Chapter 410 - Danger and Trouble (4)

11 May, JL International Mall and Military Offices, City F, and unknown location City Y

Watching the actresses leave the VIP area to head to the stage, Lexi turned to the store manager saying "Thank goodness that is over. We just need to pack the clothes they did not wear today for the future use in the promotional tour."

"Boss leave that to me. Since you know one of the actresses you should go and watch the promotion activity. It may be a business opportunity."

Lexi nodded and said "Can you arrange for a car to take me to the airport in about an hour. I have no option but to fly back to City Y before I can head home as there is no direct flights on the weekend."

"Not a problem. When you need to leave, come back to the store and I take you myself."

Taking the hint Lexi headed out, exiting the VIP area, and heading towards the centre of the Mall where the stage was set up for the movie promotion. Seeing the crowded area, Lexi decided to head up stairs to have a better view of the process, heading towards the escalators to go up a level.

Suddenly she felt a blast and fell to the ground. As she hit the ground, she heard screaming and a shot, before passing out.

Meanwhile, Matthew was sitting in the military offices watching a video feed with Joseph. Ben and David remained back on base. Late last night, he had been able to convince Head Honcho that they could use the vague rumour that Major Hung presented him late in the day to come here. It was enough for him to sell a story and have one of them accompany him. He would have preferred to have all three with him, but that would be tipping his hand and risk exposing Officer N's identity. Most people thought that Officer N was a fictitious person, and the material presented was from multiple sources, but having been brought into the inner circle he knew that it was a real person and her intelligence was a single source.

He looked at his watch and saw it was just before 11am. If Officer N was correct, the attack was meant to happen any minute. It went so against his beliefs to protect the citizens, but Legend was right, the bigger picture needed to be considered, and that was dealing with the larger threat, which they knew was coming.

Joseph interrupted him asking "Boss, what makes you sure…?"

Matthew shook his head. This is where he now had to be convincing. "It is just a gut feeling, and you know about my gut feelings…"

"They tend to be right. But I am sceptical."

"It pays to be. However, I am not certain. The information that Major Hung had from his source is too important not to follow up. Remember here there are military administrative offices in the city and a small maintenance facility, no large base and if the information is correct those on the ground would struggle to deal with the situation until others arrived. It was only when I spoke to Phillip last night, and he told me that there was this promotional event for a movie at the JL International Mall here. It is the largest mall here, and such a promotional event draws lots of people. That makes it the obvious target and supports Major Hung's intelligence. As JL International owns it, we are lucky in that we can monitor the CCTV footage off site ensuring that if we are wrong, it does not send panic through people."

"You asked your brother for access?"

"I did. I just told him it was for a training exercise here because I cannot tell him what we are suspect."

Matthew turned back and looked at the fees, to determine what signs he could see that may help them with future similar attacks, when he spotted a familiar person. Joseph said, "Is that not your wife?"

Matthew said "She is in City Y. The GPS on her phone confirms that…"

Looking carefully at the face, Matthew realised it was Lexi, when they say the explosion hit and he saw her start to fall as the cameras went dark.

"F*ck boss."

Matthew felt his heart twist. Joseph was right, it was Lexi. She lied to him. Taking a breath, he said "Start the calls needed. I need to check one thing and I will call Ben and David to get people from the base moving."

Picking up his phone, he dialled Lexi's number, and as the phone was answered he heard "Lexi Yao's phone."

"Put Lexi on now." Spat Matthew out. He needed to know he was kidding himself that just as the CCTV had going blank, he had seen Lexi.

"Who is this?"

"Her Husband."

Karen, having her instructions from Lexi was to keep quiet as to where she was. While she did not want to lie to him, the boss was only going to be a few hours "She is currently busy…"

Matthew took a calming breath. He was so worried, but he needed to know the truth. In a calmer voice he said, "I need to know if she was in City F, in particular the JL International Mall."

"As I said she was busy and cannot answer her phone. I will get her to call you as soon as she is available."

Angrily Matthew said "Do not try and manipulate me. You will not succeed. There appears to have been an incident at the JL International Mall in City F, which I know has a LY store in it. Now tell me, where is my wife is."

Silence ensued. Even without confirmation that told Matthew all he needed to know.

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