Jiang Ting took the mobile phone, and there was silence in the technical investigation office. Huang Xing led his two apprentices to adjust the positioning equipment nervously, and Gong A-Chi was handcuffed with his mouth covered by an officer in plain clothes on the side. Other than that, everyone was staring at Jiang Ting with scorching eyes, and only the sound of suppressed breathing could be heard all around.
"Hello," came the smiling voice of the King of Spades from the phone: "Jiang Ting?"
Yan Xie sat down on the edge of the table next to Jiang Ting and squeezed his shoulder with his hand.
Jiang Ting nodded slightly to him and said on the phone: "Hello."
The King of Spades asked: "Are you still near Qiju Peak?"
Jiang Ting said: "Yes. Your people say you have something to tell me?"
Chief Lu signaled Huang Xing with his eyes, who already had been sweating under his hairline, which had been getting higher and higher in recent years. While staring at the screen, he repeatedly mouthed: "Drag it on! Try as long as possible!"
But this was very difficult. First of all, it wasn't in Jiang Ting's nature to idly chat with the King of Spades for a long a time, and secondly, the longer the call dragged on, the greater the chance of being discovered by the other party.
The person on the other end of the phone said unhurriedly: "Yes, the goods are about to arrive. I just remembered a few words to tell you, so I asked you to answer the phone."
"What do you want to tell me?" Jiang Ting asked.
The King of Spades suddenly fell silent.
One second, two seconds, three seconds. The time became extremely long and difficult; every moment of silence was infinitely prolonged, and everyone's heartbeat jumped to their throat.
Why didn't he speak?
Did he discover something?!
The invisible string in the void gradually tightened to the limit. At this moment, the King of Spades spoke again. To everyone's surprise, his tone was very concerned:
"Your voice is hoarse, what's going on? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"
"…I'm fine, there was a little wind on the mountain road." Jiang Ting coughed twice: "They are boiling hot water for me in the kitchen; I'll drink a few sips later."
The King of Spades seemed to nod reassuringly on the other side of the phone: "That's good. Is it cold outside?"
"Not cold."
"Are you tired after walking for a long time?"
"I'm okay."
The faces of everyone present were strange, not knowing why the big drug lord suddenly started to chatter—but to the nervous technical investigators, the delay of more than ten seconds was nothing more than driftwood in the rapids; the red and green lights of the signal tracker were almost flashing one after another.
"If your health can't bear it, I can send someone down to pick you up first and let Gong A-Chi and the others pick up the goods. What do you think?"
Chief Lu suddenly raised his head, and Jiang Ting and Yan Xie looked at each other.
Yan Xie silently made a mouthful: "Hang on, don't panic—"
"Okay," Jiang Ting replied casually into the phone, paused, and then said: "But this way, Jin Jie will have things to say again after I go back."
If one didn't look at the tense scene and just listened to the voice, all kinds of subtle and real emotions were exquisitely grasped to the extreme in Jiang Ting's words, and they would never arouse any suspicion.
Sure enough, the King of Spades laughed: "Why do you care about him? It's not that you don't know why he likes to talk cheap."
Jiang Ting was silent for a moment and said, "Forget it; I'd better stay here. Where are the goods?"
There was only the rustling of pens on paper, and the technical detective was still nervously calculating the location. Chief Lu, Deputy Chief Wei, and others couldn't help leaning forward, only to hear the King of Spades on the phone ask back at this moment:
"Why didn't you ask where I am?"
Jiang Ting was stunned.
Not only he, but even Yan Xie, Chief Lu, and the others were taken aback at the same time.
"Where are you?" Jiang Ting responded quickly and immediately replied in a hesitant tone.
"I'm in the factory, a few hours' drive away from the village. Not so far away from you."
"..."
Jiang Ting's heart skipped a beat, and he exchanged a glance with Yan Xie.
"Oh," Jiang Ting suppressed the growing sense of strangeness and asked, "Then are you here to pick up the goods with me? Or do you have other plans?"
"I won't go there; the mountain road is inconvenient, so you bring them to Yunzhong village—the so-called goods are just Wang Pengfei and his group. I forgot to tell you, I just changed my mind and asked them to come up the mountain to trade earlier today."
Everyone in the room took a deep breath in unison.
"…today?"
"Yes, they will arrive at Qiju Peak in about an hour. You lead them up to Yunzhong village, and then I will send Qin Chuan the specific route of the factory and ask him to take Wang Pengfei from the village to the factory to meet me and see the goods. This time, we will use the method of separating money from goods. After the transaction is completed, we will go down the mountain at night and talk about Wang Pengfei and the others tomorrow."
Jiang Ting suddenly turned his head sharply to look at Chief Lu, who was quickly sending a message to the provincial police, and at the same time sternly mouthed a few words: "It'll be too late!"
"Will there be time?" Jiang Ting asked on the phone, "It will be late at night when the transaction is completed. You coming to find me from the factory and then going down the mountain in the dark…"
The King of Spades laughed.
"There'll be time," he said with a smile, "This kind of thing is actually very fast."
