The Last Killer

The black-haired detective picked up the thumbtacks on the table, walked to the huge map of the country on the wall, and pinned it near one of the cities. "Phoenix City, 'Gallows Killer'. At ten o'clock, we will call the relevant detectives for a meeting, arrange the operation, and we can start tomorrow."

Sha Qing grabbed a handful of thumbtacks with colorful plastic heads, used them as darts, and threw them on the map one by one: "For meetings and the like, don't expect me to speak. Besides, it's better to have no teammates than a pig teammate. I don't mind doing it alone."

"You have to learn to work as a team, Luo Yi, individual heroism is not welcome here."

"Why should I be welcomed by them?" Sha Qing snorted disdainfully.

Leo sighed helplessly.He knew that there was still a long way to go before Sha Qing could become a true FBI partner.

There was a knock on the door, and Jane, who was in charge of logistics services, walked in with a package in her hand: "Luoyi Lin's courier, just received."

When Sha Qing was about to reach out to pick it up, Leo took it away first, and weighed it in his hand, which seemed to be a light and light file bag.He asked Jane: "Have you scanned it?"

"Yes, no abnormalities were found in the contents."

After Jane went out, Leo frowned and said to Zaqing: "This is not right. You have just entered the headquarters, who will send you a courier, and even fill in the specific department with the same score?"

"Maybe it's my true fan?" Sha Qing said lightly, and when he took the package away, he tapped on Leo's arm, "Dear partner, you are like a vigilant military Doberman with your ears cut off. The kind." He tore open the package, took out the empty kraft paper bag, and poured out a miniature USB flash drive from it.

Leo asked someone to bring a laptop and insert the USB flash drive into it to read it.

A video file automatically jumps out and starts playing.

The initial picture is filled with colorful debris falling all over the screen. At first glance, it looks like confetti sprayed out of a salute at a celebration.But soon they discovered that it was petals of various colors sprinkled from several low-altitude helicopters, covering almost the entire street.

The tires ran over the wet road in the rain, and the black cars slowly passed by, one after another, giving people the illusion of endlessness, and the roofs of the cars were all decorated with snow-white garlands.The car was full of people, and on both sides of the road that had been cleared, there were at least a few hundred men in black suits and red umbrellas, silently crowding the traffic and heading in the same direction.

Obviously, this is a huge funeral procession, whether it is the helicopters throwing petals, hundreds of funeral convoys or the bloody umbrella flowers blooming above the black crowd, all of them reveal a lofty, strong and ruthless spirit from the solemn grief. mean.

"...This is Timothy Berardi's funeral!" Leo stared at the screen and said in a deep voice, "I remember, it was the third day after you escaped from prison."

Sha Qing shrugged: "The third day after I took the blame."

"I know. But all the evidence points to you - your room, your bed, your dagger, your fingerprints; there are even testimonies from prison guards who saw Timothy enter your cell that night. The court You have also seen the situation, and more than one-third of the jury members believe that you killed him." Leo said.

"Then what do you think?" Sha Qing asked back with a sinister smile.

Leo answered sternly: "I think if you did it, you would admit it; you said that you were blamed, so the murderer was someone else-of course this is just my personal feeling, and it cannot be used as evidence. In this case Li, so far I haven't found any evidence to prove your innocence."

"Sure enough, it's a standard detective's answer, with a clear distinction between public and private." Sha Qing smiled, his eyes and tone cooled down at the same time: "However, I want to know more than who sent me this video and what the purpose is, Simon How did you fall from the top of the twelfth floor?"

Leo was silent for a few seconds, and said: "The police's investigation concluded that it was suicide. This is a local security case, and we have no right to intervene."

Sha Qing smiled sarcastically: "You guys don't include me."

Leo warns him: "You are now one of us!"

Sha Qing turned his face away and ignored it, continuing to look at the screen.

The camera footage has already followed the convoy to a funeral home in the city. The coffin is held above the head by dozens of hands and carefully placed on a huge black and gold carriage carefully built.The band outside the door is playing the theme song of the movie "The Godfather", and there are posters with a bust of Timothy hanging on the high walls around, and the slogan reads: "You conquered New York, now you will conquer heaven."

Sha Qing twitched the corners of his mouth, and finally spit out: "...this gang of mafia really know how to play."

"It stands to reason that I have to say 'respect the dead', but from this funeral, I don't see anything worthy of respect, only provocation and deterrence." Leo said, "The intention of them sending you the video is obvious—— 'Revenge of Sicily'. You'd better be careful in the near future, although none of them are your opponents in a single fight, but there is an old saying that it is easy to hide an open gun and hard to defend against a hidden arrow."

"Thank you for your advice." Sha Qing got up and walked to the map on the wall, pulled out the thumbtack above "Phoenix City", and crossed the entire continent eastward with his fingers, firmly pressing the thumbtack on "New York".

"I've changed my mind. The next target is the 'Ghost in the Dark Alley' in New York." He turned around, with his hands in his trouser pockets and his back against the map.The thumbtack was three points into the wall next to his cheek, like a silent but firm declaration of confrontation.

Although Leo was not surprised by this, he still immediately objected: "Since you said that public and private are clearly distinguished, you should avoid the sharp edge in private, and don't run yourself into the gun; the information we have about the 'Gallows Killer' More fully, the capture success rate is also higher.”

"That's right, but you forgot one thing, the cooling-off period. The last time the 'Gallows Killer' committed a crime was last week. According to the interval between his previous crimes, there will be a cooling-off period of two to eight weeks. And the 'Ghost in the Dark Alley' "It's been quiet for nearly three months. Calculated, it's like a drug addiction is about to hit, and he should be ready to move. I guess the next victim will appear in the next few days. That poor, innocent, beautiful blonde girl was beaten Lost in shape, lying in a certain dirty dark alley in despair. At that time, she even begged for death to come, because in this way she could escape the endless torture and pain caused by the murderer—do you have the heart not to save her?" His voice was low, and he looked at the detective in front of him with compassion.

