Chapter 125: Mona—In Danger!

Page (1/3)

As Roan spoke, his face suddenly turned terribly grim. He slammed down on the accelerator and wrenched the steering wheel, sending the Chevrolet hurtling onto the road to the right of the intersection.

The sudden force threw Lacy back against her seat and startled her badly. Remembering what Roan had just said, she immediately turned to him and asked, “Roan, what did you figure out? Where is Jaquel hiding?”

“Mona! It’s Mona! Call her right now!”

The Chevrolet weaved at high speed through the traffic. Keeping a firm grip on the wheel, Roan explained grimly, “Jaquel has three primary revenge targets: the journalist Evander, Commander John King, and Mona’s father, Jawari Evans.

“Evander has died in a car accident, and John King was blown apart by a backpack bomb. That leaves only one target for Jaquel—Jawari Evans!

“But Jawari Evans has been abroad the whole time, so…”

“So Jaquel has set his sights on Jawari Evans’s daughter! Mona Evans!”

Lacy could find no flaw in Roan’s reasoning. Recalling how Jaquel had made a backpack bomb and had John King’s son carry it, she felt that targeting Jawari’s daughter was exactly the kind of thing he would do.

As the implications sank in, Lacy drew a sharp breath. Without hesitation, she found Mona’s number in her phone and dialed it.

Beep. Beep. Beep—

As they listened to the ringing tone, both Roan and Lacy wore grim expressions. Never before had that sound seemed so agonizing.

After a few seconds, the call was answered.

“It’s me, Mona.”

Hearing Mona’s familiar voice, Roan and Lacy both let out a sigh of relief.

Thank God. The worst had not happened.

Roan pressed the accelerator all the way down, and the Chevrolet swiftly overtook one car after another.

Mona’s new apartment was not far away. Judging the distance and their speed, Roan estimated that, barring any accidents, they would reach the building in two minutes.

Stepping out of the elevator, Mona clutched her laptop and heard Lacy’s voice over the phone. She asked in confusion, “What’s wrong, Lacy? Is there some kind of update?”

The next second, Mona’s face changed dramatically.

“You’re not calling to tell me I have to go back to work overtime, are you?!”

She had been planning to enjoy a long bath and spend the evening resting.

Hearing the fear in Mona’s voice at the prospect of overtime, Lacy’s mouth twitched. She hurriedly told Mona about Roan’s analysis.

When she finished, Roan anxiously asked from beside her, “Mona, where are you now? Lacy and I are coming to get you!”

“I just got out of the elevator.”

After hearing Lacy’s explanation, Mona stopped in her tracks. Her heart began pounding as she stared at the door to her apartment, a trace of fear appearing in her eyes.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

If Jaquel’s target really was her, Mona could think of only two places where he could conveniently make his move.

One was the parking lot beside the apartment building. The other was her apartment.

She had just walked out of the parking lot without incident, so Jaquel could not be there.

That left only the apartment.

If Roan had not warned her, she would have opened the door and walked inside as usual. Then…

Mona swallowed hard. Jaquel had served for many years, carried out countless missions, and was agile, experienced, and a sniper to boot.

More importantly, he was certain to be armed.

Even Demonti had been carrying a rifle. Jaquel could only have more weapons, not fewer.

After making a simple comparison of their respective strengths, Mona concluded that, with only a pistol at her waist, she probably—most likely—had about an eighty percent chance of losing.

But this was no time to panic. She glanced at the apartment door just a few steps away, kept the call connected, took a deep breath while clutching her laptop, then turned and began silently backing toward the stairwell.

When Roan and Lacy heard Mona say she had just left the elevator, their expressions changed at the same time.

They had both been to Mona’s apartment and had reached the same conclusion: there were only two suitable places for Jaquel to attack.

What was more, when Roan had visited the building where Mona lived, he had analyzed it from an assassin’s perspective—if someone were trapped inside, which route would allow them to escape without drawing attention?

Occupational hazard, apparently.

Since Mona had not ended the call or said anything else, and no unusual sounds came from the phone, Roan and Lacy exchanged a glance. They both guessed that Mona was quietly making her way toward the stairs.

The Chevrolet raced through the streets and turned another corner. At last, Roan relaxed slightly.

After two more traffic lights, they would reach Mona’s building.

Seeing the high-rise ahead, Lacy licked her lips, and the tension in her expression eased.

“Roan…”

Covering the phone’s microphone with one hand, Lacy turned toward him and said quietly, “Should we contact August?”

“Of course. And call SWAT as well.”

Roan nodded and immediately pulled out his phone, handing it to Lacy.

At that very moment, gunshots suddenly rang out through Lacy’s phone.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots.

Roan’s pupils contracted sharply.

Beside the intersection ahead, two NYPD patrol officers were taking a break and eating hamburgers.

Roan’s eyes lit up when he saw them. Then, ignoring the red light ahead, he drove the Chevrolet straight through the gap between two garbage trucks that were moving forward.

“Damn it!”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“Jesus!”

At the intersection, the two garbage-truck drivers cursed furiously. Pedestrians and other drivers who witnessed the scene all covered their mouths and cried out in shock.

The two NYPD officers exchanged a glance, tossed aside their finished hamburgers, and immediately pursued them in their patrol car.

“Chevrolet up ahead! Pull over immediately!”

“Fuck!”

Whether she had been frightened by the gunshots or by how narrowly the Chevrolet had avoided being crushed by the garbage trucks, Lacy’s face had gone pale as she cursed loudly.

But the situation was urgent, and neither of them paid any attention to the NYPD. Roan continued racing toward the apartment building while Lacy raised her phone and shouted, “Mona! You—”

“I’m fine!”

Before Lacy could finish, the sound of Mona running up the stairs and breathing heavily came through the phone.

“It really is Jaquel! Call for backup immediately! He has a pistol and a rifle!”

When Mona had successfully reached the stairwell without making a sound, she had not even had time to relax before the door to her newly purchased apartment suddenly opened from the inside.

Jaquel’s expressionless face appeared before her, and he raised the pistol in his hand.

Running downward along the outer edge of the staircase, Mona heard the gunshots and broke into a cold sweat. At the same time, she felt immensely grateful to Roan and Lacy.

If they had not warned her, Mona believed she would have gone straight to heaven the moment she opened her apartment door.

Meanwhile, Jaquel stood at the stairwell entrance, watching Mona’s fleeing back with a dark expression.

According to his original plan, Mona was supposed to be knocked unconscious the instant she entered the apartment, then stuffed into the trunk of a car and taken away.

The entire process would have been silent, and no one would have noticed a thing.

But events had not unfolded as he had intended.

“It doesn’t matter.”

After taking a deep breath, Jaquel lifted the rifle in his arms and adjusted the scope. Slowly, he aimed the muzzle downward through the gap in the stairwell.

He had been a sniper, after all.

At that moment, alarm sirens erupted outside the apartment building.

The End of the Chapter

Page (3/3)