"They're one step ahead of us …"
Before dawn, in the same formulaic room, several people were watching the TV broadcast. There was the middle-aged American called Mr. Castro, as well as the two messengers sent by Pei Luojia's headquarters. The TV was broadcasting the shooting that happened a few hours ago. It was still the same car accident, explosion, blood, and snow. It was a crazy and cold few minutes.
"This woman … is the rumored Tulip?"
Mr. Caslort turned his head and asked the two Japanese who came here this time, but when the two of them reacted, he hesitated and spoke.
"Uh … Mr. Genryo has fought with her twice, but he didn't have any direct contact with her. As for the others, uh …" He was a little embarrassed, "Anyone who has seen Tulip -san is already dead."
"They're all dead …" Castro repeated this sentence. In fact, as a high-level member of Pei Luojia's headquarters, he naturally knew about these things from the beginning. The incidents related to Tulip that happened in Asia almost shook the dark side of the world. However, he didn't experience it personally, so naturally, he didn't feel much about it. But at this time, looking at the blurry surveillance footage and repeating this sentence, he naturally felt a different feeling in his heart. He frowned, "If it's really her, and she came so quickly, it means that the news has already been leaked in Asia."
The two Japanese looked at each other, then said with some shame, "We will verify this …"
"Haha, now is not the time to talk about this. The source of the matter needs to be traced, but since they're in New York now, why were they discovered? That's what we need to be responsible for."
Castro smiled, not wanting to embarrass the two too much. "According to the rest of the reports and some other surveillance footage, the four of us didn't reveal too many problems. They only went there today for the first time, and they didn't even come into contact with the research institute. In this way … it's difficult to figure out how this Tulip -san saw through their identities …"
"There's nothing unusual?"
"There's nothing unusual. Their behavior this time is more normal than a normal person's …" Caslort held the remote control. "Look, these pictures are pieced together … The car drove straight, waited for the red light, then made a turn, went to the store to buy supper, and then … she followed them out. We see a million such common phenomena every day. Could it be that Tulip started to kill them because they glanced at the building when they turned the corner?"
While everyone was confused, he turned his head, "This is not normal."
Of course, this was not normal. Everyone was a powerful figure in the field. It was difficult to be an assassin, and even more difficult to guard against an assassin. To determine who among millions of people would be hostile to you, you had to make the person. However, this matter was too strange. The other party's reaction was too sharp.. If they ruled out the possibility of a superpower, then …
"After the incident of Star Dream, some people thought that she was Pei Luojia's traitor. Some people also thought that she was responsible for the 7 billion yuan event. Of course, the former inference had to be true before the latter one. However, the investigation result denied these hypotheses. It's impossible …" Zhang Tie said.
. "We need to investigate again."
After a moment of silence, Castro looked at the TV screen again. He repeatedly thought about the possible flaws of the four people who were killed, but the conclusion was still none. "If these inferences are true, then it means … she knows Pei Luojia. Not only does she know the headquarters of Japan, but she also knows the background of at least one of the four people. Of course, this possibility is too scary and unbelievable …".
This was naturally reasonable. Pei Luojia's departments had been in a state of division in recent decades. Even the headquarters of Japan and the American branch, which had a good relationship, did not know each other's background very well.
Although Pei Luojia was rich and powerful, things like the Swiss bank account number could only be known by people at the level of Japan's Otaki and America's Castro. If people at this level betrayed them, it was impossible not to find any clues.
If it really involved the higher-ups of Pei Luojia, the impact of this kind of thing was too terrifying. For a moment, the people in the room did not dare to speak casually. Castro pondered for a while. Now, he smiled and shook his head. "Forget it. I will contact Mr. Otaki about this. As for now, it seems that our plan to make Miss Zhang go back with Mr. Watanabe today is impossible."
"This …"
"This is the most serious provocation and contempt for us."
Castro nodded. "Please don't worry. Since we have already made a promise, we will definitely send Miss Zhang to you. Next, we will use the highest level of power … We will also let these Chinese know that this is New York, not Jianghai, China …"
…
…
Early morning.
The early heavy snow did not stop, but the scale was much smaller than last night. Walking out of the door, New York was already covered with a thin layer of snow.
