951: Chapter 940: Rushing for Time 951: Chapter 940: Rushing for Time The plane landed, and Glolov and his group went home.
Gao Yang did not delay; the first thing he did after getting off the plane was to meet with the janitor.
The janitor’s organization was very secretive.
Every time he contacted them, he had to dial their official number and have someone akin to an operator answer the call.
Direct contact with a specific individual was not possible.
As soon as he left the airport, Gao Yang took out his phone, dialed a number, and as soon as the call connected, he spoke in a deep voice, “I’m looking for Ann Bond Crawford Demar, I am Ram.”
It was always troublesome to use code words, and each time, the person answering the call was different, which was also problematic.
Gao Yang had already called the janitors twice, discussing his intentions with unknown individuals.
However, the response he always got was that he needed to wait.
Once the call connected and he spoke the code word, after waiting for a few seconds, a gentle female voice on the other end said, “Hello, Mr.
Ram, your identity has been verified.
How may I assist you?”
Gao Yang spoke gravely, “A janitor passed a message asking me to contact you when I’m in New York and ready to meet at any time.
I’m now in New York, alone, and available to meet anyone.”
After waiting briefly again, the gentle voice informed him, “Please note, there’s an Antivenson Cafe at the intersection of Christie Street and Delancey Street in Manhattan.
The second table on the right as you enter.
The meeting time is between 8:10 and 8:20 PM.
We won’t wait past the designated time.”
Gao Yang looked at his watch and exclaimed, “I’m currently at Kennedy Airport, and it’s already 7 PM!
It’s rush hour now; there’s no way I can make it in an hour!”
The operator, with an undebatable gentle tone, said, “This is a requirement from the head of the New York district.
He will not reschedule nor extend the meeting time.
Whether you can make it is up to you.
Goodbye.”
The call was abruptly disconnected, leaving Gao Yang stunned for a moment before he dashed off.
He sprinted until he reached the taxi stand, and seeing many people still waiting in line, Gao Yang didn’t hesitate.
He squeezed through the crowd, slipping into a taxi just as someone had pulled open the door, then quickly shut it and locked it from inside.
Amidst the angry shouts from the person whose taxi he had snatched, when the driver turned around to say something, Gao Yang immediately handed him a one hundred dollar bill, then urgently said, “A tip!
For the love of God, go!
I’m in a rush!”
The driver, a plump Black man, skillfully accepted the bill from Gao Yang, pressed the gas pedal, and the car immediately darted forward.
“Where to?”
“Intersection of Christie Street and Delancey Street in Manhattan.
Buddy, I’m in a hurry, can you make it as quick as possible?”
The driver shrugged and loudly said, “For the tip you gave, I’ll do my best.
But buddy, today is Tuesday, a workday, 7 PM means it’s quitting time.
If there’s a traffic jam, there’s nothing either of us can do, right?”
Gao Yang well knew what a jam in Manhattan could mean.
He was contemplating how to get there fastest but besides taking a helicopter, it seemed impossible.
He didn’t know why the janitors set such a strict meeting time, but Gao Yang didn’t want to delve deeper.
He urgently said, “Buddy, listen, pull out all the stops.
If you get me there in under an hour, I’ll give you two thousand dollars!
A minute over, I deduct one hundred.
If I deduct all two thousand dollars, then I’ll only pay you the fare that’s due.
How’s that, want to make this money?”
The taxi driver slammed on the brakes, stopped, then turned to Gao Yang with a serious look and asked, “Buddy, are you serious?”
Gao Yang immediately pulled out a stack of bills, his expression grave, “I’m dead serious.
One hour.
If you’re a minute early, I add one hundred dollars.
A minute late, I deduct one hundred dollars.”
“Wait for me two minutes!”
With a snap of his fingers, the taxi driver left a remark and got out of the car.
He opened the trunk and fiddled around the front and back of the taxi before running back in.
“Buckle up, sir.
It’s now 7:07 PM, is that okay?”
“No problem!”
The plump driver turned the radio volume up very high, and amidst the deafening rap music, just as Gao Yang was about to urge him, the car shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
“I’m Fat Harry!
I need to get to Manhattan in an hour, guys, give me a route!”
The car took off with a radically different demeanor, swerving left and right through traffic, running red lights, and merging forcefully among other things.
Despite attracting countless curses along the way, it raced toward Gao Yang’s destination.
Aside from a few unavoidable traffic jams that slightly delayed them, the taxi weaved through streets and alleys, reaching the Williamsburg Bridge in forty minutes.
The driver was constantly communicating via radio to avoid severely congested streets, but Gao Yang felt that after reaching Manhattan, especially needing to get through the congested bridge, this detouring method could no longer continue.
Just as Gao Yang was worrying, the driver stopped the car and shouted at Gao Yang, “Manhattan is too congested, we can’t bypass it, get out now, we need to switch our mode of transport.”
