When the robbers realized their demands weren't being met, they shouted, "Then we'll kill the hostages!"
The policeman said, "If you kill a hostage, you won't survive either. Think it over carefully. We'll give you a car, and you can leave."
The robbers in the gold shop hesitated. Who would willingly choose to die if they could avoid it? One of the robbers said to the boss, "Let them bring the car over first, then we'll take one or two hostages and leave. I doubt they'll dare to do anything."
The eldest brother nodded: "That's a good idea, let's do it that way."
About an hour later, the police arrived in an armored car. During this time, they tried several rescue methods, but all failed. On one occasion, the robbers became alert and almost became enraged. The consequences could have been shooting the hostage. So, for the time being, the police could only let the robbers leave. Without the cover of the jewelry store, it might be easier to subdue them.
"The car is here, release the hostage immediately!" the police shouted from outside.
One of the henchmen nudged Donna with a sly grin, "You, walk ahead."
Although Donna, as a reporter, often takes risks, this was the first time she had encountered a situation like today. From beginning to end, she hardly made any excessive moves. It wasn't that she didn't try to protect herself, but rather that the kidnappers were too clever and kept a close eye on the hostages. Now they actually wanted her to be the first to leave? Was this to release the hostages at the request of the police? How lucky she was?
The gang leader then selected a beautiful female sales clerk with a good figure. Two robbers held guns to the heads of the two women, while two more robbers walked behind them, using their bodies as cover to point their guns at them. Since their two accomplices were being sniped, the robbers hiding behind them could then shoot back at the hostages.
One of the henchmen said as he walked out, "Boss is brilliant. Taking those two along means they can't put up much of a fight, and we'll have something to do tonight. The escape won't be too lonely, haha..."
Donna's head buzzed when she heard this. Thinking about the way the kidnappers had set up, she realized that they didn't want to release her first, but wanted to take her with them on their escape. Her life or death was uncertain. How could things be so bad? Donna had to do something to save herself. She walked out with her hands raised and said, "Friends, I'm a reporter. I can help you, but please let me go first."
The gang leader said, "Let you go? You're the only person I like here, so letting you go is impossible. Come with us obediently. If you're lucky enough to escape, you'll enjoy a life like an emperor with us from now on."
Donna continued to try to persuade them, saying, "I really can do a lot for you as a journalist, please consider it carefully."
One of the robbers said, "Boss, she's right. We should make use of her, so it will be easier for us to carry out our plans later."
The gang leader said, "Let her go? Let me have my fun first. I can see she's already hard. How many times in a lifetime can we meet a beauty like her? It wouldn't be right for us brothers not to taste her first. We're outlaws, after all."
The underling said, "Boss, I didn't say we'd let her go. We'll take photos and videos of her while we're having fun, then she'll be obedient and do things her way in the future. We're killing two birds with one stone."
The gang leader patted his underling on the head and said, "Smart. Once we're safe, I'll definitely let you be the second one to have her. Give it your all and try to make the video more exciting. That way, when it gets exposed in the future, everyone will give you a thumbs up."
The younger brother excitedly replied, "Don't worry, boss, I'll definitely work even harder!"
Donna's face turned ashen. She was in deep trouble. Not only had she been taken hostage, but she was also being toyed with and threatened. Was this some kind of life she was supposed to live? But no matter what, Donna had to get out, because there was a gun pointed at her from behind.
"You all step back, all of you step back!" the gang leader shouted, waving his gun. With two hostages being held at gunpoint by four guns, the police had no choice but to obey. They retreated more than ten meters. Two of the gang members first climbed into two armored vehicles, and then the two female hostages, still at gunpoint, followed suit.
Police shouted from the perimeter, "You're breaking your promise! You said you'd release all the hostages, so why are you taking two of them away?"
The robber leader said, "This is to prevent you from tampering with the car and to prevent you from chasing us. Once we are safe, we will let you out of the car."
Donna cried out, "No! Don't believe them!"
The robbers in the car quickly covered her mouth, silencing Donna. The remaining robbers got into the car and, ignoring the police's threats, started the car and drove away.
When the police saw the hostage being taken away, they naturally gave chase. However, the kidnappers weren't stupid either; they fired back as they drove. Fearing the kidnappers would harm the hostage, the police could only keep a distance. The streets of New York were busy, and the kidnappers recklessly drove around, leaving the police far behind. If it weren't for the police helicopter overhead, they probably would have lost sight of them by now.
Zhao Qiang had been secretly following her, looking for an opportunity to strike. He had a certain fondness for Donna; after all, she was a beautiful woman. Even if a man like Zhao Qiang, who was the type to be philanthropic, didn't intend to have any interaction with her, he wouldn't allow such a beautiful woman to be harmed right before his eyes.
