Trian was merely tracking but never made a move; Luo An could be sure it was either a command from the dark forces behind the scenes or from one of their trusted followers.
This also meant that the person giving the orders may have some kind of concern, or there might be some kind of idea in play.
Luo An gave it some thought and realized that he couldn't immediately take action against the tracker.
Because once he made a move, the one giving the orders would probably drop their concerns or throw away their ideas, and begin sending more people after him.
That would put the initiative into the adversary's hands.
Luo An was not the least bit worried about his own safety, but there were others in the special investigative team; he couldn't let them fall into danger.
Finally, Luo An decided to put on an act for a while, pretending not to notice the guy tailing him, and also pretending he had no intention of investigating his father Charles' death, only going to work every day, and having fun with Mona.
But in fact, Luo An had already covertly taken pictures of the tracker by circumventing and secretly installing cameras, and got Mona to identify Trian's identity.
Once the person giving the orders had Trian stop the tracking, Luo An could officially start the counter-investigation, and the initiative would fall into his hands.
The enemy lay in the shadows, and so did Luo An; what followed was a competition of who could react faster and who had stronger tactics.
"Son of a bitch!"
In the living room, Trian cursed under his breath with an ugly expression after a long silence.
He hadn't guessed the specifics of Luo An's plan, but he realized why Luo An had been playing dumb all along, by deceiving him, to trick the one behind him giving the orders.
Taking a deep breath, Trian quickly gathered his thoughts, raised his head to look at Luo An who threw the dagger away, and with his hands up, he gave the military salute of the French Republic, and said resolutely:
"Group Leader Greenwood, you are formidable, I am no match.
How about this—I will tell you everything I know, and in return, you let me off the hook?"
Luo An put down the pistol he had found beside Trian's bed when he broke into the villa last night, and raised his hands forward:
"Please, start your story."
The corner of Trian's mouth twitched, but he still explained:
"That night, a month ago, someone found me through certain means I had left behind..."
The time Trian was referring to was exactly the second hour after Luo An had driven to the temporary detention prison to interrogate Joseph.
Luo An's eyes narrowed, as he silently took note of this in his mind.
The rest of the story matched with Luo An's predictions; the person who gave the orders wanted Trian to follow Luo An but not make a move, mainly to observe Luo An's work and life in these days, and whether he was investigating other cases outside of his normal duties.
For more than a whole month, Luo An had been living a monotonous routine, and since the order-giver didn't find any anomalies, they let Trian end his tracking mission.
After Trian finished recounting, Luo An followed up with a question:
"Do you know the identity of the person who gave the orders?"
"I don't know."
Trian shook his head, it was not good for their reputation in their line of work to investigate the identity of the order-givers, so he never did.
"Is that so?"
Luo An smiled, picking up the pistol again and gently tapped it on the table:
"Think again, I believe you must know."
"..."
Trian's eyelids were twitching, realizing that the easy-going Luo An he had been tailing these past days was just a façade; this tendency to threaten others at the drop of a hat might be the real him.
Luo An didn't know what Trian was thinking, and even if he did, he'd scoff at it—Facing someone with blood on their hands who killed without blinking, he had to be even more violent without holding back, otherwise how could he persuade the other party.
Thud—thud—thud—
In the dining room, Luo An held the pistol, tapping the table rhythmically, while Trian stood in the living room, sweating profusely on his forehead.
"I remember now!"
All of a sudden, Trian lifted his head sharply and yelled aloud:
"Contact information! I have that guy's contact information! You can find him through that phone number!"
Luo An narrowed his eyes slightly, then asked:
"What if that person is using a disposable phone?"
"That'll still work to find him through the phone number!"
At this moment, Trian's mind was spinning rapidly, and he immediately replied:
"The contact information I left is on an underworld website that traffics in various contraband.
There's a rule on that website; you must log in and reply to a post before you can get the contact details of the post owner.
You're FBI; I can give you the website's address and my account, and you'll definitely have ways to find him!"
Hearing that a reply was required to obtain the information, Luo An had a hint of something odd in his eyes, as he thought of some other sorts of websites.
In the moment that Luo An was momentarily stunned, a vicious glint flashed in Trian's eyes, and he suddenly leaped toward him.
Luo An was unaware of any grievances or complications between him and the client, and Trian neither knew nor wanted to know. He only cared about one thing: his identity and his family were both known by Luo An!
He was an assassin, and Luo An was FBI. By putting himself in Luo An's shoes, if Trian were Luo An, he would definitely capture himself to trade for merits and accumulate experience for promotion.
Therefore, Trian never intended to let Luo An leave his villa alive from the very beginning. Everything he had done was to lower Luo An's guard; he had to kill Luo An today!
Trian moved swiftly, but Luo An's reaction was also very quick. He directly lifted his knee forward while turning the gun toward Trian's chest.
Bang—
Trian also lifted his knee to block Luo An, while one hand grabbed the barrel and forced it upward, and the other hand tightly clamped Luo An's fingers to prevent him from pulling the trigger.
Finally, Trian twisted his hands in the opposite direction with force, making Luo An release the handgun to avoid breaking his fingers and wrist!
"Hahaha..."
The moment Luo An let go of the handgun, Trian's face immediately showed joy. He snatched the gun away, quickly reversed the muzzle towards Luo An, and burst into laughter without any hesitation as he pulled the trigger.
Click—Click—Click—
The sound of an empty chamber echoed, and the smile on Trian's face instantly became very rigid.
"Surprise."
Luo An smiled slightly, disregarding Trian's ashen face, and with a sudden leap, he lifted his knee, slamming hard into Trian's chest.
Bang—
With a thud audible to both men, Trian was sent flying backward and crashed heavily onto the floor, his face instantly turning deathly pale, while blood uncontrollably trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Cough cough..."
Trian coughed twice, struggling to get up from the ground, but the intense pain in his chest made his expression even worse; he was certain that his ribs were definitely broken.
Luo An snorted coldly. When he had sneaked into this villa last night, just in case, he had unloaded all the bullets from the guns during the search, leaving only one handgun with bullets in it.
Pulling out the only loaded handgun, originally belonging to Trian, from his back waist, Luo An wiped the smile off his face. Trian, face showing panic and continuously coughing up blood, still quickly said:
"I'm sorry, Group Leader Greenwood, I just had a reflex. Let me go, I'll go kill the one who hired me, what do you say? I'll do it for you, for free..."
While speaking, Trian struggled to shuffle backward, under the nearby sofa lay the dagger he had just thrown away.
Then Luo An walked over to the sofa, found the dagger, and held it in his hand.
Trian: "...Son of a bitch!"
Bang!
At noon, Luo An drove away from the Hudson River, placing a call to Mona:
"How's your investigation going?"
Mona's voice was somber:
"Luo An, I'm afraid things might be quite troublesome."