Preparing to Deliver Warmth

The courthouse.

After parking the car, Lake and Joe walked straight ahead. Upon entering the courthouse, they hurried up the stairs towards the office of Judge Laura Birch on the second floor.

Ever since Lake was promoted to detective, Judge Laura Birch had issued the search warrants for several cases he handled.

They were old friends.

After entering the office, the judge's assistant listened to Lake's reason for visiting and asked him to wait. The assistant then went to the inner office, knocked, and announced Lake.

Soon.

The judge's assistant came out, smiled slightly at Lake, and said, "Detective Edwin, you may go in."

Lake said thank you, gave Joe a look, and then walked in.

"Good morning."

Lake smiled at Judge Laura Birch, who was handling some documents at her desk, "Laura."

They were old friends.

There was no need for formal titles when they met.

Laura, who was forty-five years old with two children, a boy and a girl, took off her glasses and teased Lake, "I thought I'd see you at the defendant's dock. What, are you back on duty?"

Lake chuckled, "I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. Even if I had to stand at the defendant's dock, I'd be happy to do so before Judge Martin."

Judge Martin, who was found to have taken bribes last year, had been removed from his position.

Laura shook her head, a smile on her face, "So, you're pleading guilty?"

Lake laughed heartily, took a step closer, and handed Laura a search warrant for the Textile Factory, which he had prepared before leaving the precinct.

Once Laura signed it, the search warrant would be legally effective.

Lake was confident that once they went to the Textile Factory, they wouldn't just find people, but they'd even haul back that textile machine, which impersonated God, to the precinct and let it gather dust in the warehouse.

Uproot the whole thing!

Lake was always one to hold a grudge. He might forget to repay a favor, but when it came to revenge, Lake always acted with the principles of speed, severity, and thoroughness.

Laura took the search warrant and glanced at it.

The next second.

Looking at the target of the search, Laura seemed a bit surprised and looked at Lake, "You want to search the Textile Factory?"

Lake nodded, "Yes."

Lake then informed Laura that the Textile Factory was the base of the assassin organization, The Assistance, and attached the contents of Carlos's confession to Laura. "My informant also told me that this Carlos is one of the defected assassins from The Assistance, so I plan to search the Textile Factory."

Laura hesitated, "Besides your informant's testimony and this confession of unknown origin, do you have any other evidence?"

As the saying goes.

When it involved positions related to the disabled, even Laura felt hesitant. What if the disabled organization directly rebelled? That would make New York quite lively.

Lake looked at Laura, "My guarantee."

Laura looked up at Lake.

Lake shrugged, "Laura, you know me. I wouldn't bother you without absolute certainty."

Laura seemed hesitant.

After a moment.

Laura was silent for a while, then looked up at Lake, "Lake, you better not mess this up this time."

After saying that.

Laura took out her pen, signed the search warrant, and called her assistant who was outside, asking him to take the search warrant to the archives for filing.

"Wait!"

"Sir?"

Laura called out to the assistant who was holding the original search warrant, glanced at Lake, and then instructed the assistant, "Take it to the archives for filing in half an hour."

The assistant nodded.

Lake took the copy of the search warrant, thanked Laura, and then left the office with Joe.

Outside the courthouse.

They got into the car.

Joe, sitting in the passenger seat, asked with some confusion, "Why wait half an hour to file it?"

A search warrant doesn't take effect immediately; it only becomes effective after it's filed with the court. In one case, a lawyer used the one-minute difference between the time the detective presented the search warrant and the time it was filed with the court to render all evidence obtained invalid.

Of course.

This delay of half an hour for filing was different from the case just mentioned.

As Lake drove towards the precinct building, he glanced at Joe, "Do you think a Textile Factory that can donate five million and is also a member of the Mayor's campaign team would know immediately that I'm going to search them?"

Joe replied, "Without a doubt."

Lake shrugged, "So, Laura was helping us just now. Once I get the search warrant and deploy the Special Operations Team, by the time the Textile Factory gets wind of it, I'll already be at their doorstep."

Joe nodded thoughtfully.

She used to be at the 13th Precinct. The precinct mostly handled ordinary homicide cases, simple cases of passion killings. Once organized crime or major cases were involved, such cases would be directly investigated by the three chief detectives at the precinct headquarters.

These were George from Major Crimes Unit 1, Kaitlin from Unit 2, and Lake from Unit 3.

Precinct Building!

Inspector Montgomery looked at Lake, who had returned with a court-issued search warrant in less than half an hour. He looked up at Lake, standing before his desk, and said with a hint of disbelief, "You didn't forge this signature too, did you?"

Otherwise, even Laura Birch, who had practically become Lake's go-to for signing search warrants, wouldn't have likely signed it based solely on an anonymously sourced confession.

This is insane.

Even if this matter was a sure thing, if there was even a sliver of uncertainty, and something went wrong, it would be a major disaster.

Lake shrugged and remained silent.

In reality, if it were before, Laura might not have signed this document. But this time was different. The First Judge at the court was retiring soon, and Laura was clearly interested in that position.

So...

This was a case of unspoken understanding and mutual agreement.

Seeing that Lake didn't intend to say anything, Montgomery couldn't be bothered to ask. He shook his head, directly dialed the Special Operations Team captain, spoke a few words, hung up the phone, and then said to Lake, "You better make sure this is a success."

The implication was that if anything went wrong this time, Montgomery would have to make a difficult decision.

Lake's lips curved upwards as he turned and left.

He had spent so much time working on this. Even if he went to the Textile Factory and didn't act, Lake would make them act. You have to kill the snake completely.

Not only cut off the snake's head, but also stomp it into a pulp.

Soon.

NYPD Strategic SWAT Team.

Lake entered and waved to the SWAT officers who had received the order and were fully armed, "Gentlemen, ready to deliver some warmth to the assassin organization?"

SWAT officers: "..."

Happy weekend!