"Jack! Over there, the tall, thin guy in camouflage, that's my brother Wyatt."
Just as Jiejie called out from the passenger seat, Jack spotted the parked Mercedes and Wyatt Hammond, exiting the car carrying an MP5 submachine gun with a folding stock.
"Has anyone seen Greg?" Jack stared at him intently, his left hand awkwardly pulling his sidearm, a Sig Sauer P320-XTen, from his waistband.
"No, he looks like he's alone. No bag, just a submachine gun." Aubrey leaned almost halfway out the window, observing carefully before retreating back inside and shouting.
Wyatt, realizing the sirens were directed at him, looked toward the intersection in panic, realizing he was trapped between the police and the FBI.
Just as he was about to return to the Mercedes and attempt a breakout, gunshots rang out. The scattering of gravel beneath his feet startled him, and he turned and ran towards the side road.
Jack's two shots, fired from the window with his left hand, were somewhat hasty, but he had to fire a warning shot.
A boy and girl, about twelve or thirteen, passing by on the sidewalk were startled by the sound of his gunshots and instinctively crouched down.
The bulky, full-size Suburban SUV swerved sideways with tires squealing under the weight, just in front of the two children.
The passenger door opened, and Jiejie got out to escort them off the street that was about to become a battlefield. "It's okay, it's okay, come with me."
"Wyatt! Don't do anything stupid," Jack shouted, taking the Noveske N4 from Aubrey from the back seat and exiting the car, calling to Wyatt Hammond, who was desperately fleeing down the side road.
What he got in response was a burst of 9mm Parabolic pistol rounds, sparking a few sparks before pockmarking the Suburban's hull with bullet holes.
"Idiot," Jack, already a little annoyed, muttered inwardly, aiming his gun briefly before pulling the trigger.
As the gunshot rang out, Wyatt stumbled and fell to the ground. Trying to get up, he found it impossible, so he rolled sideways and ducked behind a car on the side of the road.
"Surrender, Wyatt," Jack shouted, slowly approaching the parked car.
Jubal, driving the second Suburban behind him, swerved onto the opposite sidewalk. After parking, Hannah rested her G28E sniper rifle against the car door.
A burst of gunfire rang out, and Wyatt struggled to reach from the rear of the car, firing his MP5 indiscriminately at Jack as he approached.
Jack crouched in front of a Camry, only five cars away, patiently waiting for him to empty his magazine before continuing his shouting.
"Don't be stupid, Wyatt. You and your brother Greg were both good people, but you shouldn't be killing innocent people, especially Julia. She's only 19. Her only sin is probably having the last name Griffin. What do you think?"
"It's too late. Kill me. I won't surrender." Jack responded with another burst of bullets after Wyatt reloaded the magazine.
With his back against the Camry, Jack looked at Hannah and saw her nod slightly, gesturing for permission to shoot.
A crisp gunshot rang out, followed by a scream. Jack leaped out like a cheetah, closing in close enough with a slight push of his foot, leaping onto the roof of the car where Wyatt was hiding.
Knowing the man was hell-bent on death, he didn't waste any more words. He reversed the barrel of his rifle like a baseball, and with the butt of his rifle, he struck Wyatt's forehead. Wyatt, shot in the shoulder and bleeding profusely from his leg, was still trying to reach for his gun from the ground, knocking him unconscious.
"
Ah!" The sharp pain from the tightening tourniquet awoke Wyatt from his coma.
"Tell me about your brother's plan, Wyatt. Tell me what he's going to do?" Jack continued his earnest persuasion, helping him stop the bleeding.
"Julia is innocent, just like your niece. The EPA investigators will arrive tomorrow. Larry Griffin is doomed. There's no need to sacrifice another innocent life at this moment."
"I won't betray Greg. I definitely won't say 'A thousand men are chopping off the branches of evil, while only one is hacking at its roots.'"
After reciting this famous line from Walden, Wyatt turned his head away and pursed his lips tightly.
"You son of a bitch." An angry Aubrey punched the trunk of the car in front of him, making a loud thud. "
We're just offering you a chance to reduce your sentence. Do you really think we have no solution?" He then pulled his phone from Wyatt's pocket and began to search through the call logs.
Jubal, who had just finished a phone call, walked over and patted Aubrey on the shoulder. "No need. Clay called and said Larry Griffin left the villa in a hurry after taking a call."
"Huh?" Aubrey instinctively looked in his girlfriend's direction. "Isn't his phone in Alice's hands?"
Jubal glanced at Wyatt, whose eyes were closed and silent, and waved to the emergency personnel who had just arrived. "Yeah, but Greg called Larry's girlfriend, and Clay is following him now. We should leave right away."
-
"Hackett Barron Farm." Looking at the slightly battered signpost, Jiejie in the passenger seat read the faded, blurred letters.
"I think I've seen this sign before." Jack followed the sign's instructions and drove the Suburban onto the path leading to the farm. He glanced at the bull's head logo again and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Ah, it's the farm supply store Clay and I visited before. I saw a hat with the same logo on the memorial wall. This farm once belonged to the store owner's father."
"Do you think the store owner might have known about it but kept it a secret, or even been an accomplice?" Aubrey asked.
"That's not important." Jack shook his head, thinking of the man as a lung cancer patient.
The two FBI Suburbans drove by without sirens blaring. After catching sight of the farm from a distance, they simply turned off their lights and gradually slowed down.
Clay, who had been tasked with tracking Larry Griffin at Jack's request, suddenly emerged from the brush by the roadside and waved to the group.
"Larry went in there three minutes ago," he pointed to a ramshackle barn not far away.
"Two people, stay safe." Jack handed Clay a bulletproof vest and assault rifle and beckoned Jiejie to follow.
At this moment, in the dilapidated barn, Larry Griffin, who had been searched, was pushed and stumbled, almost falling into the pile of straw in front of him that was emitting a foul smell.
"Dad!" Julia, who was tied to a broken wooden chair, saw her father and shouted in a tearful voice.
"Please, please stop." Seeing that his daughter was safe and sound, Larry couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and forced a flattering smile to Greg who was pointing a gun at him.
"How much money do you want? Everything is negotiable. As long as you let my daughter go, you can have whatever you want."
"Yeah, for people like you, all problems can be solved with money, right?" Greg took two steps back and took out a set of IV drips and a bag of black stuff from behind a pillar.
(End of this chapter)