“Didn’t you already say you’d found Gu Yanran’s father? Aren’t you checking on the He’s right now?” The disguised Lieutenant Colonel Fei purposely spoke in the dialect of a specific mountain village in the northern part of the Empire. It was simple enough to understand for someone from the Huaxia Empire but much more difficult for foreigners who only had a limited understanding of the language. The Special Operations Forces personnel used the same dialect, and he pretended to be drunk as he spoke.
“Funny you should ask! I was scoping out the He manor the other day and ended up observing the He family send people to pick someone up from the hospital. There was so much fanfare, I got curious and looked into the patient. Can you guess who it was?”
“How would I know if you don’t tell me?” Lieutenant Colonel Fei glared at the other man. He was tempted to dump his drink on his face.
“His name was Kevin Ku! I thought it sounded familiar, and then I remembered it was one of the names the Chief had asked us to look into. I checked the hospital records carefully and discovered he was actually Gu Yanran’s father!”
“You sure it’s not just the same name? The name Kevin Ku ain’t anything special.”
“Of course it isn’t special, but the hospital admission record had the name Jasmine Ku as a relative of the patient, and that’s the name Gu Yanran uses in English. It also had her contact information: her phone number and home address. If this was just a coincidence, why would the phone number and address be the same as Gu Yanran’s?”
Huo Shaoheng tensed up as he listened to the two men’s conversation. He’s been practically certain Gu Xiangwen was already dead, but now he was to believe the man was actually alive! Huo Shaoheng glanced at Zhao Liangze, who understood and immediately tapped Morse code into the headset for Lieutenant Colonel Fei. Lieutenant Colonel Fei was also wearing a Bluetooth headset. When he heard Zhao Liangze’s message, he quickly relayed his question.
“So, what’s wrong with this Mr. Gu? You know, don’t you?” If he could obtain the medical records, then he must know what his illness was, right?
The man nodded. “Yeah, yeah. He’s in a coma! Get it?”
A coma… Huo Shaoheng sighed internally, so he hadn’t been too far off after all. Living in a coma was practically the same as being one of the living dead.
“If he’s in a coma, how did he get discharged?” Lieutenant Colonel Fei asked curiously. “Did he wake up?” There were many cases of patients in vegetative states waking up after several years or even decades.
“Nope. Heard it was a sudden complication, high fever or something. So he was taken to the hospital and when the fever broke, he got discharged.” The man paused. “But as to how he got in a coma, we spent a whole lotta time checking and only found one clue.” He looked around and leaned over to whisper into Lieutenant Colonel Fei’s ear. “I recommend you investigate an aircraft accident in Southeast Asia seven years ago.”
“An aircraft accident in Southeast Asia seven years ago?” Lieutenant Colonel Fei was stunned. “Which country in Southeast Asia? Give me a straight answer!”
But the other man had already stood up and was patting Lieutenant Colonel Fei’s shoulder with a smile. “This wine’s pretty good, let’s have another next time!” He stumbled out of the tavern.
Zhao Liangze had been listening to the man’s entire conversation eagerly, and he almost jumped up to chase after him. Huo Shaoheng grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stay in his seat.
“Don’t move. There’s someone here.” Huo Shaoheng whispered quietly and poured a shot of tequila for all three of them. They began slapping the table and chairs in a drinking game. Sure enough, a few Cuban plainclothes policemen or Secret Service agents began scanning the tavern. Their eyes were as sharp as like eagles. Huo Shaoheng’s group played their game happily, and the officers glared disdainfully before looking elsewhere. Lieutenant Colonel Fei pretended to slump over drunkenly, and a waitress nudged him to pay his bill. The officers watched for a while and were about to walk over when a couple of hunters got into a disagreement and began to fight. Tables and chairs were knocked over, and a couple of cups and plates smashed into pieces. The clanging sounds echoed in the tavern. The officers shrugged their shoulders at the commonplace scene and stopped surveying to move on.
Half an hour after they left, Huo Shaoheng’s group stumbled “drunkenly” out of the tavern and went to an ordinary three-star hotel to check in. This time they used the identities of three cigar sellers from Southeast Asia who had come to Cuba to source high-quality cigars and sell them back in their home country. These kinds of businessmen were common in Cuba, and the locals were accustomed to them. The hotel staff didn’t suspect anything strange and checked them in enthusiastically. They even recommended three cigar factories. Huo Shaoheng’s group feigned interest and asked for the contact information so they could go see them in a few days. Once it got dark, they resumed their normal identities and returned to their five-star lodge to prepare for their talk with the Cuban military later that evening. The itinerary for the Cuba trip was three days of official business and five days of free interaction. Huo Shaoheng planned to use the five days to visit Barbados, and if time permitted, he also wanted to go to Columbia where the He manor was located.
“This He family is really something else, Mr. Huo.” Zhao Liangze sent all the material he had gleaned about the He family to Huo Shaoheng. “Seven years ago, Columbia was still the most chaotic country in South America, but once the He’s rose up, they banned all forms of drug use. They were even stricter than the government itself. The criminals from Columbia had no place to stay, and they all escaped to Mexico. Mexico seven years ago and Mexico today is like comparing hell and heaven.”
“Looks like the He’s influence hasn’t extended to Mexico then.” Yin Shixiong crossed his arms and rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the image Zhao Liangze pulled up.
“It’s probably a tacit agreement upon with the United States. The United States has a considerable amount of influence on Mexico. They wouldn’t be happy if the He family started controlling it.” Huo Shaoheng glanced at the image and immediately made his conclusion. “Countries like Brazil, Argentia, Bolivia, and Peru, in addition to Columbia, must also respect the He Family.”
“No matter how powerful the He family is, their influence is only in South America. It’s possible they can’t even get involved with Central America, let alone our nation.” Zhao Linagze sighed with relief. “But that Professor He is smug, with good reason too.”
“We can set the He family aside, for now. Our target is Gu Yanran and Gu Xiangwen in Barbados.” Huo Shaoheng had formed a plan. “It’d be ideal if we could send Gu Xiangwen back to the Empire.” Huo Shaoheng knew Gu Xiangwen was in a coma, but who knew when he would go from one of the living dead to being actually dead.
“Right, and our people still have to investigate the aircraft accident that happened in Southeast Asia seven years ago. That man didn’t explain why, but it sounded like it can be checked pretty easily. Let me see here…” Zhao Liangze paused and a strange look appeared on his face. “Guess what I found?”
“Hurry up and tell us! Don’t you know ‘people who talk in circles can’t find wives!'” Yin Shixiong slapped the back of Zhao Liangze’s head loudly.
“Hmph! You’re the one who can’t find a wife!” Zhao Liangze turned around to shout at Yin Shixiong, but then looked at Huo Shaoheng. “Mr. Huo, do you remember flight MH210 from seven years ago? It was a passenger plane from a certain Southeast Asian country. It was originally supposed to go to the United States, but it went missing mid-flight. The wreckage was later found on a small island in the Indian Ocean.”
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