Chapter 239: Ron's Secret Thoughts
"How is that possible? The bug has started picking up voices, but they're speaking a language I don't recognize. I'm guessing it's Russian. A linguist will be here soon to help me decipher it. You must have guessed wrong this time,"
Hobbs said with immense confidence.
"Let's wait and see. I think there's something very wrong with these people." Ron shrugged and found a comfortable seat in the command vehicle. Although he couldn't understand what was being said on the bug, one thing was certain: the voices definitely didn't sound like ordinary conversation, but more like the tone of a speech.
As someone who, in his past experience, had often been subjected to long-winded political speeches and corporate presentations—the kind where executives would say "I'll just say a few words" and then drone on for an hour—Ron was all too familiar with that tone.
As expected, reality quickly gave Hobbs a hard slap in the face.
After the linguist concluded it wasn't Russian, Hobbs finally learned from the pizza delivery guy that it was Albanian. He then invited the pizza delivery guy's ex-girlfriend, who knew Albanian, to come over.
After agreeing to fix a stack of parking tickets for her, Hobbs finally got the answer he wanted: "That's former Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha."
"Hahaha..." Ron finally couldn't contain himself anymore and burst into laughter.
"Wait! Who did you say that was?" Hobbs couldn't believe his ears. "You're telling me some dead Albanian dictator is robbing banks? Are you sure you're not messing with me?"
"Enver Hoxha's been dead for decades," the pizza guy's ex-girlfriend said nonchalantly while smoking a cigarette. After all, the big, stupid agent had agreed to fix her parking tickets, so the trip was worth it.
"That's a recording of one of his old propaganda speeches about Albanian nationalism. I had to study this crap in my Eastern European history class back in college. Pretty sure it's his 'Glory to the Albanian People' speech."
"Okay, officer, you can escort her out now." Hobbs dismissed the woman and immediately turned back to Ron with a fierce look. "Damn it! Did you know this all along?!"
"Come on, how could I possibly understand Albanian?" Ron shrugged. "I told you before, your tactics are amateur hour, and these robbers aren't your average street thugs. At least, they're not the kind of idiots who just spray bullets everywhere."
"Admit it, Hobbs, these are sophisticated criminals, unlike any bank robbers you've ever dealt with." Ron took a seat at the command desk again.
At that moment, there was a commotion at the bank. Another hostage with a briefcase strapped to his chest had been released, and the police immediately surrounded him as if he were carrying a nuclear bomb.
After removing the mask and hood covering the hostage's face, and even having the bomb squad carefully examine the poor guy's messenger bag and jacket, he was finally brought before Hobbs.
Ron sat silently beside him, reading the case file and listening to their interrogation.
As expected, by the end of the interrogation, Hobbs still hadn't learned anything useful, but Ron's eyes were getting brighter and brighter. He finally discovered the most unusual aspect of the entire robbery.
Meanwhile, Hobbs finally finished the interrogation and slumped back in his chair, exhausted. "Damn it! Another clueless hostage! These bastards even had the nerve to demand a plane and cash, and then told me to order deli sandwiches instead of pizza next time. This is clearly a provocation—they're clearly screwing with me!"
Hobbs raged. They'd already discovered the bug in the pizza, and they were just messing with him. He'd never been played so badly in all his years in law enforcement.
"Hey, I'm talking to you. What are you thinking about?" Hobbs nudged Ron, noticing he hadn't moved for a long time. Ron snapped back to his senses. "Sorry, I was just processing," Ron said with an apologetic smile. "Hobbs, here are all the incident reports from the robbery. Have you noticed anything unusual?"
"What?"
Hobbs asked curiously. Ron was about to speak when a sudden thought occurred to him, and he quickly changed his words. "Nothing. Maybe I'm overthinking it."
Ron had noticed that according to all the incident reports, this crew hadn't fired a single shot since the robbery began. Yes, not a single shot!
This wasn't Ron's first bank robbery, but it was the first time he'd seen one where no shots were fired from start to finish. Normally, after a robbery began, two warning shots were fired in the lobby to establish dominance and ensure the hostages' compliance.
However, according to the patrol officers and the released hostages, not only did they not fire a single shot, but even some hostages who clearly disobeyed the robbers received no serious punishment other than being roughed up.
Even more bizarre was the fact that there was at least twenty minutes between the patrol officers' discovery of the robbery and backup units arriving, giving the robbers ample time to escape.
But what did they do?
Instead of fleeing, they barricaded themselves inside the bank, taking hostages! This was completely against protocol!
If Ron had carried out this bank robbery himself, he would have immediately fired warning shots to intimidate everyone, then quickly grabbed the money and fled—standard operating procedure for any sensible criminal.
But this crew had completely ignored conventional tactics. Even their actions, such as releasing hostages, gave Ron the distinct impression they were stalling for time, which puzzled him.
Stalling? Normally, wasn't it law enforcement who wanted to drag things out as long as possible?
So, the question was, why were the robbers doing this?
Ron had many theories, but he had no intention of sharing them with Hobbs. It suddenly occurred to him: if this crew had some other agenda, perhaps he could directly benefit from this case?
One of Hobbs's agents reported: "Report to the commander, we've examined the briefcase the hostage was carrying. No explosives inside, just another note with the robbers' demands."
"Read it."
"Two fully fueled vehicles and a fully fueled commercial airliner standing by at LAX. If they're not ready by nine o'clock tonight, we will execute one hostage every hour on live television.
The bank has been rigged with explosives. If necessary, we will detonate them."
"No matter what, we absolutely cannot give them that plane. The money they stole from the bank isn't worth the price of a commercial airliner!" Hobbs slammed the table: "Ron, what's your take on this?"
(End of this chapter)
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