Before Los Angeles executives finally thought about cutting off the international broadcast signal, footage of the interior of Staples Center had already been circulated everywhere.
At the Los Angeles Police Headquarters, young LAPD Chief Michael Plank arrived at the office of the command center wearing a formal suit. Today he happened to have a gathering with several high-level officials from the city government.
"What's the situation now?" Standing in front of him were the SWAT commander and his deputy director.
"Sir, people from the Robbery and Murder Department have gone to the scene, and SWAT has also dispatched two teams." A deputy director reported the current situation to him.
Plank pulled the tie off his neck, "What's going on with the robbers? Who are they, how many are there, and have they made any demands?"
"Only five people have been found so far, and their identities are still being verified. We are trying to call the Staples Center, but the other party did not answer."
SWAT Commander Robert Hicks, who was standing aside, added, "Sir, I think there must be more than five robbers, and there should be at least one person in the information center that has been controlled by them."
Plank nodded and looked at Hicks, the SWAT commander, "If SWAT conducts a raid now, what is the success rate?"
Hicks understood what the other party meant. If the robbers were not fully prepared to conduct a raid, the success rate should be high. However, he did not dare to make any guarantees because he could not bear the responsibility for the death of the hostages.
"Sir, we cannot guarantee the safety of all the hostages in the current raid." Those people inside are not ordinary people. The death of any one of them will be a big trouble.
Plank's expression did not change. He was also aware of the other party's concerns, "Prepare the hostage information and let the public relations department prepare for the worst."
"Sir, you'd better come and take a look at this." Plank's secretary hurriedly opened the office door.
Plank and others walked out of the office. On the TV screen in the command center outside, a bald black man was standing in front of the camera and talking, "Ladies and gentlemen of Los Angeles, the game is over."
The guy smiled slightly, "So are you ready for the next show?"
"Poverty is slow genocide, and we are here to stop genocide."
"People are exposed to lies and deceit. Stories of enemy versus enemy are used to divide good people. Who knows who benefits from these lies?"
"It's not the poor, it's not the hungry, it's not the submissive, it's these people who are begging for customers." The camera moved back a little and focused on the two tied up hostages.
Plank covered his forehead, "It's Congressman Strub and Congressman Washington. They took their families to watch the game today."
The scene on the TV was not over yet. The black man continued his speech, "The people of Los Angeles can no longer be trusted, so we will hold our own court here, a court for the people."
The camera panned to the side of the basketball court, where a noose was hung from the basket.
"Don't try to cut off the broadcast signal. If I find out, I will kill all the hostages here." The bald black man stood in front of the camera, and his men had already dragged Senator Strub under the noose.
"Oh my god", all the hostages in the arena and everyone watching the live broadcast on TV exclaimed this, except for Master Xu who was present.
He had no time to care about what this guy was going to do. He only knew that when the two men went to hang the congressman, a gap appeared in the side defense of the robbers.
Should he be reckless or not? This is a question. Xu Chuan looked at a gun-wielding gangster standing about five meters away from him. This should be a woman. The AKM rifle's paddle safety was at the top position. As long as he moved enough
Quickly, he was sure to cut the opponent's neck with the knife in his hand.
Then you can grab the gun and shoot. There is just one problem. The other robbers are on the other side of the crowd. If you grab the gun yourself, it is likely to cause chaos in the crowd. Then these people will be between him and the robbers.
.
Do you want to bet? He doesn't care about the life and death of other people. However, Xu Chuan looked at Xuela beside him. This heartless woman was watching with interest as the robber put the congressman's head in a noose.
inside.
With a black line on his face, Xu Chuan stretched out his hand to cover the other person's eyes, and then pulled the person into his arms, "Don't look at these."
The congressman was struggling hard, and his voice was almost crying, "No, no, this must be a misunderstanding."
"There is no misunderstanding." The black man walked over and yelled loudly, "You are Tony Struub, the congressman of the 13th District of Los Angeles. You voted against the affordable housing bill."
"You are breaking the law." Facing the noose around his neck, the congressman not only cried but also peed. He could only plead, "At least not in front of my children." His wife and children were all in the crowd.
Li looked at him.
