Randy Blake was kind of addicted to cigars lately. After lunch every day, Blake would get himself a cup of coffee, light a cigar, and sit quietly in the lounge, enjoying a moment of leisure.
Blake, after all, was the training center’s Number Two, so few people would disturb him except Dai Li.
Dai Li came into the lounge, holding an extra-large tea cup with Chinese big-leaf tea in it. Dai Li had developed this habit in the Chinese domestic training team, where many coaches got a large tea cup with a handful of big tea leaves and enjoyed it the whole afternoon.
“Hi Dai Li, I heard you saw Derrickson. What did he want?” Blake puffed at his cigar and went on, “That guy didn’t say what he wanted, just that he wanted to see you. I don’t think he just came here to promote products, right?”
“He didn’t come here to promote products, but to give me money. Really generous. He put a seven-digit check in front of me,” said Dai Li with a smile.
“Did he come for training? A seven-digit check? Our training fee is not cheap, but it’s not that expensive! What position does a pharmaceutical representative have within the company, exactly? Is he from a super-rich family?” Blake asked several questions in succession.
“He wasn’t here for training. He wasn’t some rich guy. He came here to buy something,” said Dai Li.
“What can we sell him? The most advanced training equipment here is not worth that kind of money. Maybe he wants to buy the whole stadium? That’s what real estate agents do. But this guy is just the pharmaceutical company’s representative,” Blake said with curiosity.
Dai Li put down his large tea cup and said unwillingly, “He wants to buy a drug.”
“Drug? We don’t have anything like that. I guess Derrickson must have something wrong with his mind,” said Blake.
“He firmly believes that we have a new drug.” Dai Li shrugged his shoulders. “I explained to him many times that we have never used illicit drugs here, but he just didn’t believe me. At last, I really had no more to explain to him, so I sent him away. He seemed to be indignant when he went out.”
“This guy isn’t a journalist, pretending to be someone else and trying to trick you into something, is he?” Blake sat up straight and looked serious. He continued to say, “You didn’t say any words that might be used against you, right? If he was indeed a journalist, he probably taped your conversation secretly.”
Dai Li recalled the details of their conversation, then shook his head. “I don’t think there should be any problem. My response was not perfect, but I didn’t say anything against myself.”
“That’s good.” Blake gave a heavy sigh. “To be honest, I would also have suspected you of doping the athletes if I hadn’t seen you train them with my own eyes.”
“Is it because of Aylwin’s successful comeback?” asked Dai Li.
“Aylwin is just one of them. All three of them, along with Alexander and Ford, are back to their peak performance. And a little while ago, after being trained by you, Kevin Taylor even performed better than when he was young,” answered Blake.
“Taylor was different. Coach Ayres also did a lot,” Dai Li said modestly.
“Ayres was only be responsible for technical guidance and developing tactics, but you took care of the physical training.” Blake took a heavy puff on his cigar and went on. “However, it also reminds me that we should be careful in case other people try to do something bad for us. I’ll tell the security company later to install more surveillance cameras in our training center.”
…
Blecher entered his company with a black suitcase.
His secretary said at once, “Boss, a Mr. Leon said he had an appointment with you and now is waiting for you in the reception room.”
“Yes, I did. I’ll head there right now.” Blecher walked towards the reception room, but he turned back halfway and said to the secretary, “From now on, nobody can enter my reception room without my permission.”
“Yes, boss.” The secretary suddenly thought of something and asked with his voice lowered, “Boss, one more thing. What about the man we caught last night?”
“Didn’t you lock him up?” Blecher frowned and asked.
“Yes, in the storeroom, but we can’t keep him in that way all the time! Should we turn him over to the police?” asked the secretary.
“If we needed to do so, we would have done it last night. Why it would have to wait until now? When we caught him, we didn’t send him to the police but locked him up privately. That’s false imprisonment. Therefore, we can’t turn him over to the police,” said Blecher coldly. “Just wait. I’ll tell you what to do later.”
With these words he entered the reception room with the black suitcase.
On the sofa in the reception room sat a man with black hair, who looked very fierce. The long scar on his face made everyone look away from him.
