just in a few seconds, over a hundred rounds of fire were exchanged between the two sides. Octavio was momentarily unable to show his head. The SWAT team intensified their attack, with five or six assault rifles pouring ammunition into the warehouse.
It's no secret that sometimes having more people isn't always a good thing. A simple miscommunication can lead to all sorts of seemingly unbelievable situations.
Soon, with the SWAT commander's cease-fire order, the gunfire ceased. Jack and Aubrey quickly rushed into the three-story building and reached the forward command center on the rooftop.
Hannah, staring anxiously at the screen, saw the two and quickly said, "A ricochet bullet hit Dr. Lucas Caldwell in the abdomen."
On the screen, a piece of the operating room window shattered, revealing the surgeon, Lucas Caldwell, lying on the floor, bleeding profusely from his abdomen. Anesthesiologist Dr. Nicole Wright was trying to staunch the bleeding with gauze.
It was a double whammy. Although the SWAT team angled their fire away from the operating room, a 5.56 bullet ricocheted off the hard concrete floor and flew into the operating room.
Fortunately, the ricochet missed the child on the operating table, instead being intercepted by Lucas Caldwell, who stood in front of him. It seemed a kind of fate.
The men exchanged bewilderment. This was a serious problem.
This was no time to argue with the SWAT team about responsibility. With the surgeon shot and lying on the ground, Octavio lost his last hope of saving his son. Who knew what he would do?
They had to do something to prevent the situation from escalating further. Jack called Jubal loudly into his headset, "Have them throw in a communicator. We have to prevent Octavio from taking any drastic action. Dr. Nicole Wright is innocent."
Jubal's thoughts were clearly aligned. "I've just made the arrangements. I'll update you on the details of the call."
Jack quickly reached the parapet and waved the nervous SWAT team back. "Everyone, retreat. Once again, no firing without orders."
They weren't part of the same unit, and he didn't have direct command of the SWAT team. However, they had worked together many times before, and many of the team members knew Jack.
Someone confirmed with the commander over the comms channel, and the cover commandos temporarily evacuated the rooftop of the forward command center.
At that moment, a SWAT team member crouching on the side of the warehouse cautiously reached the front, where the exchange of fire had taken place, and with a wave of his hand, he tossed a three-proof box into the broken window.
Jack quickly returned to the screen. Inside the warehouse, Octavio, crouched in a corner, assault rifle in hand, on guard. He carefully reached out and hooked the box to his side. He then picked it up, removed the communicator inside, and pressed the call button.
"Who are you?"
"Octavio, this is FBI Agent Jubal Valentine. I demand your immediate surrender. If you do, we promise to save your son," Jubal's voice boomed over the comms channel.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Octavio roared.
Jubal quickly tried to calm him. "No, no, no, I know you're just a father trying to save his son. Please let us help."
"You want to help, right? Very well. Send us a surgeon who can perform a kidney transplant. If a surgeon isn't here within ten minutes, I'll kill that female doctor."
"Wait, don't," Octavio said before Octavio hung up.——The large wooden boards among the building materials stacked in the warehouse were erected one by one to block the large glass windows, blocking the view and also blocking the sniper's shooting angle.
Octavio, with his professional military training, had skillfully left only a small gap to observe the situation outside. Now, the FBI had only two options left: negotiation or a forced assault.
"What do we do now?" Aubrey, standing beside Jack, was experiencing hostage crisis for the first time and struggling to reconcile the hostage-taking training he'd learned at Quantico Academy with the complex situation before him.
"Let the suspect's wife talk to him and see if she can convince him," Hannah suggested.
Jack shook his head, thinking back to his previous conversation with Mrs. Diaz. "It won't do much. At most, it'll calm Octavio down and buy us a little more time."
He glanced at the sky. It was already sunset, and in less than an hour, it would be completely below the horizon.
"Okay, I'll try to convince Mrs. Diaz to talk, even if it's just to buy a little time," Jubal replied on the chat.
Octavio's demands were simply impossible to meet. Not to mention whether any surgeon would volunteer to perform such a complex organ transplant at gunpoint, the FBI couldn't possibly offer the other party another hostage as leverage. Jack instructed Hannah and Aubrey to continue observing the situation at the forward command center while he returned to Jubal. Just minutes earlier, Octavio had just finished a phone call with his wife.
It wasn't without effect, but it was completely counterproductive. Octavio cryptically conveyed his final wishes to his wife, seeking only a glimmer of hope for his son's survival.
"So the question now is, how can we convince Octavio that the FBI will help him complete the surgery?" Jubal paced back and forth anxiously.
As long as it resolved the hostage crisis, the FBI didn't mind making special arrangements. Even though the kidney in the refrigerator on the operating table had been illegally traded, the situation was already settled, and performing the surgery on the child wasn't an unacceptable condition.
"He won't believe it. This isn't even his country. Remember Helton, the guy who kidnapped the rich man's daughter? We're facing almost the same problem. Octavio is a souped-up version of Helton (Chapter 568: The Safe House), and even more dangerous," Jack analyzed calmly.
"I know, I know. Another father trying to save his child. Damn it, he's pushing everyone into a desperate situation, including his own son."
Jubal walked to the window, staring blankly at the warehouse. After a moment, he turned back to Jack. "I'll play the surgeon. Have him release Dr. Lucas Caldwell, who's been shot, and then try to convince him."
"How?" Jack suddenly smiled, gazing at Jubal as if he could see right through him.
Jubal ignored his expression and continued to talk. "After all, it's just a makeshift operating room. The conditions are terrible, and there's not even a complete surgical team. I'll try to convince him from the perspective of a professional doctor.
Tell him that if he gives up, the FBI will send his son to the hospital and arrange for a complete medical team. The success rate of the operation will be greatly improved."
"You empathize with him," Jack interrupted him. Thinking of his daughter's illness, this was not difficult to guess.
Jubal's expression froze slightly, and a look of dejection appeared on his face. He muttered softly, "I hate psychologists. Okay, I know I can't hide this from you, but besides risking hostage casualties and forcing a raid, do you have any better ideas?"
(End of this chapter)
---
1 powerstone=1 Chapter (Lol)