Leo knew that Sha Qing was playing tricks, but the other party used a way of expression that he couldn't refuse—now that girl's tragic corpse was lying in his mind, and he couldn't turn a blind eye.

"As for my personal safety, you don't have to worry about it. No matter how bad I am, I won't capsize in the gutter."

Leo was about to say something more, but Sha Qing blocked his mouth with one sentence: "I am your advisor now, yes, but I am a fighter from beginning to end. When you tell me to face death threats, choose Back off?"

"...Okay, you win." Leo stepped forward, pressed the thumbtack on the side of his face with his fingertips, and pressed it deeper into the wall, "Let's go to New York first to deal with that pervert. "

Sha Qing turned his head to look at the computer screen. The luxurious funeral held in the private cemetery had come to an end. The picture was still on a dagger inserted obliquely in front of the tombstone, and a bloody line of words was spelled out with bullets next to it: Welcomedeath.

"——two perverts." He said softly.

New York in April is still a bit chilly in late spring, especially on rainy nights, it is even colder and damper.Sha Qing turned up the hood of his jacket and walked down the plane ramp.Leo opened a black umbrella, and the hem of the windbreaker was wet by the light rain not long after.They walked towards the FBI car waiting on a secluded road outside the airport.

Due to the weather, the plane was delayed for more than an hour. The driver was probably tired of waiting and slept on the steering wheel. Looking in from the closed driver's seat window, he could just see the back of his head with his hat on.

Leo stepped forward and knocked on the car window, but the driver was in a deep sleep and didn't hear him.So he opened the rear door and was about to sit in and wake him up.

Sha Qing suddenly grabbed his wrist: "Don't move! Let go slowly... Back up, back up..."

Leo was immediately alert, and carefully let go of the door handle and stepped back.After retreating 50 meters away, Sha Qing picked up a stone from the side of the road, weighed it, and threw it towards the car.Fist-sized stones flew in through the open door with precision and hit the bottom of the compartment.

At the same time as the flames and loud noise exploded, Sha Qing pulled Leo to the ground.

When the dust had settled, they got up to find the entire car blasted beyond recognition, a flaming shell of steel. "The chassis of the car is equipped with a gravity-sensing bomb." Leo wiped the dust off his face with a solemn expression, "How did you find out that the driver is dead?"

"Can a retro British-style blue suit be paired with a hip-hop studded baseball cap?" Sha Qing asked.

"I can't wear it out, but I can't assume that others won't mix and match like this." Leo said.

"But for a man whose tie and pocket square matched the color and pattern of his coat, his taste in clothes was enough to drive that baseball cap out of the country. Obviously the hat wasn't his, and the visor was facing the car door, which means Someone buttoned him from the outside, what was the purpose, I just thought of covering the bullet hole on his head—” Sha Qing shrugged, “It’s a professional reaction. Didn’t you notice that his skin color exposed outside the sleeve is also not normal ?”

Looking at the still burning car body, Leo sighed, "We should call the bomb disposal experts first, so maybe he can leave a whole body."

Sha Qing said disapprovingly: "Whether it was fried into coke or buried in the soil and was bitten by insects and rats, do you think he still cares now? What's more, the limited edition of the 'Royal Oak' on his wrist is rarely released, it's not like his kind People with identities can buy it, and a rich New York businessman who owned one of them reported to the police last year that the famous watch and jewelry had been stolen and has not yet been recovered. If you follow the news in the newspaper, there are photos of the watch on it, as well as the preliminary investigation results of the police. It is suspected to be The work of a local gang of thieves."

Leo connected the clues in his words and quickly drew inferences: "Local thieves often provide hot goods to mafia bosses through 'partners', and he got this watch through this channel, indicating his relationship with the mafia or dealers. It’s so shallow—he’s a traitor bought off by the other party!”

"Anyway, you are also putting undercover agents inside the Mafia, and the two sides are even." Sha Qing mocked slightly, "Assuming that he also has a part in this assassination mission, but for some reason, he flinched at the last moment and even planned to betray him, which angered me. The other party was silenced in the car. The other party set up a trap along the way to send the hated me to the west. As for you, baby, you are just an unlucky incidental, don't be too disappointed."

Leo's expression was a bit unhappy: "You just narrowly escaped death, and you are still talking sarcastic? Look at the murder files of this group of mafia. Bombs, cold guns, alcohol blowtorches, ice picks, twisted ropes... I don't know how many more Endless assassination methods are waiting for us, you have to take care of your own life, starting with your attitude."

Sha Qing was babbled enough by him, he rubbed the center of his brows with his fingers, "Okay Dad, let's call the police and let them drive a bulletproof police car to escort, how about it?"

Leo glared at him helplessly and took out his phone.

A text message was sent just at this time, he clicked to open it, it was from an unknown number, and the content was only a set of isolated numbers: 23, 52, 37.

"What do you mean..." Leo thought, "Time?"

Sha Qing leaned over and took a look: "It should be. It has been about 8 minutes since I opened the door just now."

"It's a countdown. They're counting down to a planned death!" Leo gritted his teeth.

"——my death." Sha Qing added without changing his expression.

An uncontrollable anger surged from the eyes of the black-haired detective, as if the dark tide rushed out of the deep sea and set off a violent wave on the surface of the ocean. "No one can predetermine your death," he said coldly, "they'll have to pay for this self-righteous stupidity."