"I have a visual on firearms in the truck," said one of Damien's nRob from the Beta Teamat the port near the ASL shipping containers disguising as a dockworker.
"Copy that. We're going to need you to go the closest you can get, but do not engage," responded Damien from the trailer van.
There were several CCTV caras on the holding area of the containers, but none that covered the part where the truck was, so the team could only rely on the caras that their n had on themhidden inconspicuously on their bodies. However, to get proper footage, they had to be closer to the scene. But it wasn't that easy because a few n were surrounding the trucks who were keeping a lookout.
With his back against one of the parked containers, Rob swiftly removed the pinhole cara hidden as a button on his shirt and carefully positioned it until it faced the truck several ters behind the container he was hiding from. "This is the closest I can get. Can you see anything?"
"Hold still. I'm running the plates," Styles muttered through the comms while his fingers danced on the keyboard. "Got it. The truck belongs to John Smithtch, he might as well have chosen John Doe. Fake records. Nothing on this person."
Keeping his eyes on the monitors, Damien ordered, "Alright. Proceed as planned, Rob. Keep an eye on the truck and pin the tail on the pony."
"You got it, Boss," Rob acknowledged.
Everyone connected to their communication line received Damien and Styles's update, so all of them got ready for when the truck starts to move.
The whole process took less than thirty minutes since the truck arrivedfrom positioning it near the holding area to transferring the 40-foot high cube container onto the back of the 18-wheeler truck. It was as if there was a silent rule that none of the workers were allowed to get near it as Rob didn't see any dockworkers he saw or t earlier that day. And just when the container had been put securely in place, the n surrounding it dispersed.
A security guard and the foreman ca over, eting the truck driver. Just when Rob thought that the two were going to confront the other for looking suspicious, the driver handed a wad of cash to them, in which they pocketed as if nothing happened before leaving the area.
"No wonder. The whole system is corrupt," Styles remarked, shaking his head.
Damien, whose family's underground business involved smuggling, couldn't comnt on it. There were many shady things going on in this state, and it was the reason he left his uncle's care. After seeing it again like this, his jaw ticked.
The area was almost clear of people, and the driver headed towards the driver's seat. Rob rounded the cargos stealthily until he reached the back of the truck. Ever so casually, he stuck a small device under the fender of the back wheels and headed straight to the opposite side, leaving the holding area. "The tail has been pinned. Heading ho," Rob inford.
Styles worked on his computer and confird, "The tracker is live. Everybody in position."
The team assud their tasks and watched through the small monitor on their dashboard as Styles projected the tracker's feed, allowing everyone to see where the truck was heading. So groups traveled on the sa path as the truck, while the others moved through another road that was parallel to the truck's path.
Chris and Alia, who were in the sa group, were closer to the truck. But they made sure not to tail them suspiciously. They just needed to make sure that they were still able to see the truck physically from a distance without actually being very close to them. Precautions were what they neededafter all, they were possibly dealing with Shadow here.
Their brows drew together when they saw the truck entering the freeway and heading out of Harbor City. Just where the hell were they going? Without knowing where the trucks were headed, they could just hope that it wasn't a very long distance.
Styles and Damien, who were in a trailer van, also headed in the sa direction as the other groups who entered the freeway. Sothing about this whole thing gave Damien a bad feeling, especially that Katherine was in Harbor City while the rest of the team were already an hour away.
"I don't like this" Damien muttered under his breath.
At this mont, they couldn't do anything else except follow the truck. Finally, after two hours of driving, the truck exited the freeway and entered a road that's going towards the north of Esa.
"Where are they heading? There's nothing there," Styles comnted as he searched the area.
Just as it started raining, Alia's voice ca through the comms, "Everyone park. The truck just turned towards a dirt path. Chris and I will continue moving forward, but everyone else has to wait. Damien, you can comnce the next step."
Damien and Styles nodded at each other and contacted Director Hughes who had been on standby the whole ti.
Chris and Alia ever so cautiously drove down the path with tall trees on the side, following the tracker on the small screen. They could no longer see the truck in front of them as they decided to stay out of sight. There were very few cars on the road and if they followed them like they had been doing earlier, they would definitely notice. So they had to wait for half a minute before entering the dirt road. After a couple of minutes, they spotted the truck again from a distanceit was now parked on a clearing.
With binoculars, Alia and Chris could see the activity from where they were. But because of the rain and the distance, it was harder to see this ti. Several ters away from the truck was a parked bus with several n in tactical outfits, carrying firearms surrounding it. Chris and Alia exchanged a look of bewildernt as they didn't know what to expect. Pulling their car out of the road, they hid it behind the trees, covering it with branches and leaves until it was no longer visible from the dirt road.
Then the two hurriedly went closer towards the truck on foot, careful not to attract attention, leaving a trail of footprints on the mud as they trod forward. There was a good fifty-ter distance between them and the truck and bus in the middle of the clearing when they stopped. Alia and Chris hid behind large trees and observed.
Pressing a finger to her earpiece, Alia reported, "There are fifteen n on the clearing. Ten of them are wearing tactical outfits with no marks except for one that said 'POLICE'. While the rest wore civilian clothing, including the driver of the truck."
"What are they doing?" Styles's curious tone sounded from the comms just as a camouflage drone arrived above Alia and Chris's head. The two looked up and then looked away, knowing that it was Styles controlling the drone.
The n on the clearing were casually talking and smoking cigarettes as if they were on their breaks. The rain continued to fall and began to pour heavily. One of the n in a tactical outfit spoke to soone on the phone, and as soon as it ended, he turned to face his comrades and gave everyone a signal.
The n moved around the field as if looking for a specific location. The n in tactical outfit remained standing while the rest laid on the grassso facing down and so facing away from the truck. Then... the n with the guns fired several shots while pointing the sky and away from the clearing.
"What the hell!" Styles cursed.
Alia and Chris docked and covered their ears as they continued to watch them. At first, they were baffled why the n were so bold enough to fire the shots, but after Styles rechecked the map, he confird that within a three-mile radius, there were no houses or any areas that were inhabited. It was also raining; thereby, the sound was masked.
The firing of shots lasted for more than ten seconds. And as soon as it was over, two n went towards the shipping container and began opening it.
Everyone's heart raced as they watched closely. Alia gasped when the container's door was opened. What they saw inside was not what they expected. Inside the shipping container were children in dirty clothes who were just around eight to ten years old, shivering and cowering in fear.
Alia turned her head to look at Christopher next to her who was in complete shock as he watched the scene before them. Even with no one speaking through the comms because of shock, those who heard about what happened to Chris and his sister linked it to what was currently happening. Everything made sense now.
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