The snow in New York looked a little mundane no matter what. It was so white that it was not as pure as ordinary places. It always had a grayish-white flavor. This was probably because it had not been snowing for long enough. The outside of the Saleh Mafia's manor was full of ruts and footprints. The snow-sweeping vehicles moved slowly, clearing the main passages inside and outside. As the snow was not to the extent that they could have a snowball fight or make a snowman, the little girl was very disappointed.
"Let's go, let's go. It will be beautiful in a few days."
Heidi put her hand to her mouth and exhaled a breath of cold air. Heidi turned around. "Jiaming, will you stay until then?"
"I think so."
"That's great."
At this time, the sky was completely bright. The two had already finished their morning exercise nearby. After breakfast, Heidi led him around the manor for a walk. Marilyn was at home getting dressed. She was not going to work today and was going to accompany Jiaming and Heidi around.
Fashionably dressed men and women could be seen everywhere in the rooms near and far and in the garden. This was a big family of hundreds of people. Family members, as well as friends invited by each person, acted as the security force of the Mafia. There were about a hundred people in the lower ranks of the Mafia. Most of them were trustworthy people who could enter the manor. As Christmas was approaching, there was no shortage of activities like an all-night party.
In the early morning, they came out from all over the place, inviting men who did not look decent at first glance or women with big breasts and big buttocks who were disheveled and still had the smell of a hangover. They all had different hair styles and colors, some were black and some were white. The people who knew each other greeted each other loudly and made some ambiguous or explicit jokes.
The mafia was based on families. In fact, the management was not lax. Those who were invited here were more or less involved in various businesses of the mafia, including garbage collection, prostitution, smuggling, drug trafficking, casinos, and even many police officers and politicians who were involved with the mafia. Of course, the real big shots would not attend such idle gatherings. Most of the people who hung around here were smooth and sociable, or the bed partners of some middle-level or high-level members.
Although Marilyn said that Jia Ming could do whatever he wanted here, in fact, there were some places in the manor that he couldn't go to for no reason. Most of the boring guests came and went through the side door in the nearby villas. The main entrance and the main house were the places where the senior executives came and went and where the bosses gathered. Just like the office building of a factory, there were many restrictions if there weren't important matters to attend to.
People like Marilyn and Joseph were naturally not restricted. But for Marilyn, if it was not important, she would not bother to get close to those buildings that contained countless dark things.
One had to talk about the current main member of the Salier family, Victor, who was the current godfather.
Salier was sixty-three years old, and he had three sons and one daughter. Marilyn was the third, and he had a younger brother. Unfortunately, his four children did not seem to have much talent in running the mafia. His three sons were naughty, arrogant, and domineering since they were young, and they never learned how to restrain themselves. They often turned the manor into a carnival, and it was often their masterpiece. His daughter, Marilyn, had been well-behaved since she was young, but she was too well-behaved. Ever since she gave birth to that Chinese man's child in college, her life was basically ruined. After the incident in 1995, although she gradually came out of her isolation and showed some good social skills, she never thought about the darker side of the family.
Today, the leader of the new generation in the Salier family was Joseph, who was supported by Victor. Joseph, who was a gentleman most of the time, actually managed most of the Salier family's affairs. Old Victor had always hoped that his daughter would marry him, so that he could hand over the entire family business without worry. However, after Tang Jingyao's death, Marilyn did not seem to be in the mood to accept other men. Especially after the trip to Jianghai, all signs indicated that Marilyn seemed to have another partner. Now, it seemed that other than using force, it was impossible to have a marriage that everyone liked.
Of course, to balance the situation, Joseph could not be the only one in power at this time. At this time, there was another possible successor to the Salier family, who was one of Marilyn's cousins, Charles, nicknamed "Prince."
Richardson also had a sizable number of supporters in the family. Compared to Joseph, who had no background and only relied on his talent, he had more connections with the upper echelons. For example, Marilyn's three brothers were basically on his side.
Jiaming did not know much about the mafia. Other than some information about a big family like Gambino, the rest of the information was basically investigated after he got to know Marilyn. Of course, the situation between the two families was starting to get tense again. As the weaker Salier family, internal strife was not obvious.
