The real life of an American police officer: Winning over others with virtue

Chapter 174 Fifteen Minutes
But this is only a brief period of familiarity between strangers.

Interactions between men are always limited to a few words.

It's not as deep as the relationship between men and women.

However, there are exceptions. It was clear that Bill got carried away when talking about his daughter.

"Some children like animals and plush toys, but she likes tying ribbons around her fingers or toes before bed. She'll make me guess what they are when she wakes up in the morning..."

Eric laughed and asked, "Guess where it's tied up?"

“Hmm.” Bill smiled and silently looked at the bandage in his hand.

“That’s adorable, to be honest,” Eric said. “I can imagine it.”

Bill glanced at Eric and smiled, "Yeah, and then she grew up so fast. I see her every two weeks, and every time I see her, I feel she has changed a lot."

Upon hearing this, Eric's heart stirred.

Bill seemed to know Eric's next thought: "I'm divorced, and my daughter is with her mother."

“Okay,” Eric said, offering his usual words of comfort. “You must love her very much, and your daughter will love you very much too.”

"Heh." Bill nodded and fell silent for a moment.

Seeing this, Eric also turned to look at the scenery outside the window. The divorce rate in this country was quite high, or rather, people here viewed divorce as a trivial matter and cared more about the children and child support.

The thought flashed through his mind, and Eric closed his eyes. He had been resting with his eyes closed all day.

But before he closed his eyes, he saw the flight attendant give Bill a bottle of mineral water.

-----------
Bill glanced at Eric, who had already closed his eyes, and after thinking for a moment, got up and walked towards the restroom in the service cabin at the back of the plane.

The restroom was right next to the flight attendants' rest area, and Bill's appearance attracted the attention of the flight attendants who were resting.

One of the flight attendants, in particular, was very noticeable as she kept following others around.

“Do you know him, Nancy?” one of her colleagues asked.

Nancy shook her head: "I don't know him."

Bill paid no attention to the stares, only exchanging a glance with the flight attendant named Nancy, because on this plane, besides the captain and co-pilot in the cockpit, there was another person who knew his identity.

This is the flight attendant named Nancy.

Bill entered the bathroom, closed the door behind him, and sat on the toilet seat.

He casually took out the duct tape he carried with him and stuck it on the smoke detector on the door.

Then he took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, then a handgun, and finally a police badge.

If Eric were there, he would know all of this; the pistol was a Sig Sauer P226.

They will also suspect Bill's identity, and then find the answer in that police badge.

Because that's a badge that only federal agents carry, and you can tell Bill's identity from the lettering underneath.

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Air Marshals, or simply air marshals, are essentially no different from the police officers on high-speed trains.

Bill glanced at the cigarette pack, picked it up casually, and soon the smoke began to swirl in the small space.

------------

After a while, Bill returned. He glanced at Eric, who still had his eyes closed, and then let out a soft sigh before sitting down.

But how could Eric possibly hide the lingering smell of smoke? Eric didn't open his eyes, but he wondered to himself, "Did this guy sneak off to the bathroom to smoke?"

That's incredibly audacious. But Eric also used this to start speculating about Bill's identity. The fact that he dared to smoke on the plane without triggering the smoke alarm meant that Bill was an expert on everything about airplanes, which, combined with his claim that he flew almost every day, suggested that Bill was very knowledgeable about airplanes.

Coupled with his keen senses that he was not simple, a most likely identity emerged in Eric's mind.

"Air marshal?"

Thinking about this, Eric felt that the possibility was very high.

"No wonder he doesn't sleep or watch movies, he keeps scanning the cabin repeatedly, and he only drinks sealed bottled water."

The seating posture is also different from that of ordinary passengers; both feet are flat on the ground and the back is not touching the seat.

They also sit in aisle seats; is this for quick movement?

Eric turned away and began to try to move away from Bill, because trying to identify the air marshal might be seen as suspicious behavior by the other party.

Meanwhile, with air marshals present, Eric felt more at ease.

Because the duties of air marshals are very simple: to perform covert duties, prevent terrorist attacks, hijackings and other serious crimes, and protect the safety of passengers, crew and aircraft.

Moreover, he himself thought Bill seemed quite capable.

He was indeed very lucky to be on a flight with air marshals present, which meant he could finally adjust to the situation in a more comfortable way.

The main reason was that, in his calculations, the journey was nearing its end.

However, Eric was unaware that as he turned over to find a more comfortable position to sleep, Bill, sitting next to him, had just taken out his phone, looked at the message on it, and his expression turned slightly grim.

"Ready for your travel duties, officer?"

Bill glanced instinctively at Eric, who was sleeping with his eyes closed, then looked ahead and casually typed:

"who are you?"

There was Wi-Fi on the plane, but it was an encrypted internal network, and this suspicious phenomenon made Bill instinctively wary.

"One of the passengers."

Bill didn't notice anything unusual and casually typed: "I don't know who you are, but I can tell you that hacking into this network is a violation of federal law, which means you're doing something illegal."

But the next second, another suspicious message sent to his phone made him frown: "Smoking in the bathroom also violates federal law."

This person knew him, had seen him go into the bathroom, and knew he smoked; Bill began to observe everything around him.

But to his dismay, his phone vibrated again: "Did I get your attention?"

Bill couldn't sit still any longer. He got up, glanced around to make sure no one was holding a phone or any other device, and then walked towards the business class section of the cabin.

I stood in the cabin partition area and observed the passengers in front of me. By this time, the flight had been going on for quite some time, and many passengers were either sleeping or reading.

Finding nothing amiss, Bill glanced at the new message as his phone vibrated again.

"Set your watch, fifteen minutes."

As Bill observed, he typed, "Why?" He wanted to find the person who sent the text message, since the person sending the text message must be holding a mobile phone or some other device to type.

Unfortunately, even though his phone was vibrating, he still couldn't find it.
"Because in fifteen minutes, I will kill one of the people on this plane."

Bill typed expressionlessly, "What do you want to do?" and then looked up to observe.

"One hundred million US dollars, transfer to this account, CH10.00205.00.2568."

Bill sneered. Even if the plane crashed and everyone died, the insurance wouldn't pay out that much money.

(End of this chapter)