Chapter 113: Los Angeles
"Hobbs?"
Ron was a little surprised when he answered the phone. This was the FBI's ace agent. Because of stealing credit, he and Ron had always had some conflicts. Their relationship wasn't very good. Generally speaking, they almost never contacted each other except when they were working together on a case.
"You said she had plastic surgery—how could I know her?" Ron leaned against the car and said unhappily. "Who did she turn into? Otherwise, you can secretly take her to a secluded place and check her carefully. I promise I'll never rat you out."
Although he said this, Ron made up his mind that after hanging up the phone, he would call the FBI to file a complaint. Whether the FBI backed it or not, it would definitely be enough to make Hobbs suffer.
As competitors, the two of them often sabotaged each other. This was just standard procedure.
"It seems to be some little starlet named Emma Watson," Hobbs looked at Emma's face and said uncertainly.
But he quickly added, "It's the one with the kids waving magic wands around! My daughter loves those movies and told me to get her autograph if I could. Damn, I forgot what it was called. Owen, what was that movie called?"
Hobbs asked his men for help.
"The Lord of the Rings?"
"No, I remember The Lord of the Rings. That was about some powerful old wizard with a bunch of dwarfs, and there were no female characters."
Another unreliable subordinate asked, "Could it be The Wizard of Oz? I remember that movie had magic in it, too."
"Harry Potter?" Ron, sensing something was wrong, tentatively interrupted their discussion.
"Yes, that's it!"
"Hobbs, where are you right now? Are you in Los Angeles?" Ron's sense of unease grew.
"Ha!" Hobbs chuckled proudly. "Of course. Old Jack is getting on in years and will retire soon. I'm here to take over his position. I heard you were in Los Angeles, so I applied for the job. I've told you before—don't even think about getting rid of me."
"You muscle-bound moron, you're in deep trouble!" Ron rubbed his forehead. "You just arrested that movie star!"
"What?! How is that possible!" Hobbs said in disbelief. "We clearly got intelligence from special communications of undercover Al-Qaeda agents, including their entire plan to blow up Hollywood!"
"I'm guessing your source of intelligence came through internet communications, right? Actually, I'm at the airport too, and she's the one I came to pick up today."
Ron asked in exasperation. Emma was definitely being pranked. As for who did it—did he even need to ask? It had to be Paige!
"How do you know? But if it wasn't a terrorist attack, who would do such a thing? What was their motive?"
"Maybe they were just bored?" Ron rolled his eyes skyward. He couldn't exactly tell him it was one of his jealous girlfriends, could he?
The whole story instantly clicked in Ron's mind: because she had checked the message Emma sent him, Paige was furious, so she hacked the FBI undercover's Al-Qaeda account and sent them false intelligence.
There was no doubt that Paige was the absolute queen when it came to anything involving the internet.
The purpose was to prank Emma, and now it seemed the prank had been wildly successful.
"I told you so, you big oaf!" Emma kicked Hobbs's shin with her small leather boot, but his leg was so muscular that it made her toes ache in pain.
"Let me go!"
Hobbs gestured to his men to release her in confusion. Emma rubbed her wrist that had been pinched red and glared hatefully at the FBI agents surrounding her.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am," Hobbs, as everyone's boss, touched his big bald head awkwardly and apologized. "I didn't realize you really weren't a terrorist. We may have received false intelligence."
"Who's your supervisor? I'm definitely filing a complaint with the FBI!"
Hobbs, quite experienced in handling complaints, immediately pulled out a notebook and made a note. "Well, I'm the boss. You can file your complaint right now."
"Hmph!" Emma, irritated by his attitude, immediately turned away, intent on getting as far from the violent man as possible.
"Wait!"
Emma turned back. "What now, officer? Are you still arresting me?"
"No, but I haven't gotten your luggage yet. Want me to walk you and your bags to the exit?" Hobbs held Emma's small pink suitcase in a friendly manner and opened the Hummer door as an invitation.
"Hmph!" Emma glanced at the road to the airport exit and angrily got in the car.
...
At the airport gate, Ron met Emma...and an embarrassed Hobbs.
On the way out, Hobbs had verified with his source that the information about terrorists on the plane was indeed false. Believe it or not, the FBI undercover agent actually used coded language to communicate on Twitter.
No wonder Paige had hacked his account. A simple code was child's play for Paige. She must have been monitoring this account for ages.
"Ron," Hobbs said sheepishly.
"Hmph!" Emma, not wanting to stay in their vehicle any longer, dragged her luggage over and got in Ron's car, slamming the door shut.
Hobbs stretched out his hand awkwardly. "Sorry about that."
"Welcome to Los Angeles," Ron didn't shake hands, but gave him a high-five instead. "Though 'welcome' is just being polite. Actually, you know I don't welcome you at all. Could you please go back to wherever you came from?"
"Fat chance." Hobbs took the opportunity of the high-five to grab Ron's hand and squeezed hard, but unfortunately gained no advantage in terms of strength. "What's that saying from the old westerns?"
"Like a bad penny."
"Yes, like a bad penny—I always turn up. One day I'm going to beat you."
Ron pulled his hand back and wiped it with a wet wipe from the car in disgust. "You weren't transferred here for such a petty reason, were you?"
"No," Hobbs's eyes became sharp again when discussing business. "Barack's case has made the higher-ups look like complete idiots. Old Jack should retire, and I can catch him within a week, tops."
At this point, an intimidating presence emanated from Hobbs's body. Ron noticed that Hobbs's entire action team was part of the convoy. This guy was definitely a man of action.
"Just a friendly heads-up—Barack fled to Mexico. Good luck with that."
"When did that happen?!" Hobbs exclaimed, his intelligence clearly behind the times.
"Just yesterday, when my team and I busted all his drug operations." Ron's face had a mischievous look, like those smug emoji expressions. "The firefight was intense. Barack's men were even armed with RPGs, but thankfully none of my guys got hurt.
How about you FBI boys? Any casualties? I saw a rocket heading straight for your helicopter."
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Power Stone or Review!
P@atreon/Soulforger (45+ advanced chapters)