An Eye for News Chapter 12
“w.a.n.g Da
Fa, please calm down. Don’t drag the reporter into this, she’s innocent!” A
fl.u.s.tered Xie Fu said hurriedly.
Needless
to say, he didn’t expect things to turn out this way. He kicked himself
mentally for not listening to his deputy in the first place.
Deputy
Director Wong warned in a serious tone, “w.a.n.g Da Fa, taking hostage is a
criminal offense, do you understand?”
No one
expected w.a.n.g Da Fa to be so foolhardy to take a reporter as hostage and
everyone handled this unexpected turn of events in their own way.
“I don’t care as long as it forces Gao Song
out! I know she’s innocent so the moment Gao Song crawls up here, admits his
wrongdoing and begs my dead wife and son for forgiveness, I’ll let her go. Or
else, we’ll both end up down there!”
w.a.n.g Da
Fa put actions behind his words and inched closer and closer to the edge. In
his desperation to seek revenge against Gao Song, he seemed to have lost all
semblance of rationality.
Being forcefully
constrained by w.a.n.g Da Fa, Lee Wei grimaced in both pain and fear. However, she
tried to be as calm as possible when she said, “Brother w.a.n.g, I understand
where you’re coming from but don’t throw your life and future away like this!”
She
knew acting out wouldn’t help her situation, her only way out was to pacify
w.a.n.g Da Fa!
“I’m
sorry lady, I know all of you are innocent but don’t worry, when Gao Song shows
himself I’ll let you go.”
Lee Wei’s
empathy seemed to get through to w.a.n.g Da Fa. He loosened the grip around her
neck to make her more comfortable. Realizing that, she pushed on, “Yes, you
have your heart set on revenge but what about the family that survives you? You’re
a good man who accidentally found himself on the wrong side of the law, but it’s
still not too late. Do you think your wife and son will approve of what you’re
doing?”
“I said
I’m sorry! I truly didn’t mean to drag all of you to h.e.l.l with me but as long
as Gao Song is alive, I will not let this go…”
w.a.n.g Da
said with contrition and frustration in his voice.
“Wait,
you repeated all of you twice, do you mean to…”
Lee Wei
realized with a start.
She was
truly a reporter that was worth her salt. She managed to keep a cold head to
dissect w.a.n.g Da Fa’s slip of the mouth while being held hostage.
However,
before she could finish her thought, w.a.n.g Da Fa clamped his hand over her mouth
and her words devolved into a series of incomprehensible mumbles.
“Gao
Song, get Gao Song up here!”
Commissioner
Xie on the other hand, was the opposite of Lee Wei. He had lost his cool and
only hoped to close this case as soon as possible.
Deputy
Director Wong opened his mouth to object but ultimately he sighed and relayed
his superior’s orders through the walkie-talkie.
Commissioner
Xie was the highest ranking officer in the area. If he objected then and things
took a turn for the worse, it would be him that’s on the chopping block during
performance review.
“Bring Gao Song up now. Tell him to
try his best to placate w.a.n.g Da Fa in any way possible for 2 to 3 minutes. The
fire department will handle the rest!”
“G.o.d
d.a.m.n it, w.a.n.g Da Fa if you want to die, you can do it alone, why would you want
to blow up so many innocent peoples!”
Se Cai
cursed under his breath. It took all the might inside his body to stay put and
not rush out and warn the officers about w.a.n.g Da Fa’s plan.
He knew
his sudden appearance would only startle w.a.n.g Da Fa and made things worse for
everyone present.
Se Cai
fidgeted inside the air duct, trying to find a way to contact the police.
It was
impossible. Any small movement would alert w.a.n.g Da Fa because the air duct
entrance was too close to him. If not for the shade inside, he would have been
discovered long ago.
He
couldn’t even make a call because the battery was dead.
“Gao
Song, Gao Song’s here!”
A
portly and balding man was escorted by the police up to the rooftop.
Gao
Song’s reluctance to be there was plainly written on his face. He squirmed to a
spot between Commissioner Xie and Deputy Director Wong. He offered awkwardly, “Mr.
w.a.n.g, I’m sure this is all a huge misunderstanding… Why don’t you come on down
and we’ll talk this out over tea.”
In all
honesty, Gao Song really didn’t want to meet w.a.n.g Da Fa but he had no choice
because he knew his business would suffer if he dared cross police bureau’s
Commissioner Xie!
When
Lee Wei saw Gao Song appear, she waved her hands frantically, signaling him to
run but they misconstrued her actions as mere struggling.
“Gao
Song, you’re finally here!”
w.a.n.g Da
Fa said with fire burning in his eyes.
“Die,
you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
w.a.n.g Da
Fa shoved Lee Wei away and pulled a detonator out from his pocket.
Lee Wei
caught herself mid-fall, turned around and bit down hard on w.a.n.g Da Fa’s hand
that held the detonator.
w.a.n.g Da
Fa screamed out in pain and the detonator slipped out of his hand.
“It’s
no use! You can’t stop me!”
w.a.n.g Da
Fa slapped Lee Wei away and swooped down to catch the detonator with his other
hand. He lifted the detonator up in the air and laughed maniacally.
“No! It’s
a bomb! Quick, seek cover!”
Deputy
Director Wong yelled immediately.
An
ashen-faced Commissioner Xie though stood transfixed. When Deputy Director Wong
tackled him to the floor, he was still mumbling, “It’s over… My career, it’s
all over… I’ve tried so hard to get a reporter from Province X Tv Station to
report on my new career move but now… it has come to bite me in the a.s.s.”
A case
this big was impossible to cover and when it came time for performance review,
as the field commander, Xie Wu was fated to fall.
There
would not only be civilian casualties, but also casualties among his men and a
province reporter. Xie Wu could see his career blown into smithereens by w.a.n.g
Da Fa’s bomb!
Who
would have thought w.a.n.g Da Fa could be so callous as to drag so many innocents
to their death just to revenge against Gao Song.
“He has
gone mad, completely fully mad!”
Deputy
Director Wong punched the floor regretfully, sorry that he didn’t stand firm
against Commissioner Xie.
However,
the blast that everyone was antic.i.p.ating didn’t come.
“What
went wrong? I swore I tested it before…”
The
person that was most shocked was w.a.n.g Da Fa himself.
Before
he could react, a loud crash sounded across the rooftop!
w.a.n.g Da
Fa followed the source and saw the rusted cover of the air duct beside him
being knocked into the air.
Then, a
shadow rushed towards him and tackled him down to the floor!
The
detonator was knocked out of his hand and it slid noisily across the rooftop.