Police in America

"Hello, I'm Jessica Cortez." A middle-aged Latina woman sitting nearby looked momentarily surprised to see Jack fully armed but quickly introduced herself.

"Jess, this is Jack Tavole. We knew each other back when he was with the LAPD," Hondo introduced Jack, using a familiar tone that caught Jack's attention.

"Oh, it's you. Zoey mentioned you to me once. It's a shame that both of you have left the LAPD." Jessica Cortez looked genuinely regretful, as if the LAPD had lost two talented officers.

Hannah, standing nearby, subtly rolled her eyes.

Jack modestly responded and then introduced JJ and Emily, explaining the situation. "Dr. Reid and SSA Hotchner are still unaccounted for. I need to go in and bring them out. But don't worry, I won't be a burden to your team."

"I'm Ash Jones, the contractor for this prison." A middle-aged man in a suit next to Jessica Cortez also stood up, smiling as he shook hands with everyone.

"Tell us what you know, including the identities of the 18 hostages," Hondo cut straight to the point, clearly having little patience for Jones.

"Sure, sure." Ash Jones pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat beading on his bald head. He tapped a few buttons on the screen, enlarging the photos one by one.

"The hostages include the warden, six guards, eight construction workers doing repairs inside, two priests, and a nun."

"Wait, Sister Carmelita is in there?" Hondo pointed at the photo of the last hostage, a woman in her fifties, with a look of surprise.

"You know her?" Jessica Cortez turned her head, equally surprised.

"Yes, she frequently visits various prisons to pray with the inmates, helping them rediscover their faith. She's a genuinely good person, someone who practices what she preaches. Sometimes, she even asks me to communicate with those prisoners."

Hondo's expression turned grim, clearly worried about the nun's safety. A woman falling into the hands of rioting prisoners, even a nun, was at a significantly higher risk of being harmed than the other hostages.

"The negotiator is trying to communicate with the prisoners. It's said she might be injured, but they've refused to release her," Jessica Cortez said, her tone somber.

"Negotiations with the prisoners aren't going well. I need you to come up with an action plan," she added, pulling up a 3D structural diagram.

"This is the main building's layout. The riot is mainly confined to the top floor, the fourth floor. The inmates inside are all high-security prisoners, about 300 of them, roughly divided into three main gangs."

"The southern section is B Block, controlled by the Baja Dragon Gang. They have the eight construction workers as hostages."

"The northern section is A Block, where six guards are being held by the 19th Street Gang. C Block is controlled by the Nacho Eagles, a group of white supremacists who have taken the warden and the three clergy members."

After Jessica Cortez finished, Hannah projected some information from her tablet onto the main screen.

"These are the profiles of the three prison gangs, taken from the FBI database."

"The 19th Street Gang is a predominantly Black gang with some Latino members. Their leader is Ketel Porter, who's said to be quite sharp, having been involved in street gangs before his incarceration."

"This is the Baja Dragon Gang, controlling B Block. They're mostly drug traffickers, a bunch of lunatics who live to kill. Their leader is Moco Hernandez."

"The most dangerous group is the Nacho Eagles. As their name suggests, they're a bunch of white supremacists. Their leader is Gunnar Cade, a ruthless and highly intelligent man. He and his group are the only ones refusing to negotiate."

"Gunnar Cade—I've heard of him. He's notorious, even the LAPD knows his 'reputation,'" Jack said.

"What demands have the other two gangs made?" he asked.

The prison contractor, Ash Jones, quickly responded. "Nothing much—better food, more outdoor time, and increased conjugal visits. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's it? What about casualties? How did it escalate to this point?" Hondo asked, sensing something was off.

"There were some internal killings among them. The guards, apart from the six taken hostage, were rescued with injuries."

"I don't know all the details, but it started with the white supremacists causing a stir. When the warden tried to deploy personnel to control them, the Baja Dragon Gang and the 19th Street Gang seized the opportunity to riot."

"Because of the hostages, my emergency response team couldn't handle the situation."

Ash Jones wiped his forehead again, his nervousness evident.

"Is this the control room? What about the rooms adjacent to it?" Jack pointed to two rooms connecting Blocks A, B, and C.

"The armory. Both rooms have been overrun, which is why we lost all surveillance on that floor," Jessica Cortez said, glancing at a paper map and marking the screen.

"So now the inmates have the keys to all the cells on that floor, along with the weapons and armor issued to the guards?" Jack rolled his eyes and turned to Hondo. "I need gas masks, plenty of tear gas, flashbangs, and more 7.62x51mm ammo."

"There's an ammo box in the armored car. You can fill your pack," Hondo said, clearly as frustrated as Jack. Three hundred prisoners, an opened armory—who knew what traps those inmates had set inside?

"You said we lost surveillance on that floor, but what's that?" Deputy Deacon pointed at a monitor that suddenly came back online.

"Someone turned on the cameras in C Block?" Ash Jones said in surprise.

Jessica Cortez patted the shoulder of a nearby technician, who zoomed in on the footage from the monitor.

"That's Gunnar Cade, the leader of the Nacho Eagles. What is he doing?"

On the screen, Gunnar Cade, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit and covered in tattoos of eagle heads and swastikas on his neck and arms, waved someone over off-camera. Two of his men pushed a gray-haired old man into view.

"That's our warden, Phil Harvey," Ash Jones pointed out.

In the video, the warden, trembling, held up a piece of cardboard with only two words written on it: "Stay out."

The next moment, Gunnar Cade pulled a handgun from behind his back and shot the warden in the head, killing him instantly.

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