Chapter 486

“Ringing ……”

Luke’s cell phone rang, he opened it to see that the number displayed on the screen was Blackie’s, and pressed the answer button, “Hello, this is Luke.”

“Captain, the kidnapper called again.

Jim and he agreed to deliver the six million dollars at 12:00 a.m., and the place of the transaction is the location we set before.”

“I see, you be careful too, if things change, feel free to contact me.”

“I will, see you tonight.”

Luke hung up his cell phone and said to Jackson who was beside him, “Go back to the police station.”

Jackson glanced at Luke and asked, “Captain, what went wrong?”

“Jim and the kidnappers have talked about the exact time and location of the transaction, we need to go ahead and set up control near the transaction location.”

The last time the ransom was delivered, the police were fooled by the kidnappers and were very passive, both the time and location were decided by the kidnappers.

But this time is different, the initiative is in the hands of the police.

Want the money?

Then pick it up at the time and place agreed by the police.

Twelve o’clock in the morning.

Near Crete Street.

A black Ford sedan slowly parked on the side of the road, two black men stepped out of the car, looked around for a while, and then opened the trunk of the car, from which they took out four black traveling bags and put them next to the garbage cans on the side of the road.

The two men then got into a black Ford sedan and left.

Not far away was an old apartment building, and Luke stood on the roof of the apartment watching everything through binoculars.

The place he chose for the deal was closer to the black neighborhood, more chaotic, no surveillance, and a ‘suitable’ place for the deal that wouldn’t make the kidnappers suspicious.

Luke had placed a large number of police officers in the neighborhood, and had also chosen an observation location in advance, so that as long as the kidnappers dared to come and get the money, they could make an arrest at any time.

Luke glanced at his watch and said: ”Attention all teams, the money has been placed in the designated location, the kidnappers may come at any time.

No rash action without my order.”

“Group 1 copy.”

“Group 2 receives.”

Just at this moment, a red Toyota drove over from the north side of the road, and Luke picked up his binoculars to observe.

The other officers also raised their alertness, and their gazes coincidentally looked at the red Toyota sedan.

The car didn’t stop, however, and drove straight past.

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief and some disappointment, “So much money next to the trash can, the kidnappers are really calm.”

The vice squad stood aside and said indifferently, “Generally when suspects commit crimes, very few will choose a red sedan as a means of transportation.”

Jackson inquired in a low voice, “This group of kidnappers is so cunning, how would they take the money?”

The lieutenant heard a bit of impatience in Jackson’s tone and said softly, “The more the time comes, the more calm you have to be. They’re the ones who should be scared right now, not us.”

Luke said, “The Vice Squad is right, we’ve done all we can do, let’s leave the rest to God.”

Luke had also been involved in many big cases, and in his opinion, human brainpower was ultimately limited, and more often than not, it still depended on luck.

“Clatter ……”

A rattling sound came faintly from the highway.

The sound wasn’t very loud, but it was hard to go unnoticed in the silent night.

Luke took his binoculars and looked in the direction of the sound, there was a man pushing a cart coming from the north side of the highway.

These carts were specialized for hauling goods, an iron plate on top with four small wheels underneath, the kind that pushed forward from the back.

The person pushing the cart had long hair and dirty clothes, and was wearing a baseball cap without a brim, and from the size of his body looked like a man, a male vagrant to be exact.

With many officers watching, the homeless man pushed the cart over to the garbage cans, opened one of the black travel bags, and looked at it.

And then, he quickly placed the four travel bags on the crate, and without a moment’s pause, immediately pushed the crate forward.

Jackson “……”

This …… should we chase? Jackson twisted his head to look at Luke, although he did not ask the question, but the question was written on his face.

Luke held the binoculars and observed, no obvious expression on his face, nor did he immediately issue orders.

If the other party was driving a car, Luke might have reacted at first, such as following or directly stopping.

But now the transportation was a crate, even if he was allowed to run, how far could he run.

He took out his walkie-talkie and said, “Group 3, drones are scouting in the air, keep us posted.”

“Team three copy.”

Jackson exchanged softly with the lieutenant beside him, “Could he really be picking up trash? Happened to see all that cash.”

The lieutenant rubbed his chin, “I think it’s more like the hobo came prepared, $6 million in cash weighs around 150 pounds, plus the weight of the four travel bags, almost 160 pounds total.

Without a crate, the hobo wouldn’t have been able to carry it at all.

Besides, don’t you think the timing was too coincidental? Jim’s man had just dropped off the money and the homeless man was pushing the crate straight to the trash can.

It’s after twelve o’clock in the morning, and if the tramp was that industrious, he wouldn’t be a tramp.”

