Chapter 89: The Inside Story of the Hunting Club
More terrifyingly, the hunters didn’t choose their victims at random.
The Behrmans who had gone missing previously, for example, were targets that the hunters had agreed on beforehand.
However, the Behrmans had somehow disappeared during the hunt, and the hunters didn’t know what happened to them.
So, the FBI had discovered a more serious problem: Were Luke and Selina random targets?
Luke had his own guess, which was confirmed by what Thomas said next: He and Selina had been chosen, too.
No wonder when the host had welcomed Luke and Selina, he claimed that Bob’s family had gotten involved by accident.
No wonder the players knew that they were detectives from Houston.
No wonder the sheriff and deputy sheriff of Wolfkyle had appeared.
Everything was a trap that had been set up beforehand.
Luke had thought that since Selina had been drugged and caught first, Gus might have found her badge. In that case, it wouldn’t be unusual for the players to learn of their ident.i.ties.
As for Bob’s ident.i.ty, he had mentioned the police department he worked for when he was talking to Luke, and Gus had been listening in.
Thomas told them a lot of other things.
Those people had gone to a lot of trouble to build the perfect playground.
The hostel seemed plain, but the ventilation system had been modified to transmit a sedative to the guest rooms.
Moreover, they had tried out multiple places for their hunting game before eventually settling on last night’s spot.
There were no residents or phones within a range of twenty kilometers. Even the phone base stations had been deliberately wrecked many times, so that the telecommunication companies no longer wasted money on repairing them.
The only thing the hunters had gotten wrong was the intelligence on Luke.
There were files that a.s.sociated him with the Shackelford gunfight, but the gunfight in the Mexican warehouse and the Rumford incident were cla.s.sified. Even Brock wasn’t authorized to access them. This was also the reason why he was unhappy with Luke and Selina.
In the Houston Police Department, only Thomas, who had a direct connection to S.H.I.E.L.D., was fully aware of Luke’s combat abilities.
Those players hadn’t considered the Shackelford gunfight a big deal.
If Luke was good at shooting, they could take his gun away and give him a double dose of the sedative.
That was why Luke hadn’t been able to control his body even though he was much stronger than an ordinary person.
Gus also ratted out the two sheriffs.
They hadn’t arrived at the playground from Wolfkyle at all; they had been around, ready to clean up the mess for the senior players as police officers.
Some victims had been fortunate enough to escape from the hunt before, but they disappeared again when they were drawn to the police cars and tried to call for help.
After Thomas was done, he opened his briefcase and took out a few photos. “Check these out.”
Luke examined the photos, only to discover that they were of the players. “Is this… a tattoo? Huh, is it a dog?”
Thomas shook his head. “We have no idea what the tattoo means. All of the richest guys had this tattoo, as well as some of the others.”
Pondering for a moment, Luke asked, “The host also had the tattoo?”
Thomas nodded. “Yes.” There was hesitation in his eyes, but he didn’t go on.
He rose and said, “Alright, get some rest. The FBI will get you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You should be familiar with the procedure now, right?”
He was rather speechless.
Those two young officers were truly unlucky.
Yes, they were unlucky, not troublemakers.
They hadn’t been the cause of the Houston cases which had to be kept confidential; instead, it was Brock who had a.s.signed those cases to them.
Thomas secretly sneered.
This time, not just Brock, but even Faraday Page, their boss, had to be investigated, too.
After all, it was Brock who sent Luke and Selina to Wolfkyle, and Brock’s number was in Sheriff Brown’s phone record. They had spoken just as Luke and Selina had set off.
Although it wasn’t unusual for two police departments to communicate, the timing was too coincidental.
The FBI didn’t believe that Brock hadn’t done it deliberately.
Even more critically, Faraday Page and Charlie Diaz were known to be best friends.
When Faraday Page vacationed in Wolfkyle, he often hung out with this magnate.
Now, the FBI suspected Director Faraday of backing the hunting club.
Even though he wasn’t a player, he might be protecting them.
However, the case was still under investigation, and Thomas was the only one in HPD who knew everything.
As to when Director Faraday would know, that would depend on how many connections he had.
Pondering all these things, Thomas said, “You can take some vacation time after this. Selina can take a week off. Luke…”
Luke smiled. “I’ll rest for a week, too. Selina can help me when we go back to work.”
Thomas glanced at Luke and at Selina, who was standing behind him. He sighed. “Fine, but don’t overdo it. Don’t forget that I have Robert’s number.”
Luke quickly gave in. “Chief, I promise that I’ll take care of myself. Don’t worry about Robert. I’ll give him a call.”
Thomas nodded and stepped out.
Selina remarked, “Wow, another holiday. We have to thank… Well, forget it. We shouldn’t be happy about this.”
Luke chuckled. “It’s fine. It’s your turn to look after me now anyway.”
Selina asked, “Do you need me to feed you milk?”
Luke said, “That’s unnecessary. It suddenly occurs to me that I’m lactose intolerant.”
Very soon, Jack, the captain of the FBI agents, arrived.
After signing the non-disclosure agreement like before, Luke smiled. “Thank you, Captain Jack.”
Jack smiled and left soon afterward.
After he left, Luke said to Selina, “Did you see that? That’s what a professional is like. He didn’t say anything unnecessary.”
Selina wasn’t interested in that. “What should we have for lunch?”
Luke said, “…We can have whatever you want as long as you’re paying for it.”