"Your crime has been judged." The bald black man showed no mercy to him and waved his hand resolutely, "Execute it."
One of the robbers stretched out his legs and kicked the chair from under the congressman's feet, and the noose tightened around his neck in an instant.
The people at the scene exclaimed and turned their heads away, unable to bear to watch this scene again.
This was not a hanging in the traditional sense. The chair was not high enough to break the congressman's cervical spine, which made his death a very slow and painful process. It took at least five or six minutes for him to stop breathing.
There was a burst of crying from the crowd, and in addition to the family members of the congressman, some people all cried. They now realized that these people were serious.
Xue La closed her eyes tightly and buried her head in Xu Chuan's arms, wrapping her hands around his waist. At this time, she finally knew she was afraid.
The body was shaking slightly on the basketball stand, and the bald black man continued to say to the camera, "This is just the first one."
He pointed at all the hostages in the area, "I also have a city councilor, a city auditor general, two district judges, and senior executives of several large companies."
The camera scanned the hostages one by one, as if making an introduction, "This is the senior consultant of DeWitt Investment Company, this is the financial director of McCallie Construction, as well as Conari Import Trading, Caldo Pharmaceuticals,
Wieland Corporation…”
The bald black man's gaze swept across the crowd and settled on an Asian, "By the way, there's also the boss of UC Technology."
Xu Chuan lowered his head and cursed secretly, "I am a Chinese, it would be too funny for me to be involved in the war and struggle in the United States."
He secretly complained in his heart, 'Don't come over, don't come over, don't come over...'
Then the bald black man walked through the crowd and stood in front of Young Master Xu.
‘You…are really looking for death.’ What should he do?
Xu Chuan secretly pushed out the blade of the utility knife hidden in his sleeve. At this distance, as long as he stood up and waved his hand, he could cut the opponent's neck. This bastard was simply tempting him to take action.
It's just that he ignored Xue La beside him. This woman seemed to be addicted to hugging him. She never relaxed while holding him with her hands. Xu Chuan secretly tried hard but couldn't break free. Of course, he didn't dare to move too much, as that would make people suspicious.
.
So, 'Okay, thank this woman, she saved your life.'
Xu Chuan didn't speak, his attention was focused on the gun in the hand of the guy in front of him.
"Ms. Sheila, that song just now is really great, I like it very much." This guy actually said such a sentence. Damn, there are actually fans of Sheila among the robbers.
Sheila raised her head in confusion and glanced at the other party nervously, but the bald man actually changed his murderous look and nodded to her with a gentle smile.
Xu Chuan's eyes lit up. There was such a good thing. He immediately wanted to discuss with the other party and kill the guy from Wieland Company first. This guy was his competitor.
Of course, he just thought about it for a moment, after all, it is still live broadcast.
I pushed back the blade of the utility knife. In this situation, it seemed that there was no need to fight hard.
The bald black man introduced all the hostages. Except for a few unlucky field technicians, the rest were respectable people by name and their families.
"Give you half an hour to think carefully about what these people are worth. I will contact you in half an hour." After saying this, the camera turned off.
However, the robbers did not take time off, but became even busier. They first took away everyone's communication equipment, but they did not search everyone's body carefully. These people seemed to be in a hurry.
"What are they doing?" Xue La looked at the robbers' movements and asked Xu Chuan in a low voice.
"Put a bomb." Xu Chuan also replied in a low voice.
This group of people was installing explosives at various major entrances and exits. Not only that, they also took out several explosive vests from a large bag, put them on several hostages, and let them stay in the crowd.
Anyway, if the explosion occurs at this distance, none of these people will survive. The remote control is in the hand of the bald man.
…
On the other side, Curtis, who escaped from the robbers, did not escape from the Staples Center as Xu Chuan thought. Instead, he hid in a VIP box because the robbers did not have enough manpower.
No one came to search these rooms.
The curtains of the glass window in the box facing the arena were closed, so he secretly opened a gap and looked into the arena.
"These crazy people." It's obvious that these people have no intention of leaving alive, because this is definitely not a good place to control hostages. As long as the LAPD is bolder, they should conduct a raid from the ceiling of Staples Center as soon as possible. At that time
Although there will be casualties, it will definitely be much stronger than now.
