Monday, ten in the morning, on the streets of Los Angeles, an SUV sped forward on the highway.
The driver was Winslow, with Reesi seated next to him organizing prosecution equipnt, Luo An was in the backseat, arranging equipnt while carefully reviewing the files for this case.
Beside Luo An sat the group supervisor, Potante Byrne.
Potante Byrne’s complexion was very gloomy. After being silent for a while, he turned his head and said sternly:
"Luo An, the Special Investigation Team has a tough job this ti. You must catch the murderer."
The victim this ti was the only son of the forr group supervisor, Linden Osborne, nad Paul.
Linden had retired less than a year ago, and now his son was hung upside down and gutted, dying a most brutal death, which inevitably made people think this was the killer’s revenge against Linden.
Potante Byrne had known Linden Osborne for many years and had a good relationship with him. Potante’s rise to the current group supervisor position had also been helped by Linden.
In addition, as the group supervisor, Potante Byrne had more to consider.
Such as whether the killer’s target would include other retired FBI personnel; the year Linden Osborne retired, many had retired alongside him.
Even whether the killer’s targets might include currently serving personnel, such as other group supervisors or heads of other investigation teams.
"We’ll do our best, sir."
Luo An closed the folder and nodded. He had been thinking about why the 16-year-old Paul was hung upside down and gutted.
Was it pure torture, or was there another aning?
Luo An also suspected that the killer was targeting Linden Osborne, so he planned to ask for a list of people with deep grievances against Linden to see if any discoveries could be made.
Winslow drove very steadily, and it didn’t take long for them to arrive at Linden Osborne’s house.
This was a duplex villa common in Los Angeles, with two lawns at the front and back of the house, a swing and a round table in the porch area at the front door, giving a very warm and hoy feeling.
The SUV slowly pulled up to the curb, Potante Byrne didn’t hesitate and imdiately got out of the car, Winslow and Reesi also opened their doors.
At that mont, the familiar feeling of imminent danger surged again, Luo An’s heart leaped, and he quickly reached out to grab Potante Byrne’s arm, shouting loudly at the sa ti:
"Sothing’s not right, everyone get back in the car!"
Hearing this, Winslow and Reesi’s eyebrows twitched, their complete trust in Luo An prompted them to quickly turn around to return to the SUV, while Potante Byrne instinctively stopped and looked back.
Boom—
The next second, a deafening explosion erupted, with orange flas shooting up into the sky, bricks, wood, and tiles scattering everywhere. The villa, which was just warm and comforting, turned into ruins in an instant, and cars along the street began to honk in chaos.
The mont the explosion sounded, seasoned agents like Winslow and Reesi instinctively ducked and crouched down; the two were mostly unhard, just hit by a few pieces of wooden debris.
Potante Byrne, due to slower reflexes, was a step late in getting back to the car. The shockwave from the explosion struck him hard, tossing him into the air, and his back was also harshly hit by a few flying bricks.
The only one unhard was Luo An, who never got out of the car but was covered in glass shards because the explosion’s shockwave shattered all of the SUV’s windows being so close.
"Fu-k!"
Potante Byrne, covered in dust and dirt, disregarding the pain in his back, cursed as he quickly got up from the ground and ran towards the villa.
By this ti, the second floor of the villa had vanished, leaving only the first floor ablaze with roaring flas. Black explosion marks and gray smoke were all that remained here.
"Son of a bitch!"
Winslow and Reesi, also covered in dirt, quickly got up from the ground and their faces turned grim at the scene.
Seeing Potante Byrne run towards the villa regardless of the possibility of a second explosion, Winslow and Reesi were about to follow, when Luo An quickly leapt out of the car and grabbed them both, saying rapidly:
"Reesi, call the ambulance, Forensic Identification, and the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Departnt, tell them to hurry over, and to co to the scene at top speed!"
Winslow, you maintain order on the scene, don’t let unrelated personnel approach the scene; also, observe these people on the scene closely, and arrest any suspicious individuals on the spot!
The sudden explosion gave everyone a big scare, cars parked along the street began honking chaotically, and many pedestrians started shouting God’s na while moving closer to the scene, with so even pulling out their phones to dial 911.
Considering the current unknown cause of the explosion, but knowing that the culprit may very well co to observe their handiwork at the cri scene, Luo An asked the more experienced Winslow to maintain order.
"Understood!"
Reesi nodded heavily, pulled out her mobile phone, and Winslow imdiately grasped Luo An’s intention, turning around to stop those attempting to get close to the scene.
Both sprang into action, and Luo An quickly ran towards the villa which was burning with flas.
Luo An, with his keen sense of sll, not only detected the scent of burning wood but also the indescribable sll of roast at.
Considering that Luo An had called Linden before coming here with Potante Byrne, and Linden had stated that he and his wife were at ho, there was no need to say what the sll of roasting at at the scene might imply.
As for Potante Byrne, Luo An only wanted to drag him from the villa scene as soon as possible; the forr group supervisor was very likely dead in the explosion, and Luo An did not want the current group supervisor to et the sa fate.
"Group Leader!"
Stepping over a burning dismbered limb, Luo An’s face twitched, quickly running to the side of Potante Byrne and grabbing his arm:
"It’s too dangerous here!"
"I’m fine!"
Potante Byrne shook his head, his face deathly pale, as he moved quickly through the ruins, rummaging for a mont, and finally found... a part of the forr group supervisor, Linden Osborne, under a collapsed plank of wood.
As for the wife of Linden Osborne, she was scattered along the walls and the floor surrounding Potante Byrne.
While Potante Byrne was searching, Luo An also found a smashed laptop under a burning plank of wood.
A quick check revealed that the hard drive was intact, so Luo An casually collected the computer, planning to have Mona check its contents later.
————
Ten minutes had passed, and units like the LAPD, Los Angeles Fire Departnt, FBI Trace Evidence Division, and FBI Bomb Squad had all arrived at the scene.
As the fire departnt wielded their equipnt to extinguish the fire, that bunch of omnipresent Los Angeles reporters also slled the news and rushed here, raising their microphones and caras to capture the scene.
Group Leader Potante Byrne glanced at the villa ruins, took a deep breath, patted Luo An on the shoulder to hand over the scene to him, and without bothering to clean the dust off himself, went straight to the reporters, answering their questions with an expressionless face.
"Trouble knows no season... winter, that is."
Seeing the ssy scene in front of him, Luo An rubbed his temples; his son was disemboweled, and his parents were blown up. There was no need to guess any longer; the killer was definitely targeting the Linden family.
Seeing several bomb squad agents walking out with a bunch of stuff, Luo An quickly approached and asked:
"What’s this? Have you figured out the cause of the explosion yet?"
"Hello, Group Leader Greenwood."
The leading bomb squad agent nodded and explained:
"We found fragnts of Semtex explosives, batteries, and traces of electrical circuits at the scene.
The bomb was detonated using a radio-frequency signal; when the explosion occurred, the culprit absolutely wouldn’t have been too far from the villa."
The agent then ntioned that considering the layout of the villa, the spot of the explosion was in Paul’s room, and at the mont of the explosion, the two victims were definitely no more than 1.5 ters from the bomb.
"OK."
Luo An nodded, preparing to ask further, when an agent from the Trace Evidence Division suddenly approached:
"Group Leader Greenwood, we found several items that may provide assistance in this case."
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