau, who was standing nearby.

Then, as one described, the other drew. The scene Zoe Sawyer had witnessed was quickly sketched out.

From the moment the suspect placed the bomb to the expressions and actions of the lookouts around him, and even the suspect’s own face—

Beau drew it all.

Just as Beau finished her drawing, Heath Hale received a call from Evan Keller.

"The devices at the pedestrian street and the elementary school entrance were both bombs, but they’re homemade. The construction is pretty crude, and they aren’t very powerful. If they had actually detonated, the damage would have been limited."

"Luckily, we found them in time, so neither detonated." Evan Keller’s voice was light. After this brief update, however, his tone turned grim. "But the others are a different story. One of the teams handling another device discovered that while it’s also homemade, its explosive yield is several times greater than the first two. If it goes off, the consequences will be catastrophic."

Anyone nearby would be blown to smithereens—and maybe not even pieces that large.

"Deal with those first," Heath Hale said, his tone serious. "We’ve had a major breakthrough here. Zoe Sawyer and Beau have finished the suspect’s sketch. We’ll get the one for the school bomber done and send them all over to you."

Even though Beau thought it was the same person, Heath Hale wanted to be cautious and verify it.

Zoe Sawyer, of course, had no objections. Once she confirmed Beau was finished, she repeated the process, once again opening the "door" to the scene at the elementary school entrance.

’He’s here!’

Zoe Sawyer stared intently at the man before her.

The moment she saw his face clearly, Zoe Sawyer knew Beau’s conclusion was wrong.

’Their eyes are completely different!’

The man at the pedestrian street had been unremarkable, easily overlooked. But this one, though he had the exact same face, had a vicious glint in his eyes. He looked like trouble.

Just like before, she mentally tore off the suspect’s mask and memorized his face and the surroundings, then returned to the office.

"They’re different," Zoe Sawyer said to Heath Hale the moment she came to. "They aren’t the same person. Their eyes are completely different."

Zoe then described the second man’s face to Beau, who was waiting expectantly by her side.

Beau’s hands never stopped moving, and she quickly completed the second portrait.

With the two completed portraits lying on the desk, the contrast was striking.

Though their faces were identical, their eyes were entirely different. Side by side, the distinction was immediately obvious; there was no mistaking one for the other.

But based on a view of their backs or blurry surveillance footage, it would indeed be hard to tell them apart.

Once everything was confirmed, Heath Hale took photos of the sketches and sent them to Evan Keller and Sean Hughes.

The sketches were clear enough. He planned to run them through the facial recognition database; maybe they’d get a hit on the suspects’ identities.

Zoe Sawyer sat beside Beau, replaying the visions in her mind. Something felt off.

"Heath Hale," Zoe Sawyer began, her tone hesitant, "would they really be satisfied with just planting these few? Especially since we found all of them."

’If their only goal was to cause chaos, what did they achieve besides putting us on high alert?’

’To create panic?’

’No, we disarmed them in time. It won’t attract much public attention.’

"We’re short on manpower right now. We have to disarm all of these before we can start a large-scale search of other areas." Heath Hale knew what Zoe Sawyer was getting at; they also suspected something was off.

But for now, they were on the defensive. At the very least, they had to eliminate the immediate threats before they could move on to the next step.

Just then, Officer Lee hurried over and knocked on the door. His voice was anxious. "There’s a new development with Boss Thorne. He received another text from Old Man Dex."

Zoe Sawyer and the others couldn’t sit still. They all hurried back to the main office to see the new message.

"Keep an eye on them. Report to me at any time. I’m sending them a big gift." Zoe Sawyer stared at the message, reading it out word by word.

"You don’t have to be a genius to know this ’big gift’ is nothing good," Zoe Sawyer muttered with a frown. An image of the bombs they had found today flashed through her mind.

’If all these bombs are connected to this Old Man Dex... then is it possible that his ’big gift’ is an even bigger, more dangerous bomb?’

’And there’s a good chance it’s planted in a densely populated area.’

’If it detonates, the damage will be catastrophic.’

The more Zoe Sawyer thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

"Zoe Sawyer? What’s wrong?"

Heath Hale frowned, looking with concern at the pensive Zoe Sawyer.

"I was just wondering if this is part of a bigger plot," Zoe Sawyer said, not hiding her thoughts. She laid out her theory for Heath Hale, wanting to hear his take on it.

"It’s not impossible."

Heath Hale thought for a moment. Zoe Sawyer’s theory wasn’t baseless. When dealing with extremists like these, you could never be too cynical about their motives.

If they were trying to get revenge on society or the police, then places with heavy foot traffic would be the most likely targets.

"We have no other choice. We’ll start by notifying the staff at the shopping malls. Have them do a preliminary sweep of any place something could be hidden," Heath Hale decided, slapping his hand on the table.

After all, Varden was a huge city, with far too many hiding places.

Relying on the police force alone, it would take an unknown amount of time to search everywhere.

Every second was critical. They had to hurry.

The mall managers who received the news felt their hearts leap into their throats. They dropped whatever they were doing, no matter how urgent, and organized their staff to conduct a wall-to-wall search of their properties.

At the same time, they had to keep the shoppers calm to avoid widespread panic.

While Zoe Sawyer and her team were scrambling to conduct their urgent searches, Dexter Bishop wasn’t idle either.

"Old Man Dex, the rest are all in place, just as planned," the man in the lead said, approaching Dexter Bishop with a slight, respectful bow.

Their plan was to use a few obvious decoys to distract the cops, then plant the real payload at the designated locations.

"Excellent. Now, the real fun is about to begin."