Chapter 81: The Sixth Robbery

“What do you mean?” Hearing the words on the other end of the line, Roan was stunned. The case you’re talking about—could it be…

“It’s that pair in black clothes and black pants, the duo who robbed six banks in a row.”

Norton only knew that the bank robbery case fell under Roan’s unit’s jurisdiction; he was unaware of the conflict between Roan and Bronson. Besides, he and Roan were fairly close, so when he got a lead, his first instinct was to tell Roan about it.

“That’s right! There is such a case!” Hearing Norton’s description, Roan nodded decisively, then chuckled and asked, “Did you catch the bank robbers directly? Has the Hyena Gang expanded into bank heists now?”

“No, but we have some leads.” Norton laughed too when he heard Roan’s voice and said straightforwardly, “Come to our unit’s interrogation room now. You get first crack at questioning this suspect.”

Roan’s eyes lit up, and he immediately agreed. “OK, I’ll be right there!”

After hanging up, Roan turned to look at Lacey, then glanced at the interrogation room where Sean, the man with the broken eyebrow, sat cuffed to the desk. After a brief silence, Roan said, “Lacey, you and William handle this one. The evidence is solid—just follow procedure, there’s no need to waste words.”

“OK.” Lacey agreed. She was just about to call William over when Roan suddenly raised an eyebrow. “Is the camera on?”

Lacey instinctively shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Good.” Satisfied with her answer, Roan walked over to a nearby workstation, grabbed a book, and pushed open the interrogation room door.

Then, before the astonished eyes of Lacey and Sean, Roan placed the book behind Sean’s back and punched him hard.

Bang!

“You—”

“That punch is for ambushing my teammate with flour and almost getting him killed.”

The violent blow made Sean’s insides tremble. Coupled with the earlier impact of the stun grenade, his chest throbbed with pain so intense he nearly coughed up blood.

The force of the blow slammed Sean forward into the desk. Wracked with pain, he let out a furious growl, but with his hands cuffed, he was powerless.

A cold glint flashed in Roan’s eyes as he grabbed Sean’s face, staring into his eyes and speaking in a chilling tone: “This one is for Danny, and for the families of your victims.”

“F—”

Sean had barely spat out the first syllable of a curse when Roan, grabbing the book again, shoved it behind his back and landed another heavy blow.

Bang!

Already weakened from the effects of the stun grenade, Sean crumpled under the increasing weight of the punches. Unable to hold back, he spat out a mouthful of blood and slumped unconscious in the chair.

“Hmph.” Roan, who had been planning another punch, snorted coldly at the sight, put the book down, and strode out of the interrogation room.

Having witnessed the entire scene, Lacey spread her hands and pointed at the blood on the table, exasperated. “Can’t you at least be neater about it?”

She had no opinion about Roan roughing up the suspect. After all, the man was a serial killer. They were FBI agents—here, their word was law. Besides, Lacey knew the whole story of how Sean’s ambush had landed Ryder in the hospital. In fact, before Roan even started, she and William had planned to give Sean a taste of “memory restoration” themselves.

“Sorry, Lacey.” Roan returned the book to its place, apologized offhandedly, then walked to his own desk, picked up the bank robbery case file, grabbed the still-bewildered Mona, and strode out of the fifth unit.

“Fu—k.” Lacey flipped Roan off as he walked away, then called William over, pointed at the mess in the interrogation room, and patted his shoulder. “You clean that up.”

William: “…”

—

Organized Crime Division.

“You must be Agent Roan.” As soon as they stepped into the division’s territory, a white man with glasses and a muscular build strode up to Roan and Mona, slapped Roan on the shoulder, and grinned. “Just like August said—good-looking!”

Roan smiled, shook hands with Dillon, and replied, “Thank you for the compliment, sir.”

After greeting Mona as well, an agent came over and whispered something in Dillon’s ear. Dillon nodded, cut the small talk, and pointed to a nearby interrogation room. “Norton’s in there—you two go on in. If you have questions, just ask Norton.”

“Thank you, sir.” With that, Dillon took the other agents and left. Roan glanced around at the chaotic Organized Crime Division, exchanged a look with Mona, and headed for the interrogation room.

Walking beside Roan, Mona hugged her laptop to her chest and tilted her head, puzzled. “Roan, I thought you said you weren’t going to get involved in the bank robbery case?”

“That was me yesterday, not today.” Roan grinned, knocked on the door, and walked right in.

Whether or not he’d get involved in this bank robbery case depended on his chances of catching the robbers. Roan wasn’t about to take on a case only to fail and end up getting reprimanded. Still, he needed to follow any leads—only by having them could he gauge his odds of solving the case.

“Hmph.” Mona wrinkled her nose at Roan’s evasive answer and followed him into the interrogation room.

Inside sat a young white man, barely in his twenties. He barely reacted to Roan’s arrival, but when he saw Mona, his eyes immediately lit up.

Mona ignored him completely.

“Didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Roan said with a smile, shaking hands with Norton. Norton returned the greeting, nodded at Mona, gestured for them to sit, and handed over the interrogation record before heading out—he still had a mountain of work to do.

According to the report, the young man’s name was Robert, age twenty-nine. He’d been with the Hyena Gang for two and a half years and was already a mid-level leader.

Normally, people like Robert wouldn’t dare reveal anything about the gang for fear of their families being targeted later. So Norton would just go through the motions and let the court send him to jail.

But today, during questioning, Robert said he couldn’t divulge the gang’s secrets—but he did know about other cases.

Robert’s request was simple: he’d give information on other cases in exchange for a reduced sentence.

“So you say you know who the bank robbers are?” After reading the report, Mona pulled up Robert’s whole history. Roan scanned it quickly, then said gravely, “I’ll agree to a plea deal, but the exact reduction depends on the value of your information.”

“OK.” Robert nodded without hesitation. “Let’s sign the deal, then.”

Federal law required a lawyer present for plea deals. So, fifteen minutes later, a middle-aged lawyer in a suit joined them. With the lawyer as witness, both parties signed the agreement. Robert crossed his legs and said, “I don’t know about the first few robberies, but the sixth one? That was done by the owner of a laundromat in Queens.”

“What?” Roan and Mona were both stunned.

Six robberies—but not the same group each time?

(End of chapter)