There were three robbers and one hostage in the car. They were good drivers and laughed as the police car couldn't catch up. Each of them had a lot of gold jewelry in their backpacks. They had really struck it rich this time and even brought back two beautiful women.
The car entered a long tunnel, blocking the police helicopter outside. The hijackers drove for a while and then stopped. They had to be wary of the police installing tracking devices in the car, so they decided to switch vehicles.
"Get out, get out!" Donna was pushed out of the car, while another robber tried to stop the car. People from another car also got out, and soon two cars were stopped. The robbers forced the drivers out of their cars at gunpoint, then punched them to the ground.
"Get in the car!" The robber pointed his gun at Donna. At that moment, a loud bang was heard, and all six robbers were shot at the same time. The bullets all hit the robbers' heads. The six robbers stared in disbelief as they tried to find the shooter. What kind of skill was needed to kill six people at the same time? Even Donna and the other hostage were shocked.
Boom! Suddenly, the bandit leader's body exploded.
(Thanks to Chunjiang Xinyue for the 100-coin reward and to Fengzhi Sai Sai for the monthly ticket support)
Volume 2 [673] The Explosion in the Tunnel
[673] Explosion in the tunnel
Donna had never experienced anything like this before. Her face turned pale, then purple, then pale again. She was very unwilling to get out of the car when the robbers forced her. Once the robbers changed vehicles in the tunnel, they would likely be able to shake off the police pursuit when they came out of the tunnel again, and then she would have no chance to escape.
Donna dawdled, trying to buy herself a chance to escape. Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound and instinctively knew her chance had come. She jumped up and ran. The tunnel was dimly lit and crowded with vehicles, so there might be a chance to get away. After all, there was still a hostage in the car, and maybe the kidnappers wouldn't bother with her anymore. In any case, she had to try.
Donna didn't see the robber die from being shot in the head, but she definitely felt the violent explosion behind her. Luckily, she turned around and got behind a thick concrete pillar. The blast wave lifted vehicles off the ground and crashed into the pillar, breaking a large chunk of it. It felt like the ground was shaking violently beneath her feet.
Donna lost her balance and fell to the ground. The debris flying everywhere hit her back, causing a burning pain as if her body was riddled with holes. But that wasn't the end. The chain reaction caused an even more violent explosion. Fortunately, Donna was already on the pedestrian walkway in the tunnel, and because a concrete pillar was nearby, she avoided most of the blast wave. However, the ensuing darkness plunged her into endless fear. The explosion in the tunnel posed a great threat to vehicles, causing more vehicles to collide in a chain reaction. A section of the tunnel even collapsed due to the explosion, making the situation extremely dire.
Zhao Qiang was dumbfounded. What was going on? He had only hit the bandit leader in the head, so how could his body explode? Moreover, the electromagnetic gun fired six bullets at the same time, so there should be no difference in who died first and who died later. Even if the order of death was due to different positions, it wouldn't give humans time to react. Could it be that the bandit leader had a bomb controlled by life and death, such as a detonator that detected the pulse to determine whether it would explode? Unfortunately, the bandit leader was already dead beyond recognition, so there was no way to find out what happened.
Donna clung tightly to the tunnel wall, as rubble began to fall from above. She knew this section of the tunnel, directly in the center of the explosion, was about to collapse. She had to leave immediately, or she would likely be buried in the landslide. But it was pitch black all around, and she had no idea where to go. Rushing out of the crumbling concrete pillar would probably only hasten her death. Donna was desperate, almost frantically screaming for help. She cried out silently in her heart.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed Donna. Then, Donna felt as if she was being dragged into the air and involuntarily pulled away from her original position. Then, she heard a loud bang behind her. The place where she had just been standing collapsed. A large amount of rubble pushed down the cement pillar. If she had stayed in the same place, she probably wouldn't even have a complete corpse left.
He held Donna's hand tightly, and no one knew how he judged the road conditions. In any case, he ran forward quickly, and every now and then, you could hear stones falling from above and landing on either side of him. Donna was completely dazed. When someone appeared at this moment, it was like a drowning person grabbing a straw. She didn't ask anything or care about anything, and let the other person pull her along.
Finally, things cleared up. It wasn't that they had exited the tunnel, but rather that they had entered the subway station through the tunnel. The power supply here was normal, and the explosion overhead had not yet affected this area. However, the huge noise had already caused panic to show on the faces of the people in the subway station.
