Chapter 57: A Sequence Of Events (Part 1)

Ryan, who had just arrived next to Jacob and Sam, spoke, "Hi, excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear you. Did you just say that you are going to face a gang?"

Sam - "See, Peralta, this why I tell you not to talk in such a loud tone."

Jacob - "It's kind of rude to ask a question without introducing yourself first. What's your name, kid."

Ryan - "My name is Ryan."

Jacob - "How old are you?"

Ryan - "I just turned fourteen. Can you now answer the question?"

Jacob - "Sure. So I have been tracking this gang for a long while and finally found them here today."

Ryan - "My main question is, how do you even know it is a gang? We just overheard a kidnapper talk from outside the cave."

Sam - "You see, we went through the CCTV footage, and someone spotted a suspicious vehicle."

"Upon further inquiry, we found the vehicle was a stolen getaway van."

Jacob - "Later on, one of my associates from the NYPD helped them find another CCTV footage."

"The new footage revealed the same group of people, but their face was visible this time."

"Which later on, matched with the face of Luigi Palmiotto, my gang leader, and bam, we are here to catch the bad guys."

Sam - "You didn't need to explain the kid everything. Now he is probably even more confused."

Ryan - "No, I understood everything. I have one last question."

Sam looked around and saw there was still time before the operation began, so he said, "Fine, go on but make it quick."

Ryan - "Why was the NYPD involved, to begin with?"

Jacob - "Oh shoot, I forgot to mention that the van was stolen from New York, so from the start, this was an intra-state case."

Ryan - "I see, thanks, and what's your name?"

Jacob - "No problem. I am Detective Jacob Peralta from NYPD."

Jacob then went in for a handshake, and Ryan didn't shy out but firmly shook Jacob's hand.

Sam - "I am Officer Sam from LAPD."

Ryan then shook Sam's hand.

Ryan - "All right then, I won't disturb you as you are clearly, busy bye."

Jacob and Sam - "Bye."

Ryan then returned to his mom Amanda and his girlfriend, Alex, and retold all the newly gathered information he had acquired.

Amanda - "Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Now I am even more worried about your dad."

Ryan - "Don't worry, mom. I am sure dad will be fine."

Alex - "Yeah, auntie, I am sure uncle Nathan will be okay."

Amanda - "Come here, both of you."

Amanda then hugged both Alex and Ryan tightly.

The police operation soon began, and from what Ryan could make out, around twenty-five officers were dispatched.

They soon sprung into the forest as quietly as possible, as this was a sneak operation. They didn't want the rats to hear something and escape their grasp.

It took around 30 to 40 minutes for the large police force to reach the cave entrance, which was way longer than Nathan had anticipated.

The moment the police arrived at the scene, they immediately surrounded the cave, forming a circle around it.

Police chief Martin then ordered the task force experts to sneak into the cave and complete the assigned task.

Their mission was to ensure that all civilians were safely rescued and wouldn't be used as hostages, managing the situation before things escalated.

This task force was created to take full advantage of the fact that the kidnappers had no idea they had been found out.

In a way, they were fully using the element of surprise.

Although the task was urgent, it was also a perilous one. As if the task force failed, not only would the kidnappers be aware of the police.

The task force members would also be at risk of facing a life-and-death situation.

To sum it up, a single mistake by a member could end up taking the lives of the entire task force.

Hence, all the task force members were selected carefully and after much deliberation by chief Martin.

As Martin knew how in a sense, the success or failure of the task force would decide how things would proceed from here on out.

If they succeeded, the probability of this operation being a success would instantly become close to one hundred percent as there was no way five men were escaping twenty.

However, before the task force went in and this operation officially entered the starting phase, Nathan was allowed to take his leave.

You see, Nathan was not needed anymore for the return journey as they could now easily follow the directions that Nathan had written previously.

Even if there was a mistake in them, chief Martin already had a backup plan. He had one of his men, Keith, write the direction from scratch during their trip to the cave.

After giving Nathan a few minutes to get as far away as possible, the task force officially headed inside the cave.

One of the members of this task force was Jacob Peralta. If Ryan had known about this, he would have been shocked by this decision.

After all, although Jacob had gone undercover in Brooklyn 99, he was never that sneaky unless you think of the time he won two Halloween Heist.

Then again, Ryan would have probably attributed Peralta's selection to Martin being influenced by Jacob's protagonist's aura.

Jacob and the other four task force members headed in.

Three men and two women walked slowly and carefully, one guiding the way through a flashlight, making the whole scene feel like it had been taken out of a horror movie.

The only difference was that the five were Police officers carrying pistols.

As they walked, the cave slowly descended toward what seemed like an underground passage.

Emma, one of the two women on the task force being the leader, quickly reported her findings.

Emma - "The cave has a long passageway without light leading towards an underground chamber, so there might be another exit connecting to the surface."

Chief Martin - "Roger, that keep exploring. We will try to scout around to find an area with a large opening from the ground."