*Xin Lei*
'Dad…'
I looked at the empty chair, dumbfounded. Dad was supposed to be here, but now he wasn't. All my hopes crashed.
Bai Li said, "What happened?"
"What!? Where is he? Where did he go?" Gen Gen was just as aghast.
I jerked my head towards him, shocked.
Bai Li narrowed his gaze. "If this is all a trap then I tell you-"
"No! He was here. We had kept him here! He escaped!" He looked at his minion. "Weren't you keeping an eye on him!? Then where did he go!?"
I saw the man sweating hard.
"Boss, he was here. I checked an hour ago myself."
"Then, did he disappear into thin air?" Gen Gen yelled.
What? Dad escaped? Did that mean he was safe?
Knowing Dad, he must have definitely tried to find his way out. He wouldn't just sit here and do nothing.
But I hoped that wherever he was, he would be safe. If there were any more minions of his then…
Bai Li said, "How did he escape? Is there any passage or some sort?"
I looked around. There was a ventilator shaft up at the wall. The small iron fence was hanging at one side, supported by the last screw. It was big enough for an adult to pass through; maybe a little bit cramped, but manageable.
"Damn! You fools! You cannot even keep an eye on one man! Useless!"
"Enough." Bai Li warned him. "We don't have time. Now tell us. Where is Fu Meili? Why did you kidnap her?"
"That…" Gen Gen was angry and nervous. His fingers were clenched into a fist.
Bai Li pressed his gun harder.
"Fu Meili...she saw something that she wasn't supposed to."
I frowned.
She went for a school trip in LangFang. What did she see there?
"What?"
Gen Gen wasn't saying any more.
"I think you need another shot." Bai Li shifted his aim at Gen Gen's chest.
"No! Don't kill me! I will tell you! Fu Meili saw the woman-"
"Arf! Arf!" I heard Cocoa barking loudly.
Suddenly, a shot fired, and a bullet pierced through Gen Gen's head. And then through the other man too. Both of them fell.
I turned my head in shock, and a man was holding a gun who was quickly escaping through the corridor. I could only catch a glimpse of his side profile.
"Shit!" Bai Li cursed. He went after him, and I quickly ran with him, guiding him along the way and following the killer.
We passed the second floor and then to the first. Cocoa was about to jump on the killer, but he managed to shake him off. Bai Li was also about to shoot, but with Cocoa there, he couldn't act recklessly.
I was stunned. Nobody had managed to escape from Cocoa's grasp before. The woman I had tied against the pole was also dead.
Damn! He killed everybody!
"Arf!"
We ran after him. But he was already nowhere to be seen. We looked in the nearby alleys, but it was as if he magically disappeared.
I typed, a little breathless. "How did he enter?"
Bai Li paused. "I think he saw Cocoa from afar and knew he would catch him, so he climbed in through the second floor from the pipes. Then he came on the third floor, shot Gen Gen, and while escaping through the first floor, he shot the woman dead on the way."
"But how did he escape so fast?"
"There are many alleys here, and he must know this place well enough to disappear into one."
"Now, what should we do?" Then it struck me. "There was a computer on the second floor. Maybe we can get some clue from there."
Bai Li said, "Let's go back."
We went inside the room. The computer was switched on. I navigated through the folders. The folders were named with a number. One was named 112, and the other as 78. There was a list in both. They had the names of some people in it. Then on another list, I saw some more names.
On the top, it was written, Chu Jie, age - seventeen, and the name was highlighted.
I typed. "There is a list of names in all folders. But it is not written what it means. The folders are numbered like 112, 78. I think it is the count of the names on the list. Oh, and one name is highlighted, Chu Jie."
"Anything else?"
At the taskbar, there was an application opened. I looked through it. The app was dark in theme. "It looks like some kind of online forum or chatting website."
I searched for some more.
I typed it again. "There are some mails in the sent box. The sender's name is Sally."
"I think she was the woman we met downstairs."
I nodded.
"And the receiver is someone named Sufi. Sally had sent the same list to Sufi that I saw here. Then there are some receipts in her inbox from Sufi. One of them is billed as fifty million dollars as an advance. It is written 'Consignment scheduled on the 23rd from Tianjin Port.'"
"That is three days from now. It is some kind of a deal. Gen Gen was giving them illegal stuff, and he got fifty million bucks as the advance."
"Drugs?"
"It can be anything. What is the name of the forum?"
"FriendsChat."
"Never heard of it. Is it a popular social media app?"
I typed. "No. I am also seeing it for the first time."
Then I heard police sirens from a distance.
Shit!
"We got no time. Print the list of all names, fast."
The printer was already connected. I quickly printed the two lists and the receipt. There were many other receipts too. I printed them too.
I grabbed the papers and typed. "Done."
"Let's go from the second floor. We will be caught from the front."
I climbed on the pipe and then a little further, I jumped down. Cocoa got on Bai Li's back. He was also then down in a minute.
We heard the car stopping in front of the shop.
"Let's go!"