As the lieutenant’s words fell out of his mouth, a black Dodge pulled up on the south side of the street and a man of Mexican descent poked his head out of the passenger side, “FUCK, that motherfucker’s headed in the opposite direction, he’s going to steal our money.

The son of a bitch is dead.”

The driver of the black Dodge was a white man, “I told you this guy was untrustworthy, his eyes light up when he sees twenty dollars, let alone six million dollars.”

“Shut up, it’s Boss’s orders.

Let’s find a tramp with ties to scout, that asshole’s wife is in our hands, who knows this guy wants money but not his wife.

FUCK, even dare to touch our money, I will send him to God today.”

The homeless man pushing the crate seemed to have heard the commotion behind him, turning his head to look at the car that was about to catch up, he hesitated for a moment, opened one of the bags, threw all the bundles of money in the bag on the ground, pushed the crate and continued to run.

“This asshole is throwing our money, he’s purposely delaying.” The Chicano man cursed and grabbed a large bag from the back of the car, “Stop the car, you keep chasing him, I’ll put the money in the bag.

Tom, be smart, he can’t run fast pushing the crate.

If you really can’t catch up, shoot.”

“You idiot, don’t call me names.” The white man cursed and stopped the car.

The Chicano man hurriedly got out of the passenger side and placed the large bag on the ground, picking up piles and piles of dollars and filling the bag.

Suddenly, a hand reached out next to him and handed him a pile of cash.

“Thanks man ……,” the Chicano man said before reacting immediately, his right hand going to feel for the gun in his pocket ……

However, before he could touch the gun, he felt a pain in his back, a strong electric current attacked his whole body, and his whole body was spread out on the ground.

Jackson laughed, “This guy is really stupid and cute.”

Ahead of the road, the homeless man pushing a crate turned into an alley.

The alley was relatively narrow, with external stairs on one side and trash cans on the other, making it impassable for cars.

The white man named Tom stepped out of his car and chased him into the alley on foot.

He hadn’t chased him far into the alley when he saw a large amount of cash scattered on the ground, all in big stacks of $100 bills.

“FUCK, I @#$%……”

Tom cursed, and after a slight hesitation, instead of stopping to pick up the money, he continued the chase.

The car was placed at the entrance of the alley, and when his companion caught up, he would naturally pick up the money.

He continued to track the homeless man, and saw that the homeless man turned into another alley on the right.

Tom quickly chased after him, and again saw a large amount of money scattered on the ground, which meant that the homeless man should now have only a bag of money left.

Tom still didn’t stop and continued to chase.

The homeless man pushing the cart, after all, is not as fast as Tom.

Tom once again saw the tramp’s figure, this time he didn’t hesitate, directly shot: “Bang Bang!”

Two consecutive shots, but unfortunately missed.

The tramp once again turned into the alley in front of him.

Tom ran behind him and also followed and turned into the right side of the box.

Then, as soon as he ran into the alley, his whole body was confused, there were two gun-wielding men standing on both sides of the alley.

The homeless man had been held down by two men in police uniforms.

“LAPD, don’t move!”

“Drop the pistol and put your hands up!”

The white man hurriedly dropped his pistol and raised his hands, “Damn, how did things turn out like this? Why are there so many LAPDs?” he cursed at the hobo again, “You idiot, you’re the one who screwed things up.”

Not to be outdone, the hobo cursed back, “You’re the one who’s a fucking asshole, and yes, you’re dead this time.”

Xiao Hei laughed, “Ooooh, you guys can rub sparks in front of so many police officers, you’re really a loving couple, don’t worry, wait until you’re in prison, you’ll have plenty of time to communicate properly.”

Afterwards, the three people were separated for interrogation.

Blacky and Jackson were in charge of interrogating the homeless.

Blacky had quite a bit of experience disguising himself as a hobo, and seeing the other man had an inexplicable affinity for him, and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Sainz Schafer.”

He raised his cuffed hands in protest, “Sir, you have the wrong person, I’m the victim. Can’t you guys see he’s after me?”

Black smirked, “That’s what at least half of the people I’ve personally arrested say.

Come on, where are the hostages?”

“What hostages? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“The four black travel bags you just took were filled with cash that the kidnappers extorted from the victim’s family.

I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that the travel bags containing the money were just placed next to the trash can when you pushed your cart over and took all of them.

We have good reason to think you were one of the kidnappers.”

“No!”

The homeless man shouted, looking agitated, “You’ve got it all wrong, I didn’t kidnap anyone at all. The only reason I was taking the money was because I was coerced by those two assholes.”

Blackie smoothly asked, “How did they coerce you?”

“This afternoon, some guy making a short video gave me twenty dollars, and I bought some food and beer for a date with my girlfriend in a tent.

