Chapter 302: An Apartment Building with at Least 20 Floors

Chapter 302: Chapter 302: An Apartment Building with at Least 20 Floors

The others were still lagging behind and wouldn’t get there so quickly.

Besides, they couldn’t just search one area. What if Gavin Keller escaped from the other side?

Especially in a situation like this, time was of the essence. The best method right now was to split up.

Joey understood what the female officer meant. He tightened his grip on his weapon and nodded. "Got it! Be careful. If anything happens, shout for me immediately!"

"You too!"

With that, Joey and the female officer quickly went on high alert, raising their weapons and slowly advancing in opposite directions.

Gavin Keller huddled in a corner, clutching a hemp rope. He held his breath, listening to the approaching footsteps as a smile spread across his face.

Gavin Keller crouched down carefully. ’I’ll use the blind spot to teach this cop a harsh lesson!’

Listening to the footsteps drawing ever closer, Gavin Keller readied himself, poised to strike at any moment.

’They’re here!’

’Now!’

Meanwhile, Zoe Sawyer’s anxiety mounted as the surveillance feed from Joey’s position started to stutter. She had a sinking feeling that something was about to happen.

Zoe Sawyer stared at the computer screen, her hand on the doorknob, ready to open the door and save him at any moment.

Barry Quinn and Monkey stood beside her, holding tranquilizer guns. The moment Zoe Sawyer opened the door, they would charge in to help.

Just then, Joey’s broken cry for help came through the earpiece. "Captain... Sawyer..."

Zoe Sawyer’s heart leaped into her throat as she yanked the door open.

Joey was being strangled with a thick hemp rope. He clawed at the rope with one hand, trying to save himself, while his other hand reached for his gun to signal for help.

But before he could act, Gavin Keller sensed his intention. He pulled the rope tighter, slamming Joey’s body against the nearby wall.

He was so focused that he failed to notice the door opening behind him.

Barry Quinn aimed for Gavin Keller’s neck and fired.

The specially made, high-potency tranquilizer dart took effect instantly. Gavin Keller’s eyes rolled back in his head, and his limbs went limp as he collapsed backward.

The hemp rope fell from his hands. With the pressure on his neck released, Joey clutched his throat and began coughing violently. The commotion alerted the female officer who was searching in the other direction.

She rushed out of an abandoned room, shouting as she ran, "Are you okay?!"

Hayden Shaw and the others had just reached the floor below. When they heard the female officer’s shout, they picked up their pace and sprinted toward their floor.

"Joey, are you all right?" Zoe Sawyer asked, her voice filled with urgency.

Joey waved a hand, his voice hoarse. "Captain Sawyer, I’m okay."

"They’re coming. Close the door," Barry Quinn said, putting away his tranquilizer gun and signaling for Zoe Sawyer to shut the door.

Captain Taylor hadn’t introduced them to the others, which meant he didn’t want his own team members to know too much about Zoe Sawyer.

That was why Barry Quinn urged Zoe Sawyer to close the door as the others approached.

Soon, the female officer, Hayden Shaw, and the rest arrived one after another at Joey’s location.

They looked at the very distinct ligature mark on Joey’s neck, then at the unconscious Gavin Keller lying on the ground.

Hayden Shaw hurried over to help him up. "Nice work. To think you managed to capture the suspect at such a critical moment."

Joey’s throat felt too swollen to speak, and he didn’t want to take credit for what Zoe Sawyer and Barry Quinn had done, so he could only gesture at Hayden Shaw.

He pointed at the wall, then at Gavin Keller on the ground.

While the others didn’t understand what he was trying to say, Hayden Shaw, who was aware of Zoe Sawyer’s abilities, did.

Hayden Shaw motioned for the officers behind her to restrain Gavin Keller. "Since we’ve caught him, two of you take him back to the station. Joey, you go back too.

The rest of us will continue on to help Cap Wright’s team. Sound good?"

The others nodded in agreement with her plan.

Once they had carried Gavin Keller out of the urban village and communications were restored, the female officer quickly reported the situation to Captain Taylor via her earpiece and relayed the follow-up arrangements.

Upon learning that they had caught one of the suspects, Captain Taylor pumped his fist in the air excitedly. "Excellent work! Proceed as planned!"

"Yes, sir!"

Back in the office, after closing the door, Barry Quinn patted Zoe Sawyer’s shoulder reassuringly. "Relax. The suspect’s been caught, Hayden Shaw’s team is on site, and you saved Joey in the nick of time. He’s made it through this crisis."

’Next up is Cap Wright’s death crisis. That’s the really hard part!’

They had to focus their energy on that now.

Zoe Sawyer patted her cheeks and took a few deep breaths. "I know. Let’s continue."

The surveillance feed switched to Cap Wright’s team right on cue.

Compared to the smooth capture of Gavin Keller, Cap Wright’s situation was far more complicated.

Cap Wright’s group was initially following the tech team’s real-time instructions to circle around behind the man on the overpass.

But just as they started creeping up the stairs, the sharp-eyed man on the overpass spotted them.

He threw down his binoculars and took off in the other direction.

"Damn it, he spotted us! After him!" Watching the figure sprinting away, Cap Wright gritted his teeth and gave chase.

As the man from the overpass ran, he snatched belongings from nearby pedestrians and threw them on the ground. He also occasionally knocked over electric scooters and shared bikes parked on the roadside, trying to obstruct Cap Wright and his team.

As it turned out, his tactic was quite effective.

Many of the innocent pedestrians whose belongings had been snatched and thrown to the ground looked on in a daze. They instinctively moved to pick up their things, nearly colliding with Cap Wright’s pursuing team.

The team had to brake suddenly or swerve around them to continue the pursuit.

In the resulting chaos, the man from the overpass managed to put some distance between them, and with a quick turn, he vanished from their sight.

"Cap Wright, stairs on your left! There’s a shortcut this way!" a colleague from the tech team advised at the perfect moment.

’Stairs on the left.’

Without a second thought, Cap Wright led his men up the stairs in pursuit.

After a few more rounds of directions, the figure of the man from the overpass soon reappeared ahead of them.

After several sharp turns, a newly completed but still unoccupied apartment building appeared before them.

The man from the overpass looked at the apartment building, then glanced back at Cap Wright’s team chasing him. A plan began to form in his mind.

’If they’re going to stay on my tail like this, then they can’t blame me for playing rough!’

’A fall from this height, and they’re dead for sure!’

With that thought, the man from the overpass dashed into the apartment building.

Cap Wright stopped, looking up at the apartment building that stood at least twenty stories high. He remembered yesterday’s warning.

He gritted his teeth and ran inside after him.

’I just have to be careful not to get pushed off.’

’If I’m any slower, I’ll lose him, and then there’s no telling which floor he’s hiding on!’

"Cap Wright!"