In Ryan's account, Renata and her men will wait for the moment when the terrorists gather in one place—maybe an apartment, or the Tiber Club—and one of Renata's men will hide a backpack full of high explosives where the terrorists have to go. As soon as they appeared, Renata pressed the button of the remote control device and detonated the explosives. In this way, it looks like a bomb carried by a terrorist accidentally exploded due to an accident.

Bronze listened in amazement. The room seemed to be toppling down, and his face was tingling. He wondered if his mind was clear. He said to himself that it couldn't happen. There's no way he's going to hear anything like that.

"Simple? Wonderful? Bronze rubbed his aching forehead. Didn't you think you might blow up the wrong person? ”

"I'm absolutely sure that Renata and they have found the terrorists."

"Didn't you think that while you killed terrorists, you could kill many innocent people?"

"I warned Renata not to act rashly. If there was the slightest suspicion that someone else was in the blast zone, she would have to wait for her moment. ”

"She?" Bronze really wanted to grab Ryan and shake it a few times. "Where's your common sense? The vast majority of people would not be willing to detonate explosives, why would she? ”

"I asked her."

"Why?"

"She loves me."

"I must have been asleep, it must have been a nightmare," said Bronze, "and in a few moments I would wake up and none of this had happened." ”

"She's willing to do anything for me."

"Including murder?"

"Killing a terrorist is not murder."

"And what do you call that?"

"Execution."

"You're astonishing," said bronze, "and last night you called this the 'final veto.'" You can call it whatever you want, but it's still killing, and when someone agrees to do it, you should ask yourself what drove him to do it. In the current situation, I don't think it's love. ”

"I can't believe she's doing it just for money."

"Where did they get the high explosives they used?"

"I gave it."

Bronze felt as if someone had been slapped. "You provided the explosives?"

"At the beginning of the operation, I was given some TNT explosives. Renata's men broke into their interior by supplying the terrorists with this explosive as a sign of their sincerity. ”

"You provided ......?" Bronze grew more and more frightened, staring blankly at the radio that was still talking.

"No, it's a mistake! For some reason, that backpack exploded at the wrong time! For some reason, the club was packed with Americans! I don't know why - I ...... Renata must have been mistaken. Ryan was speechless.

He grinned, his lips twitching, but he couldn't make a sound.

"The explosives in your hands are far from enough to cause such a catastrophe." Bronze said bluntly.

Ryan winked at him puzzled.

"You only have one sample," Bronze said, "and it's enough to lure the terrorists into thinking they can get more explosives." Renata must find a way to get more explosives in order to blow up the entire building. ”

"What are you talking about?"

"Use your brain! You are not recruiting a group of White Russians who are willing to help you find terrorists! You idiot, you're recruiting those terrorists! ”

Ryan was taken aback, his eyes straightened. He shook his head vigorously. "No, it can't be."

"They're staring at you face to face! It's strange, how can they resist not laughing at you to your face? Traditional traps. She kept asking you questions while you were fooling around with Renata, and you told her all about our plans and all our efforts to catch them. ”

Ryan's face grew pale.

"Am I not right?" Bronze asked. "You told her everything."

"Oh my God."

"Last night, when you told them you might be transferred, they thought it was time to end the game and get back to work. Did you propose to carry out this plan against terrorists, or Renata? ”

"She'......," Ryan swallowed, "it's her." ”

"To help you succeed in your career."

"Yes."

"Because she loves you."

"Yes."

"She came up with this plan in the first place?"

"Yes."

"Now, she has used a sample of the NTT explosives you gave her. I bet they've left enough evidence as evidence of your involvement. She mixed your explosives sample with her own explosives and blew up the foreigners. Do you want to succeed in your career? Hmph, boy, your career is over. ”

"This sucks." In that foreign company, Bronze looked at the deciphered code. "It's horrible, it's horrible, it's horrible. Thankfully, it's no longer my responsibility. ”

Bronze was stunned for a moment before he understood the meaning of this sentence. He sat up straight and pressed the electric button. "Not your responsibility? Whose responsibility is that? Is it my responsibility? You're going to shift that responsibility to me? ”

"Listen to me."

"I have nothing to do with it. You sent me here at the last minute. I reported to you that I thought the operation was going to be in trouble. You ignore my opinions, and—"

"It's not that I ignore your opinions," said Bronze's superior, "Ryan's father took over the job, and now he's in charge." ”

"What?"

"He was in charge of the operation. As soon as he received a call from his son, he began to mobilize everyone who owed him a favor. Now he is on his way to Shanghai. The time of his arrival in Shanghai should be ......"

Just after midnight, it looks like a speedboat coming from a private dock. Bronze waited here, waiting for a tall, white-haired, aristocratic man to step down from the bow of the ship. According to Bronze, there were no other passengers on the speedboat. The man is in his 60s, but his body is surprisingly strong, with broad shoulders, bronzed skin, rough facial lines, and a dignified appearance.

Reich wears a three-piece gray wool-blend suit. Neither the suit nor the man himself showed the slightest trace of a long hasty journey.

Bronze has met the legend three times before. Reich nodded slightly at him as he walked up to him.

"Did it go well? I'll get the box for you. Bronze said.

However, Ryker clutched his suitcase and walked past the bronze, all the way outside. Bronze caught up with him, their footsteps echoing across the docks. It was so late at night that there was almost no one around the pier.