Confused, Gao Yang got out of the car, only to see a skinny black man riding a large motorcycle stopping abruptly in front of him.
The motorcycle was a Honda CB400 street bike.
The skinny black man halted and shouted, “I borrowed it from the Bird Gang, you need to return it to me quickly!”
“Brother, thanks!
Take the car and drive off, remove the fake license plate first.”
After hastily saying this, the chubby driver turned into a motorcycle rider and loudly said, “Come on if you don’t want to be delayed!”
Although a 400cc motorcycle wasn’t considered high displacement, it was definitely enough for congested Manhattan.
Gao Yang got on the motorcycle and had no choice but to hold onto the black man’s thick waist, as the motorcycle roared forward.
Gao Yang wasn’t faint-hearted, but now he was scared even with his eyes open, just hearing the howling wind, suffocating from the driver’s body odor, and countless times startled by car horns, there was no other way to describe it except fraught with danger.
Finally, after the motorcycle stopped for the first time, the fat and strong driver cheered, “Here we are, buddy, 8:04!
Hm, how long was that, how much do I owe you?
Wait, let me calculate it on my phone.”
Gao Yang took a deep breath, steadied himself with slightly unsteady feet, and panted, “Buddy, you’re incredible!
You made it three minutes early, I owe you two thousand three hundred.”
The driver, nearly blinded by his own smile, loudly said, “Thanks, man, then pay up, no need to pay for the car.”
Gao Yang quickly counted out two thousand five hundred and handed it to the driver, patting him on the shoulder sincerely, “I should thank you, you’ve been a big help, buddy, two thousand five.”
After finishing his words, Gao Yang looked around, spotted the sign of the cafe, and was about to run over when he heard the black man loudly say, “Wait, wait, buddy.”
Gao Yang stopped, only to see the black man pull a paper out of his large shorts pocket and hand it to him, smiling, “Buddy, you are a rich man, and you keep your word.
If you need a ride, call this number, I’m at your service anytime.”
Gao Yang nodded, waved the piece of paper at the driver, tucked it into his pocket, and then ran into the cafe.
Pushing open the glass door, Gao Yang turned his head to see an empty second table on the right.
He checked his watch again, the time was 8:09.
Just as Gao Yang was about to sit at the appointed table, the waiter pointed at the reserved sign on the table and smiled, “I’m sorry, sir, this table is reserved, you’ll have to switch to another one.”
Just as Gao Yang was about to explain, he saw a bald man wearing large sunglasses that covered half his face, tall and strong with a big beer belly, walk in.
Seeing Gao Yang and the waiter, the white man said in a low voice, “This is my reservation, okay, he’s my guest, thank you.”
The waiter turned and walked away, and the burly white man nodded at Gao Yang, standing, and said, “Ram?”
“Yes, Ram.”
The strong man smiled, extended his hand to Gao Yang, and while shaking hands, smiled, “You arrived pretty fast, I thought you couldn’t make it.”
After shaking hands, Gao Yang said helplessly, “I encountered a good driver, buddy, why the rush?
Are you trying to mess with me?”
After gesturing for Gao Yang to sit down, the burly white man sat in front of Gao Yang and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, we only have half an hour because I have a very important meeting to attend, I’m in a hurry, so it’s not me messing with you, it’s that I must leave.
You arrived just in time.
If you were any later, our meeting would have had to be postponed for four days.
I’m Murphy, I call the shots in your case.
Now, let’s get to the point, what do you want me to do and how?”
In a low voice, Gao Yang said, “I want to take out Tomler; I need a clean service.”
“I know, I received the report, that’s no problem, we’re happy to serve,” Murphy responded.
Gao Yang spoke again in a low voice, “You have to ensure our actions don’t lead to trouble.”
Murphy shook his head, “We only take care of the aftermath; I indeed can assure you that no evidence will be left behind, but there’s a problem.
Sometimes, on certain matters, regardless of evidence, just being suspected is enough.
They don’t need evidence.
Mr.
Tomler is a big deal.
I think, defining your request as ‘not leading to trouble’ is difficult.
What constitutes trouble?
Retaliation from Mr.
Tomler’s forces?
Being targeted by the police?
Or being watched by the FBI or the CIA?
You need to give me a clear boundary.”
Gao Yang responded in a low voice, “I need there to be no trouble at all, not from the police, the FBI, not being watched by any department.
I’m not worried about retaliation from Mr.
Tomler’s residual forces; I’m concerned about attracting strong government departments’ investigations, preventing us from settling down in America.”
Murphy smiled and said, “Well, buddy, here’s how it stands: I can assure you that all evidence leading to legal issues can be cleanly wiped, but as for those departments that can mess with you based on suspicion alone, I can’t guarantee I can handle them unless…” (To be continued.
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