Chapters (21)
“All the Special Tactics and Rescue teams have been dispatched. They are assessing the situation. Once the Minister of Home Affairs arrives, the police commissioner will brief all of us on the response procedures.”
Sharon suddenly clutched Yu Chin on his arm and pointed at the screen. “Do you see that?”
“What?” Yu Chin squinted his eyes and searched, but all he could see was a moving jigsaw of pandemonium. “What are you referring to?”
“There! You see that tall migrant worker carrying the woman and moving in the crowd? She looks unconscious.”
“Where? I don’t see it.”
Sharon tried to point it out but the hanging screen was too high up. She turned and shot out of the control room to the nearest police officer seated in front of a terminal. “Can you log on to the live-stream feed, please?”
Yu Chin caught up with her. “What is it? Should I alert Elvis?”
“There he is!” It took Sharon close to a minute to locate the target she was searching for. “Can you zoom in, please?”
The police officer zoomed in just in time for them to catch sight of a migrant worker carrying a woman into an ambulance through the back door.
“She’s probably injured and he’s seeking medical help,” Yu Chin conjectured.
“Actually, the ambulance is empty,” the police office said. “The riot situation is out of hand and we cannot guarantee the safety of the medical staff. We gave orders for them to retreat behind the police line thirty minutes ago.”
Sharon and Yu Chin stared at the screen. Once the migrant worker realised the ambulance was empty, he would surely exit and seek help somewhere else. But an entire minute passed and the ambulance door remained shut.
“This is no good.” Sharon shook her head. “Get the police commissioner to send in the STAR team! We cannot afford to make the situation worse by also having a sexual assault victim on our hands.”
The police commissioner reacted with lightning speed once he understood the situation. The STAR team was alerted to locate the deserted ambulance and break in to rescue a possible hostage. As the group crowded around the terminal and watched with bated breath, they saw a lone STAR team member race to the ambulance, pry open the back door and clamber in. Despite the collective tension, everyone was secretly amazed at how fast the team member had responded.
All eyes were fixed on the screen as the STAR team member re-emerged. He was carrying a woman over his shoulder in a fireman lift. The woman appeared to be highly agitated. As the police officer zoomed in to allow for a closer look, there was a collective gasp of horror. The woman had her jeans pulled midway down her thighs, and her lacy underwear was showing.
Sharon felt her heart sink.