Pristine Darkness - Chapter 103

Jian Yao said, by way of introduction, “I am Jian Yao from the Beijing Special Cases Unit, and this is Professor Bo. From today, we will rely on you both to work with us.” She did not disclose Zhu Tao’s identity, and Zhu Tao himself merely lit a cigarette and nodded at them with narrowed eyes.

The two special police force members responded, “Yes,” and stood to one side.

The prelude to the operation was about to officially begin. Zhu Tao once again retrieved the folder from his jacket and whispered, “You must protect it well.” Jian Yao accepted it and stashed it in her document case.

“Take the suspects out first,” Zhu Tao told his subordinate.

Jian Yao also told the two special police force members, “You go outside first.” After that, Zhu Tao would engage Bo Jinyan privately in a detailed discussion on the organisation of Buddha’s Hand.

Everyone was heading out in response to the instructions, when out of the blue, Bo Jinyan said, “How is Captain Zhang of your Operations Division doing?”

The two special police force members halted momentarily. The slightly older of the two turned back to say, with a smile, “Professor Bo, that’s a curious question. The Operations Division only has Captain Xie and Captain Ma, there’s no Captain Zhang there.” The other man smilingly nodded his agreement.

Zhu Tao narrowed his eyes and puffed lazily on his cigarette. Abruptly, he tossed away his cigarette and drew his handgun. In that split second, the two ‘special police force’ members moved at incredible speed, drew their guns, and fired.

However, tragedy occurred. Because Zhu Tao’s subordinate had been escorting the three criminals, he had been walking in front and had not turned back. Thus, he had not noticed the unforeseen situation unfolding behind him. A bullet fired by a ‘special police force’ member flew towards his back. Zhu Tao yelled, “Get down!” but it was too late. The subordinate responded extremely quickly; he turned around and dropped to the ground, but the bullet still struck him in the abdomen. He lay on the ground, looking seriously injured and unable to move at all.

With one move, Jian Yao shielded Bo Jinyan, drew her gun, and fired. However, although she had ‘studied’ under kick-ass criminal investigator Fang Qing for a year, she had little combat experience facing off against such violent gangsters. In addition, she was trying to protect Bo Jinyan. Thus, she was slightly slow in drawing her gun.

Peng! Zhu Tao’s bullet struck one of them, but the other person’s bullet also flew towards them. Zhu Tao threw himself in front of Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao with a grunt. JIan Yao exclaimed, “Captain Zhu!” She let go of Bo Jinyan, raised her gun and fired! Then, she held onto Zhu Tao, who had been shot.

A second ago, Zhu Tao had been genteel and refined, but at this moment his face was pale and his eyes were terribly wide as he said, “Quick! Give chase! The information. . . can’t fall into their hands . . .”

Jian Yao jerked her head up and saw a figure flash into movement. It turned out that the person Zhu Tao had shot earlier had seized the opportunity when they were off guard to pull himself up, grab the document case on the table and flee the scene! Jian Yao was in a state of shock as Zhu Tao spat out a mouthful of blood and said, “Relax . . . I’ve got a firm hold on life . . . I won’t die for a while yet.”

Jian Yao gritted her teeth and looked at Bo Jinyan. Bo Jinyan lowered his head towards Zhu Tao on the floor and said, rapidly, “We will get the information back.” Zhu Tao looked at him and nodded.

Jian Yao tugged on Bo Jinyan’s hand and they ran out of the door.

As soon as they reached the ground floor, they heard the sound of a car – sure enough, the gangster had escaped by car, disappearing like a wisp of smoke. Immediately, Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao got into their car. Bo Jinyan gripped the handrail on the car door as Jian Yao gritted her teeth, stepped on the gas, and set off in pursuit.

Although Jian Yao drove steadily, she had seldom driven fast, to say nothing of street racing. While she remained hot on the tail of the suspect, she still collided with many things on the roadside with a bang and a clatter. It was a dangerous pursuit, yet Bo Jinyan was very calm, and even said, with an air of indifference, “I never imagined you would drive like a little tiger.”

He could still joke so calmly at a time like this! Some of Jian Yao’s tenseness from earlier on began to dissipate. However, she still frowned and said, quickly, “How did this happen? The special police force members are impersonators? How did they find out our plan of action?”

Bo Jinyan quietly said, “It looks like Zhu Tao’s inference was right. The two of us have been alone on this journey, and we’ve only communicated with Zhu Tao once. We’ve also been very careful not to leave traces behind, and we have not been followed. However, Zhu Tao’s people and the criminals have been in many confrontations; his men have been watched and attacked. So, it’s not impossible that information was leaked. In addition, the news about the two special police force members was not something that was kept completely confidential, documents and forms would have been passed between departments and across levels. They were also watched and impersonated.”

Jian Yao was silent.

