At 8:30 PM, Carlos arrived at the deserted factory on Bellot Street with the purchased tools and equipment to meet William. Upon meeting, Carlos smiled and patted the backpack in his hand, saying, "I'll handle the dirty work. You came up with these things, so you know them best. I'll leave the preparation to you." He shook his head, adding, "I really don't know how you came up with such a method."
William took the large backpack Carlos threw over, handed the tranquilizer gun to Carlos, smiled, and walked into the deserted factory. He had confidence in Carlos's marksmanship; with a tranquilizer gun in hand, capturing a retired special agent would require hardly any effort.
Indeed, as soon as William had finished setting up the equipment, Carlos walked into the factory carrying Claude on his back and found William.
Carlos stood by William, steadying Claude, then put on the gloves William handed him and helped William put the medical restraints around Claude's neck, right upper arm, wrist, and palm, positioning his palm to point at his own temple. After securing it, he put on a clavicle brace connected to a rope, hanging it from the iron frame above his head.
He adjusted the height to make the unconscious Claude stand steadily, pulled out the gun from Claude's body, secured it into the restraint on his palm, pointing it at Claude's temple.
Once everything was ready, William stood aside and asked Carlos, "How's this suicide setup? Not bad, right?"
Carlos laughed heartily, "Not bad at all. With the restraints, there won't be any bruising on the arm and wrist, so the medical examiner won't find anything. Now we just need a reason for Claude's suicide."
"The reason is easy to find. We'll link Claude to the attack on the White Palace a few days ago. We can make it look like he was silenced.
I'll leave a suicide note to be sent to his superior, saying that he did something against France during his field work, was caught with leverage, and had no choice but to reveal intelligence related to the White Palace to the attackers. If he dies, it must be those attackers silencing him.
The letter will also state that Claude threatened his superior with evidence of the black money his superior had been collecting over the years. If his wife dies, this evidence will be released. I guarantee Claude's superior will absolutely not dare to investigate openly, because he himself is not clean. He will only secretly investigate that fabricated evidence and won't care how Claude died.
In a moment, I'll send a text message to Mr. Claude's wife, telling her to immediately go into hiding in Switzerland, waiting for Claude, and it will also include a secret account in a small Swiss bank, containing the 2 million US dollars I transferred to him a few days ago."
Before William could continue, Carlos interrupted, saying, "Wait, William, you transferred the money. If Claude's wife or the French authorities insist on investigating, couldn't they trace the account back to you?"
"Heh heh, don't worry, I've already prepared several secret anonymous accounts and transferred them through several offshore banks multiple times, finally transferring them to a small Swiss bank that doesn't conduct public business, and then into Claude's account through an underground money exchange. They can only trace it back to the underground money exchange."
"Alright, as long as you're prepared."
"Alright, let's get to work. You're the expert in this area. Don't make it too clean, Carlos; leave some clues. We need to make Claude's superior believe that Claude was silenced by those attackers from the White Palace."
"Okay, no problem. Claude has tranquilizer residue in his system, so the autopsy will show that Claude didn't die while conscious. Once his superior knows this, he'll definitely believe Claude was silenced."
William nodded after hearing this, no longer bothering with the rest. He took Claude's phone, walked out of the factory building, put on his helmet, and rode his heavy motorcycle towards Claude's house.
At a dark corner on the street outside Claude's house, he took out Claude's phone and composed a text message to his wife.
The message instructed Claude's wife to immediately hide in Switzerland under an assumed name, and not to contact any of Claude's former colleagues. For her safety, if Claude didn't contact her, she absolutely shouldn't contact him. If he died, she was to take the account name to the bank and claim the 2 million US dollars as a widow.
Claude's wife was indeed worthy of being a special agent's wife. William didn't wait twenty minutes before he saw her rushing down the building in a panic, carrying a large backpack. As she exited the building, she even yelled at an acquaintance she bumped into:
"Sorry, Mrs. Luna, I have to catch a flight. My husband is waiting for me at the airport for a vacation in Hawaii."
After getting in the car, Claude's wife sped off down the street. William, riding his heavy motorcycle, deliberately followed closely behind the car. After following for about ten minutes, Claude's wife's car suddenly made a sharp turn onto the highway.
William stopped his motorcycle at the highway entrance, beneath the no-motorcycles sign, watching the car speed away. He silently apologized to Claude's wife, thinking, fortunately, in this world, you don't have children yet; you should be able to find another husband and live a stable life.
William believed that Claude's wife, upon realizing she was being followed, would become even more cautious. In a few days, news of Claude's death would spread, and she would likely truly go into hiding under an assumed name. The two million US dollars would be enough to ensure she lived comfortably.
After dealing with Claude's phone, William rode his motorcycle to meet Carlos. Upon meeting, Carlos nodded to William, indicating that he had handled Claude's matter.
They rode their motorcycles, following Carlos to a common residential building in the 13th arrondissement, where they hid the motorcycles. They then drove a car Carlos had stolen out of the 13th arrondissement and took a taxi back to the Four Seasons Hotel.
He booked a room for Carlos, and after asking the hotel butler, learned that Kim had stayed in her room the entire time and hadn't come out. Relieved, he had some supper, washed up, and then went straight to sleep.
Early the next morning, Carlos went out to prepare equipment and then went to find a suitable sniping spot opposite 7 Bellic Street. William, on the other hand, paid a top Parisian private detective online to monitor the arrival of Murad, the Albanian leader, at the airport.
Having nothing to do, William called the hotel butler and instructed him to prepare a car. He hired a beautiful 18-year-old part-time tour guide, a dance student from the University of Paris, to take him to various Parisian attractions he hadn't visited. At 3 PM, William received a call from the private detective confirming that Murad had arrived in Paris, which relieved William.
In a great mood, William even bought the beautiful tour guide a bracelet worth over 10,000 US dollars. By 7 PM, William was holding hands with the pretty tour guide. He booked a yacht on the Seine River, where they drank Latour and enjoyed gourmet food cooked on-site by a Michelin three-star chef hired by the hotel butler.
When the cruise ship was nearing 7 Bellic Street, William pulled the beautiful tour guide to stand in the middle of the second floor of the boat. Led by a pianist playing "A Love Story," the two embraced on the Seine and began to sway lightly.
Unfortunately, the joyful moment was broken after only a few minutes by three successive gunshots. William, chuckling, comforted the beautiful tour guide who, terrified by the shots, clung to him and shrieked.
In the end, he had no choice but to take the young woman—who he wasn't sure if she was genuinely frightened or just playing along—back to the Four Seasons Hotel for several rounds of beneficial physical exercise, after which they slept soundly until dawn.
The next morning, after having the butler of the presidential suite at the Four Seasons Hotel pay a $10,000 guide fee, William waved goodbye to the reluctant young woman.
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