Two days later, El Paso.
El Paso was a unique city. It was separated from Juárez, Mexico by the Rio Grande River. Americans who took a walk along the river in El Paso could wave at the Mexicans who were on the opposite side. And if there were any Mexican ladies who lifted their dress up, the Americans on the other side could literally see their underwear too.
Xia Lei was now at the riverside of the Rio Grande River, but there were no Mexican ladies. He strolled along the walkway of the river, while his sight was locked on the opposite dock.
There were a couple of ships around the dock, including some freighters and yachts. There was a group of Mexicans on one of the freighters. They did not look like loaders who worked at the dock. All of them were wearing a black suit.
There were no obvious symbols on their bodies. None of them were armed. Yet, Xia Lei knew that all of them were the men from the FA organization. And now, they were waiting for their shipment, the Predator B drone.
The Rio Grande River crossed between El Paso and the centre of Juárez before entering the Gulf of Mexico. According to Mister Yan’s statement, the Predator B drone provided by Lockheed Martin would not be shipped to Mexico. Instead, the FA organization would ship the drone directly to China. Even though Mister Yan did not mention the route, Xia Lei had help that told him about the route planned by the FA organization.
Xiaoqian was the help. It was the virus he implanted on the Predator B drone previously.
The sunset turned the grey mountain range to golden yellow in colour.
Xia Lei sat on a rock on the riverside and took out the laptop from his backpack. A satellite positioning image appeared on the screen the moment he turned on his laptop. The map showed that a red dot was heading towards El Paso. Based on its current speed, it would pass through El Paso and reach the dock for half an hour.
Xia Lei’s attention returned to the opposite dock again. At this time, the engine of the freight started and headed towards the dock near Xia Lei.
“They must be following orders,” thought Xia Lei. “Just like that, Mister Yan shipped the Predator B drone away? Doesn’t he want to test it? Under normal circumstances, he’s supposed to test it. Is he planning on using an untested drone to kill me and bomb the Thunder Horse Military Factory? Isn’t it too risky? He should be testing it if he is a cautious man.”
Was Mister Yan a prudent man?
Xia Lei knew the answer right away without even thinking. The way Mister Yan handled the situation on the sawmill during their encounter in Washington already portrayed his cautious personality.
The freight had crossed the Rio Grande River and reached the dock near Xia Lei while he was immersed in his thoughts.
After the freight was stopped and anchored, all of the armed men from the FA organization got off from the freight. Then, there were a few SUVs heading towards the dock. All of them got into the SUV and went downtown in El Paso.
Xia Lei shifted his attention to his laptop screen and saw the red dot had stopped moving. It did not stop at El Paso but at another location. He enlarged the scale of the map until it’s surroundings were visible.
That was a farm, a farm full of cocoa trees.
There was also a highway beside the farm that led to a wasteland.
The highway was already abandoned and there were no more vehicles driving along the highway.
Xia Lei thought of something and sneered. “I knew it. Of course he’s a cautious person. Of course he’ll test run the Predator B drone first before he smuggles it to China. The highway beside the farm is the track that he’s going to use for the test run of the Predator B drone!”
According to Mister Yan’s vigilant personality, he would not ship the Predator B drone to Mexico. And he certainly would not test run an American-made assault drone in Mexico. America allowed the FA organization to kill Xia Lei and destroy Thunder Horse Military Factory, so it was the safest choice to test run it in America. It would not be trouble even if the air force had spotted it.
After the test run, the Predator B drone would then be loaded to the freight and traveled all the way to Asia. That was Mister Yan’s plan.
Xia Lei kept his laptop and left the walkway on the riverside. He got into a Land Rover Defender and drove, following the same direction as the SUVs. The Land Rover Defender was a second-hand car he bought in Washington which helped him escape the CIA.
After a few kilometres, the Land Rover Defender managed to catch up with the SUV. The SUV was rather slow, which surprised Xia Lei. He did not want to get too close with the SUV as it would have given his position away. When he was preparing to stop his car and only followed them when they were separated at a greater distance, the SUV stopped in front of a hotel entrance.
The armed men got off from the car and entered the hotel.
Xia Lei stopped his car at the roadside and glanced at the hotel.
‘Warm Holiday’ was the name of the hotel and it looked luxurious and well-furnished.
Xia Lei got off from his car and walked forward for a couple miles. His X-ray vision on his left eye penetrated through the translucent glass in the hotel lobby and he saw the armed men. In the meantime, an old Caucasian man and a mixed India-Europe Mexican lady were walking towards them.
