Watching Emily's happy expression, William felt a mix of emotions. Although the little one's talent didn't quite match his own, her affinity with magical elements at the age of six was indeed rare. After thinking it over, William decided to let Emily develop on her own for now. He would only step in if her connection with magic started causing issues.
"Now that you're back, don't you think you should apologize to Duke? Remember, it was your father who gave you those 'little sparkles' that helped you recover."
Emily thought for a moment, then turned to Duke and softly called him "Dad."
Duke was so thrilled that he couldn't contain his smile. He quickly took out all the chocolate bars he had in his pockets. "Would you like more, sweetheart? If you want, they're all yours."
Looking at the chocolates in front of her, Emily thanked him cautiously as she accepted them, then uttered words that broke Duke's heart.
"Mr. Devonshire, would you like one? The chocolate is really tasty."
"Haha, thank you, Emily, but I'm not hungry. You enjoy it," William laughed as he saw Duke's disappointed expression.
With little Emily attracting everyone's attention, time passed quickly. Meanwhile, the 22 Delta Force operatives downstairs, clearing out the bandits, managed to take down all those outside the hostage room, though it cost them seven or eight men. All that remained was the task of rescuing the hostages.
Before they could make a move, however, several hostages were marched to the windows at gunpoint by the bandits. One of the captors shouted, "Hand over Benjamin Arthur, or I'll kill one hostage every ten minutes. And don't even think about making any moves—any attempt will send these poor souls to meet their maker, and their deaths will be on your heads."
"Damn it."
Everyone who heard the captors' demand cursed under their breath. Anyone who wasn't completely brainless knew that the authorities couldn't possibly agree to such terms. If worse came to worst, they would prefer risking casualties among the hostages over giving in to the captors' demands.
And Benjamin himself had no intention of sacrificing his life for others.
However, this was no problem for William.
After some thought, William, holding Emily, walked over to Benjamin and said, "Maybe this could be your chance to become famous."
Having witnessed William's abilities, Benjamin didn't question his motives and quickly asked, "What's your plan?"
"Perhaps we can find someone with a similar height to yours and use a lifelike mask to disguise them as you to exchange for the hostages. If the disguised person can take down the captors once inside, that's ideal. If not, they'll need to protect themselves until the special ops team breaks in."
"But what if he gets killed?" As a cautious official, Benjamin couldn't help but ask about the worst-case scenario.
William shrugged. "That would just be bad luck for him."
After hearing this, Benjamin looked at William, understanding what he meant, as William gave him a sly grin. "Don't look at me like that. I'm at least half a head taller than you, with a different build, and I have no obligation to take risks for you. Besides, impersonation is a skill that requires expertise—it's not something anyone can pull off convincingly."
Benjamin nodded but immediately grew concerned. "Where are we going to find someone capable of doing this?"
"Don't ask me; I have no idea," William replied with a shrug. "But I'd be surprised if your special agencies didn't have someone fit for the task."
After a few moments of thought, Benjamin relayed William's plan to the command center, and soon enough, they selected a candidate: Ethan Hunt.
Trained rigorously and highly skilled, Ethan Hunt was known as a top operative who could acquire any secret, infiltrate any fortress, and impersonate anyone.
From the moment William proposed the plan, he was already 80% certain the final choice would be Ethan Hunt from the CIA.
To buy time and keep the captors at bay, Benjamin, under heavy protection from Banning and a team of agents, moved to the east side of the first floor, where the hostages were held, and began negotiations with the captors.
Meanwhile, Ethan Hunt's team was urgently summoned to the scene.
Fortunately, Ethan Hunt himself was already on the East Coast. After receiving the call, he was immediately airlifted to Washington, with all necessary equipment being rushed over as well.
After a bit of coordination, Ethan Hunt arrived at the White Palace just in time, before the captors lost patience and harmed the hostages.
The equipment had been prepped ahead of time, and a lifelike mask was crafted to resemble Benjamin Arthur.
Additionally, William had previously arranged for Sunday to supply ten sets of bulletproof suits for testing, so Hunt immediately put on a suit matching Benjamin's.
With the help of CIA experts, he applied the disguise and reviewed the negotiation dialogue between Benjamin and the captors.
"Mr. Hunt, I should remind you that the suit you're wearing is a £5 million bulletproof model. As long as you avoid sniper rifles, machine guns, and armor-piercing rounds, most firearms won't cause fatal injuries. Once the hostages are freed or negotiations fail, protect your head, and leave the rest to Delta Force. Of course, if you're able to neutralize the captors after the hostages are out, don't hesitate."
"Understood, Mr. Devonshire. I'll act according to the situation," Hunt nodded, adjusting his gear while his teammate taped a CZ83 to his back. Fully prepared, he crouched down and used the Delta Force agents and shields for cover as he moved behind Benjamin.
The scene commander and negotiation experts guided Benjamin on what to say.
The captors, seeing that the "real" Benjamin was willing to trade himself for the hostages, were skeptical at first. However, after two hours of negotiations and growing impatience, they were finally convinced. After some discussion, they agreed to release half of the hostages.
Taking advantage of the commotion as the hostages were freed, Ethan Hunt, following the commander's signal, rose slowly while Benjamin crouched down. Following the negotiator's instructions, Benjamin, crouched on the ground, shouted at the captors, "If you don't release the remaining hostages once I'm inside, my team will storm in with no room for negotiation."
Benjamin's voice came from below, while the standing Ethan Hunt's expression and lip movements matched perfectly.
Ethan Hunt then pushed past the agents in front of him and walked toward the hostage room.
Just before entering, Hunt spotted a captor holding a metal detector. Using the door frame as cover, he discreetly tore the gun from his back with his left hand and cleverly stuck it to the wall to avoid any sound that might alert the captors.
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