Several technical detectives were sweating profusely. Huang Xing stood up from his seat anxiously, gesturing at Jiang Ting frantically: Don't hang up! Wait a minute! Drag it out a little longer!
Jiang Ting said: "But…"
Before he could finish his sentence, the phone was hung up easily by the King of Spades.
"F*ck!" Huang Xing yelled loudly, and Chief Lu immediately asked, "How's the positioning? How much can the range be determined?"
The tracking machine creaked out a few pieces of paper, and Huang Xing pointed his index finger vigorously to show Chief Lu: "There is no way to circle out the specific location in these deep mountains and forests! In the end, we can only follow within this radius! Damn, that bastard is very experienced in counter-reconnaissance, and he hung up the phone just before we caught the signal. Did he really get chased by cops in Myanmar?!"
Chief Lu squinted his old eyes and studied for a long time, then snorted coldly: "We thought too much. He was the one chasing cops in Myanmar."
Huang Xing wiped the cold sweat from his bare forehead. Chief Lu beckoned to Jiang Ting and asked, "What does Captain Jiang think?"
Jiang Ting hesitated for a moment before saying, "I don't know why the King of Spades started the trade earlier so suddenly, but a pre-battle change is not a good sign. How much police force can be deployed on Qiju Peak and Yunzhong Village?"
Chief Lu supported his reading glasses and looked at the few people who came from the Provincial Public Security Bureau through the gaps in the lenses.
"Well, this incident happened so suddenly…" The leader who opened his mouth looked familiar. Yan Xie looked him in the eyes and recognized this old acquaintance, who had dealt with the 502 drug production case with him. His last name seemed to be Chen.
Chief Chen couldn't hide the embarrassment on his face and said: "In the past few days, we haven't been able to find out where the drug trafficker's base camp is, and the police force of the provincial department is basically scattered in all the key suspected areas of the entire Yaoshan Mountain. If the drug dealer had traded tomorrow as previously planned, we could mobilize the SWAT anti-explosion unit overnight to ambush Yunzhong villaige—but now that Wang Pengfei is going up the mountain an hour earlier, even if we call up people immediately, it will be difficult to plan well."
Chief Lu pondered for a while and said slowly: "Captain Jiang."
Everyone in the Jianning City Bureau was familiar with this old chief. Yan Xie was sitting on the table, but when he heard this, he suddenly slid off the edge of the table to the ground. Twisting his thick eyebrows, he was about to step forward.
However, Jiang Ting raised his hand to stop him and said, "I understand."
Yan Xie stopped in his tracks with a gloomy expression.
"There is really no other way. We can't conjure up a regiment of armed police from the sky to storm the village—not to mention capturing the king first. Even if we can take down Yunzhong village, it's useless if we can't catch Wen Shao." Chief Lu took off his reading glasses, took out a soft cloth from his pocket to wipe them, and said in a deep voice: "In my opinion, the fastest way at present is to follow the plan and let Captain Jiang go to Qiju Peak to pick up the buyer, Wang Pengfei, according to Wen Shao's arrangement. Our people will secretly follow him closely and go to Yunzhong village with him. After Captain Jiang hands it over to Qin Chuan, he'll try to get the underground factory route map sent by Wen Shao and then send a signal to the command center. As long as the address of the transaction site can be determined, I, Old Wei, and Old Yu will personally lead the SWAT to rush there to ambush the site."
Chief Chen from the Provincial Department didn't say a word, and his expression obviously acquiesced.
Chief Lu breathed out and said again: "Yan Xie."
"…Yes."
"You are in charge of taking Captain Jiang to Qiju Peak, laying an ambush on the spot, waiting for Wang Pengfei, and then secretly escorting Captain Jiang to Yunzhong village. Do you have any problems?"
Yan Xie's Adam's apple twitched violently, and then he said in a low voice: "No."
Chief Lu nodded, as if he was at ease with Yan Xie's promise. He put on his reading glasses and beckoned at the surroundings.
Deputy Chief Lu, Captain Yu, Huang Xing, Office Chen, and several other leaders of the Provincial Department all stepped forward and surrounded the large desk of the technical investigation.
"Wu Tun and Wen Shao's huge drug trafficking syndicates have been active in the Golden Triangle and the China-Myanmar border for ten years, causing immeasurable social harm and people's losses. It's a rare God-sent opportunity for our police to surround him in S Province. You all know that the Ministry of Public Security and the S Provincial Party Committee attach great importance to this seizure operation. Countless pairs of eyes are staring at us. I don't need to say more nonsense such as "success" or "failure." Whether it's for the country's good or one's own interests, everyone must know the things in their heart."
Chief Lu was a transparent person, and his words made the surrounding area silent.
Even if he didn't talk about those righteous principles, everyone present had their own practical needs: the younger generation of policemen wanted to do meritorious service and be promoted, or wanted to avenge their colleagues. The older generation didn't want to regret at the threshold of retirement and wanted to keep the glory of wearing the national flag at the end of their lives in the future. Therefore, the direction of everyone's desperate efforts was very consistent, and no one was afraid of death at this time.