Bronze has already rented a Citroen. In the parking lot, Reich watched as Decker scrutinized the car to make sure it hadn't been tampered with during the time he had been in the docks. It was only when Reich got into the car and bronzed through the dark rain and fog that the big man spoke.

"Where is my son?"

"In a hotel," Bronze said, "he's using a different identity." After that event...... I think you've heard about it on the way? ”

"Do you mean the bombing?" Ryker nodded gloomily.

The bronze looked over the windshield wipers that bobbed back and forth. "After the bombing, I don't think it's safe for your son to stay in his apartment any longer. The terrorists knew where he lived. ”

"You doubt they're going to attack him?"

"Nope." Bronze glanced at the string of car lights in the rearview mirror. It was dark and raining, and it was hard to tell if someone was following them. "But I have to assume that they will leak intelligence and evidence about him to the police. I believe that's the crux of the matter – they're trying to link a Chongqing intelligence agent to a terrorist attack against Americans. ”

Reic's expression tensed.

"As soon as I'm sure no one is following us, I'll send you to him at once." Bronze said.

"You seem to have thought of everything."

"I'm doing my best."

"Have you considered it, and who should be held responsible for this incident?" Reich asked.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Raindrops lapped against the car's canopy.

"Let's say, you're going to bear it?" Reich asked.

"I'm not going to take on this responsibility—"

"Then come up with someone else. If there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that my son must not take on this responsibility. ”

This ordinary inn is located on a modest street and is not a little unremarkable. Bronze nodded to the hotel's night doorman, showed the key to the hotel room that proved he lived there, and accompanied Reich through the narrow foyer, past the elevator, and up the carpeted staircase. Reich's son's room was on the third floor. Whenever possible, bronze has always avoided elevators that could become traps.

Reich seems to think that such precautions are necessary. The old, tall old man clung to his suitcase and showed no signs of fatigue.

They arrived in room 312, where Decker knocked on the door four times. This is a code to inform Reich who his son is coming. Then, he opened the door with his own key. The room was dark, and he frowned and gently turned on the switch of a light. His brow furrowed even more when he saw that no one had slept in the bed at all. "Fuck!"

"Where is he?" Reich asked.

Although Decker knew it would be a futile search, he carefully inspected the bathroom and living room. "Your son has a bad habit of not following orders. This is the second time in a day today, and he doesn't stay in his room as I tell him. ”

"He must have a good reason."

"If that's the case, there's going to change in this room. He didn't take his suitcase with him, which presumably meant that he intended to come back. Bronze noticed a letter on the bedside table. Well, this letter is addressed to you. ”

Reich looked a little uneasy. "You told him I was coming?"

"Of course. Why? What's wrong? ”

"Maybe it's not the wisest thing to do."

"What's wrong with telling him his father is coming?"

Reich has opened the letter. He narrowed his old eyes, but other than that, he showed no reaction to the letter he was reading.

Finally, he lowered his hand and let out a long breath.

"How?" Bronze asked.

Reich didn't answer.

"What was written?"

Reich still didn't answer.

"Tell me."

"I can't be sure," Reich said in a hoarse voice, "maybe it's a suicide note." ”

"Suicide? What—" Bronze took the letter from his hand. The letter was handwritten, and when I saw the salutation at the beginning of the letter, the image of a university student who would never grow up to be an adult came to Bronze's mind.

Father:

I probably messed things up again. I'm sorry. I seem to have said that many times, haven't I? I'm sorry. I want you to know that this time I did try. Really, I thought I had everything thought of myself. I'm very stealthy, and my prey is already secure. Let's talk about going wrong again, right? I don't know which one is worse – embarrassing you or not being like you. But I swear to you, this time I won't make a mistake and walk away. The responsibility is mine, and the punishment is mine. By the time I've done what I have to do, you'll never feel like I'm ashamed of you again.

Unfilial son: Second son

Reich cleared his throat as if he had trouble speaking. "The second son is Ryan's nickname."

Bronze read the letter again. "'The responsibility is mine, and the punishment is mine.' What is he talking about? ”

"I'm worried, he's going to kill himself." Reich said.

"Does that stop you from feeling that he's a shame on you? Do you think that's what he meant by his last words? Bronze shook his head. Suicide may erase his shame, but it won't erase yours. Your son isn't talking about suicide, it's not exciting enough. ”

"I don't know what you're saying—"

"He's a guy who likes to express himself. I'm not going to make a mistake and walk away. The responsibility is mine, and the punishment is mine. He's not talking about suicide, he's talking about equalizing with the other side. He went looking for them. ”

The bronze made a sharp turn and turned the rented Citroën from rue Condotti onto a narrow street. His headlights pierced the rain curtain, illuminating the two police cars in front of him with flashing headlights. At the brightly lit entrance to an apartment building, two policemen in oilcloth raincoats are talking to a few grim-faced men on the porch, all in pajamas or dressing gowns. Many windows were lit up.

"It's terrible, I hope I'm mistaken."

"What is this place?"

"I followed your son and a woman here on Friday," said Bronze, "and her name is Renata." He didn't tell me her last name, which was probably a pseudonym. She's the leader of the gang your son recruited, which means she's the head of the guy who blew up the Tiber Club. In other words, she is the head of the terrorists. ”

"It's just a hypothesis. You can't be sure it's the same gang. Reich said.