As he followed Heidi around the manor, some people would occasionally greet her and ask about Jiaming's identity. Every time someone jokingly asked if he was her new boyfriend, Heidi would nod with a smile. Jiaming blushed, but in fact, he was not embarrassed by such things. Some people did not look too friendly when they saw Heidi. It was probably because Marilyn was too different from the rest of the family, or because of Joseph. He secretly took note of it and occasionally pretended to unintentionally ask Heidi a few words to understand the internal situation in Salier.
The time he had agreed to leave with Marilyn was 8: 30 in the morning. He followed Heidi all the way to the beach and listened to her chatter. When he came back, Jiaming saw a limousine enter the manor's gate from afar. Victor and a few elders came out to welcome an ordinary-looking middle-aged man into the main house. Jiaming was still guessing the middle-aged man's identity when someone suddenly blocked in front of him. "Gu Jiaming?
Mr. Joseph would like to invite you over. "
"We don't have time. Go away!"
Even though she was still a child, with Heidi's intelligence, she could roughly understand that there was something wrong between Joseph and Jia Ming. She was a person who knew the inside story. Joseph liked her mother, but her mother slept with Jia Ming — although it was still uncertain.
Even if Joseph did not know the inside story, there was always some irreconcilable conflict between them.
In little Heidi's view, the "affair" between her mother and Jiaming was a family matter that could be solved internally. However, if Joseph wanted to give Jiaming a hard time, they had to work together.
Seeing that the man in front of him had a difficult expression but did not intend to move aside, Jia Ming smiled. "I'll go."
Looking at the direction the man was pointing at, Joseph was sitting at a round table drinking coffee under the eaves of a villa not far away. He nodded kindly. According to Marilyn's guidance yesterday, this villa was Joseph's residence in the manor.
It was a small villa with a very strange design. The eaves were very large, and the vines on it had withered yellow. Under the eaves, there was a balcony with a wooden floor and vermilion pillars. Jiaming found it a little funny when he saw it yesterday. At that time, Marilyn briefly introduced it to him, and he knew that Joseph did not live here often. However, in order to pursue Marilyn, he had made some modifications to the villa. The modifications were more towards the Chinese style. Unfortunately, the remodeler did not pay much attention to China, so it was a little strange. But it was no wonder that he did his best for the Salier family. Of course, he could not spend too much effort on picking up girls.
Jiaming had a good impression of this person. After all, it was true that he liked Marilyn. If Marilyn also liked him, it would be natural for them to be together. However, the most important thing was naturally Marilyn's thoughts. Since she had chosen this kind of life, Jiaming was happy to have a mature, sexy, and obedient partner in bed.
Jiaming did not mind, but the possessive Heidi was a little angry at this time.
Walking on the wooden floor of the porch, the entire outer wall in front of him was filled with large and small photo frames. Jiaming recognized a few of them. Most of them were photos or portraits of famous missions in the history of the various Mafia families. There was Vito Casio Ferro, known as the symbol of the modern mafia, Al Capone, the most powerful mafia boss in the 1920s and 1930s, Charlie Luciano, known as the father of MBA crime, and the biggest one among them was also called Joseph.
Joseph Bonano was the first mafia member who exiled from Italy to the United States during World War II. Later, he led the entire mafia party in the United States. Jiaming remembered that he had a very good nickname, Banana Joe.
"Please sit down. Do you want coffee?"
With a smile and a wave of his hand, Joseph stood up. Jiaming could see that his eyes were bloodshot. He probably didn't sleep all night because of something. Of course, with this person's temperament, it shouldn't be because of Marilyn's love affairs …
"We met when we were in China, ha … Don't be angry, Heidi, it won't take long for Jiaming, it's just a small matter …" Joseph noticed Heidi's mood and said with a smile.
*****
It hasn't rained for a long time. The news said that there was a power shortage, so we first ensured that there was electricity in the factory area, then the residents.
For the past few days, there's basically no electricity during the day. Occasionally, there'll be no electricity at night. It's so low that I'm about to break down … Looks like I really have to buy a new laptop … (To be continued, if you want to know what's to come, please go to www.qidian.com to read more chapters.