凤凰先生用深邃而冷漠的眼神盯着陆佳看了许久.最后,他回答说"交易".因此,陆佳在驱车前往赌城拉斯维加斯时,感到无比轻松.尤其是当她想到身后坐着一位 FBI 特工这个令人兴奋的事实时,她不禁感到有些开朗,开始向身后这个唯一的"旅伴"介绍她现在的行程.从洛杉矶出发,逛完好莱坞后,她会前往赌城拉斯维加斯,看看能不能一夜暴富.然后,她会乘坐著名的 55 号公路前往科罗拉多河的大峡谷和各个国家公园,途经爱达荷州的人工瀑布,沿途欣赏美景,最后从盐湖城转机两次返回中国.（1）这是美国西部非常有名的自驾路线.从洛杉矶到拉斯维加斯的旅程只是其中很小的一部分.陆佳忍不住觉得她真的很聪明.她可以用这么短的路程换取对方的承诺.她今天可以摆脱这个烫手山芋.这是一笔划算的交易.想到这里,在漫长的旅途中,她变得更加健谈."你知道 OneRepublic 吗?唱"It's Too Late to apologize"的乐队.我爸爸真的很喜欢他们.他们的另一首歌中有一句歌词,'Paris to China to Colorado',所以我想来科罗拉多州看看...""...""你看过"我自己的私人爱达荷州"吗?我也要去爱达荷州...顺便说一句,我突然想起了里面早早去世的男主角也姓菲尼克斯.他的弟弟华金·菲尼克斯 （Joaquin Phoenix） 扮演小丑的角色.你跟他们有关系吗?"..."然而,在连续几次撞墙之后,平时善于交际的陆佳意识到,她似乎有点太兴奋了.她伸手打开音响,随意播放了一段音乐,最后闭上了嘴.虽然距离不远,但从洛杉矶到拉斯维加斯还有 400 多公里.陆佳显然高估了自己.起初,她还挺有活力的,但当她开车走到一半时,她几乎麻木了.陆佳突然意识到了什么.他让她开车是因为他觉得开车很累吗?但她没有证据.开了大约 300 公里左右,已经很晚了.因为之前耽搁了太久,估计他们会在凌晨到达目的地.此时,陆佳实在是坚持不住了.幸运的是,他们此时路过了一个有点破旧的加油站.她立即停下车,打算拿一些补给品."菲尼克斯先生,你能帮我加满油吗?我不是很擅长.美国的加油站都是自助服务的.陆佳怕犯错,就问了身后的FBI特工.见对方抬头看她,似乎并没有拒绝,她立刻冲向旁边的小超市,打算先去上厕所,然后再买点吃的和水."Jingle bell—"
Pushing the door open, there was only a bearded young man on duty in the rather large small supermarket. The other person was playing with his mobile phone and just casually looked up at Lu Jia.
Lu Jia went into the toilet first.
There was a strange stench in the dim toilet. What was most disappointing was that there were only sitting toilets.
Well, it was expected.
...
After taking care of her personal needs, she walked out and boldly took some food and several bottles of water and planned to pay the bill.
The clerk reluctantly put down his mobile phone and unwillingly helped Lu Jia settle the bill.
However, Lu Jia subconsciously looked at the other person's screen and, realizing that the other person was playing a video on the phone, subconsciously asked, "Do you have Wi-Fi in the store?"
Her SIM card had been removed. She wasn't sure if connecting to Wi-Fi would be monitored.
Lu Jia wasn't sure, but she still decided to ask for the password first. Then she would go out and ask Mr. Phoenix, who always had a cold face, if it was okay.
Even if it wasn't okay now, after sending him away, she would always need to use the Internet.
It would be really headache without the Internet. Fortunately, Lu Jia had always been cautious and had the good habit of taking screenshots of important information. Especially since she was in an unfamiliar place, she had saved all the check-in information and other things related to the trip in her photo album.
Thinking of this, she turned her head and looked through the transparent glass window at Phoenix, who was outside helping her fill up the gas.
He was standing beside Lu Jia's rented compact car. While helping her fill up the gas, he was naturally looking around with his charming gray-blue eyes.
Mr. Phoenix was already tall enough, and standing beside Lu Jia's car at this time, he looked even more upright. That figure... cough, he was indeed a professional, which made her couldn't help but take a few more glances.
After paying the bill and getting the Wi-Fi password, Lu Jia was holding these things and preparing to load them into the car when Phoenix seemed to have finished filling up the gas and was walking quickly towards the small supermarket.
Lu Jia was delighted in her heart and immediately thought that the other person wasn't so cold and heartless after all. He must be coming in to help her carry the things.
However, to Lu Jia's surprise, the other person just stood outside the supermarket waiting quietly and gave her an urging glance through the glass door.
Lu Jia: "…?"
There was nothing she could do. Lu Jia could only angrily hold the bottles of water and food and walked out with difficulty.
Just after taking a few steps, on this quiet road, the sound of a vehicle passing by came from far to near. Lu Jia didn't think there was anything wrong at all and just thought it was normal.
Then, through the transparent glass door, Lu Jia saw that Mr. Phoenix paused slightly, turned his head towards the direction of the sound, and seemed to be identifying something by listening.
Almost in the next second, his brows immediately furrowed, and he decisively made a lip movement towards her, who was still a bit confused.