Donna then realized that the person who had rescued her from danger was a Chinese man, of decent height, about her size, with well-defined, aesthetically pleasing arm muscles. Donna breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you."
Zhao Qiang smiled apologetically, but couldn't explain why. "It's nothing, just something I did."
Donna asked, "No, you might be safer without me. By the way, can I ask how you managed to run in the dark? I didn't see anything along the way, and I didn't even know there was a subway station entrance here."
Zhao Qiang said, "Oh, maybe it's because my eyesight is better, and also because I'm very familiar with the terrain here, that's all."
Donna smiled contentedly, "Really? I'm so lucky. I thought I was going to die this time. You know, I was just taken hostage by the robbers, and I don't know how an explosion happened among them." Donna heard the sound of bullets whistling through the air, but she didn't see the robbers being shot dead before the explosion, so she didn't suspect Zhao Qiang at all.
Zhao Qiang said, "Let's get out of here quickly, I'm afraid the explosion above will endanger this place."
Donna asked, "Aren't you coming with me?"
Zhao Qiang said, "I have my own place to go, so let's part ways here."
Donna said with some reluctance, "May I ask your name? I'd like to write a report based on my personal experience."
Zhao Qiang waved his hand: "Don't you think a protagonist without a name would be more appealing?"
Donna was taken aback: "Wow, you Chinese really have a unique way of thinking. By the way, you're Chinese, right? Your English is very standard."
Zhao Qiang said, "Yes, I am Chinese. Goodbye." Zhao Qiang didn't want Donna to mistake him for Japanese.
When Donna saw Zhao Qiang really leave, she chased after him, calling out, "My name is D. Will I ever see you again?"
It must be said that American girls are indeed bold in love and hate. However, while Zhao Qiang is known for his broad love, he hasn't gone so far as to pursue Donna. Saving her was probably just to repay her for the helicopter ride he took last time. Moreover, the explosion was also related to his rash intervention.
The Bonanos family was furious at losing the diamond and dispatched a large number of people to search for it, vowing to tear the person responsible to pieces. However, the Bonanos family was not the most extreme party. The most furious party was the arms dealer Hans, because several of his men died at the transaction site, including Hans's brother.
Hans took this deal with the Bonannos family very seriously; otherwise, he wouldn't have sent his own brother to oversee it. But who would have thought that such a meticulously planned transaction would go wrong at the last moment? The box was stolen, and his brother immediately assumed that the Bonannos family had set a trap for him. So they opened fire on the Bonannos family members, resulting in a fierce shootout. The Bonannos family suffered heavy casualties, and Hans's brother and several bodyguards were killed.
With his younger brother dead and the Bonanos family remaining silent, Hans decided to retaliate. As a world-renowned arms dealer, if he were to be bullied by a New York gang like the H gang, how could he maintain his standing in the arms industry?
In fact, the Bonanos family had no idea that the man killed at the trading post was Hans's brother; otherwise, the matter would have been taken very seriously. But now that the diamond was lost, the Bonanos family had no time to think about such things. The most important thing was to find the diamond, which was the lifeblood of the Bonanos family.
A hint of hostility flashed in Hans's eyes. He beckoned to one of his subordinates, leaned down and whispered a few words in his ear. The subordinate's expression changed, and he tried to persuade Hans. Hans glared at him and said, "You're meddling in my business. Do you think you can decide what's going on in my life?"
The subordinate quickly lowered his head: "I dare not, but biological weapons are too dangerous and difficult to control. Please reconsider, sir."
Hans sneered: "How many Americans die is none of my business. It would be best if they all died. I wanted to use the lives of all New Yorkers to pay for my brother's death. Isn't that exactly what I was doing selling them weapons? Now I'm just achieving my goal ahead of schedule."
As a subordinate, he didn't have much power. He had just advised Hans, which had already aroused Hans's suspicion. Soon, this man would fall out of favor and might even be killed by Hans for various reasons. Considering the possible consequences, the subordinate was filled with remorse. He bent down and went to do his work, hoping that Hans would spare him because of his diligence.
Zhao Qiang returned to the surface from the subway station. There were police cars everywhere. It seemed like New York was going to be busy. He hoped that the FBI would also be busy, so that he could have some free time. Otherwise, it would be very troublesome for him to stay in New York in the future.
He called Yang Shiyun, who had already left the teacher's place and told Zhao Qiang that she was being followed by the FBI. Zhao Qiang asked, "What should we do? Can we still hold on?"
Yang Shiyun said, "I've already shaken them off. We'll meet up at Central Park in a bit."
Zhao Qiang said, "Alright, be careful."
