Sha Qing

Chapter 10: Critical Decision

"You're planning to release Clyde Brandy immediately?" Inside one of the offices at the FBI headquarters in Ohio, a confidential meeting was being held. The female agent, Thea, raised her voice into a shout upon hearing her colleague's pronouncement; her gorgeous face twisted in disapproval.

With his arm folded across the cold tabletop, Leo calmly responded, "Since he is innocent, we cannot-or rather, shouldn't-detain him any longer."

"But if that's the case, it'll be as Biqing said: if Clyde's released, the murderer will most likely act as fast as possible within this short time period."

"Then all we'll have to do is act faster and protect our subjects and potential victims. We can send our subject to a specific location, and have our side scatter around the vicinity; this will increase our protection and surveillance at the site and ensure our subjects' safety, as well."

"And how exactly as we supposed to do that?"

"For instance, I could 'incidentally' slip Clyde information that someone on campus, who has never been on good terms with him, was the one to report him to the officers. That rich brat damn well has a strong sense of vengeance; he'll be pissed, and he'll certainly look for the man to get his revenge, which, in turn, will result in a massive commotion, eventually attracting our murderer's attention. Our killer will definitely seize this chance to shift the blame from himself, once again."

"You...Have you gone mad?! You actually want to do something like this-use an innocent citizen as bait to lure our killer?!" Thea stared at Leo incredulously, as though she truly didn't know who the person in front of her was anymore. "Have you even considered the serious repercussions of doing this? If there's even the smallest gap in our protection or the slightest miscalculation on our end, it may endanger his life! We're talking about an innocent young man's life, Leo!"

"Then do everything you can think of to keep him safe, and protect him with whatever you can! Place our most advanced GPS trackers on him to keep tabs on his whereabouts at all time, monitor him 24/7, use rubber bullets or tasers when attacking our suspect-use every means we can think of!" Leo raked his fingers through his hair in irritation. "This is a perfect opportunity, and we'd be utter fools to miss it! If we do, that campus serial killer is sure to escape right from under our noses. He'll lay low for a while, then strike again and go on a killing spree. But by then, it'll be too late. Bodies will keep piling up, and there'll be even more than just three victims!"

"Oh, I know just how good of an opportunity this is, believe me. But that doesn't mean we should take advantage of it by using questionable methods! There are other ways to catch this bastard; it isn't necessary to bet on the life of an innocent civilian!" Thea roared fiercely, before turning to Rob. "You know what? Let's do it by majority rules, then. It'll be two to one; us two will vote against Leo, and Leo's proposition can just go to hell with him!"

"Well, to be honest..." Averting his gaze, Rob hesitatingly admitted, "I believe that Leo's method is quite reasonable..."

"Y-you fuckers are colluding with each other, aren't you?!" Thea slammed her palms down on the table, hard, causing the ground to shake from the violent impact. Gnashing her teeth in infuriation, she aggressively spat, "Damn you, Leo, I didn't think you were this kind of person! I thought you were honest and uptight like a textbook, someone who abides strictly and righteously to the rules. But it looks like you're just a complete asshole who doesn't give a single shit about anything! Vile bastard!"

Leo coolly stared down at her with his deep, indifferent blue eyes and slowly said, "By fair means or foul, I'll do everything I can to achieve my only goal-to bring all criminals to justice. If you have enough sense in you to speak civilly and perhaps offer constructive advice, instead of screaming and whining like a ranting child, I'll consider whether I should change my decision. Otherwise, there's no need to discuss this. Now, are you willing to have an actual conversation or not?"