Chapter 281 Find Sullivan

Chapter 281 Find Sullivan

Sophia breathed out slowly and called Byron, telling him about Sullivan's extortion call.

"Ms. Brown, don't worry, we'll be right there," Byron said. "First, send Sullivan a message and haggle with him to buy time. We'll immediately trace his phone signal and locate him."

"Okay." Sophia hung up and immediately sent a message to that unknown number.

Sophia: [That's too many gold bars. I can't gather them all in one afternoon. Can you take less? How about $100 million in gold bars?]

The message went out with no response.

Sophia sent another: [$150 million. That's my limit. I really can't gather more than that. If you don't agree, forget it. It's no big deal if James dies, and you won't get a penny either.]

After about ten minutes, Sullivan replied: [Cut the crap. $200 million in gold bars, not a penny less. 3 PM sharp, deliver it.]

Sophia continued messaging: [I really can't gather that much. The bank can only give me $50 million in gold bars at most. I'll have to make up the rest with cash.]

Sullivan: [No way. It has to be gold bars.]

Sophia: [Then I'm out of options. Go ahead and kill him.]

Sophia deliberately sent a message that sounded like she'd given up.

A few minutes later, Sullivan called.

Sophia gave Byron a look, and Byron immediately gestured to the tech officers to start tracing the signal.

"Sophia, you dare mess with me?" Sullivan's voice was full of rage.

"I'm not messing with you. I really can't gather that much," Sophia said calmly. "$50 million in gold bars plus $150 million in cash, or forget it. Your choice."

"You..." Sullivan was silent for a few seconds. "Fine. I agree. But the cash has to be in used bills, and none of them can be in sequential serial numbers."

"3 PM, at the entrance of the abandoned factory in the suburbs. Come alone. If you dare bring the police, I'll kill James immediately."

"Okay." As soon as Sophia finished speaking, Sullivan hung up.

"Byron, how is it? Did you get a location?" Sophia immediately asked.

The tech officer looked up, his face excited. "Sir, we got it. The signal source is at Sullivan's villa."

"What?" Byron was stunned. "When we went there earlier, there was clearly no one in the villa."

"Could he have been hiding in the villa the whole time?" Sophia frowned.

"It's possible." Byron immediately stood up. "Get everyone together right now. We're going back to Sullivan's villa. Search carefully—there must be a secret room or hidden passage."

The group immediately drove to Sullivan's villa.

Arriving at the villa again, the officers immediately spread out and conducted a thorough search.

"Sir, we found something," an officer called out from the study.

Everyone rushed over.

The officer pushed aside a bookshelf, revealing a hidden entrance behind it.

"There really is a secret room." Byron waved his hand. "Open the door."

Two officers pulled out tools and quickly picked the lock on the iron door.

The iron door slowly opened to reveal a narrow passage.

Byron drew his gun and went in first.

At the end of the passage was a secret room with lights on.

Sullivan was sitting in a chair, holding a knife to James's throat.

"Sullivan, drop your weapon. You're surrounded," Byron shouted.

Seeing the officers rushing in, Sullivan's expression changed instantly.

He jumped up and pressed the knife tighter, shouting at Sophia, "Sophia. You dared to call the police. I'll kill him."

"Sullivan, don't do anything rash," Sophia quickly said. "Let James go and we can negotiate."

"Negotiate? Too late." Sullivan's face twisted. "I didn't want to kill him, but you forced me to. Since I can't survive, you won't have it easy either. I'm taking James to hell with me."

With that, he raised the knife to stab James in the throat.

In that critical moment, Byron fired decisively, the bullet hitting Sullivan's wrist holding the knife.

"Ah." Sullivan screamed, and the knife fell to the ground.

Several officers rushed forward and pinned Sullivan to the ground.

Sophia ran quickly to James's side, untied the ropes binding him, and removed the blindfold from his eyes.

"Ah."

It wasn't James at all.

"Who are you? Where is James?" Sophia asked coldly.

The man was trembling all over, his teeth chattering. "I... I was hired by Sullivan... He gave me five thousand dollars to wear these clothes and stay here, and not to speak no matter who asked... I really don't know who James is..."

They'd been deceived.

Sullivan had been playing them from the start.

From kidnapping James, to calling to extort gold bars, to deliberately staying in the secret room waiting for the police—every step was part of his carefully designed trap.

"Hahahaha."

Sullivan, pinned to the ground, suddenly burst into wild laughter.

He lifted his head, his face covered in blood, his eyes crazed and triumphant. "Sophia. Did you think you'd saved him? Are you happy?"

"Idiot. You're as stupid as that old woman. Did you really think I'd keep James in a place like this waiting for you to rescue him?"

Byron grabbed Sullivan by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "Sullivan. Tell the truth. Where is James?"

"Where?" Sullivan licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, his laughter even more manic. "He's long gone from the country."

"At 2:30 yesterday morning, my people took him and left via the highway. By now they've probably crossed the border and set foot on Ironcrawl soil."

The name "Ironcrawl" was like a poisoned blade stabbing into everyone's heart.

Ironcrawl was lawless territory. Even healthy people who went in got drained of their last drop of blood, let alone someone like James who was blind and still recovering.

"No... that's impossible..."

Serenity had just been revived by a nurse pressing her pressure point. Hearing this, her vision went black and she collapsed again.

This time, no matter how the nurse pressed her pressure point, she showed no response, her lips a frightening shade of purple.

"Serenity." Sophia quickly crouched down, catching her limp body, and screamed at the nearby officers, "Call an ambulance. Quick."

In the chaos, Sullivan's laughter became even more piercing. "Calling an ambulance won't help. Even if she dies, James isn't coming back."

"I told Razor long ago: once they hit the border, they'll dump James in the roughest place they can find. He'll get beaten every day, fed rotten scraps, and worked into the ground until death feels like mercy."