Given Yang Shiyun's equipment and her ability to become invisible, the probability of her getting into trouble should be lower than Zhao Qiang's. However, Zhao Qiang has a transformation device, making it even more difficult for the FBI to find him. He can easily change his identity in any corner, which is something the FBI never expected.
At Central Park, Zhao Qiang waited for Yang Shiyun. Upon meeting her, Yang Shiyun asked, "There are police cars wailing everywhere. What's going on? Did you get into trouble again?"
Zhao Qiang said, "I really didn't do it this time, but I know why."
Yang Shiyun said, "I thought they were arresting you, and I was worried the whole way there."
Zhao Qiang said, "There were robbers, but they're all dead now."
"You did it?" Yang Shiyun asked.
Zhao Qiang nodded: "Don't worry, I didn't expose myself."
Do you have any plans?
Zhao Qiang said, "No, it seems that it won't be easy to find out about your situation. I think there are a few reasons. One possibility is that you were never hospitalized here, so neither the nurses nor the hospital director lied to us."
Yang Shiyun said, "So you're saying that Ma Kexin lied to us? But I clearly remember waking up in this hospital."
Zhao Qiang said, "What you remember may not be true. The second possibility is that you stayed in this hospital, but the doctors and nurses here have been dealt with. They have lost some of their memories, and even your file has been processed in advance."
Yang Shiyun said, "I am more inclined to believe the second scenario you mentioned."
Zhao Qiang said, "Alright, then let's start with the second scenario. Next, we need to create a device to restore memories so that those who refuse to speak can start talking."
"Recover your memories? Is that even possible?" Yang Shiyun expressed a lot of pressure.
Zhao Qiang said, "I already have a preliminary idea, I'll give it a try."
Volume Two [674] The Madman
[674] Madman
Zhao Qiang and Yang Shiyun disappeared without a trace, vanishing from the face of America's most powerful intelligence agency, as if they had never been in New York. This infuriated some high-ranking officials in the United States, and those clerks were in deep trouble. Coupled with the tunnel explosion caused by the gold shop robbery, the entire city of New York was like the end of the world, with everyone on high alert and thinking twice before going out. But even digging three feet into the ground, there was still no news.
A week later, before the Americans could even express their impatience, the Chinese side couldn't hold back any longer. Xu Xiaoya was frequently received by central leaders. The reason was simple: Xu Xiaoya was the only person who could influence Zhao Qiang's decisions. Even Hu Qian wouldn't dare to order Zhao Qiang to do anything. The central government hoped to use Xu Xiaoya to re-engage with Zhao Qiang. Now, Zhao Qiang was not answering anyone's calls and was not appearing in front of anyone, as if he had vanished into thin air. Zhang Keyu was like a headless fly, searching all over New York City, but to no avail. Moreover, there was no evidence that Zhao Qiang had been taken away by the FBI. He must be dissatisfied with the country's attitude towards him, so he went into hiding.
That day, Donna received an interview assignment. Despite the city being on high alert, several biting incidents by madmen had occurred in the main urban area of New York. The madman who bit people was now in a hospital. However, less than 12 hours later, another biting incident occurred in the main urban area. The TV station believed there was more to the story, so they sent Donna to interview. Donna's first stop was the epicenter of the madman outbreak, D District of New York City, a densely populated and important commercial area.
Donna and photographer Tom got out of the interview vehicle and went into a coffee shop, the site of the first reported incident of a madman biting someone. Now the coffee shop is bustling with people and has resumed normal business.
Donna found the coffee shop manager, a man in his thirties. When Donna mentioned the incident of the madman biting people, the manager's expression became serious. "Miss Donna, the company does not allow us to discuss this matter privately, so I cannot answer your question. At the same time, I also hope that you will not damage the reputation of our shop and will not do anything that would harm our business."
Donna said, "I think you've misunderstood, sir. I just want to know what happened back then. Is it not allowed to know the details of the incident? It will not affect your coffee shop's business at all."
Just then, a waiter with a band-aid on his hand walked past Donna. He swayed as if he was about to fall, and Donna quickly reached out to support him. "Be careful," Donna said.
The waiter turned around and smiled gratefully at Donna. His face was pale. Donna said, "You don't look well. Are you feeling unwell? You can ask your boss for leave to see a doctor. Don't push yourself."
The waiter struggled to steady himself and said, "I'm fine, I just feel a little dizzy." After saying that, the waiter went back to work. There were quite a few customers in the coffee shop today, and the waiters were all a bit overwhelmed.
The head waiter said to Donna, "I'm sorry I can't serve you. Please leave; there's nothing for you here."