When she had first heard Bo Jinyan explaining his comprehensive plan, she had thought that even though the way ahead was dangerous and complicated, as long as they kept to his plan, surely there were no mountains that they could not climb. Unexpectedly, on the very first day, something unplanned happened. This situation was even more treacherous than the time they had faced off against the flower cannibal in America.

She held the steering wheel with one hand and suddenly seized Bo Jinyan’s hand tightly with the other. Bo Jinyan was taken aback, and raised his head.

“This time, no matter what happens, don’t let go of my hand. If there’s danger, stand behind me,” she said.

Bo Jinyan was silent for a moment before he replied, “Okay,”

They had caught up!

Before them was an abandoned pier by the waterside. That person had probably been so frantic that he had fled to this dead end. Very calmly, Jian Yao said, “Jinyan, help me hold the steering wheel, and listen to my instructions.” Bo Jinyan replied, “Ok,” and held the steering wheel. Jian Yao drew her gun and shouted briskly, “15 degrees left!” The steering wheel turned precisely 15 degrees and they took a shortcut which brought them even closer to the suspect’s vehicle! Jian Yao’s expression was cold and severe as she fired her gun.

Peng! The window on the driver’s side shattered. Their opponent was probably stunned, but in a surprising devil-may-care move, he leaned out of the window and turned to look at them. Laughing nastily, he fired at them!

A peng sounded, followed by the screeching of car brakes. Jian Yao screamed silently — this was no good, their tyre had been shot! But, it was in this millisecond that Jian Yao saw an opportunity and took it. She aimed precisely at the suspect’s back and fired. His car swerved violently and crashed into a row of fences. It finally came to a stop with the hood completely smashed in.

Jian Yao let out a soft breath, took back the steering wheel from Bo Jinyan, and stopped the car slowly. Although Bo Jinyan could not see, he had heard what had happened. He said, “Beautifully done.” Jian Yao responded, “Am I not the most decent criminal investigator among your subordinates now?” Bo Jinyan replied, “Of course.” Jian Yao pulled him along as they walked towards the suspect’s car.

As they drew nearer, she let go of Bo Jinyan and raised her gun to walk forward cautiously.

A lot of junk and trash was piled up on the dock. The suspect’s car had crashed into a jumbled mess of cargo. There was no longer any need for caution as the suspect in the driver’s seat was dead. Jian Yao sighed and retrieved the document case next to his hand. As a precautionary measure, she extracted the stack of information that Zhu Tao had given her, shoved it into the inner pocket of her jacket and zipped it up. She checked through the man’s pockets but found nothing else, except for a delicate tattoo of a white snake on his right arm. The winding snake looked nimble, yet highly malevolent at the same time. She pondered it for a moment before telling Bo Jinyan about her discovery. Bo Jinyan looked pensive.

The car they had rented had a flat tire and could not be driven. The immediate priority was to return as soon as possible to touch base with Zhu Tao and the police force, get to the bottom of what had transpired today, then move forward with the plan. After some discussion, Jian Yao and Bo Jinyan finally moved the body to the rear passenger seat, then turned the suspect’s car around to drive it back.

It was already sunset, and the faint sunlight shone on the water. The surroundings were piled high with junk and rubbish, making this place seem like an abandoned world. Driving slowly, Jian Yao followed the road out of the dock. This location was already quite remote, and it seemed even more so now as there was not a single vehicle apart from their own.

An inexplicable sense of unease arose in Jian Yao’s heart.

Then, she heard Bo Jinyan, by her side, slowly saying, “Jian Yao, we may be about to encounter even greater danger.”

Jian Yao clenched the steering wheel tightly as she listened to him continue speaking. “This criminal was obviously the leader of the two special police force impersonators. His actions today can be said to be courageous and well planned. He was shrewd and fearless, and was definitely no small fry. Why would he drive to this dead-end dock? I don’t think he would have chosen the wrong route out of panic.”

A chill struck Jian Yao’s heart.

Then . . . was it to lure them into a trap?

Or, was there some other conspiracy?

Who exactly was the enemy they were currently facing? Before they met Zhu Tao, to what extent had the deep pool of crime in this place been stirred up, such that, when they arrived, they would immediately be involved? How much did their opponents know about them? What did they know of the police force’s master plan? What counter-attack plan had they devised?

Buddha’s Hand, masked killers, Zhu Tao, spies, Smiling Snake . . . what kind of situation were they facing now?

Nothing was clear.

It was then that the sound of engines could be heard in front of them; from the noise, there were quite a few cars.

Jian Yao’s car gradually came to a halt.

Four black cars of different makes blocked their way on the narrow dock road. Then, more than ten men got out of the cars. In comparison with the two gangsters who had impersonated special police force members, the men before them were seemingly making no attempt to hide their identities and characters. Leather clothes, T-shirt, rough, ruthless – at one glance, this was a violent gang, not to be fooled around with.

Jian Yao gripped her gun tightly as her heart sank like a stone.

Then, a hand reached out and held hers as well as the gun. Bo Jinyan whispered into her ear, “From now on, whatever happens, stand behind me.”