Two prisoners dragged away the murdered warden. Gunnar Card stood in the center of the cara with a murderous look on his face, picked up the cardboard from the ground, and displayed the three words on the back on the monitor.
"Or, more death!"
"This guy is definitely planning sothing." Standing behind everyone, Emily, who had been silent all along, finally couldn't help but speak up when she saw this scene.
"A prison break?" JJ said what everyone was thinking.
The demands made by the other two prison gangs were quite normal, or rather, relatively reasonable. It was easy to guess what the abnormal "Spicy Eagles" were up to, but they didn't know their specific plans.
Jack didn't care about that. Unless these guys had the ability to dig a tunnel, they couldn't leave this heavily guarded prison. He only cared about his purpose for coming here.
"Apart from the activity room where the clergy in Block C were arrested, I didn't see any eting rooms or similar rooms on the entire fourth floor."
He stared into the eyes of the contractor Ash Jones, trying to slow down his speech, and asked with a cold face.
"Think about it carefully. If you were the warden, and two of my colleagues needed to et with a death row inmate, where would you arrange for them?"
Ash Jones, this businessman, was clearly a shrewd individual. Even if he hadn't heard of the BAU, how could he not see the special nature of these FBI agents at this point?
His eyes darted around quickly, appearing sowhat flustered, before hesitantly speaking after a long pause.
"There's a D section at the very back, usually not many people there, mainly functional facilities like central ventilation. There are also a few individual rooms there. If I were the warden, I would arrange for them to be placed there."
It felt like this guy was being deliberately untruthful, as if he was deliberately hiding sothing. But just as Jack was about to press further, the sound of a helicopter engine suddenly ca from outside the command vehicle.
Everyone stepped out of the command vehicle and saw Rossi getting off a police Bell helicopter with his head down.
"How's the situation inside? Have you found Hotchner and Reid?"
Seeing his three team mbers approaching, especially the fully ard Jack, Rossi's tense expression eased slightly.
"Not yet, but they might be trapped inside."
Jack gave a brief overview of what he knew.
"So, that's good news?" Rossi was a little uncertain.
"It's good news, at least they haven't been taken hostage by those vicious 'Spicy Eagles'."
Rossi glanced at the SWAT mbers from the LAPD behind Jack, gesturing for Jack to follow him, before asking in a low voice,
"Are you sure it's okay to go in with just one SWAT team? I can request an FBI-affiliated SWAT team, or even HRT."
FBI HRT, short for Federal Bureau of Investigation Hostage Rescue Team, is under the FBI CIRG (Critical Incident Response Group).
It is the FBI's most elite counterterrorism unit and the only 24/7 dostic tactical counterterrorism unit in the country, known as the "strongest law enforcent force on earth."
"Uh, there's probably no need for that. There's also a B team on their way. The most important thing now is ti. The sooner we clear out the prison, the safer Hotchner and Reid will be."
Jack sensed that Rossi was overly concerned. Although the prison's armory had been seized, the number of weapons distributed to the prisoners was quite limited.
Moreover, the weapons and equipnt in the prison were usually primarily for riot control; for example, so seemingly extravagant full-body protective gear could only offer stab protection at best, being useless against bullets.
Rather than cooperating with the FBI's SWAT team, which he wasn't familiar with, he felt it was better to work with Hondo's team. At least when he visited them, they had played a couple of rounds of CQB training together.
Rossi had absolute trust in Jack in combat, so he didn't say much more, but instead approached the on-site commander, Jessica Cortez, and asked for a separate communication channel.
Cell phone signals were definitely blocked in the prison, so asking for a secure communication channel among FBI personnel wasn't an unreasonable request.
"There are normally only two entrances to the fourth floor, both accessible via the stairs on the third floor, but now both entrances are completely blocked."
Five SWAT mbers, plus Jack, ford a circle, and Hondo, holding a tactical tablet, began to formulate a battle plan on the floor plan.
Unlike the BAU team mbers' usual brainstorming sessions during investigations, everyone listened quietly, only raising questions or offering additions after he had finished outlining the plan.
The discipline of the combat unit was evident at this mont.
"On the north side of Block A, there's a fire escape outside, and there's an ergency exit that leads directly outside that we can use."
"The plan is this: we'll infiltrate directly from the rooftop, through the ventilation ducts, into the connecting passage between Block A and Block B, severing the connection between the two sides, leaving three to hold it off."
"The rest of you, turn back, clear Block A, open the escape door, let the LAPD officers control the entire area, then continue forward, clear Block B, leaving Gunnar Card and his 'Spicy Eagles' last."
Hondo's strategy was clear: start with the easy parts and move on to the difficult ones. The other two gangs were just taking advantage of the situation and probably had no preditation, so their demands were relatively normal.
And Block A and Block B, which they controlled, occupied most of the floor; once cleared, even if Gunnar Card in Block C had any ulterior motives, it would be much easier to deal with.
The prison layout resembled a T-shape. Once the top two ends of the T were cleared out, Blocks C and D at the bottom were straightforward.
"Anything to add?"
"No, I just never imagined I'd end up in a prison."
A young teammate with a baby face, similar to Jack's, joked with a laugh. His na was Strickland, one of the two youngest in the team.
Beside him was Chris, about the sa age, the only woman in the team, short but with a very good figure.
Besides them, the remaining four team mbers, including Hondo, were all approaching or over 40.
Tan, with his Japanese features, didn't look old, but Jack knew he was at least thirty-seven or thirty-eight.
The vice-captain, Deacon, was older than Hondo. He was said to have been qualified to lead another SWAT team, but out of affection for this team, he ultimately chose to stay and beco Hondo's second-in-command.
Finally, there's Luca, the oldest of the group. He and Hondo have the deepest bond; before Hondo beca captain, the two were always the best partners.
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