Chapter 49: Died in the Line of Duty

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Died in the Line of Duty

A nonchalant male voice came from the other end of the line. "Whatever. Just check carefully. Make sure none of my cargo is missing."

"Got it. The two-legged sheep are all behaving themselves, staying right where they are. Not a single one is missing. A bunch of the guys are watching them. They’re not going anywhere," the first man said, his voice laced with a fawning tone.

Soon, the man he called "Boss" hung up.

"P-Bro, didn’t one of the kids go missing? Why’d you say no one was gone?" an underling standing behind the man asked in confusion.

They had searched all day to no avail.

P-Bro kicked his underling. "If we can’t find him, we can’t find him. He probably fell into a hole somewhere and died. If we’re short, we’ll just grab another one in the next few days to fill the quota. Simple.

You want to bother the boss with something this trivial? We’d be the ones getting chewed out."

"Yes, yes! You’re brilliant, P-Bro! You’ve thought of everything!" The underling’s expression was even more fawning than P-Bro’s had been on the phone. He chimed in with a few more words of agreement, and then the group left the shipping container.

Not for a moment did they suspect the missing child had actually escaped.

The area was surrounded by dense electric fences. You couldn’t find a hole big enough for a dog to crawl through.

Every vehicle that entered or exited was strictly inspected to ensure no one could use them to escape, let alone a child.

So, the most likely possibility was that during an escape attempt, the kid had accidentally fallen into some pit and died.

But if he was dead, he was dead. There were plenty more where he came from, anyway. They could grab another one to make up the numbers whenever they wanted.

Back at the police station, after the man was taken to the infirmary, Zoe Sawyer wasted no time and began another emergency search and rescue.

Judging by the condition of the man nicknamed Monkey, it was clear that if the other three were still alive, their own conditions were undoubtedly dire.

The sooner they found them and brought them back, the better.

The next two rescues went relatively smoothly. Zoe Sawyer, Heath Hale, and Evan Keller found the targets in remote, hidden corners.

Unsurprisingly, they were all barely breathing, their life signs extremely faint. Any later, and they would have been dead.

The last one, however, was a much more complicated situation.

Zoe Sawyer stood frozen, staring at the scene before her.

"Aren’t we hitting them a bit too often? Three incidents in two days. Won’t it be easy for them to catch on?

I can just imagine the look on those cops’ faces. When they see this, they’re going to lose their minds," said a man, who was bundled up from head to toe, as he shoveled dirt into a pit.

Though his words expressed concern about being discovered, his hands never stopped moving.

The two men beside him said nothing, just kept their heads down and focused on digging.

But at the bottom of the pit, what caught Zoe Sawyer’s attention was the haphazard pile of bodies.

The one on top was her target for this mission!

Barry Quinn’s last teammate who hadn’t been brought back!

"Alright, job’s done. Let’s pack it up." The man dusted off his hands, admiring his work with satisfaction. He snapped a picture and sent it off. "The boss wanted us to make a scene. I’ll have someone post this in a minute. I guarantee it’ll keep those cops plenty busy.

When they see who’s on top, it’ll definitely blow up online.

This is for those bastards who refused to come and just dumped all the work on us. After this, I’ll steer the public narrative a little to complete the mission, and the boss’s reward is gonna be huge. Let them eat their hearts out!"

A malicious grin spread across the man’s face as he thought about what was about to happen.

The frustration he felt from being ordered to do the job was greatly eased.

Standing behind Zoe Sawyer, Evan Keller, who had witnessed everything, gritted his teeth and gave Heath Hale a look.

Both men simultaneously raised their tranquilizer guns and aimed at the three men who had their backs to them.

At such a close range, the tranquilizer guns were highly accurate. All three men went down in an instant.

From what the man was muttering to himself earlier, they could deduce that only these three were involved in digging the pit.

And since the portal Zoe Sawyer had opened had been there for a while without provoking any reaction, it was safe to assume no one else was around.

Zoe Sawyer and Heath Hale rushed out and dragged the three men inside.

"Captain Quinn, I’m so sorry..." Zoe Sawyer said, looking at Barry Quinn with a guilt-ridden expression.

She hadn’t been able to save the last man.

Barry Quinn understood immediately from her expression. Though heartbroken, he patted Zoe Sawyer’s shoulder comfortingly. "Don’t take it to heart. From the moment we took this assignment, we were all prepared to die in the line of duty.

This was supposed to be a total loss. Because of you, three of my men made it out alive. You’ve already done an amazing job!"

Heath Hale gave Zoe Sawyer a long, searching look before picking up the locator Officer Lee had provided and tossing it into the pit.

There were too many bodies in there for him and Evan Keller to move on their own.

It would also risk exposing them. It was better to mark the location and bring a proper team.

It wasn’t a total loss. At the very least, they’d captured three of the culprits.

Judging from their conversation, even though they were low-level grunts, they probably knew something.

A proper interrogation might even get a specific location out of them.

"Alright, that’s enough. You’ve been running around all day; you’re exhausted. Get some rest. We’ll still need your help later," Heath Hale said, looking at Zoe Sawyer’s weary expression and her body which seemed on the verge of collapse. He guided her onto a sofa, forcing her to rest.

She had jumped back and forth several times today, and while carrying people, no less.

Zoe Sawyer’s stamina had long since been depleted. If it weren’t for her recent training and her determination to keep her promise to Barry Quinn, she would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

And sure enough, though Zoe Sawyer had been reluctant at first, her breathing became deep and even less than a minute after Heath Hale gently covered her eyes with his hand.

Seeing her brow still furrowed in sleep, Heath Hale couldn’t resist reaching out to smooth it.

’We have to solve this case quickly,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, she can’t even get a peaceful night’s sleep.’

"Captain Quinn, I’m sorry for your loss. We’re going now to bring our hero home," Evan Keller said, patting Barry Quinn’s shoulder before heading out. He had just confirmed the exact location on his computer.

Although he knew that death in the line of duty was an unavoidable risk, his heart still ached every time he heard a colleague had been sacrificed during a mission.

"I know. I’m going to report to my superiors. And don’t worry, I’ll keep the promise I made," Barry Quinn replied, his face pale. He was clearly running on fumes.

The news of his team member’s death had clearly taken its toll.

Evan Keller had no time to waste. He quickly organized a team and headed toward the location they had just pinpointed.

Heath Hale, meanwhile, remained at the station, ready to act at a moment’s notice.

"What happened? Where are those three?!"