“Long time no see, Leon,” Blecher greeted him.
Leon didn’t make any kind of response but asked directly, “Have you got the money?”
“It’s all here. Count it.” Blecher placed the black suitcase in front of Leon and opened it. Inside were piles of cash.
Seeing the stacks of bills in it, Leon’s eyes were burning. He took out an ultraviolet fluorescence detector and began to test the authenticity of the money.
“Don’t worry. It’s all real. By the way, the fact that you never accept check or transfer of account is really inconvenient for me. I need to make an appointment at the bank in advance to get cash, and then I need to walk around with so much money,” Blecher complained.
As he counted the money, Leon said, “Since we are doing dirty work, receiving cash is the safest thing. If the money went into a bank account, the police might watch us. We don’t want to be caught by the police.”
“Without bank account transactions, you don’t even need to pay taxes. I really envy you,” said Blecher with a smile.
“The money is good.” Leon closed the suitcase and continued, “I’ve found an interrogation expert for you. He is a Colombian illegal immigrant and worked for a Colombian drug trafficker before. He knows not only techniques of interrogation, but also skills in torture. My men are ready now. When do you want to begin?”
“The sooner the better,” said Blecher.
“Well, I’ll go back now and tell my men what to do.” Leon picked up the suitcase and stood up to leave.
“Wait a moment!” Blecher stopped Leon and continued, “It’s not because I don’t trust you, but I want to see if the interrogator is really worthy of his name. I want to test him first.”
“How?” asked Leon.
“Last night, I caught a guy sneaking into the lab. He isn’t an ordinary thief, because he was sneaking into our computer control room, where there were many core secrets. Therefore, I concluded that he was a commercial spy who was dedicated to stealing business intelligence. I didn’t send him to the police, because if I did so, he would be released on bail soon, at best for trespassing or theft.”
Blecher continued, “but I want to know who sent him here and what he wanted from me. Thus, I’m going to hand this man over to you and the interrogator. I think he can help me find the answer, right?”
“No problem. Give me the spy, and you’ll know the answer soon. I’ll do it for you free of charge,” Leon said with a confident expression.
…
Ding dong! The doorbell rang.
“Who is it? It’s so late.” Dai Li went to the door, and through the screen of the intercom, he saw two strange policemen outside.
Dai Li opened the door and asked, “Officers, what can I do for you?”
“Someone reported that you had hidden illegal immigrants here,” one of the police said.
“Hiding illegal immigrants? Definitely not. This must be a false accusation.” Dai Li shook his head. “Sir, I think you know, the people who live in this block are all people with high social status. The security around here has always been very good. It is impossible for illegal immigrants to come here.”
“But if someone reports, we have to do something. We need to get in and check,” said another policeman coldly.
“Alright.” Dai Li couldn’t help but nod and make way for them. “Please come in.”
The two policemen entered the house, and when Dai Li closed the door, he found that there was only a black van outside, with no police car in sight.
Dai Li became suspicious immediately. The police were supposed to drive their car on duty, and they would be seen from a distance with the flashing lights.
“How did you get here without a police car?” said Dai Li as he turned back.
Suddenly a series of splutters rang out.
Then one of the police took the taser in his hand and rushed to Dai Li and reached it directly to his neck.
The blue light of the electric shock device flashed across Dai Li’s eyes, and the next second, Dai Li felt a sudden pain on his neck and then a sense of paralysis spreading over his body.
Oh, no. They are not cops! The moment when Dai Li thought of this, he lost consciousness.
The two men dressed as policemen stepped forward to grab Dai Li immediately and carry him out of the house. The black van drove over to them and its door was quickly opened.
The two policemen threw Dai Li into the van, and then jumped in themselves. The van quickly drove away…
…
Leon dialed Blecher’s number.
“Mr. Blecher, we succeeded in catching him. It went well and nobody noticed, including the police, but he isn’t awake yet. And the man you asked me to interrogate has confessed,” said Leon.
“It’s not safe to talk about this on the phone. I’ll go to your place now.” Blecher put down his cell phone and clenched his fists in excitement.
The new drug! I’ll get it soon!