Where Did Lake Go

The moment Lake entered the ICU and opened fire, the support information received by the dispatch center had already been transmitted to the NYPD.

A group of people were utterly bewildered.

Chief Burt, who was gathering his subordinates for a meeting to discuss how to resolve this matter, was even more bewildered. When he snapped back to reality, his first reaction was to look directly at Inspector Montgomery.

Inspector Montgomery, sitting at his desk, was stunned at first, then his face darkened.

It was for no other reason than that both Chief Burt and Inspector Montgomery had a bad feeling about this.

"Where is Detective Edwin?"

"...I told him to go home and rest."

"..."

Chief Burt took a deep breath and then scanned the people in the conference room.

Five minutes later.

Police cars, sirens flashing, sped from the NYPD headquarters towards New Amsterdam Hospital.

In her office, Maureen, upon hearing that someone had gone to the hospital intending to kill the punk in white, repeatedly tried calling Lake's phone, but there was no answer.

Maureen frowned tightly, grabbed her coat, and also got up to walk out of her office.

Wail wail.

Barely ten minutes later, a large contingent of police had appeared in front of the New Amsterdam Hospital building.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Sounds of gunfire erupted from the ICU floor.

The officers who had just gotten out of their police cars instantly took cover behind their vehicles. A large number of medical personnel screamed and evacuated the building.

Media reporters, held back by police tape outside the hospital entrance, listened to the gunshots coming from the hospital. While a little scared, they were mostly excited.

Some reporters, even before the NYPD had entered, had already imagined a sensational plot.

A detective with certain racial prejudices, enraged, intended to silence witnesses?

The NYPD staged it themselves.

When it came to imagination, these media reporters were the most imaginative group.

"Go go go!"

"Charge, charge, charge!"

As the gunfire in the ICU ceased, the NYPD began to move. Captain Jack of the Special Operations Team led his team members, charging directly into the building.

Beckett from Unit 2 was also among them.

"Ryan."

"What is it?"

"Call Lake."

"What?"

"Hurry!"

"...Oh, okay!"

In the elevator.

As the elevator ascended, the Irish Ryan looked around at the Special Operations Team members, a bit bewildered. His gaze also lingered on Captain Jack.

Jack coughed dryly, his eyes focused forward, his mind elsewhere. As the elevator went up, he even whistled.

Three seconds later.

Ryan took out his phone and frowned. "It's off."

Lake's phone was an old model, the kind that could last a week on a single charge. Lake basically only charged it when the battery was about to die, not every day.

When he came out earlier, Lake had glanced at the battery; it had 5% left.

It was obvious.

Maureen's continuous calls had completely drained the phone's battery.

Beckett's brow furrowed slightly as he looked at Captain Jack.

Jack didn't say anything, only sighing inwardly.

Buddy, please don't be you.

If it's you, run quickly. If we meet, there'll be no room for negotiation.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened.

Jack led the Special Operations Team members as they stormed out of the elevator in a defensive formation.

The ICU corridor was silent.

Not far away.

The two officers, shot in the leg and leaning against the wall, gestured towards the punk in white's monitored hospital room.

Jack, Beckett, and the others all breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Given the severity of the situation, these three officers guarding the area had been specifically instructed to look out for a photo of Lake. Their current reaction made it clear that it wasn't Lake who had come.

But after their relief, they quickly entered a combat-ready state.

Just then.

Bang!

An unsuppressed gunshot rang out from inside the room.

Jack and the others immediately took defensive positions.

But after this gunshot, followed by a sound like a heavy object hitting the floor, the room returned to a true silence, a deathly silence.

After a while.

"Calling center, calling center, 999!"

"Received!"

About three minutes later, Jack, looking warily at the completely silent hospital room, spoke to the command center. He then made a gesture to the SWAT members beside him. Two SWAT members extended their muzzles, pressing them firmly against the silent, monitored room of the punk in white.

"Go go go!"

Two SWAT members quickly retreated, dragging the officers who couldn't walk due to their leg wounds. Jack immediately reported to the center, "999, descending elevator."

The center replied again, "Received!"

Two minutes later.

The SWAT members had completely surrounded the punk in white's hospital room from both sides.

Jack on the left and Beckett on the right exchanged glances.

They nodded.

The next second.

Bang!

Jack forcefully kicked down the door.

Beckett immediately rushed into the room and shouted, "Don't..."

He didn't get to finish his shout.

It wasn't because of anything else.

Inside the room, besides the punk in white with a fruit knife stuck in his forehead, there was no one else.

Uh...

On the hospital room window, a white lab coat was hanging.

A breeze blew in from outside, causing the hem of the lab coat to flutter. The bullet casings in one of the pockets clinked together, and then the three police handguns in the other pocket were very conspicuous.

"Be careful."

Jack instructed his team members, "Search!"

The SWAT members all nodded.

However...

The SWAT team searched every room on the ICU floor but couldn't find any trace of the killer.

Did they escape from the room's window?

That was completely absurd. Outside that window was nothing but emptiness, with no support whatsoever. Falling from that window would result in death or severe incapacitation.

Moreover...

The officer who had been carried out of the elevator and onto a stretcher had emphatically guaranteed that the killer had entered that room and had not come out until Jack and the others arrived.

But.

Jack had almost dismantled the room's monitoring equipment.

The room was so small, and they couldn't get out the window, so where could they have gone? They couldn't have gone through the ceiling...

Wait.

The ceiling?

Beckett and Jack looked up simultaneously, their gazes instantly falling on a section of the ceiling above the monitored hospital room that appeared to be slightly loose.

The ceiling was indeed an effective and useful way to get to other rooms and escape while their attention was focused elsewhere.

However!

As one of the Special Operations Team members climbed up, he coughed twice, indicating to Jack and Beckett below that based on the dust on the ceiling, it was impossible for anyone to have climbed through.

Jack and Beckett were dumbfounded.

Where did the person go?

Did they just vanish into thin air?

Thank you to Brother Ye Qiao Gu for the generous reward, and to Brother Zimu for the generous reward. I'll add more chapters, Old Mi remembers. Let's wait a bit first. The book release date isn't great, with a lot of big shots releasing books at the same time. With more words, it's easy for us to become cannon fodder if we try to catch up. More chapters are definitely coming, Old Mi guarantees it. I'm saving up some drafts! Thank you!