At this time, the robbers have been prepared. Now at least half of these hostages will die in the surprise attack.
Curtis took out a bottle of champagne from the refrigerator in the box and poured himself a glass, then took out his phone and called John Smith.
The other party picked up the call almost instantly, without saying any nonsense, "Tell me the current situation."
…
The LAPD has become a mess. No one expected that these robbers would kill the hostages at will, and the first one was the congressman.
Director Plank's phone has been inundated with calls. Not only the top brass of the city government, but also people from the FBI, and even Washington are starting to take notice of the situation here. The Department of Homeland Security and the White House are discussing whether to turn this case over.
The incident was determined to be a KB attack.
But he didn't want other departments to get involved, otherwise his position as director would come to an end, and even his future as a high-level police officer would be ruined.
At this critical moment, Plank showed extraordinary courage. He completely handed over the command of the scene to the SWAT commander, because this was an area he was not familiar with.
Then I devoted all my energy to dealing with the pressure from the top, coordinating various departments, and maintaining the public image of the LAPD. Oh, and there were also inquiries from big companies. The public relations department was preparing to hold a press conference.
SWAT Commander Robert Hicks has arrived at the scene, and Jessica Cortez and Team D Captain Hong Du are carefully studying the structural diagram of the Staples Center.
"Sir, I think we should seize the commanding heights on the roof of the building and the peripheral buildings in the center of the stadium as soon as possible to compress the space for these people." Hong Du put forward his own opinion. After he arrived at the scene, he chatted with several spectators who had come out.
Sentence, he immediately sensed the best time to take action, but the raid was halted by the top leadership of the LAPD.
Robert Hicks also knew that they missed a good opportunity, but he had to let Hondo withdraw at that time.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "All the problems can be summarized into only one, and that is how to ensure the safety of the other hostages." Robert looked at Hongdu, the team leader of Team 20, seriously.
This guy is very capable and knows how to adapt at critical moments. You should understand what he means.
"We need information about this group of robbers. I wonder if there is any news from the Robbery and Murder Department." Jessica Cortez was worried that the two people would have a conflict, so she had to divert their attention.
Hong Du took out a bullet casing from his pocket and said, "Maybe we can find something out of it." This was what he picked up from the passage. Theoretically, every bullet can be found where it came from, which could be their breakthrough point.
.
Jessica took it and said, "I'm going to find someone from the Robbery and Murder Department."
"Contact the FBI, they must have information on that guy."
Robert Hicks, the commander-in-chief, has a lot to do, coordinating the patrols to block off the neighborhood, keeping helicopters on standby, SWAT ready to attack at any time, and of course the most important thing, that is the ringing phone in front of him.
This was a special line set up specifically for negotiating with robbers. Robert didn't dare to waste time and picked up the line immediately, "I'm Commander Robert Hicks, who are you?"
This question was a bit abrupt, but the other party still answered, "I am Xin Kou, you can call me Marshal Xin Kou."
"Xinko?" As a veteran policeman who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, Robert had certainly heard of this name. It was a self-proclaimed title by Donald DeFreeze, the founder of the American radical organization SLA in the 1970s.
If you are not familiar with this name, you can look up the famous kidnapping case of Patty Hearst. The granddaughter of American media tycoon William Randolph Hearst was kidnapped from her home by SAL agents on February 4, 1974.
kidnapping.
For 57 days, Patty was locked in a dark closet, tortured and sexually assaulted. Finally, the SLA members gave Patty a choice, either to join the organization or to be killed. She had been brainwashed and was in an extreme state.
A frightened Patty finally agreed to join the organization and changed her name to "Tanya".
"Remember those companies I talked about? They did not do what they promised, asking these companies to prepare 540 million to donate to the poverty-stricken foundation, otherwise I will kill the people in their companies
."
After saying this, the man hung up the phone directly without giving Robert any chance to counteroffer.
This call was made from the technical desk, and there was no intention of hiding the hostage.
Xin Kou? SLA? Young Master Xu curled his lips when he heard the name. In this world, people really dare to call anything LA. Okay, I will take your last name if I don't force you to change your name.
But Xu Chuan now has a question. This guy received a text message before making the call. Who could have sent it to him?