Around eleven p.m., my girlfriend and I were in the tent clapping for love, one of my few pastimes, my favorite sport.

Black was interested in the topic, but this wasn’t the time to talk about it and had to interrupt, “I want to hear the point.”

“Those two assholes broke into our tent and inquired about our relationship, I casually told them that my girlfriend was my wife and the two assholes believed it, and the Chicano asshole groped my girlfriend’s ass.

Then they kidnapped my girlfriend and threatened me with my girlfriend to get me to bring them that travel bag.

And said that not only would they let my girlfriend go, but they’d give me $10,000 when it was done.

Come on, I’m a bum, not a fool.” The hobo taunted and continued.

“I’ve seen this kind of thing on TV a lot.

I know they must be doing something illegal and want me to be the fall guy. As long as I gave them the travel bag as promised, my girlfriend and I would be silenced by them.

So I opened the travel bag to see what was inside, and that thought intensified when I saw that it was all cash.

I’m going to take this money with me and I’m going to give it to the police.

You all saw what happened after that, I was the good guy, I was unarmed and had been trying to run from them.

I even thought about using the money to lure them away and then going to the car to get my girlfriend out.

By the way, those two assholes stuffed my girlfriend in the trunk of the car, so you guys hurry up and go save her.”

Xiao Hei felt that the bastard’s words behind were completely bullshit, if he could escape with the money just now, he definitely wouldn’t have left the money behind, not to mention that he wouldn’t have looked at his so-called ‘girlfriend’ more than once.

“You’re not the only one we’re going to question, so you’d better not lie.”

“I swear to God, everything I said is true.”

In a Ford commercial vehicle.

Luke stared across at the white man and inquired, “What’s your name?”

“Tom Bolton.”

“Where are you hiding the hostages?”

Tom Bolton shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“Tom, you’re not the only one we’re holding, my colleagues are interrogating your companions as well, and whoever is willing to assist the police can be turned into a tainted witness and receive a favorable plea deal.

You should know very well what that means.

There is only one chance.”

Luke glanced at his watch, “It’s 12:25 a.m. How soon do you think your companion will confess?

Will he be the first to identify you, or one of his other accomplices?

If he reveals where the hostages are being held first, you lose your leverage in the deal.”

Tom had a panicked look on his face, but remained somewhat hesitant.

Luke continued, “Tom, I know that you were the one who went to Jim for the gold exchange, and I also know that you were the one who went to the cleaning company. We know you very well, and even if you don’t admit it, we can convict you just the same.

If the hostages are killed, you will definitely be sentenced to death, ready to live in prison for the rest of your life?”

Luke lowered his voice and warned, “The hostage’s dad is rich and angry.

He’ll be sure to trust someone to take good care of you in prison ……”

“The Kloa neighborhood.

That’s where the hostages are being hidden.”

Seeing the other man open up, Luke struck while the iron was hot, “How many of you are there?”

“Four, two stayed behind to guard the hostages.”

“Tell us a little about them.

One is called Hugo Chowdhury, our Boss and the mastermind of the case, the kidnapping was planned by him, a very vicious guy.

There’s another one named Sophia, the Boss brought her in, and I don’t know her very well.”

“What kind of weapons did the two of them have?”

“Two rifles, two pistols.”

“Where are the hostages hiding? Any injuries?”

“She’s being held in the basement, no injuries, we’re just asking for money, not perverts.”

“What do you plan to do with the hostage?”

“I don’t know ……,” Tom Bolton said perfunctorily.

“Don’t lie.

Tell me, what will you do with the hostages after you get the six million dollars in cash?” Luke had to know the movements of the other two robbers and was worried that they might hurt the hostages early.

Tom Bolton sighed, “We will leave Los Angeles as soon as we get the money. Once we get to safety, Boss said he’ll get rid of the hostages.”

“Get rid of them how?”

“Boss is the one who said he’d get rid of them himself. ……

I would never kill anyone.”

Luke stared at his expression and said solemnly, “If the hostages are killed because you lied, then you’ll be waiting for your retirement in prison.”

“I’m not lying, I’m telling the truth!”

Luke didn’t see any obvious signs that he was lying, “Do you want a favorable plea deal?”

Tom Bolton hastened to agree, “Yes.”

“Good, then assist us in freeing the hostages.”

Luke, the vice squad, and Marcus then compared statements from the three suspects.

The police rescued a woman from the trunk of the black Dodge, and her statement was matched to the three, basically confirming that the three were not lying.

Next, the police began to formulate a plan to free the hostages.

Things couldn’t be delayed too long, or the other two suspects were alerted and might escape or even tear the tickets.

Time is very tight.