There were too many questions, but the situation was too urgent for Yang Yi to spare the time to press Boer for answers to his doubts.
The key was that it wasn’t like the ambush they’d just encountered, where machine guns and rocket launchers had been involved. Facing machine-gun fire and rocket explosions, any trick up your sleeve becomes useless, and survival is purely a matter of luck. It’s absurd to talk about using any strategies when a stray bullet could kill you.
Now they were being pursued again, but these pursuers seemed different from the earlier ones, seeming not as formidable.
At least the people behind them now didn’t have machine guns or rocket launchers.
Yang Yi, dragging Boer, was running ahead, while Xiao Ran threw herself on the ground in a gap of the green belt, aiming at the road behind them.
Gunshots rang out from behind, and Yang Yi, pulling Boer, immediately dropped to the ground.
"Stay down here, don’t move!"
After instructing Boer, Yang Yi opened his big bag, rummaged through it, and took out a handgun, his P229.
He grabbed two magazines and put them in his pants pocket. After closing the bag and placing it next to Boer, Yang Yi whispered, "Hold onto this bag. When I tell you to run, you run, got it?"
After giving Boer instructions, Yang Yi bent down and ran back to Xiao Ran’s side, whispering, "What’s the plan? Staying here to hold off the pursuers isn’t a good idea."
Xiao Ran whispered back, "You guys go first. I’ll follow soon. Right now the enemy is only suppressed. If no one stays behind to hold them back, they’ll catch up to us quickly. I’m not a soldier; close combat is not my forte."
Yang Yi urgently said, "Then you definitely can’t stay behind. We should stick together and leave."
Xiao Ran scoffed, "Why are you talking so much nonsense?"
While speaking, Xiao Ran fired another shot, blowing the top of the head off someone peering out from behind a wall.
Taking a breath, Xiao Ran said in a stern voice, "As long as I keep them suppressed here, no one can get past. But the moment I leave, they can shoot at us from behind. And if they keep a lock on us, there’s no way we can escape. So you go first, I’ll catch up shortly."
Yang Yi insisted in a low voice, "Idiot! We leave together. This isn’t our fight. We’re just trying to protect Boer, but if we can’t do that, we have the choice to leave. Boer is the assassins’ target!"
Xiao Ran hesitated for a moment, then said, "Fifty million US Dollars..."
Yang Yi urged, "What’s more important, money or life? There are so many of them, it won’t take long for us to be surrounded. Don’t waste time."
Xiao Ran hesitated again, then she got up from the ground and whispered, "Retreat!"
With short steps, Xiao Ran moved back while Yang Yi rushed over to Boer, whispering, "Move quickly!"
Boer stood up, holding onto the heavy bag, and followed close behind Yang Yi.
Boer was stumbling as he walked, and Yang Yi had to drag him along. The two of them were jogging ahead, while Xiao Ran turned and followed quickly behind them.
It was not long before the three crossed an internal road and arrived at a parking lot.
Yang Yi suddenly said, "Perfect, a mall. We might just make it!"
Turning around, Yang Yi said to Xiao Ran, "Pack away the rifle! Whether we steal a car or carjack one, it’s better if we get out of here quickly."
The three reached the parking lot, and Yang Yi scanned around before pointing at an older model car and saying, "That way!"
All three crouched behind a car. Yang Yi opened the big bag, took out his small backpack, and retrieved a wire hanger.
Just then, Xiao Ran whispered urgently, "It’s too late; the pursuers are here!"
Xiao Ran’s rifle was fitted with a suppressor, which made it much longer, and Yang Yi said in an urgent voice, "Don’t start shooting yet. Stall them for time!"
Yang Yi examined the car they were leaning against and took two pieces from the bundle of wires, inserting them into the keyhole.
Yang Yi chose an old-timer, a very beautiful Shelby Cobra GT500.
An old-timer doesn’t necessarily mean a junker—a ’68 GT500 in good condition can be very expensive. But to keep an old-timer authentic, it wouldn’t have an electronic lock, and the engine wouldn’t have an electronic anti-theft system.
Yang Yi could steal a new car too, but stealing an old-timer without any electronic systems would definitely be faster.
It was so fast that Yang Yi opened the car door lock in three seconds.
Then, it took him another three seconds to start the car.
When the car started, Yang Yi couldn’t help but excitedly say, "Get in! Let’s go!"
Boer pulled open the rear door, tossed in the big bag, then obediently got into the passenger seat, while Xiao Ran still got in the back.
Yang Yi stepped on the gas, and the car bolted out fiercely, scaring him into quickly hitting the brakes and yelling, "Fuck! This car is too hard to control."
Xiao Ran urged anxiously, "Go, hurry!"
Yang Yi gently tested the gas pedal, backed the car out, and then he accelerated, the car charging forward fiercely.
"This feeling, it’s quite something!"
Xiao Ran shouted loudly, "The enemy is on our tail! Be careful when you drive; the old American muscle car doesn’t handle the way you’re used to!"
Yang Yi charged forth, and Xiao Ran took out her cellphone again.
The car left the parking lot and got onto the main road.
Just after they hit the road, Yang Yi saw two police cars whizzing by in front of him.
Xiao Ran suddenly shouted, "There’s a helicopter in the sky!"
"A police helicopter?"
Yang Yi looked at Boer and said, "You’re being hunted, and now the police helicopter is here. I think you’ll be safe soon. Those wanting to kill you, no matter how crazy, will have to give up, so you’ll be safe very quickly."
Boer shook his head and said, "No, we’re leaving the city!"
"Why must we leave the city? We can’t meet with the police, but what’s your issue? Just remember not to reveal our identities, and we’ll be fine."
Xiao Ran shouted loudly, "The police helicopter is keeping an eye on us, no mistake! It’s following us!"
Yang Yi anxiously said, "Mr. Stupak, you should find a place to get off, just get the police to protect you."
With a bitter face, Boer said, "No, you don’t understand. I can’t be discovered by the police. If I fall into police hands, I’m done for."
Yang Yi felt an even stronger premonition of bad news and said with a wary face, "What do you mean? What exactly happened?"
After hesitating for a moment, Boer finally spoke in a low voice, "The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the FBI are both looking for me, if I fall into police hands, I’m finished."
Yang Yi was stunned, then, as if a current ran through him, he shouted loudly, "What do you mean?"
In a low voice, Boer said, "My trouble is big, so I must leave Las Vegas, I cannot fall into police hands, not now at least."
Yang Yi exhaled sharply and shouted, "Damn it, I get it, I get it—oh no, right now I’m only focused on one thing, my fifty million, how do you plan to pay me?"