At the Qingcheng Police Station, inside the conference room.
Led by Zhou Ran, the members of the special task force for “Capturing Jiang Chuan” sat on either side of the conference table.
Everyone was staring at the satellite phone on the table.
“Chief Zhou, it’s already noon. Why hasn’t Jiang Chuan called yet?” Wang Hai couldn’t help asking.
Zhou Ran shook his head. “He might have been held up by something.”
Wang Hai nodded and didn’t say anything more.
After waiting another hour, Jiang Zhuyu also couldn’t help asking, “Is it possible that Jiang Chuan has sensed something?”
Those words made everyone in the room tense up.
That was an answer they had considered—not just once, but over and over again throughout this past month.
And the main reason they kept thinking about it was that it had already been a month since the scheduled deal with Jiang Chuan.
But during this entire month, Jiang Chuan hadn’t contacted them even once.
And they couldn’t exactly reach out to him either. After all, the agreed transaction time was one month. Calling rashly to urge delivery would only make him suspicious.
You see, the identity they had set up was that of a big shot capable of buying 10,000 guns. And at the end of their last deal, they had even threatened Jiang Chuan—if they didn’t get the guns, they’d track him down.
But clearly, that threat hadn’t done any good. It had been a month, and there was still no word from Jiang Chuan.
“Chief Zhou, if we really have no other choice, maybe we should just call and ask what’s going on?” Liu Changshan suggested.
Zhou Ran immediately shot it down. “We can’t alert the enemy! If Jiang Chuan simply forgot the transaction date, or if something else delayed the deal, calling rashly would definitely make him suspicious.”
“Exactly. Although we’re certain Jiang Chuan doesn’t know that Zhang Songyang has already turned himself in, what if Jiang Chuan is just pretending? What if he deliberately delayed the transaction date to test us?
If that’s the case, then calling him would be walking right into his trap,” Gu Yuan analyzed.
Zhou Ran nodded and said nothing more.
He was just as anxious and wanted this matter resolved as soon as possible.
A month ago, when they were about to make the deal with Jiang Chuan, he had personally called his superiors to request funding and had been scolded badly.
There was no helping it—making deals with criminals was something the police weren’t supposed to do.
If word got out, it could easily lead to disciplinary action.
Zhou Ran had relied on his silver tongue, arguing back and forth, and barely managed to get his superiors to agree to this. Only then did they get the funds to send Jiang Chuan the deposit.
But now a month had passed, and the delivery deadline was almost up, yet there was still no news from Jiang Chuan.
If his superiors found out, wouldn’t he get scolded again?
Another hour passed.
Jiang Zhuyu directly picked up the satellite phone from the conference table. “Chief Zhou, we can’t keep waiting like this.”
Zhou Ran was startled. “Officer Jiang, if we do this and alert the enemy, all our earlier efforts will be wasted.”
The other officers felt the same way.
Jiang Zhuyu shook her head. “But waiting like this isn’t a solution either. If Jiang Chuan really has sensed something, we can adapt accordingly.”
That was exactly right.
No matter the reason Jiang Chuan hadn’t contacted them by the delivery time, they should still reach out to him.
After all, fundamentally speaking, they were the buyers—the owners of this batch of goods.
As the owners, urging delivery was perfectly normal, wasn’t it?
“Fine. Waiting like this really isn’t a solution. Wang Hai, you make the call,” Zhou Ran said, gritting his teeth.
Jiang Zhuyu was right. The current situation really wasn’t suitable for waiting any longer.
Hour after hour had passed, and it was already afternoon, yet there was still no call from Jiang Chuan.
Even if something had come up, he should have said something.
A situation like this simply didn’t fit the behavior of an arms dealer.
It was also a good opportunity—through this call, they could see whether Jiang Chuan had sensed something.
“Huh? Oh, okay, Chief Zhou.”
Wang Hai took the phone and was about to dial the previous number.
Meanwhile, Liu Changshan sat in his seat, looking deeply wronged.
As Wang Hai dialed the number, the busy tone reached everyone’s ears, making them all a bit nervous.
But even after the busy tone ended, no other sound came from the satellite phone.
Everyone looked at each other in shock and confusion.
“He—he’s not picking up…” Wang Hai said, dumbfounded.
Zhou Ran frowned. “Is it possible that we’re calling at a bad time, and the satellite phone isn’t with him?”
“That’s possible, but normally speaking, an arms dealer should keep his phone on him at all times. If a client has any requests, he can make changes promptly,” Gu Yuan said, completely puzzled.
Jiang Zhuyu thought for a moment. “Call again.”
Wang Hai quickly dialed the number again.
This time was the same—no one answered.
“What’s going on? Still no answer?” Zhou Ran stood up, his expression grim.
They placed the satellite phone on the conference table. No one spoke, and everyone wore a deep frown.
“I think maybe he’s just too busy and doesn’t have time to answer?” Liu Changshan suggested again.
Zhou Ran slammed the table in frustration. “No matter how busy he is, he should still conduct business with integrity! If an arms dealer has no integrity, how can he survive in this circle!”
Zhou Ran’s words left the officers in the room feeling somewhat helpless.
Expecting a criminal to have integrity was a bit of a stretch.
Moreover, they still couldn’t even determine whether Jiang Chuan was a major arms dealer or a small one.
Until the goods were delivered or they made contact with him, nothing was certain.
Tap, tap, tap.
Just then, footsteps approached. The conference room door opened, and an officer entered.
“Chief Zhou, Chief Liu from the provincial bureau is on the phone. He says he needs to speak with you about something. He wants you to go over right away.”
Hearing this, Zhou Ran’s grim expression grew even darker.
He didn’t need to think twice to know that Chief Liu was calling to ask about the progress of the operation to capture Jiang Chuan.
After all, last time, when making the deal with Jiang Chuan, he had directly requested over ten million in funding from Chief Liu. That money had drawn a lot of attention from their superiors.
If this went south, there’d be no way to clean up the mess.
That was over ten million!
“You all stay here and keep trying to reach Jiang Chuan. You must get through to him. Understood?” Zhou Ran tossed out the words and turned to leave the conference room.
The officers remaining in the conference room could only keep dialing helplessly.
But as expected, the calls went out like stones dropped into the sea—not even a ripple came back. No one answered.
The officers sat in their seats, thinking about what to do next.
Just then, Wang Hai’s expression turned serious. He frowned, thought it over again and again, and then said, “Is it possible that this Jiang Chuan never had the ability to get so many guns in the first place, and he’s already run away?”
