[Chapter 427: Soone's Set Up]
New York, Bayside, Long Island.
Things might be more complicated than expected. After getting instructions from Hawke, Campos personally rushed from Los Angeles to New York.
Two blocks away from the target, several cars converged in a roadside parking area. This ti, Carlos and Hierro also brought people along.
Campos called them out of their cars and said, "Ugarte and I will scout openly, Hierro, you keep an eye on the custors inside as a guest, Carlos you lead your team outside the store to provide backup. If anything goes wrong, support us imdiately without hesitation."
The two nodded in agreent, went back to check their weapons, and took the lead driving toward the target store.
...
Minutes later, Campos got in the car and told Ugarte to drive. The car turned two corners and soon they saw the McDonald's.
...
Near the intersection southwest of the McDonald's, there was a blue mailbox on the sidewalk and a nearby hotel.
Ugarte parked diagonally across the McDonald's entrance. Together with Campos, they entered the store.
Campos went to order food, his eyes quickly scanning the waitstaff around.
Ugarte took a walk inside, glanced through the glass towards the kitchen area, and found a vacant spot to sit down.
After a mont, Campos ca carrying burgers and fries and sat opposite Ugarte.
They ate while talking quietly. Ugarte said, "I didn't spot those two guys. I looked carefully. The staff now aren't the sa two I saw last ti."
Campos stayed calm, took a sip from his soda cup, and asked, "Do you rember their nas?"
Ugarte nodded, "I've got an impression."
Seeing the counter was less crowded, Campos said, "Go ask around."
...
Ugarte drank the soda, then got up and went to the counter, looking around before asking the female cashier behind the counter, "Where are Haji and Christie? I haven't seen them today."
The cashier glanced at Ugarte, not recognizing him. "Who are you? Why are you asking about them?"
"I'm a forr coworker. Last ti I ate here, I saw them." Ugarte pulled out a dollar bill and pushed it forward. "Aren't they working today?"
The cashier looked around and pocketed the tip, "They quit."
Ugarte instinctively glanced towards Campos but held back, "Why did they quit? Both of them together? How long ago?"
With a good tip, the cashier explained, "It's been a while, I don't rember exactly. They resigned together saying they found more stable jobs."
She thought a mont and added, "Oh, the two others hired with them also quit and left."
This caught Ugarte's attention, "When did these people start working here?"
"A few months ago," the cashier recalled. "The store was fully staffed, but suddenly four people quit which forced the owner to hire replacents. They didn't last long before leaving, and it made the owner furious enough to scold us privately."
Ugarte said, "Those guys are really troubleso! I searched for them because they owe money. Last ti I ca, they promised to pay soon but then vanished."
The cashier suddenly understood, "Could it be they ran off because they didn't want to pay you?"
"Who knows." Ugarte pulled out another dollar bill. "Do you know where they live?"
She shook her head, "No, we don't really interact with them outside work."
...
At a corner table inside, Hierro slowly ate fries, observing the custors calmly alongside his companion.
There were only about a dozen custors, all looking normal.
...
On the other side, Campos ate his food appearing relaxed but remained alert.
Even after Ugarte returned, they found nothing suspicious.
Campos exited the restaurant and waited for Ugarte to join him before they got into the car to leave.
They then went to a nearby three-star hotel and found that the hotel's maintenance technician also quit so ti ago.
What a coincidence!
...
The group gathered at the hotel and summarized what they found.
Carlos first said, "I didn't see anything unusual outside."
"Sa here," Hierro replied.
Ugarte shared the information he had collected: "Four people were hired together, just enough to cover shifts at the McDonald's. From photos I reviewed, they all quit within three days of each other."
Campos added, "Even the hotel security who provided tips quit as well."
Carlos said, "This is too coincidental."
Hierro opened a bottle of water and said, "They probably didn't expect us to co back for a second investigation."
Campos nodded, "Hawke is more thorough than us."
The situation was obviously off. Ugarte asked Campos, "What's our next move?"
Campos said, "We already got their rented addresses at the hotel and restaurant, let's check them out, but probably won't find anything."
Carlos agreed, "Those guys definitely took off."
"If not, we'll track down the other four," Campos said, finding a new lead, "Those prior McDonald's employees who quit opened the door for the new hires."
...
They imdiately acted, tracking addresses to suspected targets.
By day's end, they visited five apartnts. Just as expected, all the targets had already moved out.
Apartnt owners and neighbors barely rembered them.
The only lead was an apartnt owner who quietly installed surveillance caras in the lobby and shared the storage drive.
However, the footage was overwritten multiple tis, and even Hierro wasn't certain they could recover any useful data.
...
The next day, the team searched for the four earliest quitters and faced similar dead ends.
All four left New York with unknown destinations.
Fortunately, Carlos learned from a neighbor that one person went to New Jersey and still kept in touch with soone.
Campos paid for contact info and an address.
...
That afternoon, they found the young man nad Press in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Press insisted he hadn't done anything shady. Faced with Campos and Carlos's questions, he said, "This happened a while ago. Soone gave a large sum of money asking to quit that McDonald's in Bayside. The amount was large enough, so I agreed."
After thinking, he added, "Also, they asked to leave New York afterward. I'm a man of my word; I took the money, quit, and returned ho to work."
Campos asked, "Do you rember what that person looked like or any other features?"
"They had a West Coast accent," Press recalled, emphasizing, "Yes, a West Coast accent. I've traveled to California and it sounded like soone from there."
Carlos pressed, "Anything else?"
Press fell silent.
Campos was prepared, pulled out an envelope, and pushed it over, "Here's a tip for you."
Press took it, opened it, and smiled widely. He pulled out a Motorola smartphone, "I thought it was strange. Before he left, I secretly took a photo. Quality isn't great though."
Campos showed his phone, and they added each other on Twitter.
Press privately sent the photo through Twitter.
Campos and Carlos questioned him further with no new information.
They then said goodbye and left.
...
In the car, Campos carefully looked at the photo showing a very ordinary middle-aged man, the kind you'd pass unnoticed on the street.
He opened the photo album to check another stored image.
The man delivering a black package.
Campos had Carlos pull up the photo on his phone and switched to the photo just received.
They placed phones side by side for comparison.
Press's photo was a side profile while the surveillance cara caught the front.
Carlos pointed at the face, "Look here and here, those are black moles, the sa on both faces."
Campos also noticed, "It should be the sa person."
Carlos turned off his phone and said, "Clearly, soone set this up."
"Looks that way," Campos warned, "Let's keep looking for this man to find him."
Though unlikely, Carlos said little and left to et with Hierro, returning to New York.
Campos called Hawke to report all findings.
---
Los Angeles International Airport, three cars parked directly at the private tarmac.
Edward instructed the crew to load packed luggage onto the cargo hold, much of it containing firearms and ammunition.
Hawke received Campos's call while standing at the jet stairs and listened carefully.
There was definitely sothing fishy.
Hawke planned to fly to New York to et UN Environnt Program and Food Program officials before heading to Africa.
He told Campos to continue investigating based on his thoughts.
Dressed in a female hunter outfit, Erica approached and got Hawke's call, asking, "Any updates from New York?"
He nodded, "Soone's deliberately steering us toward the Russians, trying to provoke us into a conflict."
Erica warned, "Not just the Russians, but the Satanic cult as well."
Hawke said, "Those Satanic cult issues only bring us trouble whenever we investigate."
He took Erica onto the plane and sat by the window, explaining the situation again, "I have a feeling soone behind the scenes wants to instigate a war with the Satanic cult."
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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