Part-time bodyguard

Chapter 454 Negotiation
The eight reinforcements were divided into two groups, preparing to fan out to the left and right to join the missileer in the core area. Suddenly, one of the gangsters started coughing violently, unable to stop, and then came a feeling of suffocation. 8 seconds after the coughing began, the gangster fell to the ground, grabbing things with his hands and kicking his legs. Another 30 seconds passed, and the gangster fell into a state of shock. If there was no corresponding antidote, the gangster would die within 30 minutes.

The second person coughed, and the third person started to cough. All eight gangsters were killed in just a few minutes. They were unable to send out a distress signal before they died.

Only Cui Jian and Mu Yao knew about this, and the three groups continued to advance towards the center. Duanmu's team had just taken a few steps when the confidant B who was left behind started coughing. Duanmu and Gui Yi immediately separated to the left and right to be on guard, fearing that the movement of confidant B would attract an attack. Then the two watched confidant B fall down 10 meters away, go into shock, and die.

Duanmu's back was covered in cold sweat: "What? What's going on?"

Gui Yi judged from his symptoms: "It might be caused by a poisonous snake. I'll go take a look." After saying that, she walked towards confidant B.

Duanmu grabbed Gui Yi by the back of the collar and said, "Come back." He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that it would be harmful to check the body of his confidant B now.

At this time, gunshots were heard 25 meters to the left and 50 meters to the right. Although there were night vision goggles, the view was blocked by stones, and I didn't know what was happening on both sides.

Duanmu did not hesitate: "Left." Influenced by Cui Jian, his judgment was simple and rough. He went to the left because it was closer.

On the left, Xiaocai and Muyao are fighting against a mercenary. On the right, Cui Jian is fighting against two mercenaries.

With the help of Duanmu, the mercenary on the left was successfully dealt with. On the right, a mercenary was seriously injured, and the two sides were forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat. There was no technique in this kind of combat. The mercenary dug out Cui Jian's eyeballs, and Cui Jian punched his Adam's apple. Both sides had vicious killing moves, but they also avoided them.

Cui Jian's pistol was on the ground, and the mercenary's rifle was hanging on his waist. The two pushed each other and pushed two meters apart. The mercenary did not raise his rifle. The gun was about one meter long, and there was too little space. The mercenary did not draw his pistol either. He was not as fast as Cui Jian. Cui Jian did not bend down to pick up the gun. He knew he did not have the time.

Almost at the same time, the mercenary and Cui Jian both drew their daggers and rushed at each other. The mercenary's dagger was a short sharp knife, while Cui Jian's dagger was a real dagger. They held each other's hands holding the knife. The mercenary suddenly pulled his hand away, and Cui Jian's hand slipped over the back of the sharp knife. Conversely, Cui Jian pulled his hand away and cut the mercenary's palm. While the mercenary was in pain, Cui Jian changed from pulling the dagger to stabbing from top to bottom, and the dagger went through the mercenary's palm.

The mercenary clenched his fist in pain. Although he was injured, Cui Jian's dagger was stuck in his palm bones. If Cui Jian wanted to use the dagger, he would have to take his knife first. Cui Jian had rich experience in fighting and killing, far more than the mercenaries in the era of hot firearms. He gave up the dagger, pushed the opponent away, fell backwards with the help of the recoil, and picked up the pistol that fell to the ground.

When Duanmu and his men arrived, Cui Jian had already dealt with the last two mercenaries. Next to one of the mercenaries was a single-soldier missile launch system.

Duanmu didn't know that the enemy reinforcements were wiped out by Mu Yao, and said, "Retreat towards the ancestral hall," and kicked the infrared guidance device of the individual missile to pieces.

Mu Yao and Cui Jian didn't know why Duanmu gave this order, but they had something to hide and didn't dare to ask too much. Duanmu gave the instructions, Cui Jian was the vanguard, and the group quickly headed towards the ancestral hall.

When they left the Black Water Pond area, a helicopter flew over the Black Water Pond, descended to about 20 meters and began to hover.

Cui Jian couldn't help asking, "Why don't we leave by helicopter?"

Duanmu looked at Cui Jian like an idiot: "When you know for sure that the enemy has SAM anti-aircraft missiles, how dare you take a helicopter? The helicopter is fine now, probably because the enemy doesn't attack, not because they can't attack."

Cui Jian questioned: "But you also said that the helicopter successfully hovered, which can prove that the airspace of Black Water Pond is safe."

Duanmu said: "That is a proof against the war police."

Cui Jian said with disdain: "You are such a bad person."

Duanmu said: "Yes, yes, I am the bad guy, you are the holy egg. Let's go, don't look at it, this is just to make a proof to the police and lure the tiger away from the mountain."

……

When they got close to the ancestral hall, they found lights inside. Cui Jian asked everyone to wait for a while while he went closer to see the situation clearly and returned to the stream 50 meters away. The artificial river bank beside the stream was very high and arranged in a trapezoidal shape. If people hid by the stream, they would be difficult to be discovered as long as they did not stand up.

