Deep evening.

Captain Ford walked up to the screen board in Team A office as his detectives and officers were manning their stations with their duties. He touched the screen to light it up and he opened up a large interactive map of the city. With a spread of his hands, it zoomed into a district. Another press of an on-screen button, several hand drawn markings showed up.

The markings came in the form of circles and lines, designated blue and red. The left side of the map had a lot of blue circles, about 10 and above. Each of them marked with the words: an apartment labelled Wolf’s Den (<== Big Smoke, Scorpion, One-Eyed, Piercings, Beanie Brain confirmed); Burger Joint (<== Regular take out); Convenience store (<== Magazines, cereal-eggs-milk, cigarettes, and mobile game cards, Beanie online?); and etc.

On the right side, there were only three red circles. A hotel labelled Ranger Nest (<== Gold and Silver, WARNING!: pro mercs w/C4); Italian Restaurant (<=== Same place every day, safe?); and Goldfield Gas Station (<== Cigarettes, by taxi).

[Krrrrrrr—Baseplate. Do you copy, over?]

Ford snatched up the walkie talkie clipped to his belt. “This is Baseplate, reading you five by five. Send.”

[C.I.B. Saber Team reporting. Wolf Pack has left the den. Repeat, Wolf Pack has left the apartment and are boarding a Honda Civic. Whole family. Confirm message?]

“Confirmed. Stay on them. Which way are they heading?”

[Moving down Blueberry Avenue, then making a turn on Spadina.]

Ford snapped his fingers. Sergeant King ran over and started to work on the screen board. He made a series of blue lines across the road to track the movement of Wolf Pack, making new lines at every street angles.

Another voice came on the air.

[Bzzzzz—C.I.B. Archer Team calling Baseplate, how copy?]

Ford clicked the radio. “Go for Archer.”

[Rangers leaving the nest. Taxi again. Going down Central Street... They’re making a stop at Goldfield Gas Station. Silver walking in alone...] A long pause, before the voice came back. [Silver returning to vehicle, he made another cigarette purchase. Continuing...Wait, detour. Parade blockade.]

Ford waved a hand and Constable J.J. rushed over. She quickly drew red lines on the screen board to to keep up with the radio reports. After she finished, Ford took a moment to glance at the board’s overalls images.

Despite the cluster of blue and red circles, along with colored lines webbing all over the map, none of them ever intersected. Ford furrowed his brow, and clicked his radio.

“Baseplate to all C.I.B. teams: were either of your targets seen together?”

A pause...static...clicks. Then.

[Saber Team, negative.]

[Archer Team, negative.]

Ford pursed his lips and added “Continue surveillance, keep me updated on any movement.”. After receiving their affirmatives, Ford put the radio down onto a table. He took a break from the screen board, rubbing the exhaustion off his face with a suppressed noise.

He then came up to a corner of the office, where a collection of men and women were busy manning laptops and computers. They all kept their eyes on the screen, tracking internet history, phone tap, even surveillance that provided a live feed of the area right outside of both target’s apartment and hotel.

Ford tapped his chin, before he turned to Constable Turbo who was standing to the side, hunched over another computer screen. The captain leaned an elbow on the monitor. “Anything Turbo?”

“I don’t get it. Not one bit.” Turbo muttered as he kept hitting the keyboard, the backspace button then enter, over and over.

The constable was replaying the footage recorded from the micro-cameras he had installed in the hotel. The video clips showed the daily life of Gold Neck and Silver Tooth. Waking up, shower, going out for food, returning to chat. At most, they’ve been seen playing around with a tourist maps, drawing circles and lines through it with magic markers.

Turbo rewound the footage one more time, then he snapped and hit his keyboard in frustration. “Nothing. Not so much as cleaning a gun. From all accounts, they look like tourists lollygagging about if this was brought to the court. Not even a glimpse of C4 or, or loading bullets into magazines.”

Ford mulled his lips. “Other than you, has anyone else entered their room?”

“Nah. Not even a housekeeper.” Turbo sat down, rubbing his hands over his head with a groan. His palm then swept to the back to fold into each other, a hammock for the back of his head as he leaned backwards in his seat. “Granted, even I wouldn’t chance a nosy cleaning lady peeking around. Especially with all those explosives. She be like, oh a ring. Ping—BOOM!” Turbo clapped his hand, spooking everyone.