"Old Wei, you and the rest of the team will cooperate with the local leaders to make another ambush deployment. I need to call Director Liu to inform him. Time is running out." Chief Lu looked at his watch, looked up at Jiang Ting, and said every word solemnly and slowly: "Then I'm counting on you, Captain Jiang."
All eyes looked over, and under everyone's gaze, Jiang Ting's expression was as cold as ice:
"I know."
Three police cars lined up in the jungle, bumping up and down as they advanced, and the heavily armed SWAT officers sat on both sides of the rear compartment. The tense silence soaked every inch of air and weighed heavily on everyone's lungs.
Yan Xie carried a gun at his waist and put on a bulletproof vest. His gloomy eyebrows and eyes were reflected in the rearview mirror of the police car. Jiang Ting looked back slightly from the passenger seat and saw that neither Ma Xiang nor the SWAT officers were looking at them, so he turned his head and said softly: "Put me down a few hundred meters earlier, so as not to be discovered by Wang Pengfei."
Yan Xie didn't reply. He held the steering wheel with one hand and groped around Jiang Ting's ear with the other hand. Touching the small earpiece on the inside of his ear, he laughed bitterly.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Where do you think I found this earpeice?"
Jiang Ting was stunned.
"Three Spring Trees." Yan Xie flicked his index finger in his ear and said, "Second-hand goods."
Jiang Ting suddenly remembered the anti-drug operation in which Yan Xie personally went undercover in the 502 drug production case—but when he thought about it now, the first thing that came to his mind was not the clues of the case or the summary of experience, not even any thrilling scenes, but the secret kiss he hastily imprinted in order to cover Yan Xie.
A slight smile appeared in Jiang Ting's eyes, "You still carry it with you?"
"Lucky charm, very meaningful." Yan Xie pinched the tip of his ear, "Although it's disgusting…a bit."
Jiang Ting's smile froze in his eyes: "Huh?"
Yan Xie immediately said: "But I used it several times again later, and I've never disliked it, really."
"..." Jiang Ting thought that you still cared about this. I had just held the communicator in my mouth and spat it out under the sofa. Later, Yang Mei took it out of there and wiped it clean when no one was paying attention. Would you still think it was disgusting if you were dead? There are quite a lot of problems with these rich second generations.
"What are you thinking about? Your husbands don't dislike anything about you, do you know?"
Jiang Ting glanced back again, then turned his head and whispered, "From now on, the first thing you do when you get home from work is to wash your feet; otherwise, I will avoid you. Got it?"
Yan Xie: "Why do you have so many complaints? Your husband will be busy making money to support the family all day; what's wrong with sweating…"
Jiang Ting stretched out his hand to grab Yan Xie's dishonest hand, but Yan Xie insisted on going into the back of his neck. After a few scuffles, the steering wheel tilted, and the large police car rushed in an S shape onto the ground. All the SWAT officers in the rear compartment raised their heads at the same time, and the two immediately sat up straight and didn't dare to move.
"Brother Yan, are you all right?" Ma Xiang stretched out his neck from behind and shouted.
Yan Xie: "Shut up and sit back!"
The car returned to silence again, and after a long time, Yan Xie cautiously raised his eyelids and looked to the side, meeting Jiang Ting's teasing gaze.
"..." Yan Xie couldn't help laughing and scolding in a low voice: "If you kept looking, your husband will drive the car into a ditch later!"
Jiang Ting said, "What's wrong with looking at you? Just one look can't make you…"
His voice stopped suddenly.
Three police cars were connected end to end, roaring forward. After passing through the gray and white forests, the target location gradually appeared behind the hillside, which was the only way for the drug dealer Wang Pengfei to reach Qiju Peak.
The first police car stopped abruptly. The red light behind the car came on, and then Yan Xie also stepped on the brakes.
"Brother Yan, get ready to release the bait." Gao Panqing's voice from the first car rang through the walkie-talkie: "Chief Lu said that Old Cai and the others will arrive in about ten minutes, and the leading SWAT officers are already in place."
"Okay, I got it."
In order to ensure quick action, Jiang Ting wore a black jacket with the zipper pulled up to the top, revealing only his cold, white chin. Yan Xie took off his dark gray scarf, tore off the logo on the hem of the scarf with his canine teeth, and then carefully tied it around Jiang Ting's neck, staring at his dark pupils:
"Just one look can make me unable to be away from you. Even if the two of us lived to be ninety-nine together, wouldn't it still be one day less? It's still a loss."
Jiang Ting smiled.
"When you were not at home, I often looked at you," Yan Xie pointed to his temple and said softly: "In my mind. I can watch you as many times as I want."
Ma Xiang opened the car door, and the special police came out of the car one by one and quickly went to lie in ambush in the grass. There were sounds of footsteps and calls all around.
However, there were only the two of them looking at each other in the car. Jiang Ting's eyes were sad and gentle. He got up and pressed Yan Xie's head toward him, lowered his head and kissed his messy black hair, and said, "I'll live up to ninety-nine; ninety-seven is enough for you."
As if a soft feather tickled his heart, Yan Xie raised his head suddenly, but Jiang Ting had already turned around and gotten out of the car, walking through the woods to the scheduled meeting point.