Cui Jian pushed the riverbank with his hands, climbed over it, landed at the riverside, reached for the water in his backpack, and took a sip first. Duanmu was a little anxious and asked, "What's going on?"

Cui Jian said: "The criminals used the car to connect four floor lamps."

Duanmu asked: "They use the ancestral hall as their headquarters?"

Cui Jian replied: “No.”

Duanmu frowned. This guy spoke like squeezing toothpaste, answering one question after another. Duanmu: "Add money."

Cui Jian snorted: "I have professional ethics. I won't accept more than 200%."

Duanmu: "I understand."

Cui Jian certainly wasn't hesitating because of the money, and said, "There are five cars outside, 18-20 gangsters, and the leader is a woman wearing a red mask. There are four gangster sentries outside, but their attention is focused on the ancestral hall. There are more than a dozen gangsters in the ancestral hall, and they caught three people. I didn't see their faces clearly, and I don't know what they were doing. I only heard words like secret passages and secret rooms."

"Words, in English?"

"Correct."

Duanmu put down the night vision goggles and observed the ancestral hall from the outside. There was a corridor outside the ancestral hall, and there were benches beside the corridor. This was a place for everyone to rest and chat. Duanmu said: "This type of ancestral hall is usually made of wood tiles, but this one is made of cement bricks and stones, with a light steel ceiling above. There is a problem with the thickness of the wall."

Cui Jian said: "What are you talking about without any beginning or end?"

Duanmu said: "It looks like there is a wall between the corridor on the right and the ancestral hall, but it should be two walls with a partition in the middle, which should be the secret passage and secret room."

Duanmu took out his tablet computer to draw a picture. He drew a rectangle first and then made a point on the top of the rectangle: "Secret room." He pressed this point and drew a line: "Secret passage. These criminals have low IQs. If I'm not mistaken, the interlayer wall with the secret passage has no windows. Through this point, it's easy to find the location of the secret passage."

Duanmu said: "Xiaocai, you and this foreigner stay here, we will go over and take a look."

Cui Jian disagreed: "Why go there?"

"It costs extra money." Duanmu led the way.

Gui Yi whispered, "I added money many times. Can he remember it?"

Cui Jian said: "It's hard to say. After this project is over, he might kill us to silence us."

After the joke, the three of them remained silent, climbed into the corridor, and looked inside through the window with their cell phone cameras. They were near the tablet, but quite far away.

The light in the room was limited, and at first glance, he could tell there were two bodyguards and another person on the ground. Duanmu took a while to identify them and whispered, "Anthony."

Anthony and two bodyguards went to the river to confirm the fishing boat. Then the criminals used a drone to discover the long and narrow steps leading to the river, and found Anthony and others along the steps.

Bodyguard A's voice came: "If I tell, I'll die. If I don't tell, my family can at least get some compensation. Do you think we are stupid?" The compensation was not only told to the female leader, but also to Zhao Shu and others in the secret room on the other side of the wall. I won't betray you, you have to compensate my family with money.

The female leader stepped on Bodyguard A's face. Bodyguard A was a man, and instead of begging for mercy, he taunted her, "Come on, use more force. I am your sun."

The last word offended the female leader. Back then, Korean netizens affectionately called someone "Sanyueban". The other party was furious and sent a letter of sprained ankle, not only demanding severe punishment for the netizen, but also demanding that he be at least respectfully called a general. Although there was no severe punishment later, the name had become a sensitive word and could not be associated or searched.

The female leader raised her foot and kicked continuously, while Bodyguard A's mocking and cursing became more and more chaotic. It was obvious that she had brain damage, and in the end she was motionless, and it was unknown whether she was in shock and coma or dead.

The female leader panted and looked at Bodyguard B: "It's your turn."

Bodyguard B said in a trembling voice: "Let go of one of my hands, I'll take the card." The female leader asked: "Card?"

Bodyguard B: "Insert the card into the mouth of the corresponding zodiac sign to open the secret room."

The female leader was skeptical: "Where is the card?"

Bodyguard B: "In my wallet in the back pocket of my pants."

One of the gangsters stepped forward, turned Bodyguard B over, and took out a wallet from the back pocket of his pants. There were seven cards in it, including bank cards, membership cards, etc.

The female leader asked, "Which one?"

Bodyguard B proposed a condition: "You retreat to the door, I will open the secret room and then leave through the window."

The female leader said, "You will just climb out the window and leave."

Bodyguard B said: "You swear on the sun that you will not hurt me as long as I open the secret room."

Female leader: "Okay. Untie his hands."

Bodyguard B's hands and feet were bound with cable ties and handcuffs. After untying his hands, Bodyguard B took the wallet, took out a black card, threw the wallet aside, and said, "Go to the memorial tablet."

The female leader and a gangster grabbed bodyguard B's clothes by his shoulders and dragged him towards the tablet. After dragging for several meters, bodyguard B suddenly turned around and slashed the female leader's neck with the card in his hand. The female leader and the gangster quickly let go and leaned back. The card slashed her flesh, and a bloody mark appeared on the female leader's neck.