Ford held a hand to calm them down, then swiped it across the back of Turbo’s head. He gave the computer screen a long look, then muttered. “Legit vacation?”

“Sir, with all due respect.” Turbo rubbed the back of his head with a mumble. “With all the guns and bombs I saw on them – I doubt they are the work from home type.”

Ford rubbed his fingers over his forehead, unable to respond to that comment. He glanced at the video footage, then back at the men and women handling the computers. Even their sound recording program was flatline. “...Have we been over thinking?”

“Delusional? Maybe.”

Ford waved a pointing finger at Turbo, the constable mimicking his gesture with a replica scowl. Ford then thought it over and added. “...I’ll contact the lieutenant. Keep watching the tapes.”

“Sir. I’ve already reviewed them like, a thousand times.”

“Turbo. I have reviewed your chances of promotion like, a thousand times.”

Constable Turbo threw up his hands with a ‘why me god’ look. He tucked his chair closer to his desk with a hard slam, stabbed his elbows into the table, and folded his hands over his mouth to hide a snarl. Once more he hit backspace and enter to continue his work, loud taps.

Ford tried not to snort until he was out of earshot, then made a call. A monotone response.

[This is the voice of Lieutenant Wong. Thou may Speaketh.]

Ford tilted his head back, chewing on the insides of his cheek. “Nothing.”

[Not so much as a tweet?]

“Neither Jones nor the mercs ever made contact, let alone glare each other in the eye. I think it’s just coincidence both groups happen to be here.”

[Well. Sounds like you’ll be busy with two separate targets.]

“Sir.” Ford massaged his forehead. “We don’t have enough people if they strike at different times.”

[I’ll contact Patrol Taskforce Unit (P.T.U.) to spare you some of their teams.] Lt. Wong sighed on the phone, the sound of his finger tapping on the desk in the ambience. [I’ll also have SWAT on standby, since both targets have heavy firepower. Just gonna be tricky in who to deal with first.]

“You tell me.” Ford shook his head. He pulled up a chair and sat down to––

[Team Archer to Baseplate. Team Archer to Baseplate.]

“Lieutenant, hold.” Ford bolted over to where he left his radio, knocking his chair over. He swiped the comm device up in his other hand and called into it. “This is Baseplate. Go.”

[Rangers made a stop. They’re entering a pub. Solar Bar.]

Upon hearing this Turbo leaned in to the captain and added. “Old Snow mentioned the place to the suspects back in the hotel. They could be just going there to hang out.”

Ford relaxed a bit and nodded back. “Archer Team, continue observation and--”

[Saber Team to Baseplate. Saber Team to Baseplate]

Ford gritted his teeth from the interruption and he kept his voice levelled. “Yes, Saber Team what is it?”

[Wolf Pack arrived. They’re entering a pub. Solar Bar.]

“Understood, keep...Wait what? Saber, Archer. Did you say BOTH targets went to Solar Bar?”

[Affirmative.]

[Affirmative.]

Captain Ford tensed up. Sergeant King and Constable J.J. froze when they drew their lines to the same location, and Constable Turbo rose from his seat. They all gathered around, leaning their ears to listen with their leader.

Ford licked his dry lips before asking, “All C.I.B. teams, can you follow your targets on foot?”

[Saber Team, already dispatched tracker.]

[Archer Team following. Standby.]

Ford clenched onto the radio, waiting for responses. One by one the other officers and investigators all slowed to a halt upon seeing how still the detective were, and the words from the radio.

[Saber Team: Wolf Pack are heading up the lobby.]

[Archer Team: Rangers have entered a private room, marked Mercury B. Gold Neck is inside, Silver Tooth at the door.]

[Saber Team: Wolf Pack turning a corner...Target Scorpion approaching Silver Tooth. They’re embracing each other.]

Ford’s eyebrows shot up. Then the final report came in.

[Saber Team Confirmed. Wolf and Ranger entering Mercury B. Altogether. Do you copy?]