128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Twenty: The Plan | Part 1

Megan patted his back a little, trying to comfort him. However, he quickly looked back up and moved his shoulder, gesturing for her to let go. "I'm fine," he said, although the other two weren't convinced. "Really," he added with a sigh.

He then grabbed a disposable fork and stabbed it into his Alfredo pasta. He brought the noodles up to his mouth before slurping them up angrily. Megan stifled a giggle as she couldn't help but find how funny it was to see him sucking the noodles into his mouth rapidly.

"Anyway," Daniel went back to being serious, "if we're going to confront Yael, we're going to need evidence. And since we don't really have any evidence at all, we will have to create some for ourselves."

Matthew finally turned to look at him, a slightly hopeful look appearing on his face. However, he was still confused by Daniel's suggestion. "What do you mean by 'create some for ourselves'?" he questioned him.

Daniel rested his chin on his fist as he continued to elaborate on his plan. "Well, in the case that we do find the chairwoman, we'll need to get her to say or do some things that would put herself in her own demise as evidence."

Megan stopped him there before he could say anymore, however. "Wait a minute," she said as she held up her hand. "You're saying that we should secretly start an audio or video recording while provoking her such that she would say or do something that can be used as evidence against her?"

Daniel nodded. "Exactly my point," he said as he continued snacking on his burger. He then dug his hand right into the box of fries, causing Megan to cringe slightly at his lack of table manners.

The three suddenly went quiet as they all waited for one another to speak. However, they were all trying to process Daniel's suggestion. Matthew honestly thought that it was a clever idea. The only problem that they had was the fact that they had to find the chairwoman first. And at that point in time, they didn't even know whether the chairwoman was in Philadelphia, which meant they could forget about directly heading to Yael Tower.

However, Matthew was quickly reminded that they would be provided with information on the situation within 24 hours of their arrival in Philadelphia. This meant that they would be able to start their planning latest by nighttime. Despite this, there was so much for them to still work on, even with the lack of information, so he decided to continue their discussion.

Unfortunately, a disruption stopped that from happening and also paused their meal.

Violent door thudding came from outside, indicating that someone was outside their apartment. And whoever it was didn't seem to be quite a friendly person, seeing how they didn't even bother to knock and went straight to kicking their door vigorously to get the detectives' attention.

However, Matthew already knew that whoever was outside wasn't just any ordinary, impatient pizza man that had arrived at the wrong apartment unit. The force that was being exerted on the door was so immense that it could be seen bending, which clearly stated that whoever was outside was likely a threat to them.

As such, Matthew hushed the other two detectives, instructing them to stay silent for the moment. He then latched the door chain such that if the door were to give way, the intruder wouldn't be able to get in so easily. He then gestured to Daniel and Megan to get out their guns so that they could prepare to stop the hostile perpetrator from harming them.

The three then hid in different spots in the room. Matthew stayed in the closet, leaving one door open, while Daniel hid in the bathroom. Megan concealed herself properly behind the curtains, which made a perfect plan for an ambush on the assailant.

Just then, the latch bolt of the door gave way, and all that kept it from fully opening was the door chain. However, it ceased to serve its purpose when a bullet severed the chain entirely, allowing the gunman to enter the room. Through the slit in the curtain, Megan could see the man wielding his revolver, looking around the room.