It seemed to be... asking her to leave quickly?
With that, Phoenix put his hand into the place where he kept his gun on his chest, stepped aside and backed away, and disappeared from Lu Jia's sight in the blink of an eye.
... What? It was just a passing vehicle. It couldn't be such a coincidence that it was here to look for him!
Lu Jia carelessly pushed the glass door open with her arm. Just as she was about to put the things into the car by herself, she saw a pitch-black Chevrolet SUV slowly stop beside her car. Although the car Lu Jia rented was also black, the size, performance, and value of the two were obviously not in the same league.
Thinking of Mr. Phoenix's previous behavior, she became a bit more vigilant. While throwing the food onto the passenger seat, she casually glanced over there.
Almost in the next second, the doors of the Chevrolet SUV opened, and two tall men in the same style of suits and black sunglasses got out.
It seemed... really suspicious.
"…I don't think he's around here. It's hundreds of kilometers away from his car, and he had such obvious blood on him. No one would dare to give him a ride, and he wouldn't take the risk of taking someone else's car."
"Dan, he's Casper Phoenix, and the bureau emphasized that we must find him before 'them'. Otherwise, even he will be in danger of losing his life…"
"They" was emphasized. Suddenly, the voice froze and stopped. One of them gave the other a look, and the two of them simultaneously looked at Lu Jia, who was standing aside arranging the "supplies".
"Hey… girl, FBI."
Lu Jia's movement froze. Subconsciously, she glanced at the back seat of the car. After finding that Mr. Phoenix hadn't left any traces in her car and only her mobile phone without the SIM card was lying quietly in the back row, she breathed a slight sigh of relief and pretended to be startled, then turned to look at the two other FBI agents who had appeared.
"…What?!"
"Excuse me, during your drive, did you see a suspicious man who looked rather disheveled, over six feet tall, and had a strong build? He's very dangerous. If you have any clues, please be sure to tell us."
Lu Jia quickly scanned the other person's identification. After confirming that it wasn't much different from the one shown to her by Phoenix, she showed them a look of fear and nervousness. "No, what's the matter? Is it a serial killer?"
The two of them looked at each other, and then the taller black agent said, "No, but we need to know his whereabouts."
Lu Jia breathed a sigh of relief. While thinking, she looked away. "I see. I'm just here to play. I didn't pay special attention. I don't think so."
She had watched an American TV show called "Lie to me" about micro-expressions before. The male lead in it once said that staring straight at the other person's eyes when lying was actually a sign of lying, while looking away was a sign of recalling.
Even so, Lu Jia's heart was still beating fast, and her body was still trembling a bit. This was the second time in her life that she had met FBI agents, and she was actually lying for the first FBI agent she met. And that tall and burly black agent was staring at her tightly and asked in a tone full of strong suspicion.
"Are you traveling alone…?"
"Yeah, my friend stood me up, so I'm the only one…"
—Wait, repeating the former's words was also one of the signs of having something to hide.
Thinking of this, Lu Jia suddenly shuddered. She immediately shut up and just shrugged her shoulders stiffly at them. "You know how it is."
As she said this, she didn't know when a cold sweat had broken out on her back. She finally realized that she might have thought it was too simple before.
Just a look from the other person made her want to tell the truth. What if they found out that she was lying later? Would they lock her up?
It was the first time in her life that she had encountered such a thing. Suddenly, her mind went blank, and she even started to regret it.
Lu Jia actually didn't have to go to such lengths for someone who had abandoned her.
"—Dan, you don't need to waste your efforts. Asians have always been a model minority. ② I think she really doesn't know. Why don't we go and ask the clerk inside? After all, there's only this one gas station on this road."
The other tall and thin curly-haired white agent interrupted the black agent named Dan and looked at Lu Jia with a dismissive look, then pointed at the clerk inside the supermarket.
Lu Jia's previous panic dissipated a little because of that sentence just now. However... Although it could be considered as a compliment, she always felt a bit uncomfortable, feeling that there was obvious arrogance and superiority in the other person's words.
"Okay."
Dan sighed helplessly. But before leaving, he looked Lu Jia up and down again, confirmed that there was really nothing suspicious about her, and then walked into the store.
"Jingle bell—"
Seeing that person walk away, Lu Jia finally breathed a sigh of relief. But just as she raised her head, she happened to meet the arrogant gaze of the white agent.
"You don't seem to be feeling well."
Lu Jia held her breath again. Suddenly, she understood why Mr. Phoenix had asked her to leave quickly. Because these people were one more difficult to deal with than the other. Ordinary people would easily give themselves away when suddenly facing such professional agents.
"I'm just... I've been driving for too long and I'm a bit tired. By the way, do the person you're looking for have any other characteristics? Maybe I can help you pay attention."
"Oh... girl, I think forget it."
The man thought for a moment and then showed a worried expression as he looked her up and down. "It's not safe to be alone here. You'd better protect yourself first."
"…I'm not as weak as you think. I'll be 22 years old soon!"
Probably not expecting Lu Jia to refute, the white agent seemed a bit surprised. But in the end, he just added a sentence like coaxing a child, perfunctorily saying, "Okay... okay."
"If you really meet him—"
"My advice is that he's very good at lying. Be careful not to be deceived."