New Gods of North America.

Chapter 215 Action
Gangs are like rats in the house.
When you're not looking for it, it will come out for a walk by itself, but when you really pick up a weapon to deal with it, it's quite difficult to find it.

So after waiting near the steam train line for two days, Wayne and his team failed to slack off and had no choice but to start "following the clues".

Compared to ordinary travelers, merchants or hunters,
There are usually two characteristics when gangs travel. One is that their personnel movements are usually required to be relatively fast and intensive. The other is that their "turnaround points" are often near the crime scene.

Because the action needs to be relatively fast and intensive, the team is usually mainly composed of horses and the number of people will not be too small.

And because we are about to return, we won't be too concerned about the consumption of supplies.
If we look at it all together, then within the designated area, near the steam train line, as long as we find a relatively large number of wine barrels and bottles, or a relatively abundant amount of meat scraps, such as relatively scattered cooked bones, etc., just a little away from the main road, then it is basically certain.

After all, robbing a steam train is a risky thing, so you have to conserve your energy before taking action and have a good meal.

Most travelers usually have to get closer to a town before they can start to improve their food. This place is still a bit far.

When hunters kill prey, they usually skin it and eat the meat first. They take away what they can take away and simply discard what they cannot take away. They rarely cook it all and are unlikely to carry large amounts of alcohol.

Then find the initial suspicious location and trace it back to the state border.
Although there is a possibility of coming up empty-handed or being misled, it is like looking for wild animal feces in the forest. It is difficult for those who don’t know how to do it, but it is not difficult for those who know how to do it.

After two and a half days of tracking along a possible route, they ran all the way from the steam train line to the state border. They even hunted a black bear on the way, but they didn't see any suspicious bases.
The agents were still full of confidence, but Wayne was a little nervous.

Fortunately, the gangs in this base seem to have never encountered an organization that would chase them so far.
Finally, the detective agency found a gang's base in Pennsylvania.

It looks like a reconstruction of an abandoned indigenous village, but there are a few relatively new wooden houses inside, which may have been huts used by hunters to rest.

Wayne then stood up again and continued to give the agents a practical summary lesson:
“In fact, many gangs will change their bases from time to time, so even if you come up empty-handed occasionally, that’s normal and there’s no need to get discouraged.

"As for judging whether a place is a gang base, we can usually start from the following aspects: first, such bases are usually not close to towns or villages, and they do not carry out production, and often there is no sign of labor; second, there are relatively abundant manpower, and the personnel are mainly adult males, but they do not have standardized clothing or weapons, and they do not carry out daily training, which can distinguish them from military camps; finally, we can observe the status of the personnel. For example, people have horses but gather together in broad daylight to play cards and drink. I think it is worth focusing on observation."

After the agents finished listening to the lecture and taking notes, they still had to continue with the real investigation.

Doug's pigeons were quite useful in this situation, and Peter's performance was still stable.

At this time, the extraordinary ability of a trainee agent also emerged, and he could use it to sneak.

Unfortunately, the principle of its "stealth" is a bit like that of a chameleon. It's no big deal if you keep a distance and suddenly flash it, but it won't work well in an environment with clear light or close up with fine colors, and it can't withstand close scrutiny.

It doesn't seem good to encounter something that can detect extraordinary abilities. Peter finds it right every time he looks for it.

It is even more exaggerated when placed in the perspective of Wayne's simple lines. A large number of lines are mixed together, which is even more conspicuous than the "outline" before using extraordinary abilities.

However, this extraordinary ability should be able to be used to deal with normal criminals. In addition, he was eager to try it, so no one stopped him and let him go to investigate after dark.

Compared to Peter's "sign language" and the information fed back by the stupid birds, the information that humans can detect is still richer and easier to understand.
So after comparing the intelligence with each other, it turned out that this group of guys had indeed reached the time to gather and commit crimes. There were already eleven of them, and three or four of them had gone to a small town called "South Houston" to buy alcohol and other things. They haven't come back yet, so we have to wait for them.

This involves the question of whether to catch them all at once.

Wayne thought about it and decided to let the agents make the decision themselves.

By the way, if the detective agency can turn the security of the steam train line into a long-term commission,

So we plan to set up a non-permanent management position here, which will be rotated every few months and will be responsible for direct on-site management and decision-making in this area.

Doug and Ryan had more experience, so they persuaded the agents to wait.
Because according to common sense, since you have bought the wine, you will inevitably have to drink it first.
When people are drunk, they tend to gather together and are usually easier to deal with. At least it's easier than chasing them.

But Wayne had actually already eliminated half of the possibility of Doug staying here. It wasn't that he was incapable, but how could the detective agency be without a "walkie-talkie" that could allow calls within the city.

The detective agency then monitored this place from a distance for two days and basically picked out all the criminals who matched the wanted warrants, but there were still some people who had no reward.

Since it was inconvenient to make a fire, everyone could only eat dried meat and hard bread.
On the contrary, in that stronghold that seemed like an abandoned village, a bunch of people were drinking wine and having hot soup all day long, and there seemed to be barbecue.

This contrast has a great impact on morale.
For example, Lina's initial attack plan was to have Peter go in and ambush some of the gang members, and then everyone would break in and arrest some of them, trying not to let any of the gang members escape.

After watching others eating and drinking heartily while she had to gnaw on hard bread for two days, her attack plan had changed drastically. She wished she could send Doug's owl to drop high explosives in the middle of the night to blow those guys up into the sky one by one.

Emma, the little girl, was quite considerate. She even followed Lina in rubbing the super-long fuse with her hands until she was picked up by Wayne to do the questions.

It was not until the evening of the third day that a carriage carrying several wine barrels and goods entered the stronghold, escorted by two horsemen.

According to the plan, the partners will try not to directly participate in this operation in principle.

So Inissa took Lina to a blocking point a little further away to prevent anyone from escaping.

And Wayne announced the start of the action:
"We should try to proceed in a formal manner, and our top priority is to avoid casualties among our own people. If someone gives up resistance and surrenders, we can consider capturing him alive. As for other situations, we can only ignore life and death."

(End of this chapter)