Throwing the boy in the air only bought the three men less than half a minute’s time, as Marcus once again gained up on them in his pursuit. This time they did not throw another child, maybe because they already knew it would not work as expected. So the next logical thing for them to do was just to split up - for the simple reason that Marcus was the only one that could catch up to them right now, and none of the mobilized locals were even close to apprehending them.

Marcus had his sight fixated on the man who threw the boy earlier, and thus when all three of the men split up, he went after the one that was running at full speed and empty handed. This man looked back at Marcus with a terror on his face as he turned and got into another dark and narrow alley. This alley was quite a lot older and messier than the previous one. There was more garbage and trash on the ground, more random wires spanning across the space above, and more provocative and even downright vulgar graffiti and posters on the wall.

“It’s a dead end! You have nowhere to run now!” Marcus yelled at the man from the back: “Freeze!”

The man tried to exert more of his energy in his attempt to escape - the alley became narrower, and there was more and more garbage and trash on the ground. The lighting got dimmer, the smell in the air got more pungent and more foul. In front of them there was some smoke coming from a couple of dirty and oily metal wall vents, which blocked the sight of both the man and Marcus.

Just after another half a minute’s time, the man trying to escape almost slipped on a piece of wet, torn plastic bag, and as he fell to the side, the smoke in front of him slowly dissipated and revealed a fence gate, with a heavy metal chain locking the opening and barbed wires on top.

“I told you this is a dead end.” Marcus slowed down and stepped forward one step at a time, his breathing pattern barely disturbed, his eyes staring at the man who seemed almost out of breath: “Now, you’re under arrest. Hands above your head.”

“Please, don’t do this.” The man was still panting, tears were coming out of his eyes, his face was all red and sweaty from all the running: “I - I have to - I don’t have a choice. I just - I just don’t have a choice! Nobody has a choice!”

“You almost killed a kid.” Marcus swung the make-shift flail with his right hand as he approached the man: “Submit to arrest now is your best chance. Do you know what the local community does to child snatchers? I heard more than half of them are still missing - and by half I don’t mean just numbers.”

“No - nonono…”The man tried to stand up straight, but he could only do it halfway by clenching the fence gate: “I - I can’t - ”

“You’re under arrest. Hands above your head, now.” Marcus shook his head and spoke his order once again: “Where are they taking the kids? Why are you taking them?”

The man did not answer and just wept for a brief moment, then with two shaking legs and shaking arms he stood up, with his hands held up above his head.

Marcus sighed, slightly disappointed. He then cuffed this man up and started escorting him out. Before they left the alley, Marcus requested backup and escort from his precinct, hopefully they could be here soon.

On his way back, expectedly, the locals, with literally pitchforks, shovels and some other rough and make-shift weapons, surrounded them.

“Hand this fucker over! Cop!” One of the locals, a man with a grayed-out eye and a scar across the same side of his face shouted at Marcus, revealing his yellow, crooked teeth: “Let us deal with him!”

“No.” Marcus shook his head, slowly but sternly making his way through the crowd, with the flail tucked in his belt and his right hand on his holster, the locals were still not willing to get to close to him : “Under the agreement between the city and the community collective, severe crime cases, such as murder, arson and child kidnapping and trafficking shall be handled by the city law enforcement agencies. This is our jurisdiction, but all relevant information will be shared with the community collective and in turn all residents of the district.”

“Fuck that! This man tried to snatch and kill a kid!” Another man cried.

“And that kid is fine. I made sure of it.” Marcus responded without much emotion in his tone: “There are still two of them at large - and it will be in everyone’s best interest if those two are found along with the children. I’d appreciate it if you spend your time and effort finding out where they are and update the PCPD.”

“Give him to us! He’ll spill!” The man with a grayed-out eye said: “Oh! He’ll spill!”

The crowd yelled along with him with their pitchforks and shovels raised.

“We will find out. And torture will not help you find the truth.” Marcus shook his head: “Out of my way, we are heading back to the 17th Precinct. According to the agreement, you can find your representative to audit and participate in the interrogation. But he has to go with me.”

“Fuck it! ” “Fuck you! Pig!” “Where’re the children! You fucking scum! Where are they!”

The man with his hands cuffed behind him wept and whimpered, as tears and snot dripped down on his face.

“Where’s my baby!?” Just this moment, a woman rushed through the slowly moving wall of locals and came to the man - it was a woman with tear marks on her face and dirt on her clothes, one of the women who cried for help earlier: “Where’s my baby!? Where’s my baby!”

“Come with us to the precinct, ma’am, and we can find out together.” Marcus sighed and said with a softer tone, as he grabbed the woman’s arms and stopped her from pulling on the man’s shirt too hard or scratching him: “Come with us, we’ll find out together.”

The crowd quieted down for a brief moment, as if everyone was waiting for the woman to respond.

“I - I - ” The woman wiped off some of her tears, while continuing staring at the man, trying to make him look into her eyes: “Tell me where my baby is - tell me where he is! Where did you take him!?”

The man did not answer, and just shook his head, still weeping and whimpering.

“You scum! You disgusting garbage of a man!” The woman cried: “Give me back my baby! Give me back my baby!”

Before she could go on, the exhaustion and stress seemed to have got to her, making her lose control of her legs and arms and fall onto the ground.

“Ambulance! ” The crowd gasped, and some of them immediately called out: “Call an ambulance!”

The crowd loosened their formation to give the woman some room and to make way for an ambulance, with some of them rushing to her side to check on her. Marcus knelt down by her side as well, and with his limited knowledge and experience, he tried to check the woman’s pulses and breathing. She was still breathing, and her pulses were weak but not to an alarming level.

“Looks like exhaustion, she needs rest.” One of the locals who checked on this desperate mother was a young woman wearing a nurse’s uniform, she also checked her pulse and breathing, and she also checked her pupils as well: “Let’s bring her to the med center!”

“Is she gonna be fine?” Marcus let out a sigh of relief.

“She should be.” The nurse nodded: “But we can’t take any chances - we should still find a doctor.”

“Okay.” Marcus sighed and stood up: “Please update me if there’s anything - I am Detective Marcus Cai from the 17th Precinct.”

“Will do.” The nurse nodded.