Art looked at the paper on his desk as he spoke to Luther on the phone.
"Leave all the information about Alex in the wall for my messenger to collect," Luther said, his voice commanding. "And remember to keep everything strictly confidential."
Art caught a hint of excitement in Luther's tone. Are the Blood Brothers taking their revenge soon? he wondered, knowing that would be a good thing for the Steadman family.
After everything that had happened, the Steadman family was inextricably bound to the Blood Brothers gang.
"I'll do it right away," Art said, keeping his tone humble. "But can't you tell me what you have planned?"
"It's need to know, and you don't need to know," Luther said. "You can watch it on the news like everyone else." He abruptly ended the call.
Art obeyed Luther's instructions and put the message into the hidden compartment in the brick wall. He had a good feeling that everything was going to work out this time. Alex would never see this coming, so hopefully he wouldn't manage to escape.
**
Debbie was back at Johns Hopkins University, continuing her studies, and Alex had returned to work as a security guard. He was now famous in martial arts circles, but at the university, he blended in.
At the weekend, Alex and Debbie visited Jessop at his office, knowing that it brought Jessop comfort to see Debbie.
While they chatted about the future of the family business, chaos erupted.
An hour after Alex and Debbie had entered the office, the receptionist had received a call claiming that there was a remote-controlled bomb in the building. They demanded that Alex pay them fifteen million dollars in cash before three o'clock, or else the bomb would detonate, blowing up the entire building.
The receptionist gave the recording of the call to Jessop.
It was clear that the man's voice had been digitally altered, and they couldn't tell who it was. Alex and Debbie had no idea why the man was extorting Alex while threatening the Clifton's building.
But Jessop knew. He had been planning to pass control of the company to Alex and had already approached the board of directors about it. Someone must have leaked the news, and that was why Alex was being targeted.
Jessop asked Alex to deal with the threat, and Alex evacuated the building. The police were called, and the bomb squad arrived with police dogs, which searched the building but found no trace of the bomb.
Jessop and Rufus walked out of the building with Alex, discussing the situation.
Rufus looked over at the police. "It's strange," he said. "I asked all the staff, and they all said that they didn't call the police. And yet the police arrived almost as soon as we received the call. Does that sound normal to you?"
Alex was puzzled as he watched the police bustling around. Who had called them? And what was going on? He thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe the caller doesn't care about the money," he suggested. "Perhaps they just wanted to create a disturbance, and they're using me as a distraction. Jessop has been in his office all day, so maybe they wanted him to leave the building."
The hairs on the back of his neck raised suddenly, and he glanced around, sensing danger. Then he looked at Jessop, pushing him to the ground.
"Get down!" he yelled. "Snipers!"
Before he had finished his warning, a bullet tore by him, grazing the side of Jessop's head. People screamed and fled in all directions, resulting in absolute chaos. Alex reacted quickly, grabbing Jessop and hauling him into the building.
The sniper had clearly been aiming at Jessop, and they continued to fire off more rounds, all in his direction.
"Stay here!" Alex ordered. "Get a bodyguard to protect Mr. Clifton, and don't let anyone else near him. I'm going after the sniper." He turned and ran out of the building.
[Bang!]
A bullet hit the ground beside him.
[Bang!]
Another bullet only just missed him.
Alex ran to the building across the street, sure that was where the sniper was firing from.
After his trip to Canada, Alex was much fitter and stronger, and his senses were sharper. The Black Orchid cult had been determined to protect Debbie and to make up for injuring Alex, so they had divulged all their secrets, and now Alex had greatly increased his level of skill.
Alex made it to the other building in record time. The hall was full of people, and no one seemed to have noticed the shooting across the street. Alex looked at the door and decided not to go in that way. He looked up at the building, and then he grabbed a drainpipe and began to climb.
Alex climbed several stories, moving quickly, and then he saw a rope being thrown down from the roof. A man with a long case strapped to his back began to slide down the rope.
The man hadn't even noticed Alex as he hadn't been expecting anyone to climb up the side of the building. Alex climbed to the roof and swung himself over. Then he turned his head and saw the rope. He grabbed it and began to pull it up.
The man continued to make his descent, but when he reached the end of the rope, he realized something was wrong. Despite having run out of rope, he was still only halfway down the building! The rope had somehow become shorter.
The man frowned in confusion, trying to work out what had happened. It just didn't make sense, and he didn't know what to do. Then he looked up and froze when he saw a man pulling the rope, slowly dragging him upward.
"Alex?" the sniper asked, recognizing him from the information he had memorized. Still, even with what he knew, he hadn't expected Alex to be so strong or so fast. Only a few minutes ago, he had seen Alex in the building across the street, so how could he have gotten here so quickly?