Augustus calmly asked:
"What's wrong, Reesi? Did something happen on the way?"
"Chief, we've found the assassin!"
Reesi's first sentence made Augustus spit out his coffee. Following that, Reesi on the phone briefly explained the current situation, speaking with a serious expression:
"We need backup! The assassin has a gun and has poured gasoline in the bedroom. Luo An and I dare not shoot!"
"Fu-k!"
After hearing Reesi's words, Augustus jumped up from his chair, ignoring the surprised looks from Mona and the others nearby, and said decisively:
"I'll notify the SWAT team to rush to the cabin now! Hold on and don't let the assassin escape!"
"Okay, Chief."
Reesi nodded, hung up the phone, and Augustus immediately relayed the news to Mona, instructing her to contact SWAT immediately and request them to head to the cabin location as fast as possible.
Augustus then rushed to the chief's office, entering directly without knocking, and solemnly said to Virene:
"Chief, Luo An has found the assassin. They're in a standoff."
Virene, who was on the phone, showed a look of surprise upon hearing this and her interest in Agent Luo An Greenwood heightened.
She whispered a few words to hang up, then rose and walked toward the office area of Team Five, saying as she went:
"Contact SWAT immediately, I'm going with them."
"SWAT has already been dispatched, Chief."
Upon hearing this, Augustus was quite frustrated and hurriedly stopped Virene, saying:
"Moreover, the location of the assassin is too far from here; it's not suitable for a press conference. Some equipment from the press conference room downstairs hasn't been dismantled yet. We can continue to use that room after Luo An catches the assassin; the media will think even more highly of you."
Upon hearing that, Virene paused, a slight smile on her lips, but she quickly returned to her frosty demeanour and nodded in agreement to Augustus's suggestion.
Augustus let out a sigh of relief and turned to look at Mona, who gestured 'OK' with her hand; she had already contacted SWAT and they were en route to the cabin, expected to arrive in 40 minutes.
After hanging up, Mona looked up at the clock in front of the office area and realized it had been less than three hours since the earlier press conference; her eyes lit up.
Thanks to Luo An, her salary and bonus were secure.
...
On the other side, just as Luo An was using his words to stabilize the pale-faced assassin, who had moved away from the balcony and hidden inside the second-floor bedroom with Sabina, while also looking for an opportunity to act, Darren, white as a sheet, suddenly appeared on the road not far away, slowly walking towards the villa.
"Fu-k!"
Seeing Darren stagger towards them, Luo An cursed under his breath and turned to look at Reesi.
Reesi nodded her head, immediately ran from the blind spot where the assassin couldn't see, grabbed Darren, and pinned him to the ground.
"What are you doing?"
Darren struggled frantically.
"Mr. Darren, please get back into the car immediately."
Reesi was somewhat surprised, not expecting the man to have such good constitution; after being so severely shaken by Luo An's driving, he had recovered so quickly.
"The one who abducted Sabina is here, right?"
Upon hearing Reesi's words, Darren quickly realized what was happening and immediately stopped struggling, his face grim as he spoke to Sabina:
"Please tell Agent Luo An to rescue my wife as soon as possible! If the rescue is successful, I will pay a reward of one million US Dollars!"
"1 million?!"
Without waiting for Reesi to speak, a female journalist with wine-red long hair suddenly ran down from a car on the other side of the road with a man carrying a camera and directly asked:
"Mr. Darren, are you willing to pay the FBI such a hefty reward because you believe that they can save your wife? Do you think the FBI is capable?"
"W T F?!"
"Who are you?"
Reesi and Darren turned their heads, looking dumbfounded at this woman who had suddenly appeared, clueless as to where she came from.
The newcomer was the journalist, Linette.
After being shaken off by Luo An's SUV, she had resorted to threats and bribes to tirelessly obtain the GPS location of the SUV from Jock, and reached the highway near the cabin before other journalists arrived.
Just as she got there, Linette heard the word "1 million" from Darren's mouth. Extremely sensitive to news, she ran up to Darren and Reesi without a word and posed her question.
Not only that, before Darren and Reesi could respond, the sharp-eyed Linette also spotted Luo An negotiating with the assassin inside the villa. Her eyes suddenly sparkled, and she turned to give her cameraman a look.
As Linette's long-time partner, the cameraman's on-the-spot experience was exceptionally rich. After taking out his phone and quickly dialing a number, he simply said a couple of sentences, then opened the camera's lens cap and calmly said:
"Live broadcast is starting now, three, two, one. Begin!"
"Good evening, everyone! This is Linette, your on-the-scene reporter. I am currently at a location with breaking news..."
From the moment Linette got out of the car to ask questions to the start of the live news broadcast, the whole process was seamless, taking less than thirty seconds, not giving Reesi any time to react.
By the time Reesi came around and was about to stop Linette from broadcasting, the figure of Luo An negotiating with the criminal had already been broadcasted to thousands of homes through the New York News Channel.
"Could it be another bank robbery?"
"Probably not, the banks in New York get robbed every day, it wouldn't be breaking news..."
Viewers who hadn't gone to bed yet were all abuzz in front of their TVs.
After hearing Linette's introduction and learning that this was a serial murder case, and that it had only been just over three hours since the news conference about the case, the people in front of the TV were in an uproar.
"It's only been three hours since they found the murderer? That's unbelievable, could it be someone taking the fall?"
"Who knows, it wouldn't be the first time the FBI did something like that!"
"No, not this time!"
"Why?"
"Look at the FBI agent negotiating with the murderer. He's so handsome, how could he possibly drag someone else to take the blame!"
"..."
Meanwhile, on the other side, the small cocktail party hosted by Broson was winding down.
After Broson visited a few more dignitaries with Matthews for the last time, he picked up a glass of wine, sipped it to wet his throat, and prepared to step forward to briefly thank the guests for the evening.
Just then, a group of guests suddenly gathered around in one spot at the cocktail party. Broson smiled lightly and walked over, clinking glasses with a female guest, and smilingly asked:
"What are you all watching?"
"A breaking news segment from a New York news channel."
The female guest took a sip of her wine and said with a smile:
"It says that an FBI agent from your New York Branch has found the serial killer announced at the news conference not long ago, in just three hours."
Broson: "??"
Matthews: "!!"