Arrest Him (I)

06:59 P.M. 

Cruz Mall Parking Lot. 

July 20th, the year 2018. Friday. 

Katrina felt the numbness inside her as she closed her eyes in deep slumber. The person retrieved a bracelet from the insides of his jacket. He let it fall intentionally in the stained blood on the ground. 

"Katrina! Katrina!" Mina's voice resonated over the confines of the parking lot. The person hoisted her up to his shoulders. He ran head straight towards the other side of the parking lot with no one seeing, even Mina and Marcus. 

Marcus reached the red car first, and there were bloodstains on the ground. He froze right in place as he saw another bracelet on the side. Mina's stunned at his place as he looked over Marcus. They both swallowed as Mina tried to approach the bracelet, but halted by Marcus's arm. 

"We can't destroy the crime scene. We need to find Katrina first," Marcus anxiously looked through the other side of the parking lot. He stared right up at the ceiling. It surprised him to see that they had angled the surveillance cameras through the other side.

Marcus observed the stained blood with the black bracelet over the side of it on the ground. He exhaled, realizing they can't deal with the scene without those tapes. 

What more can an honorable lieutenant do to find her best friend a distance away from them? The person wearing an oversized black hoodie drained Marcus's patience in one blink. 

Mina stared right through the exit of the parking lot. Taken aback to see a person wearing a black outfit, with a white-masked on his face, rubber gloves. A person wearing a dandelion hoodie riding on his back, lifeless. The blood dripped out of the left side of her abdomen. 

"Oh! It's Katrina!" Mina shouted over the hallways. The person was so fast that he vanished in one blink, right when Marcus stared at what Mina was looking at. Mina bolted to the exit. As he turned the corner, Marcus quickly called the officers to stay on put. 

Mina stopped right in the exit's corner and he sprinted upwards. Marcus did the same thing. They saw the person was still keeping up his pace, even though the officers were halting him. He got the Katana's sword right through his side, yielding it towards the officers. 

Marcus and Mina delved into the moonlight as they were about to grab a hold of Katrina. The person wielded the sword deep into one officer, killing him. 

The officers got their guns out, and so did Marcus. 

He got his pistol from the insides of his jacket and shot the leg of the person. He limped a little and ran again towards the car, who stopped right through the front of the lot. The gunshot resonated over the surroundings that made the people ducked their heads.

Marcus shot again as the car door opened. The person jumped right through the backside of the car with Katrina on his back. 

Marcus screamed as the car drove away. He exhaled, putting the gun back on his insides of the jacket. He turned his heel towards the officers. 

"Cmon, chase them! Please, move on even if without my commands! Someone's life is on the line!" Marcus bellowed through the officers. They climbed into their car immediately. They zoomed out through Bella's Main Highway. 

"What are you doing all this time?! Doing something irrelevant when we're catching a criminal?! What did you all do, is this the officer of the Major Crimes I am holding too?!" Marcus shouted over the parking lot. He gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw while the officers dropped their heads down out of shame. Mina dialed the numbers of their best friends. 

"It's me, Mina. Katrina was now missing," he mumbled through the phone as the tears trickled down his cheeks. If he can be so fast in running towards that exit, the person would raise their hands, waiting for the cuff. 

Marcus shrieked over the lot and he felt the angry tears pouring down his eyes. He immediately picked up his cell phone from the pockets of his jeans as he saw Zoey was calling him. 

He answered it and put it in his ear as he sniffed. 

"Where is Katrina?!" Zoey asked while climbing in her car. She buckled in her seatbelt and started the car by using her right hand. She stepped on the gas pedal as Marcus sniffed over the other end of the line. 

"I lost him," Marcus mumbled as he heard someone walking behind him. The officers murmured around the area. There was a blare of sirens all over the highway. It must be the forensic team of the station. Mina put his hand over his back and Marcus sobbed like a crybaby on the street. 

"I'll be there. Wait for me in a minute," Zoey swiveled her car out of their village. She gritted her teeth, as she couldn't calm her insides. 

"The forensic team is here, they are all looking for you," Mina mumbled as he looked towards the cars with the sirens on. Marcus immediately stuffed his cell phone. He wiped the tears from his face as he walked fast towards the car. His team was now climbing down on another van and asked what happened to the Cruz Mall parking lot. 

"It was Katrina Fajardo. The person wearing an oversized black hoodie abducted her. We couldn't identify his identity. We checked the angles of the surveillance camera inside and saw it was in the wrong direction. It wouldn't much of a use if we checked it right now," Marcus said as he exhaled. Mina was behind his back and still calling the rest of the group. They immediately hung up as he said that Katrina's abducted. 

"We can check the one on the exit. We can identify who it was that abducted Katrina," Marcus ordered. The team leader who was holding Margo Monteverde's murder case came up to him. He whispered something.

"I thought there was progress in it?" Marcus retorted back as he furrowed his eyebrows towards the second team leader. He creased his forehead. The leader of the Violent Crimes Division teams motioned for him to come to the side of the van. No one can hear them on that side. 

Marcus raised his hand first. He commanded the forensic team to check the abduction scene carefully. 

"I saw other evidence there, and I can't let anyone destroy that, understand?" Marcus, as the leader of the Major Crimes Division teams, nodded towards the lot. Everyone followed his order. He followed the team leader towards the other van where there were no officers around. Marcus said something to one officer passing by and called the one who followed the kidnapper. 

A lane of officers halted the people over the entrance of the lot. They were all buzzing in and about what happened. A van that was holding a bunch of reporters interrupted right in the crowd at the entrance of the lot. There were other shining flashes of camera lights dangling over the surface.

It filled the whole place with chatter, and the two of them entered the van first before saying something.

The team leader closed the door of the van and turned to Marcus again. It still puzzled Marcus about why the team leader of another division wanted a word from him. 

"Lieutenant Marcus. I got something confidential to say something to you," Jacob began. Marcus felt the shiver the first time he sat down. They put the air conditioner at its lowest level. And Marcus sighed as he waited for Jacob to spill out everything. 

"What is it, Lieutenant Jacob? We need to focus on the murder case of Margo Monteverde. The one that happened right now, the abduction of Katrina Fajardo," Marcus explained. He had no time for nonsensical things. Jacob shook his head relentlessly. 

"It's not about that, Lieutenant Marcus. I am here to say something about the murder case of Margo Monteverde. Why was it transferred to my team without your permission," Jacob elaborated. Marcus raised his eyebrows. 

He cracked his mouth. He remembered the time when he had to choose between transferring the case and changing his teammates. 

"What about that?" Marcus mumbled and felt his heartbeat getting louder than usual. 

"You need to know the secret behind that," Jacob trailed off.