157. The Sniper on the Verge of Losing It
"Damn it, it's the police!"
Paris.
In a square not far from Saint-Louis Boulevard, the bustling crowd quickly swallowed up Li Changjiang and Old Russian, but the few of them remained extremely cautious.
Since the British could track them down in such a short amount of time, it meant that secret agents or even assassins had been relentlessly hunting them. The European continent was separated from Britain by only a single channel, making this place virtually indistinguishable from the British home turf.
Two French policemen brushed past the group. Li Changjiang reacted swiftly, turning to pull Alyssa into his arms to put up the appearance of a couple.
However, the two officers still noticed that Lena and Lucia looked somewhat unnatural and stared at them intently. Out of the corner of his eye, Li Changjiang clearly saw Old Russian behind them instantly shove his hand inside his coat.
He knew very well that a pistol was hidden right there.
Giving a subtle shake of his head, Old Russian quickly withdrew his hand.
"—"
Uttering something incomprehensible in a flurry of syllables, the tense expressions that the two officers had just relaxed instantly tightened up again.
"He asked if you need any help."
The French officer glanced at Old Russian with a hint of wariness, then walked over to Lucia and squatted down.
"Hey, little angel, are you alright?"
Seeing the French officer suddenly trying to communicate with Lucia, Li Changjiang couldn't help himself this time either. His right hand quickly slipped away from Alyssa's waist and slowly buried itself into his pocket. The moment those two policemen showed any sign of trouble, he and Old Russian would have no choice left—they would have to strike.
As for the consequences—
Li Changjiang could only pin his hopes on that bastard Polica having enough clout to extract them from the clutches of the French; otherwise, the outcome would be unthinkable.
He immediately pricked up his ears and stared intently at the little girl.
Seeing Lucia nod, Li Changjiang and Old Russian couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. But before they could even finish drawing breath, Lucia suddenly shook her head violently and pointed a finger straight at Li Changjiang.
Cold sweat instantly broke out across his back, and his heartbeat spiked.
Thump! Thump!! Thump!!!
It had practically risen to his throat!
Li Changjiang quickly saw Old Russian shove his hand straight back into his clothes. The situation was critical to the extreme; he had already raised a foot, preparing to charge forward.
"No! No! No!"
Alyssa's voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.
"I'm just his girlfriend!"
With that, she cast a teasing glance at Li Changjiang, leaving him completely baffled. Yet upon hearing those words, the vigilant expressions of the two French officers suddenly softened into a helpless shrug, though the look in their eyes as they gazed at Li Changjiang carried a distinctly male understanding.
Li Changjiang grew even more bewildered.
"Alyssa, what are they saying?"
Before Alyssa had a chance to reply, the little girl Lucia blurted out another string of words that Li Changjiang could not make head or tail of.
It was French!
Damn it!
Li Changjiang now had ample reason to believe that these two French officers truly bore them no malice, but after all, the men were cops, and heaven only knew if a nightmare might descend in the very next second.
"Hey, are you Chinese? Good luck, buddy."
Just as Li Changjiang was nearing the brink of losing his patience, one of the officers suddenly popped out a sentence in halting English.
Wish me good luck?
Wish your father good luck! Damn it!
"Li, Lucia says you're her father!"
"What?"
F***!
Hearing that, Li Changjiang finally understood why those two French cops had been looking at him with such bizarre expressions.
If they really believed Lucia's words, then who was the woman he had just been holding? It didn't seem to be Lena, but Alyssa.
What in the world!
"Lucia, I'm not your father. I'm your father's friend, okay?"
Yet seeing the little girl blink her eyes with stubborn disbelief, Li Changjiang instantly gave up on explaining. He had no idea why the little girl would call him father, but the strange thing was that Lena—who still hadn't fully recovered from her prior panic—didn't react at all.
By normal logic, she certainly would have denied it, but Li Changjiang did not know what Lena, as a single mother, had endured while raising Lucia to the age of seven.
Harassment!
Verbal abuse!
Robbery!
Even worse!
The French might be known for their romance, but romance wasn't the entirety of life. She had to constantly hustle just to pay the rent and utility bills, and she constantly had to explain to Lucia why she didn't have a father.
Of course, this wasn't the first time Lucia had been taunted as a "fatherless girl," which was why she had subconsciously projected the man who had brought Lena to tears—Li Changjiang—into the role of a father.
In Lucia's mind, a mother only cried when her playmate's father got angry.
"Damn it! This is totally insane. Old Russian, someone is watching us. All of you, head over to the flower bed!"
"What about you?"
"We'll split up. I'll go draw their attention."
Old Russian didn't know why Li Changjiang was so certain they were being watched.
However, he knew Li Changjiang's judgment was bound to be correct. The primary target of the British was Li; as long as he remained within their line of sight, the British wouldn't push too aggressively, considering this was a public place after all.
Li Changjiang's guess proved correct.
Just as they were being intercepted by the two French police officers, a sniper on a nearby building had already locked onto Li Changjiang and Old Russian through his riflescope.
Yet the targets were extremely alert, constantly shifting positions and keeping their backs pressed against angles where a sniper might potentially be hiding.
Without a doubt, both Li Changjiang and Old Russian were master snipers; naturally, they understood the conventional tactics of anti-sniper warfare.
Exchanging a quick glance with Alyssa, they parted ways instantly.
"Target spotted! Repeat, target has been spotted!"
The cold voice transmitted across the radio waves. The assassin's finger pressed hard against the trigger. Without absolute certainty of a one-hit kill, the British would never fire; after all, this was Paris. Once they fired, if an innocent civilian were struck, MI5 would face a horrendous mess.
Li Changjiang didn't know whether the British would pull the trigger, but he was entirely confident in his ability to shake off the pursuit.
Because the very instant that sniper had zeroed in on him, the auto-targeting system in his mind had flashed a warning that an enemy was nearby and rapidly pinpointed the threat's location.
Rear right!
Atop that silver high-rise building.
The distance was too great for Li Changjiang to see clearly, but the British operative peering through the scope suddenly encountered a terrifying sight.
"F***!"
"Damn it, he found me!"
Inside the riflescope, Li Changjiang was actually flipping the British assassin the middle finger, his mouth moving with crystal-clear articulation.
"Damn it, I've been exposed! Repeat: I've been exposed!"
What the hell!
That Chinaman was actually mouthing the words, "Go to hell!" The sniper responsible for the aim was utterly dumbfounded. At least fifty people had died by his hands, but this was the first time he had ever been held in contempt by his designated target.
Terrifying!
What a freak!
How on earth did he spot me?!
Yet in that single moment of hesitation, the instant he refocused his attention, sheer bewilderment struck him!
F***!
Where did the target go?!
"Damn it, target lost! Repeat: target lost!"
He hurriedly packed up his gear, kicked open the iron door behind him, and sprinted straight down toward the ground floor. Meanwhile, down in the square, moments after he abandoned the rooftop, several figures hastily scrambled up from the ground beside the flower bed, quickly piled into a taxi, and sped away in a blur of motion.