Bodyguard B, who fell to the ground head-on, turned his head to the side, his face covered in blood from the nose. He was obviously very disappointed to see the scars on the female leader. When facing the muzzle of the gun, he seemed very calm and said, "Come on, swordsman." The two bodyguards were comrades-in-arms. They had dealt with the Northern Circle a lot when they were in the army, and their hatred for each other was engraved in their bones.

Similarly, the female leader's attitude towards them was decisive and resolute. She shot and executed bodyguard B without mercy.

Now only Anthony is left.

This person was a bit interesting. The female leader squatted in front of Anthony and said in English: "Anthony, what position do you hold in the Knights Templar?"

Anthony's expression was calm, and he said, "Didn't you ask?"

The female leader said: "Lan, Jinlan."

Anthony nodded and said, "Ms. Jinlan, I used to be an agent. You can't use torture to pry open my mouth in a short time."

The female leader said: "I can spare you, but you must tell me, what is your position?"

Anthony replied: "Deputy Grand Master, head of the Central European branch of the Knights."

While the female leader was thinking, the phone rang. One of the gangsters rummaged through his bag and took out a phone. The female leader answered the phone: "Hello."

Dolan's voice came: "Let him go, and I'll give you a million dollars."

The female leader: "30 million US dollars, pay 10 million first, I will have someone send him away, and you pay the remaining 20 million."

Dolan: “Okay.”

The female leader smiled and said, "So straightforward?" She believed that the other party would give her 30 million, but what account could she use to receive the 30 million? Using a secret overseas account to receive it would be equivalent to exposing the account. Using an ordinary overseas account to receive it would be regulated by the United States and other countries.

The female leader made the offer only to know Anthony's status and position, and to prove that he could hear their conversation.

The female leader asked, "Are you Duanmu? Your voice doesn't sound like him."

Dolan said: "I am Dolan."

"Duolan?" The female leader hesitated for a moment and said, "How about we make a deal? I know you are nearby, and you know the police won't arrive so quickly. As long as you hand over Duanmu, I will let all of you go."

Duo Lan said: "Duanmu is not with me."

The female leader asked, "Where is he?"

Dolan: “I’m not sure.”

In the secret passage, Hailan was lying on the ground motionless, while Duolan was sitting on a stone and talking on the phone. The fledgling Hailan underestimated the legendary sword butterfly Duolan. Hailan did not have Cui Jian's super concentration. While being held hostage, Hailan's physical strength was lost quickly. Duolan, who was facing away from Hailan, keenly noticed that Hailan was distracted and reached out to take the grenade from Hailan's hand.

The delay time of ordinary grenades is between 5-7 seconds. When Hailan gave up the knife and used grenades to hold the hostages, she had already lost a move. 5 seconds is enough time for Duolan and Baiqi to react. Duolan chose a safer plan and waited until Hailan was exhausted before making a move.

Hailan held the rope and grenade in one hand, and when Duolan tried to escape, the grenade would fall. However, such a small mechanism was not difficult for Duolan, and Duolan directly reached out and grabbed the grenade. Bai Qi was well prepared, and took the opportunity to knock Hailan unconscious, searched for the weapons, and tied up her hands and feet and put them aside.

The female leader asked uncertainly: "But can you help us find Duanmu?"

Dolan: "Give me some time to think about it."

Female leader: "Five minutes."

"it is good."

Duanmu has made it clear that he wants to break up with the group. After the breakup, the East Asia Strategic Chief Advisor will have nothing to do with Dolan and his group, and Duanmu wants to take away a large piece of meat from the Knights. A dead Duanmu is more in line with the interests of the Dolan group than a living Duanmu. At present, they are trapped in the secret room and secret passage, and Anthony is in the hands of the enemy. There will be no reinforcements in the short term. Under these two considerations, selling Duanmu is most in line with the interests of the Dolan group.

The biggest reason why Dolan hesitated was that he was also a human being after all. Just as Duanmu could not shoot him to death easily, it was also difficult for him to make the decision to kill Duanmu.

As a legendary sword butterfly who once looked down upon the world, he could not feel respect for Duanmu, but he had watched Duanmu grow step by step until now.

There is another reason. Duanmu is the nominal leader of the Knights after all. If the news of Duanmu's betrayal spreads, the Knights will inevitably be shaken and Washington will also cause trouble for him.

To make this choice, the two Knights bodyguards in the secret passage, Hai Lan and Bai Qi must be eliminated, and even Zhao Shu cannot be left alive. Dolan does not want to let Zhao Shu hold the handle.

Dolan was thinking when there was a bang and a wall of the secret room collapsed. Four gangsters rushed into the secret room and confronted Bai Qi and the others with guns.

Is it a delaying tactic? Dolan guessed the female leader's intention, but he had nowhere to escape. The exit and entrance of the secret room were controlled by the criminals. It was because he was in a desperate situation that Dolan called the female leader to ask her to keep the people, hoping to find a way to leave the manor safely through negotiation.

The female leader stepped forward, looked at the people in the tunnel below the slope, and said, "Come out and talk?"

Dolan can now be completely sure that the opponent's target is not him.

(End of this chapter)