In a uniform manner, all of the fierce-looking armed men bowed and sent their greetings to both the old Caucasian man and the Mexican lady.
Xia Lei’s vision was focusing on the old man’s lips as he was prepared to read his lips. Yet, when he was done preparing, all of them went straight to the elevator without talking.
Xia Lei disabled his X-ray vision and wondered. “It seemed like the old man and the Mexican lady were powerful. Could it be that both of them have a significant role in the FA organization? Or could they be the ones who want me dead?”
A few minutes later, Xia Lei entered the hotel lobby and booked a room at the reception desk. He then went into his room and took out his laptop. Before the screen woke up, a Thai face was reflected on the black screen. Thick eyebrows. Thick lips. Flat nose. He looked exactly like a person who got hit badly with a shovel on his face. It was not appealing at all.
This was his new face.
He named his new identity Pakse. Undoubtedly, Pakse was also the name he used on his new fake passport.
After a while, the laptop screen woke up and Xia Lei connected it to the Wi-Fi of the hotel. A few minutes later, he was able to access the management system of the hotel successfully. Effortlessly, he found the room booked by the old Caucasian man and the Mexican lady. It was a presidential suite located on the top floor of the hotel.
He then hacked into the surveillance system of the hotel, and the screen immediately showed the surveillance images of the hotel. He brought up the surveillance images on the top floor and saw two armed men standing in front of the presidential suite. It showed clearly that both the old Caucasian man and the Mexican lady were inside the presidential suite. However, there was not a single hotel in this world that installed a surveillance camera in their room, so he could not observe the situation inside the room.
“The old Caucasian man and the Mexican lady are definitely important. I have to know who they really are and I need to find a way to get near to the room too,” thought Xia Lei.
It was at this moment, one of the surveillance images on the screen caught his attention right away.
That was the surveillance image of the hotel lobby.
A group of men were entering the hotel. The person leading the group was none other than Mister Yan. Two of the people who walked beside him were Xia Lei’s old acquaintances, Ton and Jack. What surprised Xia Lei was that Caitilin was actually among the group as well.
Xia Lei focused on her face and her facial expression showed that she was not quite pleased. There seemed to be a trace of fear in her eyes as well.
“Caitlin is just an ordinary woman. How could she end up with those people?” Xia Lei could not understand. He was prepared to read their lips.
Mister Yan, Ton, Jack, and Caitlin, along with the group of armed men went to the elevator. One of the armed men pushed the button and the elevator door opened.
When Mister Yan and Ton were entering the elevator, Caitlin turned and ran towards the exit instantly.
Jack grabbed Caitlin’s arms immediately. “What are you doing? Don’t cause me any more trouble!”
‘I don’t wanna go! I wanna go home!” Caitlin was struggling hard but she could not escape from Jack.
Meanwhile, in the lift, Ton’s face turned gloomy after seeing this.
Ton’s unhappy expression seemed like he was ordering Jack without saying a word to become more ruthless. All of a sudden, Jack slapped Caitlin hard and burst into anger. “You better behave yourself. You’re the one who is in big trouble. I’m helping you now! Please grow and be more mature!”
“I...” Caitlin held her face and stuttered, as she was stunned by the slap. Tears were dropping from the corner of her eyes.
Jack said, “Mister Ton, why don’t you all go up first? Let me talk with my sister.”
Ton nodded, not saying anything.
The elevator door closed and Jack dragged Caitlin to a corner.
“Caitlin, do you know what trouble are you in? Costa was a spy and he used you. And now you are facing accusations of treason. Even I cannot help you if you don’t cooperate nicely. Am I clear?” Jack was grabbing Caitlin’s shoulder and shaking it.
“How could he be a spy? I don’t believe it,” uttered Caitlin.
“Humph! Are you really that foolish enough to believe that he was in love with you? This kind of Cinderella story only happens in a fairy tale!” Jack’s tone was very harsh. “What you can do now is to tempt him to show up and help the CIA to catch him. Only then you’ll be free of the accusations.”
“But if he really was a spy, he would have fled already at this time. How can he show up? I cannot reach him through the phone anymore,” cried Caitlin as she was in a suffering state.
“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll handle it. All you need to do is cooperate. Remember, don’t bring me any more trouble!”
Caitlin nodded her head.
Meanwhile, in the room, Xia Lei’s finger ran across Jack’s throat on the screen.